Politically, the government of the country was divided between the two great parties of the Whigs and the Tories (S479), since uscceeded by the Liberals and Conservatives.  Though mutually hostile, each believing that its rival’s success meant national ruin, yet both were sincerely opposed to despotism on the one hand, and to anarchy on the other.  The Whigs (S479), setting Parliament above the throne, were pledged to maintain the Act of Settlement (S497) and the Protestant succession; while the Tories (S479), insisting on a strict, unbroken line of hereditary sovereigns, were anxious to set aside that act and restore the excluded Stuarts (S494).

The Church of England was likewise divided into two parties, known as High Church and Low Church.  The first, who were generally Tories, wished to exalt the power of the bishops and were opposed to the toleration of Dissenters (S472); the second, who were Whigs as a rule, believed it best to curtail the authority of the bishops, and to secure to all Trinitarian Protestants entire liberty of worship and all civil and political rights and privileges.  Thus to the bitterness of heated political controversy there was added the still more acrid bitterness of theological dispute.

Addison illustrates the feeling that then prevailed by an amusing story of an earlier occurrence.  A boy who had lost his way in London was called a “popish cur” by a Whig because he ventured to inquire for Saint Anne’s Lane, while he was cuffed for irreverence by a Tory when, correcting himself, he asked bluntly for Anne’s Lane.

The Queen, although she owed her crown mainly to the Whigs (S479), sympathized with the Tories (S479) and the High Church, and did all in her power to strengthen both.  As for the leaders of the two parties, they seem to have looked out first for themselves, and afterwards—­ often a long way afterwards—­for their country.  During the whole reign they were plotting and counterplotting, mining and undermining.  Their subtle schemes to secure office and destroy each other become as incomprehensible and fathomless as those of the fallen angels in Milton’s vision of the bottomless pit.

508.  The War of the Spanish Succession, 1702.

Anne had no sooner come to the throne than war broke out with France.  It had its origin in the previous reign.  William III had cared little for England compared with his native Holland, whose interests always had the first place in his heart.  He had spent his life battling to preserve the independence of the Dutch republic and fighting Louis XIV of France, who was determined, if possible, to annex the Netherlands, including Holland, to his own dominions (S502).

During the latter part of William’s reign the French King seemed likely to be able to accomplish his purpose.  The King of Spain, who had no children, was in feeble health, and at his death it was probable that Louis XIV’s grandson, Philip of Anjou, would receive the crown.  If that happened, Louis XIV, who was then the most powerful prince in Europe, would obtain the control of the Spanish dominions, which, besides Spain, comprise a large part of the Netherlands,[1] parts of Italy, and immense provinces in South America.  The possession of such an empire would make Louis irresistible in Europe, and the little, free Protestant states of Holland could not hope to stand before him.