sent abroad as formerly for that purpose, it is worth twenty-five millions. Above a million and a-half of hands are employed in that manufacture alone; half a million are employed in the manufactures of iron, steel, copper, brass, lead; the linen manufactures of England, Scotland, and Ireland, occupy near a million; and a number not much inferior is employed in the fisheries. It is presumable, on the whole, that now (1844) nearly two-thirds of the population of Great Britain are actually dependent on commerce and manufactures.

10. The vast increase of the national wealth of Britain appears chiefly, 1, From the increase of population, which is supposed to be more than five to one (at least in the large cities) since the reign of Elizabeth, and the extraordinary increased production of manufactures by means of the steam-engine and mechanical inventions; 2, From the great addition made to the cultivated lands of the kingdom, and the high improvement of agriculture since that period, whence more than quadruple the quantity of food is produced; 3, From the increase of the commercial shipping, at least six-fold within the same time; 4, From the comparative low rate of interest, which is demonstrative of the increase of wealth. The consequences of the diffusion of the commercial spirit are most important to the national welfare: from general industry arises influence, joined to a spirit of independence; and on this spirit rests the freedom of the British constitution, and all the blessings we enjoy under its protection.

[OBSERVATIONS.-Notwithstanding the increase of national wealth, the abundance and cheapness of all articles of manufacture, and the extraordinary rise in the land rental of the United Kingdom since the year 1500, it is important to draw attention to the fact, that the condition, especially of the agricultural labourers, is now much worse than in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. In 1350, the Statute of Labourers, which was enacted to enforce the acceptance of less than the natural rate of wages, allowed to A mower of meadows, 5d. a day,-equal in weight of metal to 11 d. A haymaker, 1d. a day.

A reaper of corn, in the first week of August, 2d.; and after, 3d. a day. But notwithstanding that regulation, it is stated by Sir J. Cullum, in his History of Hawsted, Suffolk, that in 1387 the wages of reapers were 4d. a day, when wheat was sold at 4s. a quarter (the average price of the period); oats, 2s.; a cow, 4s.; an ox, 13s. 6d. ; a goose, 6d.; and a hen, 2d. Consequently, at that time, a reaper obtained a quarter of wheat for 12 days' labour, for which he would have now to labour for 30 days. In 1495, the Statute fixed the wages of

A carter, without meat, at 5d. a day,-equal in weight of metal to 74d. A mower of meadows, without meat, at 6d. a day.

A reaper in harvest, without meat, at 5d. a day.

And as the average price of wheat in the latter part of the fifteenth century did not much exceed 4s. the quarter, the wages of agricultural labourers had rather increased-that is, they obtained at least the value of four bushels of wheat for a week's labour (equal to about 30s. at the average price of the last ten years); whilst for the last fifty years they have

seldom received the value of one bushel and a quarter of wheat for a week's labour (or 9s. 6d.), except when the price was below the average. The great increase in the rent of land has therefore arisen from the labourers receiving a less quantity of produce than before, as well as from the increased fertility of the land, and the increased price of the produce.

The effect of increased production in manufactures has been the reverse of agricultural improvement. It has been accompanied by an extraordinary reduction in the price. Besides, the operatives now not only receive a larger quantity of the product of their labour as their share, but they also receive a larger proportion than at any former period, as the rent or profit of capital is less. Whilst attention has been drawn to the vast increase of the landrental of Great Britain, it has also been considered necessary to show that in the distribution of the produce, the condition of the agricultural labourers has not been improved-nor can it, until there is less competition in the country for food, and a greater demand for labour.

As it is important to know the fineness and weight of the silver coin in England during the Middle Ages, and the periods when it was debased, the following comparative table is inserted.

The debasement of the coin was resorted to by the crown, probably from a mistaken notion that the expenses of government could be lessened by that means; but as the price of commodities depends on the exchangeable value of equivalents, the prices of all articles rose in proportion to the depreciation, and no advantage beyond defrauding its present creditors could be gained by it. All debtors had been equal gainers, and all money rents would be proportionally lowered until re-adjustment took place. The great sufferers were the agricultural labourers, whose money-wages were fixed by statute from 1350; and the debasement of the coin in the reign of Henry VIII., and the subsequent depreciation in the value of gold and silver, consequent on the large importations from America, undoubtedly were principal causes of the distress which prevailed so generally among them in the latter part of the sixteenth century.]

END OF PART II.MIDDLE AGES.

PART THIRD.

MODERN HISTORY.

SECTION I.*

INTRODUCTION-VIEW OF THE STATE OF EUROPE AT THE END OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY.

1. [THE invasion of Italy by Charles VIII. of France, in 1494, is the event fixed upon by historical writers for the commencement of Modern History. According to Hallam, it furnishes a determinate epoch in the annals of Italy and France, and nearly coincides with events which naturally terminate the history of the Middle Ages in other countries. It is also the event that first engaged the principal states of Europe in relations of alliance or hostility, which may be deduced to the present day, and that led to what has been called the European Political System, of which the history may be followed as a whole.

2. Although no single event had occurred, that distinctly marked an epoch, and formed an exact dividing line, as between antiquity and the middle ages, yet the concurrence of events, particularly towards the close of the fifteenth century, the influence of which were felt in every part of Europe, sufficiently justify the commencement of a new historical era. The more important were 1. The conquest of Constantinople, and the establishment of the Turkish empire in Europe, 1453. 2. The revival of ancient learning, which the Greek refugees eminently contributed to produce. 3. The invention of printing, of paper, of gunpowder, and of the mariner's compass. 4. The general decay of the feudal system, and the subversion of the power of the feudal nobility, consequent on the improvement of society, which increased the sovereign authority throughout Europe. 5. The change in the art of war by the use of gunpowder, and the establishment of standing armies. 6. The discovery of America by Columbus, 1492; and of the passage to the East Indies by the Cape of Good Hope, in 1497, which led to a total change in the commerce of the world.

3. "At the close of the fifteenth century, we contemplate the consummation of an important revolution in the structure of political society, and the first application of several inventions destined to exercise the widest influence on human civilization. The feudal institutions, or rather the feudal principle, which operated even where the institutions, strictly speaking, did not exist, after having wrought its appointed uses, had gradually fallen into decay; for it had not the power of accommodating itself to the increased demands and improved condition of society. However well suited to a barbarous age, it was found that the distribution of power among the members of an independent aristocracy, was unfavourable to that degree of personal security and tranquillity indispensable to great proficiency in the higher arts of civilization. It was equally repugnant to the principle of patriotism, so essential to national independence, but which must have operated feebly among a people whose sympathies, instead of being concentrated on the state, were claimed by a hundred masters, as was the case in every feudal community. The conviction of this reconciled the nation to the transfer of authority into other hands; not those of the people, indeed, who were too ignorant, and too long accustomed to a subordinate, dependent situation, to admit of it, but into the hands of the sovereign. It was not until three centuries more had elapsed, that the condition of the great mass of the people was to be so far improved as to qualify them for asserting and maintaining the political consideration which of right belongs to them."*

4. "In whatever degree public opinion and the progress of events might favour the transmission of power from the aristocracy to the monarch, it is obvious that much would depend on his personal character; since the advantages of his station alone made him by no means a match for the combined forces of his great nobility. The remarkable adaptation of the characters of the principal sovereigns of Europe to this exigency, in the latter half of the fifteenth century, would seem to have had something providential in it. Louis XI. of France, Henry VII. of England, John II. of Aragon, and his son Ferdinand, Ferdinand of Naples, and John II. of Portugal, however differing in other respects, were all distinguished by a sagacity which enabled them to devise the most subtle and comprehensive schemes of policy, and which was prolific in expedients for the circumvention of enemies too potent to be encountered by open force. Their operations, all directed towards the some point, were attended with similar success, resulting in the exaltation of the royal prerogative at the expense of the aristocracy, with more or less difference to the rights of the people. In every country, however, the nation at large gained greatly by the revolution, which came on insensibly; and by securing internal tranquillity, and the ascendancy of law

* Prescott's Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, Part 2, c. 1.

over brute force, gave ample scope for those intellectual pursuits that withdraw mankind from sensual indulgence, and too exclusive devotion to the animal wants of our nature.*

5. Before entering upon the history of the principal European states, we shall take a short survey of their situation at the period from which Modern History commences.

Charles VII. having stripped the English of their possessions in France, except Calais, and taking advantage of the terror which such a formidable enemy had left upon the minds of his subjects, retained under arms a body of 9,000 cavalry, and of 16,000 infantry, which formed the first standing army in Europe. As the kings of France got the start of other powers in establishing a military force in their dominions, so they were the first who effectually broke the feudal aristocracy, by depriving them of the power which gave them importance. The policy of Charles was followed up by his son Louis XI., who greatly extended the power and prerogative of the crown, and increased the standing army to 9,000 cavalry, and 25,000 infantry, including 6,000 Swiss, who were then the most formidable infantry in Europe. At his death, in 1483, he left France a great and a consolidated kingdom, with a well-appointed army, and an ample treasury, ready to carry her arms into other countries.

Henry VII. of England, as soon as he was seated on the throne, followed the example of Louis; but circumstances were less favourable. He held the sceptre by a disputed title: a popular faction was ready every moment to take arms against him; and after the long civil wars, during which the nobility had often displayed their power in creating and deposing kings, he felt it necessary to carry on his measures deliberately and without any violent exertion. He endeavoured to undermine that formidable structure which he durst not attack openly. He began by permitting the barons to break the entails of their estates, and to dispose of them. He prevented the nobility from keeping in their service numerous bands of retainers, which rendered them formidable and turbulent. He favoured the rising power of the middle classes. He encouraged agriculture, trade and commerce; and by securing to his subjects the blessings which flow from peace, and the firm and steady administration of the laws, he made, imperceptibly, considerable alterations in the English constitution, and transmitted to his successor authority so extensive, as rendered him one of the most absolute monarchs in Europe, and capable of the greatest and most vigorous efforts.

In Spain, the union of all its crowns by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella; the expulsion of the Moors from Grenada; the command of the great armies which it had been necessary to keep on foot in order to accomplish this; the wisdom and steadiness of their administration; and the address with which they availed themselves of every incident that occurred to humble the * Prescott's Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, Part 2, c. 1.