Deep Are the Roots A Concise History of Britain (стр. 6 из 8)

But the Commonwealth was dissolved. CharlesII was the king of England and Ireland but all these countries now had their own Parliament again.

Charles II was more French than English. He did his best to secure toleration for Catholics in England and also to escape the control of Parliament. The Parliament and the Protestants wanted to keep their leading position.

The first years of the Restoration saw action of revenge on Cromwell's dead body, Acts against the Puritans passed by the Parliament of Cavaliers and the appearance of Milton's "Paradise Lost" in which the author tried "to justify the ways of God to men"; New Amsterdam was captured from the Dutch and renamed New York, after the King's brother, James, Duke of York (later James II).

The Great Plague of 1665 and the Great Fire of London in 1666 were the calamities that brought a lot of suffering to the English people.

In the 1650s outstanding scientists gathered at Oxford and founded the first great learned society in England, "the Royal Society", whose patron was the King. They were dedicated to the advance of knowledge in every subject and their society attracted many talented minds: Christopher Wren, the great designer, known later as the rebuilder of London after the Great Fire, John Locke, the political philosopher, the father of the Modern science of chemistry. One more name stands out about others – that of Isaac Newton. His greatest discoveries include the spectrum and the basic law of the universe – the law of gravity.

Charles II governed the country through the inner Council, or Cabal, which consisted of five men, two of them were Catholics and the other three were supporters of religious toleration. As a result Charles issued a Declaration of Indulgence granting toleration to all – including Catholics. In their rejection of that Declaration the Parliament adopted the Test Act (1673) forbidding all Catholics to hold office for the Crown. It was also directed against James the Duke of York, the heir to the throne.

The Opposition to the King became organized into a party with a majority in the newly elected Parliament. They managed to pass the Habeas Corpus Act (1679), which provided a protection of human rights of the new bourgeoisie. Ibis Act, originally adopted against the arbitrary actions of CharlesII, has proved to the be an essential milestone in the legal system of Great Britain.

Newly coined nicknames became applicable to the opposing groups in the political struggle: the opposition to the King which demanded a further curbing of the Monarch's prerogatives, was nicknamed "The Whigs" by their opponents in Parliament. These opponents supported the Catholic views of the King and the King himself; and they in their turn were also nicknamed as "the Tories" by the first group. It was another term of abuse originated for condemning the Irish Catholics who were fighting against the Protestant army of Cromwell. These two parties, the Whigs and the Tories became the basis of Britain's two-party parliament system of government (see Chart III, p. 46).

James II became the King of England after his brother's death in 1685. He had two daughters – Mary and Ann – from his first Protestant wife, and they were firm Protestants. Mary was married to her first cousin, William of Orange, a Dutch prince and a militant Protestant.

When the Catholic second wife of James II gave birth to a baby son, the English Parliament and the Protestant bourgeoisie were alarmed by the prospect of Catholic succession of Monarchs.

Tones, Whigs and Anglicans began to look for a Protestant rescue. They invited William of Orange to invade Britain. The forces of William landed in England and that decided the issue: James and his family fled away from the country. The Parliament decided that James II had lost his right to the Crown.

Mary and William began to reign jointly, moreover, the Parliament decided that William would rule on in the event of Mary's prior death.

The political events of 1688 were called "the Glorious Revolution" as they had realized the bourgeois theories of the nature of government (John Locke (1632-1704)) and the demands that the powers of the King should be restricted and that the Parliament should be overall power in the state.

Though some historians insist on calling it a coup d'etat of the ruling classes, the changes are recognized as a historic turning point in the conception and practice of government. In point of fact it can be justly regarded as a "glorious compromise" between the new bourgeoisie and the old feudal institutions like the Monarchy, the House of Lords, etc, but also in imposing new bourgeois parliamentary privileges and relations. The Parliament secured its superiority by adopting the Bill of Rights in 1689 and the Monarchs – William III and Mary II accepted the conditions advanced by the Parliament:

the legislative and executive power of the Monarchs was limited. The Bills passed by the Parliament were to be subjected to the Royal Assent, but the Monarch could not refuse to sign there. The Monarchs could not impose taxes,

the Army could be kept only with the Parliament's permission.

In 1701 the Parliament passed the Act of Settlement that secured Protestant succession to the throne of England and Ireland, outlawing any Catholic Pretenders. The Act stipulated that if William and Mary had no children, the Crown should pass to Mary's sister Anne. And if Anne died childless too, the Crown should passto Sophia Electress of Hannover, the granddaughter of James I Stuart, or her Protestant descendant. The Act of Settlement is of major Constitutional importance, it has remained in force ever since.

Praising the "Glorious Revolution" as "great and bloodless", historians have to admit, however, that it was bloodless only in England.

In Ireland there was a blood bath of war between the Protestants of Londonderry and the Catholic Irish Parliament. King William III landed in Ireland with the British, Dutch, Danish and Huguenot troops and defeated the Irish and French army of James II in the Battle of the River Boyne (1691).

James left Ireland for France and never returned to any of his kingdoms. The defeat in this Battle crushed the Irish hopes for independence, the Irish Catholics lost all the rights.

In Scotland William was recognized in the Lowlands. But in the Highlands a revolt rose and the loyalty of the Highland chiefs was bought with a large sum of money. The chiefs were to swear an oath of loyalty to the new King, but one or two were a few days late, among them Maclau MacDonald of Glencoe. This was severely and brutally punished by a company of troops, who were senttomurder all the MacDonalds of Glencoe under 70. 36 Men, women and children were killed as they slept, and their houses were set on fire. Those who escaped told the world of the Massacre of Glencoe.

The French and Jacobite gazettes condemned the King's Government as cruel and Barbarous.

The "Glorious", "bloodless" revolution was a political readjustment of the government in the interests of the ruling classes, but it did not involve the majority of the population.

William of Orange used the strength of England in the interests of his native country – Holland in the wars against France. "King William's War" (as the English called it) prevented another threat of invasion of Britain, but it didn't bring peace to Europe.

The seventeenth century was the age of the Stuarts – their rise in 1603, their tragedy and defeat from 1648-1660, their restoration in 1660, their constant struggle against the Parliament which resulted in their forced compromise and the victory of the Parliament, the victory of the new ruling classes.

The Civil war and the United Commonwealth, the rule of Oliver Cromwell as the Lord Protector and the leader of Independents and Puritans were the events in the middle of the century and are described as the Interregnum. It was a highly dramatic and tragic period of British history.

The economy of Britain by the end of the century was developing freely, new economic institutions like the Bank of Britain (1695) were founded. Trade and colonies were flourishing. The East India Company was the greatest corporation in the country.

The religious struggle and conflicts gave freedom to all Protestants.

After the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London came the efforts of Sir Christopher Wren and the achievements of science made by I. Newton and other members of the Royal Society.

By the end of the centuryBritain wasbecoming a prosperous country.

Questions:

1. Why were the Stuarts inheritors of the English Crown?

2. What were the reasons for the conflict of the first Stuarts with the English Parliament?

3. How did the Civil war develop and end?

4. What social groups supported Cromwell?

5. What was the policy of the United Commonwealth in Europe and in the world?

6. What were the reasons for the Reformation of Monarchy in Britain?

7. What were the Acts of Parliament directed against the Kings and flow did they develop the social situation in Britain?

8. When did the political parties appear in Britain and how?

THE 18тн CENTURY–OF WEALTH, TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTION AND POWER

Key words, terms and concepts:

A 1. Warfor Spanish Succession

2. The Duke of Marlborough

3. Blenheim and Gibraltar

4. The Union with Scotland (1707)

5. The Hanoverian Dynasty

6. The National Debt

7. The South Sea Bubble

8. Robert Walpole

9. Jacobite revolts–the old Pretender and the Young Pretender

10. William Pin "the Elder"

11. George III, "the Patriot King"

12. Boston Tea Party

13. The Declaration of Independence

14. Adam Smith "The Wealth of Nations"

В 1. Technological Revolution

2. James Watt

3. J. Wedgwood

4. Admiral Horatio Nelson, the Battle of Trafalgar (1805)

5. The Battle of Waterloo–the Duke of Wellington

6. Robert Owen

7. Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelly, Keats

8. Turner, Constable

The end of the 17th century and the start of the new century, were the periods of wars in Europe. Britain was involved into the Nine Years War (1688-1697) and the War for Spanish Succession (1702-1713). France had become a permanent enemy, and the grand strategy of Britain was to stop the French expansionist policies: to struggle against the French competition in trade, and also to interfere in the affairs of the Spanish Empire.

The Whigs in the British Parliament supported the interventionist foreign policy of William III of Orange and his favourite general – John Churchill who was already the Duke of Marlborough. After the death of Mary and William they were succeeded by Anne (1702-1714). Marlborough was the commander of the Army and was successfully fighting against the French attempts to place a French prince on the Spanish throne. The established Church and also gained free trade with England.

England, Scotland and Wales were united and became Great Britain.

The Tones opposed the military actions of their successful opponents, the Whigs.

The Duchess of Marlborough, who had been very friendly and close to Queen Anne, was replaced by a lady, supporting the Tories. They came to power in 1712 and began negotiating peace with France. The Treaty of Utrecht was signed in 1713 according to which the Crowns of France and Spain were never to be united, Britain gained many advantages–new territories, such as Gibraltar, Minorca, Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, and the right to sell slaves to the Spanish colonies. Great Britain had became a great European power.

Queen Anne was the last Stuart monarch, she died in 1714; and according to the Act of Settlement, she was succeeded by Protestants of Hanoverian Dynasty. George I (1714-1727) was an elderly and unpreposessing German who could speak no English.

The consequences were thattheWhigs surrounding the King were handed over many of the royal prerogatives and their leader became the Chair man of the King's Council. That was the beginning of the Cabinet system of Government in Great Britain, with a Prim Minister presiding over the Cabinet.

The Whig domination lasted for half a century. It was troubled by the Jacobite Rebellion in 1715 and by the growing National Debt. It had been create to help to pay for war, and by 1713 it had risen to £54 million.

In 1717 one of the Whig ministers Robert Walpole (later known as the first Prime Minister) introduced "the sinking fund" to be used to paying off the Debt from the taxes.

The South Sea Company, founded in 1711 to trade in slaves, offered to take over a large part of the Debt which was followed by a great rise of the value of its shares. "The South sea bubble" burst up in 1720, collapsed like a pitched bubble and ruined many investors.

Robert Walpole was called to remedy the financial situation in the country. In 1721 he became the first Prime Minister and an outstanding statesman. The main objectives of his policy were peace and prosperity.

His motto was "let the sleeping dogs lie". He had been in office for twenty years and stabilized the financial situation with the help of taxes imposed on goods sold within the country.

The taxes on tea and coffee were a success, but the taxes on wine and tobacco aroused protests of his opponents and people in the country.

When George II became king (1727-1760), he continued his father's policy and relied upon R. Walpole as Prime Minister. But the opponents from the Tones were attacking Walpole, especially the young talented politician W. Pitt (the Elder), – and much against his will, the Prime Minister was forced to start a war against Spain. But he didn't direct it properly in the opinion of his Parliamentary critics, and had to resign. But he continued to have an influence on George II. Sir Robert Walpole became a very rich man, had a rich collection of paintings which was sold by his grandson to Catherine the Great of Russia.

1745 was the year of another Jacobite attempt to restore the Stuarts. James, the Old Pretender, had been recognized by the Scottish opposition as JamesIII, toasts had been drunk "for the King beyond the sea", but James was passive and didn't undertake any steps. His son and the grandson of James II, Charles Edward or the Young Pretender, landed in Scotland together with his seven followers. They were enthusiastically greeted by the Highlanders, who revolted in support of this romantic handsome young man and called him Bonny Prince Charlie. The Jacobite rebels captured Edinburgh the capital of Scotland but failed to withstand the attacks of the regular English army, they were defeated at the Cullodon Moor and scattered. Charles Edward escaped back to France. The Highlanders were subjected to cruel punishments and repressions. The old clan system was destroyed, it was forbidden to wear a kilt or to play bagpipes. Leaders were executed, many Highland families left the country. The Highlanders were brought under the control of the central Government.