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By William E. Steinman:
Part 131, Anne and George I:
September 26, 2005:
Let us move along now and get through the rest of these royal buffoons of England in a couple more essays. What we want to do is get up to the American Revolution which was caused, in large part, by royal stupidity. We will get to that at some later time. First, we can recall that William of Orange died in 1702. Upon his death, the most eligible candidate for the crown turned out to be another Stuart, the daughter of James II. This was Anne (1665 - 1714) the second daughter of James II. She actually ascended to the throne through the Act of Settlement. This was okay with the people because she was a devout Protestant.
This act of Settlement that got Anne to the big chair was really an act of Parliament that has regulated the succession to the British throne since William's death. Parliament saw the inherent danger in leaving this succession to chance and armed conflict as had been the case. The situation was especially dire with the exiled king James II gaining support. So, in it's infinite wisdom, Parliament decreed that, in default of issue to either William or Anne, the crown was to pass to Sophia, electress of Hanover and granddaughter of James I, and to "the heirs of her body being Protestants." So, the act was also responsible for the later accession of the House of Hanover in 1714.
There were other provisions to this act. First of all, all future monarchs were required to join in communion with the Church of England. Furthermore, if a future monarch was not an Englishman, England could not be compelled to enter into war to defend the kings foreign territories. For sure this applied to the holdings of the House of Hanover. In addition, Judges were guaranteed a large degree of autonomy from the throne. They were to hold office during good behavior rather than being dismissed at the caprice of the king. Instead, they are subject to impeachment by both houses of Parliament. This was still when the House of Lords had some input. Finally, impeachments cannot be pardoned by the monarch. Are you beginning to get a sense of where some of our laws came from? There were also some other provisions of this act that were later modified or repealed.
So, under the provisions of this act, Anne got a chance at the hot seat. The major happening during her reign was a change from monarchy to a parliamentary form of government. This was not a sudden transformation but a gradual evolution. Anne still retained a great deal of power and did exercise it upon occasion.
Another thing that took place in Anne's reign was the so called War of the Spanish Succession. This goofy deal came off from 1701 to 1714. It actually began during the tenure of William and Mary. It was all about power and nothing about common sense. It was a ridiculous squabble about who should have power over Spain and it's holdings. It turned out that everyone, including the Holy Roman emperor Leopold I wanted a major part of the pie. Leopold wanted it for his son Archduke Charles. England and France wanted parts of the pie to go to other contenders. The whole thing was about maintaining the delicate balance of power that William had arranged in his grand alliance. Of course, the powers in Spain were opposed to partitioning of any kind. In his will Charles II, the king of Spain and a Spanish Habsburg bequeathed the throne to a Bourbon, Philip, duc d'Anjou, grandson of Louis XIV of France.
The fact that Charles II was a crippled and a retard did not strengthen Philips claim. Nevertheless, when Charles kicked off in 1700, Louis XIV of France proclaimed his grandson as Phillip V, King of Spain. Then he invaded the Spanish Netherlands. Of course, the crap hit the fan. England, The Dutch Republic, and good old Leopold got together and began the War of the Spanish Succession. No one in Europe was neutral. All of the lessor countries and principalities joined one side or the other. After William died, Anne continued the war without respite. The English alliance whipped France in every major theater except Spain where Phillip V held on. By this time Louis XIV was willing to give in, but the bullheaded British demanded that he invade Spain and oust his own grandson.
As often happens when people get unreasonable, the French dug in and began to fight. The continental politics also changed putting England in support of an iffy situation whereby they were in danger of creating a powerful and dangerous empire under Archduke Charles who had became heir to all the Austrian Habsburg possessions. Anne also chose that time to support the enemies of John Churchill, the first Duke of Marlborough. It was Marlborough who had been successfully prosecuting the war against France. For sure, that brought the whole silly mess to the bargaining table. A bunch of treaties were signed and by 1714 it was all over. Britain was the big winner, coming away with the British colonial empire.
Now we can get to the House of Hanover. The House of Hanover began it's rule with George I (1660-1727). He ascended the throne upon the death of Anne in 1714 and held the job until his death in 1727. This guy was the grandson of James I. There were a bunch of these kings named George, but we are only interested in the first three. In fact, it was the infamous George III who will get out main attention. This was the guy who botched the colonial situation so bad that he caused the American revolution. What a way to go down in history.
George I was no great shakes. The guy was German and behaved much like the stereotype blockhead we love to ridicule. He could not speak English and did not bother to learn. He was more interested in Hanover which was a province of northwest Germany. It was the Whigs who were in power when he came in so he created a predominantly Whig ministry. Under his reign, the influence of the cabinet decline. Of course, there were intrigues and double deals as usual. Several important people left the cabinet including Robert Walpole, James Stanhope, and Viscount Charles Townshend. They organized an opposition movement within the Whig party.
A final straw to mare George's record came with the financial
collapse of the South Sea Company. Well, it turned out George
was not clean in this deal. He and his mistresses had made some
shady transactions. As luck would have it, Walpole was clever
enough to cover for him in Commons and save him from disgrace.
After that, a Grateful George I stepped aside allowing Walpole
and Townshend to run the government. They got rid of the cronies
and cleaned things up as George's influence declined. By 1724,
they were completely in charge. Three years later, in 1727 George
I died of a stroke. He was succeeded by his son George II. His
daughter was Sophia who married King Frederick William I of Prussia.
It was she who gave issue to Frederick the Great.
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