Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/38

LEFT ENGLAND 20 ENGLAND cousin Mary had returned from France as queen in 1561. In this she was so far Buccessful that Mary placed herself in her power (1568), and after many years' imprisonment was sent to the scaffold (1587). As the most powerful Protes- tant nation, and as a rival to Spain in the New World, it was natural that Eng- laiid should become involved in difficulties with that country. The dispersion of the Armada by the English fleet under Howard, Drake, and Hawkins was the most brilliant event of a struggle which abounded in feats of valor. In Eliza- beth's reign London became the center of the world's trade, the extension of Brit- ish commercial enterprise being coin- cident with the ruin of Antwerp in 1585. The Parliament was increased, and its members were exempted from arrest. In literature not less than in politics and in commerce the same full life displayed itself, and England began definitely to assume the characteristics which dis- tinguish her from the other European nations of to-day. To Elizabeth succeeded (in 1603) James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, son of Mary Queen of Scots and Darn- ley. His accession to the crown of Eng- land in addition to that of Scotland did much to unite the two nations, though a certain smoldering animosity Still lingered. His dissimulation, how- ever, ended in his satisfying neither of the contending ecclesiastical parties — the Puritans or the Catholics; and his absurd insistence on his divine right made his reign a continuous struggle between the prerogative of the crown and the freedom of the people. His extravagance kept him in constant dis- putes with the Parliament, and compelled him to resort to monopolies, loans, be- nevolences, and other illegal methods. The nation at large, however, continued to prosper. His son, Charles I., who suc- ceeded him in 1625, inherited the same exalted ideas of royal prerogative, and his marriage with a Catholic, his arbi- trary rule, and illegal methods of rais- ing money, provoked bitter hostility. Civil war broke out in 1642, between the king's party and that of the Parliament, and the latter proving victorious, in 1649 the king was beheaded. A commonwealth or republican gov- ernment was now established, in which the most prominent figure was Oliver Cromwell. Mutinies in the army among Pifth-monarchists and Levellers were subdued by Cromwell and Fairfax, and Cromwell in a series of masterly move- ments subjugated Ireland and gained the important battles of Dunbar and Worcester. At sea Blake had destroyed the Royalist fleet under Rupert, and was engaged in an honorable struggle with the Dutch under Van Tromp. But within the governing matters had come to a dead- lock. A dissolution was necessary, yet Parliament shrank from dissolving itself and in the meantime the reform of the law, a settlement with regard to the Church, and other important matters re- mained untouched. In April, 1653, Crom- well cut the knot by forcibly ejecting the members and putting the keys in his pocket. From this time he was practi- cally head of the government, which was vested in a council of 13. A Parliament — ^the Little or Barebones Parliament — was summoned and in December of the same year Cromwell was installed Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of Eng- land, Scotland, and Ireland. With more than the power of a king, he succeeded in dominating the confusion at home and made the country feared thoughout the whole of Europe. Cromwell died in 1658, and the brief and feeble protectorate of his son Richard followed. There was now a wide-spread feeling that the country would be better under the old form of government, and Charles II., son of Charles I., was called to the throne by the Restoration of 1660. He took complete advantage of the popular reaction from the narrowness and in- tolerance of Puritanism, and even latter- ly endeavored to re-establish the Cath- olic religion. The promises of religious freedom made by him before the Res- toration in the Declaration of Breda were broken by the Test and Corpora- tion Acts, and by the Act of Unifor- mity, which drove 2,000 clergymen from the Church and created the great dis- senting movement of modem times. The Conventicle and Five-Mile Acts followed, and the "Drunken Parliament" restored Episcopacy in Scotland. At one time even civil war seemed again imminent. The abolition of the censorship of the press (1679) and the reaffirmation of the Habeas Corpus principle are the most praiseworthy incidents of the reign. As Charles II. left no legitimate issue, his brother, the Duke of York, succeeded him as James IL (1685-1688). An in- vasion by an illegitimate son of Charles, the Duke of Monmouth, who claimed the throne, was suppressed, and the king's arbitrary rule was supported by the wholesale butcheries of Kirke and Jef- freys. The king's zealous countenance of Roman Catholicism and his attempts to force the Church and the universities to submission provoked a storm of op- position. The whole nation was prepared to welcome any deliverance, and in 1688 William of Orange, husband of James' daughter Mary, landed in Torbay. JameF