Greek Gods- Rome- Middle Ages- England
- Автор: Harding Samuel B.
- Год: 1909
- Язык: английский
- Год: Heritage History
- Жанр: История
Электронная книга - «Greek Gods- Rome- Middle Ages- England». Краткое содержание книги:
Greek Gods and Heroes
City of the Seven Hills
The Story of the Middle Ages
The Story of England
In William's reign, also, began many of the practices which established political and religious liberty in England. The Protestant Dissenters were rewarded, for their refusal to aid James II. in his illegal measures, by the passage of a Toleration Act. This relieved them from the fines for failure to attend the services of the Church of England, which were imposed by laws made in Elizabeth's reign, and also permitted them to have chapels and hold services of their own. Catholics, however, were not admitted to these privileges. For nearly a hundred years the laws against Catholics not only continued in full force, but were even made stronger.
To prevent any King becoming strong enough to overthrow free government by force, as James II. had tried to do, Parliament made a change in regard to the Mutiny Act, which gives the King and his officers power to control the army. They now began to pass this act for only a year at a time, instead of for a long term of years. Parliament also adopted the practice of voting money to run the government for only a year at a time. In this way, it was made impossible for a King to rule without Parliament, for Parliament must meet at least once each year, to pass the Mutiny Act and the "appropriation" bills. A few years later, Parliament also passed a Triennial Act, which provided that no Parliament should continue in existence, without a new election, for more than three years. The period for which Parliament can sit was later changed to seven years; but the principle still holds good, that such "long Parliaments" as that which began under Charles I., and that which sat under Charles II., shall not be allowed.
The Bank of England was also established under William. This made it much easier for the government to raise money, and to carry on its financial business. Today the Bank of England is one of the greatest money institutions in the world.
In the later part of his reign, William took the step of choosing all his chief ministers from the party which at that time had a majority in the House of Commons, and hence best represented the views of the people. A very little more change, made in later reigns, brought about a system of "cabinet government," under which England is ruled today.
From William's reign also dates the right of any man to print any book, pamphlet, or newspaper that he wants to without having to submit it beforehand to a "censor" to see that its opinions are such as the government and church approve of. Newspapers now sprang up, and it was not long before the first daily paper was founded. This "freedom of the press" helped greatly to educate the people, and to inform them of what the government was doing; and thus a "public opinion" was formed which statesmen of both parties were obliged to take account of.
Queen Mary II
In 1694 Queen Mary died, of the smallpox, which at that time, before vaccination was discovered, carried off thousands of persons each year. William's grief was heart-rendering. "I was the happiest man on earth," he cried, "and now I am the most miserable. She had no faults—none. You knew her well, but you could not know—nobody but myself knew—how good she was."
William and Mary had no children, and so, by a provision in the Bill of Rights, Mary's sister, Anne, became heir to the throne. The last of Anne's seventeen children died before William passed away, and it then became clear that some further provision must be made concerning the succession. So, in 1701, Parliament passed an Act of Settlement, which provided that, after Anne's death, the crown should go to Sophia, a granddaughter of James I., and to her descendants, "being Protestants." Sophia's husband was Elector (or Prince) of Hanover, one of the German states, and this act thus paved the way for the "Hanoverian succession," which actually took place in 1714. Another provision of the Act of Settlement was that judges should hold their offices during life, or so long as they behaved well. This provision remedied one of the greatest abuses under the Stuart Kings, by making it impossible to remove judges at the King's pleasure, in order to get from the courts decisions which suited him.
The next year after this act, William III. died, worn out with anxiety and hard work. The immediate cause of his death was a fall from his horse. He was a great King, though he was not a popular one. We should think of him especially as one who brought England safely through a great crisis, and who first showed the world how, in a country like England, Parliament and the Crown could govern together.
Topics for Thought and Search
Read an account of the siege of Londonderry. (Macaulay, "History of England," Ch. xii.)
Read aloud Browning's poem entitled "Hervé Riel" (about the escape of the French fleet after La Hogue).
Make a list of five ways in which the Revolution and the reign of William and Mary helped the growth of liberty.
Compare the character and work of William III. with that of Oliver Cromwell.
Queen Anne, the Last of the Stuarts (1702-1714)
Queen Anne was a good-hearted woman, and was very devoted to the Church of England. But she was stupid and without ability to govern, and was always ruled by her favorites.
Queen Anne
From girlhood Anne was under the influence of a beautiful, ambitious, and high-tempered lady of the court, named Sarah Jennings. Lady Sarah married John Churchill, a handsome young man, of polished manners, who was as poor and ambitious as Sarah herself. It was through their influence that Anne deserted her father, at the time of the Revolution, and went over to the side of William and her sister Mary. Churchill also deserved well of William, because he led over his troops in James's army to William's side. After the Revolution was successful, William made him Earl of Marlborough; but William never fully trusted him, because he knew that the new Earl was often plotting with his old master.
In Queen Anne's reign Marlborough at once became the chief man in the government. In spite of his bad conduct in the past, and his greed for money, this was a fortunate thing for England. Marlborough was both the greatest statesman and the greatest general of his time. A great Frenchman said of Marlborough that "he never besieged a fortress that he did not take, never fought a battle that he did not win, and never carried on a negotiation that he did not bring to a successful close." One of his strong points in dealing with men was his unfailing politeness and his good temper. But the chief factor in Marlborough's rise was the fact that his wife, who was devoted to him, was the bosom friend and constant companion of the Queen. The result was that the richest positions and highest honors were given the Marlboroughs, including for him the title of Duke, and the chief command of the English forces.
England needed a general of great ability at this time, for she was once more at war with Louis XIV. of France—this time over the succession to the throne of Spain.
What difference, you may ask, did it make to England who became King of Spain? Ordinarily it made little difference. But now it happened that the chief claimant of the Spanish crown was the "Dauphin" of France—that is, the eldest son of Louis XIV.—and it would never do to permit France and Spain, with their vast colonies and dependencies, to become united under the same rule.
William III. had foreseen this difficulty, and had negotiated "partition treaties" by which Spain and the Spanish colonies were to go to an Austrian Prince, and the French Prince should receive only the Spanish possessions in Italy. This was unsatisfactory to the Spanish people; and when the King of Spain died, in 1700, he left a will giving his whole possessions, not to the Dauphin, but to the Dauphin's second son. France would go, in the course of time, to the Dauphin's eldest son, and thus the two countries would not have the same King, though they would be under the same family. It was thought that this would remove the objections of the other nations, but it did not.