Principal Events.

DAUGHTER of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn, is proclaimed queen in accordance with the will of her father, at the age of 25 (19th Nov.)

Sir W. Cecil (afterwards Lord Burleigh) is appointed Secretary of State, and Sir Nicholas Bacon (father of the great Lord Bacon) Lord Chancellor. 1559. Coronation of the Queen (15th Jan.) Assembly of a new parliament (25th Jan.), which restores the religious institutions of Edward VI.

1560. Elizabeth assists the Scotch malcontents against the Queen Regent.

1562. She supports the French Huguenots against Charles IX., and is by them put in possession of Havre-de-Grace.

ACCESSION A.D. 1558. DEATH.

Observations.

THE first measures of this reign were to restore religion to the same state as in the time of Edward VI., to re-establish the royal supremacy, and to make the denial of it, on the third offence, subject to the penalty of high treason. Convocation opposed these acts. The sovereign, however, received the support of lessening opposition it was at the same time provided that the new religious of the new parliament, in which the Protestant interest prevailed. In the hope test was not to be tendered to the peers, in whose loyalty the queen professed entire confidence. The bishops, who refused to take the oath, were deprived of their sees, which were given to men favourable to the principles of the Reformation. The exercise of the Queen's Supremacy was entrusted to a court, called the Court of High Commission; and an act was passed, the " Act of Uniformity," by which the use of any but the established liturgy was prohibited under severe penalties.

MARY STUART, the next heir to the English throne, who had been married to Francis II., of France, had, on the accession of Elizabeth, imprudently assumed husband, the marriage of Mary with her kinsman, Lord Darnley, took place. the arms of England. On her return to Scotland after the death of her first Estrangement followed the marriage-an estrangement fomented by the men in whom Mary placed her confidence-until Darnley was induced to join in the plot for the murder of Rizzio. The mysterious death of Darnley himself, at the Kirk of Field, followed soon afterwards, when Mary took the fatal step of consenting to a marriage with Bothwell, on whom, though legally acquitted of the crime, a well-merited suspicion of the murder of Darnley rested. The brother, the Regent Murray, Mary sought refuge in England. The conduct of the English queen throughout these transactions cannot be too strongly conElizabeth wrote to her in terms of affection. Deceived by this apparent demned. Although privately ordering Mary to be detained as a captive, friendship, Mary was induced to allow the disputes between herself and her subjects to be referred to Elizabeth, and deputies from both parties appeared

Peace of Chateau Cambresis, between France and Austria, (1559.) Catherine de Medici, Regent of France during the minority of her sons, Francis II., (1559), and Charles IX., (1560.)

1564. Robert Dudley, son of the late Duke of Northumberland, is received into favour, and is created Earl of Leicester.

1568. Elizabeth obtains the person of Mary, Queen of Scots, who lands in Cumberland (16th May.) Conference at York (4th Oct.), subsequently removed to Hampton Court, before which commissioners of Mary and the Regent of Scotland appear. Negotiations are entered into for a marriage between Elizabeth and the Archduke Charles of Austria.

1569. Projected marriage of Mary Stuart with the Duke of Norfolk, who is committed to the Tower.

Insurrections of Lords Northumberland and Westmoreland, and of Lord Dacre, for the liberation of Mary, for which eight hundred persons are executed.

The conspiracy of Amboise is concerted

Temporary coalition of the Queen-Mother

with the Huguenots, (1561.)

The Reformation in Scotland is estab

lished by Knox (1561).

The Huguenots, under Condé (Bourbon)

and Coligny, take up arms, and are de

feated at Dreux, (1562.)

The Emperor Maximilian establishes a general toleration, (1564.)

Revolt of the Netherlands against Philip

II., (1566.) Counts Egmont and Horn are beheaded, (1567.)

Mary Stuart is made prisoner by the confederate lords. James VI. becomes king, under the regency of Earl Murray, (1567.)

before the Duke of Norfolk and two other English commissioners. Satisfied too late of the treachery of the English queen, Mary at length retired from the con conference. The remonstrances made by foreign powers were in vain, and the by the English nobles, opened only a temporary gleam of hope to the imprisoned project of the marriage of Norfolk with Mary, which was favourably received queen. The discovery of this project led to the rebellion of Lords Westmoreland imprisonment were increased in consequence of the conspiracies of Throgmorton, and Northumberland, which was cruelly punished. The rigours of Mary's Babington, and others, until at length, in violation of the principles of justice, a foreign princess, who owed no allegiance to the English laws, and who had and Moncontour, (1569.) been unjustly detained a prisoner, was convicted of treason, and beheaded at Fotheringay (18th Feb., 1587).

Commencement of the sixty-eight years' war between Spain and Holland, (1568.) The Huguenots are defeated at Jarnac

Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, between Francis II. and the Huguenots, (1570.)

the fleets of Spain ard Venice, under Don The Turks are defeated off Lepanto by John, natural son of Charles V., (1571.)

Such was the effect produced upon foreign powers by the execution of Mary, and by the support given by Elizabeth to the insurgents in the Netherlands and in France, that a formidable armament was prepared by Philip II. of Spain, for be joined off the coast of Holland by the Duke of Parma, with thirty-five thousand the invasion of England. This fleet, known as the INVINCIBLE ARMADA, was to troops. Every effort was made for the defence of England. Elizabeth acted the male line of the house of Jagello. The

The massacre of the Huguenots at Paris on St. Bartholomew's day, (1572.) Death of Sigismund Augustus, the last of

GOVERNMENT AND LAWS. We have rapidly described the increase of popular liberty, and the limitations imposed by the Commons on the power of the Crown, under the Plantagenet kings. During the reigns of the Tudors, on the other hand, we meet with an extension of the royal prerogative utterly incompatible with the liberty of the subject.

The student of Constitutional history cannot fail to observe the infrequency of parliaments during the reigns of the Tudors, as compared with those held by the Plantagenet princes. In the thirty years of the reign of Edward III., there were no fewer than fiftythree parliamentary sessions. On the other hand, in the long reign of Elizabeth, occupying forty-three years, only thirteen parliaments, and in the twenty-five years of Henry VII. only seven parliaments were held.

Further evidence of the increase of the royal power during the Tudor dynasty may be gathered from the fact that, in the contests between the parliamentary party and the adherents of prerogative, during the 17th century, the precedents brought forward by the former in favour of popular liberty were drawn exclusively from Plantagenet times.

Attention has also been called to the contrast between the language of writers who describe the English Constitution in the 15th century, and that employed by those who wrote a century and a half later. In his work on the "Laws of England," Chief Justice Fortescue, during the reign of Henry VI., describes England "not as an absolute but a limited monarchy, which exists only from the free choice of the nation, where the king cannot make laws, nor take goods of his subjects without their consent." The sovereign of England is, on the other hand, spoken of as absolute by Raleigh, Davies, and other writers, who were contemporary with the last of the Tudor princes.

Much of the despotism of the Tudors is, doubtless, to be traced to the removal of the restraint caused by the power of the aristocracy, before the Commons had acquired sufficient influence to enable them to resist the arbitrary measures of the Crown. The subserviency of parliament during this period has often been pointed out; at the same time it must be remembered that, happily, by the preservation of parliamentary forms, an institution was left standing, by means of which the nation was, at a later period, enabled to regain its rights.

The chief constitutional changes deserving notice during the reign of Henry VII. were— The making recoverable by course of law the exactions known as Benevolences, which had been abolished by parliament in the reign of Richard III.—the frequent grants of monopolies, and the erection of corporate bodies with exclusive privileges-and the extension of the jurisdiction of the Court of the Star Chamber. This Court appears to have succeeded to some of the powers of the Ordinary Council (Ordinarium Concilium) of the early Norman kings, against which several statutes had been enacted since the reign of Edward III. It received its name from the Camera Stellata, or Star Chamber, a room in the palace at

Westminster where it held its sittings. This Court was reconstructed in the 3rd year of Henry VII. Its Judges were the Chancellor, the Treasurer, and the Lord Privy Seal, to whom at a later period the President of the Council was added. Its criminal jurisdiction extended to the offences of forgery, perjury, fraud, libel, conspiracy, and especially to violations of the statutes against maintenance. Cases were tried by this tribunal without the intervention of a Jury, and it could award any punishment short of death.

In this reign an important statute was passed, providing that no person who should assist a king de facto should be liable to punishment.

The progress toward arbitrary rule, though with outward regard to constitutional forms, was more marked in the reign of Henry VIII. By the discharge of the king, in 1529, from all debts contracted by him within six years previously,-by affixing the penalty of High Treason to numerous trivial offences, in opposition to the statute of Edward III.,— and by passing attainders without allowing the accused parties to be heard in self-defence, little security was left for the property or person of the subject. By empowering the king to repeal all Acts of Parliament made previous to his attaining the age of twentyfive,—and, finally, by declaring Royal Proclamations to be, in certain cases, of equal force with statutes, the advance towards despotism may be said to have been completed. The same severity characterised the laws which were passed in this reign with regard to religious belief. The refusal to take the oath abjuring the Supremacy of the Pope was subjected to the pains of High Treason, whilst by the Law of the Six Articles those who maintained the views of the Reformers on the doctrines of the Real Presence, communion in one kind, and private masses, or on the subjects of confession, the celibacy of the clergy and the monastic life, were liable to be burnt.

In the reign of Edward VI. many of the new treasons created by Henry VIII. were abolished, and the important addition was made to the Statute of Edward III. that no person should be convicted of High Treason except on the testimony of two witnesses. The act giving to Royal Proclamations the force of law was repealed. These were important concessions, but we find Royal Proclamations still issued during this and the succeeding reign, which were enforced under penalty of fine and imprisonment.

One of the first acts of Mary was to restore the law of Treason to the same state as in the reign of Edward III. It is just to the memory of this princess to mention the words addessed by her to the Chief Justice, that "notwithstanding the old error among judges did not admit any witness to speak, her Majesty being party, yet her Highness's pleasure was, that whatsoever could be brought in favour of the subject should be admitted and heard." We still, however, find the Judges endeavouring to intimidate Jurors, and punishing by imprisonment verdicts unfavourable to the Crown. In 1557 we meet with an unconstitutional exertion of the prerogative. On the declaration of war with France, the Queen levied an army by conscription, and gave orders that the corn in Norfolk and Suffolk should be seized for the victualling of the fleet.

The success of the foreign and domestic policy of Elizabeth cannot blind our eyes to the despotic character of the government of the last of the Tudors. The chief instruments, by which the unconstitutional power of the Sovereign was carried out during this reign, were the Court of High Commission and the Star Chamber. At the time of the Reformation the Ecclesiastical jurisdiction, hitherto exercised by the Pope, had been transferred to the Crown. By the Act of Supremacy (1st Elizabeth), the Queen was empowered to appoint Commissioners "to reform, repress, and correct all errors, heresies and schisms." Under this Act several temporary commissions were appointed, and, in 1583, the Court of High Commission was finally established. This Court consisted of 45 members, 12 of whom were Bishops, any 3 being empowered to form a Court, and to pass sentence upon offenders. Its authority extended over all classes, and it was authorised to employ not only legal methods of proof, but to obtain evidence by methods unknown to the Courts of Common Law. Suspected persons were required to answer on oath all questions put to them, and even torture and the rack were employed. The punishments inflicted by this Court were fines, imprisonment and excommunication. The Court of the Star Chamber, to which attention has been already directed, had been now strengthened with fresh powers. Among its arbitrary acts, it punished severely disobedience to proclamations, and the unsatisfactory verdicts of Jurors. The Crown also frequently interfered in the selection of Jurors, and the nomination of members to sit in Parliament. Nor must we omit to mention, among the unconstitutional practices of this reign, the illegal exercise of power by individual Privy Councillors, who committed men to prison on their own responsibility;-an abuse so flagrant that, in 1592, the Judges remonstrated against it. But a body was slowly rising into power, which was to supply an effective check to the excesses of arbitrary rule. In this reign we first meet with the appearance of a body of men in Parliament, well read in the history of their country, attached to the principles of freedom, and courageous enough to risk the displeasure of the Court in asserting them. Scarcely a session passed without a contest between the Crown and the Commons on some constitutional question of importance. Of these, two particularly deserve notice:-In 1593 Wentworth moved that a petition be presented to the Queen, praying her to entail the succession to the Crown. For this he was committed to the Tower. In the same session, Morrice, a Puritan, made a motion for the redress of abuses in the Bishops' Courts, and specially in the Court of High Commission. The Queen sent for the Speaker, and, after requiring the Bill of Morrice to be delivered to her, said that her purpose in summoning this Parliament had been twofoldto have laws enacted to enforce uniformity of belief, and to provide for the defence of the nation; but she had expressly enjoined them not to meddle with matters of state or religion. We find that Morrice was subsequently seized in the House itself by a Serjeant-at-arms, and imprisoned for several years.

In 1601, the subject of monopolies, which had already led to frequent complaints, was again revived. Patents had been granted to individuals by the Queen for the exclusive sale of certain commodities. Of these illegal grants the Commons complained, and a Bill was introduced for their abolition. Seeing the determination of the Commons, the Queen, with characteristic prudence, yielded part of her asserted prerogative. She sent a message

to the House, that she would revise all the grants made without the sanction of Parliament, and would revoke such as were oppressive.

FOREIGN RELATIONS OF ENGLAND.-Henry VII. was the first of our kings who attempted a pacific concert to preserve the "balance of power" in Europe. The Magnus Intercursus (England's first great commercial treaty) was negotiated by him, in 1496, with the Archduke Philip, and promoted our commerce with the great trading cities of the Netherlands. A company which had been in existence since the commencement of the fourteenth century was incorporated, in 1505, as the Company of Merchant Adventurers. The discoveries of Columbus, Cabot, and Vasco de Gama, about this time, greatly extended foreign commerce; and the success which attended the expeditions of Drake, Cavendish, Raleigh, and others, during the reign of Elizabeth, stimulated the desire of the English to share in the lucrative trade carried on with the New World. The reign of this Princess was marked also by the opening of the trade to the East Indies. Stevens was the first Englishman who sailed to the Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, A.D. 1582. Shortly afterwards an association was formed in London for prosecuting the trade to the East. The Adventurers obtained a Charter of Incorporation (A.D. 1600). The Corporation was called, "The Governor and Company of Merchants in London trading to the East Indies." Such was the origin of the celebrated East India Company. In this reign Sir T. Gresham founded the Royal Exchange; and established a Company to advance money to the Crown. The punctual repayment by the Queen of her loans raised the credit of the English Exchequer, and attracted to England many of the merchants of Italy and Flanders.

CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE.-The accession of the Tudor dynasty may be regarded as the epoch at which the abolition of villeinage was generally complete; but the newly enfranchised labourers were still subject to vexatious enactments affecting their wages, dress, and daily life, Such laws aggravated the temporary pressure of changes destined ultimately to work out the greatest benefits. The influx of the precious metals, consequent on the discovery of America, raised the rate of wages; but the price of articles of necessity was at first raised more rapidly. The abolition of the monasteries threw those who had been dependent upon them helplessly adrift. The rapid growth of the great centres of commerce, especially London, attracted hosts of "valiant and sturdy rogues, masterless men, vagrants, and maimed soldiers" (Stow). Severe legislation exhausted its resources; vagrants multiplied in spite of the stocks and whipping post; and the gallows, which, it is said, disposed of 2,000 of the troublesome classes every year under Henry VIII., still claimed its annual tribute of 300 under Elizabeth. Even the ludicrous expedient was tried of stopping the growth of London by a proclamation forbidding the building of new houses, in 1580. At length, an Act of the 39th Elizabeth provided for the appointment of overseers of the poor in every parish, who were to make a rate for their relief, with the consent of the justices; and this was followed by the more complete enactment of the 42nd Elizabeth (1601), which formed the Poor Law of England and Wales, till the passing of the Act of 1834. The population of England and Wales, at the end of the 16th century, has been estimated at about 4,500,000.