1691. The Irish are defeated at Aughrim (22nd himself exposed to the treachery of the men from whom he might reasonably 1692. Massacre of the McDonalds of Glencoe. 1695. William's second parliament is dissolved (11th Oct.) The third parliament meets (22nd Nov.) 1696. A new law of treason is passed. 1697. Peace is concluded with France at Ryswick. 1698. Parliament is dissolved (2nd July). Conclusion of a treaty between William and Louis XIV. for the partition of the Spanish monarchy. A fourth Parliament meets (6th Dec.) The favours shown to the Churchills by the Princess Anne had led to estrangement between the sisters; and before a reconciliation had been effected, II. WILLIAM III. (ALONE) A.D. 1694-1702. FOR eight years William was the sole ruler. To this period may be referred the introduction of three important constitutional changes. 1.-The adoption of the Triennial Act, which provided that no parliament should sit for more A conspiracy, by Sir J. Barclay, to assassinate the than three years-an Act superseded by the Septennial Act, passed in 1716. king. Sir J. Fenwick is attainted. 2.-The establishment of the Civil List. Until the time of the Revolution, the whole of the supplies granted by Parliament had been generally placed at the disposal of the sovereign. In 1694 a definite sum was, however, fixed for the support of the king, called the Civil List, while the other grants made by the Commons were annually appropriated by them to specified purposes. 3.The Act of Settlement. At the period of the Revolution it had been provided that, in case of the death of William and Mary without issue, the crown should descend to the Princess Anne and her issue. The death of the Duke of Gloucester, her only surviving child, in 1700, rendered a new settlement daughter of Charles I., and those of the elder children of Elizabeth, the Electress Palatine, daughter of James I., (who were Catholics), and limited the succession to her fifth daughter, the Princess Sophia, and her issue, being Protestant. This statute supplied some omissions in the Bill of Rights, and contained several important constitutional provisions. 1699. William is forced by parliament to reduce necessary. This settlement passed over the descendants of Henrietta Maria, the the and to dismiss the Dutch guards. army 1700. Conclusion of a second Partition Treaty. 1701. Act settling the HANOVERIAN SUCCESSION. The Partition Treaties condemned by parliament, and Lords Somers and Halifax impeached. Parliament is dissolved (24th June). Of the thirteen years of the reign of William, eleven were spent in war. The GRAND ALLIANCE is concluded between Eng- allies; and, by the Partition Treaties, important advantages were conceded to land, Austria, and Holland. France. The secresy with which these treaties were concluded, and the On the deprivation of Archbishop Sancroft, the Primacy was conferred upon Christian V. of Denmark is succeeded by Frederic IV., who joins Poland and Russia Prince of Bavaria, heir, according to the iu a league against Sweden (1699). Death of Joseph Ferdinand, electoral First Partition Treaty, to the crown of Spain (1699). Death of Charles II. of Spain, the last Spanish prince of the House of Austria, who bequeathed his dominions to Philip, Duke of Anjou, second son of the Dauphin, in whom, as Philip V., began the dynasty of the House of Bourbon in Spain (1700). Peter the Great invades Ingria, and is defeated at the battle of Narva (1700). The Elector of Brandenburg assumes the title of King of Prussia (1701). The Emperor Leopold claims Naples and Sicily. An army under Prince Eugene enters Italy (1701). Conquests of Charles XII. of Sweden in the North of Germany (1701). Principal Events. THE second daughter of James II., by Anne Hyde, succeeds to the throne, according to the Act of Settlement (8th March). A.D. 1702 Observations. ANNE, who on the death of William III. succeeded to the English crown, to the exclusion of her brother James, was in the thirty-eighth year of her age. She had married, in 1683, Prince George of Denmark. The Prince sat in the House of Peers, as Duke of Cumberland, and held the offices of GeneralAnne is crowned on St. George's day, at West-issimo and High Admiral, but he had neither the authority nor the title of King. minster (23rd April). War is declared by England, in alliance with Austria and Holland, against France and Spain (4th May). In her youth a friendship had been formed by the Queen for Sarah Jennings, one of her attendants. This lady had afterwards married John Churchill, who in consideration of his military services, was created successively Earl and Duke of Marlborough. By the influence of this able general and that of his colleague Lord Godolphin, Lord High Treasurer, Anne was induced to give her support to the confederacy of European States formed in the preceding reign, Parliament is dissolved (May). The Duke of Marlborough is appointed to the and which was rendered necessary by the unsettled state of the affairs of Spain. command of the allied army. A new parliament (the first of Anne) assembles, of which Harley is chosen speaker (20th Oct.) 1703. The Great Storm (which lasts from 26th Nov. to 1st Dec.) 1704. Queen Anne's bounty is instituted. The expected death of Charles II. (son of Philip IV.), who was childless, had led to questions as to the succession to his dominions, which threatened to the principal were the Dauphin of France, son of Maria Theresa, eldest disturb the peace of Europe. Among the claimants for the succession, daughter of Philip IV.; the Electoral Prince of Bavaria, grandson of Margaret Theresa, second daughter of Philip IV.; and the Archduke Charles of Austria, whose right was by his grandmother, daughter of Philip III. This prince, who was also a descendant in the direct male line from Joanna, the daughter of The "Methuen Treaty of Commerce " is concluded Ferdinand and Isabella, had been named heir by Philip IV. The conditions of with Portugal. the arrangement concluded between William III. and Louis XIV., known as the First Partition Treaty, were that Naples and Sicily should be assigned to the Dauphin, that the Archduke Charles should succeed to Milan, and that the Electoral Prince should inherit the crown of Spain, the Netherlands, and the Indies. The death of the young Elector, however, frustrated this arrangement, and led to the conclusion of the Second Partition Treaty, by which it was agreed that the Archduke Charles should succeed to Spain, the Indies, and the Netherlands; and the Dauphin to the Italian States, including Milan. undivided, to Philip, the younger son of the Dauphin. The confederacy conknowledge of these arrangements induced Charles to bequeath his dominions, cluded by William with the Emperor Leopold, known as the GRAND ALLIANCE, had been formed with the object of defeating this arrangement, and of preventing the union of the French and Spanish monarchies. It was left, however, for the successor of William, by the aid of the brilliant military genius of Marlborough, to carry out the object of the confederates. Gibraltar surrenders to Sir J. Rooke (22nd July). The victory of BLENHEIM is gained by the Allies under Marlborough (13th Aug.) Gibraltar is besieged by the French and Spaniards. 1705. Expedition of the Earl of Peterborough to Spain. The Second Parliament meets (25th Oct.) 1706. The victory of Ramilies (2nd May), followed by the conquest of the Netherlands. The Articles of Union between England and Scotland are signed by the Commissioners. The last Scottish Parliament is convened. 1707. The Articles of Union are sanctioned by the Scottish Parliament, and the Act receives the Royal UNION BETWEEN ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND (1st May). Assent. The The war between the Allies and Louis XIV., known as the War of the Spanish Succession, opened with a campaign in the Netherlands (A.D. 1702), in which, owing to the inactivity of the Dutch, but little was effected. In the following year, some of the frontier towns of Germany were captured. In 1704 Marlborough crossed the Rhine, and, having effected a junction with Prince Eugene of Savoy, signally defeated the French and Bavarians at BLENHEIM on the Danube. By this victory, the Empire was saved. In Flanders the campaign of 1705 was comparatively barren in results; but in Spain the Earl of Peterthe Archduke Charles was recognised as king. In 1706, Marlborough defeated borough pursued a rapid course of conquest in Valencia and Catalonia, where the French under the incompetent General Villeroy, at Ramilies-a triumph No Stadholder in Holland, on the death of William. Heinsius is Grand Pensionary. The Principality of Orange reverts to the Crown of France. St. Petersburg is founded (1703). War of the Spanish Succession. War is declared against France at London, the Hague, and Vienna, in favour of Charles, Archduke of Austria, who claims the Alliance of the Elector of Bavaria with Portugal and Savoy join the confederacy against France (1703). (1703), and obtains the election of Stanislaus Charles XII. defeats Augustus of Poland Lecsinski as king (1704). Prince Eugene of Savoy takes the command of the allied army in Italy (1705). The French are defeated by Prince Eugene at the battle of Turin (1706). The Allies are defeated by the Spaniards under the Duke of Berwick, natural son of James II., at Almanza (1707). the Russians. Charles retreats to Bender Charles XII. is defeated at Pultowa by (1709). The Swedish possessions threatened by Russia, Prussia, Denmark and Saxony. Augustus is restored to the throne of The victories of Almenara and of Sara gossa gained by Count Stahremberg and General Stanhope: the Archduke Charles enters Madrid (1710). Accession of the Archduke Charles to the Imperial throne (1711). He resigns his claim to the crown of Spain. The Treaty of Utrecht, between Lonis XIV. and England, Holland, Prussia, and James Francis, the Pretender, sails from Dunkirk with French troops, arrives on the coast of Scotland, and is driven back by Sir G. Byng. Meeting of the First United Parliament of Great which was followed, two years later, by the victory of Oudenarde. The Incorporation of the East India Company. 1708. The Allies are victorious at Oudenarde, and at Malplaquet (1709). The Whig ministry is dismissed. Harley is ap- of Marlborough. pointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Fourth Parliament meets (25th Nov.) France. 1713. Peace is concluded with France by the TREATY OF UTRECHT (31st March). Rivalry of Harley, created Earl of Oxford, and of St. John, created Lord Bolingbroke. 1714. The Fifth Parliament meets (16th Feb.) Death of the Princess Sophia, leaving her son, George, Elector of Hanover, heir under the Act of Settlement (8th June). Oxford is driven from office (27th July). The unpopularity of the Whigs was about this time increased by their prosecution of Dr. Sacheverel for a sermon in which he had given expression to views at variance with the principles of the Revolution. The cause of Sacheverel was popular. By the influence of the government, however, his conviction was secured, and he was suspended for three years. His sermon was ordered to be burnt by the hands of the common hangman, as well as the decree of the University of Oxford, on the occasion of the Rye House plot, asserting the doctrine of non-resistance and passive obedience. Such was the change in public opinion, that the fall of the Whig ministry was the immediate result of this trial, and Harley and St. John, the leaders of ministers the Queen was induced to desert the cause of the Allies, and to conthe Tory party, acquired the chief influence in the government. By these clude with France the Treaty of Utrecht. The Tories, however, were now divided. One party, headed by Harley (now Earl of Oxford), was in favour of the Hanoverian succession; the other, headed by St. John (now Lord Bolingbroke), and supported by the Dukes of Ormond and Buckingham, was favourable to the claims of the son of James Illness of the Queen (29th July). The Duke of II., known as the Chevalier de St. George. The influence of St. John pre- vailed; but before a Jacobite ministry could be formed, the illness of Anne In this reign the UNION between England and Scotland took place. This Married Prince GEORGE of Denmark. Issue William, Duke of Gloucester, died A.D. 1700. GOVERNMENT AND LAWS. Little can here be added to the details already given with reference to the reigns of the two first princes of the House of Stuart. We may, however, briefly advert to some of the causes which contributed to bring about the memorable struggle between prerogative and liberty by which this period was marked. Among these causes may, first, be mentioned the effects produced upon society by the Revival of Letters. An impulse to investigation into political questions had undoubtedly been supplied by the advance of knowledge consequent upon that movement. The spirit of free inquiry, which had been called into exercise by the changes in religion, was now directed to an examination into the principles of civil government; while the more general adoption of the art of printing gave an opportunity for the diffusion of the arguments of writers by whom those principles were discussed. Meanwhile, by the advance of Commerce, the middle classes had increased in social importance; and the commons had been slowly acquiring an influence in the State, which enabled them to offer a successful resistance to the power of the Crown. A few remarks must also be added upon a peculiarity in the constitution of the House of Commons, which was attended with important results. Owing to the union of the representatives of the lesser tenants of the Crown with the Burgesses, a large number of the descendants of the wealthy land-owners, many of whom were entitled to hold manorial courts, and who in any other country would have remained noble, had sunk into the class of commoners. Possessing no seat in the Upper House, their wealth and influence naturally secured for them seats in the representative body, and their presence in that body, while it formed a connecting link between the aristocracy and the commonalty, gave to the Lower House an importance which it would not have otherwise possessed. In the Third Parliament of Charles I., the property of the Commons was so considerable, that it was computed to surpass three times that of the Peers. Already, in the reign of James I., the claims to despotic power put forth by the Sovereign had provoked that spirit of resistance, which had been warded off by the skilful policy of his not less despotic predecessor. In comparing the reigns of the Tudors with those of the Stuarts, it may be said that the latter put forward abstract claims to the possession of powers which the former rather carried into practice than asserted in theory. But, while James I. was asserting the doctrine of the Prerogative in the most extravagant terms, and was denying the right of the subject to oppose, under any circumstances, the will of the Prince, several important concessions were gained by the Commons. They secured the privilege of deciding all questions affecting the validity of the election of their own members; they re-established their ancient right of impeachment; they remonstrated against the use of Royal Proclamations; they asserted their right of freedom of speech; and they abolished the power of the Crown to grant monopolies. The Protestation, though torn from their journal by the king's own hand, asserted the principle, since universally accepted, that the liberties of Parliament are the birthright of the English people. The struggle, thus commenced during the reign of James I., was continued during that of his successor. The conflict carried on by the popular party, was not so much an attempt to confine the power of the Crown within the limits already defined by the Constitution, as to enlarge and to render those limits more effectual. In justice to both parties, it may be observed that each had precedents on its side in favour of its pretensions; that the boundaries between the liberty of the subject and the prerogative of the Crown were ill defined, and required re-adjustment. By the unwise refusal of a writ of summons to the Earl of Bristol, and by the arbitrary imprisonment of the Earl of Arundel for a private offence, Charles I. encountered in his first Parliament the opposition of the Peers, while he refused to redress the grievances complained of by the Commons. The illegal acts of power, by which his government was marked, led to the determination on the part of his third Parliament to obtain his assent to the Petition of Right, which is justly considered the second great charter of English freedom. In the words of the 10th and 11th Articles,"They" (that is, the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons), "do therefore humbly pray your most excellent Majesty, that no man hereafter be compelled to make or yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax, or such like charge, without common consent by Act of Parliament: and that none be called to make answer, or to take such oath, or to give attendance, or be confined, or otherwise molested or disquieted concerning the same, or for refusal thereof; and that no freeman, in any such manner as is before mentioned, be imprisoned or detained: and that your Majesty would be pleased to remove the said soldiers and mariners, and that your people may not be so burthened in time to come: and that the aforesaid commissions for proceeding by martial law may be revoked and annulled: and that hereafter no commissions of like nature may issue forth to any person or persons whatever, to be executed as aforesaid, lest by colour of them any of your Majesty's subjects be destroyed or put to death, contrary to the laws and franchise of the land. All which they most humbly pray of your most excellent Majesty as their rights and liberties, according to the laws and statutes of this realm." To this Petition Charles returned an ambiguous answer, and the Commons refused to vote the requisite subsidies. They were proceeding to threaten Buckingham, when the king gave his assent in the usual terms, "Soit droit fait, comme est desiré" (Let right be done, as is required). By this formula the Petition became a Statute. The conduct of Charles in cancelling the impression of the Petition of Right containing his full assent, and ordering another copy with his first answer to be circulated, cannot but be condemned. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the events which followed in the interval between 1629 and 1640. To this period belongs the celebrated trial of Hampden for refusing the payment of ship-money. The nation heard with alarm the doctrines put forward at this trial by the Judges, that "no statute, derogatory of a prerogative, can bind a king," and that "the king used law as a servant to rule by, not as a master to restrain him." In this state of the public mind the Long Parliament met. Its early proceedings are allowed to have been moderate and judicious; “and it is rather from 1641," Mr. Hallam observes, "than any other epoch, that we may date the full legal establishment of our civil and political privileges." At length, after the attempted seizure of the five members, an open rupture occurred between the king and the Parliament. An appeal was made to the sword, and the struggle which ensued terminated only with the execution of the Sovereign. Legally the reign of Charles II. begins at the death of Charles I. No acts of a public nature, passed during the Commonwealth, had the force of law, unless re-enacted subsequently; as the Navigation Act of 1651 was enacted in 1660. But the period thus ignored bore permanent fruits in the settlement of the Constitution. On the one hand, the refusal of the royal title by the Protector, the failure of his attempt to create a new peerage, and the obstinacy of his Parliaments, testify to the permanent vitality of the three estates of the realm. The relative claims of the three, on the other hand, were finally settled by the experience gained during the "Great Rebellion." M. Guizot has pointed out two important constitutional principles which were henceforth established:(1) "The King could never again separate himself from the Parliament. The cause of monarchy was gained, but that of absolute monarchy was lost for ever." (2) "The House of Commons was in effect the preponderant branch of the Legislature"; and this at the very moment when its claim to formal sovereignty was annulled. The reactionary policy of the Restoration was held in check by the surviving spirit of the popular party, and by the tact and regard for his own safety, which kept back Charles II. from such extremes as ruined his father and brother. The Courts of Star Chamber and High Commission were not revived. The compact of the Restoration, though violated in religious matters, restrained the prerogative of the Crown. The Convention Parliament abolished Purveyance and Feudal Tenures, and in their place settled a revenue of £1,200,000 on the King, whose extravagance rendered this sum quite inadequate to relieve him from dependence on Parliament; and Charles only evaded the natural result by becoming the pensioner of Louis XIV. The Acts of Charles's first regular parliament (the "Pension Parliament") which sat for 18 years, were entirely reactionary; but they incidentally confirmed the right of petitioning by their Statute (13 Car. II., st. 1, c. 5) which forbids any assemblage of more than ten persons to repair to His Majesty, or both or either of the Houses of Parliament, on the pretext of presenting a petition. The Second Parliament of Charles II., which placed Shaftesbury in power, and from which may be dated the system of Cabinet government, immortalised its brief existence of three months by passing the Habeas Corpus Act (31 Car. II., c. 2). The ancient writ of Habeas Corpus was the instrument by which effect was given to the right of personal liberty, secured by the Great Charter; and its due issue had been provided for by the Petition of Right. But the various devices of subservient judges and sheriff's to evade it called for this new enactment. Being the protection of the innocent, not the defence of the guilty, it excepts such prisoners as have been duly convicted, or are detained in execution by legal process, and such as are committed for treason or felony expressed in the warrant. All other persons held in restraint may obtain a writ from the Lord Chancellor, or any of the judges in vacation, returnable within a limited time according to distance, not in any case exceeding twenty days. The return must specify the charge upon which, and the authority by which, the prisoner is held in custody; and the court is to decide on the sufficiency of the warrant, and to recommit, or bail, or release the prisoner, as the case may be. No person once delivered by habeas corpus is to be re-committed for the same offence. Most stringent penalties are assigned to a judge's refusal to issue the writ, and to any hindrance or evasion of it by the custodian; while the attempt to evade it, by sending the prisoner out of the country, subjects the offender to the penalties of præmunire. The Act also provides for the trial of persons duly committed for treason or felony in the first week of the next term, or the first day of the next Session of oyer and terminer, and for his discharge in case of an acquittal or if he is not tried in the second term or session; nor, when the assizes are once opened, may any person be removed by habeas corpus till they are ended, but he must be left to the justice of the judges of assize. The provisions of this Act bear the clearest witness to the corruption and denial of justice, which formed the greatest curse of the Restoration. What judges and sheriffs left undone, was supplied by the coercion of jurors; but to the very excess of the evil we owe a judicial decision which put it down. When, as in early times, jurors were witnesses rather than judges, they were justly punishable for giving false evidence; and, under this pretext, in the Tudor age, the Star Chamber punished jurors with fine and imprisonment for verdicts alleged to be against evidence. The same power was next assumed by the judges, who, before the Revolution, held their commissions during the King's pleasure. In 1670, the firmness of a juryman, named Bushel, obtained the acquittal of Penn (the Quaker) and Mead on a charge of unlawful assembly. The Recorder, who tried the case, fined each of the jurors forty marks; and Bushel, refusing to pay, was committed to prison. To the writ of habeas corpus a return was made, that Bushel had acquitted Penn and Mead contra plenam et manifestam evidentiam; but, after a full argument, Chief Justice Vaughan pronounced the return insufficient, and the fine and imprisonment illegal. "From that time forth," says Sir Edward Creasy, “the invaluable doctrine, that a jury in the discharge of their duty are responsible only to God and their consciences, has never been shaken or impeached." The triumphant reaction at the end of Charles's reign, and the illegal acts of James II. led to the Constitutional Settlement established by the Bill of Rights, the chief provisions of which will be found detailed in the subsequent paragraph. Among the arbitrary measures of these sovereigns, it may be well to enumerate the forfeiture of municipal charters by Charles; the first act of James, in the levy of taxes by his own authority; his assumption of the dispensing power, supported by eleven out of the twelve judges; his restoration of the Court of High Commission; and his attack on the liberty of petition in the case of the Bishops. THE REVOLUTIONARY SETTLEMENT. The Convention bore witness to the fundamental principle of civil government, by their resolution that James had abdicated the throne "by violating the constitution, breaking the original contract between king and people, and withdrawing from the kingdom." The Bill of Rights, which formed the very condition under which the Convention offered, and William and Mary accepted the crown, was a new wording of that "original contract," supplemental to those already embodied in the Great Charter and in the Petition of Right; and it is justly called the third great bulwark of English liberty. Its full title is "An Act for declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and settling the succession of the Crown." § I. recites the Declaration made by the Lords and Commons of the Convention, on Feb. 13th, 1688 (1689 N.S.), to William and Mary, Prince and Princess of Orange, enumerating, under twelve distinct heads, the acts by which "the late king, James II., did endeavour to subvert and extirpate the Protestant |