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ment

passed.

became clear that some further provision must be made concerning the succession. So, in 1701, Par- The Act liament passed an Act of Settlement, which of Settleprovided that, after Anne's death, the crown should go to Sophia, a granddaughter of James I., and to her descendants, "being Protestants." Sophia's husband was Elector (or Prince) of Hanover, one of the German states, and this act thus paved the way for the Hanoverian succession," which actually took place in 1714. Another provision of the Act of Settlement was that judges should hold their offices during life, or so long as they behaved well. This provision remedied one of the greatest abuses under the Stuart Kings, by making it impossible to remove judges at the King's pleasure, in order to get from the courts decisions which suited him. The next year after this act, William III. died, worn out with anxiety and hard work. The immediate cause of his death was a fall from his horse. He was a great King, though he was not a pop- William ular one. We should think of him especially as the one who brought England safely through a great crisis, and who first showed the world how, in a country like England, Parliament and the Crown could govern together.

Death of

(1702).

TOPICS FOR THOUGHT AND SEARCH

1. Read an account of the siege of Londonderry. (Macaulay, History of England," Ch. xii.)

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2. Read aloud Browning's poem entitled "Hervé Riel" (about the escape of the French fleet after La Hogue).

3. Make a list of five ways in which the Revolution and the reign of William and Mary helped the growth of liberty.

4. Compare the character and work of William III with that of Oliver Cromwell.

XXX

QUEEN ANNE, THE LAST OF THE STUARTS (1702-1714)

POINTS TO BE NOTICED

Dates of Anne's reign; influence of Lady Marlborough; rise of the Duke of Marlborough; his character and ability.

Origin of the War of the Spanish Succession; England's interest in it; where it was fought; the Battle of Blenheim; end of the war; England's gains by the treaty of Utrecht.

Union of England and Scotland; its terms; how shown on the flag. Plans of the "Jacobites"; why they failed; death of Queen Anne; the Hanoverian House comes to the throne.

QUEEN Anne was a good-hearted woman, and was very devoted to the Church of England. But she was stupid and without ability to govern, and was always ruled by her favorites.

Queen

Lady Marl

borough.

From girlhood Anne was under the influence of a beautiful, ambitious, and high-tempered lady of the court, named Sarah Jennings. Lady Sarah Anne and married John Churchill, a handsome young man, of polished manners, who was as poor and ambitious as Sarah herself. It was through their influence that Anne deserted her father, at the time of the Revolution, and went over to the side of William and her sister Mary. Churchill also deserved well of William, because he led over his troops in James's army to William's side. After the Revolution was successful, William made him Earl of Marlborough; but William never fully trusted him, because he knew that the new Earl was often plotting with his old master.

great

In Queen Anne's reign Marlborough at once became the chief man in the government. In spite of his bad conduct in the past, and his greed for money, Lord Marlthis was a fortunate thing for England. Marl- borough a borough was both the greatest statesman and general. the greatest general of his time. A great Frenchman said of Marlborough that "he never besieged a fortress that he did not take, never fought a battle that he did not win, and never carried on

the richest positions and highest honors were given the Marlboroughs, including for him the title of Duke, and the chief command of the English forces.

England needed a general of great ability at this time, for she was once more at war with Louis XIV. of France-this time over the succession to the throne of Spain.

What difference, you may ask, did it make to England

Question of the succession in Spain.

who became King of Spain? Ordinarily it made little difference. But now it happened that the chief claimant of the Spanish crown was the "Dauphin" of France-that is, the eldest sou of Louis XIV.-and it would never do to permit France and Spain, with their vast colonies and dependencies, to become united under the same rule.

William III. had foreseen this difficulty, and had negotiated "partition treaties" by which Spain and the Spanish colonies were to go to an Austrian Prince, and the French Prince should receive only the Spanish possessions in Italy. This was unsatisfactory to the Spanish people; and when the King of Spain died, in 1700, he left a will giving his whole possessions, not to the Dauphin, but to the Dauphin's second son. France would go, in the course of time, to the Dauphin's eldest son, and thus the two countries would not have the same King, though they would be under the same family. It was thought that this would remove the objections of the other nations, but it did not.

Although Louis XIV. had signed the partition treaties, he decided to accept the inheritance offered by the Spanish King's will. He presented his little grandson to the French court, saying—

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Gentlemen, behold the King of Spain!"

He was also reported to have said that “the Pyrenees have ceased to exist." This meant that, thenceforth, Spain and France would be practically one country.

This arrangement disturbed what statesmen called "the balance of power" between the different countries, War of the and Austria and the Dutch republic deterSpanish mined to resist it. The result was a great war, begins. called the War of the Spanish Succession, which lasted for eleven years. It was fought all over

Succession

western Europe, and in North America. At first the English people took little interest in the matter. But when James II. died, in France (in 1700), Louis XIV. broke his treaty with England by recognizing James's son ("the Pretender," as he was called) as King of England. A storm of indignation then broke out in England, and under Queen Anne that country became the leading member of the "Grand Alliance" against Louis XIV.

Marlborough became commander in chief of the English and Dutch forces, while the commander of the Austrian forces was Prince Eugene of Savoy. Eugene also was a great general, and the relations between the two commanders were of the friendliest sort.

The greatest battle of this war was fought in Germany, on the river Dan

Marl

ube (1704). A borough's

French

army

passed through the Black Forest, and was marching down the valley of the Danube, to attack Vienna, the Austrian capital. Marlborough and Prince Eugene came up with them near the little village of Blenheim, and there the battle took place. Both sides fought bravely, but Marlborough and Eugene showed the greater skill and won the victory. In addition to the French who were slain or taken prisoners, thousands of their men were forced back into the river Danube and drowned. That night Marlborough wrote this hasty note to his beloved wife: