CHAPTER XIII.

James I.-Charles I.-Usurpation of Cromwell.-Charles II.-William III.-Anne.-George

II.-James

I.-George II.-George III.

By the accession of James I. who was the sixth king of Scotland of that name, and grandson of Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII. the two kingdoms were united, which had been divided from the earliest account of time, but destined by their situation to form one great monarchy. And by this junction of its whole native force, Great-Britain hath risen to an eminence and authority in Europe, that England and Scotland separately could never have attained.*

This prince came to the crown with high notions of the regal power, which often betrayed him into imprudencies and errors. The people began to aspire after a greater portion of liberty than they had hitherto enjoyed. The domestic tranquility was interrupted at the commencement of this reign, by the conspiracy of Cobham, Grey, and Raleigh. Their intention was to raise the king's cousin, Arabella Stuart, to the throne. The conspirators were executed. This was followed by the gunpowder treason; a plot which excited universal astonishment and horror. Its object was, the destruction of the king and parliament. This dreadful scheme was happily detected, and the authors of it were punished. The pacific disposition of James was unfavourable to the glory of the nation, and his attachment to young and unworthy favourites rendered him contemptible. He died A. D. 1625, in the 59th year of his age, and the 23d of his reign.

CHARLES I. succeeded to the crown of his father at a very critical period, and with ideas of the royal peroga tive much averse to the spirit of the times. Unable to obtain supplies from his first parliament, for the prose

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cution of a war in defence of his brother-in-law, the elector palatine, he quarreled with, and afterwards dissolving them, endeavoured to raise money by loans from his subjects. The new parliament that succeeded was less complying than the former: they framed a petition of rights, requiring the abolishment of loans from the subject, and taxes raised without parliamentary aid. To this the king reluctantly assented; but still continuing imprudently to levy the imposts on tonnage and poundage, without a new grant, the commons urged this as a violation of the petition of rights, and were dissolved. A new parliament assembled, but being still less obsequious to the royal will, was once more dissolved, and the king summoned his fifth and last parliament. The discontents of the nation were now very great, and Charles, sensible of his errors, assented to a bill fixing the right of parliament alone to levy taxes, and consented to summons one every third year. His ministers the earl of Stafford and archbishop Laud, were impeached and beheaded. The conduct of the commons, hitherto laudable, became now unconstitutional and unjustifiable. They passed a bill to render their assembly perpetual, and arrogated to themselves the military and executive authority of the crown, the power of nominating the governors and lieutenants of all the fortified places, and declared it a breach of privilege to dispute the laws framed by parliament alone. The king issued proclamations against this usurpation. A civil war was the consequence, A. D. 1643. Charles was at first successful, but the decisive battle of Naseby, A. D. 1645, in which the royal army was totally defeated, gave the rebels the command of the state. Having in vain attempted a reconciliation, the king fled to Scotland, and was shortly afterwards delivered up by the commanders of the Scots army, for reasons best known to themselves! Cromwell, who had headed the parliamentary forces, which now consisted of a set of mili

Tonnage was a duty upon all wines imported: poundage was a duty imposed, ad valorem, at the rate of 12d in the pound, on all other merchan dize whatsoever,

tary hypocrites and enthusiasts, seized the unfortunate monarch's person, and appointing a court of justice, proceeded with deliberate solemnity to the trial of his sovereign. The execution of this unfortunate prince, A. D. 1649, was followed by the dissolution of monarchy. The commons passed an act, abolishing kingly power as useless, burdensome, and dangerous, and annulled the house of peers.

A republican form of government was established on the ruins of monarchy, under the direction of the parliament; but the army very soon took the power out of their hands, and OLIVER CROMWELL, a private gentleman of Huntingdonshire, who had been appointed their commander-in-chief, usurped the government, with the title of LORD PROTECTOR of the three kingdoms. His administration was rigorous, but arbitrary. A slow fever put a period to his life, Sept. 3, 1658.

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His eldest son, RICHARD, succeeded in the protectorship; but, from his weaknees and incapacity, could not keep it. On the first appearance of difficulties, he resigned the government, and Henry Cromwell, lordlieutenant of Ireland, followed his brother's example.Disorder and anarchy ensued. General Monk, then at the head of the army in Scotland, marched into England, procured the summons of a free parliament, and Charles, the eldest son of the unfortunate monarch, who had taken refuge in France, sent a declaration of indemnity and liberty of conscience to the House. They received it, and proclaimed him king, A. D. 1660.

The reign of CHARLES II. was the æra, of taste and genius; though his court was the residence of voluptuousness and prodigality.-Guided by the worst of ministers, his domestic administration was turbulent. He lived uneasy with his parliament, which, as he could not controul, he dissolved, and governed with absolute authority, and was at last poisoned. As he died without children, his brother, the duke of York, succeeded to the throne by the title of

JAMES II. He openly encouraged popery, and was himself directed solely by romish priests. He adopted

the most despotic measures, invaded every part of the constitution, committed the bishops to prison, and received the pope's nuncio in London. The nation, exasperated at these incroachments upon their civil and religious liberties, solicited the aid of the prince of Orange, nephew and son-in-law of James. He arrived in England, and being received with general satisfaction, James, abandoned by all, abdicated the throne, and retired to France. The parliament settled the crown on the prince and princess of Orange, who were proclaimed sovereigns of Great Britain, &c. by the title of

KING WILLIAM and QUEEN MARY.-Both houses passed a bill, or instrument of settlement, which regulated the line of succession, and provided against the return of those grievances which had driven the nation to the fiercest extremity, and effectually secured from the future incroachments of the sovereign the most essential rights of the people. Thus was happily terminated the great struggle of privilege and prerogative, between the crown and the people, which commenced with the accession of the family of Stuart to the throne of England, and continued till their expulsion, when almost a century had elapsed. This revolution forms a grand æra in the English constitution.

The unfortunate monarch, having obtained assistance from the French king Louis, embarked for Ireland; but his attempt was not attended with success. The rebels were defeated near the Boyne, (A. D. 1690) and James returned to France.

William was a prince of great vigour of mind, firmness of temper, and intrepidity of spirit. He was making vast preparations for carrying on war against the French, who, on the death of James II. had, in violation of a treaty, acknowledged the son of that exiled prince king of Great Britain and Ireland, under the title of James III. when a fall from his horse threw him into a fever, which put a period to his life (A. D. 1702.)

He died an exile in France, August 6, 1701.

ANNE, eldest surviving daughter of James II. and sister to queen Mary, succeeded to the English throne. Her reign was made illustrious by the success of her arms against France, under her general the great duke of Marlborough. She was married to prince George of Denmark, by whom she had several children; but none surviving her, George, son of Ernest Augustus, first elector of Brunswick, and Sophia, grand-daughter to James I. pursuant to the act of settlement, succeeded to the vacant crown, A. D. 1714,

The first and second years of the reign of GEORGE I. were disturbed by an invasion of the kingdom in favor of the pretender. This rebellion was fortunately suppressed, and the remainder of his reign was prosper. ous to his people, and glorious to himself. A declaration of war against Spain, for the protection of commerce, took place A. D. 1718. The success of the English brought on a suspension of arms. When peace was restored to the continent, England was thrown into disorder by the South-Sea scheme, and by other ærial projects for the increase of the national wealth, A. D. 1720.-The king died on the road to Hanover, and left the vacant throne to his son,

GEORGE II. At this time Great-Britain was in a most flourishing condition, both at home and abroad, and had a powerful influence in all the courts of Europe, Spain excepted; but a congress had been agreed to for terminating the differences between the two crowns, and for the general pacification of Europe, which was accomplished in 1729. The Spaniards, in violation of the treaty, continued to make depredations on the British commerce in America. This fired the nation with resentment, and brought on a declaration of war, which, on the part of the English, was attended with signal success. The French having assisted Spain, hostilities commenced between Great Britain and Fance. While war raged with fury on the continent, a rebellion broke out in Scotland, A. D. 1745. The young pretender, being encouraged by many of the principal Scotch families to land there, was received with open arms, his

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