Public School History of England and Canada/England/Chapter 22
CHAPTER XXII.
THE WHIG NOBLES RULE ENGLAND.
1. George I.—The first king of the line of Hanover, was past middle age when he came to the throne, and cared much more for Hanover and its people than for his English crown. As a man he had few good and no great qualities; but as a king he did fairly well, because he left the government of the country much in the hands of his ministers. He knew little or no English, and brought his companions and associates with him from Germany; some of them as gross and licentious as the favourites of Charles II.
Almost his first act was to dismiss the Tory ministers, and appoint Whigs in their stead. Bolingbroke, Oxford, and Ormond were impeached for treason, and for their share in the Treaty of Utrecht. Bolingbroke and Ormond fled to France; Oxford stood his ground, and after an imprisonment of two years was released.
2. The Rebellion of 1715.—The year after George’s accession, the Jacobites in Scotland and in the north of England rose in rebellion. The Earl of Mar raised an army in the Highlands, but he was defeated by the Duke of Argyle at Sheriffmuir, on the same day that the Jacobites in England were compelled to surrender at Preston in Lancashire. The Pretender landed after the rebellion was over and, finding his cause was lost, returned to France with the Earl of Mar. Several persons were put to death after this rising, among whom was the Earl of Derwentwater, a leader of the Jacobites in the north of England.
The rebellion led to an important change in the time a Parliament can last. The Whigs were afraid that if an election took place at this time they might be defeated, and they changed the law so that a Parliament could remain in existence seven years instead of three; and the Septennial Act, as the new measure was called, has remained law to the present. The worst feature of this change was that the Parliament which made it continued to sit for the new term, although it was elected for but three years.
In 1715 Louis XIV. died, and was succeeded by his great-grand-son Louis XV. The new king was a mere lad, and the Duke of Orleans acted as Regent. Orleans was friendly to England, and when Spain tried, in 1718, to recover a portion of her lost territory in Italy, France and England united to force her to keep the peace.
3. South Sea Bubble.—The National Debt had now grown so large that Aislabie, the Treasurer, proposed to Parliament a scheme for its easy payment. This was to accept the offer of the South Sea Company, which promised, if given the sole right of trading with South America in slaves and other commodities, to pay off a large share of the public debt. When the proposal was made the Bank of England also made an offer, and then the two companies began to bid against each other, until, at last, the South Sea Company offered to give £7,500,000 to the Government, in addition to what it had first proposed. The offer was accepted in 1720, in spite of the warnings of Robert Walpole, a rough but shrewd Norfolk squire, who showed clearly that the Company could not carry out its agreement. No sooner was the scheme adopted than every person who had any money to invest rushed to buy the shares of the Company. In a short time shares rose from £100 to £1000; and then almost as quickly the public lost confidence in the Company, and the anxiety to sell caused the shares to fall in price until they were nearly worthless. Thousands of people of all classes were ruined, and public wrath was turned against the King’s ministers, some of whom were found to have taken bribes from the Company to further its scheme. They had to resign, and Walpole, who had spoken against the scheme, was now called upon to lessen the evil effects of the failure and panic.
4. Walpole.—Walpole became chief minister in 1721, and continued in office till 1742. He was the first to be called ‘‘Prime Minister,” and held that post longer than any other man in English history. He was a rough, coarse man, who enjoyed foul talk, eating, drinking, and fox hunting. He lived a licentious life, such as was very common in the 18th century among men in high positions. He kept himself in office by buying the support of members of Parliament, and by paying great attention to trade and commerce, of which matters he knew more than most men of his time. He did good service to Britain by keeping the country at peace, and by the steady support he gave to the House of Hanover. In his day the nation made great progress in extending its trade, increasing its manufactures, and in employing better methods of tilling the soil. He was tolerant to the Dissenters, but was too much afraid of the Church party to repeal the Test and Corporation Acts, which prevented them from having their rights as citizens.
All through the reigns of George I. and George II. the Whigs were in office, and when one Government went out, it was replaced by another of the same political opinions. The Whig nobles were very powerful in the country where they owned large estates, and they banded themselves together to keep in power. They bought up the right to send members from boroughs where there were few voters, and by this means always had many supporters in Parliament. Then, again, the Tories were suspected of being Jacobites, and of wishing to bring back the Pretender, and so every man that had lent money to the Government supported the Whigs fearing, if the Tories got into office, he would never be repaid. By such means as these the Whig nobles managed to have things all their own way for nearly fifty years.
5. George II.—Beyond a slight plot, in 1722, by Bishop Atterbury, in the interest of the Pretender, and a brief excitement in Ireland over the coinage of some half-pence, nothing of interest took place in the last six years of George I.’s reign. George died, while abroad in Hanover, in 1727, and was succeeded by his son, George II. The new king had been opposed to Walpole while his father, George I., was living, and Walpole expected to be turned out of office as soon as he came to the throne. Perhaps he would, had not Queen Caroline, a shrewd and wise woman, used her influence with her husband to keep him in his post. George II. was a thorough German, and knew very little more about the English language and the English people than his father. He was a stubborn man, and too fond of war, for he was a brave soldier and a good general. Fortunately his queen had great influence over him, and through her Walpole was able to get the king to do much as he wished.
6. Walpole’s Policy.—The first ten years of George II.’s reign had few stirring events. The nation was kept at peace, and Walpole gave his attention to helping trade and commerce, and to lessening the public debt. He took the duties off a great many articles that came into the country as well as off many that were sent out of it. He allowed the colonies in America to trade with other countries, and by so doing Georgia and Carolina were able to sell their rice in foreign markets. He saw that he could prevent a great deal of smuggling by making goods pay duty when they were sold in the country instead of when they were brought into ports of entry. So in 1733, he brought in an Excise Bill, which aimed at collecting the duties on certain kinds of goods by making them pay a tax when they were sold, instead of when they were brought into the seaports. The first duty is called excise, and the second customs. But Walpole was too much ahead of his time. People were afraid of his scheme, and so great an outcry was raised against the Excise Bill that Walpole, rather than have any bloodshed abandoned it.
Walpole had one weakness which helped to bring about his downfall. He wanted to have all the power of the government in his own hands, and was so jealous of other able men, that he forced them one by one to leave his ministry, until he had for associates none but inferior men who would do his bidding. In this way there grew up gradually a strong ‘‘Opposition” composed of men who had formerly supported him, the leaders of which were Pulteney, Carteret, Chesterfield, and, later on, William Pitt, the grandson of a former governor of Madras. The younger members of this party grew tired of Walpole’s method of ruling, and of his peace policy, and in their speeches talked a good deal about ‘‘Patriotism,” or love of country. Hence they were, in derision, called the “Patriots,” and Walpole sneered at them, and said that when they grew older they would become wiser.
7. The Family Compact.—In spite of all the ‘‘Patriots” could do, Walpole continued to hold his ground, until a war with Spain broke out in 1739. This was-caused by France and Spain forming a secret ‘‘Family Compact” (they both had members of the Bourbon family on their thrones) against England. Spain was to get the aid of France in recovering Gibraltar from England, in return for her giving France the sole right to trade with her colonies in America. English merchants, after the Treaty of Utrecht, had been permitted to trade slightly in the South Seas, and finding the trade profitable, had managed to increase it a good deal by smuggling. When the smugglers were caught by the Spanish authorities, they were imprisoned and otherwise punished. Tales of Spanish cruelty were spread abroad throughout England, and Parliament and the people began to clamour for war. Walpole was very much against going to war, as he knew that England was not prepared, and besides, feared a Jacobite rising, aided by France and Spain. But the feeling of the nation for war was so strong, that Walpole unwillingly gave way, and declared war in 1739. When the bells began to ring at the news, Walpole said, ‘‘They may ring their bells now, but they will soon be wringing their hands.”
8. Fall of Walpole.—It did not take long for Walpole’s words to come true. The war was badly managed, and England had little success. Walpole was blamed for this, and perhaps he deserved the blame, as he was not fitted for the duties of a war minister. To make matters worse, crops failed, and bread became dear. People began to cry out against Walpole, and he was forced to resign, in 1742. He was made Earl of Orford, and given a pension. He never again held office, but for years had influence enough with the king to say who should be the king’s ministers.
9. War of the Austrian Succession.—And now another war sprang up in which England, rather unwisely, took part. The German Emperor, Charles VI. (the Archduke Charles of the war of the Spanish Succession) had no son, and desiring to leave his hereditary dominions in Austria and Hungary to his daughter Maria Theresa, persuaded the strong nations of Europe to sign an agreement, called the ‘‘Pragmatic Sanction,” by which the crown of Austria and Hungary should go to his daughter. When he died in 1740, it was soon seen that there was a plot to rob Maria Theresa of her dominions. Frederick II. of Prussia seized Silesia, the Elector of Bavaria claimed the Imperial Crown, and was supported by France and Spain in his claim. England and Holland alone remained true to their promises, and George II. put himself at the head of an army and defeated the French at Dettingen on the Maine, in 1743. The French, to draw off the English troops, sent Charles Edward, son of James the Pretender, into Scotland, to claim the crown of Great Britain and Ireland. Fifteen thousand men were to assist him, but a storm wrecked the French fleet, and the French troops never landed. The French were, however, more fortunate at Fontenoy, in 1745, where under Marshal Saxe they defeated the English with heavy loss.
10. The Rebellion of 1745.—Charles Edward landed, July 1745, in the Highlands, and soon was at the head of a large number of clansmen, who were eager to fight against the Duke of Argyle, and the king he supported. A little later, ‘‘Prince Charlie” was in Edinburgh, where he proclaimed his father king. On September 21, his Highlanders met and defeated Sir John Cope at Prestonpans. Had he now marched into England he might have had a chance to recover the throne for the Stuarts, for just then there were few troops in England to oppose him. But he lingered at Edinburgh enjoying the smiles and favours of the ladies of the gay Scotch capital, for the Young Pretender was a handsome, daring young fellow, who won many hearts by his pleasant ways. At last he started south with 6,000 men, mostly Highlanders, expecting to get aid on his march from the Jacobites in England. The people turned out to look at his army as it passed by, but did not give him much help in either men or money. At Derby he was advised to return to Scotland, as the king’s troops were on the march to meet him. At Falkirk, 1746, he defeated General Hawley, and then many of his men deserted him and returned home. With a brave remnant of his followers, he made a stand at Culloden, in Invernesshire, against a large and well-armed force under the Duke of Cumberland, but his men were cut to pieces, April, 1745. For five months Charles Edward wandered through the Highlands, seeking a way of escape, and carefully concealed from his enemies by his few faithful friends, the most famous of whom was the heroine Flora Macdonald. Then, in September, he left Scotland’s shores for ever, and went back to France.
The Jacobites made no further attempts to restore the Stuarts. The Duke of Cumberland earned the title of ‘‘Butcher” Cumberland, by his cruelty to the Highlanders after the Battle of Culloden, and three Scotch nobles were put to death for treason. Efforts were now made to prevent further risings in the Highlands, and laws were made forbidding the chiefs of clans from exercising their ancient rights over their clansmen. The Highlanders were not allowed to carry arms or wear their tartans, and roads were made through the Highlands so that troops could easily march from point to point. All these changes made the proud Highlanders very unhappy and restless, and it was not till 1758, when William Pitt allowed Highland regiments to be formed under the command of their own chiefs, with their own peculiar uniform and music, that peace was restored among these brave and high-spirited people.
11. Religious Revival.—Meanwhile, England had sunk into a condition in which it seemed as if all religion and morality were dead. The lower classes were ignorant and brutal, and no one seemed to care for their moral and spiritual welfare. The middle classes were given up to money-making, and had lost nearly all interest in religious matters. The upper classes were steeped in vice, profanity, and infidelity; while the clergy, as a rule, neglected their duties. The country vicars were the boon companions of the squires in their sports and revels. Bishops paid more attention to winning the favour of the king’s German mistresses, through whom they expected promotion, than to looking after their dioceses. In fact, all classes seemed stricken with moral deadness, and with a desire to enjoy merely earthly pleasures.
The ‘‘darkest hour before the dawn” had been reached in English social life, when three English Church clergymen, John Wesley, Charles Wesley, George Whitfield, and a few others, began a religious movement which has gone on, with almost undiminished vigor, to the present day. The movement began at Oxford among a few earnest students, and after a few years spread throughout the land. The Wesleys and Whitfield went through the length and breadth of England, preaching in the open air to great throngs of colliers, and to the neglected poor among the people, and arousing earnest and deep resolves among them to lead better lives. For a time fierce persecution from the clergy and others opposed to the movement was met with by the preachers; but in the end the value of their great work was recognized, and all classes and Churches reaped the benefit of this remarkable revival. A new and powerful denomination, the ‘‘Methodists,” arose out of John Wesley’s preaching and wonderful power of organization, a denomination which now has its adherents all over the world. Among other important results of this revival was the new interest aroused in moral reforms, and the beginning of earnest efforts to lessen the misery and ignorance of the poor and the oppressed.
12. East India Company.—The war of the Austrian Succession came to an end by the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, in 1748, when Henry Pelham was Prime Minister. England gained nothing beyond an increase in her national debt, and Maria Theresa lost Silesia to Frederick II. of Prussia.
In 1751, Frederick, Prince of Wales, died, and this left his son, George, as the heir to the throne. In the same year, the time of the nation was put right, by taking eleven days out of the year, the 3rd of September being henceforth counted the 14th. This was owing to the year having been hitherto too long, and this made the clock of the nation too slow. After this the year was made shorter, and no change in the time has since taken place.
And now England was on the eve of wars which were to greatly increase her territory and her influence in Asia and America. In the year 1599 Queen Elizabeth granted a charter to a company to trade in the East Indies. This was the East India Company which gradually founded factories and small trading posts on the coasts of India. In this way Fort St. George, or Madras, was established. Bombay was acquired by the marriage of Charles II. to Katharine of Portugal, and Fort William (now Calcutta) was founded by another English trading company in the reign of William III. In 1702, the two companies united. They kept at each trading post a small body of native soldiers, or sepoys, and they paid rent to the neighbouring native prince or ruler for the land they occupied. These rulers of small districts owed allegiance to a higher ruler, who in turn was supposed to obey the Great Moghul of India.
The French also had a company in India which had built a fort at Pondieherry. The English and French traders were very jealous of each other, and sometimes their mutual dislike led to fighting, even when England and France were at peace. At last, Dupleix, the Governor of Pondicherry, formed a scheme of driving the English out of India, and of obtaining for France the control of Indian affairs. His plan was to take advantage of the frequent quarrels among the many native rulers of India, to play off one ruler against the other, and so, in the end, get the control of Southern India. To carry out his plans, it was necessary that the English should be driven out of the country, and this he proceeded to do by attacking and capturing Madras. For a time it seemed as if the English must submit, when the whole aspect of affairs was changed by the skill in war and vigor of a young man in the East India Company’s service, Robert Clive. Clive had been sent to India as a clerk, his friends in England in this way hoping to rid themselves of a wild and troublesome youth. He now gave up his clerkship, and putting himself at the head of a few English and native troops defeated the French at Arcot, in 1751, and held the fort until assistance came. From that time onwards the French were driven back until Dupleix was recalled, and peace was made in 1754.
13. French and English in America.—A similar struggle for power and supremacy had been going on for many years in America between the English and French. Though there were intervals of peace between the French colonies in Canada and Acadia, and the English colonies to the south of them, yet an almost constant border warfare was carried on in which the North American Indians took an active part. The English and French colonists both wanted the sole right to trade in furs with the Indians, and often when England and France were at peace their colonies were keeping up a cruel warfare, and making attacks on each other's settlements. The French settlements were in what we now call Quebec and Nova Scotia, and in Louisiana, at the mouth of the Mississippi; while the English had thirteen colonies scattered along the eastern coast of North America. The French claimed the right to all the land west of the Alleghanies, and as that would have shut out the English fur-traders from a profitable trade with the numerous tribes of Indians in the northwest, the French claim was disputed by the English colonists. The French established themselves at Fort Duquesne, in a fork of the Ohio river, and the English sent George Washington to build another fort near at hand. By mistake Washington fired into a party of French soldiers sent to warn him off French soil, and this led to a general war which did not end till the French were driven out of Canada. These events occurred in 1754, and the next year General Braddock, who was sent with a large force to take Fort Duquesne, through his own obstinacy and rashness, was surprised in a narrow pass in the woods, when near the fort, by a party of French and Indians, and most of his army destroyed. Braddock was killed, and for a time the French had matters all their own way.
14. Seven Years’ War, 1756–63.—The year after Braddock’s defeat, a great war broke out in Europe and lasted seven years. This war was caused by Maria Theresa’s determination to recover Silesia from Frederick II. called the Great, of Prussia. In this she was aided by France, Russia and Saxony, while Frederick had no ally save England. When England entered into this war, she found herself without either army or general fit to take the field. The Duke of Newcastle, a weak, corrupt man, was now Prime Minister, and for a time nothing but disaster followed every effort of the English army and navy. France seized Minorca, and when Admiral Byng, who was sent to retake it with a weak fleet, retreated without striking a blow, the people were so angry that Newcastle, to save himself, had Byng tried by court-martial and shot. Soon after this terrible news came from India. Suraj-ud-Daula, the ruler of Bengal, marched on Calcutta, and taking the English inhabitants prisoners thrust them, 146 in number, into a small room not more than twenty feet square. There, in the “Black Hole of Calcutta,” with but one small opening to admit air, they spent the hot sultry night, enduring the agonies of thirst and suffocation. When morning dawned, only twenty-three were found alive. In Europe, the Duke of Cumberland made an agreement with the French, allowing them to occupy Hanover, and disbanding his army. These were dark days for England. Despair settled on the nation, and men exclaimed, ‘‘We are no longer a nation.”
15. William Pitt, the Great Commoner.—And now England was to learn what a great man could do in rousing the nation by giving it his own courage and confidence; for it was now that William Pitt, the leader of the ‘‘Patriots,” came forward to save his country. Pitt believed in himself, and his self-confidence was so great that he said he could save the country, and no one else could. He was a great parliamentary orator, and very outspoken and vehement in his attacks on wrong-doing in any form, caring little whom he pleased or offended. The Duke of Newcastle tried to rule without him by means of bribery and family influence; but the people asked for Pitt. Finally Pitt and Newcastle ruled together, Pitt as Secretary of State and War Minister, and Newcastle as Prime Minister. By this division of power the government had a strong support, for Pitt was popular with the people, and Newcastle kept Parliament faithful by bribery, which Pitt himself scorned to use. Pitt came into office in 1757, and in a short time a great change took place. The army was organized, the navy equipped, good officers were put at the head of English troops, and, best of all, hope and courage brought back to soldiers and citizens. The Duke of Cumberland was recalled, and Ferdinand of Brunswick put at the head of the army in Germany. Frederick the Great, now supported strongly by Pitt, defeated the French at Rossbach, in 1757, and won victory after victory in face of heavy odds.
16. Conquest of Canada.—If we now turn to America, we will find that there also Pitt’s wise and vigorous policy was bearing good fruit. He roused the English colonists to fresh endeavours, and formed a plan for driving the French out of America. Men, (including Highland regiments), arms, and money, were freely sent to the aid of the colonists, and never was Pitt’s knowledge of men better shown than in choosing the officers who were sent to command.
Abercromby was for a time Commander-in-Chief, but he was soon replaced by an abler man, General Amherst, who had under him, Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, Townshend, Murray, and others. The first great success was won at Louisbourg in Cape Breton, where Wolfe greatly distinguished himself in taking that strong fortress. Step by step the French were driven back, until they made their last stand at Quebec under General Montcalm, a brave and skilful officer. It fell to the lot of Wolfe to make the effort to capture this Gibraltar of America, in the summer of 1759. The French had fortified Quebec and the steep banks of the St. Lawrence so well, that Wolfe, who was seriously ill, almost despaired of success. At last on the night of Sept. 12, Wolfe and his men climbed up a narrow path, on the face of the cliff above Quebec, unobserved save by a small French outpost. There on the Plains of Abraham the early dawn found him with his troops drawn up in order of battle. Montcalm, who was below Quebec when the news of Wolfe’s landing reached him, in great haste marched to meet the enemy. Passing through Quebec, he at once attacked the English, who quietly waited until the French were close at hand, and then poured a deadly volley into their ranks. This was followed by a fierce charge of bayonets before which the French troops gave way. In the hour of victory Wolfe was mortally wounded, but he lived long enough to know that his task was successfully accomplished. The brave Montcalm also fell, and the following night died within the walls of Quebec. Five days after Quebec surrendered.
The war went on another year, and then Montreal surrendered, and with it, in 1760, passed all Canada into the hands of England.
17. Clive and India.—In these days news of victories won on land and sea came thick and fast to cheer the hearts of the English. At Minden, in Westphalia, Duke Ferdinand won a great victory over the French, while Admiral Hawke and Admiral Boscawen won victories at sea over the French fleet, the first at Quiberon Bay, and the second at Lagos.
But equally important with Quebec and Minden, was Clive’s great victory at Plassy, in Bengal. Clive had just returned to Madras from England, when news came of the horrible tragedy at Calcutta. He at once proceeded to retake Calcutta, and meeting Suraj-ud-Daula on the Plains of Plassy, he, with 3,000 men, routed an army of 60,000 natives, with little loss to his troops. Suraj-ud-Daula was now dethroned, and a ruler more friendly to the English put in his place. This was the beginning of the English conquest of Bengal, and one step led to another, until the East India Company, in 1765, held the chief power in the most important provinces of Hindostan.
18. Close of Seven Years’ War.—In 1760 George II. died, and was succeeded by his grandson, George III. The young king did not like the Whigs and Pitt, and to get rid of them he used his influence to bring the war to a close. Pitt was opposed to peace, for he knew Spain had secretly promised to aid France; but George managed to get Parliament on his side, and Pitt resigned. Newcastle, too, was driven by slights and insults from office, and Lord Bute, the king’s tutor, took his place as Prime Minister. Nevertheless the war with Spain took place, as Pitt had foreseen, and lasted a year. England now refused to help Frederick the Great further, and he made a peace with his enemies, by which he kept Silesia. A general peace was signed at Paris, in 1763, between France, England, Spain and Portugal, and the “Seven Years’ War” came to an end. England kept Canada and Florida; Minorca was restored by France; while, in India, English influence and power was henceforth fully recognized.