LECTURE XXIII.

ANNE.

THE reign of William is interesting on many accounts: from its immediate connection with the Revolution of 1688; from the suspense in which the cause of that Revolution still hung, on account of the parties that then existed; from the conduct of William to those parties; from their conduct to him and to each other; from their relative merits; from the relation which questions connected with the monarch and such parties must always bear to our mixed and free constitution; from the great subjects that occurred in the course of the administration of William-the Civil List, the Place Bill, the Triennial Bill, the liberty of the press, a standing army, the responsibility of ministers, the veto of the crown; from many other subjects connected with our internal and external policy -the situation of Ireland, the East India Company, the Bank of England, questions of finance, of the coinage, the funded debt, and others, such as I could only mention. These are topics that must always deserve the attention of the inhabitants of these kingdoms. The very narrative of the reign is also interesting, and full of events and business, foreign and military, as well as civil and domestic; add to this, that this era of our annals has been always highly attractive to the readers of history. William is not only the deliverer of England, but the great hero of the age in which he lived; and they who have accustomed themselves to meditate on the characters of men and the fortunes of the human race, have always lamented that the story of William has never been undertaken by any writer so distinguished for the

superiority of his talents as to be worthy of a theme so splendid and so important.

This lecture was written many years ago, but at this moment, while I am now reading it, occurs the great subject of regret to literary men, and particularly those interested in the history of their country-the loss of Sir James Mackintosh. This great thinker and accomplished writer was worthy of such a theme, and had undertaken it; what he has left us is the best account we have of the ominous proceedings of the reign of James II.

The reign of Anne may be considered as a continuation of the reign of William. The great features are the same: national animosity against France; resistance to-the aggrandisement and the ambition of Louis; contending parties, the Whigs and Tories; the constitution settling; and the great question of the return of the exiled family, i. e. the success of the Revolution, i. e. the cause of the civil and religious liberties of England, still suspended on a shifting, doubtful balance.

Our best means of information are likewise the same. St. Simon and the French writers, Burnet, Macpherson's Original Papers, the Debates in Parliament, the Statute Book and Journals, Tindal, Belsham, and Somerville, are to be read or referred to in the same manner as before.

To these sources of information, on which I originally depended, I can now add the Life of Marlborough, by Mr. Coxe, which has been lately completed from the Blenheim papers. To write the life of Marlborough is to write the history of the reign of Queen Anne; and it is impossible for any one to judge properly of this part of our annals without a diligent perusal of this very entertaining and valuable work.

I must also observe, that a very good idea may be formed of the general subjects connected with this period, and of the original memoirs and documents which should be referred to, by reading the appendix to Belsham's History: it is very well drawn up.

My hearer, therefore, will bear in mind, that the great subjects before him are, the resistance made to Louis XIV. and the power of France, abroad; and at home, the different parties of the Whigs and Tories, the various questions that arose connected with our civil and religious liberties, the union with Scotland, and, above all, the great question of the success of the Revolution, the security of the Protestant succession, and the chance of the restoration of the House of Stuart.

We will first advert to the foreign concerns; afterwards to the domestic.

Many subjects must be necessarily omitted, and cannot even be mentioned, but they will occur to you in the reading of the history: some can be but adverted to; a few, and but a few, on account of their superior importance, may be a little dwelt upon; but on this occasion and on every other through the whole of these lectures, I am oppressed with the consciousness that I can attempt little more than barely lead up my hearer to the consideration of different subjects, and, having stated their claim upon his attention, leave him to examine them for himself.

The reign opens with the great War of the Succession.

I have already observed, that questions of peace and war are peculiarly deserving of attention. They cannot be made too often or too much the subjects of your examination. No more valuable result can be derived from the meditation of history than habits of dispassionate reflection, of caution, foresight, a strong sense of the rights of independent nations, of justice, and of humanity, on such momentous topics. It is on these occasions more particularly that the philosophic statesman is distinguished from the ordinary politician; and when we suppose a minister in a cabinet, a member of either of the houses in his place, an individual at a public meeting, or an intelligent man in the private circles of social life, contributing to make his countrymen more upright, reasonable, conciliatory, patient, while the tremendous issues of war are

dependent, are hanging on the balance of words and expressions are dependent, not merely on the wisdom or the folly, but the good and ill humour of the parties-we, in fact, suppose a man elevated to something above his nature, and for a season assuming the character and office of a superior being -one whose voice breathes the heavenly accents of peace on earth and good-will towards men.

In a government that is free, where every individual is educated upon a system, not of servility and baseness, but of personal dignity and independence, of submission to no power but the laws; in such a government, one like our own, there is.no fear on these occasions of any want of sensibility to national honour, or of any contemptible sacrifice to present ease and short-sighted policy. The danger is on the other side, and the habits of thought to be cherished in free and powerful countries are entirely those of a deliberative, cautious, and pacific nature.

The opening of this reign of Anne affords an opportunity to the student, such as I have described. One of these great questions is before him, that of the War of the Succession, a long and dreadful contest. Let him try to examine and consider it in all its bearings and aspects; and in this manner he may school his mind, and prepare it for important occasions, when he is hereafter to interfere, as every man of education ought actively to do, in the concerns of the community.

I will now make an effort to give him some slight idea of what I mean, some idea of the subject now presented to him; and I must begin, in point of time, at some distance from the period more immediately before us.

At the peace of the Pyrenees, Mazarin united the royal family of France with that of Spain. As this union might eventually make the princes of the House of Bourbon heirs to the crown of Spain, this was always looked upon as a masterpiece of policy.

The first question which I would propose to the student is,

whether it was so? The King of Spain was at the time sufficiently aware of the possible consequences, and he therefore took due care that all title to the future succession to the crown of Spain, of whatever kind, should be publicly and for ever renounced.

This is a part of the case, and, being so, the policy of the whole transanction, as far as Mazarin is concerned, may, I think, be proposed as a question.

Among other considerations that will occur to the student when he looks at the history, I would wish to leave the following more particularly to his examination.

First, whether the avoidance of all causes of war, and all temptations to war, is not the first point of policy to be secured.

Secondly, whether the union of the families was likely to influence materially the future intercourse of the two nations, and make it more friendly than hitherto it had been. If so, this was a most weighty consideration in favour of the measure. But on the other side, and

Thirdly, whether the union of the families did not rather hold up to the ambition of all succeeding princes of France the most tempting object, the succession to the crown of Spain; and yet the renunciation render that ambition totally unlawful; and whether the result was not therefore sure to be, that France would be engaged in a series of dishonest intrigues for the accomplishment of this object; and afterwards in a war with the powers of Europe for the maintenance of this unlawful object, if those intrigues were successful; for the acquiescence of the powers of Europe, without a struggle, could not possibly be expected.

Now, if this last question be answered in the affirmative, as well as the first, where was the policy of Mazarin?

The event turned out to be, that the prospect of the succession kept continually opening to Louis, and that his family at last became the regular heirs to the Spanish monarchy.