Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VI.djvu/628

 C16 ENGLAND when Louis threw the whole British nation into a rage by acknowledging the son of the exiled James II. king of Great Britain, James dying in 1701. William was preparing for vigorous war when he died, March 8, 1702. The year before his death he had the satisfac- tion of seeing the finishing stroke put to the work of the revolution. In 1613 Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James I., had wedded the elector palatine, Frederick V. The youngest child of this marriage was a daughter, Sophia, married to Ernest Augustus, first elector of Hanover. As early as 1689 William had been desirous of entailing the British crown on this lady, and the house of lords unanimously agreed to an amendment of the bill of rights to that effect. This bill declared that after the decease of both William and Mary, the crown should descend to the heirs of the body of Mary; or if she died without issue, to Anne of Denmark and the heirs of her body ; or if she also was without issue, to the heirs of the body of William of Orange. The commons unanimously rejected the amendment. While the two houses were conferring on the subject, a son, afterward known as duke of Gloucester, was born to the princess Anne. Neither house would give way, and the bill of rights was lost. But the duke of Gloucester died in 1700, and in 1701 William's old plan was adopted, and the crown was entailed on the electress Sophia. All the descendants of James II. and Charles I. were passed over, and the preference given to a granddaughter of James I., for the sole reason that she was a Protestant. There were then living 57 persons who had claims to the crown superior to those of the electress, according to the received ideas of the right of succession. William was succeeded by the sister of his wife, Anne, second daughter of James II. In May, 1702, war was declared against France, that war which was illustrated by the deeds of Peterborough and Marlborongh, and which lasted 11 years, when it was con- cluded by the treaty of Utrecht, in which the English are thought to have thrown away near- ly all the fruits of their many victories. The war party had gone out of office in consequence of the hostility of the church, and their succes- sors were supposed to aim at the restoration of the Stuarts. The union of England and Scot- land was effected in 1707, the latter country being allowed to send 45 members to the house of commons, and 16 to the house of peers. Anne died Aug. 1, 1714, and the crown passed to the house of Hanover. The reign of George I. was by no means bril- liant. The rebellion of 1715 in behalf of the Stuarts proved a failure, and the foreign move- ments for the same object were quite as use- less. England allied herself with France, then ruled by the regent Orleans. The whigs re- turned to power, which they kept until the reign of George III. The South sea bubble caused great distress. Walpole's ascendancy began with its explosion, though he had been in office long before that date. England was involved in war with Spain, and in 1718 won the naval victory of Cape Passaro. George I. died in 1727, and was succeeded by his only son George II., between whom and himself there had been bitter hatred. The new king, under the influence of his wife, Caroline of Anspach, continued Walpole in office, and that great minister was at the head of affairs until the beginning of 1742, baffling for years all the exertions of a most able and unscrupulous opposition. His prin- ciple of action was "to let well alone;" but he thought things were well which badly needed improvement. He allowed himself to be forced into a war with Spain, which departure from his system was soon followed by his fall, though he retained his influence over the royal mind to the day of his death. His successors were whigs in principle, and there was no chance for the tories as a party under the first two monarchs of the Hanoverian line. War with France was added to that with Spain, growing out of the question of the Austrian succes- sion. This war was one of the least glorious ever waged by England. In 1746 the contest between the reigning dynasty and the re- mains of the Stuart party was brought to an end at Culloden, where the duke of Cumber- land defeated Charles Edward. The cruel- ties with which the Jacobites were punished reflect discredit on the English name. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. in 1748 restored peace to Europe for a few years. The whigs continued to rule, headed by Henry Pelham, and after his death in 1754 by his brother the duke of Newcastle. The renewal of the war with France in 1755 led to considerable minis- terial changes, and in 1757 was formed the cele- brated Pitt-Newcastle ministry, which carried on the contest with great vigor ; so that when George II. died, Oct. 25, 1760, his fleets and armies were everywhere triumphant. The foundation of the East Indian empire of Eng- land was laid at Plassey, June 23, 1757. French America was conquered at Quebec, Sept. 13, 1759. The victories of Minden and Crefeld atoned for the days of Laffeldt and Fontenoy. Hawke's victory over Conflans was one of the noblest exploits of the British navy. The death of the king arrested the policy which had pro- duced such results. The new king, George III. (the first English-born king of his house), grand- son of George II., was by nature and education as despotic as the worst of the Stuarts, and re- solved to attempt the restoration of the Stuart modes of government ; and hence peace Avas his first object, that he might be at liberty for the work of internal change. He got rid of Pitt and made peace, but not until he had waged a brief war with Spain, that country joining the French in the last stage of the con- test. The treaty was held to be very disgrace- ful to England, and it certainly was unwise to give up such islands as Martinique, Cuba, and the Philippines. Scarcely more wise was it