News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1914-12-16
Brief Review of Modern Euro
pean tiistory-EngIand

| Part
! We have tetn that the modern history
of Eucope begins ahoutthe middle OF rh-
latter p4rt Of the fifteenth century. (l45O-
1929
II England, events that tonk place aft r
the year 1850 prepared the way for the
nudern age. "The Wars of the Roses 4"
as they were cal-d. the struggles for the
crown o. En9land carried on by DE
hpu " NV use
themselves simply = seitisb qu rrel repte-
sentipg no high principles These Ms
had however y most Important result fn.
England. They we'll nigh externinated
the old nobility OF Eual mi; they put the
tlnd of the realm ,nio new hands, and
wnen, at Tie accession Of Henry VII, in
1885, the fortunes Of Lancaster aud YORK
were joined in the elevation of the Tudor
family to the throne-an immense change
had come in the social and political lie
OF England. For over a hundre years
these changes tended to make the power
of the monarch more nearly supreme in
England than it had been since the days
of the strongest Plantagenet Kiogs. the
last OF whom, Edward III. had died in
1877. His successor, Richard III, was
weakling. The power of the nobility
having been broken, it was possible for
the crown to create new nobility which
should be subservienr to it's wishes. The
monarchy became sufficiently strong also
to break the power of the church as its 4
political rival Henry VIII Q509-154)
suppressed the monasteries, converts anu
other religious houses throughout The
Kingdom, and divided their lands among
his courliers. AT er his quarrel WITH
Pope Clement VII, who had declined e.
grant him divorce, Henry announced
The supremacy Of th king over church ar
well as state and throughout the sixteenth |
century, save for the three years reign
of his unhappy daughter, Mary, who ac-
knowledged allegiance 10 the See of
Rome, this claim of supremacy was Wig |
orousiy maintained. The rule of the
Tudor moDarchs was tyranny, which |
indeed lett some forms of constitutional |
government but which ruled arbitrarily
those forms. Parliament was
during these reigns but iittle more THAI
an organization Tor recording acts decreed
by royal order.
The rudor monSrchs were Henry VII,
(l495-l509); Henry VIII. Q509 l547); Ed
ward vi, N547-l553), who was at hi.
death lad OF but sixteen years; Mary,
daughter of Henry VII, by his first wife,
Catherine of Aragon, Q553-l55S); Eliza
beth, his daughter by his second wife,
Anne Boleyn, (l55S- 1909. While the
reigns OF Henry VIII and his daughters
were despotisms there was growing up
under them spirit which was TO over
come despotism. 1t was under Mary and
Elizabeth that Parliamentism began to
assert itself; it was in the latter reign
hat il began to be called by that name.
e is the same thing under any name and
lmong any people the spirit that asserts
he right OF the individual to personal
liberty of conscience under Divine guild
nee, and to the proper exercise of that
liberty. The pressure from foreign en-
mics, England being the champion of
Professionalism against Spain whose pow
r aud wealth made the contest life
truggIe, KEEP, the rising Puritan spirit in
England from assuming the attitude OF
ka&k -,
ace of the common enemy were true to
he sovereign, AS today the opposed fac
ions of Ireland are loyal to the throne
England in the national contest against
foreign power.
At the death of Elizabeth, however, all
onditions were greatly changed. The
eneralion that had been loyal to Eliza
eth was not ready to pay equal defer
nee to her successor, James l. He was.
ldeed, great grandson of Henry VII and
earest heir to the throne, but he was a
'reigner, son of the hated Mary. Queen
Scots; and there was much about his
that was out of keeping with
| the traditions of English royalty. AT
lie same time that his personal charac
ristics failed to command respect, James
as possessed by an almost insane belief
the Divine Right of Kings. Until re-
ntly he has stood as the most remark
de example of the unfortunate effect of
Ich belief; but history with its won
,rful power of repetition now shows US
rec hundred years later, in the person
one of his descendants, reincarnation !
the same delusions. The dust of James I
lies in lead coffin under the pavement
Westminster Abbey; his spirit in one =
no is not susceptible to his personal ?
eaknesses, has been one of the most pc
MT forces in plunging Europe into the
esent war. a
Under James began the most import .
t movement for England's future. the
,gish colonization of America. At e.
mpts in this direction during the reign :. -
Elizabeth had been fitful and ill-sup- -
rted. With the successful establish =,
- IF tba eaffiamants af Jamastown in -