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A HISTORY OF ENGLAND

_CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY_

1689-1837

_A HISTORY OF ENGLAND._

_By the_ Rev. J. FRANCK BRIGHT, M.A., _Fellow of University College, and
Historical Lecturer in Balliol, New, and University Colleges, Oxford;
late Master of the Modern School in Marlborough College_.

With numerous Maps and Plans. _New Editions._ Crown 8vo.

This work is divided into three Periods of convenient and handy size,
especially adapted for use in Schools, as well as for Students reading
special portions of History for local and other Examinations.

Period I.--MEDIÆVAL MONARCHY: The Departure of the Romans, to Richard
III. From A.D. 449 to A.D. 1485. 4_s._ 6_d._

Period II.--PERSONAL MONARCHY: Henry VII. to James II. From A.D. 1485 to
A.D. 1688. 5_s._

Period III.--CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY: William and Mary to the Present
Time. From A.D. 1689 to A.D. 1837. 7_s._ 6_d._

[_All rights reserved._]

    A

    HISTORY OF ENGLAND

    BY THE REV.

    J. FRANCK BRIGHT, M.A.

    FELLOW OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, AND HISTORICAL LECTURER IN BALLIOL,
    NEW, AND UNIVERSITY COLLEGES, OXFORD; LATE MASTER OF THE MODERN
    SCHOOL IN MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE

    _PERIOD III._

    CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY

    William and Mary to William IV.

    1689-1837

    With Maps and Plans

    RIVINGTONS
    _WATERLOO PLACE, LONDON_
    Oxford and Cambridge
    MDCCCLXXX

    [_Third Edition_]

A LIST OF SOME USEFUL AUTHORITIES.

GENERAL HISTORIES.

     Macaulay's _History of England_, 1600-1702. Macaulay's _Essays_.
     Mahon's _History of England_, 1713-1783. Massey's _History of
     England_, 1745-1802. Martineau's _History of the Peace_, 1800-1848.
     Erskine May's _Constitutional History_, 1760-1860. Ralph's _History
     of England_, 1689-1727. Pauli's _Geschichte Englands_, from 1814.

BOOKS OF GENERAL REFERENCE.

     Cobbett's _Parliamentary History_, to 1803. Hansard's _Debates_,
     from 1803. _The Monthly Mercury_, from 1690. _The Annual Register_,
     from 1758. _State Tracts._ Anderson's _History of Commerce_.
     Maculloch's _Commercial Dictionary_. Eden's _State of the Poor_.
     Howell's _State Trials_. Macpherson's _State Papers_, 1688-1714.
     Hardwicke's _State Papers_, to 1727.

FOREIGN HISTORIES.

     _Documens inédits sur l'Histoire de France_ (for the Spanish
     succession). Sismondi or Martin's _Histoire de France_, to 1789.
     Von Sybel's _French Revolution_. Lanfrey's _Histoire de Napoleon_.
     Ranke's _History of Prussia_. Bancroft's _History of the United
     States_. Mill's _History of India_. Grant Duff's _History of the
     Mahrattas_. The _Despatches_ of Wellesley and Cornwallis. Froude's
     _The English in Ireland_, to 1800.

WILLIAM III.

     Burnet's _History of his Own Time_, 1660-1713. Kennett's _History
     of England_, vol. iii. Defoe's Works are instructive as to the
     state of England at this time.

ANNE.

     Stanhope's _Reign of Queen Anne_. Coxe's _Life of Marlborough_.
     Marlborough's _Letters and Despatches_, 1702-1712. _Bolingbroke's
     Correspondence._ _Life of Sacheverel._

GEORGE I.

     Swift's _Drapier's Letters_, etc. _The Stuart Papers_, edited by
     Glover. Coxe's _Life of Walpole_. Boyer's _Political State of Great
     Britain_.

GEORGE II.

     Hervey's _Memoirs of the Reign of George II._, 1727-1742. Horace
     Walpole's _Memoirs of the Reign of George II._, 1751-1760.
     Doddington's _Diary_, 1749-1761. Waldegrave's _Memoirs_, 1754-1758.
     Southey's _Life of Wesley_. Philip's _Life and Times of Whitfield_.
     Johnstone's _Memoirs of the Rebellion of 1745_.

GEORGE III.

     Horace Walpole's _Memoirs of the Reign of George III._, 1760-1771.
     _The Letters of Junius._ _The Grenville Papers._ _The Bedford
     Correspondence._ Buckingham's _Memoirs of the Court and Cabinet of
     George III._ Russell's _Life of Fox_. Thackeray's _Life of
     Chatham_. Stanhope's _Life of Pitt_. Wilberforce's _Life_.
     Malmesbury's _Diary and Correspondence_. _The Cornwallis
     Correspondence, 1770-1805._ Napier's _Peninsula War_. _Life of
     Bamford the Radical._ Lord Dudley's _Letters_, 1814-1823. Bell and
     Stapleton's _Lives of Canning_.

It is not, however, necessary to give a detailed list of authorities,
which would be little more than a catalogue of the lives, letters, and
memoirs of most of the important men of the time. Of these the number is
constantly being augmented, and it is from them and the contemporary
tracts, monographs, pamphlets, and fugitive writings that the details of
the History must be drawn.

CONTENTS.

WILLIAM AND MARY. 1689-1702.

                                                                PAGE

    1689 The Declaration of Right,                               806
         =Character of the Revolution=,                          806
         Personal unpopularity of William,                       807
         Discontent of the clergy and the army,                  807
         The Convention turned into a Parliament,                808
         William's difficulties in forming a ministry,           808
         Settlement of the revenue,                              810
         Settlement of the Church,                               810
         Oaths of allegiance and supremacy,                      811
         =The European war breaks out=,                          811
         Devastation of the Palatinate,                          812
         =State of Ireland=,                                     812
         Panic among the Englishry,                              813
         Londonderry and Enniskillen garrisoned,                 813
         Negotiations with Tyrconnel,                            813
         James goes to Ireland,                                  814
         Character of the Irish Jacobites,                       814
         Siege of Londonderry,                                   815
         Wild legislation of the Irish Parliament,               815
         Its effect on the English Jacobites,                    816
         Battle of Newton Butler,                                816
         =Character of the Revolution in Scotland=,              817
         Contrast of the letters from James and William,         818
         Highland politics,                                      819
         Dundee in the Highlands,                                820
         =Battle of Killiecrankie=,                              820
         Mackay concludes the war,                               821
         Factions of the English Parliament,                     821
         =William threatens to leave England=,                   824

    1690 =William dissolves Parliament, and undertakes
           the Irish war=,                                      824
         Tory reaction in the new Parliament,                    824
         Cause of the venality of Parliament,                    824
         Settlement of the revenue,                              825
         The Act of Grace,                                       825
         Discovery of a Jacobite plot,                           825
         =Battle of Beachy Head=,                                826
         =Battle of the Boyne=,                                  827
         James's flight from Ireland,                            828
         Siege of Limerick,                                      828
         William returns to England,                             828

    1691 Siege of Athlone,                                       829
         =Battle of Aghrim=,                                     830
         Second siege of Limerick,                               830
         =End of the Irish war=,                                 830
         The Revolution completed in Scotland,                   830
         Jacobite plots in England,                              831
         =William's successful policy abroad=,                   831
         =First crisis of the war over=,                         832
         James's hopes upheld by the treason of the ministry,    832

    1692 Marlborough, suspected of treason, deprived of his
           offices,                                              833
         The Queen's quarrel with her sister,                    834
         Massacre of Glencoe,                                    834
         =Threatened invasion of England=,                       836
         =Battle of La Hogue=,                                   837
         =Second crisis of the war over=,                        838
         Fall of Namur,                                          838
         Battle of Steinkirk,                                    838
         The discontent of Parliament,                           839

    1693 Montague's financial measures,                          839
         Disastrous campaign,                                    840
         Battle of Landen,                                       841
         Loss of the Smyrna fleet,                               841
         =Factions in Parliament necessitate the gradual formation
           of a united Whig ministry=,                           842

    1694 Establishment of the Bank of England,                   843
         The Triennial Act passed,                               844
         Death of Queen Mary,                                    844

    1695 Expulsion of Trevor and Caermarthen for venality,       845

    1694 =Success abroad=,                                       846
         Treachery of Marlborough at Brest,                      846

    1695 Campaign in Flanders,                                   847
         Surrender of Namur,                                     848
         =William's triumphant return=,                          848
         =New Whig Parliament=,                                  848

    1696 Re-establishment of the currency,                       848
         William's want of money,                                851
         Failure of the Land Bank scheme,                        851
         The Bank of England supplies the money,                 852
         The credit of England restored,                         853
         The Assassination plot,                                 853
         Trial of Sir John Fenwick,                              855

    1697 =Complete triumph of the Whigs=,                        856
         =Treaty of Ryswick=,                                    858
         The Parliament reduces the standing army,               859

    1698 Coalition of the rival East India Companies,            861
         William's attention directed to the Spanish succession, 862
         =First Partition Treaty=,                               863
         =The Country Party in the new Parliament=,              864

    1699 William's grief at the dismissal of the Dutch guards,   864
         Rivalry between the two Houses,                         865
         The Darien scheme,                                      865
         Question of Irish forfeitures,                          868

    1700 The Resumption Bill passed,                             868
         =Second Partition Treaty=,                              869
         Unpopularity of William and the ministry,               870
         =New Tory ministry=,                                    870

    1701 New Parliament,                                         870
         The Succession Act,                                     871
         Impeachments against the Whigs,                         871
         The Kentish Petition,                                   872
         The Legion Memorial,                                    872
         The Grand Alliance,                                     873
         Death of James II.,                                     873
         Louis rouses English patriotism by acknowledging the
           Pretender,                                            873

    1702 New Parliament and changes in the ministry,             874
         =Death of William=,                                     874

ANNE. 1702-1714.

         =Marlborough's power=,                                  875
         Work of the first Parliament,                           876
         Tory ministry,                                          876
         =Beginning of the war=,                                 877
         Marlborough's first campaign,                           878
         Position of Holland,                                    878

    1703 Savoy and Portugal join the coalition,                  880

    1704 Critical position of Austria,                           882
         =Battle of Blenheim=,                                   885
         Progress of the war in Spain, the Cevennes, and Italy,  887

    1705 Failure of Marlborough's plans,                         888
         Peterborough's success in Spain,                        889

    1706 =Battle of Ramillies=,                                  892
         Results of the victory,                                 893
         French disasters make Louis desire peace,               894
         Marlborough rejects his terms,                          894

    1707 The tide of victory turns,                              895

    1708 Threatened invasion of Scotland,                        896
         =Battle of Oudenarde=,                                  898
         Siege of Lille,                                         900
         Capture of Port Mahon,                                  901

    1709 Louis offers to negotiate,                              902
         He rejects the high demands of the allies,              903
         =Battle of Malplaquet=,                                 903

    1702 =Summary of political parties=,                         905
         =Marlborough seeks the support of all parties for
           the war=,                                             905
         Tory Parliament,                                        906

    1703 Dismissal of Rochester,                                 906
         Occasional Conformity Bill rejected,                    906
         The Methuen Treaty,                                     907

    1704 Disputes on the Aylesbury election,                     908
         Dismissal of Nottingham, Jersey, and Seymour,           908

    1705 =Gradual introduction of Whig ministers=,               910

    1707 Weakness of the composite ministry,                     911
         Harley's intrigues against Marlborough,                 911

    1708 Harley and his colleagues resign,                       912
         =A Whig ministry=,                                      913

    1709 Insecurity of Marlborough's position,                   913

    1710 =Fall of the Whigs=,                                    914
         Dr. Sacheverell's sermons,                              914
         Dismissal of Sunderland and Godolphin,                  914
         =Harley's Tory ministry=,                               915
         Conference at Gertruydenberg,                           915
         The war in Spain,                                       915
         Harley's policy,                                        916

    1711 Peace negotiations,                                     917
         Attack on Marlborough in Parliament,                    919

    1712 Ormond given command of the army,                       920

    1713 =Peace of Utrecht=,                                     921
         Conduct of Harley and Bolingbroke on the succession
           question,                                             922

    1714 New Tory Parliament,                                    922
         Jacobite intrigues,                                     923
         The Queen's death,                                      924

    1702 Lengthened negotiations for the Union of England and
           Scotland,                                             924

    1707 =The Union completed=,                                  928

GEORGE I. 1714-1727.

    1714 Probability of a restoration of the Stuarts,            929
         Council of Regency,                                     930
         =Peaceful accession of the King=,                       930
         New Whig ministry,                                      931
         =The Hanoverian succession a Whig triumph=,             931
         Riots in the country,                                   931

    1715 Impeachment of the late ministers,                      932
         =The Jacobite rebellion=,                               932
         Disaffection in Scotland,                               933
         Failure of the Jacobite hopes of French help,           933
         Mar organizes the insurrection in Scotland,             934
         Vigorous measures of the Government,                    935
         Mar's success in the Highlands,                         935
         Forster defeated at Preston,                            936
         Mar defeated at Sheriffmuir,                            937

    1716 The Pretender arrives, but shortly withdraws again,     937
         Punishment of the rebels,                               938
         =The Septennial Act=,                                   938
         =First signs of the disruption of the ministry=,        940
         George goes to Hanover with Stanhope,                   940
         Negotiations with France,                               940
         Hanover threatened by Charles XII.,                     941
         =Dismissal of Townshend=,                               942

    1717 =The Triple Alliance=,                                  942
         =Stanhope's ministry=,                                  942
         =Threatening state of Europe=,                          942
         Danger to England from Charles XII.,                    943
         And from Alberoni,                                      944

    1718 =The Quadruple Alliance=,                               945

    1719 Fall of Alberoni,                                       946

    1720 European peace,                                         946

    1717 =Stanhope's home policy=,                               946
         Constant opposition of Walpole,                         946
         Trial of Oxford,                                        947

    1719 Repeal of the Schism Act,                               947
         Rejection of the Peerage Bill,                          947

    1720 Strength of the ministry. Walpole joins it,             948
         =The South Sea Bubble=,                                 949

    1711 Formation of the South Sea Company,                     950

    1720 The South Sea Scheme,                                   950
         Competition of other companies,                         951
         The rage for stock-jobbing,                             952
         Bursting of the bubble,                                 953

    1721 Punishment of the directors,                            953
         =Supremacy of Walpole=,                                 953
         Revival of Jacobite hopes,                              954

    1722 =Bishop Atterbury's plot=,                              954

    1723 Quarrel between Carteret and Walpole,                   956

    1724 Excitement in Ireland,                                  957

    1725 Disturbances in Scotland,                               957
         =Spanish difficulties=,                                 958
         Intrigues of Ripperda,                                  959
         Treaty of Vienna,                                       960
         The secret treaty,                                      960

    1726 The Treaty of Hanover,                                  961
         Excitement of Europe,                                   961

    1727 =Preliminaries of peace signed at Paris=,               962
         Opposition to Walpole headed by Bolingbroke,            962
         The King's death,                                       963
         Review of the reign,                                    963
         Increased importance of England abroad,                 963
         Private and public immorality,                          963
         Influence of the Hanoverian courtiers,                  964

GEORGE II. 1727-1760.

         =Walpole retains his position=,                         966
         Increase of the Civil List,                             966
         Influence of the Queen,                                 967
         =Character of Walpole's ministry=,                      967
         Character of the Opposition,                            967
         Strength of the Government,                             969
         Depression of the Jacobites,                            969
         =European complications=,                               970

    1729 Congress at Soissons,                                   970
         Treaty of Seville,                                      971
         Disappointment of the Emperor,                          971

    1731 Second Treaty of Vienna,                                971
         Complete supremacy of Walpole,                          972

    1730 Rejection of the Pension Bill,                          972

    1731 =Retirement of Townshend=,                              972
         =Walpole's home government=,                            973

    1733 His financial measures,                                 973
         His pacific foreign policy,                             975

    1734 Refuses to join in the new European war,                975

    1738 Definitive Peace of Vienna,                             976

    1734 Increasing opposition to Walpole,                       976
         Wyndham's speech against him,                           977

    1735 Prince of Wales head of the Opposition,                 978

    1737 Quarrel of George with his son,                         979
         =Death of the Queen=,                                   980
         =Walpole retains his influence with the King=,          980

    1738 The Opposition attacks his pacific policy,              980
         George desires war,                                     981

    1739 Negotiations with Spain,                                982
         =Walpole declares war rather than resign=,              982

    1740 Increased vigour of the Opposition,                     983
         Ill success of the war,                                 984

    1742 =Walpole resigns=,                                      985
         Review of Walpole's ministry,                           985
         =The new ministry under Wilmington=,                    987

    1743 =Pelham succeeds Wilmington=,                           988
         =The question of the Austrian succession=,              989
         Ambition of Prussia,                                    989
         Position of Maria Theresa,                              990
         England supports Austria,                               991
         The English army in Flanders,                           991
         =Battle of Dettingen=,                                  992
         Effect of the victory,                                  994
         Negotiations for peace,                                 994
         Treaty of Worms,                                        995

    1744 League of Frankfort,                                    995
         Threatened invasion of England,                         995
         Progress of the war,                                    996
         Changes in the ministry,                                996

    1745 German subsidies granted,                               997
         Campaign in Flanders,                                   998
         =Battle of Fontenoy=,                                   998
         =Charles Edward lands in Scotland=,                     999
         Cope marches against him,                              1001
         Charles avoids him, and gains Edinburgh,               1001
         Battle of Prestonpans,                                 1002
         Indifference of England,                               1002
         Charles marches to Derby,                              1003
         He retreats to the relief of Government,               1004

    1746 Charles besieges Stirling,                             1005
         Battle of Falkirk,                                     1005
         Cumberland takes command of the army,                  1006
         He defeats Charles at Culloden,                        1007
         He cruelly suppresses the rebellion,                   1008
         Charles escapes to France,                             1008
         Ministerial crisis,                                    1009

    1747 Effect of the rebellion on the continental war,        1010

    1748 =Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle=,                           1011
         Results of the war,                                    1011
         =Pelham's conciliatory government=,                    1012

    1750 His financial measures,                                1012
         Increase of wealth and of trade,                       1013

    1751 Reform of the Calendar,                                1014

    1753 Lord Hardwicke's Marriage Act,                         1015
         Decay of the Church,                                   1015

    1730 Rise of the Wesleyans,                                 1016

    1754 =Pelham's death gives the Government to Newcastle=,    1018
         =Approaching danger from India and America=,           1018
         Newcastle tries to confine the war to the colonies,    1019
         George's anxiety for Hanover,                          1020

    1755 His subsidiary treaties against Prussia,               1020

    1756 The French capture Minorca,                            1021
         Newcastle resigns,                                     1021

    1757 =Pitt's vigorous government=,                          1022

    1754 Europe prepares for war,                               1023

    1756 =The Seven Years' War begins=,                         1023
         Alliance between England and Prussia,                  1023
         Frederick's first campaign,                            1023
         Foreign policy of the various parties in England,      1024

    1757 Disasters of the year,                                 1025

    1758 Change of generals,                                    1026
         Success in America,                                    1026
         Victory of Creveld,                                    1027
         Expeditions to Cherbourg and St. Malo,                 1027

    1759 Naval victories of Lagos and Quiberon,                 1028
         Capture of Quebec,                                     1029
         Victory of Minden,                                     1031

    1760 Frederick's campaign,                                  1032
         Battle of Torgau,                                      1033
         Pre-eminence of Pitt,                                  1033
         Death of the King,                                     1033

GEORGE III. 1760-1820.

         =Bute's influence over the young King=,                1035
         George's view of royalty,                              1036

    1761 Signs of a change of ministry,                         1037
         The campaign of 1761 produces a desire for peace,      1037
         Negotiations between France and England,               1038
         Pitt, suspecting the Family Compact, opposes peace,    1038
         =Pitt resigns. Bute becomes Premier=,                  1039

    1762 War with Spain,                                        1039
         Peace with France concluded,                           1040

    1763 =Close of the Seven Years' War=,                       1041
         Attack on the Whigs,                                   1041
         Bute resigns,                                          1041
         =The Triumvirate ministry=,                            1042
         =The Bedford ministry=,                                1042
         =The trial of Wilkes=,                                 1043
         Origin of the American provinces,                      1045
         Restrictions on colonial trade,                        1046

    1764 Suppression of smuggling,                              1047

    1765 =The Stamp Act=,                                       1047

    1765 The King's illness,                                    1048
         The Regency Bill,                                      1048
         Negotiations for a change of ministry,                 1049
         Pitt retires into private life,                        1050
         Ministry of the Whig Houses,                           1050
         The question of American taxation,                     1051

    1766 =Return of Pitt and his declaration of views=,         1051
         The Stamp Act repealed,                                1052
         Weakness of the Government,                            1052
         =Pitt becomes Lord Chatham and Prime Minister=,        1053
         His comprehensive plans,                               1054

    1767 =His illness and mental failure=,                      1054
         Townshend's financial measures,                        1054

    1768 Corruption of Parliament,                              1055
         Wilkes elected for Middlesex,                          1055

    1769 Increase of American difficulties,                     1056
         The Letters of Junius,                                 1057
         Weakness of the ministry,                              1057

    1770 Camden, Granby, and Grafton resign,                    1058
         =North's ministry. Triumph of the King's policy=,      1059
         Grenville's reform of election petitions,              1060
         Increased irritation in America,                       1061
         Affair of the Falkland Islands,                        1062

    1771 The liberty of reporting Parliamentary debates,        1062
         North's ministry gathers strength,                     1063

    1772 Royal Marriage Law,                                    1064
         Fate of the Queen of Denmark,                          1064
         Division of Poland,                                    1065
         Constitution of Poland,                                1065

    1773 =Organized opposition in America=,                     1067

    1774 Dunning's petition rejected,                           1068

    1772 The India Company's difficulties,                      1069

    1774 Boston Port Bill,                                      1070
         Massachusetts Government Bill,                         1070
         Crisis of the quarrel,                                 1070
         Acts of the General Congress,                          1071

    1775 Chatham's motions for reconciliation,                  1071
         Skirmish at Lexington,                                 1072
         The Canada Bill,                                       1072
         =The Congress assumes sovereign authority=,            1073
         Washington commander-in-chief,                         1073
         Battle of Bunker's Hill,                               1073
         The Olive Branch Petition,                             1075
         Attack on Canada,                                      1075

    1776 Howe retires to Halifax,                               1076
         Fresh offers of conciliation rejected,                 1076
         =Declaration of Independence=,                         1077
         Battle of Brooklyn,                                    1077

    1777 Washington recovers New Jersey,                        1079
         Threefold plan of the English,                         1079
         Howe's expedition against Philadelphia,                1080
         Battle of Germanstown,                                 1080
         Washington reorganizes the army,                       1081
         =Burgoyne's disasters=,                                1081

    1776 =Effect of American affairs in Parliament=,            1082

    1777 Increase of the Civil List,                            1082
         =France acknowledges the independence of America=,     1084
         Chatham's energy in Parliament,                        1084

    1778 North's Conciliation Bill,                             1085
         Rupture with France,                                   1085
         Death of Chatham,                                      1086
         Laws against Roman Catholics repealed,                 1087
         =America rejects North's conciliatory offers=,         1087
         Effect of the alliance between America and France,     1088
         Weakness of North's ministry,                          1088

    1779 Difficulties in Ireland,                               1090

    1780 Motions for economical reform,                         1091
         The Lord George Gordon riots,                          1092
         Rodney's victory,                                      1094
         Capture of Charleston,                                 1095
         War with the Dutch,                                    1095
         Armed neutrality of the North,                         1096
         Arnold's treachery,                                    1096
         Death of Major André,                                  1097
         =Campaign in Carolina=,                                1097

    1781 St. Eustatia captured,                                 1098
         Battle of Guildford Courthouse,                        1100
         Battle of Hobkirk's Hill,                              1100
         Battle of Eutaw,                                       1101
         Cornwallis in Virginia,                                1101
         =Surrender of Yorktown. Close of the war=,             1103
         New session of Parliament,                             1103

    1782 =North's resignation. The Rockingham ministry=,        1104
         The agitation in Ireland,                              1105
         Economical reforms,                                    1106
         =Conclusion of the American War=,                      1107
         Exorbitant demands of France,                          1108
         Siege of Gibraltar,                                    1109
         Changed tone of French demands,                        1110

    1783 Terms of the peace,                                    1110

    1782 =Death of Rockingham. The Shelburne ministry=,         1111

    1783 =Shelburne resigns. Return of the Whig ministry=,      1112

         =Retrospect of Indian history=,                        1113

    1600 Foundation of the India Company,                       1113

    1640 Foundation of Madras (1640), Bombay (1662),
           and Calcutta (1698),                                 1114
         Decline of Portuguese and Dutch competition,           1114

    1707 Decline of the Mogul Empire,                           1115

    1744 Competition with the French Company,                   1115

    1750 Success of Dupleix,                                    1116

    1752 Dupleix defeated by Clive,                             1117

    1756 The Black Hole of Calcutta,                            1118

    1757 The Battle of Plassey,                                 1119

    1761 =Overthrow of the French power in India=,              1119
         =Contest with the native states=,                      1120

    1763 Massacre of Patna,                                     1121

    1764 Battle of Buxar,                                       1121
         =Maladministration of the India Company=,              1121

    1769 Rise of Hyder Ali,                                     1122

    1770 Famine in Bengal,                                      1123

    1773 =The Regulating Act=,                                  1123

    1774 Death of Clive,                                        1124
         Warren Hastings,                                       1124

    1778 The Mysore war,                                        1127

    1780 Robbery of Cheyte Singh and the Begums,                1128

    1781 Parliamentary inquiry,                                 1129

    1783 Dundas's India Bill,                                   1129
         Fox's India Bill,                                      1129
         The King procures its rejection,                       1131
         =Fall of the Whig ministry. Pitt's first ministry=,    1132

    1784 Pitt's victory over the Opposition,                    1134
         Dissolution of Parliament,                             1134
         Pitt's Budget,                                         1134
         Pitt's India Bill,                                     1135
         Pitt's Irish policy,                                   1136
         Failure of Pitt's Reform Bill,                         1137
         Pitt's financial success,                              1138

    1785 Charges against Warren Hastings,                       1139

    1787 Conduct of the Prince of Wales,                        1140

    1788 Trial of Warren Hastings,                              1141
         First motion against the slave trade,                  1142
         The King's illness. The Regency Bill,                  1142
         =Pre-eminence of Pitt=,                                1143

         =Effect of the French Revolution in England=,          1145
         =Pitt's foreign policy=,                               1145
         =Political development of the country=,                1146

    1789 Affair of Nootka Sound,                                1146
         Alliance with Holland,                                 1146
         Pitt's efforts to oppose Russia,                       1147
         Alliance with Prussia, Holland, and Sweden,            1148

    1790 The Convention of Reichenbach,                         1149
         =Industrial development of the country=,               1150

    1789 =The French Revolution=,                               1151
         Assembling of the States-General,                      1153
         Louis XVI. brought to Paris,                           1154
         =Excitement produced in England=,                      1154

    1790 =First reactionary movement=,                          1154
         Rejection of the Abolition of Tests and the
           Reform Bill,                                         1154
         Burke's "Reflections,"                                 1155

    1791 The Canada Bill,                                       1155
         Breach between Fox and Burke,                          1156
         The Birmingham riots,                                  1156
         Pitt's policy as yet unchanged,                        1156
         =Progress of the French Revolution=,                   1157
         The King's flight to Varennes,                         1157

    1792 The Girondin ministry declares war,                    1158
         The King suspended,                                    1158
         Massacres of September,                                1159
         Declaration of the Republic,                           1159
         Revolutionary character of the war,                    1159
         Edict of Fraternity,                                   1159
         =Change of opinion in England as to the Revolution=,   1160
         =Formation of a new Tory party=,                       1161
         Sympathy with the Revolution among the poor,           1161
         Revolutionary societies,                               1162
         Rejection of Grey's Reform Bill,                       1162
         Proclamation against seditious writings,               1163
         Riots in Sheffield and Dundee,                         1164
         The militia called out,                                1164

    1793 Signs of approaching war with France,                  1165
         The Alien Bill,                                        1165
         Death of Louis XVI.,                                   1165
         Pitt's efforts to continue peace,                      1166
         Determination of the French for war,                   1166
         =Declaration of war with France=,                      1167
         French successes on the Continent, and against the
           royalists in France                                  1168
         Pitt's difficulty in keeping up the coalition,         1170

    1795 The French capture Amsterdam,                          1172
         Indirect advantages gained by England,                 1172

    1794 Defeat of the French fleet,                            1173

    1795 Prussia, Spain, and Holland leave the coalition,       1173
         Insurrection of La Vendée,                             1174
         Expedition to Quiberon,                                1176
         =Confidence of the English in Pitt=,                   1177
         =His repressive policy=,                               1178

    1793 The Traitorous Correspondence Bill,                    1178
         Trials for seditious writings,                         1179

    1794 Portland joins the ministry,                           1181
         Desire for peace,                                      1181

    1795 The Prince of Wales' marriage,                         1182
         Sufferings of the lower classes,                       1183
         Assault on the King,                                   1183

    1793 =Retrospect of French affairs=,                        1184
         The Committee of Public Safety,                        1184

    1794 The Reign of Terror,                                   1185
         Fall of Robespierre,                                   1186

    1795 The Directory established,                             1186

    1796 =Pitt's first negotiations for peace=,                 1186
         Napoleon's Italian campaign,                           1187
         Pitt's second negotiations,                            1188
         =Preparations to resist a threatened French invasion=, 1190
         French expeditions to Ireland and Bristol,             1190
         =Critical condition of England=,                       1191
         Monetary crisis; suspension of cash payments,          1192
         Victory of St. Vincent,                                1193

    1797 The mutiny at Spithead,                                1194
         The mutiny at the Nore,                                1195
         Disorganization of the French Government,              1196
         Negotiations at Lisle,                                 1197
         Battle of Camperdown,                                  1198
         =Peace of Campo Formio=,                               1198

         =Ireland=,                                             1199
         Complications attending Irish difficulties,            1199
         Necessity for the Union,                               1199
         Irish opposition to Government,                        1200
         Grievances of the peasantry,                           1201
         Weakness of the executive,                             1202

    1789 =Effect of the French Revolution=,                     1202
         Formation of the Society of United Irishmen,           1203

    1791 Disunion among the Catholics,                          1204
         =Mismanagement of the Government=,                     1205

    1793 Catholic Relief Bill passed,                           1206
         Renewed agitation for reform,                          1207

    1794 Failure of Fitzwilliam's efforts,                      1208

    1795 Lord Camden succeeds Fitzwilliam,                      1209
         The character of the rebellion,                        1210

    1796 =Defensive measures of Government=,                    1210
         Arrest of the revolutionary committee,                 1211
         The expedition to Bantry Bay,                          1212

    1797 Lake's success in Ulster and Munster,                  1212

    1798 =Outbreak of the rebellion=,                           1214
         Cornwallis succeeds Camden,                            1215
         Humbert's expedition to Killala,                       1216

    1799 Opposition to the Union,                               1217

    1800 =The Union completed=,                                 1219

    1797 Desire of France to invade England,                    1219

    1798 Napoleon's campaign in Egypt,                          1220
         Battle of the Nile,                                    1220
         =Pitt forms a second coalition=,                       1221

    1799 Italy regained by the allies,                          1222
         The allies capture the Dutch fleet,                    1223
         Napoleon defeated at Acre,                             1223
         Jealousies and disasters of the allies,                1224
         Success in India,                                      1224
         Napoleon made First Consul,                            1225

    1800 Napoleon's victories in Italy,                         1226
         Battle of Hohenlinden,                                 1227

    1801 Treaty of Lunéville,                                   1227
         =Dissolution of the coalition=,                        1227

    1800 Internal condition of England,                         1228

    1801 Rejection of the Catholic Relief Bill,                 1229
         =Pitt resigns. Addington made Premier=,                1230
         Illness of the King,                                   1230
         The French army in Egypt,                              1231
         Battle of Alexandria,                                  1232
         Battle of Copenhagen,                                  1232
         Peace between England and Russia,                      1233
         Napoleon appropriates Holland, Switzerland, and Italy, 1235

    1802 =Peace of Amiens=,                                     1236
         Napoleon continues his aggressions,                    1237
         Demands the repression of the English press,           1237
         And the expulsion of the emigrants from England,       1238
         Consequent change of feeling in England,               1238
         Negotiations for Pitt's return,                        1239

    1803 Napoleon examines the resources of Egypt, England,
           and Ireland,                                         1239
         His interview with Lord Whitworth,                     1239
         The militia embodied,                                  1240
         Failure of renewed negotiations for Pitt's return,     1240
         =Declaration of war with France=,                      1241
         Character of the war,                                  1241
         Napoleon arrests the English in France,                1241
         He excites discontent in Ireland,                      1241
         Emmett's Rebellion,                                    1242
         Difficulty of Addington's position,                    1243

    1804 Pitt offers to undertake the Government,               1245
         =Addington resigns. Pitt's Tory ministry=,             1245
         Preparations to resist the French invasion,            1248
         The Additional Force Bill. Increase of the navy,       1248
         Napoleon attempts to form a coalition,                 1250
         His conduct with regard to Georges' conspiracy,        1251
         His murder of the Duc d'Enghien,                       1251
         Napoleon made Emperor,                                 1252
         Harrowby retires. Addington joins the ministry,        1252
         Failure of the Catamaran expedition,                   1253
         =Success in India against the Mahrattas=,              1253

    1802 Wellesley's subsidiary system,                         1254

    1803 The Mahratta war,                                      1255
         Battle of Assye,                                       1256

    1805 Conclusion of the war,                                 1257
         Sad close of Pitt's career,                            1257
         Attack on Melville's administration,                   1258
         Sidmouth resigns,                                      1259
         Treaty of St. Petersburg,                              1261
         =The third coalition formed=,                          1261
         Napoleon prepares to invade England,                   1261
         Nelson's pursuit of Villeneuve,                        1262
         Failure of Napoleon's schemes,                         1263
         He marches against Austria,                            1264
         Capitulation of the Austrian army at Ulm,              1264
         =Battle of Trafalgar=,                                 1265
         =Battle of Austerlitz=,                                1265

    1806 =Death of Pitt. Fox's ministry=,                       1266

    1805 Treaties of Schönbrunn and Presburg,                   1269

    1806 Napoleon erects dependent kingdoms,                    1269
         Fox's negotiations with Napoleon,                      1270
         Death of Fox,                                          1270
         Abolition of the slave trade,                          1271

    1807 Rejection of the Catholic claims,                      1273
         Resignation of the Grenville ministry,                 1274
         =The Perceval ministry=,                               1274

    1806 Prussia declares war with France,                      1276
         Battle of Jena,                                        1276
         The Berlin decree,                                     1277

    1807 The orders in Council,                                 1278
         Battle of Eylau,                                       1280
         Incapacity of the Grenville ministry,                  1280
         Expedition to Buenos Ayres,                            1280
         Expedition to the Dardanelles,                         1281
         Expedition to Alexandria,                              1282

    1806 Expedition to Sicily,                                  1282

    1807 =Dissolution of the third coalition=,                  1282
         =Treaty of Tilsitt=,                                   1283
         Capture of the Danish fleet,                           1285
         War between Russia and Sweden,                         1285
         Continental System acknowledged except in Portugal,    1285
         =Condition of the Peninsula=,                          1286
         Joseph made King of Spain,                             1287
         Napoleon's armies in Spain,                            1288
         Invasion of Portugal,                                  1288

    1808 Enthusiasm in England for the Spanish insurrection,    1289
         Wellesley sent to Portugal,                            1290
         Combat of Rorica,                                      1291
         Battle of Vimiero,                                     1292
         Convention of Cintra,                                  1293
         Sir John Moore's march to Salamanca,                   1294
         Napoleon in Madrid,                                    1295

    1809 =Battle of Corunna=,                                   1297
         Opinion in England concerning the war,                 1298
         Scandal of the Duke of York,                           1299
         Charges against Castlereagh,                           1299
         Opposition to Napoleon in Germany,                     1300
         Battle of Aspern,                                      1300
         Battle of Wagram,                                      1301
         Peace of Vienna,                                       1301
         The Walcheren expedition,                              1301
         Wellesley victorious in Portugal,                      1303
         =Battle of Talavera=,                                  1304

    1810 Wellington fortifies the Lisbon promontory,            1306
         Battle of Busaco,                                      1307

    1811 =Battle of Albuera=,                                   1309
         Critical position of the French,                       1311
         Threatened war between Russia and France,              1313

    1812 Capture of Rodrigo and Badajos,                        1315
         =Battle of Salamanca=,                                 1316
         Wellington in Madrid,                                  1317
         He retreats to Portugal,                               1318

    1813 =Battle of Vittoria=,                                  1319

    1814 =Battle of Toulouse=,                                  1321
         =Long tenure of power by the Tory party=,              1321

    1809 Quarrel of Castlereagh and Canning,                    1322

    1810 Illness of the King,                                   1323

    1811 The Regency Bill,                                      1324

    1812 =Assassination of Perceval. Liverpool made Premier=,   1325
         =War with America=,                                    1325

    1814 Capture of Washington,                                 1327
         =Abdication of Napoleon=,                              1328
         =Character of the Tory Government=,                    1329

    1810 Depression of trade,                                   1331

    1811 The Luddite riots,                                     1332
         Misery of the agricultural labourer,                   1333

    1814 =Difficulties attending the settlement of Europe=,     1333
         First Treaty of Paris,                                 1334
         Visit of the monarchs to England,                      1335
         =Congress at Vienna=,                                  1335

    1815 Compromise agreed upon,                                1338
         =Escape of Napoleon from Elba=,                        1339
         Military preparations against Napoleon,                1339
         Battle of Ligny,                                       1340
         Battle of Quatre Bras,                                 1341
         =Battle of Waterloo=,                                  1342
         The allies enter Paris,                                1346
         =Napoleon banished to St. Helena=,                     1346
         The second Treaty of Paris,                            1346

    1816 Battle of Algiers,                                     1347
         Opposition in Parliament,                              1348
         Extravagance of the Government,                        1349
         =Agricultural and commercial depression=,              1350
         =Riots and political meetings=,                        1351
         Meeting in Spa Fields,                                 1352
         Petition from the Corporation of London,               1353

    1817 Attack on the Regent,                                  1353
         =Repressive measures of the Government=,               1354
         Secret political meetings,                             1354
         Suppression of seditious writings,                     1355
         Mr. Hone's trial,                                      1355
         Strength of the Opposition,                            1356

    1818 Condition of the royal family,                         1357
         Dissolution of Parliament,                             1358
         Evacuation of France by the allies,                    1359

    1819 Resumption of cash payments,                           1359
         Rejection of Catholic emancipation,                    1360
         Reform of Scotch burghs,                               1360
         The Manchester Massacre,                               1362
         The Six Acts,                                          1363

    1820 Death of George III.,                                  1363

GEORGE IV. 1820-1830.

    1820 Precarious position of the ministry,                   1364
         Cato Street conspiracy,                                1365
         =The Queen's trial=,                                   1366

    1821 Consequent alienation between ministry and people,     1368

    1822 Peel and Wellesley join the ministry,                  1369
         =Death of Castlereagh. Canning Foreign Secretary=,     1369
         Retrospect of the affairs of Europe,                   1370

    1816 Position of England abroad,                            1370
         Effect of Castlereagh's policy,                        1371

    1820 Insurrections in Spain, Portugal, Naples,              1371
         Arbitrary action of the Holy Alliance,                 1372
         England refuses to join the Congress at Troppau,       1373

    1821 Popular anger at Castlereagh's weak policy,            1373
         Insurrection in Greece,                                1374
         Complications between France and Spain,                1374

    1822 Congress at Verona,                                    1375
         =Canning's policy=,                                    1375
         Partial success of his diplomacy in Spain,             1375

    1823 =Changes in commercial policy effected by Huskisson=,  1376
         Change of the Navigation Act,                          1379

    1824 Improvement in the silk trade,                         1380
         Improvement in the wool trade,                         1381

    1823 Discussion on slavery,                                 1382
         Effect of Canning's circular in Jamaica,               1382

    1824 Persecution of Mr. Smith,                              1383

    1825 Disastrous effects of wild speculations,               1383
         Success of the healing measures of Government,         1384

    1826 Temporary change in the corn laws,                     1385
         Canning's vigorous policy in Portugal,                 1386
         Division in the ministry,                              1387

    1827 =Illness of Lord Liverpool=,                           1388
         =Difficulties attending the formation of a new
           ministry=,                                           1388
         Disturbances in Ireland,                               1389
         Wellesley's administration,                            1389

    1823 The Catholic Association,                              1390

    1826 Rejection of the Catholic Relief Bill,                 1390

    1827 Rejection of Burdett's resolution,                     1391
         =Canning Prime Minister=,                              1391
         Canning's death,                                       1393
         His character and policy,                              1393
         =Goderich's ministry=,                                 1394

    1828 =Wellington's ministry=,                               1395
         =Difficulty of the Turkish question=,                  1395

    1824 Canning's diplomacy on the subject,                    1396

    1826 Protocol between England and Russia,                   1397
         Enthusiasm for Greek independence in England,          1397

    1827 Turkey refuses the armistice,                          1398
         The Treaty of London,                                  1398
         Attempt to enforce the armistice,                      1399
         =Battle of Navarino=,                                  1399
         Goderich's inaction renders the victory nugatory,      1400

    1828 Wellington refuses to coerce Turkey by arms,           1400
         =Character of Wellington's Government=,                1401
         Repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts,               1401
         The Corn Bill passed,                                  1402
         Huskisson and his friends resign,                      1402
         =The Catholic Emancipation question=,                  1402
         Renewed agitation in Ireland,                          1403
         Election of O'Connell for Clare,                       1403
         Influence of the Association,                          1404

    1829 Resignation of Lord Anglesey,                          1406
         Peel and Wellington see the urgency of Catholic
           emancipation,                                        1406
         Opposition of the King,                                1407
         =The Catholic Emancipation Bill passed=,               1408
         O'Connell's agitation for repeal,                      1409
         =Wellington's foreign policy=,                         1410

    1826 Affairs of Portugal,                                   1410

    1828 Miguel usurps the throne,                              1411
         Maria acknowledged in England,                         1411

    1829 Wellington's neutrality,                               1411
         Non-intervention in the affairs of Greece,             1412
         The Revolution in France,                              1413
         Supposed influence of Wellington in Polignac's
           appointment,                                         1413
         Increasing opposition to the French ministry,          1414

    1830 Abdication of Charles X.,                              1416
         Death of George IV.,                                   1416

WILLIAM IV. 1830-1837.

    1830 Character of the King,                                 1418
         =Effects of the July Revolution=,                      1419
         =Position of Wellington's ministry=,                   1420
         Danger from O'Connell's agitations,                    1421
         And from rick-burning, etc.,                           1421
         Death of Huskisson,                                    1421
         Anxiety felt in Parliament,                            1422
         =Wellington resigns=,                                  1422
         =Grey's ministry=,                                     1423
         Difficulties attending reform,                         1423

    1831 =The first Reform Bill=,                               1425
         The second reading,                                    1426
         Dissolution of Parliament,                             1426
         The Bill passes in the Commons,                        1427
         =The Bill rejected in the Lords=,                      1427
         Consequent riots in the country,                       1428
         Organized action of the political unions,              1428
         Opposition of the King,                                1429

    1832 The second Bill passes second reading in the Lords,    1429
         Preparations during the recess,                        1429
         The Bill again rejected in the Lords,                  1430
         The ministers resign,                                  1430
         They return to office,                                 1430
         =The Reform Bill passes=,                              1430
         Description of the Bill,                               1430
         Importance of the change,                              1432
         Anxiety as to the effect of the change,                1433

    1833 =Character of the reformed Parliament=,                1434
         Critical questions to be settled,                      1434
         Condition of Ireland,                                  1434
         =Position of the Irish Church=,                        1435
         Irish Tithe Composition Bill passed,                   1436
         Althorp's Irish Church Bill,                           1436
         The Coercion Bill,                                     1438
         Changes in the ministry,                               1439
         Weakness of the ministry,                              1440
         Renewal of the Bank charter,                           1441
         Settlement of the East India Company,                  1442
         Emancipation of the Slaves,                            1442
         Condition of trade in the West Indies,                 1443

    1831 Opposition of planters to the orders in Council,       1444

    1833 The Bill passed,                                       1445

    1834 Weakness of the ministry shown in Parliament,          1445
         Split in the Cabinet on Ward's motion on the Irish
           Church,                                              1446
         Resignation of Stanley, Graham, Richmond, and Ripon,   1447
         Difficulties of Grey's position,                       1447
         =Grey resigns. Lord Melbourne's ministry=,             1449
         His Church policy,                                     1450
         =Reform of the Poor Law=,                              1451
         Discontent and misery of the poor,                     1453
         Increase of trades unions,                             1454
         Dispute between Brougham and Durham,                   1455
         =Dismissal of the Melbourne ministry=,                 1455
         =Peel's ministry=,                                     1456

    1835 The Tamworth Manifesto,                                1456
         Irish appropriation clause again introduced,           1457
         =Peel resigns. Melbourne's ministry reconstituted=,    1457
         Condition of municipal corporations,                   1459
         =The Municipal Reform Bill=,                           1460
         =Foreign diplomacy of Palmerston=,                     1461

    1831 Absorption of Poland,                                  1461
         Formation of Belgium,                                  1462
         Affairs of Portugal,                                   1463

    1832 Affairs of Spain,                                      1463

    1834 The Quadruple Alliance,                                1464
         =Retrospect of affairs in India=,                      1465

    1805 Cornwallis Governor-General,                           1466
         Sir George Barlow,                                     1466

    1807 Lord Minto,                                            1466

    1813 Marquis of Hastings,                                   1467

    1814 War with Nepaul,                                       1467

    1815 War with the Pindaries and Mahrattas,                  1468

    1823 Lord Amherst,                                          1471
         War with Burmah,                                       1471

    1826 Capture of Bhurtpore,                                  1472

LIST OF MAPS.

    1. COUNTRIES TO THE NORTH OF FRANCE,  At end of Book.

    2. NORTH AMERICA,                          "    "

    3. SPAIN,                                  "    "

    4. PORTUGAL,                               "    "

    5. EUROPE,                                 "    "

    6. INDIA,                                  "    "

    7. ENGLISH POSSESSIONS IN INDIA,           "    "

WILLIAM AND MARY.

1689-1702.

                                James I.
                -----------------------------------
                |                                 |
            Charles I.                        Elizabeth = Frederick V.,
                |                                       | Elector Palatine.
        -------------------------------------            \
        |            |                      |             \
    Charles II.      |                      |              \
                     |                      |               \
  2. Mary of = James II. = 1. Anne Hyde Mary = William  Sophia = Ernest
       Modena. |           |                  | of Nassau.     | Augustus,
               |           |                  |                | Elector
               |           |                  |                | of
               |           -------------      |                | Hanover.
               |            |          |      |                |
         James Edward,    Anne,      Mary = William III.    George I.
  the old Pretender.      b. 1665.  b. 1662.  b. 1650.
   b. 1688,    |
   d. 1765.    |
      Charles Edward,
  the young Pretender, born 1721, died 1788.

CONTEMPORARY PRINCES.

    _France._       |     _Austria._    |    _Spain._        | _Prussia._
  Louis XIV., 1643. | Leopold I., 1658. | Charles II., 1665. | Frederick
                    |                   | Philip V., 1700.   |  I., 1701.

    _Russia._            |  _Denmark and Norway._ |     _Sweden._
  Peter the Great, 1689. |  Christian V., 1670.   |  Charles XI., 1660.
                         |  Frederick IV., 1699.  |  Charles XII., 1697.

    POPES.--Alexander VIII., 1689. Innocent XII., 1691. Clement XI., 1700.

      _Archbishops._         |     _Chancellors._
    William Sancroft, 1678.  |  (In Commission, 1689.)
    John Tillotson, 1691.    |  Sir John Somers, 1693.
    Thomas Tenison, 1694.    |  Sir Nathan Wright, 1700.

      _First Lord of the Treasury._  |    _Chancellor of the Exchequer._
    1689. Mordaunt.                  |  1689. Delamere.
    1690. Lowther.                   |  1690. Hampden.
    1690. Godolphin.                 |  1694. Montague.
    1697. Montague.                  |  1699. Aaron Smith.
    1699. Tankerville.               |  1701. Henry Boyle.
    1700. Godolphin.                 |
    1702. Carlisle.                  |

                     _Secretaries of State._
    1689 { Nottingham         |    1697 { Shrewsbury
         { Shrewsbury         |         { Vernon
    1690 { Nottingham         |    1699 { Jersey
         { Sidney             |         { Vernon
    1693 { Shrewsbury         |    1700 { Hedges
         { Trenchard          |         { Vernon
    1695 { Shrewsbury         |    1702 { Manchester
         { Trumbal            |         { Vernon

[Sidenote: The Declaration of Right.]

[Sidenote: Crown accepted by William and Mary.]

Before the Crown was absolutely offered to William, the Convention was
eager to reform a number of the most prominent abuses of the last reign.
It was shown by the wiser leaders among them that such reforms would
entail a mass of legislation which, to be done well, must occupy several
years. It was therefore determined that, for the present, a solemn
declaration of principles only should be drawn up. This is known as the
Declaration of Right. In it, after enumerating the evils from which the
country had suffered, the Lords and Commons declared that the dispensing
power does not exist, that without grant or consent of Parliament no
money can be exacted by the sovereign, and no army kept up in time of
peace. They also affirmed the right of petition, the right of free
choice of representatives, the right of Parliament to freedom of debate,
the right of the nation to a pure administration of justice, and the
necessity, in order to secure these things, of frequent Parliaments.
This Declaration having been read to William and Mary, the Crown was
solemnly offered them by Halifax, and by them accepted. They were
immediately proclaimed amid general plaudits.

[Sidenote: Character of the Revolution.]

Thus was consummated, with scarcely any bloodshed, and by what appeared
an almost unanimous action on the part of the nation, a complete
revolution. It was not the less a revolution because it was held that
the whole Constitution of England passed on in its minutest detail
unchanged. By it was overthrown for ever the theory which came into
existence under the Tudors, and was brought to perfection under the
Stuarts; henceforward it was impossible that the King should be regarded
either as the proprietor of the country, or as a ruler by divine right,
the representative of God upon earth. In the place of this theory was
substituted that great Whig theory, which, arising among the Puritans,
had enjoyed a brief triumph in the successes of the Great Rebellion,
and, violently overthrown at the Restoration, had succeeded in making
good its position during the reigns of the two last Stuarts,--the theory
which regarded the King as reigning by the will of the people and in
virtue of an implied contract with them. As a natural consequence of the
position thus taken by the nation as the supreme power in the State,
Parliament, its representative, became in its turn supreme, and although
the change was not yet fully understood, the representatives of the
people were gradually taking to themselves not only the duties of
legislation, but also the executive. The ministry, therefore, however
much they may have been still regarded as the King's ministers, became
by degrees the national ministers, answerable for their conduct in
Parliament, and before long became in fact little else than the
executive Committee of the majority in Parliament.

[Sidenote: Personal unpopularity of William.]

[Sidenote: Discontent of the clergy]

[Sidenote: and the army.]

The unanimity of parties which had secured the triumph of William was of
short duration, nor was his personal popularity long-lived. The apparent
coldness of his demeanour, his carelessness of the pomps of the Court,
his wretched health, which obliged him to withdraw from London and
establish his Court at Kensington, speedily rendered him personally
unpopular; while, as soon as the general danger which had caused their
union was removed, the fundamental differences which divided political
parties at once made themselves obvious. Moreover, the tendency to
reaction, visible after all political excitements, began to show itself.
Two classes were by no means ready to accept kindly the revolution which
had been wrought. These were the clergy and the army. The greater part
of the clergy had spent their lives in inculcating the duty of passive
obedience. Although that theory had broken down in practice when the
attacks of the Crown were directed against themselves, they could not
bring themselves to submit without difficulty to a complete reversal of
their political creed, nor could they help seeing that the success of
William implied nothing short of the substitution of the Whig doctrine
for that of monarchy by divine right. A very large portion of them were
therefore disaffected. The army, though it had disliked the introduction
of Catholics and of Irish among its ranks, and was not prejudiced in
favour of any theory of monarchy, felt its professional honour injured
by the sorry part it had played in the late events. So deep was the
disaffection that one regiment quartered at Ipswich broke out into open
mutiny, marched northward in arms, and was only brought to obedience
after a skirmish with some Dutch troops under Ginkel, which had been
rapidly sent in pursuit. The signs of general disaffection at the same
time were so obvious that it was thought necessary to suspend the Habeas
Corpus Act.

[Sidenote: The Convention changed into a Parliament.]

Before this happened, William had had to form a ministry and to furnish
himself with a Parliament. For this latter purpose, in spite of the
opposition of many of the old Tories, who regarded a Parliament not
summoned by the King's writ as no Parliament at all, the Convention was
changed into a Parliament, and proceeded to act in that capacity. It was
not indeed reasonable that a freely elected body, whose choice of a king
both sides were willing to allow, should still be regarded upon
technical grounds as incapable of settling matters of much less
importance. The choice of ministers was a matter of more difficulty.

[Sidenote: William's difficulties in forming a ministry.]

[Sidenote: Ignorance of the constitutional change.]

[Sidenote: The Whigs' desire for vengeance.]

At the present time the choice of ministers is tolerably simple. The
House of Commons having obtained the position of both legislature and
executive, the administration is placed in the hands of a Committee of
that party which is predominant in the Commons; the Crown, in fact,
having but little choice in the matter. This theory of government, which
is a necessary consequence of the Parliamentary triumph at the
Revolution, was in the years immediately succeeding that event not
understood. The notion of a king whose duties are rather ornamental than
real had scarcely entered men's minds. The King was still expected to
have the direction of the executive, to be, in fact, his own Prime
Minister, and to nominate as heads of departments such statesmen as he
thought best fitted for the employment, without exact regard to their
political views. The effect of this was to make the King responsible for
the Government; and though the right of impeachment, as exercised in the
case of Danby, rested upon the supposition that ministers were
responsible to Parliament, the fact was not yet fully recognized. It was
this responsibility of the king which had produced the disasters of the
Great Rebellion and the late Revolution. The gradual substitution of
Parliamentary ministry, which should serve as an intermediate body
between the Commons and the Crown, and save the Crown from direct
responsibility, is the great constitutional change which was completed
on the accession of the Hanoverian house. Such a change becomes
absolutely necessary when Parliament has once secured a complete control
of the executive; otherwise it is plain that the acts or proposals of
the executive, constantly met by a hostile majority in Parliament,
could never be brought to a completion. It also of necessity implies a
mutual responsibility among the ministers, who upon essential points
must all agree with the Parliamentary majority. These necessary
consequences of the triumph of the Whig theory of the sovereignty of the
people were little understood even by the best English politicians; and
William, able as he was as a foreign statesman, had never a clear
insight into the working of the English Constitution. Nor was his
character such as to fit him to occupy the place of an ornamental king.
Thus he both himself intended and was expected by the nation to exercise
a supreme influence in the Government, at the same time that the newly
won powers of the Parliament were liable constantly to thwart his
schemes. Besides the difficulty which this general ignorance of
constitutional principles caused, peculiar difficulties, arising from
the manner in which he had obtained the Crown, beset William. He had
been brought to the throne by the Whigs. By the Whigs he was expected to
become a party leader. They looked forward, under his guidance, to a
triumphant revenge on the party at whose hands they had suffered so
much. On the other hand, William's own wish was to hush the storm of
faction, to become King of the whole English nation, not of one party,
and to be able to use the resources of England for his great European
measures; he therefore had no intention of becoming a mere party leader.
Again, his view of the duties and responsibilities of a king was a high
one, whereas the Whigs, on whom he might be expected to rely, were
pledged to give greater prominence to the influence of Parliament.
William's natural tendencies, therefore, when once safeguards for a just
Government and personal liberty were secured, inclined him rather to the
Tories, whose view of the prerogative was higher.

[Sidenote: William's ministry.]

It was in the midst of these difficulties that William had to select his
ministry. He attempted to conciliate all parties, with the exception of
the extreme Jacobites, and his ministry was a mixed one. Danby had been
mainly instrumental in bringing William to England. He had indeed in the
Convention thrown some obstacles in the way of the Parliamentary change
of dynasty, but might fairly look for a high reward. He was displeased
at being appointed President of the Council, a post of high honour, but
not of great political activity. Halifax was appointed Privy Seal. His
intellect, which always saw two sides of a question, was not such as to
fit him for decided statesmanship. The places of real importance, the
Secretaryships, were shared between the Tories and the Whigs;
Nottingham, the leader of that class who expressed with perfect honesty
their willingness to acknowledge any King _de facto_, and Shrewsbury, a
young man of great ability and as yet a consistent Whig, were appointed
to those places. Neither Treasury nor Admiralty were intrusted to any
single individual, but were placed in Commission, both Whigs and Tories
sitting at the Boards. At the Treasury, though only third on the
Commission, Godolphin, by his superior skill and knowledge, soon became
pre-eminent. The purity of the judgment-seat was secured by a careful
selection of the ablest lawyers from a list supplied by the Privy
Council, while the great places of the Household, where personal rather
than political influence was wanted, were chiefly given to William's
personal friends from Holland, the most prominent being Overkirk, Master
of the Horse, and Bentinck, subsequently Earl of Portland.

[Sidenote: Settlement of the revenue.]

[Sidenote: Settlement of the Church.]

By the appointment of his ministers, and by the conversion of the
Convention into a Parliament, the apparatus of Government was complete.
The Whigs were for a time triumphant. The revenue was settled on a peace
footing at £1,200,000 a year; the hereditary taxes being given to
William for the support of his Crown (a grant which forms the origin of
the Civil List), while the Parliamentary taxes intended for the support
of Government were granted only for limited periods. The hearth tax, the
most obnoxious and unjust of taxes, as it is at once inquisitorial in
its action and presses with undue severity upon the poor in comparison
with the rich, was abolished. The settlement of the Church, and of the
oaths to be taken by the holders of places, at once rendered obvious the
strength of faction which still existed, and the difficulties which must
beset all attempt at impartial government. Three Bills were produced, a
Toleration Bill, a Comprehension Bill, for the purpose of so changing
the construction of the Church and its Liturgy as to admit numerous
Protestant Dissenters, and a Bill for the removal of the Test Act, for
the purpose of enabling the King to employ, as he was most desirous of
doing, all Protestants in his service. Of these three, one only, the
Toleration Act, was carried. In fact the Comprehension Bill, which was
introduced by Nottingham, was no doubt intended, after admitting a
certain number of Dissenters, to render the exclusion of the rest more
absolute. Fear of this rendered the Dissenters themselves hostile to it,
and William's personal efforts to produce at once comprehension and
relaxation of the Test Act were in vain; both Bills were thrown out.

[Sidenote: Oaths of allegiance and supremacy.]

There yet remained the question of the oaths of allegiance and
supremacy. It was acknowledged on all hands that all lay place-holders
and all newly-appointed holders of ecclesiastical preferments should be
obliged to take these oaths, slightly altered to suit existing
circumstances. The case of the clergy already holding benefices was not
so clear. Many were willing to accept the new Government peaceably, and
it seemed hard that they should be required to take oaths which gave the
lie to all their former political views. With regard to the Bishops too,
the High Church Party advanced the doctrine that the Episcopal
ordination was indelible, and that it was impossible for any Act either
of King or Parliament to prevent a man who had once been a Bishop from
being so always. Against the King's wish the party who were for the most
stringent application of the oaths carried the day. All the clergy were
required to take them by August 1689; if they had not been taken by
February 1690, those clergy and Bishops who refused them were to be
deprived. Between 300 and 400 refused the oath, and there thus sprang up
that section of the clergy known as Nonjurors. The settlement of the
country was completed by the Coronation Oath, which declared that the
King would uphold the Protestant religion as settled by law. It was a
foolish miscomprehension of these words, which obviously did not prevent
a Parliamentary change in the arrangements of religion, which
subsequently led George III. into his obstinate opposition to Catholic
emancipation. When the oath had been arranged, the coronation took place
(April 11), and some new titles were given; thus Danby became Lord
Caermarthen, Churchill Earl of Marlborough, Bentinck Earl of Portland,
and Mordaunt, First Lord of the Treasury, Earl of Monmouth.

[Sidenote: The European war breaks out.]

[Sidenote: Devastation of the Palatinate.]

When the Government of the country was fairly settled it was time for
William to receive his reward. Parliament gratified him by a strong
declaration against the policy of Louis abroad, and assurance of hearty
support should he find it necessary to have recourse to arms. On the
13th of May war with France was therefore declared. William stated that
he had no choice in the matter as France had already begun war upon
England. This was an allusion to the action of France in Ireland; for
Louis, though unable to trust James and his English and Irish friends in
that implicit manner which would have rendered his assistance
irresistible, was yet so far convinced that the real key to success
against the coalition was the neutralization of England, that he had
allowed James some assistance in troops. The other great countries of
the coalition had already declared war with France. Louis found himself
with one ally only, who did him, if possible, more harm than
good,--this was the Porte. He succeeded in inducing that power to
continue its attacks upon Hungary, which was a constant source of
weakness to Austria; but the unnatural alliance between the most
Christian King and the great enemies of Christendom gave an opening for
the invective of his enemies, which received still further point from
his subsequent behaviour. Unable to sustain the forward position which
his armies had assumed in Germany the preceding year, especially when
some of his forces were required in Ireland, he ordered a retreat. What
he could not keep he determined to destroy, and the Palatinate was laid
waste with a reckless, unsparing fury, which enabled each country, as it
declared war with him, to point out that his conduct was more cruel than
even that of his Turkish ally. It had such an effect on the Continent,
that war was declared at intervals of about a month by Austria, the
Empire, Spain, Brandenburg and Holland. William's primary object was
attained; Europe was combined against France. The resources of England
were placed in his hands to support that coalition, but there was yet
much to be done before he was free to act.

[Sidenote: State of Ireland.]

It has been already related that, on his flight, James stated his
intention of finding if possible a new centre of action in Ireland. The
view was a natural one, for he had throughout his reign been preparing
that island as a refuge in case of danger. He had there acted with more
freedom than was possible in England, and gone far to carry out his
plans for re-establishing Catholicism. Talbot, Lord Tyrconnel, a
perfectly unscrupulous man, was at the head of the Government. Almost
all the other important offices were in Romanist hands. Rice, chief
Baron of the Exchequer, made the law courts subserve the same policy; he
openly asserted his intention of assaulting the Act of Settlement; all
who had or thought they had claims against the actual possessors of
land, brought their claims into his court, and no proof was held too
weak, no witness too untrustworthy, for the purpose of re-establishing
the old Catholics in their possession of the soil. From private acts he
proceeded to public. Charter after charter was forfeited; municipal
corporations re-established, with reckless indifference to all forms of
right, on a Roman Catholic basis. While aldermen in the boroughs thus
became Roman Catholic, sheriffs of the same religion were appointed, and
in their hands lay the choice of juries, so that the whole legal
apparatus was directed against Protestantism. The army meanwhile had
been similarly reorganized; 6000 Protestant veterans had been disbanded
and their places occupied by vehement and disorderly Catholics, who
lived, we are told, constantly at free quarters on the Protestant
inhabitants.

[Sidenote: Panic among the Englishry.]

[Sidenote: Londonderry and Enniskillen garrisoned.]

The arrival of William in England had brought matters to a crisis. The
Papists thought their time was at length come. The whole country was
full of panic and rumours of a coming massacre. Many of the English
fled. The gentry and yeomen gathered themselves together to the towns
and strong houses, to attempt if possible to make good for themselves
that security which the Government would not give them. The two most
important of these centres were Enniskillen and Londonderry. At the
former, early in 1689, the Protestant population refused admittance to
two companies of Popish infantry which had been ordered to be quartered
on them. The gentry collected, drove the soldiers away, appointed
Gustavus Hamilton governor, garrisoned the houses round Lough Erne, and
held the district for King William. At Londonderry the same process took
place. A regiment of 1200 Papists, under the Earl of Antrim, was sent to
the city, and the mayor and sheriffs, who by the new charters were
Papists, were proceeding to admit them, when thirteen young apprentices
of Scotch birth took upon themselves to close the gates, and the
Protestant gentry were summoned from the neighbouring country to defend
the city. In two days it was strongly garrisoned, and the troops
withdrew. It was in vain that Lord Mountjoy, a Protestant, who still
remained faithful to James, attempted a compromise. Some few troops
under Lundy were indeed admitted, but the country was still held for the
Protestants, and Lundy was obliged, in appearance at all events, to
accept the new Government.

[Sidenote: William's negotiation with Tyrconnel.]

[Sidenote: Tyrconnel's object Irish independence.]

[Sidenote: His temporary success.]

Meanwhile William had attempted to enter into negotiations with
Tyrconnel. For this purpose he had employed as his agent Richard
Hamilton, who had once held a commission in James's army, but who now
professed to have changed his allegiance. Hamilton pledged his word
that, if he failed in his commission, he would come back in three weeks;
but, forfeiting his promise, he returned to his old allegiance, and
became a chief leader on the side of James. But the character of the
quarrel was already changing, the real object of Tyrconnel, in common
with the greater part of the Irish Catholics, was to uphold neither
James nor William, but to destroy for ever the English supremacy. For
this purpose he was willing to use the name of James, trusting in fact
to the assistance of Louis, to whom he opened his real design. He
succeeded in ridding himself of Mountjoy, whose loyal influence was
likely to thwart his plans, by sending him on a mission to St. Germains,
where James now held his Court, and where he was at once apprehended. He
then summoned the Irish to arms. An army of 50,000 Papists was
collected, and many thousands more took arms on their own behalf, and
ravaged the Protestant settlements around them. To complete the Irish
supremacy, Tyrconnel ordered the Protestants to be disarmed. The
destruction wrought is inconceivable. Property which has been estimated
at £5,000,000 was destroyed. Whole herds of cattle were killed and left
to rot in the fields; 50,000 are said to have been thus killed in six
weeks, while about 400,000 sheep were similarly slain. Unable to
withstand this general movement, the Protestants in the south and west
were overpowered, or retreated if possible to the strongholds of
Londonderry and Enniskillen. In those two places the flower of the
English settlers stood at bay, surrounded on all sides by hordes of
liberated serfs now in mutiny against their former masters. An army was
ordered to march northwards under the traitor Richard Hamilton. The
Protestants fled before it; 30,000 of them collected as a last asylum
behind the walls of Londonderry.

[Sidenote: He gets James over.]

The country was in this condition when James, in answer to the messages
which Tyrconnel had sent him, determined, with the assent of Louis, and
with considerable assistance in officers and arms, himself to visit
Ireland. He landed at Cork, and soon appeared in the capital, while
William, unable to act with energy on account of the difficulties which
surrounded him, was assailed by unthinking men with violent abuse for
not taking stronger measures to prevent those disasters which he was
really watching with the greatest dismay.

[Sidenote: Character of Irish Jacobites.]

On his arrival in Dublin it was gradually brought home to James that it
was no feeling of passionate loyalty which was exciting the Irish
population. Among those who attended his Court there were two distinct
factions. Some Englishmen, with the loyal feelings which animated
English Jacobites, were anxious to re-establish James and to retain the
English influence in Ireland. Another party, which included Tyrconnel
and almost all the Irish Papists, were fighting to destroy the English
supremacy, they cared not how, and intriguing to secure the assistance
of France. James would naturally have inclined to the former party, but
soon learnt that the power of his partisans was entirely gone.

[Sidenote: Siege of Londonderry.]

He made a feeble struggle, and, contrary to the wish of the French and
Irish, proceeded himself to the siege of Londonderry. On his march he
found that the Protestants, as they retired, had destroyed all the crops
and houses behind them. He journeyed through a desert, and when he found
that the inhabitants of the city had got rid of their treacherous
governor Lundy, had taken matters into their own hands, and appointed
Walker, a clergyman, and Major Henry Baker, joint governors, he
determined to return instantly to Dublin, there to hold a Parliament.
The prosecution of the siege was intrusted to a French general, Maumont,
and Richard Hamilton. The defence was so vigorous that the siege was
soon turned into a blockade; and while the gallant city was holding out
to the last extremity, the Parliament at Dublin met.

[Sidenote: Wild legislation of the Irish Parliament.]

As a matter of course, considering the circumstances under which it was
collected, it consisted entirely of Catholics. It proceeded to act with
a recklessness which might be expected from an enslaved nation suddenly
called to power, and from men who for years had been unused to public
life. The great Act of Settlement, that compromise which in Charles
II.'s reign had settled the share of land to be held by the Protestant
emigrants who had followed Cromwell's victorious arms, was repealed.
Many thousands of square miles were at a single blow transferred from
English to Celtic landlords. The Act itself may have been unjust, but
for years it had been the basis of society, and men had acted as though
their titles were secure. Its repeal was therefore a violent act of
unjust confiscation. Moreover, as far as James was concerned, nothing
could be more disastrous, nothing could more surely destroy any
influence he might yet keep in England, where it seemed to foreshadow
the justice Protestants might expect from his hands were his reign
re-established. Such slight opposition as James offered (for he had the
wisdom to see some of the disastrous consequences of the measure) had no
effect but to cause profound distrust of himself. Other legislation even
more disastrous met with no opposition at his hands. In his want of
money he issued false coinage of copper and brass, intrinsically worth
perhaps a sixtieth of its nominal value. Thus of course all creditors
and mortgagees, who were pretty certain to be Protestants, were ruined.
The money was rendered current by threats of punishment against those
who refused it. Prices were kept down by law; and to complete this wild
legislation, the great Act of Attainder was passed, containing between
2000 or 3000 names. No inquiry was instituted as to the grounds of
accusation against those who were attainted, and opportunities were
thus afforded for any man who had a personal enemy to introduce his name
in the Bill. A limit of time was set within which all those named were
bound to surrender themselves to justice or be liable to execution
without trial; while, to prevent the King's mercy from interfering with
their vengeance, the Commons passed a law that after November the right
of pardon should cease.

[Sidenote: Its effect on English Jacobites.]

[Sidenote: Londonderry saved.]

Such legislation, sanctioned by James, while it failed to give him real
popularity in Ireland, checked the reaction which was beginning in
England. The feeling there grew constantly stronger against the inaction
of the Government. The fate of Londonderry and Enniskillen were watched
with absorbing interest. A fleet, with some troops under command of
Kirke, was at length despatched, but Kirke refused to risk the passage
of the river which led from Lough Foyle, and which was now guarded by
forts and a boom, and the starving population of Londonderry had the
misery of watching the ships as they lay idly in the Lough. But they
still held out with astonishing constancy. Their friends in Enniskillen
fared somewhat better. They did not confine themselves to defence; but,
issuing from the little island in Lough Erne which surrounded their
city, they collected from their enemies a considerable quantity of
cattle and ammunition, and lived in comparative comfort and security. At
length, in July, the fate of Londonderry seemed sealed. Nearly
everything eatable had been devoured,--horse-flesh, rats, salt hides,
all that could possibly be converted even into the most objectionable
food. It seemed impossible to feed the population in any way for two
days longer. At last a peremptory order reached Kirke to relieve the
city at all hazards. On the 30th of July, three vessels, two transports
and a frigate, sailed up the river, and, after a few minutes of
difficulty, broke the boom, and in the evening, at ten o'clock, were
anchored at the quay. The city was saved after 105 days of siege and
blockade.

[Sidenote: Battle of Newton Butler.]

The Irish army immediately broke up from its camp and retreated. As it
reached Strabane, on its backward course, it received the news of
another disaster. A great effort had been determined on against
Enniskillen, but Colonel Wolseley had been sent to take the command by
Kirke, and was successful in defeating at Newton Butler the approaching
Irish, of whom nearly 2000 were put to the sword or drowned in a
neighbouring lough. The news of this defeat hastened the steps of the
retreating army as it returned from Londonderry, and it fled in
confusion to Charlemont.

[Sidenote: Violent character of the Revolution in Scotland.]

[Sidenote: Opposition to a union.]

The same week which saw the relief of Londonderry and the battle of
Newton Butler was remarkable also for the great defeat of William's army
at Killiecrankie. In accordance with the character of the Scotch people,
and in some proportion to the cruelty which had been exercised upon
them, the Revolution in Scotland took a more violent form than it had
assumed in England, for in the North James had been able to carry out
more completely those plans which had produced his fall in the southern
kingdom. A Church repugnant to the majority of the people had been
forced upon them by law; in defiance of the opposition of a subservient
Parliament, all the high places had been filled with Papists;
nonconformity had been punished with an arbitrary severity and a
ferocious cruelty of which England showed no counterpart; the electoral
laws also, by requiring from all electors abjuration of the Covenant and
an assertion of the King's ecclesiastical supremacy, excluded all but
Prelatists from the right of election. Before collecting a national
Convention, to consider the state of the nation under the present
circumstances, it was necessary to dispense with the Act which excluded
Presbyterians from the franchise. The Convention consequently consisted
almost exclusively of Whigs, and the change of Government was marked by
grave disorders in many parts of the country; nor, though William
disliked these excesses, was he able to repress them, and the Episcopal
clergy were in many instances most roughly used. There was at first some
talk of a union with England, for the national feeling of the Scotch was
beginning to yield to the increasing belief that in most points,
especially of a financial and commercial character, such a union was
very desirable; while many even of the Whigs in England wished for a
union of the Churches and the establishment of Episcopacy on some broad
and general basis. But the religious feeling of the country was quite
averse to such a course, and William was too tolerant a man to wish to
apply any coercion to men's consciences. He therefore wrote a letter, in
which he did little else than profess his attachment to Protestantism,
and his wish if possible to establish the Union. The arrangements he
left in their own hands.

[Sidenote: Letters from James and William.]

[Sidenote: Dundee tries to secede.]

[Sidenote: Edinburgh arms.]

Unable himself to be present in Scotland, he intrusted the business to
the two Dalrymples, father and son, and to Lord Melville, a prudent man,
who, though he had retired abroad during the storm which succeeded the
Rye-House Plot, had never committed himself warmly to either party.
James's agents were Graham of Claverhouse, now Earl of Dundee, and
Lindsay, Earl of Balcarras. The Castle of Edinburgh, was in the hands of
Gordon, a Jacobite; and James's agents hoped that, by their own vigour
and by means of the dread inspired by the castle which commanded the
town, they might yet obtain a predominant influence in the Convention.
The first trial of strength was the election of a President, and before
long it became evident that the Whigs would certainly have the upper
hand. They elected the Duke of Hamilton, and about the middle of March
the regular sittings of the Convention began. At the first meeting,
letters from both King James and King William were produced; that of
James, the production of Melfort, was fitted, like most of the
productions of that statesman, to injure his master's cause as much as
possible. There was no word of repentance, no word of conciliation;
every line breathed an obstinate determination to continue in the old
course, and threats of vengeance on his enemies. Dundee and Balcarras
felt that all hope of maintaining a majority was lost, and having thus
failed in their first object, determined to pursue, in accordance with a
plan they had already arranged, a second line of policy, to secede with
their adherents to Stirling, and there establish a rival Convention. The
movement was thwarted by the premature retreat of Dundee. Edinburgh was
full of fierce Western Cameronians, and feeling that his life was
endangered, he hastily withdrew. The news that, with a party of his old
troopers, he had set out for Stirling, holding on his way a conference
with the Governor of Edinburgh Castle, excited the fears and hatred of
the Presbyterians in the Convention. They at once proceeded to rouse the
people of Edinburgh to arms, and to place the town in an attitude of
defence, and thus thwart the idea of secession. They then went on to
consider the state of the nation, and declaring that the late King had
forfeited the throne by misconduct, offered the Crown to William and
Mary. The offer was accompanied, as in the case of England, with a
Declaration of Right,--here in Scotland called the Claim of Right,--in
which, without discussing the question, they declared that Episcopacy
was abolished. The Crown was then solemnly offered and accepted.

[Sidenote: The Club.]

[Sidenote: Dundee escapes.]

Yet the difficulties of William were still most severe. The bigoted
Covenanters held aloof from a tolerant King who had not taken the
Covenant; and a number of extreme Whigs, who were attached to a monarchy
so limited as to be really a republic, put themselves at the head of a
factious opposition, forming among themselves an organization known by
the name of the Club. While this powerful opposition was being formed in
the Lowlands, war in behalf of the fugitive King actually broke out in
the Highlands. Dundee, on his flight from Edinburgh, had remained for
some time peaceably in his own house. But letters passing between him
and Melfort, James's minister in Ireland, were intercepted. An order was
issued to arrest him, with his colleague Balcarras. Balcarras was
secured, but Dundee fled towards Inverness, where he found a state of
affairs which he was able to turn to the advantage of James.

[Sidenote: Highland politics.]

The politics of the Highland clans bore little relation to the general
politics of the nation. The Highlanders were as yet a half savage race,
devoted to their patriarchal form of society, and with political
attachments which seldom went beyond the head of their tribe. It
mattered but little to them whether James or William were upon the
Scottish throne. They were equally ready to oppose by violence any
Government which interfered with their wild freedom. But among
themselves they had bitter tribal jealousies and feuds, and the partial
introduction of the feudal system had complicated their relations one
with the other. Great chiefs, combining the character of feudal lords
and clan patriarchs, had contrived to extend their power, and render
other clans besides their own dependent or tributary. The Earl or
Marquis of Argyle, Mac Callum More, as the Highlanders called him, head
of the great clan of Campbell in Argyleshire, had thus extended his
pre-eminence at the expense of his neighbours. The power of this chief
was great. He could bring 5000 men into the field, and his jurisdiction
was so independent as to be hardly second to that of the Crown;
consequently all his neighbours looked upon him with jealousy and
hatred. That the politics of the head of the Campbell clan were
consistently Whig was enough to make all his rivals and enemies
Jacobites. But of late years the power of the Campbells had decayed;
during the triumph of the Stuart Kings the Marquis of Argyle had been
beheaded, and the Earl, his son, had been driven into exile. As the
Campbells sunk, the Macdonalds, the chief rivals of their clan, on whose
property they had encroached, had risen. But the Macdonalds had a
constant feud with the Mackintoshes in the neighbourhood of Inverness,
in pursuance of which Macdonald of Keppoch was at this moment engaged in
the siege of Inverness, which had made common cause with the
Mackintoshes.

[Sidenote: Dundee in the Highlands.]

When therefore Dundee came into that neighbourhood he found the clans
already in arms on quarrels of their own. It occurred to him that, by
taking advantage of the general enmity against the Campbells, he might
form a union of the clans, nominally at all events in favour of King
James. His plan met with a partial success. He could not indeed induce
the Mackintoshes to join with the Macdonalds, but he secured their
neutrality. The eastern clans as a rule followed the same course; but
those of the west, more immediate sufferers from the power and
encroachments of the Campbells, eagerly leapt at the opportunity of
attacking the party of which Argyle was one of the chiefs. Mackay was
sent to take the command of the English troops. With his regular
soldiers he could do nothing against the rapid Highlanders in the
mountains, and urged the plan, subsequently followed, of building a line
of forts across the country. The campaign produced no event of
importance. A cessation of arms occurred in June, spent by Dundee in
obtaining succour from James in Ireland, by Mackay in raising troops
with some difficulty among the Western Cameronians.

[Sidenote: Battle of Killiecrankie. July 27.]

[Sidenote: Mackay concludes the war.]

A fresh dispute among the clans renewed the war. The Murrays, of whom
Athol was the chief, had not as yet declared for either side. The
Marquis of Athol himself withdrew for safety to England, but his eldest
son declared for King William, while his steward, who was believed to be
in his confidence, declared for James. The two sections of the clan
disputed the possession of the castle of Blair Athol, the seat of the
chief. It was felt by both parties that the adhesion of this large clan
was of great importance, and Dundee on one side and Mackay on the other
hurried to support their friends at Blair Athol. The castle lies a
little beyond the northern end of the pass of Killiecrankie, a ravine
through which the river Garry rushes, and which leads from the lowlands
of Perthshire to the mountains. The armies were not ill-matched in
numbers. Mackay's troops were suffered by the Highlanders to get clear
of the difficult pass, and then found themselves in a little valley,
with the Highlanders occupying the hills around. As long as it was an
affair of musketry, the Lowland troops, many of whom were veterans, held
their ground, but when the clans suddenly threw their firelocks from
them and rushed with a wild yell on their lines, they broke and fled,
with the exception of one regiment, and rushed in helpless flight down
the narrow pass. It was the difference in the weapons which caused this
strange victory of undisciplined over disciplined troops. When he had
fired his volley, the Highlander threw away his firelock, and was ready
in an instant to rush forward with his broadsword. The bayonet at that
time in use was so constructed that, when fixed, it filled up the mouth
of the barrel. It took some minutes to arrange the clumsy contrivance
which turned the musket into a pike. While the regulars were still
fumbling with their weapons, the Highlanders were upon them.[1] Mackay
brought off such troops as were left with rare coolness, and the death
of Dundee neutralized the effects of the defeat. The Highland army
passed under the command of General Cannon, who had brought over the
Irish auxiliaries, a man of no particular ability. Mackay succeeded in
rapidly re-establishing his army. He destroyed the prestige of the
Highlanders by defeating a detachment at St. Johnstone's, near Perth;
and when a newly raised regiment of Cameronian recruits beat off the
mountaineers at Dunkeld, no longer held together by a leader of ability,
they broke up and retired to their own glens, and the war was
practically over.

[Sidenote: Factions of the English Parliament.]

[Sidenote: Bill of Indemnity dropped.]

[Sidenote: Attack on Halifax.]

Though William's measures had thus been tolerably successful, although
the Revolution was acknowledged in two portions of the Empire, and
likely soon to become so in the third, his position in London was most
difficult and trying. Success had dissolved the union between the Whigs
and Tories, and the triumphant Whigs had time to remember their
sufferings in the last reign and to form plans of vengeance. The King
desired above all things the cessation of faction and the union of
parties, but on every question which arose the Commons displayed a most
passionate temper. A certain number of attainders were reversed, and
this was well enough; but when a Bill of Indemnity was brought in, so
many exceptions were made to it, that it became in fact rather a Bill of
vengeance than a Bill of oblivion. The discussion of these exceptions
lasted so long that the Bill had to be dropped for that session. But the
intemperate Whig leaders, such men as Howe, Sacheverell, and the younger
Hampden, were not contented to be thus balked of their revenge. Fierce
attacks were brought against the Lord President Caermarthen, and
Halifax, the Privy Seal. The position of Caermarthen was so strong that
his enemies were afraid to divide the House against him. Halifax had
made more enemies, and was not so firmly supported by the King's
influence. The practical mind of William found little to like in the
subtle and questioning intellect of Halifax; and as the affairs in
Ireland had been virtually entirely in that nobleman's control, the
wretched condition of the Protestants, the lengthened misery of
Londonderry, and the temporary success of James and Tyrconnel, were all
laid to his charge. It was said that he even purposely neglected Ireland
in order to render a new Government indispensable. However, he contrived
to escape impeachment by a narrow majority of sixteen; and the relief of
Londonderry, and the immediate despatch of Schomberg at the head of a
considerable body of troops to support the Protestant interest, tended
to check the vehemence of the popular anger which was directed against
him.

[Sidenote: Misery of the English army in Ireland.]

Late in August, the Parliament broke up till October, and all eyes were
turned towards the fate of Schomberg's expedition. His troops consisted
for the most part of raw recruits, scarcely able to discharge their
firelocks. He could not venture to fight with such an army, but
displayed great skill and determination in the manner in which he
overcame overwhelming difficulties; for, while encamped in the
neighbourhood of Dundalk, treason was discovered in the camp of some
French Protestant refugees, some regiments of which accompanied him. The
refugees themselves were trustworthy, but a certain number of other
foreigners had found their way into their regiments, and opened
correspondence with the Irish. Sharp vengeance fell upon the chief
conspirators. But a more terrible enemy than treason attacked the
English troops. A deadly pestilence arose and carried them off by
hundreds: their misery was unspeakable; the ties of morality and decorum
were relaxed, the men got drunk sitting on the corpses of their dead
comrades, and the horror of the time is well shown by the fact, that
several ships lay in Carrickfergus Bay filled with carcases, and not a
live man on board. The blame of the wretched condition of the army was
traceable to the general maladministration which existed in the
Government. The Chief Commissary was a man named Shales, who supplied
the army with quite uneatable food, drew money largely for supplies
which never reached the troops, and let out the troop horses, when
collected, to English farmers. But it was not only in the army that this
maladministration was visible. Admiral Herbert, now Lord Torrington,
sunk in debauchery, allowed the same offences to be perpetrated in the
navy. It would be unfair to lay this to the charge of William. The
deeprooted mismanagement of the last twenty years rendered it almost
impossible for him to introduce reforms with any rapidity, nor, with all
the weight of foreign affairs on his hands, could he personally
supervise every department. His own department was well and
successfully managed, and the English troops abroad won some honour in a
skirmish against the French at Walcourt.

[Sidenote: Parliament meets. Oct. 19, 1689.]

[Sidenote: The violence of the Whigs.]

[Sidenote: The Tories throw out the Corporation Act.]

[Sidenote: William threatens to leave England.]

[Sidenote: Dissolves Parliament, Jan. 27, 1690, and undertakes Irish
war.]

Still it was not to be expected that Parliament, on its reassembling,
should be in a better temper than when it separated. It again renewed
its violent courses. The necessary supplies were indeed voted; The Bill
of Rights, by which the Declaration of Right was to be formed into a
statute, and which in the last session had been thrown aside because the
Lords wished to introduce the name of the Electress Sophia in the
succession to the throne, was passed without that amendment; but besides
this scarcely any other work was done. On the other hand, the Whig
majority proceeded on their course of vengeance. The Earls of Salisbury
and Peterborough, Sir Edward Hales and Obadiah Walker were impeached; a
Committee to inquire into the death of Russell and Sidney, known as the
Murder Committee, was appointed, and the attack upon Halifax renewed. At
length the Whigs, conscious that the King was not well pleased with
their vindictive temper, attempted to secure their own permanent
supremacy in Parliament. They introduced a Corporation Bill, for
restoring all the charters which had been forfeited in the reign of
James; and to this, at the suggestion of Sacheverell and Howard, were
appended two clauses, the one providing that all who had taken part in
the surrender of the charters should be incapable of holding office for
seven years, the other adding that all who, in spite of being thus
incapacitated, presumed to hold office should be fined £500, and be
debarred for life from public employment. These clauses, which would
have in fact disfranchized the Tory party in every borough, they
attempted to pass through the House by a surprise, when the greater part
of the Tory party had returned home for Christmas. But so violent and
factious a measure called out all the energies of the Opposition. The
country gentlemen came crowding back to town, and, after a violent
debate, the Whigs were defeated by a small majority. The Tories thought
to improve their triumph by reintroducing the Bill of Indemnity without
the exceptions, but they quite overrated their strength. Their attempt
was defeated by an enormous majority, and a Bill of Pains and Penalties
incorporated with the Indemnity Act, which rendered it a mere measure of
proscription. But this violent measure was not destined to pass the
House. The fierce struggle of parties was so repugnant to the King, any
attempt at firm national government appeared to him so hopeless, that,
having secretly arranged means of retiring to Holland, he sent for his
ministers, and told them it was his intention to withdraw from England,
leaving the Queen upon the throne. The threat stupefied the Whigs. To
whatever excesses their passion may have led them, they felt that their
safety was bound up with the prudent chief they had elected. A
passionate scene ensued, in which the Tory Nottingham and the Whig
Shrewsbury vied with each other in intreating William to forego his
plan. At length he yielded, but determined that he would escape from the
atmosphere of faction which surrounded him, and himself go to carry on
the war in Ireland. Having stated that such was his unalterable
intention, he prorogued and dissolved the factious Parliament which he
had been unable to bring to reason.

[Sidenote: Tory reaction in new Parliament.]

[Sidenote: Venality of Parliament.]

The dissolution brought with it a reaction. The Tories in the New
Parliament were as strong as the Whigs had lately been. Even London
returned four opponents to the obnoxious clauses of the Corporation Act.
As yet the theory of a ministry not having been established, there was
no great change, yet the balance among the ministers was somewhat
altered. Halifax withdrew from the Government; the Board of Treasury and
the Board of Admiralty were both reconstituted, with a larger proportion
of Tories, and Caermarthen attained such an amount of power as to make
him virtually Prime Minister. Sir John Lowther was put at the head of
the Treasury, while the purchase of votes, an art at which Caermarthen
was an adept, and which for many years to come was constantly employed
by the Government, was intrusted to Sir John Trevor, who became Speaker.
William had hitherto tried to act without bribery; he had found his
efforts futile, and his influence in Parliament neutralized by the
passion of faction. He now, against his own feelings, allowed
Caermarthen to have his way. The strange venality of Parliament at this
time, and for many years afterwards, may probably be traced to the fact
that the secrecy with which debates in Parliament were shrouded
prevented the exercise of any wholesome popular opinion upon the vote of
the representatives, while the Crown had lost that power of coercing the
Opposition which it had enjoyed in the time of the Tudors. It became
necessary to purchase what could not be procured by violence, while
there was no pressure from without to restrain the cupidity of
unprincipled members. With his new Parliament William found himself more
free to act.

[Sidenote: The revenue settled.]

Its first duty was the settlement of the revenue. This had hitherto been
chiefly collected under Acts passed for short terms only. It was now put
on a permanent basis. The hereditary revenues, consisting of the rents
of royal domains, fees and fines, post office and ecclesiastical dues,
together with that portion of the excise which had been paid to Charles
II. as the price for the abolition of feudal services, were given to
William and Mary. These revenues amounted to about £400,000 or £500,000
a year. The King had hoped to obtain a grant for life of the other
excise and custom duties which had been granted to James, and had
amounted to £900,000 a year; but the Tory majority felt as distinctly as
their opponents that an income which set the Crown free from the
necessity of consulting Parliament might prove a source of evils similar
to those of the last reign. They therefore gave William for life only
£300,000 a year from the excise, the remaining £600,000, which arose
from customs, they granted for four years only.

[Sidenote: Act of Grace, May 20.]

On other points the Parliament now acted more in accordance with the
King's wishes, although the Whigs produced several embarrassing
measures, and attempted to compel all place-holders to take an oath
abjuring King James. But William was determined to check the course of
vengeance; the known wish of the King enabled the Tories to throw out
the obnoxious measure, and the revenge of the Whigs was finally balked
by an Act of Grace from the Crown, which took the place of the
unfinished Bill of Indemnity. This declared a perfect oblivion for all
political offences up to that moment, excepting from the benefits of the
Act only such of the regicides as were still alive, and about thirty
others; of whom some were either dead or in safety abroad, while the
rest, though in England, were suffered to live unharmed. It is a noble
addition to the glory of William that, through his firmness and
generosity, no blood was shed at the Great Revolution.

[Sidenote: Preparation for war.]

[Sidenote: Jacobite plot discovered.]

Meanwhile the King had been hastening preparations for his war. The
number of the troops in Ireland had been raised to 30,000, at length
well armed and well provisioned; a fleet, with still more provisions and
equipments, was ready to receive the King at Chester. But at that moment
it became very difficult for him to leave the country, for the Jacobites
had determined to seize the opportunity of his absence for a great
effort. Clarendon the Queen's uncle, Dartmouth commander of the fleet
which should have opposed William's landing, and Preston James's last
Secretary of State, were the leaders of the scheme. Fortunately their
secrets were intrusted to a man named Fuller, who at once determined to
turn traitor. He gave over to the Privy Council the despatches from the
Queen in France, which had been sewn into his buttons. His
fellow-messenger was apprehended; when convicted and condemned to death,
he too confessed, and the chiefs of the conspiracy were in the hands of
the Government. Nevertheless it was a terrible time to be absent from
home. An insurrection might break out at any moment, and an invasion was
threatened from France.

[Sidenote: William goes to Ireland.]

[Sidenote: Threatened invasion and insurrection.]

[Sidenote: Battle of Beachy Head.]

[Sidenote: Spirited behaviour of England.]

William was determined that, come what would, he would put an end to the
disgraceful state of affairs in Ireland. He placed the Government in the
hands of the Queen, assisted by a Council of nine, with Danby for her
chief minister, Admiral Russell to advise her on naval, and Marlborough
on military affairs, and then crossed to Belfast. Fortunately the two
objects of the Jacobites proved incompatible; the threatened invasion so
roused the national spirit, that domestic insurrection became
impossible. While William advanced southward, and the Irish army,
reinforced by a considerable number of French under Lauzun, fell back
behind the Boyne, a great French fleet under Tourville appeared off the
Needles. Torrington, the English commander, had been reinforced by a
Dutch squadron, yet shrunk from the encounter, and retreated towards the
Straits of Dover. The Queen and her Council sent peremptory orders to
fight. Jealous of Russell, afraid of risking a great battle with
superior numbers, Torrington unwillingly obeyed. With shameful policy,
he sent the Dutch squadron forward to bear the brunt of the danger, and
left it almost unsupported, till, after exhibiting their usual stubborn
bravery, the Dutch were compelled to fall back with their shattered
ships, and Tourville swept the Channel unopposed. Almost at the same
time as the news of this disgraceful defeat reached London, tidings
arrived that the allies, under the Prince of Waldeck, had been beaten by
Luxemburg at the battle of Fleurus. But the very misfortunes which
seemed falling upon the nation roused its spirit. The Lord Mayor offered
the Queen at once £100,000, 10,000 Londoners, well armed for immediate
purposes, and six regiments of foot and two regiments of horse, to be
raised at once, without cost to the Crown. The same temper was visible
throughout England, and suddenly, after three days of depression, hope
was again raised in the national mind by the news of the battle of the
Boyne.

[Sidenote: Battle of the Boyne. July 1, 1690.]

James had determined to make a stand behind that river, which separates
the counties of Louth and Meath, falling into the sea at Drogheda. The
position was a fairly strong one; the ground rose immediately from the
river, and some of William's generals scarcely liked to venture upon an
attack. But he felt that some great blow was necessary to retrieve the