18th Century Britain. Иностранный язык. Фомина И.В. - 15 стр.

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James Edward had been taken to France and brought up there. His father, the
exiled King James II of England and VII of Scotland, died in 1701, and after that the
Jacobites supporting the king in exile, proclaimed James Edward King James III of
England and VIII of Scotland.
   James Edward might call himself a king, but he had to struggle for his father's
domain. In 1708 he attempted to invade Scotland with French soldiers, but failed. He
decided to try his chance again and landed in Britain after Queen Anne's death, but
was forced to flee soon.
   Britain was actually entering two decades of relative peace and stability. Local
government was left largely in the hands of country gentlemen owning large estates.
As justices of the peace, they settled the majority of legal disputes. They also
administered roads, bridges, inns, and markets and supervised the local operation of
the Poor Law aid to orphans, paupers, the very old, and those too ill to work. The
Glorious Revolution was not really safe until the failure of the Jacobite rebellion of
1715. It was clear then that the sentiments of the past need not shed blood in the
present, nor imperil the political order on which the future wealth of the nation would
depend. The fact that the counter-attack of the party of church and king had gone
down in ruin in 1714 was even more important.
   The party of Church and King was led by Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke.
Bolingbroke may be called one of the most outstanding leaders any political party has
ever had. He was only twenty-two when he became a member of Parliament and
made himself the spokesman of the country gentry against the Whig settlement. Nine
years later, in 1710, he became Secretary of State, determined to "break the body of
the Whigs". . England had been at war with France, and it, was Bolingbroke who
took a leading part in the negotiations which led to the peace of Utrecht in 1713. The
Tories hoped that France would support a Stuart restoration in England, and the
Hanoverian succession was really in danger. But the Tories were divided between the
Hanoverian Tories under Harley who saw the dangers of Jacobitism, and
Bolingbroke, who was prepared to bring back a Stuart king. The Tories were not
united when Queen Anne died and thus lost their opportunity. The Whigs were able
to start the process of the transmutation of limited monarchy into parliamentary
government.
   The practice of limited monarchy could not be codified. The system of
government which the British empirically developed has never been completely
explained. The British constitution might be the envy of Europe because it allowed a
hitherto unknown political freedom, but its theory was incomprehensible, and its
working was not as simple as a machine.
   The system was monarchical. When political decisions had to be made the king
was the only person known to the law who could make them. William III . secured
royal prerogatives. It was the king who made peace and war, made bishops. He had
the sole power to bestow titles and dignities. He named all offices both civil and
military and the coin bore his effigy. Moreover, he possessed the superintendancy
over all the laws to render them effectual, and justice was administered in his name.
Using these prerogative powers reasonably, William III helped to secure for the
Crown a permanent place in the British constitution. He was his own first minister.