EFFECT OF THE WAR.—In the war with Holland, Louis had shown his military strength, and his skill in making and breaking alliances. He had made progress towards the goal of his ambition, which was to act as dictator in the European family of states. To the end of the century, France stood on the pinnacle of power and apparent prosperity.

CONDITION OF FRANCE.—Manufactures flourished to an astonishing degree. France became a naval power with a large fleet and with all its services better organized than those of the contemporary English marine. Colbert finished the canal between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. Colonies were founded in St. Domingo, Cayenne, Madagascar. Canada was increasing in strength. A uniform, strict judicial system was established. Restless nobles were cowed, and the common people thus drawn to the monarch.

THE FRENCH COURT.—In his court, the king established elaborate forms of etiquette, and made himself almost an object of worship. The nobility swarmed about him, and sought advancement from his favor. Festivals and shows of all sorts—plays, ballets, banquets, dazzling fireworks—were the costly diversion of the gay throngs of courtiers, male and female, in that court, where sensuality was thinly veiled by ceremonious politeness and punctilious religious observances. Poets, artists, and scholars were liberally patronized, and joined in the common adulation offered to the sovereign. Stately edifices were built, great libraries gathered; academies of art and of science, an astronomical observatory, and the botanic garden for the promotion of the study of natural history, were founded. The palace at Versailles, with its statues, fountains, and gardens, furnished a pattern which all the rest of Europe aspired to copy. Every thing there wore an artificial stamp, from the trimming of the trees to the etiquette of the ballroom. But there was a splendor and a fascination which caused the French fashions, the French language and literature, with the levity and immorality which traveled in their company, to spread in the higher circles of the other European countries.

THE GALLICAN CHURCH.—Louis XIV. desired, without any rupture with Rome, to take to himself a power in ecclesiastical affairs like that assumed in England by Henry VIII. Under the pontificate of Innocent XI., the assembly of the French clergy passed four propositions asserting the rights of the national Gallican Church, and limiting the Pope's prerogative (1682). The king had for his ecclesiastical champion the able and eloquent Bossuet, the Bishop of Meaux. Subsequently, under Innocent XII., Louis, afraid of a schism and anxious to procure other advantages, yielded up the four obnoxious propositions.

JANSENISM.—The controversy raised by the Jansenists was an important event in the history of France. They took their name from Jansenius, who had been Bishop of Ypres, an ardent disciple of St. Augustine's theology. They strenuously opposed the theology and moral maxims of the powerful Jesuit order. Their leaders, St. Cyran, Pascal, Arnauld, Nicole, and others, were called Port Royalists, from their relation to a cloister at Port Royal, where some of them resided. They were men of literary and philosophical genius, as well as theologians and devotees. Blaise Pascal wrote the "Provincial Letters," a satirical and polemical work against the Jesuit doctrines. This has always been deemed in style a masterpiece of French prose. His posthumous Thoughts is a profound and suggestive fragment on the evidences of religion. In the heated controversy that arose, the Jansenist leaders were for a more limited definition of the Pope's authority in deciding questions of doctrine. The French court at length took the side of the Jesuits. In 1713 the Pope's bull against the Moral Reflections of Quesnel, a Jansenist author, was a heavy blow at his party. Finally, the Jansenists were proscribed by the king, and the cloister at Port Royal leveled to the ground. The Jansenist influence made a part of the tendencies to liberalism that led to the Revolution at the close of the century.

THE HUGUENOTS.—After Mazarin's death, the king fell under the influence of a party hostile to the Huguenots. Louvois fostered this feeling in him, as did Madame de Maintenon, whom he had secretly married, and by whom he was influenced through life. As he grew older, he sought to appease a guilty conscience by inflicting tortures on religious dissenters. He issued edicts of the most cruel character. He adopted the atrocious scheme of the dragonade, or the billeting of soldiers, over whom there was no restraint, in Huguenot families. In the course of three years, fifty thousand families, industrious and virtuous people, had fled the country. In 1685 the Edict of Nantes, the charter of Protestant rights, was revoked. Emigration was forbidden; yet not far from a quarter of a million of refugees escaped, to enrich by their skill and labor the Protestant countries where they found an asylum. Many of the refugees were received by the Elector Frederick, and helped to build up Berlin, then a small city of twelve thousand inhabitants. France was not only in a degree impoverished by those who fled, but, also, by the much larger number who remained to be harassed and ruined by the foolish and brutal bigotry of their ruler.

The loss to France by the exile of the Huguenots was incalculable. "Here were the thriftiest, the bravest, the most intelligent of Frenchmen, the very flower of the race; some of their best and purest blood, some of their fairest and most virtuous women, all their picked artisans. In war, in diplomacy, in literature, in production of wealth, these refugees gave what they took from France to her enemies; for they carried with them that bitter sense of wrong which made them henceforth foremost among those enemies, the forlorn hope of every attack on their ancient fatherland. Large numbers of officers, and those among the ablest, emigrated; among them pre-eminent Marshal Schomberg, 'the best general in Europe.' The fleet especially suffered: the best of the sailors emigrated; the ships were almost unmanned. The seamen carried tidings of their country's madness to the ends of the earth: as Voltaire says, 'the French were as widely dispersed as the Jews.' Not only in industry, but in thought and mental activity, there was a terrible loss. From this time literature in France loses all spring and power."

In England, the Huguenot exiles quickened manufactures; in Holland, commerce; in Brandenburg, they made a new era in agriculture. Moreover, from this time the policy of Brandenburg was changed: the hostility to the emperor and the house of Austria gave way. An antagonism to France arose: "a process begun by the Great Elector, carried on by Frederick the Great, and brought to a triumphant close in our own days, dates from the revocation of the Edict of Nantes."

THE COST OF NATIONAL UNITY IN FRANCE.—From the beginning of the Reformation, the problem for the nations to solve was, how to combine religious freedom with national unity. The intolerance of the Spanish branch of the Hapsburgs deprived them of Holland, and broke down their power. This effort to secure uniformity of belief was shattered. A like effort in Germany resulted in the Thirty Years' War, and the utter loss of the national unity which it aimed to restore. The civil wars in France, aiming at the same result, uniformity of belief, ended in an accommodation between the parties, secured by Henry IV. in the Edict of Nantes. There was a partial sacrifice of national unity. This was reestablished by the policy of Richelieu and the acts of Louis XIV., but at a fearful cost. The loss of the Huguenot emigrants; the loss of character, with the loss of the spirit of independence, in the nobles of France; the full sway of a monarchical despotism,—this was the price paid for national unity.

AGGRESSIONS OF LOUIS.—The readiness of the European states to accept the provisions of the Nimwegen Treaty emboldened Louis to further outrages and aggressions. Germany, split into a multitude of sovereignties, and for the most part inactive as if a paralysis lay upon her, was a tempting prey to the spoiler. He claimed that all the places which had stood in a feudal relation to the places acquired by France in the Westphalian and Nimwegen treaties, should become dependencies of France. He constituted Reunions, or courts of his own, to decide what these places were, and enforced their decrees with his troops (1679). He went so far, in a time of peace, as to seize and wrest from the German Empire the city of Strasburg, to establish his domination there, and to introduce the Catholic worship, in the room of the Protestant, in the minster (1681). Instead of heeding the warning of the Prince of Orange, the empire concluded with Louis the truce of Regensburg, by which he was suffered to retain these conquests. He evinced his arrogance in making a quarrel with Genoa, in bombarding the city, and in forcing the doge to come to Versailles and beg for peace (1684).

HUNGARY AND AUSTRIA.—The Emperor Leopold was busy in the eastern part of his dominions. The success of the Turks, who gained possession of Lower Hungary, called out a more energetic resistance; but a victory gained by the imperial general, Montecuculi, at St. Gothard, on the Raab (1664), only resulted in a truce. The Austrian government, guided by the minister, Lobkowitz, used the opportunity to rob the Hungarians of their liberties and rights. Political tyranny and religious persecution went hand in hand. Protestant preachers were sold as galley-slaves. Toekoely, an Hungarian nobleman, led in a revolt, and invoked the help of the Turks. In 1683 the Turks laid siege to Vienna, which was saved by a great victory gained under its walls by a united German and Polish army; the hero in the conflict being John Sobieski, king of Poland. The German princes and Venice now united in the prosecution of the war. The conquest of Hungary from the Turks enabled Leopold to destroy Hungarian independence. After their defeat by Charles of Lorraine at Mohacs (1687), the Diet of Pressburg conferred on the male Austrian line the crown of Hungary, and abandoned its old privilege of resisting unconstitutional ordinances (1687). A great victory gained over the Turks by Prince Eugene at Zenta was followed by the Peace of Carlowitz, which gave Hungary and Transylvania to Austria, Morea to Venice, and Azof to Russia. Toekoely died in exile.

THE RESTORATION IN ENGLAND (1660).—Richard Cromwell quietly succeeded to the Protectorate. But the officers of the army recalled the "Rump" Parliament, the survivors of the Long Parliament. After eight months Richard gave up his office. The "Rump" was soon in a quarrel again with the army, and was expelled by its chief, Lambert. Monk, the commander of the English troops in Scotland, refused to recognize the government set up by the officers in London. The fleet declared itself on the side of Parliament. Lambert was forsaken, and Monk entered London (1660). A new Parliament or Convention was convoked, which included the Upper House. The restoration of Charles II. was now effected by means of the combined influence of the Episcopalians and Presbyterians, and through the agency of Monk. Charles, in his Declaration from Breda, prior to his return, promised "liberty to tender consciences." This and subsequent pledges were falsified: he had the Stuart infirmity of breaking his engagements. With an easy good-nature and complaisant manners, he was void of moral principle, and in his conduct an open profligate. At heart he was a Roman Catholic, and simply from motives of expediency deferred the avowal of his belief to his death-bed. The army was disbanded. Vengeance was taken on such of the "regicides," the judges of Charles I., as could be caught, and on the bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw. The Cavalier party had now every thing their own way. The Episcopal system was reestablished, and a stringent Act of Uniformity was passed. Two thousand Presbyterian ministers were turned out of their parishes. If there was at any time indulgence to the nonconformists, it was only for the sake of the Roman Catholics. John Bunyan, the author of "Pilgrim's Progress," was kept in prison for more than twelve years. The sale of Dunkirk to France (1662) awakened general indignation.

THE "YEAR OF WONDERS:" THE CONDUCT OF CHARLES.—The year 1665 was marked as the year of the Great Plague in London, where the narrow and dirty streets admitted little fresh air. It was estimated that not less than one hundred thousand people perished. In less than a year after the plague ceased, there occurred the Great Fire in London (Sept., 1666), which burned for three days, and laid London in ashes from the Tower to the Temple, and from the Thames to Smithfield. St. Paul's, the largest cathedral in England, was consumed, and was replaced by the present church of the same name, planned by Sir Christopher Wren. The king showed an unexpected energy in trying to stay the progress of the flames. But neither public calamities, nor the sorrow and indignation of all good men, including his most loyal and attached adherents, could check the shameless profligacy of his palace-life. The diaries of Evelyn and of Pepys, both of whom were familiar with the court, picture the disgraceful depravation of morals, which was stimulated by the king's example. But the nation was even more aggrieved by his conduct in respect to foreign nations. In a war with Holland, arising out of commercial rivalry, the English had the mortification of seeing the Thames blockaded by the Dutch fleet (1667). Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, Charles's principal adviser, whose daughter married the Duke of York, was driven from office, and went into exile to escape a trial. The Triple Alliance against Louis (p. 453) was gratifying to the people; but in the Treaty of Dover (1670), Charles engaged to declare himself a Roman Catholic as soon as he could do so with prudence, and promised to join his cousin, Louis XIV., against Holland, and to aid him in his schemes; in return for which he was to receive a large subsidy from Louis, a pension during the war, and armed help in case of an insurrection in England.

THE "CABAL" MINISTRY.—A cabinet, as we now term it,—a small number of persons,—had, before this reign, begun to exercise the functions which belonged of old to the King's Council. At this time, the cabal ministry—so called from the first letters of the names, which together made the word—was in power. In 1672 war with Holland was declared, and was kept up for two years.

DECLARATION OF INDULGENCE.—When Charles began this second Dutch war, he issued orders for the suspension of the laws against the Catholics and Dissenters. His design was to weaken the Church of England. The anger of Parliament and of the people at this usurpation obliged him to recall the declaration.

THE TEST ACT.—Parliament, in 1673, passed an act which shut out all Dissenters from office. This act the king did not venture to reject; although the effect of it was to oblige his brother James, the Duke of York, to resign his office of lord high admiral.

DANBY'S MINISTRY.—The cabal ministry was gradually broken up; and Shaftesbury, an able minister, went over to the other side. The Earl of Danby became the chief minister. He was in agreement with the House of Commons. He favored the marriage which united Mary, the daughter of the Duke of York, to William, Prince of Orange.

THE "POPISH PLOT" (1678).—The already exasperated nation was infuriated by an alleged "Popish Plot" for the subverting of the government, and for the murder of the king and of all Protestants. Titus Oates, a perjurer, was the main witness. Many innocent Roman Catholics were put to death. This pretended plot led to stringent measures shutting out papists from office. Halifax, an able man who called himself "a trimmer," because he did not always stay on one side or with one party, opposed a bill that would have excluded the king's brother from the succession, and it failed.

HABEAS CORPUS ACT.—In 1679 the Habeas Corpus Act was passed, providing effectually against the arbitrary imprisonment of subjects. Persons arrested must be brought to trial, or proved in open court to be legally confined.

PARTIES: RUSSELL AND SIDNEY.—At this time the party names of Whig and Tory came into vogue. Insurgent Presbyterians in Scotland had been called "Whigs," a Scotch word meaning whey, or sour milk. The nickname was now applied to Shaftesbury's adherents, opponents of the court, who wished to exclude the Duke of York from the throne on account of his being a Catholic. Tories, also a nickname, the designation of the supporters of the court, meant originally Romanist outlaws, or robbers, in the bogs of Ireland. Many of the Whigs began to devise plans of insurrection, from hatred of Charles's arbitrary system of government. Some of them were disposed to put forward Monmouth, the eldest of Charles's illegitimate sons, and a favorite of the common people. The "Rye-House Plot" for the assassination of the king and his brother was the occasion of the trial and execution of two eminent patriots,—William, Lord Russell, and Algernon Sidney, a warm advocate of republican government. Both, it is believed, were unjustly condemned. The Duke of York assumed once more the office of admiral. Charles, before his death, received the sacrament from a priest of the Church of Rome (1685).

JAMES II. (1685-1688): MONMOUTH'S REBELLION.—A few months after James's accession, the Duke of Monmouth landed in England; but his effort to get the crown failed. His forces, mostly made up of peasants, were defeated at Sedgemoor; and he perished on the scaffold. Vengeance was taken upon all concerned in the revolt; and Chief Justice Jeffreys, for his brutal conduct in the "Bloody Assizes," in which, savage as he was, he nevertheless became rich by the sale of pardons, was rewarded with the office of lord chancelor.

JAMES'S ARBITRARY GOVERNMENT.—James paid no heed to his promise to defend the Church of England. Of a slow and obstinate mind, he could not yield to the advice of moderate Roman Catholics, and of the Pope, Innocent XI.; but set out, by such means as dispensing with the laws, to restore the old religion, and at the same time to extinguish civil liberty. He turned out the judges who did not please him. He created a new Ecclesiastical Commission, for the coercion of the clergy, with the notorious Jeffreys at its head. After having treated with great cruelty the Protestant dissenters, he unlawfully issued a Declaration of Indulgence (1687) in their favor, in order to get their support for his schemes in behalf of his own religion. He turned out the fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford, for refusing to appoint a Catholic for their president. He sent seven bishops to the Tower in 1688, who had signed a petition against the order requiring a second Declaration of Indulgence to be read in the churches. Popular sympathy was strongly with the accused, and the news of their acquittal was received in the streets of London with shouts of joy.

REVOLUTION OF 1688: WILLIAM AND MARY (1689-1694).—The birth of a Prince of Wales by his second wife, Mary of Modena, increased the disaffection of the English people. His two daughters by his first wife—Mary and Anne—were married to Protestants; Mary, to William, Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, and Anne to George, Prince of Denmark. By a combination of parties hostile to the king, William was invited to take the English throne. James was blind to the signs of the approaching danger, and to the warnings of Louis XIV. of France. When it was too late, he attempted in vain to disarm the conspiracy by concessions. William landed in safety at Torbay. He was joined by persons of rank. Lord Churchill, afterwards the celebrated Duke of Marlborough, left the royal force of which he had the command, and went over to him. The king's daughter, Anne, fled to the insurgents in the North. William was quite willing that James should leave the kingdom, and purposely caused him to be negligently guarded by Dutch soldiers. He fled to France, never to return. Parliament declared the throne to be, on divers grounds, vacant, and promulgated a Declaration of Right affirming the ancient rights and liberties of England. It offered the crown to William and Mary, who accepted it (1689). A few months later, the estates of Scotland bestowed upon them the crown of that country. Presbyterianism was made the established form of religion there. The union of the kingdoms was consummated under their successor, Anne, when Scotland began to be represented in the English Parliament.

THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE.—A Highland chief, MacIan of Glencoe, with many of his followers, was treacherously slaughtered by order of Dalrymple, the Master of Stair, who governed Scotland, and had obtained by misrepresentation from William leave to extirpate that "set of thieves," as he had called them.

WILLIAM IN IRELAND.—The sovereignty of Ireland passed, with that of England, to William and Mary. There James II., supported by France, made a stout resistance. It was a conflict of the Irish Catholics, together with the descendants of the Norman-English settlers, comprising together about a million of people, against the English and Scottish colonists, not far from two hundred thousand in number. The latter, with steadfast courage, sustained a siege in Londonderry until the city was relieved by ships from England. Many of the inhabitants had perished from hunger. The victory of William at Boyne (1690), where Schomberg, his brave general, a Huguenot French marshal, fell, decided the contest. William led his troops in person through the Boyne River, with his sword in his left hand, since his right arm was disabled by a wound. James was a spectator of the fight at a safe distance.

ENGLISH LIBERTY.—In William's reign, liberty in England was fortified by the Bill of Rights, containing a series of safeguards against regal usurpation. Papists were made ineligible to the throne. The Toleration Act afforded to Protestant dissenters a large measure of protection and freedom. The press was made free from censorship (1695), and newspapers began to be published. Provision was made for the fair trial of persons indicted for treason. The Act of Settlement (1701) settled the crown, if there should be no heirs of Anne or of William, upon the Princess Sophia, Electress of Hanover, the daughter of Elizabeth of Bohemia, and granddaughter of James I., and on her heirs, being Protestants.

THE GRAND ALLIANCE: TO THE PEACE OF RYSWICK.—The next war which Louis XIV. began was that of the succession in the territory of the Palatinate, which he claimed, on the extinction of the male line of electors, for Elizabeth Charlotte, the gifted and excellent sister of the deceased Elector Charles, and the wife of the Duke of Orleans, the king's brother.

The table which follows will show the nature of this claim:—



FREDERIC, V, 1610-1632, Elector and King of Bohemia, m. Elizabeth, daughter of James I. of England. + CHARLES LEWIS, 1649-1680. + CHARLES, 1680-1685. + Elizabeth, m. Philip, Duke of Orleans, d. 1701. + Sophia, m. Ernest Augustus, Elector of Hanover. + George I of England.

Philip, Duke of Orleans, was the only brother of Louis XIV. From him descended King Louis Philippe (1830-1848).

Another reason that Louis had for war was his determination to secure the archbishopric of Cologne for the bishop of Strasburg, a candidate of his own. In 1686 the League of Augsburg had been formed by the emperor with Sweden, Spain, Bavaria, Saxony, and the Palatinate, for defense against France. The Grand Alliance, in which England and Holland were included, was now made (1689). In the year before, by the advice of Louvois, the French had deliberately devastated the Palatinate, demolishing buildings, and burning cities and villages without mercy. The ruins of the Castle of Heidelberg are a monument of this worse than vandal incursion, the pretext for which was a desire to prevent the invasion of France. In the war the English and Dutch fleets, under Admiral Russell, defeated the French, and burned their ships, at the battle of La Hogue (1692). This battle was a turning-point in naval history: "as at Lepanto," says Ranke, where the Turks were defeated (1571), "so at La Hogue, the mastery of the sea passed from one side to the other." But in the Netherlands, where William III., the soul of the League, steadfastly kept the field, after being defeated by Luxemburg; in Italy, where the Duke of Savoy was opposed by the Marshal Catinat; and in a naval battle between the English and French at Lagos Bay,—the French commanders were successful. In 1695 William's troops besieged and captured the town of Namur. At length Louis was moved by the exhaustion of his treasury, and the stagnation of industry in France, to conclude the Peace of Ryswick with England, Spain, and Holland (1697). The Duke of Savoy had been detached from the alliance. Most of the conquests on both sides were restored. William III. was acknowledged to be king of England. In the treaty with the emperor, France retained Strasburg. William was a man of sterling worth, but he was a Dutchman, and was cold in his manners. The plots of the Jacobites, as the adherents of James were called, did more than any thing else to make him popular with his subjects.



CHAPTER II. WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION (TO THE PEACE OF UTRECHT, 1713); DECLINE OF THE POWER OF FRANCE: POWER AND MARITIME SUPREMACY OF ENGLAND.

OCCASION OF THE WAR.—The death of Charles II. of Spain (1700) was followed by the War of the Spanish Succession. The desire of Louis to have his hands free in the event of Charles's death had influenced him in making the Treaty of Rysivick. Charles had no children. It had been agreed in treaties, to which France was a party, that the Spanish monarchy should not be united either to Austria or to France; and that Archduke Charles, second son of the Emperor Leopold I., should have Spain and the Indies. But Charles II. of Spain left a will making Louis's second grandson, Philip Duke of Anjou, the heir of all his dominions, with the condition annexed that the crowns of France and Spain should not be united. Instigated by dynastic ambition, Louis made up his mind to break the previous agreements, and seize the inheritance for Philip. Philip V. thus became king of Spain. On the death of James II. (1701), Louis recognized his son James, called "the Pretender," as king of Great Britain. This act, as a violation of the Treaty of Ryswick, and as an arrogant intermeddling on the part of a foreign ruler, excited the wrath of the English people, and inclined them to war. The Grand Alliance against France (1701) included the Empire, England, Holland, Brandenburg (or Prussia), and afterwards Portugal and Savoy (1703). France was supported by the electors of Bavaria and Cologne, and at first by Savoy. William III. died in 1702, and was succeeded by Anne, the sister of his deceased wife, and the second daughter of James II.

The following table will help to make clear the several claims to the Spanish succession:—



Philip III, King of Spain, 1598-1621. + Maria Anna, m. Emperor Ferdinand III. + Leopold I, m. (3) Eleanor, daughter of Elector Palatine. + Joseph I, d. 1711. + Charles VI.[2] + Anna Maria m. + PHILIP IV (1621-1665) + CHARLES II, 1665-1700. + Margaret Theresa m. Leopold I + Maria Antonia m. Maximilian of Bavaria + Joseph Ferdinand, [1] Electoral Prince of Bavaria. + (1) Maria Theresa. m. + Louis XIV + Louis, the Dauphin. + Philip of Anjou [2] (PHILIP V of Spain), d. 1746. + Anne. m. Louis XIII of France



1 Recognized as heir of Charles II of Spain until his death.

2 Rival claimants for the Spanish crown after Charles II, the elder brother of each having resigned his pretensions.



EVENTS OF THE WAR.—In this war, there were displayed the military talents of two great generals,—the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene of Savoy. Marlborough had two glaring faults, He was avaricious, and, like other prominent public men in England at that day, was double-faced. After deserting the service of James for that of William, he still kept up at times a correspondence with the exiled house. He was a man of stately and winning presence, a careful commander, in battle cool and self-possessed. At the council board, he had the art of quietly composing differences by winning all to an adhesion to his own views. It is said of him, that he "never committed a rash act, and never missed an opportunity for striking an effective blow." Eugene, on his father's side, sprang from the house of Savoy. His mother was a niece of Mazarin. He was brought up at the court of Louis XIV.; but when the king repeatedly refused him a commission in the army, he entered the service of Austria, was employed in campaigns against the Turks, and rose to the highest distinction. Flattering offers from Louis XIV. he indignantly rejected. His career as a soldier was long and brilliant. The personal sympathy of Eugene and Marlborough with each other was one important cause of their success. Eugene was first sent to Italy. There he drove Catinat, the French general, back on Milan, and captured his successor in command, Villeroi (1702). After a drawn battle between Eugene and Vendome (1702), a commander of much more skill than his predecessor, the French had the advantage in Italy. In 1703, Eugene came to Germany, and Marlborough invaded the Spanish Netherlands. In 1704 Marlborough carried out the plan of a grand campaign which he had devised. He crossed the Rhine at Cologne, moved southward, captured Donauwoerth, and drove the Bavarians across the Danube. The united forces of Marlborough and Eugene defeated the French and Bavarian armies at Blenheim (or Hochstaedt), on the left bank of the river, with great slaughter. There were captured fifteen thousand French soldiers, with their general Tallard. This victory raised Marlborough's reputation, already great on account of his masterly conduct of his army, to the highest point. He was made a duke by Queen Anne, and a prince of the Empire by Leopold. In Spain, the English captured Gibraltar. Charles of Austria (who had assumed the title of Charles III. of Spain) conquered Madrid (1706), but held it for only a short time. The country generally favored Philip; the arms of Vendome were triumphant; and Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia had to submit to Castilian laws as the penalty of their adhesion to the Austrian cause. In 1706 Marlborough vanquished Villeroi at Ramillies, a village in the Netherlands, in a great battle in which the French army was routed, and their banners and war material captured. The Netherlands submitted to Austria. At Turin, Eugene gained a victory over an army of eighty thousand men; and the fame of this modest and unpretending, but brave and skillful leader was now on a level with that of the English general. Lombardy submitted to Charles III., and the French were excluded from Italy. Another victory of the two commanders at Oudenarde (1708) over Vendome and the Duke of Burgundy, broke down the hopes of Louis, and moved him to offer the largest concessions, which embraced the giving up of Strasburg and of Spain. But the allies, flushed with success, went so far as to demand that he should aid in driving his grandson out of Spain. This roused France, as well as Louis himself, to another grand effort. At Malplaquet, in a bloody conflict, the French were again defeated by Marlborough and Eugene.

TO THE PEACE OF UTRECHT.—Circumstances now favored the vanquished and humbled king of France. The Whig ministry in England, which the victories of Marlborough had kept in office, fell from power (1710); and its enemies, and the enemies of Marlborough, were anxious to weaken him. Anne dismissed from her service the Duchess of Marlborough, a haughty woman of a violent temper. Harley, Earl of Oxford, and St. John, afterwards Viscount Bolingbroke, became the queen's principal ministers. They wished to end the war. The Emperor Joseph (1705-1711), who had succeeded Leopold I., died; so that Charles, if he had acquired Spain, would have restored the vast monarchy of Charles V., and brought in a new source of jealousy and alarm. Negotiations for peace began. Marlborough, who had been guilty of traitorous conduct, was removed from his command, and deprived of all his offices (1712). In 1713 the Peace of Utrecht was concluded between England and France, in which Holland, Prussia, Savoy, and Portugal soon joined. It was followed by the Peace of Rastadt and Baden with the emperor (1714). Spain and Spanish America were left to Philip V., the Bourbon king, with the proviso that the crowns of France and Spain should never be united. France ceded to England Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, and the Hudson Bay Territory. Spain ceded to England Gibraltar and Minorca. The Elector of Brandenburg was recognized as King of Prussia. Savoy received the island of Sicily, which was exchanged seven years later for Sardinia, and for the title of king for the duke. Holland gained certain "barrier" fortresses on its border. Austria received the appanages of the Spanish monarchy,—the Spanish Netherlands, Naples, Sardinia, and Milan, but not Sicily. The emperor did not recognize the Bourbons in Spain.

LAST DAYS OF LOUIS XIV.—In the next year after the peace, Louis XIV. died. Within two years (1710-1712) he had lost his son, his grandson the Duke of Burgundy (whom the pious Fenelon had trained), his wife, and his eldest great-grandson, and, two years later (1714), his third grandson, the Duke of Berry. He left France overwhelmed with debt, its resources exhausted, its credit gone, its maritime power prostrate; a land covered with poverty and wretchedness. This was the reward of lawless pride and ambition in a monarch who owed his strength, however, to the sympathy and subservience of the nation.

LAW'S BANK.—During the minority of Louis XV. (1715-1774) Philip, Duke of Orleans, was regent, a man of extraordinary talents, but addicted to shameful debauchery. The opportunity for effective reform was neglected. The most influential minister was Cardinal Dubois, likewise a man of unprincipled character. The state was really bankrupt, when a Scottish adventurer and gambler, John Law, possessed of unusual financial talents, but infected with the economical errors of the time, offered to rescue the national finances by means of a bank, which he was allowed to found, the notes of which were to serve as currency. Almost all the coined money flowed into its coffers; its notes went everywhere in the kingdom, and were taken for government dues; it combined with its business "the Mississippi scheme," or the control of the trade, and almost the sovereignty, in the Mississippi region; it absorbed the privileges of the different companies for trading with the East; finally it took charge of the national mint and the issue of coin, and of the taxation of the kingdom, and it assumed the national debt. The temporary success of the gigantic financial scheme turned the heads of the people, and a fever of speculation ran through all ranks. The crash came, the shares in the bank sunk in value, the notes depreciated; and, in the wrath which ensued upon the general bankruptcy, Law, who had been honored and courted by the high and the low, fled from the kingdom. He died in poverty at Venice. The state alone was a gainer by having escaped from a great part of its indebtedness.

ITALY.—Before the middle of the eighteenth century, the Spanish Bourbons again had possession of Naples and Sicily, besides other smaller Italian states. Austria, besides holding Milan, was the virtual ruler of Tuscany.

SPAIN IN ITALY.—Philip V. was afflicted with a mental derangement peculiar to his family. The government was managed by the ambitious queen, Elizabeth of Parma, and the intriguing Italian, Alberoni, the minister in whom she confided. He sought to get back the Italian states lost by the Peace of Utrecht. But Sardinia and Sicily were restored when he was overthrown, through the fear excited by the Quadruple Alliance of France, England, Austria, and Holland (1718). Later, the queen succeeded in obtaining the kingdom of Naples and Sicily for her oldest son, Don Carlos, under the name of Charles III. Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla, she gained for her second son, Philip (1735). When Charles succeeded to the Spanish throne (1759-1788), he left Naples and Sicily to his third son, Ferdinand.

AUSTRIA IN ITALY.—The house of Savoy steadily advanced in power. By the Peace of Ryswick, Victor Amadeus II. (1675-1730), secured important places previously gained. He became "King of Sardinia" (1720). By him the University of Turin was founded, and the administration of justice much improved. His next two successors carried forward this good work. Venice lost Morea to the Turks, but retained Corfu and her conquests in Dalmatia (1718). Liberty was gone, and there was decay and conscious weakness in the once powerful republic. Genoa was coveted by Savoy, Austria, and France. The consequent struggles are the material of Genoese history for a long period. Corsica was oppressed, and Genoa called on France to lend help in suppressing its revolt (1736). The Corsicans especially, under Paoli, defended themselves with such energy that France found its work of subjugation hard and slow (1755). The island was ceded to France by Genoa(1768). Milan, with Mantua, was Austrian, after the Peace of Utrecht (1713). Tuscany under Ferdinand II. (1628-1670) bestowed its treasure on Austria and Spain, and fell under the sway of ecclesiastics. Under Cosmo III. (1670-1723), the process of decline went on. After the death of the last of the Medici, John Gasto (1737), Tuscany was practically under the power of Austria, notwithstanding the stipulation that both states should not have the same ruler. It was governed by Francis Stephen (1738-1765), Duke of Lorraine, husband of the Empress Maria Theresa; and, when he became emperor (Francis I.), by his second son, Leopold (1765-1790). At Rome, Pope Innocent XI. (1676-1689) had many conflicts with Louis XVI. which came to an end under the well-meaning Innocent XII. (1691-1700). Contests arose on the part of Rome against the Bourbon courts respecting the Jesuit order, and with the forces adverse to the Church and the Papacy, in the closing part of the eighteenth century. In 1735, the Emperor Charles VI. allowed that Naples and Sicily should be handed over, as a kingdom, to Don Carlos, the son of the Spanish Bourbon king, under the name of Charles III., by whom it was granted to his son Ferdinand IV. (1759).

CLOSE OF ANNE'S REIGN.—Anne's husband, Prince George of Denmark, had no influence, and deserved none. One of the important events of her reign was the Union of England and Scotland in 1707 (p. 461). After the Tories came into power, the two leaders, Oxford and Bolingbroke, were rivals. An angry dispute between them hastened the queen's death (1714). One of the Tory measures, prompted by hostility to Dissenters, was a law forbidding any one to keep a school without a license from a bishop.

GEORGE I, 1714-1727, m. Sophia Dorothea of Zell. + GEORGE II, 1727-1760, m. Caroline, daughter of John Frederick, Margrave of Anspach. + Frederick, Prince of Wales, d. 1751, m. Augusta of Saxe Gotha. + Augusta m. Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick. + Caroline m. + GEORGE IV, 1820-1830. + GEORGE III, 1760-1820, m. Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. + WILLIAM IV, 1830-1837. + Edward, Duke of Kent, d. 1820, m. Victoria of Saxe Coburg. + VICTORIA, succeeded 1837, m. Albert of Saxe Coburg.



REIGN OF GEORGE I.—George I., the first king of the house of Hanover, could not speak English. His private life was immoral. His first ministers were Whigs. Bolingbroke and Oxford were impeached, and fled the country. The "Pretender," James Edward (son of James II.), with the aid of Tory partisans, endeavored to recover the English crown. His standard was raised in the Highlands and in North England (1715), but this Jacobite rebellion was crushed. After the rebellion of 1715, a law was passed, which is still in force, allowing a Parliament to continue for the term of seven years. A second conspiracy in 1717 had the same fate. England had an experience analogous to that of France with Law, with the South Sea Company, which had a monopoly of trade with the Spanish coasts of South America. A rage for speculation was followed by a panic. The estates of the directors of the company were confiscated by Parliament for the benefit of the losers. Robert Walpole was made first minister, a place which he held under George I. and George II. for twenty-one years. William and Anne had attended the meetings of the Cabinet. George I., who could not speak English, staid away. From this time, one of the ministers was called the "prime minister."

THE REIGN OF GEORGE II.—George II. was systematic in his ways, frugal, willful, and fond of war. In his private life, he followed the evil ways of his father. Walpole's influence was predominant. The clever Queen Caroline lent him her support. Walpole reluctantly entered into war with Spain (1739), on account of the measures adopted by that power to prevent English ships from carrying goods, in violation of the treaty of Utrecht, to her South American colonies. The principal success of England was the taking of Porto Bello by Admiral Vernon.

When the war was declared, the people expressed their joy by the ringing of bells. "They are ringing the bells now," said Walpole: "they will be wringing their hands soon." The blame for the want of better success in the war was laid on the prime minister, and he was driven to resign. Then followed the ministry of the Pelhams, Henry Pelham and the Duke of Newcastle, who, like Walpole, managed Parliament by bribing the members through the gift of offices.

In the war of the Austrian succession (1740), England took part with Austria, and the king in person fought in Germany. In 1745 Prince Charles Edward Stuart, the young Pretender (whose father, the old Pretender, styled himself James III.), landed in the Highlands. The Highlanders defeated the English at Preston Pans, near Edinburgh. The Pretender marched into England as far as Derby, at the head of the Jacobite force, but had to turn back and retreat to Scotland. The contest was decided by the victory of the English under the Duke of Cumberland, at Culloden (1746), which was attended by an atrocious slaughter of the wounded. Culloden was the last battle fought in behalf of the Stuarts. Nearly eighty Jacobite conspirators, one of whom was an octogenarian, Lord Lovat, were executed as traitors. These Jacobites were the last persons who were beheaded in England. The Pretender wandered in the Highlands and Western Islands for five months, under different disguises. He was concealed and aided by a Scottish lady, Flora Macdonald. Then he escaped to the Continent, where he led a miserable and dissipated life, and died in 1788. His brother Henry, Cardinal York, the last of the Stuarts in the male line, died in 1807.



CHAPTER III. THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR: THE FALL OP SWEDEN: GROWTH OF THE POWER OF RUSSIA.

SWEDEN.—The eventful epoch in the history of Sweden, in this period, is the reign of Charles XII. (1697-1718). At his accession, when he was only sixteen years old, Sweden ruled the Baltic. Its army was strong and well disciplined. What is now St. Petersburg was a patch of swampy ground in Swedish territory, where a few fishermen lived in their huts. The youth of Charles was prophetic of his career. In doors, he read the exploits of Alexander the Great; out of doors, gymnastic sports and the hunting of the bear were his favorite diversions. He became an adventurous warrior after, the type of Alexander. His rashness and obstinacy occasioned at last the downfall of his country. Three great powers, Russia, Poland, and Denmark, with the support of Patkul, a disaffected Livonian subject of Sweden, joined in an attack on the youthful monarch (1699). Patkul, who was a patriot, unable to secure the rights of Livonia, and condemned as a rebel, had entered the service of the Elector Augustus of Saxony, who was king of Poland. There were territories belonging to Sweden which each of the confederates coveted. Frederick IV. of Denmark expected to incorporate Sweden itself in his dominions.

RUSSIA: PETER THE GREAT.—The first ruler of the house of Romanoff, which has raised Russia to its present rank, was Michael (1613-1645). Under Alexis, his son (1645-1676), important conquests were made from the Poles, and the Cossacks acknowledged the sovereignty of the Czar. The principal founder of Russian civilization was Peter the Great (1682-1725). Through the machinations of his half-sister Sophia, who contrived to get the armed aid of the streltzi,—the native militia,—he had to share the throne with a half-brother, Ivan, who was older than himself, and lived until 1696. Sophia pushed aside Peter's mother, and grasped the reins of power. Peter learned Latin, German, and Dutch, and acquired much knowledge of various sorts. As he grew older, his life was in danger; but at the age of seventeen, he was able to crush his enemies (1689). Sophia, who was at their head, he shut up in a monastery for the remainder of her days. From Lefort, a Swiss, and other foreigners, Peter derived information about foreign lands, and was led to visit them in order to instruct himself, and to introduce into his own country the arts and inventions of civilized peoples. He invited into Russia artisans, seamen, and officers from abroad. He traveled through Germany and Holland to England, and with his own hands worked at ship-building at the dock-yards of Zaandam (near Amsterdam) and Deptford. On his way to Venice, he was called home by a revolt of the streltzi, which he put down. He was unsparing in his vengeance, and, despite his veneer of culture, never got rid of his innate barbarism. Azoff he conquered, and it was ceded to him by the Turks in the Peace of Carlowitz (1699). Then his ambitious thoughts turned to the Baltic, for he was bent on making Russia a naval power. He formed a secret alliance with Denmark and Poland against Sweden.

CONDITION OF POLAND.—In 1697 Frederick Augustus II.,—Augustus the Strong,—Duke of Saxony, was elected king of Poland: he became a Roman Catholic that he might get the crown. But the Polish nobles took care to increase their power, which was already far too great to be compatible with unity or order. Under the anarchical but despotic nobility and higher clergy, stood the serfs, embracing nine-tenths of the whole population, who were without protection against the greed and tyranny of their lords.

EVENTS OF THE NORTHERN WAR.—The Danes first attacked the territory of Holstein Gottorp, whose duke had married the sister of Charles XII. William III. of England supported Sweden. The Anglo-Dutch fleet came to Charles's assistance. He landed his troops in Zealand. The Danes gave up their alliance, and sued for peace. Europe was now astonished to discover that the Swedish king was an antagonist to be feared. In the field he shared the hardships of the common soldier, and was as brave as a lion. Charles now attacked the Russian army before Narva, in Livonia. With the Swedish infantry he stormed the camp of the Russians, and routed their army, which was much larger in numbers than his own (1700). He then raised the siege of Riga, which the Poles and Saxons were besieging, having first defeated their troops on the Dwina. These brilliant successes might have enabled Charles to conclude peace on very advantageous terms. But he lacked moderation. He was as passionate in his public conduct as Peter the Great was in his private life. He was resolved to dethrone Augustus in Poland. After the battle of Clissau (1703), he occupied that country, and made the Diet give the crown to Stanislas Lesczinski, the Palatine of Posen. To prevent Russia and Saxony from uniting against the new king, Charles carried the war into Saxony, and forced Augustus, in the Peace of Altranstaedt, to renounce his claim to the Polish crown, and to surrender Patkul, the rebel, who had become a subject of Russia, whom he put to death with circumstances of cruelty. In 1703 Peter laid the foundations of the new city of St. Petersburg. But, a few years later, Russia was invaded by Charles, who in 1708 almost captured the Czar at Grodno, defeated his army near Smolensk, and was expected to advance to Moscow. But the imprudent Swede turned southward into the district of the Ukraine, there to be joined by Mazeppa, the "hetman" of the Cossacks, who led them in revolt against Peter. Mazeppa was able, however, to bring him but few auxiliaries. The harshness of the winter, and other untoward events, weakened the Swedish force. The battle of Pultowa (1709) was a great victory for the Czar. Charles escaped with difficulty to Turkey. There he remained for three years, supported with his retinue, at Bender, by the Sultan. His object was to bring about a war between the Sultan and the Czar. He so far succeeded that Peter, when surrounded on the Pruth by Turkish troops, was rescued only by the courage and energy of Catherine, the mistress whom he afterwards married. Charles was finally obliged to leave Turkey, after being exposed to imminent peril in an attack by the janizaries, who seized his camp and took him captive. With a few attendants, riding by day and sleeping in a cart or carriage by night, he journeyed back to Sweden, and arrived at Stralsund (1714). The hostile allies, together with Hanover and Prussia, were once more in array against him. Baron van Goertz, a German, became his principal adviser. He negotiated a peace with Peter, of whom the other allies were beginning to be jealous. Charles's plan was to invade Norway, then to land in Scotland, and, with the help of Spain and of the Jacobites, to restore the Stuarts to the English throne. While besieging Friedrichshall, a fortress in Norway, he exposed himself near the trenches, and was killed by a bullet (1718). It was long a question whether the fatal shot was fired from the enemy or by an assassin. Not until 1859 was it settled, by an examination of the skull, that the gun was discharged from the fortress.

RESULTS OF THE WAR—One result of the Northern war was the execution of Goertz, to whom the Swedish aristocracy were inimical, and a reduction of the king's authority. Hanover received Bremen and Verden; Prussia, the largest part of Pomerania; Sweden gave up its freedom from custom duties in the Sound. Augustus was recognized as king of Poland. Russia, by the Peace of Nystadt (1721), obtained Livonia, Esthonia, Ingermannland, and a part of Carelia, but restored Finland. Sweden no longer had a place among the great powers. The place that Sweden had held was now taken by Russia.

CHANGES IN RUSSIA.—The Czar, Peter, took the title of emperor. He transferred the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg. By constructing canals, roads, and harbors, he promoted trade and commerce. By fostering manufactures and the mechanic arts, and by opening the mines, he increased the wealth of the country. He altered the method of government, making the ukases, or edicts, emanate from the sole will of the emperor. He abolished the dignity of Patriarch, making the Holy Synod, of which the Czar is president, the supreme ecclesiastical authority. Peter made a second journey through Germany, Holland, and France (1716). His son Alexis, who allied himself with a reactionary party that aimed to reverse the Czar's policy, he finally caused to be tried for treason. He was condemned, but died either from the bodily torture inflicted on him to extort confession, or, as many have believed, by poison, or other means, used by the direction of his father. His friends, after being barbarously tortured, were put to death.

Great as was the work of Peter, "he brought Russia prematurely into the circle of European politics. The result has been to turn the rulers of Russia away from home affairs, and the regular development of internal institutions, to foreign politics and the creation of a great military power." In his last years, the frugality of his own way of living in his new capital was in striking contrast with the splendor with which his queen, Catherine, preferred to surround herself. He died at the age of fifty-three, in consequence of plunging into icy water to save a boat in distress.

The document called "The Testament of Peter the Great," which explains what has to be done in order that Russia may conquer all Europe, is not genuine. It is first heard of in 1812, in a book published by Lesur, probably by direction of Napoleon I. "Lesur's book," says Mr. E. Schuyler, "was merely a pamphlet to justify the invasion of Russia by Napoleon." (Schuyler's Life of Peter the Great, vol. ii, p. 512.)



CHAPTER IV. WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION; GROWTH OP THE POWER OF PRUSSIA: THE DESTRUCTION OF POLAND.

THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION.—On the death of Augustus II., there were two competitors for the Polish crown,—his son, Augustus III. of Saxony, and Stanislaus Lesczinski whom France supported. After a contest, by the consent of the Emperor Charles VI., Lesczinski, whose daughter had married Louis XV., obtained the duchy of Lorraine, which thus became a possession of France (1735). In return, the emperor's son-in-law, Francis Stephen (afterwards Francis I.), was to have Tuscany; and France, in connection with the other powers, assented to the Pragmatic Sanction, according to which the hereditary possessions of Austria were to descend intact in the female line. It was expected that the empire would pass along with them.

PRUSSIA: FREDERICK WILLIAM I.—In 1611 the duchy of Prussia and the mark or electorate of Brandenburg were joined together. The duchy was then a fief of Poland. But under the Great Elector, Frederick William (1640-1688), this relation of the duchy to Poland ended. By him the military strength of the electorate was increased. Frederick, his son (1688-1713), with the emperor's license, took the title of King of Prussia (Frederick I.). He built up the city of Berlin, and encouraged art and learning. King Frederick William I. (1713-1740), unlike his predecessor, was exceedingly frugal in his court. He was upright and just in his principles, but extremely rough in his ways, and governed his own household, as well as his subjects generally, with a Spartan rigor. Individuals whom he met in the street, whose conduct or dress he thought unbecoming, he did not hesitate to scold, and he even used his cane to chastise them on the spot. He cared nothing for literature: artists and players were his abomination. He favored industry, and was a friend of the working-class. Every thing was done with despotic energy. He disciplined the military force of Prussia, and gathered at Potsdam a regiment of tall guards, made up of men of gigantic height, who were brought together from all quarters. He left to his son, Frederick II. (1740-1786), a strong army and a full treasury.

CHARACTER OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.—Young Frederick had no sympathy with his father's austere ways. The strict system of training arranged for him, in which he was cut off from Latin and from other studies for which he had a taste, his time all parceled out, and a succession of tasks rigorously ordained for him, he found a yoke too heavy to bear. Once he attempted to escape to the court of his uncle, George II. of England; but the scheme was discovered, and the incensed father was strongly inclined to execute the decree of a court-martial, which pronounced him worthy of death. Frederick, from the window of the place where he was confined, saw Katte, his favorite tutor, who had helped him in his attempt at flight, led to the scaffold, where he was hanged. In the later years of the old king, the relations of father and son were improved. The prince had for his abode the little town of Rheinsberg, where he could indulge, with a circle of congenial friends, in the studies and amusements to which he was partial. He grew up with a strong predilection for French literature, and for the French habits and fashions—free-thinking in religion included—which were now spreading over Europe. On his accession to the throne, Frederick broke up the Potsdam regiment of giants, and called back to Halle the philosopher Wolf, whom his father had banished. Frederick was visited by Voltaire, who at a later day took up his abode for a time with him in Berlin. But the king was fond of banter, and the foibles of each of these companions were a target for the unsparing wit of the other; so that eventually they parted company with mutual disgust. Later they resumed their correspondence, and never wholly lost their intellectual sympathy with each other. As a soldier, Frederick had not the military genius of the greatest captains. He applied superior talents to the discharge of the duties of a king, and to the business of war. He was cool, knew how to profit by his errors and to repair his losses, and to press forward in the darkest hour. Napoleon said of him that "he was great, especially at critical moments."

WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCESSION—-Charles VI. was succeeded, in 1740, by his daughter Maria Theresa, who united in her character many of the finest qualities of a woman and of a sovereign. Notwithstanding the pragmatic sanction by which all the Austrian lands were to be hers, different princes deemed the occasion favorable for seizing on the whole, or on portions, of her inheritance. Charles, elector of Bavaria, claimed to be the lawful heir, and was aided by France, which was afraid of losing Lorraine if Maria Theresa's husband, Francis Stephen, should become emperor. Augustus III. of Poland was a participant in the plot. Frederick II. of Prussia claimed Silesia, and, after defeating the Austrians at Molwitz (1741), seized the greater part of that district. Soon after, the French and Bavarians overran Austria. The Bavarian elector was chosen emperor. Even the elector of Hanover (George II. of England) engaged not to assist the empress.

The claims to Austria were as follows:—

Augustus III., king of Saxony, and Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria, had married daughters of the Emperor Joseph I. (the brother and predecessor of Charles VI.). The wife of Charles Albert was the younger daughter; but he appealed to an alleged provision in the will of the Emperor Ferdinand I., according to which the posterity of his daughter Anna (who married a Bavarian duke) was to inherit the duchy of Austria and Bohemia, in case his male descendants should die out. It was not to the male descendants, but to the legitimate descendants, however, that the will referred. The Bourbons in France and Spain seized the occasion to regain the possessions of Spain lost in the Peace of Utrecht (p. 466). Francis Stephen, the husband of Maria Theresa, it was feared, might seek to get back Lorraine from France (p. 474). Spain was anxious to recover Milan. Philip V. of Spain claimed the Austrian possessions on the basis of certain stipulations of Charles V. and Philip III. in the cession of them. To weaken the Austrian house in Germany, was an aim of France. The courts of France and Spain were ready, on all these grounds, to support Charles of Bavaria. They were ready, also, to support Frederick II. in legal claims which he set up to a portion of Silesia. The empress rejected the offer of Frederick to defend Austria if she would give up this territory.

SPIRIT OF THE EMPRESS: CESSION OF SILESIA.—Maria Theresa proved herself a Minerva. She threw herself for support on her Hungarian subjects, who responded with loyal enthusiasm to her appeal made at the Diet of Presburg. Her forces drove the Bavarian and French troops before them in Austria, entered Bavaria, and captured Munich. Reluctantly the queen, in the Peace of Breslau (1742), ceded Silesia to Frederick, in order to lessen the number of her antagonists. She was crowned (1743) in Prague, and at length gained an ally in George II. of England. The "Pragmatic Army," as it was called, defeated the French under Marshal Noailles at Dettingen. Sardinia and Saxony joined the Austrian alliance.

TO THE PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.—These events widened the dimensions of the contest. France declared war directly against England and Austria. Frederick II. of Prussia was now the ally of France, and began the second Silesian war. He took Prague, but, being deserted by the French, was driven back into Saxony. The son of Charles Albert of Bavaria, Maximilian Joseph, made peace with Austria,—the Peace of Fuessen,—promising to give his vote to Francis, the husband of Maria Theresa, for the office of emperor. Francis (1745-1765) was crowned at Frankfort. Victories in Saxony on the side of Frederick led to the Treaty of Dresden, which left Silesia in his hands (1745). The most of the English army went back to England to fight the Pretender. The war went on in the Netherlands and in Italy, and between France and England; the English being victors on the sea under Anson (1747), while the French were generally successful on the land. The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) provided for a reciprocal restoration of all conquests: Silesia was given to Prussia, and the Pragmatic Sanction was sustained in Austria.

ALLIANCE AGAINST FREDERICK.—Frederick the Great used the next eight years in doing what he could to encourage industry and to increase the prosperity and resources of Prussia, at the same time that he strengthened his military force. Prussia had evinced so much power in the late conflicts as to be an object of envy and apprehension. Maria Theresa was anxious to recover Silesia. Frederick had a foe in Elizabeth, empress of Russia, whose personal vices he made a subject of sarcastic remark, and who, besides, coveted Prussian provinces on the Baltic. An alliance was formed between Russia and Austria. This was joined by Saxony, and by France; since Louis XV. had become alarmed by the calculating selfishness of Frederick's policy, and was induced to depart from the French traditional policy, and to unite with Austria. The only ally of Frederick was George II. of England, which was then engaged in a contest with France respecting the American colonies (1756).

THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR.—Thus arose the Seven Years' War. Frederick, secretly informed of the plans of his enemies, anticipated their action by invading Saxony and capturing Dresden (1756). At Lobositz he defeated the Austrians: he soon took eighteen thousand Saxon troops. He had now to encounter the military strength of the various nations opposed to him. With the bulk of his forces he marched into Bohemia, and gained a great but costly victory at Prague (1757). For the next six months, successes and reverses alternated; but before the end of the year (1757) Frederick won two of his most famous triumphs,—one at Rossbach, over the French and the Imperialists; and the other over the Austrians, at Leuthen. Frederick was now admired as a hero in England, and was furnished by the elder William Pitt, who had succeeded Newcastle, with money and troops. In 1758 the Prussians vanquished the Russians at Zorndorf, but were, in turn, soon defeated by the Austrians at Hochkirch Of the numerous battles in this prolonged war, in which the military talents of Frederick were so strikingly shown, it is possible to refer only to a few of the most important. He was defeated by the united Austrians and Russians at Kunersdorf; and so completely that he was for the moment thrown into despair, and wrote to his minister Finkenstein, "All is lost." In 1760 Berlin was held for a few days by the Russians, but Frederick soon defeated the Austrians once more at Torgau. In 1761, however, his situation was in the highest degree perilous. His resources were apparently exhausted. Spain joined the ranks of his enemies. He faced them all with determined resolution, but he confessed in his private letters that his hopes were gone.

END OF THE WAR.—At this time there was a turn of events in his favor. In Russia, Peter III., who succeeded Elizabeth, was an admirer of Frederick,—so much so that he wore a Prussian uniform,—and hastened to conclude a peace and alliance with him (1762). Peter was soon dethroned and killed by Russian nobles; and his queen. and successor, Catherine II., recalled the troops sent to Frederick's aid. Nevertheless, they helped him to a victory over the Austrians, under the command of Daun, at Burkersdorf (1762). Austria, too, was exhausted and ready for peace. The negotiations between England and France, which ended in the Peace of Paris (1763), made it certain that the French armies would evacuate Germany. Prussia and Austria agreed to the Peace of Hubertsburg, by which Prussia retained Silesia, and promised her vote for the Archduke Joseph, son of Maria Theresa, as king of Rome and successor to the empire (1763).

POSITION OF PRUSSIA.—Joseph II. succeeded his father as emperor in 1765, and was associated by his mother, Maria Theresa, in the government of her hereditary dominions. From the conclusion of the Seven Years' War, Prussia took her place as one of the five great powers of Europe.

THE BRITISH INDIAN EMPIRE.—It was during this period that the empire of the British in India grew up out of the mercantile settlements of a trading corporation, the East India Company. The result was effected after a severe struggle with the French. After the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Mughal empire at Delhi declined. Insubordinate native princes admitted only a nominal control over them. The effect of successive Mahratta and Afghan invasions was such, that when England and France went to war in Europe, in 1745, India was broken up into different sovereignties, to say nothing of the great number of petty chieftains who were practically independent. Pondicherry was the chief French settlement. For a time it seemed that in the struggle for control France, under the masterly guidance of Dupleix, must triumph. In 1756 Calcutta was taken from the English by the Nabob of Bengal, and many Englishmen died in the close room of the military prison in which they were shut up,—"the Black Hole." In 1757 Clive defeated a great army of the natives, with whom were a few French, in the decisive battle of Plassey. He had previously shown his indomitable courage in the seizure of Arcot, and in its defense against a host of besiegers. The victory at Plassey secured the British supremacy, which gradually extended itself over the country. The various local sovereignties became like Roman provinces. On the death of Clive, Warren Hastings was made governor-general (1772). After his recall, he was impeached (1788), on charges of cruelty and oppression in India, and his trial by the House of Lords did not end until seven years after it began. He was then acquitted. Among the conductors of the impeachment on the part of the House of Commons, were the celebrated orators Edmund Burke and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. In 1784 the power of the East-India Company had been restricted by the establishment of the Board of Control. Up to that time the Indian Empire, made up of dependent and subject states, had been governed by the sole authority of the company.

CATHERINE II. OF RUSSIA.—Catherine II. (1762-1796) in her private life was notoriously dissolute. If she did not connive at the assassination of her husband, Peter III., she heaped gifts upon his murderers. In her policy, she aimed to strengthen Russia, especially towards the sea. This occasioned successful conflicts with the Turks.

THE PARTITION OF POLAND.—At first inimical to Frederick the Great, Catherine afterwards made an alliance with him. She compelled the election of one of her lovers, Poniatowski, to the throne of Poland. Poland was mainly Catholic; and the Confederation of Bar (1768), made by the Poles to prevent the toleration of Greek Christians and Protestants, was defeated by a Russian army, and broken up. The Turks were worsted in the war which they made in defense of the confederacy. As one result, Russia gained a firm footing on the north coasts of the Black Sea (1774). The "free veto," oppression of the peasantry, their distress, and the general want of union and public spirit, had reduced Poland to a miserable condition. Catherine, however, favored no reforms there looking to an improvement in the constitution. She preferred to prolong the anarchy and confusion. She wished to make the death of Poland in part a suicide. At length she invited Prussia and Austria to take part with her in the first seizure and partition of Polish territory (1772). Each took certain provinces. In 1793 the second, and in 1795 the final partition of Poland, was made by its three neighbors. The capture of Warsaw, and the defeat of the national rising under Kosciusko, obliterated that ancient kingdom from the map of Europe. It should be said that a large part of the territory that Russia acquired had once been Russian, and was inhabited by Greek Christians. By the division of Poland, Russia was brought into close contact with the Western powers. The Crimea was incorporated with Russia in 1783. After a second war, provoked by her, with the Turks, who now had the Austrians to help them, the Russian boundaries through the Treaty of Jassy (1792) were carried to the Dniester.



CHAPTER V. CONTEST OF ENGLAND AND FRANCE IN AMERICA: WAR OF AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE: THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES.

In this period the United States of America achieved their independence, and began their existence as a distinct nation.

THE ENGLISH COLONIES.—The English colonies south of Canada had become thirteen in number. In the southern part of what was called Carolina, Charleston was settled in 1680. More than a century before (1562), a band of Huguenots under Ribault had entered the harbor of Port Royal, and given this name to it, and had built a fort on the river May, which they called Charlesfort—the Carolina—in honor of King Charles IX. of France. In 1663 the territory thus called, south of Virginia, was granted to the Earl of Clarendon. In it were two distinct settlements in the northern part. The English philosopher John Locke drew up a constitution for Carolina, never accepted by the freemen. The rights of the proprietors were purchased by George II.; and the region was divided (1729) into two royal provinces, North and South Carolina, each province having a governor appointed by the king, and an assembly elected by the people. Besides the English, Huguenots and emigrants from the North of Ireland, as well as from Scotland, planted themselves in South Carolina. Georgia was settled by James Oglethorpe, who made his settlement at Savannah. He had a charter from George II., in whose honor the region was named (1732). Soon the "trustees" gave up their charter, and the government was shaped like that of the other colonies (1752). John Wesley, afterwards the founder of Methodism, sojourned for a time in Georgia. The settlement of New Jersey was first made by members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, sent over by William Penn, the son of an English admiral, and familiar at court. The Quakers gave up the government to the crown, and from 1702 to 1738 it formed one province with New York. Pennsylvania was granted to Penn himself, by the king, in discharge of a claim against the crown. Penn procured also a title to Delaware. He sent out emigrants in 1681, and the next year came himself. By him Philadelphia was founded. He dealt kindly with all the settlers, and made a treaty of peace and amity with the Indians. The government organized by Penn was just and liberal. In 1703 the inhabitants of Delaware began to have a governing assembly of their own.

THE FRENCH COLONIES.—Among the French explorers in America, La Salle is one of the most famous. Having traversed the region of the upper lakes, he reached the Mississippi, and floated in his boats down to its mouth (1682). The region of the great river and of its tributaries, he named Louisiana, in honor of his king, Louis XIV. This name was applied to the whole region from the Alleghanies to the Rocky Mountains. On his return, La Salle built Fort St. Louis. Afterwards (1684) he took part in an expedition from France which had for its purpose the building of a fort at the mouth of the Mississippi, but which was so wrongly guided as to land on the coast of Texas. La Salle himself perished, while seeking to find his way to Canada. But a French settlement was made near the mouth of the river (1699), and a connection established by a series of forts with Canada.

On the principle that the country belonged to the explorer, Spain claimed all the southern part of North America from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The French claim stretched from the coast of Nova Scotia westward to the Great Lakes, and embraced the valley of the Mississippi to its mouth. England claimed the country from Labrador as far south as Florida, and westward to the Pacific. This region included within it the claims of the Dutch, founded on the discoveries of Henry Hudson.

War between England and France, whenever it occurred, was attended with conflicts between the English and the French settlements in America. The Indians were most of them on the side of the French. But the fierce Iroquois in central New York, who wished to monopolize the fur-trade, were hostile to them. A massacre perpetrated by these at La Chine, near Montreal (1689), provoked a murderous attack of French and Indians upon the settlement at Schenectady, the most northern post of the English. This was an incident of King William's War (1689). In Queen Anne's War (1702-1713) Deerfield in Massachusetts was captured and destroyed by French and Indians (1704). By an expedition fitted out in Massachusetts, and commanded by Sir William Phipps, Port Royal in Nova Scotia was captured (1710). The colonies incurred great expense in fitting out expeditions (1709 and 1711) against Canada, which were abandoned. The contest between France and England for supremacy in America was further continued in a series of conflicts lasting from 1744 for nearly twenty years. An early event of much consequence in the contest known as King George's War,—a part of the war of the Austrian succession (p. 476),—was the capture of Louisburg, an important fortified place on Cape Breton, by an expedition from Boston (1745). The colonists, who were with reason proud of their achievement, had the mortification to see this place restored to the French in the treaty of peace (1748). In these contests the French had the help of their Indian allies, who fell upon defenseless villages. The English were sometimes aided by the Iroquois. The English founded Halifax (1749).

THE "OLD FRENCH WAR" (1756-1763).—The "Old French and Indian War" in America was a part of the Seven Years' War in Europe. A British officer, Gen. Braddock, led a force which departed from Fort Cumberland in Maryland, against Fort Du Quesne at the junction of the Monongahela and Alleghany Rivers. Disregarding the advice of George Washington, who was on his staff, he allowed himself to be surprised by the Indians and the French, and was mortally wounded. The remains of his army were led by Washington, whose courage and presence of mind had been conspicuous, to Philadelphia (1755). Prior to the expedition, Washington had made a perilous journey as envoy, to demand of the French commander his reasons for invading the Ohio valley. The English held Nova Scotia, and expelled from their homes the French Acadians, seven thousand in number, in a way that involved severe hardships, including the separation of families (1755). They were carried off in ships, and scattered among the colonies along the Atlantic shore. The English also took the forts in Acadia. There were two battles near Lake George (1755), in the first of which the French were victors, but in the second they were routed. Montcalm, the French commander, captured the English fort near Oswego, from which an expedition was to have been sent against the French fort at Niagara (1756). In 1757 he took Fort William Henry on Lake George.

THE CAMPAIGNS OF 1758 AND 1759.—The English were dissatisfied at their want of success on the Continent and in America. But they had advantages for prosecuting the conflict. The French, who had been successful at the outset, had to bring their troops and supplies from Europe. They were, to be sure, disciplined troops; but the English had the substantial strength which was derived from the prosperous agriculture, and still more from the brave and self-respecting spirit, of their American colonies. The elder William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, again entered the cabinet, and began to manage the contest (1757). The French held posts at important points,—Fort Du Quesne, where Pittsburg now stands, for the defense of the West; Crown Point and Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain, guarding the approach to Canada; Niagara, near the Great Lakes and the region of the fur-trade; and Louisburg, on the coast of Nova Scotia, which protected the fisheries, and was a menace to New England. To seize these posts, and to break down the French power in America, was now the aim of the English. In 1758 an expedition of Gen. Abercrombie, at the head of sixteen thousand men, against Crown Point and Ticonderoga, was repulsed; Lord Howe was killed, and the army retreated. Louisburg, to the joy of the colonies, was captured anew by Lord Amherst (1758). Fort Du Quesne was taken (1758), and named Fort Pitt; Fort Frontenac on Lake Ontario was destroyed. The object of the campaign of 1759 was the conquest of Canada. Fort Niagara was captured by Sir William Johnston (1759). Ticonderoga and Crown Point were taken, and the French driven into Canada. Then came the great expedition under Major-Gen, Wolfe, a most worthy and high-spirited young officer, which left Louisburg for the capture of Quebec, "the Gibraltar of America." The attempt of Wolfe to storm the heights in front of the city, which were defended by the army of Montcalm, failed of success. From a point far up the river, he embarked a portion of his troops in the night, and, silently descending the stream, climbed the heights in the rear of the city, and intrenched himself on the "Plains of Abraham." In the battle which took place in the morning, both commanders, Wolfe and Montcalm, were mortally wounded. Wolfe lived just long enough to be assured of victory; Montcalm died the next day. Five days after the battle the town surrendered (1759).

An incident connected with Wolfe's approach by night to Quebec is thus given by Mr. Parkman: "For full two hours the procession of boats, borne on the current, steered silently down the St. Lawrence. The stars were visible, but the night was moonless and sufficiently dark. The general was in one of the foremost boats; and near him was a young midshipman, John Robison, afterwards professor of natural philosophy in the University of Edinburgh. He used to tell in his later life how Wolfe, with a low voice, repeated Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard to the officers about him. Among the rest, was the verse which his fate was soon to illustrate,—

'The paths of glory lead but to the grave.'

"'Gentlemen,' he said, as his recital ended, 'I would rather have written those lines than take Quebec.' None were there to tell him that the hero is greater than the poet." (Montcalm and Wolfe, p. 287.)

In the following year Montreal and all Canada were in the hands of the English. The English colonies were safe. It was decided that English, not French, should be spoken in aftertimes on the banks of the Ohio. In the Peace of Paris (1763), France kept Louisiana, but had already ceded it to Spain (1762).

CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC.—The Indians in the West were dissatisfied with the transference of Canada and the region of the Lakes to England. Pontiac, chief of the Ottawas, combined a large number of tribes, and kindled a war against the English, which spread from the Mississippi to Canada (1763). He captured eight forts, but failed to take Detroit and Fort Pitt. Three years passed before the Indians were completely beaten, and a treaty of peace concluded with their leader (1766).

STATE OF THE COLONIES: POPULATION.—At the close of the French war, the population of the thirteen colonies probably exceeded two millions, of whom not far from one fourth were negro slaves. The number of slaves in New England was small. They were proportionately much more numerous in New York, but they were found principally in the Southern colonies. Quakers were always averse to slavery. The slave-trade was still kept up. Newport in Rhode Island was one of the ports where slave-ships frequently discharged their cargoes.

GOVERNMENT.—The forms of government in the different colonies varied. All of them had their own legislative assemblies, and regarded them as essential to their freedom. Under Charles II., the charter which secured to Massachusetts its civil rights was annulled (1684). Under James II., the attempt was made to revoke all the New England charters. Sir Edmund Andros was appointed governor of New England, and by him the new system began to be enforced. The revolution of 1688 restored to the colonies their privileges; but Massachusetts (with which Plymouth was now united), under its new charter (1691), no longer elected its governor. Prior to the Revolution, there were three forms of government among the colonies. Proprietary governments (that is, government by owners or proprietors) still remained in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. In these the king appointed no officers except in the customs and admiralty courts. In Rhode Island and Connecticut, which like Massachusetts retained their charters, the governors were chosen by the people. New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, North and South Carolina, had royal or provincial governments: the governor and council were appointed by the king.

OCCUPATIONS.—The chief occupation of the colonists was agriculture. In the North, wheat and corn were raised. From Virginia and Maryland, great crops of tobacco were exported from the plantations, in English ships which came up the Potomac and the James. Rice was cultivated in the Carolinas. Indigo was also raised. Cotton was grown in the South. Labor in the fields in the Southern colonies was performed by the negroes. Building of ships was a profitable occupation on the coast of New England. The cod and other fisheries also gave employment to many, and proved a school for the training of seamen. The colonists were industrious and prosperous, but generally frugal and plain in their style of living.

EDUCATION AND RELIGION.—Common schools were early established by law in New England, and by the Dutch in New York. As Mr. Bancroft well observes, "He that will understand the political character of New England in the eighteenth century must study the constitution of its towns, its congregations, its schools, and its militia." Harvard College was founded in 1636; William and Mary, in 1693; Yale, in 1700. Eighteen years after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, a printing-press was set up at Cambridge. In 1704 the first American newspaper, "The Boston News Letter," was established. In the Puritan colonies, the minds of the people were quickened intellectually as well as religiously, by the character of the pulpit discourses. Theology was an absorbing theme of inquiry and discussion. In the town-meetings, especially in the closing part of the colonial period, political affairs became a subject of earnest debate. In all the colonies, the representative assemblies furnished a practical training in political life. In the Eastern colonies, the people were mostly Congregationalists and Calvinists: Presbyterians were numerous in the Middle States. In Virginia the Episcopal Church was supported by legislative authority; and it was favored, though not established by law, in New York. In Pennsylvania, while there was freedom in religion, the Quakers "still swayed legislation and public opinion." Philadelphia, with its population of thirty thousand, was the largest city in America, and was held in high esteem for its intelligence and refinement.

COMPLAINTS OF THE COLONIES.—The colonists all acknowledged the authority of king and parliament, but they felt that they had brought with them across the ocean the rights of Englishmen. One thing that was more and more complained of was the laws compelling the colonies to trade with the "mother country" exclusively, and the enactments laying restraint on their manufactures. In the conflicts with the Indians from time to time, the necessity had arisen for leagues; and, more than once, congresses of delegates had met. One of these was held at Albany in 1754, where Benjamin Franklin was present. In the Old French War, there had been a call for concert of action, and a deepening of the sense of common interests and of being really one people.

NEW GROUNDS OF DISAFFECTION.—The colonies had taxed themselves in the French War; but the condition of the finances in England at the close of it inspired the wish there to enforce the laws of trade more rigidly in America, and to levy additional taxes upon the provinces. These English laws were so odious that they were often evaded. The writs of assistance in Massachusetts authorized custom-house officers to search houses for smuggled goods (1761). In the legal resistance to this measure, a sentence was uttered by a Boston patriot, James Otis, which became a watchword. "Taxation," he said, "without representation is tyranny." Taxation, it was contended, must be ordained by the local colonial assemblies in which the tax-payers are represented. But the Stamp Act (1765), requiring for legal and other documents the use of stamped paper, was a form of taxation. It excited indignation in all the colonies, especially in Virginia and in New England. In all the measures of resistance, Virginia and Massachusetts were foremost. Patrick Henry, an impassioned, patriotic orator, in the Virginia Legislature, was very bold in denouncing the obnoxious Act, and the alleged right to tax the colonies which it implied. This right was denied in a Congress where nine colonies were represented, which met in New York in 1765. They called for the repeal of the Stamp Act, and declared against the importation of English goods until the repeal should be granted. William Pitt, in the House of Commons, eulogized the spirit of the colonies. The Stamp Act was repealed. The discussions which it had provoked in America had awakened the whole people, and made them watchful against this sort of aggression. Political topics engrossed attention. When Parliament ordered that the colonies should support the troops quartered on them, and that the royal officers should have fixed salaries, to be obtained, not by the voluntary grants of colonial legislatures, but by the levy of new duties, there was a renewed outburst of disaffection, especially in New York and Boston (1768). By way of response to a petition that was sent to the king against these Acts of Parliament, four regiments of troops were sent to Boston. Their presence was a bitter grievance. In one case, there was bloodshed in a broil in the street between the populace and the soldiers, which was called "The Boston Massacre" (1770). An influential leader of the popular party in Boston was the stanch Puritan patriot, Samuel Adams.

PROGRESS OF THE CONTROVERSY.—After the other taxes were repealed, the tax on tea remained in force. A mob of young men, disguised as Indians, went on board three vessels in Boston Harbor, and threw overboard their freight of tea (1773). Before, there had been outbreakings of popular wrath against the stamp-officers. Their houses had been sometimes attacked: they had been burnt in effigy, and in some cases driven to resign. In general, however, the methods of resistance had been legal and orderly. When the news of the destruction of the tea reached England, Parliament retaliated by passing the Boston Port Bill (1774), which closed that port to the exportation or importation of goods, except food or fuel. The courts, moreover, were given the power to send persons charged with high crimes to England, or to another colony, for trial. To crown all, General Gage, the commander of the British troops, was made Governor of Massachusetts.

THE FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS.—In order to produce concert of action, committees of correspondence between the several colonies were established. The First Continental Congress, composed of delegates from the colonies, was convened in Philadelphia (1774). The remedies to which they resorted were, addresses to the king and to the people of Great Britain; an appeal for support to Canada; and a resolve not to trade with Great Britain until there should be a redress of grievances.

CONCORD AND BUNKER HILL.—The Legislature in Massachusetts, which Gage would not recognize, formed itself into the "Provincial Congress." The first collision took place at Concord (April 19, 1775), where a detachment of British troops was sent to destroy the military stores gathered by this body. On Lexington Green, the British troops fired on the militia, and killed seven men. Arriving at Concord, they encountered resistance. There the first shot was fired by America in the momentous struggle,—"the shot heard round the world." A number were killed on both sides, and the attacking force was harassed all the way on its return to Boston. The people everywhere rose in arms. Men flocked from their farms and workshops to the camp which was formed near Boston. Israel Putnam, who had been an officer in the French War, left his plow in the field at his home in Connecticut, and rode to that place, a distance of sixty-eight miles, in one day. Stark from New Hampshire, and Greene from Rhode Island, soon arrived.

THE SECOND CONTINENTAL CONGRESS, in session at Philadelphia, assumed control of military operations in all the colonies. At the suggestion first made by John Adams of Massachusetts, Colonel George Washington of Virginia was unanimously appointed commander-in-chief. His mingled courage and prudence, his lofty and unselfish patriotism, his admirable sobriety of judgment, and his rare power of self-control, connected as it was with a not less rare power of command, and with a firmness which no disaster could shake, made him one of the noblest of men. Before he reached Cambridge, where he assumed command of the gathering forces (July 3, 1775), he received the news of the battle of Bunker Hill, in which the provincial soldiers, under Putnam and Prescott, made a stand against the "regulars," as the British troops were called, and retreated only on the third assault, and when their ammunition had given out. Dr. Joseph Warren, a leading Boston patriot, was slain in the battle. Before this time, Fort Ticonderoga had been captured by Ethan Allen, and cannon been sent from it to aid in the siege of Boston (1775). But an attack on Quebec by Arnold and Montgomery, who entered Canada by different routes, failed of its object. Before British reinforcements arrived, the American troops abandoned Canada. In the attack on Quebec, Montgomery fell, and Arnold was severely wounded (Dec. 31, 1775).

INDEPENDENCE.—Only a brief sketch can here be given of the seven years' struggle of the United Colonies. On the 4th of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence, drawn up in the main by Thomas Jefferson, and of which John Adams was the most eloquent advocate on the floor of Congress, passed that body. It was signed by the President, John Hancock, and fifty-five members. The colonies easily converted themselves into States, nearly all of them framing new constitutions. Thirteen Articles of Confederation made them into a league, under the name of the United States of America, each State retaining its sovereignty (1777). Franklin, an old man, and respected in Europe as well as at home for his scientific attainments as well as for his sturdy sagacity, went to France as their envoy. Among the soldiers who came from Europe to join the Americans were La Fayette,—a young French nobleman, who was inspired with a zeal for liberty, and was not without a thirst for fame, which, however, he desired to merit,—and Steuben, an officer trained under Frederick the Great. In Parliament, the Whig orators spoke out manfully for the American cause. The king hired German troops for the subjugation of its defenders.