Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/138



12. The Act of Settlement.—The English were more concerned about who should reign after Anne, than who should be king of Spain. Willham had no children, and the last of Anne’s nineteen children had just died. The fear was strong that James II.’s son would be chosen if the succession was not settled in time. So, in 1701, an ‘‘Act of Settlement” was passed, which arranged that the throne after Anne’s death should go to the Princess Sophia of Hanover and her heirs. Sophia was the grand-daughter of James I., and daughter of Elizabeth, the wife of the unfortunate Elector Palatine. Her claim by birth was not very strong, but she was the nearest Protestant relation of the royal family.

The Act of Settlement also enacted, among other things, that in future judges should hold office for life or good conduct. Henceforth judges could not be dismissed at the king’s whim or pleasure, as in the days of the Tudors and the Stuarts.

13. Death of William.—And now an event took place which made the English people as eager for war as a few months before they had been anxious for peace. James II. was visited on his death-bed by Louis XIV., and Louis promised to recognize his son James as the king of England. The English could not endure that the French king should choose a ruler for them, and at once they cried out for war. William now found no trouble in getting Parliamen to vote all the men and money he wanted. But the war was not to be waged under William’s command. His life was near its close, and an accident, by which he broke his collar bone, hastened his end. He knew no one fit to lead the armies of the Allies against Louis’ generals save Churchill, the Earl of Marlborough; and Churchill had been banished from his court some time before for his base treachery to William. He was now recalled, and trusting to his ambition to keep him faithful, William named him Captain-General of the allied armies. Then, on the 20th February, 1702, passed away one of England’s greatest kings and truest friends. He had his faults both as a man and as a ruler. He did not fully understand the English people and the English form of government, and he often acted without the consent of his Parliament in matters of grave importance. But his prudence, foresight, tolerance, and courage, saved England from the loss of her religious and political freedom at a time when England seemed powerless to save herself.