A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon: For the Use of Schools and CollegesLord, John
History
A Modern History, From the Time of Luther to the Fall of Napoleon: For the Use of Schools and Colleges
Lord, John
Europe -- History; History, Modern
Queen Anne was a Tory, as was to be expected from a princess of
the house of Stuart; but, in the early part of her reign, was obliged
to yield to the supremacy of the Whigs. The advocates for war were
Whigs, and those who desired peace were Tories. The Whigs looked to
the future glory of the country; the Tories, to the expenses which war
created. The Tories at last got the ascendency, and expelled
Godolphin, Marlborough, and Sunderland from power.
Of the Tory leaders, Harley, (Earl of Oxford,) St. John, (Lord
Bolingbroke,) the Duke of Buckingham, and the Duke of Ormond, the Earl
of Rochester, and Lord Dartmouth, were the most prominent, but this
Tory party was itself divided, in consequence of jealousies between
the chiefs, the intrigues of Harley, and the measureless ambition of
Bolingbroke. Under the ascendency of the Tories the treaty of Utrecht
was made, now generally condemned by historians of both Whig and Tory
politics. It was disproportioned to the success of the war, although
it secured the ends of the grand alliance.
[Sidenote: Dr. Henry Sacheverell.]
One of the causes which led to the overthrow of the Whigs was the
impeachment and trial of Dr. Henry Sacheverell, an event which excited
intense interest at the time, and, though insignificant in itself,
touched some vital principles of the constitution.
This divine was a man of mean capacity, and of little reputation for
learning or virtue. He had been, during the reign of William, an
outrageous Whig; but, finding his services disregarded, he became a
violent Tory. By a sort of plausible effrontery and scurrilous
rhetoric, he obtained the applause of the people, and the valuable
living of St. Saviour, Southwark. The audacity of his railings against
the late king and the revolution at last attracted the notice of
government; and for two sermons which he printed, and in which he
inculcated, without measure, the doctrine of passive obedience,
consigned Dissenters to eternal damnation, and abused the great
principle of religious toleration, he was formally impeached. All
England was excited by the trial. The queen herself privately
attended, to encourage a man who was persecuted for his loyalty, and
persecuted for defending his church. The finest orators and lawyers of
the day put forth all their energies. Bishop Atterbury wrote for
Sacheverell his defence, which was endorsed by a conclave of High
Church divines. The result of the trial was the condemnation of the
doctor, and with it the fall of his adversaries. He was suspended for
three years, but his defeat was a triumph. He was received, in college
halls and private mansions, with the pomp of a sovereign and the
reverence of a saint. His sentence made his enemies unpopular. The
great body of the English nation, wedded to High Church principles,
took sides in his favor. But the arguments of his accusers developed
some great principles--led to the assertion of the doctrines of
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