of Elizabeth. A general insurrection, however, broke out in Ire land in 1598, the design of which was to effect the entire expulsion of the English from the island; but although the insurgents were supplied with troops and ammunition by the Spanish monarch, and the pope held out ample indulgences in favor of those who should enlist to combat the English heretics, yet the rebels ultimately failed in their enterprise, after a sanguinary war which lasted six years. 20. The splendor of Elizabeth's reign is a theme on which English historians love to dwell. At this time England held the balance of power in Christendom, a position that was owing, in no small degree, to the personal character of the sovereign. No monarch of England ever surpassed Elizabeth in firmness, penetration, and address; and none ever conducted the government with more uniform success. Yet her political maxims were arbitrary in the extreme; and she had little regard for the liberties of her people, or the privileges of parliament-believing that her subjects were entitled to no other rights than their ancestors had enjoyed. The principles of the English constitution were not yet developed. Elizabeth died in the year 1603, being then in the seventieth year of her age, and the forty-fifth of her reign. VII. CHARAC- IV. COTEMPORARY HISTORY.-1. If we pass from European his tory to that of other portions of the world in the sixteenth century, the most prominent events that attract our notice are the establish ment of the Portuguese in Southern Asia, and of the Spaniards in Mexico and South America,-the rise of a Mogul empire in India, and of a new dynasty in Persia. After the fleet of De Gama had doubled the Cape of Good Hope, the enterprises of the Portuguese were directed to the securing of the commerce of the Indian seas; but, soon after, under the viceroyalty of the illustrious Albuquerque, they formed numerous settlements and established forts and trading houses throughout all the coasts. In the year 1507 Albuquerque took possession of Ormus,' then the most COLONIAL splendid and polished city of Asia, situated at the en trance of the Persian Gulf; and when the king of Persia, 1. Ormus, anciently called Ozyris, is a rocky island at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. It would scarcely be worth notice were it not for its former celebrity and importance. Before the appearance of the Portuguese in the East it was a great emporium, being the centre of the trade of the Persian Gulf, and of the contiguous countries, and possessing great wealth. The Portuguese held it till 1622, when it was wrested from them by Shah Abbas, assisted by an English fleet. The booty acquired by the captors on this occasion is said to have amounted to two millions sterling. This once rich and flourishing emporium is now in a state of rreparable decav I. THE POR- EMPIRE. to whom it had long belonged, demanded tribute from the Portu guese, the viceroy pointing to his cannons and balls, replied: There is the coin with which the king of Portugal pays tribute." The at tempts of the Venetians and Mohammedans to expel the intruders were ineffectual, and in 1510, Goa,' the chief of the Portuguese es tablishments, was made the capital of the Portuguese empire in India. The Portuguese introduced themselves into China also; and when their colonial empire was at its greatest extent, it embraced the coasts of Africa from Guinea to the Red Sea, and extended over all Southern and Eastern Asia; although throughout this vast extent of country, they had little more than a chain of factories and forts. On the union of Portugal with Spain (1580), the Portuguese East Iudia possessions followed the fate of the mother country, and passed into the unskilful hands of the Spaniards (1582); but when the intolerable cruelty of the Spanish government had driven the Dutch to revolt, the latter extended their commerce to the Indies, and, at the close of the century, had possession of nearly all that had formed the colonial empire of the Portuguese. II. SPANISH EMPIRE. 2. The Spaniards were more successful in making and retaining conquests in the New World. Soon after the discovery of America they extended their settlements over the islands of the West Indies, which were depopulated by the excessive and unhealthy labor imposed by them upon the na tives. In 1519 the adventurer Cortez landed with a small force on the eastern coast of Mexico; and in the course of two years the wealthy and populous kingdom of the Montezumas was reduced to a province of Spain. Yet, after all his services to his country, Cortez, like Columbus, was persecuted at home. It was with difficulty that he could gain an audience from the emperor, Charles V. When one day he pushed through the crowd which surrounded the coach of the emperor, and placed his foot on the step of the door, Charles asked who this man was. "It is he," replied Cortez, "who has given you more kingdoms than your ancestors left you cities." 3. After Mexico, the Spaniards sought other countries to conquer and depopulate. In 1532 Pizarro, a soldier of fortune, taking with him a force of only two hundred and fifty foot soldiers, sixty horse 1. Goa, the old town,) is on an island of the same name on the south-western coast of Hin dostan, two hundred and fifty miles south-east from Bombay. The old city, now almost deserted except by priests, is "a city of churches; and the wealth of provinces seems to have been expended in their erection." New Goa, built on the sea-shore about five miles from the out town, is a well-built city, with a population of about twenty thousand. men, and twelve small cannon, invaded Peru, the greatest, the best governed, and most civilized nation of the New World. Pizarro and his companions marked their route with blood; but wherever they directed their course they conquered in the name of Charles V.; and before the close of the century the Spanish empire in America embraced the islands of the West Indies, all Mexico and Peru, and the coasts of nearly all South America. The enormous quantity of the precious metals which Spain drew from her American possessions contributed to make her, for awhile, the preponderating power in Europe; but an inordinate thirst for the gold and silver of America led the Spaniards to neglect agriculture and manufactures. The Spanish colonies increased but slowly in population; the capital itself was ruined; and before the close of the sixteenth century the best days of Spain were over. III. THE MOGUL EMPIRE IN 4. During the three hundred years previous to 1525, India, or Hindostan, was governed by Affghan princes, whose seat of government was Delhi. In 1525, Baber, the fifth in descent from Tamerlane, and sovereign of a little princiINDIA. pality between Kashgar' and Samarcand, entered Hindostan at the head of a large army, defeated and killed the last Affghan sovereign, and seated himself on the throne of Delhi. With him began the race of Mogul princes, as they are called by Europeans, although their native tongue was Turkish. In the next century the Mogul empire was consolidated under Aurungzebe, who, by murdering his relatives, and shutting his father up in his harem, was enabled to ascend the throne of Hindostan in 1659. But notwithstanding the means by which he had obtained sovereign authority, he gov erned with much wisdom, consulted the welfare of his people, watched over the preservation of justice, and the purity of manners, and, by a wise administration, sought to confirm his own power. After his death, in 1707, the Mogul empire began to decline; and even under 1. Kashgar, the most western town of any importance in the Chinese empire, is about four hundred and fifty miles east from Samarcand. It was a celebrated commercial city before the Christian era, and, under several dynasties, it long formed an independent kingdom. The Chinese obtained possession of it about the middle of the eighteenth century. 2. Delhi is a city of northern Hindostan, about eight hundred and thirty miles north-west from Calcutta. It appears that no less than seven successive cities have stood on the ground occupied by Delhi and its ruins. De hi was the residence of the Hindoo rajahs before 1193, when it was conquere by the Affghans. In 1398 Delhi was taken and plundered by Tamerlane; in 1525 by Baber; in 1736 the Mahratas burned the suburbs, and in 1739 Delhi was entered and pillaged by Nadir Shah. Since 1803 it has, together with its territory, virtually belonged to the 9-itish Aurungzebe it was much inferior, in extent and resources, to the cmpire now held by Britain in the same country. IV. THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 5. We have already alluded to the revival of the Persian empire at the beginning of the sixteenth century. At that period we find the youthful Ismael, who traced his descent to the Sheik Suffce, a holy person who lived in the time of Tamerlane, heading a band of adherents against a neighboring prince, and, in the course of four years, reducing all Persia to his sway. For fifteen years fortune smiled on his arms; but he was at length defeated by Selim, the sultan of Constantinople. The latter, however, reaped no real advantage from his dearly-bought victory, and when Ismael died he left a name on which the Persians dwell with enthusiasm, as the restorer of their country, and the founder of one of the most brilliant of the Mohammedan dynasties-called the Suffeean, or Suffavean, from the holy sheik Suffee. age 6 Tamasp succeeded his father Ismael, when only ten years of His reign was long and prosperous. Authony Jenkinson, one of the earliest adventurers to Persia, visited the court of Tamasp as an envoy from queen Elizabeth; but the intolerance of the Mohammedan soon drove the Christian away. The three sons of Tamasp in succession made an effort for the crown; but their short reigns merit little notice. At length, in 1582, the youthful Abbas, a grandson of Tamasp, was proclaimed king by some of the discontented nobles, and forced to appear in arms against his father Mohammed, who was deserted by his army, and is not mentioned again in history. But Abbas did not long remain a tool in the hands f others, for, seizing the reigns of power, he soon rose to distinction, defeated the Turks in many battles, in 1622 took Ormuz from the Portuguese, and became supreme ruler of a mighty empire. During nis reign commenced an amicable intercourse between the English and Persian nations, which continued for many years. 7. Abbas was, in many respects, an enlightened prince his foreign policy was generally liberal, and he extended toleration to other religions he spent his revenues in improvements: caravanseras, bridges, aqueducts, bazaars, mosques, and colleges, arose in every quarter; and Ispahan' the capital was splendidly embellished. But 1. Ispahan, formerly the capital of Persia, is situated between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, two hundred and eleven miles south of Teheran, the modern capital. Although Ispahan nas now a population of over one hundred thousand, yet it presents to the traveller, in its buildings at least, little beyond the magnificent ruins of its former greatness. Under the reign of Shah Abbas. Ispahan was the emporium of the Asiatic world. The citv was at that time as a parent, and relative, the character of Abbas appears in a mos. revolting light. He had four sons, on whom he doated as long as they were children, but when they grew up toward manhocd they became objects of jealousy, if not of hatred: their friends were considered as his enemies; and praises of them were as a knell to his soul. The eldest was assassinated, and the eyes of the rest put out, by order of their inhuman parent. Horrid tragedies were of fre quent occurrence in the harem of this Eastern tyrant. Yet such ir the king whom the Persians most admire; and so precarious is the nature of despotic power in Persia, that monarchs of a similar char acter alone have successfully ruled the nation. When this monarch ceased to reign, Persia ceased to prosper. 8. Abbas was succeeded by a series of imbecile tyrants, and in 1722 the country was overrun by the Affghans, who, during seven wretched years, converted the fairest provinces of Persia into deserts, her cities into charnel houses, and destroyed the lives of a million of her people. At length the famous Kouli Khan, a brigand chief, was raised to the throne with the title of Nadir Shah. He distinguished himself alike by his victories and his ferocity; but being assassinated in 1743, his death was followed by a long-continued civil war. The most noted of the Persian monarchs since the death of Nadir Shah have been the eunuch Mehemet Khan, Futteh Ali Shah, and Abbas Mirza, the latter of whom ascended the throne in 1835. twenty-four miles in circuit, and contained a million of people. Its bazaars were filled with merchandize from every quarter of the globe, mingled with rich bales of its own celebratao manufactures; and the Shah's court was the resort of ambassadors from the proudest kingdom of the East, and from Europe also. |