CROWN AND CABINET (article 13).
The Revolution of 1689 had split the country into two great parties — the Whigs and the Tories. The Whigs, who were the active com mercial party, were in favor of a Protestant succession and toleration in matters of religion. As they believed in a parliamentary king as opposed to a king by Divine Right they were bound to reduce the power of the monarchy but to • support the existing line which they themselves had chosen. The Tories had to choose in 1689 between their religion and their king. If they supported the king they would destroy the Established Church and set up the Roman Catholic Church. Hence they decided against the king and joined the Whigs to get rid of the Stuarts. Then they repented, es pecially when they found that the Whigs ob tained all the emoluments of office and to re store themselves to power they looked to France and the descendants Of James II who had French support. Meanwhile they were quite willing to join the Whigs in depriving the Hanoverians of as much power as possible and so we see both parties disposed to lessen the power of the Crown. It was not until the reign of George III that the Tories became reconciled to and supported the king de facto. The Whigs were the great war party because they were anti-French; the Tories were the peace party since in France lay their hopes of getting back their own king.
In the reigns of William HI and Anne the monarch was still able to hold the balance be tween the two parties. Under the first two Georges the Crown could only exercise its power by means of great ministers, notably Sir Robert Walpole. George HI determined to throw off the yoke of Parliament and was suc cessful in bringing in the Tories under Lord North in 1770, but even so popular and deter mined a king as George III found it impossible to carry on the government except through Pitt. The power of the Crown was still fur ther weakened during the period of mental in capacity of the monarch and by the incompe tence of his immediate successors.
During the 18th century it was gradually found advisable in the interests of the despatch of business that the king should choose his ministers from that party which had a majority in the House of Commons. In 1696 a party ministry had been formed, but the lesson was only slowly learned that the Ministry must depend on the state of parties in the Lower House. In the time of William and Anne com posite ministries were the rule. Under George I and George II there was a constant Whig majority in the Commons and a Whig Ministry in power. In 1784, however, George III was successful in keeping Pitt in power notwith standing an adverse majority in the Lower House. But the king only anticipated the de
cision of the country, for at the next election a House was returned which supported Pitt, and from that time the Prime Minister and the Cabinet have always been chosen from the pre dominant party.
Thus monarchy, as it on the throne took root in the cabinet.) The parlia mentary government of the 18th century was however by no means government by the people. It was government by the great aristocratic families, tempered by deference to public opinion. It was not till the electoral reforms of the 19th century that the democracy became predominant. The great era of English expan sion and the command of sea power were at tained under an aristocracy and not under a democracy.
The question of English colonial expansion during this period centres round the long struggle with the French. The most profitable line of trade in the world was considered to be that of the Spanish colonies and the adjacent islands, and with these England drove a con siderable contraband traffic. On the other side of the world there were the riches of the East and the wealth of the Spice Islands. -It seemed probable in 1701 that France, the great com mercial rival of England, would inherit the throne of Spain, drive out the English from the Spanish Main and dominate that trade. Hence England's intervention in the War of the Spanish Succession. By a series of brilliant battles won by the Duke of Marlborough be tween 1704 and 1709 she attained her object, for by the Treaty of Utrecht (1713) England gained Gibraltar, Port Mahon, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland; while the rights of the Hudson's Bay Company in their vast territory were definitely recognized. England had se cured a base from which to operate against the French, and at the same time by the Assiento Contract (see GREAT BRITAIN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY COMMERCE) she won a share in the monopoly of Spain in America and prevented it being closed to her by France. The war left Holland and France financially exhausted. The Dutch trade began to fall behind. France was heaping up financial burdens which were to lead to national bankruptcy. England alone was in a position adequately to maintain a navy and the command of the sea. She thus became the foremost sea power and secured her trade supremacy in one of the most im portant quarters of the globe. An attempt to interfere with it led to the war with Spain in 1739, which merged into the war of the Aus trian Succession ending in 1748.