frontier, they were obliged to evacuate Brussels, Antwerp, and Ghent, and confine themselves to defending the frontier towns, of which the chief were Lille, Tournay, Mons, and Namur. In 1707 there was no great battle; but in 1708 Marlborough and Battle of Oudenarde. Prince Eugene beat the French, under Vendôme, at Oudenarde, and took the great town of Lille. The next year Tournay fell, and the same year the allies formed the siege of Mons. Villars alone among the great French leaders had not been defeated, and he with a large force advanced to raise Battle of the siege. Malplaquet. Marlborough met him at Malplaquet. The slaughter was dreadful. The French were fighting behind earthworks and fallen trees, but in the end they were forced to retire, and Mons at once capitulated. Lille, Tournay, and Mons were now in the hands of the allies, and the road to France was open. Meanwhile in Spain fortune had been very fickle. The English leaders there were Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough, an The war in Spain. erratic but able man, celebrated for the recklessness and rapidity of his movements, and General Stanhope. In 1705 the allies captured Barcelona, and in 1706 Galway, a French refugee general, with an army of allies, captured Madrid, while Peterborough successfully defended Barcelona; but in 1708 the allies were beaten at Almanza by the Duke of Berwick, a natural son of James II., and nephew of the Duke of Marlborough, and Madrid was recaptured. However, the same year General Stanhope took Minorca, one of the Balearic Isles. In Italy, on the whole, the French had the better, but there seemed little chance of decisive success. Capture of Ineffectual negotiation. Under these circumstances, in 1710 negotiations were entered into at Gertruydenberg. Louis was willing to give up the claims of his grandson, but the allies actually asked him to agree to help them in expelling him from Spain, and to this the French king would not consent. Accordingly the war went on, and that year Marlborough crossed the frontier and captured Douay, a fortress on French soil. In Spain, Stanhope won the battles of Almenara and Saragossa over the Almenara and Spaniards; but, by a turn of fortune, before the close of the year he was himself defeated and captured Capture of Saragossa. by Vendôme at Brihuega. Policy of Eng the colonies. Pursuing the policy of Cromwell and Charles II., the English fleet throughout the war had been attacking the French colonies, and, besides annexing Gibraltar and Minorca, we also land towards secured Newfoundland, and captured the French settlement of Acadie, which is now called Nova Scotia. An attack was also made upon Canada, but it was not successful. We must now return for a time to affairs at home. Marlborough Change in the had, as we saw, formed a mixed ministry, but he soon found that on the Whigs alone could he rely for energetic support in the war policy; so he first of all replaced the strong Tory, Nottingham, by the moderate Tories, Harley character of the administra tion. and St. John. In 1706 Sunderland, a strong Whig, son of James II.'s minister, and son-in-law of Marlborough, was made Secretary of State. In 1708 even the moderate Tories, Harley and St. John, left the ministry, and Robert Walpole, afterwards the famous Prime Minister, joined it. In this way the whole character of the administration was gradually changed. The great event of this period was the Union between England and Scotland. Since the accession of James I., the two countries, except for a short time under Cromwell, had had sepa Union of Scotland. rate Parliaments, and had, in fact, been independent England and of each other. This arrangement had not worked well, and both countries had something to complain of. The chief grievance of the Scots was, that by the terms of the navigation laws they were not allowed to trade with the English colonies; on the other hand, the English were afraid that the Scots, by not accepting the Act of Settlement, might at Anne's death separate the two crowns. The Scots, too, feared that if the two countries were united, the Presbyterian Church of Scotland might suffer, and that the laws and customs of their country might be altered. They also feared that they would have to raise additional taxes to pay off the English National Debt. At Anne's accession the Scots were smarting under the failure of the Darien scheme. In 1699 a body of Scottish colonists had been sent out to occupy the Isthmus of Darien. As the Spaniards claimed the soil on which it was planted, and saw that the colony could only be formed to trade, contrary to Spanish law, with the Spanish colonies, they were naturally hostile. The climate was unhealthy, and the Scots had not the resources to make their station a commercial mart. The scheme failed, and the greater part of the settlers perished miserably. The Scots threw the blame on England, and their rising hostility began to be very threatening. Failure of the Darien scheme. William's William saw clearly that the true remedy lay in the union of the two Parliaments and the opening of all trade to both countries, and his dying suggestion was that commissioners should meet to settle the terms of union. Commissioners, suggestion for accordingly, met in 1702, but no agreement was come to. The Scots were still more annoyed, and in 1703 the Scottish Parliament resolved that Fresbyterianism was the only the union. the Scots. true Church of Christ in the kingdom, and passed a Bill of Security, Attitude of reserving to the Scottish Parliament the right of refusing to acknowledge the successor to the throne named by England. At the same time they transferred the right of nominating the great officers of State from the Crown to Parliament. This attitude of the Scots made war probable, so it was met by an act of the English Parliament, introduced by the Whig, Somers, by which it was declared that after Christmas, 1705, Preparations all Scotchmen were to be regarded as aliens. All for war. importation of Scottish goods to England was prohibited, and orders were given to re-fortify the border towns. Terms of union. It was now clear that England was in earnest, and the commissioners again met. The chief difficulties concerned the Church, the law, and the taxes. On all these points England gave way, and the Union was completed in 1707. The Established Church of Scotland, and the Scottish laws and judicial procedure, were secured. To equalize the burdens of the two nations, England paid Scotland £398,000, which was to be used to pay off the Scottish national debt and indemnify the shareholders of the Darien company. The commercial advantages of England were thrown open to the Scots without reserve. The Scots were not to be liable to any taxes which had already been voted by the English Parliament. It was arranged, on the other hand, that the title of the United Kingdom was to be Great Britain. The Scots were to have no separate Parliament, but forty-five members for Scotland were to sit in the House of Commons, and sixteen peers, chosen at each general election to represent the peers of Scotland, were to sit in the House of Lords. No new Scottish peers were to be created. At first the Union was most unpopular in Scotland. Both countries, however, gained by the Union England was relieved from a great danger, and while Scottish susceptibilities on matters of religion and law were fully considered, the advantage which she gained by being allowed to trade with the English colonies was well worth a small sacrifice of sentiment. The Union made the fortune of Scotland. The rapid growth of Glasgow and of the manufacturing industries of the Lowlands bear testimony to her improved fortune, while in recent years the popularity of Highland scenery which now attracts thousands of Result of the union. English visitors yearly, and the residence of the court at Balmoral, have drawn close the bonds of sympathy between the two nations. The year after the Union the discontent of the Scots encouraged the French to make an attempt to stir up a Jacobite rebellion in Scotland; but the watchfulness of the English cruisers French prevented the French troops from landing, while the expedition to delay of the Pretender, who was hindered from sail Scotland. ing by an attack of measles, deprived the expedition of its best chance of success. of Marlborough's ministry. Prosecution of Dr. Sacheverell. In spite, however, of these great achievements, Marlborough's ministry lost popularity. At first the Whigs gained Unpopularity power, but gradually the long war tired the patience of the nation. There was, however, little chance of displacing them as long as they retained their influence with the queen; but Harley and St. John, who since their dismissal in 1708 had been the leaders of the opposition, had contrived to replace the Duchess of Marlborough in the queen's affection by Mrs. Abigail Hill, a cousin both of Harley and of the duchess, a Tory and High Churchwoman.. Still the ministry, strong in the support of the commercial and middle classes, held its own; but in 1710 they made a great mistake in prosecuting Dr. Sacheverell, a strong Tory, who had attacked the government in a sermon preached on "perils amongst false brethren." In this he denounced the ministry as enemies of the Church. This prosecution made Sacheverell the martyr of the High Church party, and forty thousand copies of his sermon were sold. reaction took place in favour of the Tories, Anne herself attended the trial, and her coach was surrounded by the mob, shouting, "We hope your majesty is for High Church and Dr. Sacheverell." the turn of the tide to dismiss her ministers, and replace them by Tories, under the lead of Harley and St. John. Shrewsbury became Secretary of State, and Ormond Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. Marlborough alone was still retained in the command of the army. In 1711, however, the ministry, taking advantage of the indignation caused by the attempt of a Frenchman, named Vindictiveness Guiscard, to assassinate Harley, ventured to dismiss the Duchess of Marlborough, and then to deprive A great Reaction in favour of the Tories. Anne seized of the Tories towards their opponents. |