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Domestic Affairs, 1689-1714
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Domestic Affairs, 1689-1714
England
Before proceeding with our review of foreign policy, we must turn to affairs at home, for in our domestic as well as in our foreign policy the Revolution of 1688 is very important. The great result of the Revolution upon our system of government was that henceforth the bulk of the king's revenue was obtained by annual grants from Parliament, and that Parliament had therefore to meet every year. As a consequence, Parliament acquired the complete control of finance, and, with that, an increasing control of the administration. Gradually, also, the relation between the two Houses of Parliament underwent alteration. The House of Commons has had, since 1407, the sole power to initiate Bills involving the grant of public money or the imposition of taxation, and in the reign of Charles II it denied the right of the House of Lords to amend such Bills. Consequently, with the increasing control of Parliament in financial affairs, the Lower House became the more important; though, as we shall see, individual members of the Upper House could, up till 1832, largely influence the composition of the House of Commons.
Scotland
How Ireland fared after the Revolution of 1688 is told in a later chapter, but events so important to Scotland occurred subsequent to that Revolution, that something must be said about them at this stage. The condition of Scotland on William Ill's accession was deplorable. It was rent by religious feuds. There was little wealth and few industries, and every bad harvest produced a famine. In the south the Lowlands were exposed to the anarchy of the border district between England and Scotland. In the north the Lowlands suffered from the depredations of the Highlanders, and even as late as 1747 it was reckoned that £5000 worth of cattle were annually " lifted ", whilst another £5000 was paid by various owners to save their cattle from that fate. The Highlands were in a barbarous condition; the chief had almost supreme authority over the members of his clan (Some chiefs had a private executioner of their own; and the town of Perth, in 1707, sent a request to Lord Drummond for the occasional use of his executioner-a request which was very courteously granted); and plunder, it has been said, was at once "the passion, the trade, and the romance of the Highlander" (To “lift” cattle, especially at Michaelmas time, when they were fat, was of course a very profitable enterprise; and Highlanders, according to a contemporary, before starting on an expedition, "prayed as earnestly to heaven as if they were engaged in the most laudable enterprise"). In the more northern parts the rooms had no chimneys, the horses dragged carts by their tails, whilst candles, potatoes, and iron (except for weapons) were unknown luxuries.
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Chronology
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