4.31 Europe: a.d. 1701 to 1800  (Page 20/28)

In spite of the medical advances small-pox remained widespread and highly virulent, with mortality ranging from 15 to 30%. Throughout this century there were only 9 years in which small-pox deaths in London did not exceed 1,000 and in 1759 they reached 3,296. One-third of the inhabitants of England bore pit marks of that disease. The idea of inoculation by pus from a true small-pox lesion was brought from Turkey by Lady Mary Wortley Montagu and was used for a short time, but was then dropped as too dangerous. It was at the end of the century in 1798 that Edward Jenner published his famous paper on the use of cow-pox for vaccination. Typhus fever occurred sporadically in mild epidemics. Scarlet fever increased in incidence and by 1750 one out of every 30 cases died. A severe epidemic of that occurred in 1777-1778. In spite of all this, life expectancy of 35 years in England was much better than the overall world expectancy of 25 to 30 years. (Ref. 214 , 140 , 125 , 213 )

The War of American Independence was precipitated by the poor policies of ministers such as Grenville and Charles Townshend, but George III's responsibility for the final breach is not to be denied. (Ref. 31 ) Simple in tastes and unpretentious in manner, his mind was still Hanoverian, with an inveterate obstinacy and stubbornness. He could not understand those who feared the consequences of a policy of coercion. Edmund Burke, Secretary to the Marquis of Rockingham, brought the Whig party to stand for conciliation of the colonies as well as relaxation of restraints on the trade of his native Ireland, but the king was not convinced and after 13 months he got rid of Rockingham's government. William Pitt, now ill, went along with the king and Townshend returned to power, with the final result being war. As it progressed the British General Burgoyne's defeat in October of 1777 at Saratoga influenced France, supposedly neutral up until that time, to ally itself with the colonists. The French brought their intact navy up to the line and started a war of revenge against Britain to overcome the sting of the recent Seven Years War. (Ref. 31 ) The revolt of the colonies had shattered England's complacency and the word "reform" was in the air. William Pitt the Younger came to power at age 24 in 1783 and in the next 10 years he tried mightily to stay clear of Europe's upheavals, while he improved the financial, administrative and supply organization of the Royal Navy.

Scotland

The death of the widowed King William left the crowns of both England and Scotland to his sister-in-law Anne. Under some duress by restrictive trade decrees against Scotland, in 1707 a treaty was concluded producing a formal union of the two countries, with a common parliament. But the English continued to harass the Scots.

A Scots proposal to build roads into the Highlands to exploit their great timber resources was rejected by the English, as they continued to import wood from America. English coal could be exported duty free to Ireland, but not to Scotland. Poverty remained endemic but cultivation of the potato on the Stirling plain after 1739 and an increase in the breeding of black cattle began to offer hope for recovery. In the Highlands a warrior society still existed, tribal at the bottom, almost feudal at the top, all using their ancient Gaelic language and existing on the black cattle economy.