690 



BRITAIN. 



accepted an invitation to enter the kingdom, for the 

 purposes of relieving the people from their apprehen- 

 sions of Popery, aiuibringing the infatuated inonarcli 

 to a more reasonable mode of action. No sooner had 

 William landed, than James was deserted by almost 

 all his remaining adherents. Forgetting thai bravery 

 winch he had exhibited \\ hen duke ot York, in his 

 engagements with the Dutch, he resolved, according 

 to the advice of some who pretended to be his friends-, 

 to leave the kingdom. He fled to France. The 

 throne was declared vacant. After some debates, the 

 prince of Orange, and his wife, the princess Mary, 

 were called to be the king and queen of Engl-nul. 

 The people, convinced by (he transactions of their 

 preceding monarchs. that the surest way of securing 

 tin- peace of the nation, was to define the power of 

 the prince and the privileges of his subjects, adopted 

 a mode of conduct which ought to have been followed 

 at the restoration. They framed the bill of rights, 

 which fixed the English government in that state of 

 freedom and moderation which has since so happily 

 characterized it. This important revolution was 

 effected in 1688. 



Though the revolution had been brought about 

 with much appearance of unanimity, and though it 

 secured to the nation inestimable privileges, the go- 

 vernment of William was not in general agreeable, 

 nor had James lost all his friends. In Ireland, par- 

 ticularly, as it abounded in Catholics, that unfortunate 

 monarch had many adherents. James appeared 

 among them in person, and was soon at the head of 

 an army ; but VVilliam, by gaining the battle of the 

 Boyne, annihilated James's nope of restoration. Wil- 

 liam prosecuted hostilities with France, with various 

 success, till the battle of La Hogue made an impres- 

 sion on the French navy which it could never after- 

 wards recover. The English had defined the privi- 

 leges of their kings ; but they found that war could 

 not be conducted without more money than they were 

 willing to grant : what the king could not procure as 

 a gift, he borrowed ; and at this time the funding 

 system began to be considered as a national resource ; 

 a system which the British ministers have been care- 

 ful not to forget. 



After a reign in very few respects remarkable, 

 William, in 1702, was succeeded by Anne, princess 

 of Denmark, and the next Protestant heir to James 

 II. Anne's administration was distinguished by the 

 violent animosities of the existing factions ; but in 

 the midst of these an important measure was passed 

 the union of England and Scotland. These countries 

 had, since the time of James I., been governed by a 

 single sovereign ; but they had separate parliaments, 

 and, indeed, might still justly be called separate and 

 independent kingdoms. It had often been proposed, 

 by a union, to consolidate the power of the island ; 

 but every proposal for that purpose had hitherto been 

 unsuccessful. This measure, of so much importance 

 to each of the countries, was resumed by Anne ; and 

 after a violent opposition, particularly by the Scots 

 themselves, the English and Scots were, in contra- 

 diction to the decided opinion of a majority of the 

 latter, declared to be one people. Thus, in 1707, 

 England and Scotland ceased to be distinct kingdoms ; 

 and the island was distinguished by the appellation of 

 the United Kingdom of Great Britain. This union, 

 however it might be opposed by the prejudices, and 

 even by the immediate interests of particular men, or 

 particular ranks of men, when it was first effected, 

 has certainly contributed much to the prosperity of' 

 the empire. Britain has thus attained an importance, 

 at which England and Scotland, while separate king- 

 doms, could never have arrived. The act of Union 

 consisted of twenty- five articles, among which the 

 following deserve notice. It was agreed that the 



succession to the kingdom of (ireat Britain should 

 remain as it had formerly been settled for England. 

 That Britain should have only one parliament ; and 

 that all rights ami privileges should be common to 

 Ixitli nations, exct | >t where otherwise expressly agreed. 

 That in all parts of Britain, the English coins, weights, 

 and measures, should be considered as the standards. 

 That the laws relating to trade, customs, and excise, 

 should be the same in both parts of the kingdom. 

 That to the house of peers the Scots should send 

 sixteen representatives ; and that the number of the 

 Scottish members in the house of commons should be 

 forty-five. That all the Scottish peers should be 

 peers of Britain ; and that, except sitting in the 

 house of lords and voting on the trial of a peer, they 

 should have all the privileges of peers. That tin- 

 established churches of England and Scotland should 

 remain unaltered, and be considered as forming an 

 essential part of the union. A general clause re- 

 serves to the united parliament the power to alter 

 these articles for the benefit of Scotland, and under 

 cover of this clause some fundamental chances have 

 already been made. Though the union ot England 

 with Scotland tended ultimately to increase the power 

 and importance of both, yet it was not immediately 

 followed by any important result. The measures of 

 the nation, both in foreign and domestic policy, con- 

 tinued in a great degree unaltered. 



The British arms, under the command of Marl- 

 borough, had succeeded in checking the ambitions 

 designs of Louis XIV. ; but a party at home, insti- 

 gated partly by envy at the renown which Marl bo- 

 rough had acquired, partly by considerations of the 

 inutility of all continental conquests, and of the im- 

 mense taxes which the acquisition of such empty 

 celebrity brought upon the nation ; and irritated tot) 

 by the evident coldness of the continental powers in 

 a quarrel which was properly their own, loudly de- 

 manded peace, and steadfastly counteracted all the 

 designs of Marlborough and his friends. Ilarley and 

 Bolingbroke at last succeeded in supplanting him in 

 the favour of the queen. The command of the army 

 was taken from him, and given to the duke of Or- 

 mond; and, after many negotiations at Utrecht, a 

 treaty was signed by the belligerent powers on the 

 31st of March, 1713. By this treaty the British right 

 of sovereignty over Hudson's Bay, Newfoundland, 

 Nova Scotia, Minorca, and Gibraltar, was acknow- 

 ledged. The peace which had just been concluded 

 was extolled by the tories in the most unqualified 

 terms ; whilst by the whigs it was censured in terms 

 no less unqualified. The remainder of Anne's reign 

 was distracted by the never-ending altercations of 

 domestic parties. She died on the 1st of August 

 1714 ; and with her ended the line of the Stuarts, who 

 had swayed the sceptre of England 112, and tliat or 

 Scotland 343 years. 



It has been supposed by some that Anne intended 

 to have used her influence in altering the line of 

 succession ; but either she had formed no such design. 

 or she had not abilities to carry it into effect. At her 

 death, George I., elector of Hanover, maternj.lly 

 descended from Elizabeth, daughter of James I., ac- 

 cording to the act of settlement, ascended the throne 

 of Britain. The whigs under this prince regained 

 that superiority in the national councils of which they 

 had long been deprived. George was greatly at- 

 tached to his paternal continental dominions, and in 

 the straggle of the two factions, was often accused by 

 the tories of sacrificing the interests of Britain to those 

 of Hanover. The suspension of the habeas corpus 

 act, and some other extreme measures, increased the 

 irritation of the weaker party, and in 1716, the stand- 

 ard of rebellion was erected in the Highlands of Scot- 

 land by the earl of Mar, who proclaimed the chevalier 



