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Maugham, (William) Somerset

(1874–1965) writer

Maugham’s father was a lawyer in the British embassy in Paris. Orphaned at 10, the young Maugham was taken to ENGLAND, where he attended King’s School, CANTERBURY. He then studied in Germany before being educated as a physician at St. Thomas’ Medical School (1897). His autobiographical Of Human Bondage (1915) made him famous. His other notable works include The Moon and Sixpence (1919), Cakes and Ale (1930), and The Razor’s Edge (1944). He was also a successful playwright, his better-known works including Our Betters (1917), The Circle

(1921), The Constant Wife (1926), and For Services Rendered (1932).

Mau Mau See KENYA.

Maurice, (John) F. D. (1805–1872) social reformer

Born in Suffolk, the son of a UNITARIAN minister, F. D. Maurice attended Trinity College, CAM- BRIDGE UNIVERSITY, but did not take a degree as he declined the oath. In 1830 he entered OXFORD UNIVERSITY and was ordained in 1831. Living in London, he began a writing career, producing an autobiographical novel, Eustace Conway (1834), and editing the Athenaeum. He became professor of literature at King’s College, London and then professor of theology (1846). On publication of his Theological Essays (1853) he was forced to resign his professorship. He helped to found the Christian Socialist movement, and he founded the Working Man’s College in London (1854).

Maxwell, James Clerk (1831–1879) physicist

Born in EDINBURGH and educated there and at

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, Maxwell was noted for

his study of electromagnetic waves. He taught at Aberdeen, LONDON, and Cambridge. In the latter

school, he was the Cavendish professor and supervised the new Cavendish laboratory. Known for his experiments with light, radio waves, and gases, Maxwell brought together the work of the 19th century on electricity and developed a general theory of electromagnetic radiation, from which later applications like radio, radar, and television were derived.

Mayhew, Henry (1812–1887) journalist

Founder of Figaro in London (1831–39) and cofounder of Punch (1841), Mayhew wrote novels and plays, but his most memorable contribution was the multivolume London Labour and the London Poor (1851). These articles had originally appeared as letters to the Morning Chronicle, and they gave vivid descriptions of the life of the underclass. Together with later works, The Criminal Prisons of London (1862) and London Children

(1874), his writing helped to build public support for social reforms.

Maynooth, St. Patrick’s College

Seminaries were closed during the French Revolution, and the British government gave permission to open one at Maynooth in IRELAND (1795). The government gave annual grants to support the school, but in 1845 a proposal by Robert PEEL to increase the grant caused a political crisis and William GLADSTONE’s resignation from the CABINET.

mechanics institutes

The wave of educational reform of the early 19th century featured efforts for adult EDUCA- TION, such as mechanics institutes (programs and lectures for tradespeople and artisans). These institutes appeared in Scotland in the first decade, in London by 1823, and then spread to the provinces. Spurred by Henry BROUGHAM’s Observations upon the Education of the People (1825), the movement was part self-education and part an

engine for spreading social responsibility. By 1860 the enrollment in such institutes had grown to 200,000.

Melbourne, William Lamb, viscount

(1779–1848)

prime minister, 1834, 1835–1841

Lord Melbourne’s father was a peer, his mother a society hostess, and rumors swirled around his true parentage. He went to Eton; Trinity College,

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY; and Glasgow. A WHIG who

entered PARLIAMENT in 1806, he was one of those who supported the moderate TORY government of George CANNING, and he served as chief secretary for IRELAND (1827 and 1828). He resigned from the duke of WELLINGTON’s government and was chosen to be home secretary in the Whig cabinet of Charles, Earl GREY (1830–34). In that post Melbourne had to deal with a variety of radical disturbances, and he was effective in so doing. He became the new PRIME MINISTER upon Grey’s resignation but resigned himself shortly thereafter because his ministers were not united. In 1835 he formed a government that had to struggle with strains in the economy and the dis-

content of the CHARTIST MOVEMENT and the ANTI-

CORN LAW LEAGUE. He was a sage political advisor to the young Queen VICTORIA for the first four years of her reign.

Melville, Andrew (1545–1622)

Presbyterian leader

After studies at Aberdeen and at Paris and a period of teaching in Geneva, Melville became principal of Glasgow University, then Aberdeen, and then St. Andrews (1574–80). His extreme views on PRESBYTERIAN order were reflected in the Second Book of Discipline, adopted when he was moderator of the GENERAL ASSEMBLY in 1578. This put him at odds with the moves by JAMES VI to restore royal and episcopal authority in the kirk. In 1599 he was deprived of his post at St. Andrews. In 1607 he was called before the PRIVY

COUNCIL and sent to the TOWER OF LONDON. On

his release in 1611, he went into exile in France.

Melville, Henry Dundas, first viscount

(1742–1811)

Scottish politician

A Scottish advocate, son of the lord president of the Court of SESSION (Lord Arniston), Dundas sat in PARLIAMENT from 1774 until 1802. He held a number of CABINET posts, but his principal role was as right-hand man and manager of Scottish affairs for Prime Minister William PITT. He was made first lord of the ADMIRALTY in 1804 but was impeached in 1806 over irregularities in the NAVY accounts. This was the last use of IMPEACHMENT, and Melville was acquitted in the

member of parliament

Term referring to elected members of the HOUSE OF COMMONS, often abbreviated “MP.” It does not include the peers of the realm, who are mem-

bers of the HOUSE OF LORDS.

Menzies, Sir Robert (1894–1978) prime minister of Australia, 1939–1941, 1949–1966

A BARRISTER in Victoria, AUSTRALIA (1918), and a prominent Nationalist member of the Victoria parliament, Menzies served as attorney general before becoming a member of the Commonwealth House of Representatives (1934–66). He led the government that joined GREAT BRITAIN in declaring war (1939–41) and attended CABINET meetings in LONDON in 1941. There was great anxiety about whether Australia would be protected from Japanese aggression, and this helped to build support for a more American-oriented foreign policy. A Labour government succeeded Menzies in office, and he in turn led a victorious antisocialist coalition in 1949. He supported the U.S. involvement in Korea (1951) and in Vietnam (1965).

mercantilism

The prevailing economic orthdoxy of the 16th and 17th centuries which saw national wealth in terms of precious metals. The object of trade

was to increase the reserves of gold bullion, and to this end the laws regulating colonies and trade were seen as vital as a means of preserving and enhancing the nation’s wealth. In the 18th and 19th centuries, this economic policy was replaced by FREE TRADE.

Merchant Venturers

Early advances in English overseas trade were made under various royal grants and monopoly privileges such as the “staple” towns for export of wool and woolen cloth. In this same spirit, merchants banded together to utilize mutual protection and reduce risk. They were, after all, trying to compete with well-established German, Italian, Dutch, and Iberian commercial enterprises. The London Merchant Venturers were formed in the later 15th century, and they received a royal charter in 1486. They were intent upon breaking foreign monopolies—and maintaining their own over other English merchants. They lost this monopoly in 1689, and the company was dissolved in 1809.

Merthyr Rising (1831)

In South WALES the serious incidence of poverty and industrial decline coincided with the first national campaign for political reform in 1831. Coal miners and ironworkers in Merthyr Tydfil seized control of the town for several days. Troops were ordered in, and in a confrontation 16 of the workers were killed. In the aftermath of the Merthyr Rising, as it was called, one of the leaders (Richard Lewis, alias Dic Penderyn) was charged with wounding a soldier, and he was executed. There was no disciplinary action against the soldiers.

Mesopotamia

The part of the Ottoman empire corresponding to present-day Iraq, Mesopotamia was the location of vital oil supplies. During WORLD WAR I, in 1914 and 1915 there was a British advance toward Baghdad, with a major setback in 1916

and final victory in 1917. Nearly 300,000 men were committed to the campaign, and British backing for King Faisal meant the area supported British interests in the interwar years.

Methodism

A religious revival movement, begun by a group at OXFORD UNIVERSITY in the 1720s, including and later dominated by John WESLEY. The name referred to the devout and methodical behavior of members. Through extensive travel and field preaching, Wesley, his brother Charles, and George WHITEFIELD built up a large following, mainly of the lower ranks of society. The group was organized in “classes” of 10 or 12 members, meeting weekly, while the church as a whole held annual conferences from 1744. Their EVANGELICAL faith stressed individual salvation through the love of God. While they remained within the CHURCH OF ENGLAND at first, the group seceded after Wesley’s death in 1790, and it began a process of subdividing which lasted for much of the 19th century. There was a continuing effort to reunite the separate groups (Wesleyan, New Connection, Primitive, Bible Christian), and a major reunion came in 1932.

Methuen, John (1650?–1706) ambassador to Portugal

A BARRISTER who was also a CHANCERY master, Methuen was chosen as an envoy to Portugal in 1691 and returned there as ambassador in 1702 and 1703. He concluded a commercial treaty with that country (the Methuen Treaty). English wool was to be imported freely in exchange for a reduced duty on Portuguese wines. The consumption of port was increased at the expense of French wines. The treaty was terminated in 1836.

MI 5

A division of the British Directorate of Military Intelligence, organized in 1905, which is responsible for surveillance of subversive groups and

for counterespionage. MI 5 reports to the home secretary, but its activities are secret. It has no powers of arrest, and therefore relies on the SPE- CIAL BRANCH of Scotland Yard for such authority.

MI 6

This foreign intelligence service began operation in 1911. It was superseded by other intelligence operations in WORLD WAR II, but MI 6 became a key agency working on Soviet intelligence after 1945. High-level defectors were recruited by both sides.

See also BLUNT, ANTHONY.

Midlothian campaign (1879–1880)

William GLADSTONE emerged from semiretirement to contest the seat for Midlothian, the region around EDINBURGH. He was motivated particularly by the foreign policy of Benjamin DISRAELI. Gladstone addressed large crowds on at least 20 occasions, denouncing TORY policy and laying out his own principles for foreign and imperial policy. While not completely original, this campaign of public elaboration of policy for the electorate, which exploited the LIBERAL PARTY leader’s oratorical skill, seemed to contemporaries to be a major step in opening up the political process. Gladstone won the election and once again became PRIME MINISTER.

militia

Armed force of ordinary citizens, drafted by virtue of custom, edict, or statute LAW. Nominal volunteers, the militia were in fact required, under some Anglo-Saxon rules and by the Assize of Arms (1181), to serve in defense of their region. There were many alterations over the next few centuries, and in the 1660s a set of statutes regulated the militia. It became a symbolic counterweight to a standing ARMY, though in practice it was never a significant military force in modern times. In 1907 it was absorbed into the Territorial Army.

Mill, James (1773–1836) philosopher

Born and educated in SCOTLAND, Mill went to LONDON to work as a journalist. One of the disciples of Jeremy BENTHAM, he helped to form the “philosophic radicals,” the exponents of the body of thought known as UTILITARIANISM. Mill wrote on a wide range of topics, and his works include

History of India (1818); Essay on Government (1820); Elements of Political Economy (1821); and Analysis of the Phenomenon of the Human Mind

(1829).

Mill, John Stuart (1806–1873) philosopher

The son of James MILL, John Stuart Mill was also a follower of Jeremy BENTHAM and a utilitarian, but he later wrote an extensive new version of that philosophy (Utilitarianism, 1861). Among his most influential works were Principles of Political Economy (1848); On Liberty (1859); Considerations on Representative Government (1861); and The Subjection of Women (1869). Through these works he became the most prominent advocate of individual liberty and democratic government in the Victorian era.

Milner, Alfred, viscount (1854–1925) colonial administrator

Born in Germany, the son of a physician, Lord Milner studied at King’s College, LONDON; and Balliol College, OXFORD UNIVERSITY, where he was a student of Benjamin JOWETT. Also a student at the Inner Temple (see INNS OF COURT), he became a BARRISTER in 1881 and worked briefly on the Pall Mall Gazette. In 1884 Milner became private secretary to Viscount Goschen, who helped him get a post as a financial administrator in EGYPT. After this he wrote his book England in Egypt (1892). He was then chairman of the Board of Inland Revenue (1892–97), before he became high commissioner in

(1897–1905). His criticism of the Boer republics played a part in the origin of the BOER WAR. He

returned to GREAT BRITAIN in 1905 and later served in the wartime and postwar CABINET of David LLOYD GEORGE (1916–21).

Milton, John (1608–1674) poet

Born in LONDON, Milton went to Christ’s Col-

lege, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, where he began

preparing for the ministry but became increasingly devoted to poetry. Without having established any career, he was drawn into the swirl of political events in the 1640s, and he was the author of numerous radical pamphlets attacking the power of BISHOPs, advocating the freedom to divorce, championing freedom of the press (Areopagitica, 1644), and arguing for the right to depose a monarch (The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates, 1649). He held a post under the gov-

ernment of the COMMONWEALTH OF ENGLAND,

and his own views became more radical. During the same period, his eyesight failed. Briefly imprisoned at the RESTORATION, he returned to writing the epic poetry which had been his lifelong objective. In 1663 he completed Paradise Lost, and in 1671 Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes.

monarchy

The institution of monarchy has proven to be the most flexible and durable part of British government. Kingship was common to early peoples in all parts of the British Isles. The English monarchy had its roots in the Anglo-Saxon period, with an English state emerging by the 10th century. The progress of Scottish monarchs was similar, the earliest amalgamation coming in the ninth century. Irish and Welsh rulers remained in greater numbers with more localized authority. In all cases, ancestry was traced to the earliest times, though there was a point where legend replaced fact in any ancestral line. The earliest kings ruled on the basis of tribal custom and crude collections of written law, while their Christian clergy became ever more impor-

tant advisers and administrators. The major difference between ENGLAND and its neighbors was the relative rate of centralization: a single English king had emerged clearly by the 10th century. The king of Scots was also above his petty rivals, but in WALES and IRELAND there was much less consolidation. In most cases, the rates of change were governed by external invasions, and the most emphatic of all came to 11th-cen- tury England: first the Danish conquest by Sweyn and his son Cnut (1014–35) and then the conquest by William of Normandy (1066). These events set the English kingdom apart, bringing its nobility under the control of a powerful central ruler, providing him with a strong council, royal judges, and tax collectors.

In the early Middle Ages, kings traveled constantly. Their officials were members of their household, and it was only in the 12th and 13th centuries that offices came to have fixed locations in England. Over time the monarch extended his influence through the majesty and solemnity of coronation, investiture, and formal meetings and proclamations, as well as by daily instruments of royal communication: charters, WRITs, and letters.

The idea of monarchy was more carefully defined by the 13th century. The king was a sacred figure, anointed at his coronation, enjoying the divine sanction of the church. With this connection came the potential for conflict between royal and papal power, clearly visible in the reigns of the Anglo-Norman kings (1066– 1272). From this religious source, and from imperial ideas rooted in Roman law, the king was said to possess a comprehensive legal authority, the royal PREROGATIVE. It was, however, subject to limitation in special situations, as with the MAGNA CARTA (1215); and in the ordinary course of business by the COMMON LAW. The latter was a unique English development, stemming from the work of royal judges, in central and ASSIZE courts, making and preserving decisions and precedents that became the rules of royal justice.

English medieval kings kept power by adopting the feudal relationship, making themselves

the overlords of all their territory, with each vassal being dependent on their lordship. At the same time, a contractual relation was established, one in which the obligatory councils of royal subjects would eventually come to check the absolute power of the Crown. Kings of SCOTLAND were also feudal overlords, without nearly as much central control, and when Irish or Welsh rulers introduced feudal ties, it was usually as the vassals of England. The most important outcome of this relationship was the emergence, in the 13th century, of more or less regular meetings of the king and his COUNCIL, enlarged to contain KNIGHTs and BURGESSes from all parts of the realm. These PARLIAMENTs were used to approve statutes (see ACT OF PARLIAMENT) and to endorse TAXATION. They thus acquired the essential quality of a legislative body, though without any independent power. Such bodies were common in medieval Europe, and they appeared in Scotland and in Ireland, though not in Wales.

The end of the Middle Ages brought a “new” monarchy—or so many historians once described the later 15th and early 16th centuries. This description was linked to more modern finances, military power, trade, and exploration, all transforming the English monarch’s power, especially with the reigns of HENRY VII and HENRY VIII. While this explanation is now less fashionable, and many “new” features are seen prefigured in earlier periods, there was clearly a new cast to the monarch’s role in the 16th century:

1.The English sovereign became the sole regal authority, annexing Wales (1536–43), declaring kingly rule in Ireland (1541), and achieving the personal union of the English and Scottish crowns (1603).

2.The 16th-century challenge to papal authority in the REFORMATION resulted in expanded royal power as the head of the several PROTESTANT churches in England, Scotland, and Ireland.

3.Due to dramatic inflation and economic strains, royal governance was ever more dependent upon Parliament’s taxation power, which turned into a brake on royal authority in the 17th century.

The modern monarchy was the creation of the civil wars and revolutions of the 17th century. While the execution of CHARLES I in 1649 was certainly not a sign of popular rejection of the Crown, it was just as certainly a sign of the dangers of unlimited exercise of royal power. No later ruler was likely to test the limits; nor indeed did many later radicals attack the institution of monarchy. The Crown was restored in 1660, and a form of resolution came in 1689. When

WILLIAM III and MARY II accepted the DECLARATION

OF RIGHTS, they endorsed a “balanced constitution,” one in which the king, the lords, and the commons shared political power. Indeed, the king was still extremely powerful: he was the commander in chief of all forces (though there was a careful watch kept on his “standing army”), he appointed judges and bishops, he had the power to create peers, and he selected leading ministers of state who managed the now annual sessions of Parliament.

The next stage of constitutional development was the product of personal and political changes in the 18th and 19th centuries. The essential alteration was in the loss of royal power to name ministers at will, and the necessity to name ministers who had the confidence of Parliament’s HOUSE OF COMMONS. This change began during the time of William PITT the younger (1783– 1801, 1804–06) and it was complete by the middle of the reign of Queen VICTORIA (ca. 1870). Once this change was settled, it was the electorate who decided the political leadership of the country. In the words of Walter BAGEHOT, the monarch had “the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, the right to warn” (The English Constitution, 1867). He did not say the right to govern.

In the 20th century, the Crown retained an important symbolic role, and the sovereigns in time of war were vital rallying figures and the embodiment of imperial power. That power of course dwindled after 1945, though the queen was still the head of the Commonwealth (see BRITISH

EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH), a valuable interna-

tional body. At the end of the century, despite a troubled familial scene, Queen ELIZABETH II still