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INTERESTS OF GREAT BRITAIN. 375general epochsthat of Elizabeth, and that of William III.However great may have been the claims advanced by herarrogant father., it was only under Elizabeth that Englandraised itself to the first rank among nations. During thisreign it first learnt its power and the proper sphere of its action ;the old visions of continental conquests vanished away ;all the family connexions by which England had been unitedwith the continent were dissolved ;and in their place aroserelations of a very different character, produced by neitherprivate interest nor vain projects of aggrandizement. Elizabeth has the merit of having made her private interestsubservient to that of her nation, or at least of having unitedthe two, whilst her predecessors were guided solely by theformer; and this, notwithstanding the cunning and deceitfulnesssometimes displayedin it,forms the principal feature of her glorious reign.Her firstundertaking was the introduction of Protestantisminto England and this determined not ;only the internal relations of her kingdom, but became for a long time the truefoundation of the foreign interests of Britain.A change of religion was in itself an affair of the people,and not of the government alone. Elizabeth, in yielding tothe wishes of a large majority of the nation, founded a realand universal national interest; but at the same time onewhich affected the government. And as the Reformationimplicated England in the politics of the continent,it is atonce evident that this connexion must have been closer thanany could have been before. It now for the first time became possible,that a real continental interest should arise, atleast if we understand bythis one which is not merely thepersonal interest of the ruler, but also that of the people.Such a connexion was now, by many circumstances, rendered unavoidable.About the time when the Reformation was introducedinto England, the religious interest 1 was also in a great degree a politicalone. The maintenance of the constitutionrested directly on Protestantism ;and it could not escapethe observation of the queen,that the fall of that religionwould have involved her own.She was forced, therefore,1See above, Political Consequences of the Reformation, second period ;page 289.