of Queen Anne. CHAP. I. there was a spirited debate. Marlborough denounced The Reign the measures pursued in England as contrary to her Majesty's engagements with the Allies, and as having sullied the triumphs and glories of her reign, and rendered the English name odious to all other nations. He was supported by Godolphin, Wharton, Nottingham, and Cowper; but an amendment to the address praying that her Majesty's allies should be invited to join her in a mutual guarantee was rejected by 81 to 36. A protest against the terms of the treaty was signed by 24 peers, including Marlborough and Godolphin; but it was expunged from the journals by direction of the House. It got into circulation, however, in the country, and a reward was offered for the discovery of all persons engaged in disseminating this "malicious and scandalous paper." Liberty of the Press infringed. The first Stamp Duty. Sir Richard Steele expelled. The Commons at the same time interfered with the liberty of the press. A volume of sermons by Bishop Fleetwood, of St. Asaph, having just been published, with a preface in which the terms of peace were earnestly lamented and condemned, the House resolved, by a majority of 119 to 53, that "the said preface is malicious and factious," and that it "be burnt by the hands of the common hangman upon Thursday next " (June 12th) "at twelve of the clock in Palace Yard, Westminster." The House further imposed this session the first stamp duty, for the purpose of repressing libels. The effect of the act was to lessen the circulation of cheap papers. Parliament was prorogued on July 8th, and immediately afterwards St. John was created Viscount Bolingbroke, and Oxford received the Order of the Garter. In the following September there was removed from the political stage by death the once powerful statesman Godolphin. Sir Richard Steele, the genial essayist, who had been returned to Parliament in 1709 as member for Stockbridge, excited the ire of the Government by his effective writings. At length, in the session of 1714, he was expelled from the House of Commons for publishing The Crisis, a pamphlet reflecting on the Ministry. The House, by this curtailment of the liberty of the press, CHAP. I. of Queen identified itself with the executive, and considered itself The Reign libelled by the impugning of its measures. Anne. Utrecht. The Peace of Utrecht was concluded on March 31st, Peace of 1713, according to the style of England-April 11th according to the style of the southern Continental nations. A treaty of peace and a treaty of commerce were signed between France and England. There were also separate treaties for the States of Holland, the King of Portugal, the King of Prussia, and the Duke of Savoy. The treaty between England and Spain was not formally concluded for some weeks afterwards; and the French treaties with the Emperor and the empire, reestablishing the two Electors, were not signed until March 6th, 1714, at Rastadt and Baden. The principal provisions of the treaties were as follows: First, as between England and France-the Protestant succession, through the House of Hanover, was secured; the Pretender was to be compelled to quit France; a permanent severance of the crowns of France and Spain was solemnly promised; and Newfoundland, Acadia, and the Hudson's Bay Territory were ceded to England. Secondly-the Dutch secured a strong fortress barrier, and the Spanish Netherlands were handed over to them, while Lille was given back to France. Thirdly-the Duke of Savoy secured Sicily and the title of king. Fourthly-the treaty between Spain and England, signed in July, granted to England the possession of Gibraltar and Minorca ; and by the Assiento, a contract signed at Madrid, the Catalans were left to their fate, the grant of the slave trade was withdrawn from France, and the English were assigned the right of trading in slaves to America, and of sending one ship a year to the South Seas. sensions. Soon after the Utrecht pacification, dissensions broke Ministeout in the English Ministry. Bolingbroke was in favour rial disof a Stuart restoration, but Oxford opposed such an extreme measure; upon this Bolingbroke, to overthrow the Lord Treasurer, approved the introduction of the The Schism Act, a measure conceived in a High Church Act. Schism VOL. II. 15 CHAP. I. spirit. Brought forward by Sir William Wyndham in The Reign the Commons, its object was to confirm a clause in the of Queen Anne. Act of Uniformity which precluded schoolmasters and tutors from giving instruction without previously subscribing a declaration of conformity to the Established Church. Although this restriction was not abolished by the Toleration Act, it had long been practically suspended. The Schism Act therefore, which became law in May, 1714, imposed severe penalties on all tutors and schoolmasters who were not members of the Church of England and licensed by the bishop. Some alleviating clauses, but none of a vital character, were carried in the Upper House. This iniquitous measure was likewise extended to Ireland. Thirty-three peers signed a protest against the Act, including Somers, Halifax, Argyll, Nottingham, Wharton, Townshend, and five bishops. Oxford The quarrel between Oxford and Bolingbroke deepened. dismissed. Oxford's indecision was resented by his party, and the Queen herself frequently had cause to complain of his disrespect. So on July 27th, after a violent scene in the Cabinet, Oxford was dismissed, the Queen resumed the Treasurer's staff, and Bolingbroke became Prime Minister. Bolingbroke's opportunity now seemed to have come, but the Queen was attacked by mortal illness, and as she lay on her deathbed she was induced by a deputation of the Council to entrust the Lord Treasurer's staff to Shrewsbury, who was now a firm adherent of the House of Hanover. Bolingbroke Premier. Death of On August 1st, 1714, the last of the Stuart sovereigns. the Queen. passed away. Anne excited more admiration for her private virtues than for her public character as a sovereign, yet her reign was more illustrious than that of many greater monarchs. She left no survivor, but she had had no fewer than seventeen children, all of whom expired in infancy, except William, Duke of Gloucester, who died in 1700 at the age of eleven. The many sorrows of this desolate queen invest her memory with a pathetic interest, while her admirable private character obtained for her the enviable title of " Good Queen Anne." CHAPTER II. GEORGE I. AND GEORGE II. THE new King, George I., was proclaimed in his absence George I. without opposition, though Atterbury is said to have urged Bolingbroke to proclaim James III. at Charing Cross. The leading supporters of the Pretender, however, saw that it would be absolutely futile to attempt to overthrow the Act of Settlement, and that the best thing to do was to endeavour to cultivate friendly relations with the new sovereign. George I. was the son of Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover, and of Sophia, granddaughter of James I. of England. He was born on May 28th, 1660, and married in 1682 his cousin, the Princess Dorothea of Zell, whom he divorced twelve years later. From 1698 he was Elector of Hanover. The first monarch of the House of Brunswick arrived at Greenwich on September 29th, 1714, and was crowned at Westminster on October 31st. Until the King's arrival, the government was carried on by the seven great officers of state and eighteen Lords Justices nominated by the sovereign. These were all Whig leaders, but Somers and Marlborough were omitted, the former because he was now a confirmed invalid, and the latter because he was distrusted by the Hanoverian party. Bolingbroke was dismissed, and a new Whig adminis- New tration was formed, with Townshend, Stanhope, and Wal- Governpole as its chiefs. The two former were Secretaries of ment. and CHAP. II. State, and Walpole was Paymaster of the Forces; while George I. Cowper was Chancellor, Nottingham Lord President, George II. Orford First Lord of the Admiralty, Marlborough Commander-in-chief, Pulteney Secretary-at-War, Devonshire Lord Steward, Shrewsbury Lord Chamberlain, and Sunderland Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The King very early showed his partiality for the Whigs. The Privy Council of Queen Anne was dissolved, and a much less numerous body formed, from which all members of the late Ministry were excluded. Parliament continued the Civil List of £700,000 voted to Anne, and on January 31st, 1715, it was dissolved, having continued for six months after the late Queen's death. Whig success at the elections. Meeting of Parlia ment. The late The complexion which the new Parliament was to take was a momentous question, and the Crown threw its influence strenuously, and not always scrupulously, on the side of the Whigs. The King issued a proclamation referring to the evil designs of disaffected men; reviewing the unsatisfactory condition of public affairs, the interruption of commerce, and the grievous miscarriages of the late Government; and urging the electors to have a particular regard to such candidates "as showed a firmness to the Protestant succession when it was in danger." The Whigs were victorious, securing an immense majority, and from this election dated a long period of Whig ascendency. The new Parliament met on March 17th, 1715. The King's speech, read in his presence, promised the maintenance of the Constitution in Church and State, and called special attention to the fact that the Peace did not satisfy the just expectations of England; that it had by no means been carried into effect, and stood in need of further securities; and that the Pretender was issuing threatening declarations from Lorraine. The Address echoed the speech, but in stronger language. The recent Peace was condemned without qualification in both Houses. The Government appointed a Parliamentary committee Ministry of twenty persons to examine papers in connection with peached the Peace negotiations, and to find charges against the im |