awe; force, and the spirit to use it. Parliaments, it is true, were rarely held, and were not very respectfully treated. The great charter was often violated. But the people had a security against gross and systematic misgovernment, far stronger than all the parchment that was ever marked with the sign manual, and than all the wax that was ever pressed by the great seal. It is a common error in politics to confound means with ends. Constitutions, charters, petitions of right, declarations of right, representative assemblies, electoral colleges, are not good government; nor do they, even when most elaborately constructed, necessarily produce good government. Laws exist in vain for those who have not the courage and the means to defend them. Electors meet in vain where want makes them the slaves of the landlord, or where superstition makes them the slaves of the priest. Representative assemblies sit in vain unless they have at their command, in the last resort, the physical power which is necessary to make their deliberations free, and their votes effectual. The Irish are better represented in parliament than the Scotch, who indeed are not represented at all. But are the Irish better governed than the Scotch? Surely not. This circumstance has of late been used as an argument against reform. It proves nothing against reform. It proves only this, that laws have no magical, no supernatural virtue; that laws do not act like Aladdin's lamp or Prince Ahmed's apples; that priestcraft, that ignorance, that the rage of contending factions, may make good institutions useless; that intelligence, sobriety, industry, moral freedom, firm union, may supply in a great measure the defects of the worst representative system. A people whose education and habits are such, that, in every quarter of the world, they rise above the mass of those with whom they mix, as surely as oil rises to the top of water, a people of such temper and self-government that the wildest popular excesses recorded in their history partake of the gravity of judicial proceedings, and of the solemnity of religious rites, a people whose national pride and mutual attachment have passed into a proverb, a people whose high and fierce spirit, so forcibly described in the haughty motto which encircles their thistle, preserved their independence during a struggle of centuries, from the encroachments of wealthier and more powerful neighbours, such a people cannot be long oppressed. Any government, however constituted, must respect their wishes, and tremble at their discontents. It is indeed most desirable that such a people should exercise a direct influence on the conduct of affairs, and should make their wishes known through constitutional organs. But some influence, direct or indirect, they will assuredly possess. Some organ, constitutional or unconstitutional, they will assuredly find. They will be better governed under a good constitution than under a bad constitution. But they wil be better governed under the worst constitution than some other nations under the best. In any general classification of constitutions, the constitution of Scotland must be reckoned as one of the worst, perhaps as the worst, in Christian Europe. Yet the Scotch are not ill-governed. And the reason is simply that they will not bear to be ill-governed. In some of the Oriental monarchies, in Afghanistan for example, though there exists nothing which an European publicist would call a constitution, the sovereign generally governs in conformity with certain rules established for the public benefit; and the sanction of those rules is, that every Afghan approves them, and that every Afghan is a soldier. The monarchy of England in the sixteenth century was a monarchy of this kind. It is called an absolute monarchy, because little respect was paid by the Tudors to It must be remembered that this was written before the passing of the Reform Act. those institutions which we have been accustomed to consider as the sole checks on the power of the sovereign. A modern Englishman can hardly understand how the people can have had any real security for good government under kings who levied benevolences, and chid the House of Commons as they would have chid a pack of dogs. People do not sufficiently consider that, though the legal checks were feeble, the natural checks were strong. There was one great aud effectual limitation on the royal authority, the knowledge that, if the patience of the nation were severely tried, the nation would put forth its strength, and that its strength would be found irresistible. If a large body of Englishmen became thoroughly discontented, instead of presenting requisitions, holding large meetings, passing resolutions, signing petitions, forming associations and unions, they rose up; they took their halberds and their bows; and, if the sovereign was not sufficiently popular to find among his subjects other halberds and other bows to oppose to the rebels, nothing remained for him but a repetition of the horrible scenes of Berkeley and Pomfret. He had no regular army which could, by its superior arms and its superior skill, overawe or vanquish the sturdy Commons of his realm, abounding in the native hardihood of Englishmen, and trained in the simple discipline of the militia. It has been said that the Tudors were as absolute as the Caesars. Never was parallel so unfortunate. The government of the Tudors was the direct opposite to the government of Augustus and his successors. The Cæsars ruled despotically, by means of a great standing army, under the decent forms of a republican constitution. They called themselves citizens. They mixed unceremoniously with other citizens. In theory they were only the elective magistrates of a free commonwealth. Instead of arrogating to themselves despotic power, they acknowledged allegiance to the senate. They were merely the lieutenants of that venerable body. They mixed in debate. They even appeared as advocates before the courts of law. Yet they could safely indulge in the wildest freaks of cruelty and rapacity, while their legions remained faithful. Our Tudors, on the other hand, under the titles and forms of monarchical supremacy, were essentially popular magistrates. They had no means of protecting themselves against the public hatred; and they were therefore compelled to court the public favour. To enjoy all the state and all the personal indulgences of absolute power, to be adored with Oriental prostrations, to dispose at will of the liberty and even of the life of ministers and courtiers, this the nation granted to the Tudors. But the condition on which they were suffered to be the tyrants of Whitehall was that they should be the mild and paternal sovereigns of England. They were under the same restraints with regard to their people under which a military despot is placed with regard to his army. They would have found it as dangerous to grind their subjects with cruel taxation, as Nero would have found it to leave his prætorians unpaid. Those who immediately surrounded the royal person, and engaged in the hazardous game of ambition, were exposed to the most fearful dangers. Buckingham, Cromwell, Surrey, Seymour of Sudeley, Somerset, Northumberland, Suffolk, Norfolk, Essex, perished on the scaffold. But in general the country gentleman hunted and the merchant traded in peace. Even Henry, as cruel as Domitian, but far more politic, contrived, while reeking with the blood of the Lamiæ, to be a favourite with the cobblers. The Tudors committed very tyrannical acts. But in their ordinary dealings with the people they were not, and could not safely be tyrants. Some excesses were easily pardoned. For the nation was proud of the high and fiery blood of its magnificent princes, and saw, in many proceedings which a lawyer would even then have condemned, the outbreak of the same noble spirit which so manfully hurled foul scorn at Parma and at Spain. But to this endurance there was a limit. If the government ventured to adopt measures which the people really felt to be oppressive, it was soon compelled to change its course. When Henry the Eighth attempted to raise a forced loan of unusual amount by proceedings of unusual rigour, the opposition which he encountered was such as appalled even his stubborn and imperious spirit. The people, we are told, said that, if they were treated thus, "then were it worse than the taxes of France; and England should be bond, and not free." The county of Suffolk rose in arms. The king prudently yielded to an opposition which, if he had persisted, would, in all probability, have taken the form of a general rebellion. Towards the close of the reign of Elizabeth, the people felt themselves aggrieved by the monopolies. The queen, proud and courageous as she was, shrank from a contest with the nation, and, with admirable sagacity, conceded all that her subjects had demanded, while it was yet in her power to concede with dignity and grace. 178.-CHRONOLOGY OF PRINCIPAL EVENTS, FROM THE ACCESSION OF EDWARD I. TO THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH. A.D. 1272 Nov. 20. Edward I. proclaimed by the barons at the New Temple, and a regency appointed. 1273 Feb. Edward goes to Paris and does homage to Philip III. for the lands in France. 1274 Aug. 19. He is crowned with his queen at Westminster. Alexander III., king of Scots, does homage to Edward for his English possessions. 1277 Edward invades Wales. 1282 Llewellyn, prince of Wales, takes several places; Nov. 6. Edward is defeated; Llewellyn is slain. 1286 March 16. Alexander, king of Scotland, is killed. 1291 May 10. The Scotch barons appear at Norham, and Edward claims to be lord paramount of Scotland, when the several competitors for the crown of Scotland admit Edward's claim. 1292 Nov. 6 and 17. Edward adjudges the kingdom of Scotland to Baliol, who is crowned at Scone, and does homage to Edward for his kingdom at Newcastle. 1296 March. A Scottish army invade Cumberland. March 30. Edward takes Berwick and massacres the inhabitants. 1297 Wallace heads a revolt and takes Scone. Aug. Edward lands at Sluys; gains some towns. Sept. 4. Wallace gains a victory; the castles of Edinburgh, Dunbar, Roxburgh, and 1299 July 22. The battle of Falkirk; Edward ravages Scotland. 1290 Sept. Edward marries Margaret of France; the Prince of Wales is contracted to Isabella of France. The pope claims Scotland. 1301 Parliament denies the authority of the pope in temporal matters. Edward marches against Scotland. 1304 Wallace is captured and brought to London. 1305 Aug. 23. Wallace is executed as a traitor. 1306 Feb. 10. Robert Bruce the younger slays Comyn. March 27. He is crowned king of Scotland at Scone. June 19. Battle of Methven; Bruce is defeated and flies to Ireland. 1807 May 10. Battle of Loudon Hill; Bruce defeats the Earl of Pembroke and the Earl of Gloucester. July 7. Edward dies at Burgh-upon Sands. July 8. Edward II. is acknowledged king at Carlisle. July 27. Edward I. is buried at Westminster. Gaveston is made Earl of Cornwall. 1308 Jan. 25. Edward marries Isabella of France at Boulogne. Gaveston is expelled, but made governor of Ireland. 1309 Gaveston returns. The Templars of England are tried and condemned, and the order suppressed. 1311 August. Parliament recalls the grants made by Edward to Gaveston; he is banished; parliament to be holden once every year. Dec. Gaveston again returns. 1312 May 19. Gaveston surrenders at Scarborough, and is beheaded at Blacklow Hill. 1313 June 11. Edward marches into Scotland. June 23. Battle of Bannockburn; the English are driven out of Scotland. 1318 Bruce makes two invasions of England. 1319 Edward marches an army into Scotland; the Scotch invade England. 1321 Aug. The Despencers are banished by parliament. Oct. They return to England. A.D. 1322 The Earl of Lancaster is defeated and taken prisoner at Boroughbridge. He is condemned and executed for treason. 1323 May 30. A suspension of arms for thirteen years agreed upon between England and Scotland. Roger Mortimer escapes from the Tower. 1325 Sept. 24. Queen Isabella and the Prince of Wales land at Orwell; she is joined by the barons. Sept. 26. The Prince of Wales declared by the barons guardian of the kingdom. Edward and the younger Despencer are captured; Despencer is executed at Hereford as a traitor. 1327 Jan. 8. Edward is deposed and the Prince of Wales proclaimed king. Sept. Edward II. is murdered at Berkeley Castle, and buried in, the abbey at 1328 Jan. 24. Edward marries Philippa of Hainault, at York. Peace is concluded with the Scots; the independence of Scotland recognised. 1330 June. Edward the Black Prince is born at Woodstock. Nov. 26. Parliament is assembled; Mortimer is impeached of murder and other crimes; found guilty. Nov. 29. He is hanged at the Elms, and Queen Isabella is committed to custody. 1332 Sept. 24. Edward Baliol is crowned king of Scotland at Scone. 1333 July 13. Battle of Halidon Hill; Edward Baliol is reinstated as king, does homage, and surrenders Berwick and other places to Edward. 1338 Baliol is again expelled from Scotland. 1339 Sept. Edward assumes the title of king of France, and quarters the French arms. 1340 June 24. Destroys the French fleet off Sluys. 1346 July. Edward lands at Cape La Hogue with an army of English, Welsh, and Irish; he takes several towns; forces the passage of Blanche-Taque. Aug. 26. Battle of Crecy gained by the Black Prince. Aug. 31. Edward begins the siege of Calais. Sept. David of Scotland invades England; takes several places. Oct. 17. Battle of Nevil's Cross; King David is taken prisoner, and sent to London. 1347 Aug. 3. Calais is surrendered to Edward. 1355 Edward opens the campaign in France; he ravages a great part of the country. The Scots retake Berwick. Edward returns to England. 1356 Sept. 19. Battle of Poictiers; King John and his son Philip are taken prisoners. 1357 April 24. The Black Prince, King John, and Prince Philip enter London. 1359 Edward goes to France with a great army; lays siege to Rheims. 1360 May. The peace of Bretigny concluded; Edward renounces his pretensions to the crown of France. 1366 Richard of Bordeaux, son of the Black Prince, is born. 1367 April 3. The Black Prince, the Duke of Lancaster, and Peter the Cruel, defeat Don Enrique, and Peter is reinstated on the throne. Edward reassumes his title of king of France. 1369 Queen Philippa dies. The Black Prince besieges Limoges and massacres the inhabitants; he returns to 1371 David, king of Scotland, dies. Accession of Robert II. 137 June 8. The Black Prince dies. 1377 The Duke of Lancaster supports Wycliffe, and causes a riot in London; the Savoy Palace is plundered. June 21. King Edward dies. June 22. Accession of Richard II. 1378 Jack Straw raises an insurrection in Essex, Kent, Suffolk, and Norfolk. A tax-gatherer killed by Wat Tyler. 1381 June 11. The rebels encamp at Blackheath. June 14. Wat Tyler is slain in Smithfield; the rebellion is repressed, and a general pardon is granted. |