UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 AT LOS ANGELES 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 MAY TREAT MORRISON 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 
 ALEXANDER F MORRISON
 
 THE BRITISH EMPIRE 
 
 VOr.. 11.
 
 rniNTnn iit spoTTiswoonr; and oo. 
 
 KEW-STRRET SQrAHE
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BRITISH EMPIRE 
 
 FROai THE ACCESSION OF CHARLES I. 
 TO THE RESTORATION: 
 
 WITH AN INTRODUCTION, TEACING THE PROGRESS OF SOCIETY AND OF THE 
 
 CONSTITUTION FROM THE FEUDAL TIMES TO THE OPENING OF THE 
 
 HISTORY, AND INCLUDING A PARTICULAR EXAMINATION 
 
 OF MR. HUME'S STATEMENTS RELATIVE TO THE 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE ENGLISH 
 
 GOVERNMENT. 
 
 
 3 . 
 
 
 BY GEORGE BRODIE, ESQ. 
 
 ■I 
 
 HTSTORIOGRAPHKR-ROYAI, OF .SCOTLAND. 
 
 NEW EDITION. 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 LONDON : 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 18fiG. 
 
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 «t •««••• t«'
 
 
 V.(^ 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE SECOND VOLUME. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM THE DISSOLUTION OF THE THIKD PARLIAMENT TILL THE BREAKING 
 OUT OF THE SCOTCH TmOUBLES — CHARACTERS OF THE QUEEN, LAUD, 
 WENTWORTH, EARL OF STRAFFORD, NOY, ETC. — PEACE WITH FRANCE 
 AND SPAIN — A SKETCH OF OPERATIONS IN REGARD TO THE PALATINATE 
 — PERSECUTION OF LEIGHTON, PRTNNB, BASTWICK, AND BURTON, ETC. — 
 INNOVATIONS IN THE CHURCH — ARBITRARY MEASURES AND WAYS OF 
 RAISING MONEY — SHIP-MONEY — CASE OF HAMPDEN . . PAGE 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 STATE OF SCOTLAND, AND THE INTENTION OF THE KING — HIS TISI4C TO 
 SCOTLAND, CORONATION, ETC. — A PARLIAMENT THERE, AND MEASURES 
 PASSED — TRIAL OF BALMERINO, ETC. — CANONS AND SERVICE-BOOK SENT 
 DOWN, AND THE RECEPTION THEY MET WITH — COMMENCEMENT OF THE 
 DISTURBANCES, ETC. — EXPEDITION TO QUELL THE SCOTS, AND THEIR 
 VIGOROUS RESISTANCE; WITH THE PACIFICATION OF BERWICK — SECOND 
 RECOURSE TO ARMS — A PARLIAMENT IN ENGLAND, AND ITS DISSOLUTION 
 — ENTRY OF THE SCOTS INTO ENGLAND — TREATY OF RIPPON — COUNCIL 
 OF PEERS, ETC 123 
 
 CHAPTER HI. 
 
 FROM THE MEETING OF THE LONG PAELIAMEiNT TILL ITS 
 FIEST ADJOURNMENT. 
 
 STATE OF THE NATION, ETC.— -GRIEVANCES DETAILED IN THE LOAVER HOUSE 
 — REMONSTRANCE OP THE IRT3F PARLIAMENT — IMPEACHMENT OF STRAF- 

 
 VI CONTENTS OF THE SECOND VOLUME. 
 
 FORD, LAUD, FINCH, ETC. — FLIGHT OF WINDEBANKE AND FINCH — 
 ATTACK UPON THE HIERARCHY — TRIENNIAL BILL — TRIAL OF STRAFFORD 
 
 PLOT TO BRING UP THE ARMY AGAINST THE PARLIAMENT — BILL 
 
 OF ATTAINDER AGAINST STRAFFORD, WITH HIS EXECUTION — ACT FOR 
 CONTINUING THE PARLIAMENT — HIGH COMMISSION AND COURT OF STAR 
 CHAMBER, ETC. ABOLISHED — TONNAGE AND POUNDAGE — KINg's JOURNEY 
 TO SCOTLAND, ETC PAGE 233 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 SECRET POLICY OF THE KING — AFFAIRS OF SCOTLAND, AND CONDUCT OF 
 MONTROSE — THE KING's JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND — THE INCIDENT, AND 
 SETTLEMENT OF AFFAIRS THERE — THE IRISH REBELLION AND MASSACRE 
 THE RE-MEETING OF THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT — GENERAL APPRE- 
 HENSIONS OP PLOTS, ETC. — RETURN OF CHARLES TO LONDON ; HIS RE- 
 CEPTION THERE — THE REMONSTRANCE — IMPEACHMENT OF THE BISHOPS, 
 AND PROCEEDINGS IN REGARD TO EPISCOPACY — ACCUSATION OF THE FIVE 
 MEMBERS — TUMULTS — PROCEEDINGS IN REGARD TO IRELAND — KING 
 LEAVES LONDON ; ARRIVES AT YORK — PREPARATIONS FOR CIVIL WAR 341 
 
 NOTES 501
 
 1* > i 3 
 
 I > ■» 3 * 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FROM TnE DISSOLtrTIOJr OP THE THIED PARLIAMENT TILL THE 
 BREAKESra OUT OF THE SCOTCH TROUBLES — CHARACTERS OF THE 
 QUEEN, LAUD, WENrVVORTH, EARL OP STRAFFORD, NOT, ETC. — 
 PEACE WITH FRANCE AND SPAIN — A SKETCH OP OPERATIONS IN 
 REGARD TO THE PALATINATE — PERSECUTION OF LEIGHTON, PRYNNE, 
 
 BASTAVICK, AND BURTON, ETC. — INNOVATIONS IN THE CHURCH 
 
 ARBITRARY MEASURES AND WAYS OP RAISING MONEY — SHIP- 
 MONEY — CASE OP HAMPDEN. 
 
 Having now, after a fair trial, fully discovered that par- chap. 
 
 liaments were not to be converted into passive instruments ^ — ' 
 
 of his will, Charles determined to renounce the use of piibushes a 
 assemblies which he could not control, and, by assuminoj Fociama- 
 
 . "^ ° tion for- 
 
 the whole powers of the legislature, to disregard all the bidding 
 forms, as weU as the spirit, .of the constitution. He even tion'of'^" 
 issued a proclamation, in which he forbade the very men- another 
 tion of another parliament, as he, who alone had the ment. 
 power, was the best judge when to assemble it, and de- 
 clared that, though such an event might happen, it could 
 only be after the country had evinced a better disposition, 
 and the vipers of the commonwealth had suffered the 
 condign punivshment of their demerits.* We now, then, 
 
 * Rush, vol, ii. p. 3. See also previous declaration already referred to, 
 Vol. i. Ajipend. 
 
 VOL. II. B
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CH.iP. 
 I. 
 
 Character 
 of the 
 queen. 
 
 enter upon a new epoch of this reign, and therefore we 
 shall take-a vieW'Of -the ieadinf]^ characters that f>:overned 
 public affairs. '■' •'"•".•' 
 
 The qii-eeri was. of a snjall si:ature, yet she was reckoned 
 handsome. Her countenance was pleasant, her manners 
 were sprightly ; * but her fidelity f to the marriage bed 
 is not unquestionable ; and her temper, naturally violent 
 and haughty, had been encouraged, not restrained, by her 
 early situation and habits. Her religion, and the ideas 
 imbibed by her, even in infancy, regarding the unlimited 
 obedience of the subject, were repugnant to the feelings 
 of Englishmen. The unhappy terms on which at first she 
 hved with her husband terminated with the existence of 
 Buckingham, the envious disturber of her peace; and she 
 immediately began to acquire that ascendency over Charles 
 which proved calamitous to both. Two apparently in- 
 consistent qualities have been remarked in this prince — 
 uncommon obstinacy, and yet diffidence in his own judg- 
 ment ; but the inconsistency is more apparent than real. 
 A great mind pursues the mature dictates of its judg- 
 ment, unmoved by a senseless cry of opposition, while it 
 is ever ready to listen to sound reasons for altering its 
 course : obstinacy is the offspring of humour and passion, 
 and, as it has not the sanction of the understanding, 
 which it is yet anxious to impose upon by specious argu- 
 ments, it looks abroad for the support of another's judg- 
 ment. If a person with such a disposition have power, 
 the flatterer is ever at hand to study his humour and 
 watch the favourable moment for confirming it, till he 
 wlio began to falter under the general censure follows his 
 predetermined course with new alacrity. The flatterer is 
 now consulted on every emergency, and by still attending 
 to his patron's master-passion, rules him in most joar- 
 
 • A>/sr. 3ISS. 4101, Brit. Mus. 
 vol. ii. Let. July 2(1, 1025. 
 
 t In the first edition I had said 
 that her ori^nniil fiihdity to her hus- 
 band was undoubted. It ba3 been 
 
 Avitli pain that I have, on <itteudin<^ 
 to certain autliorities, and reflectiniif 
 farther on her whole life, been led 
 to a different conclusiou.
 
 CHARACTER OF LAUD. I 
 
 ticular instances. False pride, and an extreme love of chap. 
 power, propelled Charles to violent courses ; but, obstinate 
 as he was, his fortitude might forsake him as the precipice 
 disclosed itself; and then the queen's imperious temper, 
 when not affected by a sense of personal danger, coming 
 in timely aid of his wavering purpose, would give her the 
 ascendency. 
 
 As Laud was noted to be the most intimate adviser of Land. 
 the king after the death of Buckingham, a sketch of his 
 character is particularly requisite towards a correct know- 
 ledge of the ensuing events. Even at college he was 
 suspected of Popery, to such a height did he carry the 
 pretensions of the clergy, with all the tenets of the Eomish 
 religion except the mere supremacy of the pope,* The 
 divine institution of bishops, whence he would have 
 attached unconstitutional power to them ; the use of 
 images and ceremonies, the tutelar protection of saints 
 and angels, and the invocation of saints ; the adoration of 
 the altar ; the real presence (he stickled for this, while he 
 denied transubstantiation) ; and a commemoration sacri- 
 fice, as he termed it ; auricular confession, and absolution, 
 were amongst his most favourite principles. The Eomish, 
 he mamtained to be the mother-church, and — thouu'li 
 defiled with some impurities, which, however, he never 
 defined — to agree with the Enghsh in fundamentals, par- 
 ticularly in sacraments. Master of the scholastic learning 
 connected with his peculiar tenets, he yet had neither 
 taste for polite literature, nor comprehension for pro- 
 founder studies. His writmgs — I refer particularly to his 
 chief work, ' The Conference with Fisher the Jesuit ' — as 
 they are full of syllogistic subtlety in maintaining un- 
 meauino; or at best insio"nificant distinctions, show an 
 acute but a little mind, and afford no mark of any vigour 
 of intellect, f Eegarding the crown not only as the 
 
 * See Abbot's Narrative in Eush., t See Heylin's Introdnction to the 
 
 also Heylin's Life of Laud, Intro- Life of Land, in regard to principles 
 duction and e.arly part. and the Life itself ; BaiUie's Canter- 
 
 B 2
 
 [ CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP fountain of all liis own hopes, but as the surest support of 
 
 I. 
 
 the altar, he laboured no less assiduously to promote the 
 cause of royalty, by inculcating the divine right of kings 
 and the incontrollableness of their powers, than to advance 
 the authority of his order. 
 
 Entering the world without patrimony or friends, it is 
 not wonderful that he remained long m obscurity ; but the 
 first great act of his Hfe showed how ready he was to 
 make any great sacrifice for patronage. In 1605, he filled 
 the office of chaplain to Charles Blount, eighth Lord 
 Mount] oy, created by James earl of Devonshire, whose 
 services in L^eland, when Lord Mountjoy, entitled him to 
 high marks of royal favour. This nobleman had long 
 lived in adulterous intercourse with Penelope, daughter 
 of Walter Devereux, earl of Essex, and wife of Lord 
 Eich, afterwards earl of Warwick — conduct which, not- 
 withstandmg the hcentiousness of a few, was strange to 
 the habits and abhorrent to the sentiments of the people ; 
 yet Laud, far from shunning the service of a person, how- 
 ever eminent in station, who thus shamelessly set at open 
 defiance one of the first maxims of rehgion and laws of 
 morality, as well as pubhc opinion, was unprincipled 
 enough to minister to his patron's passion by prostituting 
 his holy calling to give the appearance of sanctity to the 
 connection. Though the lady was the mother of many 
 children to her husband, he performed the sacred rites of 
 marriage over the profligate pair — an offence against both 
 the civil and religious institutions of his country, which, 
 according to his own confession, he committed against 
 the dictates of his conscience ; nor could he advance the 
 
 hury' 8 Self- Conviction, PrjTine's iVe- ticiilarly about Tradition, pp. 58-9; 
 
 cr.saan/ litfrodiiction to the Trial of Baptism, pp. oG-7 ; Real Presence, 
 
 Laud, lircviatc, and Hidden Works pp. 28G-7. Also Speech iu Star 
 
 of DarkncHx. Then as Laud ap- Chamber, Madame de Motte\alle 
 
 proved of Montague's, Cosen's, and says that Laud was a Catholic in his 
 
 Ileylin's works, wo must conse- heart, and advocated all measures 
 
 qui'iitly also refer to tliem. See also for the final iutroduction of that 
 
 Laud's own work, Conference with worship. 
 Fisher the Jesuit, passim ; but par-
 
 LAUD OBTAINS THE BISIlOrElC OF ST. DAYID's. i 
 
 plea of youthful inexperience, were it even admissible in chap. 
 such a case, since he had then completed his thuty-second ^ ^; 
 year. 
 
 With a view of recommending himself at court as 
 a peculiarly staunch supporter of principles which James 
 anxiously promoted, he studied to fill the royal ear with 
 complaints against others, as inclining to more popular 
 tenets ; and Laud soon proved himself the fittest instru- 
 ment to provide him with the requisite materials. Heading 
 at Oxford, the hopefid aspirant after clerical preferment 
 — that he might communicate grateftd information to his 
 patron, and thus secure his interest — made it his duty to 
 discover a ground of quarrel in the lectures of the public 
 readers, as well as to ascertain what works were in the 
 press, and scan their principles. Primed with intelli- 
 gence from Neil, his watchful zeal for the throne and the 
 altar shone conspicuously within the sphere for which it 
 was calculated ; and as it met the proper return, he re- 
 warded liis agent by introducing him to court. But the 
 favourite was not to be diverted from his piu^pose ; and 
 when the bishopric of St. David's became vacant, he em- 
 ployed Wilhams, who, as one of his creatures, durst not 
 refuse the duty assigned him, to mediate with the king to 
 bestow it upon Laud. The dialogue which Williams held 
 with his majesty on the occasion is so characteristic that 
 we cannot forbear fi^om transcribing it from Hacket's life 
 of that prelate: — 'Well,' says his majesty, 'I perceive 
 whose attorney you are. Stenny hath set you on. You 
 have pleaded the man a good Protestant, and I believe it ; 
 neither did that stick in my breast when I stopped his 
 promotion. But was not there a certain lady that forsook 
 her husband and married a lord that was her paramour ? 
 Who knit that knot ? Shall I make a man a prelate — one 
 of the angels of my church — who hath a flagrant crime 
 upon him ? ' ' Sir,' says the lord keeper, very boldly, 
 ' you are a good master ; but who will dare serve you if 
 you will not pardon one fault, though of a scandalous
 
 I 
 
 CONSTITUTIOL'AL IIISTOKY OF THE BKITISII EMriEE. 
 
 CHAP, size, to him that is truly penitent for it ? I pawn my 
 . faith to you that lie is heartily penitent, and there is no 
 other blot that hath sullied his good name. Velleius said 
 enough to justify Murena that he had but one fault, sine 
 hoc facinore potuit videri probus.' ' You press well,' 
 I'eturns the king, ' and I hear you with patience ; neither 
 will I revive a trespass any more which repentance hath 
 made dead ; and because I shall not be rid of you unless 
 I tell you my unpublished cogitations. The plain truth is, 
 I keep Laud back from all place of rule and authority 
 because I find he hath a restless spirit, and cannot see 
 when things are well, but loves to toss and change, and to 
 bring matters to a pitch of reformation floating in his 
 own brain, which may endanger the steadfastness of that 
 which is in a good pass, God be praised ! I speak not at 
 random ; he hath made himself known to me to be such 
 a man ; for when, three years since, I had obtained of 
 the Assembly of Perth to consent to five articles of order 
 and decency in correspondence with this Church of Eng- 
 land, I gave them promise, by attestation of faith made, 
 tliat I would try their obedience no farther anent eccle- 
 siastic allairs, nor put them out of their way, which 
 custom had made pleasant to them, with any new en- 
 croachment. Yet this man hath pressed me to invite them 
 to a nearer conjunction with the liturgy and canons of 
 this nation ; but I sent him back again with the frivolous 
 draught he had drawn. It seems I remembered St. 
 Austin's rule better than he : Ipsa mutatio consuetudinis 
 etiam quae adjuvat utilitate, novitate perturhat* For all 
 this, he feared not mine anger, but assaulted me again 
 with another ill-fangled platform to make that stubborn 
 kirk stoop more to the English pattern; hut I durst not 
 j^lay fast and loose with my icord. He knows not the 
 stomach of that people. But I ken the story of my grand- 
 mother, the queen regent : that, after she was inveigled 
 
 * There is much shrewdness in all .Tames forgot his maxims, and Una of 
 this ; but; uulbrtunatcly, in ])rauticc !St. Austin's in particular.
 
 I. 
 
 WILLIAMS HEAPS FAVOUKS OX LAUD. 
 
 to break lier promise to some mutineers at a Perth meet- chap. 
 iiig, she never saw good day, but from thence, being very 
 much beloved before, was despised of all the people.' 
 Wilhams condemned this part of Laud's conduct, not for 
 its wickedness but dangerous consequences, yet continued 
 to press his suit : ' And is there no whoe but 3^ou must 
 carry it ^ ' said the king ; ' then take him with you, but, 
 on my soul, you will repent it ; ' and so went ojQT with 
 anger in his looks and other ominous words in his mouth.* 
 Having thus been instrumental in obtaining a bishopric 
 for Laud, Williams heaped upon him other marks of his 
 favour. The revenue from the prelacy was small, there- 
 fore he continued Laud in his prebend of Westminster, 
 and, within a twelvemonth, conferred upon him, un- 
 sought, a living of about 120/. a-year. W^ien the news of 
 this last gift was carried to Laud, he burst out into these 
 extravagant words to the messenger : ' Mr. Winn, my life 
 will be too short to requite your lord's goodness.' f Yet 
 Wilhams soon discovered with what prophetic truth the 
 king had warned him of his danger. Mounted thus far, 
 and daily finding himself faster rooted in the favourite's 
 affections, Laud raised his hopes to the highest dignity in 
 the church, as well as to great influence in the cabinet ; 
 and as Williams appeared to be his only rival, he labom-ed 
 to supplant and ruin the very man to whom he had vowed 
 a hfe of gratitude. The visions that filled his waldng 
 thoughts disturbed his slumbers. His di'eams he faithftilly 
 recorded with superstitious reverence, and from those 
 that related to his rival he drew an augury of success. 
 Buckingham's absence in Spain opened a new field for the 
 exercise of his talents, and Williams sank under them. 
 Had the latter quietly retired to his bishopric, he might 
 have been permitted to live in security ; but as no ill- 
 treatment discouraged him from the most ardent pro- 
 fessions of devotion to his great patron and to the king, 
 
 * Placket's Life of Williams, part t Racket's Life of Williams, part 
 
 i. pp. G.3, 64. ii. pp. 65, 66.
 
 8 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 and lie seemed more than once in a fair way to recover his 
 ground, a restless and tormenting jealousy urged Laud to 
 ' batter him with new and old contrivances for fifteen 
 years.' His own breast reflected the scorn and hatred he 
 had inspired. He anticipated the revenge he merited, in 
 the event of a change of fortune, and he saw no safety 
 but in the utter ruin of his former benefactor. Seques- 
 tered from the exercise of his prelacy, deeply injured in 
 his ckcumstances, and a prisoner in the Tower, Williams 
 was still an object of terror. The only condition on which 
 Laud agreed to withdraw his malice was, that he resigned 
 his bishopric, and retired to Ireland. But this the other 
 positively refused, declaring that, if he went thither, he 
 should fall under the power of a man (Wentworth) who 
 in a few months would find out some old statute or other 
 to cut off his head.* 
 
 Placed at the head of the ecclesiastical and civil govern- 
 ment. Laud betrayed all the presumptuous insolence of a 
 little mind, intoxicated with undeserved prosperity. He 
 assumed the state of a prince, and, by the ridiculous 
 haughtiness of his manners, disgusted men of high rank 
 and influence in society who were attached to his mea- 
 siures.f But he had now an opportunity of displaying 
 that restlessness of disposition imputed to him by the late 
 king. Besides the ambition of raising the body of which 
 he stood at the head, he was inspired with the notion of 
 glory that would redound to him from bringing the church 
 
 * In the acoonnt of the persecu- society witli scorn, Las no cause to 
 
 tion of Williams tlii.s shall be proved; coniplaiu of being reuiiuded of liis 
 
 tbercfore we abstain from loading origin. Laud felt this attack most 
 
 our pages with references hero. severely (see Ileylin's Life of him, 
 
 t See a curious instance of this in p. 47; see Bastwick's Litany; May's 
 
 Clarendon's Life by himself, vol. i. Hid. p. 28; Hutchinson's Mem. vol. 
 
 p. 0!) vt seq. The popular party re- i. p. l-']."3). By the way, how should 
 
 proached Laud with his birth ; but young Ilyde, who truckled to Laud, 
 
 if they liad then had no better ground have yet been on such terms with 
 
 of attack it would have justly been Strafford and Essex as that they 
 
 despised. Yet it must be confessed, were ready to trust him on anything 
 
 that a person without birth, who, that was most secret (Id. p. GO) ? 
 
 j)rcsuming on his elevation, treats Was not this serving dillerent mas- 
 
 bther men of a then lower sphere iu ters ?
 
 laud's religious INNOVATIOXS — HIS SUPEESTITIOX. 9 
 
 back to lier native principles — in other words, restoring chap. 
 the power of the priesthood — and introducing again every- . \' . 
 thing miscliievous in the Catholic worship. But, like all 
 men of strong passions, he counteracted his object by his 
 haste to accomphsh it. In order to raise the clergy, he 
 procured for them the civil offices of state. But this 
 necessarily alienated many of the principal families, who 
 thus saw themselves precluded from situations to which 
 they imagined their birth and station entitled them. 
 Then, in the prosecution of his schemes for reforming 
 religion, he hurried on, without regard to popular feeling. 
 The discontent which he occasioned served only, by 
 wounding his pride and exciting his fears, to push him 
 into greater extremes. The insidious calm produced by 
 his tyrannical courses — a calm ready to burst into a storm 
 — he, viewing matters through the mist of his own con- 
 tracted prejudices, and ignorant of the world, mistook for 
 submission to authority. In the expression of public 
 feeling, which is generally spent in words, he discovered 
 a principle of hostihty, which would only be content with 
 the absolute overthrow of the hierarchy. Hence, the 
 very fear which should have inspired moderation, operating 
 on a narrow and extremely irritable mind, kindled per- 
 secution — terror being the natural parent of cruelty ; and, 
 to crush disaffection, he piursued measures which set the 
 empire in a flame. 
 
 That Laud was somewhat convinced of the importance 
 of his innovations in a religious sense may be admitted ; 
 for men seldom foUow the dictates of ambition, and in- 
 vent arguments to convince others, without becoming 
 converts to the principles they inculcate ; and, as a per- 
 son liberally educated, he was remarkably prone to super- 
 stition. His diary is extremely succinct, yet a large por- 
 tion of it comprehends a circumstantial account of his 
 dreams. Every little incident was regarded as an omen : 
 the very entrance of two robin red-breasts into his study 
 startled him, and is particidarly related. Much of this
 
 10 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMriEE. 
 
 CHAP. Ync^j j^o doubt be ascribed to the age, but no inconsiderable 
 
 "— -.^ — - portion of it must also be imputed to the individual. Great 
 
 pains have been taken to expose the Puritans to ridicule 
 
 for their superstition, but few of them were so deeply 
 
 imbued with it as Laud. 
 
 Such was the man to whom the happiness of millions 
 was entrusted. 
 Wentworth The ucxt o^reat actor in the followim^ tramc scenes was 
 Sir Thomas Wentworth, of Wentworth- Wood House, suc- 
 cessively created a baronet, a viscount, a privy councihor, 
 lord president of the North, lord deputy of Ireland, and, 
 last of all, earl of Strafford and lord heutenant of Ireland. 
 We have akeady remarked that a great mistake has 
 existed in regard to this individual, in consequence of his 
 having been confounded with Thomas Wentworth, esq., 
 the member for Oxford ; and that so far from having 
 commenced his career the avowed and ardent friend of 
 liberty, and having been seduced from his principles and 
 party by the tempting offers of the court, he set out with 
 the ambition of place, under the favourites who were 
 most obnoxious to popidar resentment. 
 
 Wentworth was the man of largest family inheritance 
 in Yorkshire, and feared one rival only in the county — 
 Sir John Saville. The nobihty in that age kept much 
 aloof from the Commons, but WentAvorth's property ren- 
 dered him an exception ; for, in 1611, while he was yet 
 only eighteen years of age, stiU under a governor, and his 
 father was alive, he married Lady Margaret, eldest daugh- 
 ter of Francis, earl of Cumberland. He was knighted in 
 the same year ; and, in 1613, returned member for York- 
 shire. Lady Margaret died in 1622, and in February, 1625, 
 lie married another earl's daughter, Lady Arabella HoUis, 
 daughter of the Earl of Clare* — a lady of uncommon 
 beauty and accomplishments, but whose untimely death 
 lie is alleged to have occasioned by a blow upon the 
 
 * Sketch of his Life by Sir George Radclifle.
 
 RIVALRY OF WEXTWORTH AND SAVILLE. 11 
 
 breast, when she was far advanced in pregnancy, because chap. 
 she, having accidentally lighted upon a letter from one of ]' . 
 his ixiistresses, reproached him for his infidelity.* A man 
 of Wentworth's family influence and alliances could not 
 fail to be regarded as an accession to either party ; and 
 he possessed talents and prudence to avail himself of the 
 advantages of fortune. In the very outset of hfe he 
 attached himself to ministers, and only kept a politic re- 
 serve to enhance his price and testify his dissatisfaction at 
 certain treatment which he received. So far back as 
 1617 he complained of ill-usage. His rival, Saville, who 
 was far advanced in hfe, had held the office of custos 
 rotulorum ; but hi consequence of some displeasiu"e at 
 court, the office was taken from him and bestowed on 
 Wcntworth. Saville, however, regained his majesty's 
 favour, and with it that of office, to the great chagrin of 
 his rival. Though much piqued at this, Wentworth still 
 professed devotion to the court, and in 1620 strenuously 
 exerted himself for the election of Sir George Calvert, 
 principal secretary of state, along with himself, to the 
 exclusion of Saville. Kor do his communications to his 
 ministerial friends bespeak his imputed patriotism. f But 
 
 * Baillie's Letters, vol. i. p. 291. will be at York the day of the elec- 
 
 t Litter to Sir George Calvert, tion, aud thus, finding he cannot 
 
 Knt. Principal Secretary of State, work them from me, labours only to 
 
 December 5, 1620 : — ' May it please supplant you. I endeavour to meet 
 
 you, Sir, — The parliament writ is with him as well as I may, and omit 
 
 delivered to the sheiitr, and he by nothing that my poor understanding 
 
 his faithful promise deeply engaged tells me may do you senice. My 
 
 for you. I find the gentlemen of lord president hath writ to his free- 
 
 these parts generally ready to do you holders on your behalf, and seeing 
 
 service. Sir Thomas Fairfax stirs he will be in town on the election 
 
 not, but Sir John Saville, by his day, it were very good he would be 
 
 instruments exceeding busy, intimat- pleased to show himself in the Castle- 
 
 ing to the common sort, miderhand, yard, and that you write him a few 
 
 that 3'ourself, being not resident in the lines taking notice you hear of some 
 
 eoimty, cannot by law be chosen, opposition, and therefore desire his 
 
 and, being his majesty's secretary presence might secure you of fair 
 
 and a stranger, one not safe to be carnage in the choice. I have heard 
 
 ti-usted by the coimtry ; but all this, that when Lord Darcy opposed Sir 
 
 according to his manner, so closely Thomas Lake in a matter of like 
 
 and cunningly, as if he had no part nature, the lords of the council writ 
 
 therein ; neither doth he as yet fur- to Sir Francis to desist. I know my 
 
 ther declare himself than only that he lord chancellor is very sensible of
 
 12 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, it was not to one minister only that he attached himself: 
 ; - he assiduously laboured to gain the patronage of Bucking- 
 ham, of Williams, of Middlesex, of Weston — with a syco- 
 phantish meanness, too, which would have been deemed 
 irreconcilable wdth a temper haughty and overbearingly 
 insolent as his, did we not know that unprincipled am- 
 bition controls every other passion, and that men gene- 
 rally exact the undue homage they pay.* 
 
 In parliament, he was so far from adopting the ardent 
 language of the popular party, or yielding to the natural 
 impetuosity of youth, that, in all great questions, he was 
 cautiously reserved ; indeed, his rule of action is clearly 
 
 you in this business; a word to him, 
 and such a letter would make an end 
 of all. Sir, pardon me, I beseech 
 you ; for I protest I am in travail till 
 all be sure for you, which emboldens 
 me to propound these things to joii, 
 which notwithstanding I submit to 
 yom- judgment. Sir, I wish a better 
 occasion wherein to testify the duti- 
 ful and affectionate respects your 
 favour and nobleness may justly re- 
 quire from me. In the mean space, 
 pray the Almighty still to increase 
 your honour and happiness, and so 
 remain in the faith and perseverance 
 of being your honovu''s humbly to be 
 commanded' (^Letters and Dispatches, 
 p. 10). In a letter to Sir Arthur 
 Ingram, on the same subject, after 
 stating in nearly the same language 
 Saville's legal objection, &c. to Cal- 
 vert, he says that Saville tried to 
 raise himself by popular language, 
 as, 'Whereas himself is their martyr, 
 having sufl(>red for them, the patron 
 of the clothiers, of all others the 
 fittest to be relied on ' (Dec. G, 1620, 
 vol. i. p. 11). I5y the way, we shall 
 afterwards give some account of the 
 powers e^■ercised by the presidents 
 of the North, whose interposition 
 Wentworth desired (see Letter to 
 Calvert, April 28, 1G23 ; see other 
 letters to liim). 
 
 * Letters (Did iJispatcItf'S, vol. i. p. 16. 
 In a letter to tlie Earl of Middlesex, 
 then lord high-treasurer, he says : ' My 
 
 most honoured lord, whereas you have 
 been pleased to continue by commis- 
 sion your trust upon me for this 
 year's receipt of his majesty's reve- 
 nue in these parts, I must necessarily 
 judge the same to proceed forth of 
 the wonted good opinion your lord- 
 ship hath ever been pleased, out of 
 your nobleness, to retain and esteem 
 me in;- which, indeed, is no small 
 comfort to me.' He then humbly 
 requests that the office might be 
 given to Mr. Wetheridd, and says : 
 'All which, notwithstanding, I hum- 
 bly submit to your lordship's more 
 weighty judgment, as one ready to 
 obey your commands in all things, 
 and prepared cheerfully to undergo 
 any service j'ou shall be pleased to 
 impose upon me. Thus, my lord, 
 with the true and constant acknow- 
 ledgment of that duty and service 
 wherein I must ever profess myself 
 to be most justly boimd unto you, I 
 will conclude and humbly take leave, 
 &c.' Middlesex was obnoxious to a 
 haughty aristocracy for his sudden 
 elevation. To have despised the pre- 
 judice would have been meritorious; 
 but Wentworth was the proudest of 
 the proud. He got a herald to fetch 
 his pedigree from John of Gaunt 
 (Howell's Fam. Let. p. 211 ; Straff. 
 Let. and Disp., Let. to Wotton, Nov. 
 
 8, 1617, April 8, 1620, 
 
 pp. 
 
 6. See 
 
 also Lctter.s in liiof/. Brit. Went- 
 worth. See Letter from Sir A. In-
 
 THE NATUEE OF WENTWORTH'S PUBLIC LIFE. 13 
 
 developed by himself in the following words, which form chap. 
 
 part of a letter to his brother-in-law, Lord Clifford, so « ; — - 
 
 early as January, 1624 : — 'My opinion of these meetings 
 [parliaments] your lordship knows sufficiently, and the 
 services done there coldly requited on all sides, and, which 
 is worse, many times misconstrued. I judge, farther, the 
 path we are Hke to walk in is now more narrow and 
 slippery than formerly, yet not so difficult hut may he 
 passed iciih circumspection, patience, and princip>ally 
 silence.' * The nature of his public life may be estimated, 
 too, by its effects upon King James, who could neither 
 esteem nor countenance a statesman who affected popu- 
 larity by crossing his measures. ' Calling to mind ' — says 
 Wentworth, in a letter addressed to Sir Eicliard Weston, 
 then chancellor of the Exchequer (May 19, 1627), to 
 induce him to mediate witli the kinir for a return of 
 favour — ' Calling to mind the faitlifid service I had tlie 
 honour to do his majesty now with God, how graciously 
 he vouchsafed to accept and express it openly and sundry 
 times, I enjoy with myself much comfort and content- 
 ment.' After imputing King Charles's indignation ' to the 
 malevolent interpretations and subtle hisinuations of his 
 adversaries,' and praying for an opportunity to vindicate 
 himself, he says, ' Thus have I presumed upon you farther 
 than any particular interest of mine can warrant, out of a 
 general belief in yoiu- wisdom and nobleness, the rather, 
 too, because I conceive you can best witness the opinion, 
 nay, I might say, the esteem, his late majesty held of me.'f 
 During the first parliament of Charles, he was stiU 
 uncommitted ; nay, in the course of it, engaged to inter- 
 pose his good ofiices with the popular party in the 
 favourite's behalf, and performed what he had under- 
 taken. But many cii'cumstances awakened Buckingham's 
 
 gram to Wentworth, Nov. 7, 1025 ; * Letters and Dispatclws, vol. i. p. 
 
 Let. to Sir Eicbard Weston, Chan- 19. 
 
 cellor of the Exchequer, pp. 34, 35. f Id. pp. 84, 35. See TJadcliffe's 
 
 Other letters about the begmniug-). Essaij toivards the Life of Strafford,
 
 14 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, jealousy. Wentworth had just married a daughter of the 
 • — -,1— ' Earl of Clare,* and as that nobleman was offended at the 
 court, and, with his son Denzil Hollis, keenly opposed it, 
 the connection naturally led the son-in-law into the society 
 of the popular party ; and, while conceiving his merits 
 overlooked, he appears to have been willing, by a myste- 
 rious carriage, to let the duke knoAV that he was not to be 
 neglected. BQs great family influence, his connections, 
 supported by talents which, though they had not acquired 
 for him the high character he afterwards earned in a 
 different sphere, were even then respected, made him an 
 object of too great importance to be despised by the 
 favourite at the moment he dreaded an impeachment, 
 'At the dissolved parliament in Oxford,' says he, in an- 
 other letter of complaint to Weston, ' you are privy how 
 I was moved from and in behalf of the Duke of Buckino-- 
 ham, with promise of his good esteem and favour ; you 
 are privy that my answer was, I did honour the duke's 
 person ; that I would be ready to serve him in the quality 
 of an honest man and a gentleman ; you are privy how, 
 during that sitting, I performed what I professed. The 
 consequence of all this was, the making me sheriff the 
 winter after.' f Wentworth had been solicited at the 
 same time, professedly at least, in favour of the duke, by 
 Williams, then lord keeper, who did not allow an oppor- 
 tunity of being busy to escape ; and as the lord keeper 
 was himself suspected of plotting with the members of tlie 
 opposition for liis patron's ruin, it was artfully suggested 
 that Wentworth's moderation was a cover to a plot which 
 he was promoting between Williams and the popular 
 party — a suggestion which acquired confirmation by his 
 intimacy with Archbishop Abbot, whom the favourite 
 
 * The marriage took place on Feb- tlie court, he was not fond of encoun- 
 
 ruarv 24, 1(524-5, and ]iarliainent met tering- the dangers of patriotism (see 
 
 on .Tune 18 (see liior/. lit it. art. Zctfer to WenUyorth, StvalW Let. and 
 
 lk)l]is, for an account of Lord Clare). Ih'sp. vol. i. p. 31). 
 lie bouglit his titles. Tliough he t Letters and Dispatches, vol. i. 
 
 disliked Ijuckinghaiu, and opposed pp. 34, 35.
 
 WENTWORTII PRICKED SHEEIFF. 15 
 
 deeply feared. Hence the primate and tlie lord-keeper chap. 
 fell immediately under the royal indignation ; and Went- ._ — ; — * 
 worth, though measures were still kept with him, was, 
 as he complains, pricked sheriff, that, by rendering him 
 ineligible to the next parhament, his designs might be 
 defeated.* 
 
 The unliappy expedient of pricking him sheriff, as it 
 ranked him with such men as Coke, Phihps, Seymour, 
 and others, against whom the same measure was adopted, 
 proved, in all probabihty, the cause of his further exalta- 
 tion ; for it bespoke an opinion of his talents, as well as 
 of his principles, and thus introduced him to public notice 
 as the persecuted advocate of popular rights. Even his 
 friends, who still expected his rise as a courtier, congratu- 
 lated him on the event. ' For your being chosen,' writes 
 one, ' my poor opinion is, that there did not anything 
 befall you in the whole course of your hfe that is and will 
 be more honour to you in the public, who speak most 
 strangely of it.'f The same individual adds a fact to 
 soothe his correspondent under this mark of royal dis- 
 pleasure : ' It was told me by two councillors that, in 
 naming of you, the king said you were an honest gentle- 
 man, but not a tittle to any of the rest.' 
 
 Though he felt the indignity, the king's favourable 
 sentiments, with his correspondence at court, prevented 
 him from despairing. As he ascribed the ill-treatment to 
 the misrepresentations and subtle insinuations of his 
 enemies, he endeavoured to recover his ground, both 
 through the medium of Weston and by a personal inter- 
 view with Buckingham. The latter, at tliis interview, 
 ascribed Wentworth's having been made sheriff to mis- 
 take, which his grace, being then in IloUand, had no 
 opportunity of rectifying — contracted, as he was pleased 
 
 * Heylin's Life of Land, p. 139 ; knowledge evinced by Williams, aa 
 
 Hacket's Life of Williams, part ii. to the motions of the adverse party, 
 
 p. 17; seep. 14; Strafford's ie#. «/!(/ natm-ally inspired suspicion. 
 
 Dis. vol. i. p. 28; Sir Arthur In- \ fiiv&^ovA' s Letters and Dispatches, 
 
 gram's Letter, Nov. 7, lG2o. The vol. i. p. 29.
 
 16 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMriRE. 
 
 CH.iP. to term it, a friendship with him, ' all former mistakes 
 laid asleep, forgotten,' and gave him ' all the good words 
 and good usage which could be expected ; which,' says 
 the latter, ' bred in me a great deal of content and secu- 
 rity.' * The measure of content and security here spoken 
 of seems to have centred in the hopes of being made 
 lord president of the North, which, as I have discovered 
 by a letter from him in the State Paper Office, he was 
 sohciting, in terms the most degrading, so early as the 
 20th January, 1625-26. But the reconcilement was 
 frustrated by his enemies, wlio, in spite of the exertions 
 of Weston, infused fresh jealousy into the breast of the 
 favourite, to which, probably, his intimate connection 
 with Waudesford might contribute ; and he soon expe- 
 rienced another proof of it in being again deprived of the 
 office of Gustos Eotulorum, to which he had been a second 
 time promoted. The mortification w^as enhanced by the 
 triumph of his old enemy, Saville, who was restored to 
 coiu-t favour, made a privy councillor, &c. Even this did 
 not determine him to proclaim himself a patriot. He 
 still endeavoured to make up the breach at court ; but, 
 when he failed in his humiliating labours, and was deserted 
 by the court party in the country, now attaclied to Saville, 
 while from such proofs of royal displeasure the popular 
 party regarded him as fairly enlisted on their side, he had 
 no alternative but either to sink into insimiificance with all 
 parties in the country, or place himself at the head of the 
 opposition. At this critical juncture the loan was de- 
 manded, and he had but a choice of evils — either to 
 forfeit his character in the country, or to incur tlie hazard 
 of the royal resentment to such a degree as threatened to 
 blast all his prospects from that quarter. His friends 
 importuned him to comply ; his old rival exulted at the 
 circumstance. ' It was supposed,' said his brother-in-law, 
 Lord Haughton, in a letter to him, ' this humour of com- 
 
 * Letters to Weston, p. 34 of Straff. Let. and Disp. vol. i.
 
 I. 
 
 WEXTWORTH SUFFERS FOR THE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS. 17 
 
 mitting has been spent, till that your antagonist did revive chap, 
 it ; who, I hear, brags he hath you in a toil or dilemma. . 
 If you refuse, you shall run the fortune of the other 
 delinquents. If you come in at the last hour into the 
 vineyard, he hopes it will lessen you in the country.' 
 Eeduced to this dilemma, and irritated by bad treatment, 
 he preferred the maintenance of his present popularity to 
 a chance of promotion at court, which, from past events, 
 must necessarily have been faint.* 
 
 At the opening of the next parliament, therefore, he 
 appeared in the character of a sufferer for supporting the 
 legal rights of the people. The eloquent harangue he 
 then made — an harangue that breathed rather the Ian- 
 guage of the passions than of logic — taught the court 
 the propriety of securing him to itself. As he had never 
 ceased to correspond with Weston, while his great friends 
 interposed their good offices for him, and as, though he 
 had expressed himself in strong terms of the general 
 measures of government, he neither in that burst of 
 indignation, "nor afterwards, offended individuals, there 
 ^vere few impediments to a cordial understanding. Having 
 enlisted under the banner of the court, and been gratified 
 with title and place, he not only supported immediately 
 that train of measures which he had so unqualifiedly con- 
 demned, but bent all his resources to reduce arbitrary 
 government, both in church and state, to a system. 
 
 Such a person as we have described, provided his 
 rank shed a lustre upon the reserved haughtiness of 
 his manners, has many advantages in impressing the 
 public mind with a high opinion of his talents. His 
 very appearance is imposing ; for the mob, both poor 
 and rich, pay homage where it is exacted, and are 
 
 * Letters and Disp. Lord Clifford into the commissioners' hands, and 
 
 and I^ord Baltimore to him, vol. ii. thus escape from the difficulty ; 
 
 pp. 36, 37 ; Lord Haughton to him, Lord Baltimore, p. 39 (see other 
 
 p. 37; Lord Clifford, p. 38. This Let.). 
 lord advises him to slip the money 
 
 VOL. IL C
 
 I 
 
 18 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, awed by wliat seems mj^sterioiis. As he speaks rarely, 
 , too, lie is heard with reverence, familiarity being fatal 
 to respect. Instead of discussing a subject started by 
 others, and following it through their various views, he 
 selects his own topic, and dismisses or resumes it at 
 pleasm^e. He is neither exposed to the subtle reasonmg 
 of a disputant, nor liable to the imputation of having 
 dropped his argument when he has exhausted his know- 
 ledge. As it is only when he is roused by the occasion 
 that he overcomes his habitual reluctance to unbend, so, 
 if he have fluency, he pours himself out with a fervour 
 unattainable by those who dissipate their energy in com- 
 mon discourse. With talent a little beyond the ordinary 
 level, he may thus easily convert the awe inspired by his 
 manner into admiration by his speech. But should he 
 have uncontrolled power in the state, and possess the 
 requisite qualities of stern inflexibility of purpose, where 
 it suits his interest, and promptitude of decision, there is 
 no limit to the admiration of mankind. Sucli I apprehend 
 to have been Wentworth. As a speaker in parliament, 
 he appears to have only once fairly tried his powers ; and 
 his haranirue then, though most calculated for effect in 
 one of his reserved manners, is merely remarkable for an 
 energetical expression of feeling. Anterior to his great 
 employment as a minister of the crown, he was possibly 
 rated higher than any proof of mental vigour exliibited 
 by him as a statesman warranted ; but his great character 
 was subsequent to that event. Yet his measures are by 
 no means indicative of supereminent wisdom or talent ; 
 and in his letters and dispatches, which are both tame 
 and defective in the composition, we in vain look for 
 traces of a superior mind. His intellectual powers were 
 most signally displayed at his trial, and the ardent tone of 
 his feehngs in tlie peroration produced an astonishing 
 effect ; but, in other respects, his defence does not appear 
 to have been remarkable. It ought ever to be remem-
 
 REVENGEFUL DISPOSITION OF WENTWORTH. 19 
 
 bered that lie was then favoured with many of those cir- 
 cumstances whicli most powerfully excite the sympathy of 
 an audience : the ladies, who had considerable influence 
 in that respect, were charmed with his manner and person 
 at the outset. Some difference having occurred at the 
 council table between the Earl of Holland and Weston 
 earl of Portland, Wentworth, in a fury, told Holland that 
 ' the king would do well to cut off his head ; ' and instead 
 of apologising for so strange a speech as a sudden trans- 
 port of passion, he aggravated the offence by future rude- 
 ness during several years. His revengeful disposition mani- 
 fested itself on many occasions. Nor need we recount in 
 the number his treatment of his rival Saville, whom he 
 soon stripped of his office, and sent down to the country, 
 a most abject disconsolate old man, to be still within the 
 sphere of his rival's power. The cases of Lords Mount- 
 norris and Loftus, whicli will fall to be stated afterwards, 
 are admitted even by Lord Clarendon to have manifested 
 a nature excessively imperious. In the first, though the 
 sentence was not executed against that peer's life, he 
 acted upon the arbitrary principle which he alleged ought 
 to have been adopted against Lord Holland. ' It was 
 looked on,' says the noble historian, ' as a pure act of 
 revenge, and gave all men warning how they trusted 
 themselves in the territories where he commanded.' The 
 case of Chancellor Lord Loftus was fraught with equal 
 injustice, but was an act of less violence, because it con- 
 cerned not life.* His persecution of Wilhams, whom he 
 had once earnestly courted, savoured of the same spirit ; 
 and it was not without cause that the prelate refused to 
 go to Ireland, alleging he should be there in the power of 
 a man who, in a few months, would discover some old 
 statute to cut off his head. In all these acts, the truth of 
 the observation, that vindictive cruelty generally springs 
 
 * Clarendon's Hist. vol. i. p. 265 et seq., 386 et seq. 
 
 c 2
 
 I 
 
 20 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, from fear, was fully evinced. He seized the critical 
 . moment of oppression, lest the objects of his malice should 
 afterwards be in a condition to call him to a reckoning 
 for injustice. 
 
 These evil qualities in Wentworth were, in some mea- 
 sure, compensated with Idndness and beneficence to those 
 who humbly acknowledged his superiority and courted 
 his favour. ' In a word,' says Clarendon, ' the epitaph 
 which Plutarch records that Sylla wrote for himself may 
 not be unfitly applied to him—' That no man did ever 
 pass him, either in doing good to his friends or in doing- 
 mischief to his enemies ; ' for his acts of both kinds were 
 most notorious.' * 
 
 Wentworth had courted his fortune ; but it was only 
 through great importunity on the part of ministers that 
 Noy could be prevailed upon to accept of place under 
 the crown. The reward of his apostacy from the cause 
 of freedom was the place of attorney-general, the most 
 lucrative then attainable by the profession. For this he 
 was entirely indebted to the high character which he had 
 acquired for legal research and talent ; and as, imlike 
 Wentworth, he had sinned unequivocally in opposing 
 the royal pretensions, his place afforded as indisputable a 
 proof of the estimation in which he was held as it did of 
 the profligacy of his principles. Fi'om the morosity of 
 his temper and the nature of his studies — such as the 
 records of the Tower — which were remote from the com- 
 mon track even of his profession, his learning was over- 
 rated, peo])le being kept at a distance by his manners, 
 and venerating, according to custom, what they could not 
 compreliend. His pride and moroseness, while they pre- 
 vented him from flattering others, rendered him the dupe 
 of flattery himself. The unsociableness of his disposition 
 precluded him from gaining that quick discernment of 
 the human heart which enables one to appreciate dis- 
 
 • Clarendon's Hist. vol. i. p. 456.
 
 NOY. — WESTON". 21 
 
 course and imposed silence upon the generality of those chap. 
 who are readiest to recommend themselves by servile ^; . 
 means. Hence men of exalted rank and consummate 
 address overpowered him by extolHng his learning and 
 legal knowledge, and thus, as he wanted principle, easily 
 converted him into an instrument of their designs, 'he 
 thinking,' to borrow the words of Clarendon, ' that he 
 could not give a clearer testimony that his knowledge in 
 the law was greater than all other men's, than by making 
 that law which all other men believed not to be so.' * 
 
 Lord-treasurer Weston, afterwards earl of Portland, Weston, 
 was of an ancient family, and had, according to the Po^knci. 
 fashion of the times, begun his career as a courtier with 
 the same \dews that actuate mankind in the choice of a 
 business or profession. To enable him to run his hopeful 
 course, his friends, who expected to share his fortune, 
 supported him both with their purse and credit. But he 
 remained long at court unnoticed, till, having attached 
 himself to some of the favourites there, he at last pro- 
 cured employment, and ascended by degrees to the high 
 office which he now filled. In this situation he had given 
 such small satisfaction to the duke, that it was supposed 
 the death of that personage only saved him from a fall. 
 This accounts for his eagerness to strengthen himself 
 by new alliances — as with Wentworth ; and unless we 
 suppose tliat Wentw^orth would have deserted and per- 
 secuted him as he did Williams, whom he had formerly 
 addressed himself to, we must conclude that the alliance 
 woukV have proved favourable to him, even in the duke's 
 esteem. 
 
 NotAvith standing the declared poverty of the crown, 
 Weston received the most profuse marks of the royal 
 bounty, both in money and land. But as his rapacity, 
 though extreme, was equalled by his extravagance, little 
 of it descended to his posterity ; and neither power nor 
 
 * Clarendon's Hist. vol. i. p. 129 et seq.
 
 22 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, emolument brought enjojmient to himself, it being his 
 
 I. 
 
 misfortune, by an unquenchable thirst for the enlarge- 
 ment of both, to lose all satisfaction in what he had. His 
 temper prompted him to testify his courage in giving 
 offence to people of credit at court ; but when he had 
 vented his spleen, his native pusillanimity overcame him 
 with womanish terror for the consequences. He, therefore, 
 latterly acquired the character of a man of big looks and 
 of a mean and abject spirit. No sense of honour restrained 
 his conduct ; and the public hatred towards him was 
 augmented by his religion. Though he professed Pro- 
 testantism, he was a suspected Papist, and died one. His 
 wife and domestics were all professed Catholics.* 
 
 With a sketch of these characters we shall at present 
 content ourselves ; for others, though they acted an equally 
 guilty, w^ere prevented by their situation from so con- 
 spicuous a part. We therefore return to a relation of 
 events. 
 Peace with Tliougli the duke's secret feelings had occasioned the 
 8p;lin, w\ars witli Spain and France, he was himself latterly 
 J«q!! ^"'^ inclined to peace ; and the new counsels led to an im- 
 mediate termmation of hostilities. Laud's high-church 
 principles, which involved his own views of personal 
 aggrandizement, produced in him a rankling animosity 
 against the foreign Protestants, whose doctrine approached 
 to that of the Puritan or moderate party (for the word 
 Puritan was now of most comprehensive signification in 
 the court vocabulary), while the practice as well as the 
 principles of the Eomish sect accorded with his own 
 ]iotions of ecclesiastical government. Wentworth again 
 saw, as did in all [)robability his grand coadjutor Laud, 
 that their only hoj^e of advancing the cause in which they 
 had embarked — a cause that implied tlieir own prefer- 
 ment, and even continuance in places of power and 
 emolument, nay, their very personal security from after- 
 
 * Clarendon, vol. i. p. 84 et scq. j Rush. vol. ii. p. 283.
 
 PEACE WITH FEAXCE AXD SPAIN. 23 
 
 impeachment — arose from the attainment and maintenance chap. 
 of peace. Without some legitimate organ for the ex- -*;• 
 pression of the piibhc will, popular resistance to the 
 encroachments of power was not apprehended. Dis- 
 united, destitute of concert, the first symptom of com- 
 motion might be quelled ; but, did the necessities of the 
 crown imperiously demand a parliament, they brought 
 with them an authority to that assembly which must 
 enforce a change of measures, while the policy which had 
 been pursued by the executive would stimulate them 
 both to demand a sacrifice of ministers and to make new 
 provisions against the recurrence of similar evils. Charles 
 was, therefore, advised to conclude a peace with both 
 states, and confine his attention to the attainment of an 
 inglorious triumph over the privileges of his subjects. 
 The accomplishment of his pacific wishes found no obstacle 
 in the courts of France and Spain ; nor was it reasonable 
 that it should, since, after a waste of lives and treasure, 
 the avowed objects for hostilities on his part were 
 abandoned. No provision was made for the restitution of 
 the Palatinate, and the wretched Huguenots, who had been 
 drawn into the war by his assurances of support, were 
 never considered in the treaty, but left to the mercy of 
 the arbitrary government they had been seduced to pro- 
 voke — tluis justifying the sarcastic remark of Dr. Leigh- 
 ton, ' that all that pass by us spoil us, and that we spoil 
 all that rely upon us.' * 
 
 Though peace was concluded with the house of Splendid 
 
 CtdTGCT of 
 
 Austria, Charles still wished to afford some feeble support Gustaviis 
 to his brother-in-law for the recovery of the Palatinate ; ^'!f^?^"l' 
 
 J _ ' and aeatn. 
 
 and surely never did a more favourable juncture occur. 
 The famed Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, after many 
 urgent solicitations which he long withstood, had at last 
 undertaken the cause of the distressed German Protes- 
 tants ; and as he distinguished himself by a career of un- 
 
 * Clarendon's ^/s^. Tol. i. p. 117 ; p. 55 for Leighton's remark j see 
 Rush. vol. ii. pp. 23, 75 et seq. (see Hist. Pref. to Carletoti^s Let.)
 
 24 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, paralleled success, the cordial co-operation of England 
 - ^; - might have soon brought the struggle to a happy period. 
 Landing in Pomerania, Gustavus soon put himself at 
 the head of a considerable army, and, beating the Impe- 
 rialists in every engagement, threatened to wrest from 
 them their unjust acquisitions. Instead of joining the 
 Swede, Charles concluded a peace ; but, though the treaty 
 forbade liim openly to assist the palatine, he resolved to 
 render him a small support, and therefore levied six thou- 
 sand men, whom he sent under the command, and in the 
 name of, the Marquis Hamilton, to join Gustavus. This 
 small army, hoAvever, mouldered awa}^ and the Swede, who, 
 with success, forgot his moderation, began to impose con- 
 ditions Avhich even the palsgrave, sunk as he was, rejected 
 with disdain. Had the English monarch acted with spirit, 
 this never could have happened any more than the failure 
 of the expedition itself with the hero who planned it. 
 After great success, Gustavus began to experience a par- 
 tial reverse of fortune from the abilities of Wallenstein, the 
 general to whom the emperor had been indebted for all 
 his victories. This great captain liad, from a suspicion of 
 his entertainino- dark desio;ns of self-afr2;randisement, been 
 discarded with ignominy when his services were deemed 
 no longer requisite for the schemes of his employer. But, 
 on a reverse of fortune, the veteran had been again sum- 
 moned to the command ; and as he took the field with a 
 superior army, the scale began to turn against the Swede. 
 e^TeS^^^ Yet at the battle of Lutzen, where he fell, his soldiers, 
 fired with fury at his death, gained a complete victory.* 
 But it was useless to the cause ; deprived of their leader, 
 they could no longer maintain tlie contest, and matters 
 reverted to their forme i position. Thus was the pals- 
 grave's last hope extingi.iished, but with it also terminated 
 
 • Rush. vol. ii. p. ;jG et scq. pp. p. .318 ct scq. ; Ilowcir.s Fam. Let. 
 
 53, 59, GO, 107-109, 100-108, l8l, pp. 212,213, 229-231 ; Frank, p. 372 
 
 182; Ilarte's Gud. Adolph. vol. i. et seq. 
 p. 209 et seq., and vol ii. particularly
 
 VIEW OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS. 25 
 
 his sufFeriiigs, for he died that year, as some allege, of a chap. 
 broken heart. Wallenstein's late success having; auo-- ^' . 
 mented tlie jealousy of his influence with the soldiery, 
 overwhelmed liim. He was assassinated by some Scots 
 and Irish in the emperor's service.* 
 
 Some of these events were posterior to those which we 
 shall yet have occasion to relate. But it may, in this 
 place, not be improper to continue a concise view of 
 foreign affiiirs, that the attention may not afterwards be 
 unnecessarily withdrawn from domestic occurrences. The 
 two houses of Austria and Bourbon entertained an increas- 
 ing jealousy of each other, and solicited the assistance of 
 England by turns. The neutrality preserved by Charles, 
 who is said to have held the balance of Europe in his own 
 hands, has been admired as politic ; but no such motive 
 actuated him. There were two parties in the cabinet in 
 regard to foreign affairs — one attached to France, the 
 other to Spain ; and Wentworth and Laud balanced them 
 for the maintenance of peace. It was hoped that, during 
 peace, the people might, by degrees, be inured to illegal 
 impositions, till the practice had subdued the remembrance 
 of their rights, and the power of the crown had been 
 confirmed, when his majesty might safely engage in con- 
 tinental contests. On the other hand, it was evident that 
 the pecuniary difficulties arising out of a sudden war 
 must lead to a parliament, when its authority would be 
 almost irresistible. It is remarkable that Wentworth pre- 
 dicted his own fate in that event. Terror, therefore, 
 augmented his anxiety for the overthrow of public liberty, 
 as he clearly foresaw that, if he did not destroy it, it would 
 destroy him. Thus was he goaded on by his personal 
 fears to pursue measures which termmated in his ruin. f 
 
 * Harte's Gud. Adolph. vol. i. pp. G21 ; Clarendon, State Papers, MS. 
 
 181, 190, 122, 212, 351 et seq. ; vol. Bod. Lib. vol. iv. (see the Clar. 
 
 ii. p. 41 et seq.; StrafF. Let. and Disp, printed State Papers, vols. i. and ii. ; 
 
 vol. i. p. 215. Straff. Let. and Disp. vol. ii. p. 52 et 
 
 t Sidney, State Papers, vol. ii. p. seq., p. 60 et seq., pp. 60, G7.) 
 374 et seq. and particularly pp. 618,
 
 26 
 
 CONSTITUTION-AL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 Secret 
 treaty with 
 Spain 
 against the 
 indepen- 
 dence of 
 HoUand, 
 January 
 31, 1631. 
 
 A singular proof of the real motives which actuated the 
 royal councils, is afforded by a secret league which was 
 entered into with Spain against the Dutch. The object 
 was to reduce that flourishing republic to its old subjec- 
 tion to the house of Austria, that it might no longer be an 
 example of successful revolt from the kingly authority.* 
 But surely that policy never can deserve the name of 
 hberal, which would allow the smaller states to be swal- 
 lowed by the greater, and general freedom to be pro- 
 scribed. Nor are our ideas either of the pohcy or jus- 
 tice of the measure affected by the consideration that a 
 part of the territory was to be ceded to the English king, 
 as a recompense for his assistance. Indeed, we cannot 
 refrain from remarking, that, from the manner in Avhich 
 the balance of power has been talked of in this case, one 
 would imagine that the welfare of mankind was light in 
 comparison of it — though the only principle upon which 
 it is entitled to veneration is, that it is calculated to insure 
 internal liappiness. If a people be enslaved, it matters not 
 whether the evil proceeds from a foreign or a domestic 
 source. Nay, if left to their choice, tlie people would 
 probably prefer the former, since there would be a better 
 chance of deliverance from the evil. The great body are 
 generally enslaved by the united interests of the monarch 
 and particular classes ; but aU ranks would feel it to be 
 their interest to unite against foreign invaders, and, if 
 endued with any spirit, must ultimately redeem their 
 country. Tlie truth is, that the balance of power, though 
 not only fully understood by the ancients f — witness their 
 various leagues — but even by the American Indians, was, 
 in the last century, thought a modern discovery, and phi- 
 losophers gave it an undue place in the scale. 
 
 * Clar. Slate Paperx, vol. i. p. 40 
 et scq. ; vol. ii. App. 32 ; Introd. to 
 Carleton's LettiTS. 
 
 t Surely the vixinoiis autliors wlio 
 have taken up the idea of the balance 
 of power heint^ a modern discovery 
 in politics, have never attended to 
 
 ancient history. What waa the 
 meaning of all the leagues of Greece ? 
 What the cause of the Peloponnesian 
 War ? What the grand object of 
 Demosthenes in raising up confede- 
 racies against Philip ?
 
 MEASURES PURSUED AGAINST THE FRANCHISES. 27 
 
 Having tlius succinctly presented a sketch of foreign chap. 
 transactions, Ave now return to a detail of the various ^' 
 
 measures pursued by the executive against the franchises ^J^g^S 
 of England. The duties of tonnage and poundage, which proceed- 
 Charles had declared that he never meant to take but as ^"^^' 
 a gift from his people, were rigorously extorted, with 
 other duties imposed originally at the mere will of the 
 late or the present king. Warrants were issued by the 
 council to seize tlie goods of all avIio attempted to land 
 them without authority, and detain them till the customs 
 were paid : and orders were at the same time dispatched 
 to imprison all who attempted to recover their property 
 by replevin. Other illegal orders were likewise issued : and 
 that terror might be struck into the refractory, the ven- 
 geance of the council was let loose, immediately after the 
 dissolution of parliament, against an alderman and an 
 eminent merchant of London, Richard Chambers, who 
 courageously appealed to the pubhc justice of his country. 
 Chambers had, for resisting payment of the duties, been Case of 
 smnmoned before the council, and because he remarked '^'^^ ^^'^' 
 there that ' the merchants of England were as much 
 screwed up as in Turkey,' he was tried before the Star 
 Chamber (if a trial that might be called where the coun- 
 cil that took the offence had only changed rooms), and by 
 the sentence of that tribunal not only fined 2000/., but 
 doomed to imprisonment till he made a submission, both 
 at the council-board, in the Star Chamber, and at the 
 Eoyal Exchange. He refused to degrade himself by a 
 submission, as well as to render himself an instrument for 
 overturning the vital principles of the constitution, and 
 therefore he lay upwards of twelve years in prison, 
 denied all legal redress, and was utterly ruined in his cir- 
 cumstances. To the disgrace of parliament afterwards, 
 his sutferings in the common cause were not rewarded.* 
 Perceiving that their trade was deeply injured by these 
 
 * Eusli. vol. i. p. G70 ft scq. ; vol. ii. p. 9.
 
 28 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 Jlonopo- 
 lies and 
 illegal 
 proclama- 
 tions. 
 
 illegal measures, the merchants attempted to send their 
 goods beyond seas ; but the council that devised these 
 proceedings was too vigilant to prevent their evasion : — 
 the goods were secured, and orders were issued to search 
 warehouses and other places to prevent what was deno- 
 minated a fraud upon his majesty's revenue.* 
 
 Other plans were devised to augment the revenue, and 
 break the spirit of the people. A tax was imposed for 
 the support of muster-masters of the militia, and after- 
 wards coat and conduct money was exacted, while soldiers 
 were billeted as formerly. But the most crying grievance 
 was the revival of monopolies to the most appalling 
 extent. What had occurred in the reisn of Ehzabeth on 
 this head, has already been fully shown. In the reign of 
 James, a statute, which merely confirmed the common 
 law, was passed, by which the right of granting mono- 
 polies was allowed only in the case of those who had made 
 new discoveries. So equitable a restriction appears at 
 first sight not to be liable to abuse ; but when men, armed 
 with power, are determined to violate law, the wisest pro- 
 visions serve only as a cover to their arbitrary measures. 
 Under the pretext that certain individuals had made dis- 
 coveries in the manufacture of soap, and that the dealers 
 in general imposed a bad article upon the people, these 
 individuals were erected into a corporation, and the right 
 of the manufacture and sale of the commodity exclusively 
 vested in them. The patentees, in the first place, paid 
 10,000/. for their patent; but this was nothing like the main 
 advantage derived by the crown. A tax of eight pounds 
 per ton was imposed upon the sale. As might be supposed, 
 the public, far from being supplied with a better article 
 — the pretext for the patent — were obhged to purchase 
 a commodity so adulterated as to ruin their clothes. This, 
 however, is a mere specimen of this species of grievance : 
 almost every article of ordinary consumption, whether of 
 manufacture or not, was exposed to a similar abuse. Salt, 
 
 * Hush. vol. i. p. 070 I't scq ; vol. ii. p. 9.
 
 case. 
 
 ILLEGAL PATENTS AND PEOCLAMATIONS. 29 
 
 starch, coals, iron, wine, pens, cards and dice, beavers, felts, chap. 
 
 bone-lace, &c., meat dressed in taverns, tobacco, wine- - _; . 
 
 casks, brewing and distilling, lamprons, weighing of hay 
 and straw in London and Westminster, gauging of red her- 
 rings, butter-casks, kelp and sea-weed, linen-cloth, rags, 
 hops, buttons, hats, gutstring, spectacles, combs, tobacco- 
 pipes, &c., saltpetre (one Hilly ard was fined 5000Z- for Hiiiyard's 
 selling this article contrary to proclamation), gunpowder, 
 in short, articles down to the sole gathering of rags, were 
 all under the fetters of monopolies, and consequently 
 deeply taxed. Nay, it was even in agitation to impose a 
 tax upon grain under the colour of law. The device was 
 this : — there was a statute of 8 Henry VHI. for regulating 
 the prices of provisions, and it was intended first to draw 
 grain under its operation, and then to grant licences of 
 dispensation at a certain rate. The royal order was trans- 
 mitted by Attorney- general Noy to the judges for their 
 sanction ; but, except Sir Eobert Berkley, they all pro- 
 nounced it illegal. People were not even allowed a quiet 
 interment without a tax : a method was invented to assess 
 all funerals according to the quality of the deceased. 
 
 Then the most grievous commissions were granted to 
 enforce these illegal patents and proclamations : such as 
 a commission touching cottages and inmates, depopula- 
 tions, &c., another about scriveners, one for compounding 
 with offenders for transporting butter, another for com- 
 pounding with those who used or imported logwood, one 
 to compound with sheriffs, and such as had been sheriffs, 
 for selling under-sherifls' places ; another for compounding 
 for the destruction of wood in iron- works ; another for 
 concealments and encroachments within twenty miles of 
 London.* 
 
 The tax upon the community, in consequence, was in- 
 
 * Rush. ToL iii. p. 915 et seq. ; case, Ap. to voL iii. p. 68 ; Claren- 
 
 Old Pari. Hist. \o\. ix. p. 02 et seq. ; clou's Life by himself, p. 82 et seq. ; 
 
 Cob. Tol. ii. p. 640 et seq. (see Pro- May's Hist. p. 16 et seq. ; Straff. Let. 
 
 clamations iu Kush. vols. ii. iii. ; see and Disp. vol. i. pp. 176, 507; vol. ii. 
 
 as to corn, vol. ii. p. 149 ; Hillyard's pp. 55, 72, 181).
 
 30 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, finitely beyond wliat came into the exchequer. Tlius the 
 
 > '. king received 38,000/. annually for the monopoly of wine ; 
 
 but then the vintners paid 406'. per ton to the patentees, 
 which, upon 45,000 tons, raised the tax to 90,000/. The 
 vintners again imposed 2d. per quart, which raised it to 
 8/. per ton, or 360,000/., that is, twelve times what came 
 into the exchequer.* 
 Pretext of Thcsc wcrc Still Only part of the devices for extorting 
 defe^tive^^ mouey from the subject. Under the generous pretext of 
 titles of curing defects in titles of land, a proclamation was issued, 
 proposing to grant new titles upon the payment of a rea- 
 sonable composition, and those who declined to avail 
 themselves of his majesty's gracious offer were threatened 
 with the loss of their property. This at once sapped the 
 security of landowners ; for no man could misconceive 
 the object, and the government agents soon brought con- 
 viction home to their breasts. Every pretended flaw 
 was fastened on, and the coiu'ts — miscalled — of justice 
 were too obsequious not to sustain the objection. Their 
 patents were now changed, to keep them in the most de- 
 Change in plorablc dependence : for the old clause in every iudQ;e's 
 
 the iudfres' . . ./ J ,o 
 
 patents. patent, quamdiu se bene gesserit, was changed into durante 
 bene placito, and indeed the benefit of the first clause was 
 denied to one who had got his patent before the change 
 — because he was too upright for the designs in hand.* 
 
 Had this misguided prince even confined himself to the 
 illegal and wicked device of extorting money from the 
 subject, his conduct would have been less exposed to cen- 
 sure in civil matters than it necessarily was ; but his arbi- 
 trary and capricious system of government reached depart- 
 ments where he seems to have intruded for the purpose 
 only of proving the plenitude of his power. The hack- 
 ney-coaches in London offended his eye, and he therefore 
 imposed severe regulations upon them, as well as restricted 
 
 * Pari. Hist. ibid. tells us that a judge was deprived of 
 
 t May's Hist. p. 1 7 ; Tint. 3f("m. his seat, in spite of" his patent, quam- 
 vol. i. p. 132 ; Whitelocke, p. IG, diu se bene gesserit.
 
 ACT TO PROHIBIT BUILDING IN THE METROPOLIS. 
 
 '1 1 
 oi 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 their number. Men of ordinary trades kept sliops in 
 Goldmaker Eow, and afterwards in different quarters, 
 which he took under his protection ; and as these ap- 
 peared to him not exactly to harmonise with his ideas of 
 beauty, he commanded them to be instantly removed. 
 Several shops, too, were pulled down, because they ap- 
 l^eared to detract from the beauty of St. Paul's.* The 
 increase of the metropolis by new buildings had, as an 
 evil, been formerly a fruitful theme of declamation, and 
 a statute for a limited time had been passed, in the reign 
 of Elizabeth, to prohibit them ; but the act had expired 
 before the termination of her reign, and the progress of 
 society had convinced men of its impolicy. James, how- 
 ever, had, by the connivance of corrupt judges, obtained 
 the execution of this expired law, and Charles now 
 rigorously enforced it. A commission was instituted for 
 compounding with delinquents, for ordering their houses 
 to be pulled down. Tlie rate of the licence was a fine of 
 three years' rent, with an addition to keep them from 
 fining thereafter. It was calculated that much above 
 100,000/. of rents in the city of London were in this 
 situation. Even former licences were disregarded.! 
 
 The late king had had sufficient sagacity to perceive, that Proceed- 
 though he was enabled to gain a large portion of the stScham- 
 nobility by gifts, pensions, and places, yet that, as it was be^^s^'"**^ 
 not in his power to command the great body of the resided in 
 aristocracy, their residence in town encouraged liberal coniral-Vto 
 principles, and he had ever evinced anxiety to drive them prociama- 
 to the country. His son, who had a nearer cause of alarm, 
 was not satisfied with persuasion. He issued a proclama- 
 
 * Rush. ToL ii. p. 28 ; voL iii. p. 
 411 et scq. What will the reader 
 think of a proclamation prohibiting 
 the use of snaffles, and commanding 
 that of bits (vol ii. p. 42 ; Zrcl Inst. 
 p. 204) ? 
 
 f Straff. Let. and Disp. vol. i. pp. 
 206, 243 ; vol. ii. p. 1.50. This friend 
 of Wentworth's says, ' lie speaks 
 
 much wi'fhin compass,'' when he says 
 100,000/., and from his enumeration 
 of streets, Sac, it is obvious. In the 
 case of Moor, a writ went out from 
 the Star Chamber to the sheriff to 
 pull down his houses, and fine him 
 2,000/. for not ha^-ing pulled them 
 down by Easter (Rush. vol. ii. p. 
 144).
 
 32 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH E5IPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, tion enjoining their residence in the country, and foHowed 
 
 , }; . it with rigorous proceedings in the Star Chamber.* The 
 
 language of Mr. Hume on this subject is so singular that 
 we cannot forbear quoting it. ' For disobedience to this 
 edict many were indicted in the Star Chamber. This 
 occasioned discontents, and the sentences were complained 
 of as illegal. But, if proclamations had authority, of 
 which nobody pretended to doubt, must they not be put in 
 execution ? In no instance, I must confess, does it more 
 evidently appear what confused and uncertain ideas were, 
 durino; that aare, entertained concernins^ the English con- 
 stitution ! ' This is an admirable specimen of the his- 
 torian's defence of the Stuart family. Whenever he has 
 occasion to relate instances of the most arbitrary kind, 
 he accompanies them w^ith a remark, either that they had 
 been practised by the predecessors of that family, or 
 sprang necessarily from powers which nobody pretended 
 to doubt of being vested in the crown — Avhile he does 
 not adduce a shadow of authority for his statement. In 
 this instance we will venture to say that his assertion is 
 contrary to everything which deserves the name of au- 
 thority — that, though Laud and his brethren, with Went- 
 worth, and his coadjutors of the laity, maintained that 
 the roj^al power, lent this prince from God, was unlimited, 
 and consequently that he might issue and enforce what 
 proclamations he pleased, there was scarcely another man 
 in the kingdom who could support such monstrous doc- 
 trine. It is true that proclamations had and still have 
 authority, but the nature of that authority is best ex- 
 plained in the words of Sir Edward Coke. ' JN'ote, 
 proclamations have great force, when they are grounded 
 upon the laws of the realm.' On tliis subject we 
 shall just refer the reader to what Ave have advanced 
 under this head in the Second Chapter of the First Volume 
 — with this remark only, that Mr. Ilume has declared 
 
 • Rush. vol. ii. pp. 144, 289: MS. Lamb. Lib. No. 943, fol. 221; Straff, 
 Let. and Diqi. vol. ii. p. 142.
 
 KNIGHT-MONEY. 33 
 
 the granting of the petition of riglit to be ahnost eqiiiva- chap. 
 
 lent to a revokition, and yet that the assumption of such - ; — - 
 
 a power is not only contrary to every principle of that 
 statute, but to the very first notion of a limited monarchy. 
 
 Knight-money was another species of extortion. By Knight- 
 the feudal system every person possessed of a kniglit's 
 fee, or land of a certain yearly value, was bound, under 
 a fine, to receive the honour of knighthood, whicli was 
 chargeable with large fees, that he might be enrolled a 
 soldier in defence of the realm. With the revolution in 
 the state of society, this practice had fallen into desuetude. 
 Elizabeth had only resorted to it once, and that in the 
 first of her reign ; * and there is reason to conclude, from 
 the silence with which it passed, that it was restricted to 
 men of considerable rank. But now it was resorted to 
 by Cliarles as a means of raising money ; and as the 
 honour was lost by the promiscuous manner in which it 
 was insisted on, men looked only to the extortion prac- 
 tised under that pretext. An annual rent of 20/. was in 
 ancient times a good income ; but by the depreciation of 
 money, it became inconsiderable, and the rate had long 
 been 40/. Charles did not restrict it to men of landed 
 property, but included lessees, mercliants, and others. 
 For contumacy a fine was imposed, and the rate at which 
 it was levied was equal to three subsidies and a half. 
 
 Commissions were issued to compound with the parties, 
 and they who had a just excuse were ordered to appear at 
 the council-board, when they were detained from day to 
 day without a hearing, and even the justest defence was 
 overruled, and large fines imposed : Sir James Maleverer 
 was denied a legal hearing, and ordered to compound 
 
 * Rymer, torn. xv. pp. 498, 504. fallen so mucli in value, that such an 
 
 The commission applies to all of 40/. annual rent in the first of Elizabeth's 
 
 annual rent; but 1 presume, from its reign was great in comparison of the 
 
 never having been repeated, that it same sum in Charles's. These were 
 
 was not rigorously acted on : and the not authorised to use the title of 
 
 higher classes, from having shared knights (see Id. p. 497 for a com- 
 
 so deeply in the crown lands, would mission to create such as were ; 'Itul 
 
 not grudge it. Besides, money had Inst. St. de Mill). 
 
 VOL. II. D
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 Proceed- 
 ings upon 
 pretended 
 forest laws. 
 
 an 
 
 with commissioners, who fined him 2000/., not for 
 absohite I'efiisal, but for an alleged contumacy in the 
 payment. Sir Thomas Moyser and others were utterly 
 undone by similar proceedings.* 
 
 Under the pretext of obsolete forest laws, the property 
 of the subject was extorted, and his person exposed to 
 punishment. The forest of Eockingham was arbitrarily 
 enlarged from six miles to sixty, and the following fines 
 were imposed for alleged encroachments. Tlie Earl of 
 Salisbury was fined 20,000/., for an alleged fanlt of his 
 father; the Earl of Westmoreland, 19,000/. ; Lord New- 
 port, 3000/. ; Sir Christopher Hatton, 12,000/. ; Sir Lewis 
 Watson, 4000/., and many others of smaller sums. In 
 Essex, the forests were enlarged over lands which had 
 been posse.-^sed without interruption for three or four 
 hundred years.f The object of all this, says Clarendon, 
 was ' to recompense the damage sustained by the sale of 
 the old lands, and by the grant of new pensions ; and 
 not only great fines w^ere imposed, but great annual rents 
 intended, and like to be settled by contract. 'J The selfish- 
 ness of Charles discovered itself particularly in a projected 
 forest for deer, (he was, like his father, immoderately ad- 
 dicted to field sports,) to extend fromEichmond to Hampton 
 Court. He meant to enclose this with a brick wall ; and 
 he actually proceeded to execute his plan, not only with- 
 out consulting the proprietors, who, by his fiat, were to be 
 excluded from their I'ights, but without regard to a general 
 chunour, and the general dissuasion of the council. Lord 
 Clarendon, ^ indeed, tells us, that his majesty intended to 
 pay more than their value, and that he thought it no un- 
 reasonable thing, upon tliese terms, to expect the consent 
 
 • Ptush. vol. ii. pp. 70, 71, 185, 
 725; vol. iii. p. li;}4 ; Mr. Hyde's 
 Speech, p. 1358. In his Jlistor;/, 
 vol. i. p. 110, Clarendon .^avs that 
 luii^^htliood ' had a foundation of 
 riglit, yet in the circuni.'*tancea of 
 proceedinf^ was very grievous.' This 
 is candid : compare it with Mr. 
 
 ITumc's romarlvs (Cob. Pari. Hist. 
 vol. ii. p. 548). 
 
 t Straff. Let. and I)i><p. vol. ii. 
 p. 117; Cob. Pari. Hist. vol. ii. 
 p. G42 ; May, p. 1(5. 
 
 t Clar. vol. i. p. 120. 
 
 § ^'ol. i. p. 170 et scq.
 
 TILLAGE AND KEEPWG UP HOUSES OF HUSBANDRY. 35 
 
 of his subjects ; but tliere does not nppear to be any founda- chap. 
 tion for this, and it is evident that, upon the same principle -_ ; _. 
 that he could take the lands at his own price, without the 
 consent of the owner, he might seize upon them for nothing. 
 Other proceedings with regard to the forests, evinced what 
 security there was even for a price. On this subject we 
 must remark, that Charles showed by such profusion, (for 
 the expense must have been immense,) that while he con- 
 stantly complained of the parsimony of parliament, he was 
 disposed to set no bounds to his extravagance. The pro- 
 ceedings on this head were as impolitic as unjust. He 
 ought to have known that he could never stand without 
 the su]:)}3ort of some classes in the community ])esides the 
 clergy ; yet, while he had alienated the lower ranks, he, 
 by these measures, disgusted likewise the higher. ' This 
 burthen,' says Clarendon, ' lighted most upon people of 
 quality and honour, who thought themselves above or- 
 dinary oppression, and were like to remember it with 
 more sharpness.'* 
 
 The statutes about tillage and keeping up houses of Depopuia- 
 husbandry had either expired, having been temporary 
 enactments, or had been repealed by st. 21 Jac. I. c. 28. 
 Yet, under the pretext that depopulation was an offence at 
 common law, the rigour of the expired or repealed statutes 
 was enforced in the most unjustifiable manner, for the pur- 
 poses of extortion and oppression. Many were severely 
 fined as depopulators, where no depopulation had taken 
 place; Sir Ant. Eoper of 4000/.,| besides being imprisoned, 
 &c., that the example might terrify others to submit to 
 extortion ; and dispensations were granted for money. 
 But even subsisting law was converted into an engine of 
 oppression. The following passage is taken from a pri- 
 vate letter to Wentworth by one of his greatest admirers. 
 ' There is at present a commission in execution against 
 
 * Clar. Hist. vol. i. p. 120. vol. ii. p. C42 ; MS. Lamb. Lib. No. 
 
 t Ptush. vol. ii. p. 270; vol. iii. 94-3. 
 Ap. p. 106 et seq. ; Cob. Pari. Hist. 
 
 D 2
 
 36 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, cottagers, who have not four acres of ground laid to their 
 
 I. 
 
 liouses, upon a statute made on the 31st Ehz, which vexeth 
 the poor people mightily, and is far more burthensome to 
 them than ship-moneys, all for the benefit of the Lord 
 Morton, and the secretary of Scotland, the Lord Stirling. 
 Much crying out there is against it, especially because 
 mean, needy, and men of no fame, prisoners in the Fleet, 
 are used as principal commissioners to call the people 
 before them, to fine, and to coiiipound with them.* 
 
 We shall afterwards have occasion to speak more par- 
 ticularly of ship-money ; but at present we may observe, 
 in the words of Clarendon, that it was intended 'for a 
 spring and magazine that should have no bottom, and for 
 an everlasting supply of all occasions. 'f 
 The juris- The civil government, in other respects, corresponded 
 
 diction of . , , . 11- T mi • • 
 
 arbitrary withthcsc uujust and arbitrary procceduigs. Ihejuris- 
 Wed aiid ^i^tiou and powers of the courts of Star Chamber and 
 new courts High Commissiou w^ere enlar2;ed to a most extraordinary 
 
 raised . . 
 
 degree ; and, while the last vexed all men, every species 
 of cause was brought under the cognizance of the first. 
 New illegal oaths were enforced, and new courts, with vast 
 powers, erected without colour of law ; and when com- 
 missions were issued for examining into the extent of fees 
 which were complained of, the commissioners compounded 
 with the delinquents, not only for their past offences, but 
 their future extortions. But indeed it is vain to talk of 
 irregular courts, when, by new-modelling the patents of 
 the judges, &c., the ordinary tribunals were brought com- 
 pletely under the command of the throne. Charles him- 
 self, in his annotations to Laud's animal accounts of his 
 province, talks of commanding his judges to act in such 
 and such ways, though contrary to law ; as if his Jiat were 
 at all times sufficient. The orders of the council- Ijoard 
 were received as law. Fincli, who, for 1 lis conduct in the 
 late parliament, was promoted to the office of lord keeper 
 
 • Straff. Let. and Disp. vol. ii, p. 117. 
 t Clar. Hid. vol. i. p. 120.
 
 clarendon's picture of the government. 37 
 
 of the great seal, declared, ' that while he was keeper, no chap. 
 man should be so saucy as to dispute orders of the conn- ■>_ , ' ^ 
 cil-board ; but that the wisdom of that board should be 
 always ground enough for him to make a decree in chan- 
 cery.' The noble historian from whom we have borrowed 
 these words, gives the following picture of the government. 
 ' For the better support of these extraordinary ways, and 
 to protect the agents and instruments who must be em- 
 ployed in them, and to discountenance and suppress all 
 bold inquirers and opposers, the council-table and Star 
 Chamber enlarged their jurisdiction to a vast extent, 
 holding (as Thucydides said of the Athenians) for ho- 
 nourable that which pleased, and for just that which 
 profited ; and, being the same persons in several rooms, 
 grew both courts of law to determine right, and courts of 
 revenue to bring money into the treasury ; the council- 
 table, by proclamations, enjoining the people that which 
 was not enjoined by the law, and prohibiting that which 
 was not prohibited ; and the Star Chamber censuring the 
 breach and disobedience to those proclamations, by very 
 great fines and imprisonment, so that disrespect to acts of 
 state, or to the persons of statesmen, was at no time more 
 penal ; and those foundations of right, by which men 
 valued their security, to the apprehension and under- 
 standing of wise men, never more in danger to be de- 
 stroyed.'* The Earl Marshal's Court, Clarendon, then 
 Mr. Hyde, declared, in the parliament summoned in the 
 year 1639, to be ' a court newly- erected, without colour 
 or sljadow of law, which took upon it to fine and imprison 
 the king's subjects, and to give great damages for matters 
 which the law gave no damages for ; ' he stated to the 
 next parliament that since the dissolution of the last, 
 ' more damages had been given there for contumelious 
 and reproachful words, of which the law took no notice, 
 in two days, than had been given by all the juries in all 
 
 * Clar. Hist. vol. i. p. 121 et seq. 
 
 439139
 
 >8 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISII EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, the courts of Westminster Hall in the whole term, and the 
 ]' . clays for trial after it was ended ; ' he then informs us 
 
 liistorically that ' he got a committee named, of which 
 himself sat in the cliair, and found, that the first precedent 
 they had in all their records for that form of proceeding 
 which they had used, and for giving of damages for words, 
 was but in the year 1G33.'* This was the language of a 
 minister who followed Charles in all his fortune ; and 
 received encouragement from that monarch to write his 
 history. 
 
 Papists. K the proceedings recorded above were capable of 
 
 aggravation, they received it in the part which Papists 
 were permitted to act in regard to them. These, while 
 they who adhered to the doctrine established by law were 
 persecuted, were not only encouraged but protected, as 
 the chief promoters of illegal courses. ' They grew,' says 
 Clarendon, 'not only secret contrivers, but public professed 
 promoters of, and ministers in, the most grievous projects, 
 as that of soap, formed, framed, and executed hj almost 
 a corporation of that religion, which, under that licence 
 and notion, might be, and were suspected to be, qualified 
 for other agitations.'^ No wonder that Catholics were 
 hated. 
 
 Council of ]\Iiserable as was this state of justice, if such it coidd be 
 "'^^" called, a portion of the people only enjoyed it. The Coun- 
 cil of York, under whose jurisdiction the northern states 
 were governed, swallowed up all the regular tribunals, and 
 dispensed with even the semblance of law. But the effron- 
 tery of men embarked in a bad cause ever furnishes them 
 with a pretext for their misdeeds. Strafford excused his 
 
 * Life, vol. i. pp. 81 et seq., 85 ct ter to the judges (Rusli. vol. ii. 
 
 seq. The Marshal's Court, 'for them p. 104; see Ilaeket, part ii. p. 71). 
 
 which were not of the kiufr's liou.se- Mr. Hume ought not to have over- 
 
 liold," was iir.st erected Fel)ruary \'-\, looked this in speaking of the Mar- 
 
 22 .lac, and renewed witli greater slial's Court. 
 
 powers, G Car. A writ of error was t Hist. vol. i. p. ^01 ct scq. Laud 
 
 brought into the King's Bench was very busy in that atl'air (see his 
 
 ^ against a jud^.'-nifut of that court, and Diari/ I'nr 1()-'!'')). 
 Charles wrote an expostulatory U't-
 
 THE COUNCIL OF YORK. 
 
 39 
 
 usurpatioii, as president of tlie North, by alleging that ' it 
 was a chaste ambition, if rightly placed, to have as much ^ 
 power as may be, that there may be power to do the more 
 good for the place where a man serves.'* The Council of 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. 
 
 * Rusli. Tol. ii. p. 161. Mr. Justice 
 Yenion discliaro-ed his duty when 
 p-oiug the circuit by interfering with 
 the Court of York. Wentworth 
 writes from Ireland to have him 
 'convened at the council-board, — 
 charged with his misdemeanours, — 
 be prevented for ever travelling that 
 circuit again : ' — ' And, indeed,' says 
 he, in this letter to Lord Cottington, 
 ' 1 do most earnestly beseech his 
 majesty by you, that we may be 
 troubled no more with such a peevish 
 indiscreet piece of flesh. 1 confess I 
 disdain to see gownmen in this sort 
 hang their noses over the flowers of 
 the crown, blow and snuffle upon 
 them, till they take both scent and 
 beauty oft' them; or to have them 
 put such a prejudice over, all other 
 sorts of men, as if none were able or 
 worthy to be entrusted with honour 
 and administration of justice but 
 themselves ' (^Let. and Disp. vol. i. 
 p. 130; Let. dated Oct. 22, 1633). 
 This complaint against the lawyers 
 for cramping the prerogative is often 
 repeated. Wentworth applied for 
 arbitrary power in Ireland, in these 
 terms : — ' I find that my Lord Falk- 
 land was restrained by proclamation 
 not to meddle in any cause betwixt 
 party and party, which certainly did 
 lessen his power extremely. I know 
 very well the common lawyers will 
 be passionately against it, who are 
 wont to put such a prejudice upon 
 all other professions, as if none were 
 to be trusted, or capable to administer 
 justice but themselves. Yet how well 
 this suits ivith mmiarchy, when they 
 monopolise all to he r/orerned hij their 
 year-books, you in JEnyland hare a 
 costly experience ; and I am sure his 
 inajesty^s absolute poiver is not 7ceaker 
 in this Jiinydoni, where hitherto tJie 
 deputy and council-board have had a 
 stroke icith them.'' A special power 
 was granted to him {Id. p. 201). 
 
 ' I am very glad,' says Laud in a 
 
 letter to Wentworth, * to read, your 
 lordship 's so resolute, and more to 
 hear j'ou affirm that the footing of 
 them that go thorough our master's 
 service is not now upon fee, as it 
 hath been. But you are withal upon 
 so many ifs, that, by their help, you 
 may preserve any man upon the ice, 
 be he never so slippery. And first, 
 if the common lawyers may be con- 
 tained within their ancient and sober 
 bounds ; if the word thorotiyh be not 
 left out, as I am certain it is ; if we 
 grow not faint ; if we ourselves be 
 not in fault ; if it not come to /jfc- 
 catum ex te Israel ; if the others will 
 do their parts as thoroughly as you 
 promise for yourself, and j ustly con- 
 ceive of me,' &c. {Let. 15, Nov. 1633 ; 
 Id. p. 155.) 
 
 ' For the ifs your lordship is 
 pleased to impute to me,' returns 
 Wentworth, ' you shall hereafter 
 have more positive doctrine. I know 
 no reason, then, bid you may as well 
 rule the convnon lawyers in JEnyland, 
 as I, poor beayle, do here ; and yet 
 timt I do, and will do, in all that con- 
 cerns my master s service. FPON THE 
 PERIL OP MY HEAD. I am Confident 
 that the king, being pleased to set 
 himself in this business, is able, by 
 his wisdom and ministers, to carry 
 any just and honourable action 
 thorough all imaginary opposition, 
 for real there can be none ; that to 
 start aside for such panick fears, 
 phantastic apparitions as a Prj'une or 
 an Eliot shall set up, were the 
 greatest folly in the wliole world ; 
 that the debts of the crown taken 
 off", yoic may yorern as you please ; 
 and most res(5lute I am that work 
 may be done without borrowing any 
 help forth of the king's lodgings ; 
 and that is as downright a j^cccalron 
 ex te Israel, as ever was, if all this 
 be not effected with speed and ease ' 
 (Id. p. 173). 
 
 Clarendon tells us, that ministers^
 
 40 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOKT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 York owed its oi-ifjin to the rebellions, of which there 
 were no fewer than six in four years, headed by persons 
 of eminence, which follow^ed the suppression of the lesser 
 monasteries, in tlie 27tli of Henry VIII. That prince 
 having resolved on suppressing the greater likewise, in 
 w^hich he was joined by the bulk of the aristocracy, who 
 expected to share in the spoil, granted a commission to 
 the Bishop of Llandaff and others, for the purpose of pre- 
 serving the peace of the counties of York, Northumber- 
 land, Cumberland, and Westmoreland ; the bishopric of 
 Durham, the cities of York, Kingston-upon-Hull, and 
 Newcastle-upon-Tyne. This commission was, in a com- 
 mon view, merely one of oyer and terminer, only that it 
 contained a concluding clause, authorising the commis- 
 sioners to decide accordino' to sound discretion. This 
 clause was, however, soon afterwards declared unani- 
 mously by all the English judges to be illegal. The com- 
 mission farther empowered the commissioners to hear real 
 and personal causes, when either or both of the parties 
 laboured under poverty. But the power, if acted upon at 
 all, was very sparingly resorted to ; and in the 2nd of 
 
 after the determination to dispense 
 with parliaments, assumed a greater 
 boldness, ' especially if they found 
 themselves above thereach of ordinary 
 justice, and feared not extraordi- 
 nary, they by degrees thought that 
 no fault which was like to find no 
 punishment' (Hid. vol. i. p. 119). 
 These two, as they ever lamented 
 together the degeneracy of men in 
 halting in the grand work — not going 
 ffiaro7(f/h — were the most notable 
 examples of this. 
 
 Now, after all this, what will be 
 the reader's surprise to find the fol- 
 lowing passage in JMr. Hume's Jlis- 
 tory, regarding the Council of York ? 
 ' It I's )iot itnprohdhlc that the kinffs 
 intention was only to prevent incon- 
 veniences which arose from hrinyit/y 
 of every caiisr from the most distant 
 parts of the kinydoin into ll'rstminster 
 Jfall. ]')ut tlie ct)nsequence, in the 
 
 meantime, of this mea-sure, was the 
 putting of all tlie northern counties 
 out of the protection of ordinary 
 law, and subjecting them to an au- 
 thority S011KWH.4T arbitrary.' If I 
 understand the meaning of the word 
 arl)itrary, it is to dispense with all 
 rules, thus leaving every matter to 
 the will of the sovereign and his 
 ministers. 
 
 ' Complaints,' says he, ' were about 
 this time' (year 10.37) 'made that 
 the petition of right was, in some, 
 instances, Aiolated.' Did he attend 
 to the nature of that statute, or the 
 distinction between a government of 
 will and a government ot law? — 
 Were not the whole northern pro- 
 vinces, according to his o-^ti admis- 
 sion, put out of the pale of the law 
 altogether ? Was not an arbitrary 
 government also established in the 
 south ?
 
 WEXTWORTH PRESIDENT OF THE NORTH. 41 
 
 Elizabetli, it was declared to be illegal, as causes regarding chap. 
 property, whether real or personal, could only be decided ^; 
 by the laws of the land. In the seventh of King James, 
 however, a new commission was granted, which differed 
 from all the preceding. For the commissioners were no 
 longer ordained to inquire ^er sacramentum honorum et 
 legaliuin honiinum ; and hear and determine secundum 
 leges Anglice ; but were referred merely to secret instruc- 
 tions which, for the first time, were sent thither. This at 
 once left the whole people of the northern part of England 
 at the mercy of the king, or the caprice and rapacity of 
 his ministers, and was so flagrant a breach of every prin- 
 ciple of justice, that the judges of the Common Pleas, 
 matters not having attained the lamentable pitch they 
 afterwards arrived at, had the courage to discharge their 
 duty, by issuing prohibitions to the president and council; 
 and James himself ordered the instructions to be enrolled, 
 that people might, in some measure, ascertain by what 
 rules their conduct must be regulated. But in the present 
 reign, when Wentworth, who had himself so loudly called 
 for the petition of right, that all pretext for arbitrary go- 
 vernment should be withdrawn, was made president of the 
 North, he swept away the little semblance of justice that 
 remained, having declared that he would lay any man by 
 tlie heels who ventured to sue out a prohibition at the 
 courts at Westminster. The commission was renewed in 
 his favour three several times ; in the fourth, the eighth, 
 and the thirteenth of this reign; and in that of the eighth, 
 ' a new clause was inserted,' said Clarendon, then Mr. Hyde, 
 in an address to the lords in parliament, ' for the granting, 
 sequestring, and establishing possessions, according to in- 
 structions crowded into a mass of new, exorbitant, and 
 intolerable power.' 
 
 ' Though our complaint,' continued he, ' be against the 
 commission itself, and against the wliole body of those 
 instructions, I shall trouble your lordships with the ninth 
 instruction, though it be but short, which introduceth
 
 42 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMriEE. 
 
 CHAP, that miseram servitutem, ubijus est vaguin et mcogniticm, 
 by requiring an obedience to such ordinances and deter- 
 minations as be, or sliall be, made by the council-table, 
 or High Commission court ; a grievance, my lords, how- 
 ever, consuetudo et peccantum claritas nohilitaverint heme 
 culpam, of so transcendent a nature that your lordships' 
 noble justice will provide a remedy for it with no less care 
 than you would rescue the life and blood of the common- 
 wealth.' He goes on to state that there were no fewer 
 than fifty-eight instructions — all of .them beside ot against 
 law ; ' and,' continues he, ' can such a court as this deserve 
 to live ? What a compendious abridgment hath York 
 gotten of all the courts in Westminster Hall ? Whatso- 
 ever fells within the cognisance or jurisdiction of either 
 courts here is completely determinable within that one of 
 York, besides the power it hath with tJie ecclesiastical and 
 High Commission courts. 
 
 ' What have the good northern people done that they 
 only must be disfranchised of all their privileges by 
 Magna Charta, and the petition of right ? For, to Avhat 
 purpose serve these statutes, if they may be fined and 
 imprisoned without law, according to the discretion of 
 the commissioners ? What have they done that they — 
 that they alone, of all the people of this happy island, 
 must be disinherited of their birthright, of their inherit- 
 ance ? For prohibitions, writs of habeas corpus, writs of 
 error, are the birthright, the inheritance of the subject. 
 
 ' Now, these jurisdictions tell you, you shall proceed 
 according to your discretion, secundum saiias dis'cretiones, 
 that is, you sliall do wluit you please ; only tliat we may 
 not suspect this discretion will l)e gentler and kinder to 
 us tlian the law, special provision is made in the instruc- 
 tions that no fiiic, no punishment shall be less tlian by the 
 law is appointed, by no means, but as mucli greater as 
 your discretion sliall think fit. And, indeed, in this im- 
 [)roVL'nK'nt, we find arbitrary courts are very pregnant ;
 
 PERSECUTION OF PKOTESTAXTS. 43 
 
 if the law require my good behaviour, this discretion chap. 
 makes me close prisoner ; if the law sets me upon the ^_ \ _. 
 pillory, this discretion appoints me to leave my ears there. 
 To proceed according to discretion, is to proceed accord- 
 ing to law, which is summa discretio, but not according to 
 their private conceit or affection. For talis discretio, 
 saith the law, discretionem confundit. And such a con- 
 fusion hath this discretion in these instructions produced, 
 as if discretion were only to act with rage and fury. No 
 inconvenience, no mischief, no disgrace, that the malice 
 or insolence, or curiosity, of these commissioners had a 
 mind to bring upon that people, but, through the latitude 
 and power of this discretion, the poor people hath felt. 
 This discretion hath been the quicksand w^hich hath swal- 
 lowed up their property — their liberty.' * 
 
 It is impossible to add to this picture, and, consider- 
 ing whence it proceeds, there is no occasion to doubt its 
 truth. 
 
 Such was the civil government ; and we shall now take Eeiigion. 
 a view of the ecclesiastical and the religious innovations. 
 Foreigners remarked that the English bishops believed all 
 that was taught by the church, but not by the court of 
 Eome ; and whoever will take the trouble to peruse the 
 works which were patronised by Laud, and attend to the 
 Scotch canons and liturgy, and read those works of 
 Baillie and Prynne, in which they expose the tenets, will 
 be satisfied that there was not one article of the CathoHc 
 faith which had not received the sanction of the king and 
 his hierarchy. The people were interdicted, under severe 
 penalties, from any defence of their own creed ; and even 
 the Protestants abroad, as well as those at home, were 
 pursued with an increasing cry of reproach ; and, while 
 every attack upon the Eomish church and religion was 
 
 * Rush. vol. ii. p. lo8 et seq, &c. were only to Ije allowed when 
 
 vol. iii. 136 ; livnier, torn. xix. pp. 8 the court exceeded its instructions ! 
 
 to -20, p. 410 k scq. By this last Art. 29. 
 prohibition, writs of habeas corpus,
 
 I. 
 
 44 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, punished with the utmost cruelty, a direct defence of that 
 church was pubhshed by one Chowney, and dedicated 
 to, nay patronised by, Laud himself, then the primate.* 
 Under this ecclesiastic, books which had been previously 
 deemed the purest fountains of orthodoxy, and liad run 
 through numerous editions, as Fox's ' Martyrs,' Jewell's 
 Works, and even the ' Practice of Piety ' itself, which had 
 been reprinted thirty-six times, were suppressed. f The 
 Liturgy, too, was in some respects altered, to bring it to 
 a nearer conformity with the Eomish ; and what it still 
 wanted from the caution of those concerned in the inno- 
 vations was to be found in that which was obtruded from 
 the same quarter upon the people of Scotland. Lideed, 
 the doctrine of the high-church clergy was, tliat the 
 church of Eome was the mother church, erring not in 
 fundamentals, and was in fact the only medium through 
 which a Christian church or even priest could exist ; and 
 that a general reconcilement of the various churches to 
 their common parent would be a desirable event. They 
 did, no doubt, talk of minor corruptions ; but they never 
 distinctly specified in what these consisted. In the mean- 
 time, the hierarchy were encouraged by Charles to main- 
 tain that they held their jurisdiction from God (jure 
 divino) ; ' doctrine,' says Whitelocke, ' for which they 
 might have been censured in the times of Henry II. and 
 Edward III. — and which denial of the supremacy of the 
 king under God, Henry VIII. would have taken ill, and, it 
 may be, would have confuted them by his kingly argu- 
 ments and regid mann ! ' J Had they merely asserted 
 tliat bishops were an order of ecclesiastics sanctioned by 
 the word of God, there had been no cause of complaint ; 
 but the consequences which they meant to attach to the 
 divinity of tlieir order were alarming. They, like the 
 Presbyterians, desired to be independent of the civil 
 
 • Wliilflocko, p. 22. tom. xx. pp. 14.^], 108. The statute 
 
 f Laud's Trial. 1 lulwaril \'I. was determined not 
 
 i Whitelocke, p. 22 ; I»ymer, to Le in force. Hush. vol. ii. 450-1.
 
 POMP AND CEREMONY OF CATHOLIC WORSHIP RESTORED. 45 
 
 authority, that is, the authority of parhament, and to chap. 
 confer upon the decrees of a convocation all the eflects . •*;• __. 
 of leojislative enactments, or even of infallibilitv. The 
 lawfulness of prayer for departed souls, an engine by 
 which great property had, in former times, been drawn 
 from the credulous ; the lawfulness of images, and of the 
 adoration of the altar, with the real presence ; the neces- 
 sity of confession, and efficacy of absolution, and that 
 protection was afforded by tutelar saints, were all keenly 
 maintained. The same reverence as in the Popish church 
 was exacted by the clergy, the same respect to days, 
 meats, and vestments ; while all the pomp and ceremony 
 of the Catholic worship were restored. Disparagement, 
 too, was thrown upon the reigns of Henry VIII. and 
 Edward AT!, for the measures in reo^ard to relioion ; and in 
 the very statutes for the University of Oxford, devised by 
 Laud, statutes equally repugnant to civil and religious 
 Hberty — 'tlie much-to-be-admired felicity of Mary's reign ' 
 was alluded to.* While holidays were revered, the 
 Sunday was despised ; w^orks were encouraged against it, 
 and the attempt to defend the regard paid to it was 
 punished by the High Commission. The ' Book of Sports' 
 was appointed to be read in all the churches, inviting 
 people to recreations and pastimes on that day — an 
 injunction pregnant with the most remarkable conse- 
 quences — and plays were, on that day, commonly acted 
 at court.f 
 
 The only substantial difference between the state of 
 the English church, as it stood after the innovations of 
 Laud, and what it was before the Eeformation, consisted 
 in the clergy's arrogating to themselves exclusively the 
 powers which, by the acknowledgment of the Pope's 
 supremacy, had then been divided with his holiness. 
 
 * Rush. vol. ii. p. 334. in proof of his respect for holidays. 
 
 t Ileylui's Life of Laud, p. 257 He would have had no sports on 
 
 et seq. ; May's ' Hist. p. 24. See these days. 
 Laud's Dianj for March 28, 1G24,
 
 46 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 cn.vT, But foreigners expected the relapse of England into the 
 ^" bosom of the mother church, and the measure appears 
 to have been seriously intended by Charles and his grand 
 ecclesiastical adviser. No sooner had Laud been pro- 
 moted to tlie prhnacy than a cardinal's hat was tendered 
 him ; and his refusal, as recorded by himself in his Diary, 
 is so singular, that we should be doing injustice to our 
 readers by withholding it. ' August 4th, Sunday. News 
 came to court of the Archbishop of Canterbury's death ; 
 and the king resolved presently to give it to me, which 
 he did August Cth. That very morning, at Greenwich, 
 there came one to me, seriously, and that avowed ability 
 to perform it, and offered me to be a cardinal. I went 
 presently to the king, and acquainted him both with the 
 thing and the person. August 17th, Saturday. I liad a 
 serious offer made me again to be a cardinal : I was then 
 from court ; but so soon as I came tliither, which was 
 Wednesday, August 21st, I acquainted his majesty with it. 
 But my answer again was, that somewhat dwelt within me 
 which would not suffer that, till Rome were other than it 
 is.' It is beyond all question from tliis that Laud suf- 
 fered a struggle in his own bosom ; and, from his haste 
 to acquaint the king of the circumstance, it was evident 
 that liis own answer was in some measure to depend upon 
 his majesty's pleasure. It will be remarked, that, in 
 mentioning the second offer, he, after stating that he had 
 apprised the king of it, adds, that his answer again was, 
 that somewhat dwelt witliin him, and yet that he does 
 not think it necessary to state what answer he returned, 
 speaking of the first : and that, which is the most impor- 
 tant fact, it does not a])pear to whom the answer was 
 made — whetlier to the king or to tlie person who pro- 
 posed the cardinalsliip. lie is then speaking of the king, 
 and his majesty's observations are witldield. If the an- 
 swer were made to the king, then his majesty's favourable 
 feelings towards the proposal is indisputable ; — If to the 
 proposer himself, tliere was assuredly no need of posting
 
 LAUD REFUSES A CARDINAL's HAT. 47 
 
 to tlie king with a matter on wliicli the primate was him- chap. 
 self determined. At all events we are led to believe that .__J;__ 
 the answer depended upon the archbishop himself, and 
 not upon Charles ; but we have still to complain of being 
 deprived of the monarch's observations. And one thing 
 is indisputable, that, had this ecclesiastic firmly, as became 
 an English divine, to whom, since it evinced such an un- 
 favourable idea of his integrity to his principles, it was 
 an insult, refused the first offer, he never would liave been 
 troubled with a second. But it is quite evident that he 
 regarded it in a very different point of view. The 
 following passage of a letter written by him on the Otii 
 of the next month, to his great friend Wentworth, throws 
 much light upon this subject. ' I must desire your lord- 
 ship not to expect more at my hands than I shall be able 
 to perform, either in churcli or state ; this suit hath a 
 great deal of reason in it ; for you write that ordinary 
 things are far beneath that, which you cannot choose but 
 promise yourself of me in both respects. But, my lord, 
 to speak freely, you may promise yourself more in either 
 kind than I can perform : for, as for the church, it is 
 so bound up in the forms of the common law, that it is 
 not possible for me, or for any man, to do that good which 
 he would, or is bound to do. For your lordship sees, no 
 man clearer, that they wliich have gotten so much power 
 in and over the church, will not let go their hold. They 
 have indeed fangs with a witness, whatsoever I was once 
 said in a passion to have. And for the state, indeed, my 
 lord, I am for Thorough., but I see that both thick and 
 thin stays somebody, where I conceive it should not ; and 
 it is impossible for me to go thorough alone.'* — From 
 this it appears that Laud was restrained in his thirst for 
 innovation, and extending the ecclesiastical power as well 
 as the civil ; and we may conclude that the somebody who 
 was stayed by the thick and thin system was Charles 
 
 * Straff. Let. and Diap. vol. i. p. 111.
 
 48 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. Jiimself. Laud liad no merit in resistinii: an offer which 
 I .... 
 
 lie durst not accept ; and if this compkiint against the 
 
 king be coupled with his statement in his Diary, it may 
 [)erhaps be inferred that he was as much chagrined with 
 his majesty on account of the church as the state. But 
 it is amazing that the most profligate men, especially of 
 that calling, are the first to talk of patriotism and con- 
 science. He concludes the paragraph in these words : 
 ' Besides, 'private ends are such blocks in the public way, 
 and lie so thick, that you may promise what you will, and 
 I must perform what I can, and no more.' 
 
 It has been supposed that his refusal proceeded from 
 an unwillingness to acknowledge a superior in another 
 country, while the supremacy was admitted by the sove- 
 reign to centre in himself as head of the church. But, 
 though there is great apparent soundness in the idea, it is 
 not supported by what he himself states, and the attempt at 
 reconcilement which he subsequently made. The autho- 
 rity of the clergy was promoted, because, from their pre- 
 ferment depending upon the crown, they supported his 
 own pretensions ; but, were the supremacy of the pope 
 restored, their allegiance would be divided, their depend- 
 ence on the prince somewhat diminished. Hence Laud 
 might aspire to the protection of a foreign power, too 
 remote to injure him, as it might enable him to have more 
 influence in England ; but the prince had, to a certain 
 degree, an opposite interest, which, superadded to a sense 
 of the convulsions likely to ensue, probably determined 
 Charles at this time. The negotiation was, however, 
 afterwards renewed, and even Heylin himself seems reluc- 
 tantly to admit that it was seriously entertained. Con, 
 Panzani, and others, acted in England as the avowed resi- 
 dents of the pope.* 
 
 Lest the object of the king and clergy should meet with 
 obstruction from opposite principles, all lecturing was 
 
 * Heylia's Life of Laud, p. 412 et seq.
 
 EELIGIOUS PRIVILEGES DEXIED. 49 
 
 proliibited, lay dependencies struck at, teaching of any chap. 
 
 kind interdicted, except by such as were hcensed by the 
 ordinary, and the privilege of keeping chaplains, though 
 still allowed to the nobility, was now denied to private 
 gentlemen. Tlie idea of such a privilege was reprobated 
 by the ruling party, and the chaplains themselves spoken 
 of most rancorously, by the title of trencher-chaplains.^ 
 The cause is obvious. Their employers selected men of 
 qualities adapted to their creed, and that detracted from 
 the power of the hierarchy. While the Catholics were 
 encouraged, all nonconformity of a popular kind was 
 visited with severe punishment. To such a height was 
 this carried, that the privileges in regard to w^orship which 
 had been granted to the Dutch and Walloon congrega- 
 tions, the descendants of those who had lied from per- 
 secution on the Continent, were withdrawn in spite of 
 every remonstrance, and many of them left the kingdom.^ 
 The regiments abroad had indulged in a ivorship not 
 altogether consonant to the schemes of the patriarch of the 
 West,J as he wished to be styled, and rigorous measures 
 were adopted to bring them to conformity. This, how- 
 ever, was little. The very factories abroad, which, as 
 they were removed from English jurisdiction, might have 
 been allowed the undisturbed enjoyment of their religion, 
 
 * Ileylin's Life of Land, pp. 200 liglit on tliis subject. They show 
 
 et scq. and 255 ; Tntrocl. to LaucTs that a great number of what were 
 
 Trial, and Trial, by Prynne ; May's by the court justly styled libels, as 
 
 Hist. p. 21 et seq. ; Whiteloclve, well as more formal books, were 
 
 p. 18. It is a singular fact, that published in Holland against the 
 
 Cardinal Richlieu, having taken English Liturgy, and refer to the 
 
 oflence at the Pope, threatened to preculsion of the Service Books in 
 
 call a national council, and choose a the English troops in the Dutch 
 
 patriarch for France. Clarendon's service. Laud seems to have writhed 
 
 Papal Usurpations, p. 542. under those productions. We are 
 
 t Rush. vol. ii. pp. 272 and 273 ; all satisfied with the small fines 
 
 Laud's Trial, by Prynne, pp. 27, 33, imposed for the bendino: of them. 
 
 388 et seq., 539 et seq. ; Heylin's Life He would of course have dealt dif- 
 
 of Laud, p. 276 et seq. ferently with them, had they come 
 
 I Cob. Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 671. rmder his power. Hugh Peters 
 
 There are a good many letters in appears by the letters which he kept 
 
 the State Paper Office under the to have been at this time a distin- 
 
 title of France, for the years 1626, guished preacher in Holland. 
 1629, and 1639, which throw much 
 
 VOL. II. E 
 
 I.
 
 50 
 
 CONSTITUTIO^^\L IIISTOEY OF THE BKITISH EMPIKE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 Consecra- 
 tion of 
 Creed 
 Church, 
 January 
 16, 1631. 
 
 felt themselves in this respect within the power of Laud. 
 The same pohcy was folloAved in regard to the American 
 plantations- — thus proving that men had no hope of relief 
 from persecution for worshipping God according to the 
 dictates of their conscience, since the arm of power pur- 
 sued them even to the then savage climes beyond the 
 Atlantic. Such was the spirit of the cabinet, that as the 
 colonies, by affording an asylum from civil and religious 
 oppression, were thought to encourage a spirit of resist- 
 ance, measures were adopted to prevent emigration.* 
 
 It was well remarked, by a cotemporary of this reign, 
 that ' where there was no religion, yet there was supersti- 
 tion. 'f Without making any further remarks about the 
 display of crucifixes, and superstitious observances in 
 general, we shall content ourselves with the following in- 
 stance of the mummery introduced. St. Katherine Creed 
 Church having undergone some repairs, was suspended 
 from all service till it should be consecrated, and the cere- 
 mony was performed thus : — At Laud's a])proach to the 
 west door, some of his attendants cried out with a loud 
 voice, ' Open, open, ye everlasting doors, that the King of 
 glory may enter.' The doors flew open, and the prelate, 
 with some doctors and other chief men, entered the 
 church, where Laud, falling down upon his knees, raising 
 his eyes, and extending his arms, exclaimed, ' This place 
 is holy, the ground is holy ; in the name of the Father, 
 Son, and Holy Ghost, I pronounce it holy.' Then, as he and 
 his attendants approached the chancel, he took up dust 
 several times, and threw it into the air. As they drew 
 nigh to the rail and communion-table, now styled an 
 altar, he bowed towards it repeatedly. After this they 
 went round the church chaunting the hundredth, and 
 then the nineteenth Psalm ; and, lastly, said a prayer end- 
 ing with these words : ' We consecrate this church, and 
 separate it unto Thee as holy ground, not to be profaned 
 
 * Rush. vol. ii. |)p. 298, 408 et seq.; Ryiner, torn. xx. p. 143 j Heylin's 
 Life of Land, p. 308. t May, p. 19.
 
 INSTANCE OF THE MUMMERY INTRODUCED. 51 
 
 any more to common use.' He next, while standing near chap. 
 the communion-table, took up a written book, and pro- . — ];. — . 
 nounced curses upon all such as should afterwards profane 
 that holy place, by musters of soldiers, keeping profane 
 law-courts, or carrying biu-dens through it ; and, at the 
 end of every curse, he bowed towards the east, and said, 
 ' Let all the people say. Amen.' After the curses followed 
 blessings upon all who had been concerned in framing and 
 building that sacred and beautiful edifice, and those who 
 had given or should thereafter give any chalices, plate, 
 ornaments, or utensils ; and at the close of every blessing 
 he bowed towards the east, and said, ' Let all the people 
 say. Amen.' 
 
 The sermon followed, and then he consecrated and ad- 
 ministered the sacrament in the following manner. As he 
 approached the table, he made several low bows ; then 
 going to that side where the bread and wine stood covered, 
 he bowed seven times ; after reading many prayers, he 
 went to the bread, and gently hfted up the napkin in 
 which it was laid; but, having got a glance of it, he 
 dropped the napkin, flew back a step or two, bowed to- 
 wards it thrice, and again drawing near, repeated his 
 bows. He next laid liis hand upon the cup (which was 
 covered, and full of wine), but instantly withdrawing his 
 hand, retired, and bowed towards it three times. Again 
 he approached, and, lifting the cover, peeped into the 
 cup ; lout immediately dropping the cover, retired, and 
 bowled as before. After this he received the sacrament 
 himself, and dispensed it to some of his chief attendants, 
 wliich, with many prayers, ended the solemnity.* 
 
 Such were the rehgious innovations of this reign, and 
 surely never was any set of men treated with more injus- 
 tice than those who resisted them. All this introduction 
 of mummery and new doctrine has been vindicated, on 
 the crround that the authors of the innovations were actu- 
 
 o 
 
 * Rush. vol. ii. p. 7G et seq. 
 E 2
 
 52 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 Leighton's 
 case in the 
 Star 
 
 Chamber, 
 1630. 
 
 atcd by pure motives, while tlie people, who refused coin- 
 ])liance with such audacious novelties, have been treated 
 with every species of contumely and scorn. The first 
 have been extolled for their injudicious piety ; the last 
 bitterly condemned, because they did not, by passively 
 adopting every order from the throne, exhibit all the in- 
 difference which could be manifested by a nation of free- 
 thinkers, who were likewise lost to a sense of the civil 
 rights that had descended to them from their ancestors. — 
 Much has been said about the gloomy austerity of the 
 age ; and as the wildest were always selected by their 
 antagonists as examples of the spirit of the party, (what 
 party will not contain zealots who push the common prin- 
 ciples absurdly far?) so the most dismal picture has been 
 drawn of the popular party — the bulk of the kingdom. 
 But, in truth, the nation was, by the measures of the 
 ruling faction, necessarily driven into an enthusiastic at- 
 tachment to its creed. When all that men venerate is 
 attempted to be wrested from them, and opposite prin- 
 ciples are obtruded, they would cease to be endowed with 
 the feelings of humanity, were they not inspired with the 
 most lively devotion to their cause, and with horror at 
 the unjust sacrifice so arbitrarily demanded, and so 
 bloodily pursued. 
 
 It is now high time to present a })icture of some enor- 
 mities of the Star Chamber, and other arbitrary courts, 
 which have not yet been noticed. 
 
 Alexander Leighton, a native of Scotland, united in his 
 person the characters of physician and divine, having 
 taken his degree at Leyden as doctor of medicine, and 
 having subsequently entered into orders, was ordained a 
 minister of the English churcli at Utrecht. A man of great 
 ecclesiastical learning, with an acute intellect, he was yet 
 of as narrow, contracted a mind as Laud himself While 
 he complained loudly of the cruel intolerance of the ruling 
 party, his principles, though opposed to the episcopal 
 liierarchy, were so inconsistent with toleration, that, in the
 
 'sign's plea against the prelacy,' by leigiiton. 53 
 
 very treatise about to be mentioned, he bitterly condemned chap. 
 
 the Dutcli for not fully suppressing popery. He says, that . ; — > 
 
 if that republic were actuated by pure principles, ' then 
 would they not, with Sultan Solyman, or blanched atheists, 
 make so much of that Machiavelian principle, that a state 
 may tolerate any religion, if it be for its profit : which is 
 directly, as one observeth, against the nature of God and 
 true religion, for there must be but one ; the virtue of the 
 commandment ; the office of the magistrate (the dealing 
 of idolators with their false worship confirms this truth) ; 
 and lastly, it is against the true ' profit of the state.' * In 
 the horrid treatment he suffered, therefore, he only ex- 
 perienced the ills he would, on these principles, have 
 inflicted. 
 
 During the session of parliament in 1629, the High 
 Commission court and the spiritual courts had rendered 
 Laud, then bishop of London, and his brethren, so gene- 
 rally odious, that several gentlemen and citizens called 
 upon Leigh ton, at his house in Blackfriars, London, where 
 he practised medicine, and requested him to draw up ar- 
 ticles against such oppression. Having undertaken the 
 task, he wrote a book, which he entitled ' An Appeal to 
 Parhament, or Sion's Plea against Prelacy,' which he was 
 advised by his friends, who liked it, to retire with to 
 the Continent and print. But this he declined, till about 
 500 people, amongst whom were several members of par- 
 hament, set their hands to it by way of approbation. 
 Having got it printed abroad, he returned to England, and 
 delivered two copies to the parliament, only two days 
 before the dissolution. The work was deeply erudite ; 
 but his language was scurrilous and indecent. He called 
 the bishops antichristian, men of blood, and the like, say- 
 ing, ' We do not read of a greater persecution and higher 
 indignities against God's people in any nation than in this 
 since the days of Queen Elizabeth.' Maintainuig that 
 
 * SiovLS Plea against the Prelacy, p, 135, 2nd edit.
 
 54 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. ' the cliurcli hath her laws from the Scripture, and that 
 
 I. 
 
 no state or king; could make laws for the house of God,' he 
 bitterly condemned the canons and ceremonies. He also 
 called the queen, on account of her religion, the daughter 
 of Heth ;* affirmed, ' that all that pass by spoil us, and we 
 spoil all that rely upon us' — particularly referring to the 
 case of Kochelle ; and said, 'What pity it is that so inge- 
 nuous and tractable a king should be so monstrously abused 
 by the bishops, to the undoing of himself and his subjects ! ' 
 The attack upon the bishops and the exposure of their 
 usurped power w^ere not to be forgiven. Leighton was 
 seized by pursuivants of the High Commission, abused by 
 them with the opprobrious epithets of Jesuit and traitor, 
 and carried to Laud's house, where he was confined many 
 hours without food. From thence he was dragged to 
 Newgate, where he was loaded with irons, and thrust 
 into a loathsome dog-hole, full of vermin, and not defended 
 by a sufficient roof from the inclemency of the weather. 
 From the first Tuesday night till Thursday at noon he 
 was allowed neither meat nor drink ; and for the first 
 fifteen weeks no friend, not even his wife, was admitted 
 to his dungeon. After that, his wife, but none else, was 
 allowed to visit him. In the meantime his house was 
 plundered, and his family both rifled by pursuivants of 
 the High Commission, and subjected to their brutal in- 
 solence. These wretches held a pistol to the breast of one 
 of his sons, then only five years old, tlireatening to shoot 
 him if he did not discover where his father's books were, 
 and so affi'ighted the poor child that he never recovered 
 it. Leighton was refused to be bailed, though he w^as 
 entitled to demand it. Sir Kobert Heath, then attorney- 
 general — ' a fit instrument for those times,' according to 
 
 * The passage regarding- the queen in a riglit manner, and brake up our 
 
 was this : ' A fourth thing tliat we Avatching over liini for a bitter 
 
 much importuned (rod for \\\\.^, tlie lu'lper, tluit God suffered him, to | 
 
 breaking of the Spanish matcli, and our heavy woe, to match with the ' 
 
 our prince's safe return from Spain. daughter of Heth, though he mist 
 
 God, in mercy, granted botli ; but we an Egyptian ' (Si'ons Plea ayainstthe 
 
 were so unthankful for both these rreliu-ij, p. 94, 2nd edit.).
 
 LEIGHTOX BEFOEE THE STAR CHAMBER. — HIS SEXTEXCE. 55 
 
 Whitelocke — had the meanness to visit him in Neworate, chap. 
 for the inquisitorial purpose of wringing information from 
 him, and ' used him with cruelty and deceit.' The doctor 
 was promised both pardon and favour if he would dis- 
 close the names of the five hundred who incited him to 
 write the book ; but he had spirit enough to reject the 
 pitiful offer, and he was served with an information to 
 appear before the Star Chamber, to answer for many posi- 
 tions and assertions hurtful to the prerogative, and calum- 
 nious to the king, the queen, and the prelates, as well as 
 the general ecclesiastical establishment. 
 
 Long confinement in so \\Tetclied a hole induced a 
 violent distemper, attended with loathsome symptoms, as 
 the falling away of his hair and the peeling off of his 
 skin ; but nothing could mollify the rancorous malignity 
 of his enemies, and, in spite of a certificate by four phy- 
 sicians, that, as his disease was desperate, he was not in a 
 fit condition to appear in court, he was carried thither. 
 
 In court he confessed the publication, but denied the 
 malicious intention imputed to him, declaring that his 
 object was merely to demonstrate certain grievances in 
 church and state, that parhament might take them into 
 consideration, and afford such redress as might be con- 
 ducive to the honour of the king, the quiet of the people, 
 and the peace of the church. This defence was dis- 
 regarded ; and the court declared the book to be full of 
 most pestilent, devilish, and dangerous assertions, to the 
 scandal of the king, the queen, and the peers, particularly 
 the prelates ; and to merit the most severe punishment 
 which that tribunal could inflict. The two chief justices 
 who sat in that detestable place affirmed that, had the case 
 been tried before them elsewhere, they would have, with- 
 out scruple, proceeded against him for high treason ; and 
 other lords, taking up the same ground, dwelt upon his 
 majesty's great mercy and goodness in bringing liim before 
 a tribunal which pursued a milder course. This sentence 
 was, that he should be amerced 10,000/., a sum far beyond
 
 56 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOKY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, his means ; and, after degradation by the High Com- 
 > \ . mission, to which they referred him (for such was their 
 reverence for his calUng that they could not suffer the 
 infliction of any corporal or ignominious punishment while 
 he continued in orders), he should be whipt at West- 
 minster, and set in the pillory there, during the sitting of 
 the court ; have one ear cut off, one side of his nose sHt, 
 and one cheek branded with S.S. for sower of sedition : 
 That he should then be carried back to prison, and, at a 
 future convenient time, be brought to Cheapside on a 
 market day, and be there whipt again, and set in the 
 pillory, and have his other ear cut off, his other cheek 
 branded, and the other side of his nose slit. After which 
 was only to follow imprisonment for hfe. We are told, 
 though, for the honour of human nature, one feels dis- 
 posed to disbelieve it, that when this horrible sentence 
 was pronounced, Laud — that patriarch of a Christian 
 church, that grand minister of a religion which teaches 
 charity and goodwill to men — with fiend-like triumph 
 over his prostrate victim, pulled off his cap, and gave 
 thanks aloud to God, the Father of mercies. 
 
 This sentence was pronounced towards the end of 
 Trinity Term ; but as the court did not usually sit after 
 that term, and it required some time in the ecclesiastical 
 court for his degradation, it was IMichaelmas before any 
 part of the sentence could be executed. He was degraded 
 on the 4tli of November ; and. on Wednesday, November 
 the lOtli, a Star Chamber day, he was to have undergone 
 his punishment ; but, on the preceding evening, he con- 
 trived to escape from prison, and, as he was not imme- 
 diately retaken, it was the 16tli before the tragedy of 
 whi|)ping, branding the cheeks, slitting the nose, &c. 
 commenced. We have been the more particular in our 
 detail of" tliis case, because a most unfaithful picture 
 of it — a picture calculated to convey a very false idea of 
 the government — lias been given by Mr. Hume. 'Leigh- 
 ton,' says he, * who had written libels against the king,
 
 UNFAITHFUL PICTURE OF THE CASE BY MR. HUME. 57 
 
 the queen, the bishops, and the whole administration, was chap. 
 condemned by a very severe, if not a cruel sentence ; but 
 the execution of it was suspended for some time, in expecta- 
 tion of his suhnission. All the severities, indeed, of this 
 reign were exercised against those who triumphed in their 
 sufferings, and braved authority; and on that account their 
 punishment may be deemed the more just, but the less 
 prudent.' It is impossible for any statement to be more 
 remote from the truth. Tlie best submission which 
 Leigh ton could make, was a denial of any evil intention ; 
 and that he did, while nothing further of that kind was 
 required of him. The delay in the execution of the sen- 
 tence has been explained ; and as to the general character 
 of this reign, it is no less unjust. Mercy was not its 
 attribute. But Mr. Hume has not advanced this state- 
 ment without giving something in the sliape of authority ; 
 and, to the superficial reader, that is enough. We liave 
 already had occasion to remark the exquisite fehcity with 
 which he has culled out everything in the form of autho- 
 rity which seemed to warrant his statement, while he dis- 
 regards the most palpable and indisputable evidence of 
 a contrary nature ; and here we have a remarkable proof 
 of his way of proceeding. Eush worth, Heylin — nay. Laud 
 himself — every other cotemporary, supports our text. 
 These the historian could not possibly overlook ; but, as 
 if they were entitled to no respect, he passes them over 
 in .silence, and refers only to the third volume of Kennet's 
 * Complete History,' the production of some nameless 
 violent party- writer, who pubhshed in 1708, or about 
 eighty years after the event, and who approves of the 
 proceedings. Of itself, this is as unworthy of credit as 
 any naked assertion in a work of the present day ; and 
 there is not a reference to any authority whatever. 
 
 The sentence in regard to the corporal punishment was 
 not only executed to the letter, but with the utmost 
 barbarity, though, when a knight, dreading that the pre- 
 cedent might at some future period be used against the
 
 58 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 Sherfi eld's 
 case, 1632. 
 
 liiglier classes, expressed dissatisfaction at the judgment, 
 it was alleged that the sentence was only pronounced 
 in terrorem. The imprisonment was equally severe.* 
 
 Henry Sherfield, bencher of Lincoln's Inn, and recorder 
 of Sarum, was accused of having irreligiously taken pic- 
 tures of God the Father from a glass window in St. 
 Edmund's Church in Salisbury. But his defence appears 
 to have been complete : That it was a lay-fee, and fell 
 exclusively under the management of the parishioners, 
 instead of the bishop of the diocese : That they had ever 
 exercised their right without challenge ; and the vestry — 
 amongst whom were six justices of peace present — moved 
 by a current report that some ignorant persons had com- 
 mitted idolatry by bowing before this resemblance of God, 
 had issued an order for the execution of the very act with 
 which he stood charged : That, besides all this, the statutes 
 and ecclesiastical canons not only justified him in destroy- 
 ing such monuments of idolatry, but enjoined it as a duty : 
 That the pictures were, of themselves, as paltry hi the 
 execution, as they were mean and impious in the design — 
 representing the Deity in a variety of postures, as, for 
 instance, a little old man in a long blue gown, witli a pair 
 of carpenter's compasses in his hand, measuring the sun — 
 and did not, at the very first, cost above forty shillings : 
 
 * Eiish. vol. ii. p. -55 et srq. ; Frnnlc- 
 Ijn, pp. 374, o75 ; Sanderson, p. 144 ; 
 State Trials, vol. iii. p. 383. It is 
 hut justice to Laud to say, that 
 liushworth has .surely fallen into an 
 error about an entry in Laud'.s I)i<in/, 
 detailing the punishment ; and that 
 Neal, Oldnii.xon, &c. have followed 
 up this niistakf^ by rcmarlvs upon the 
 unrelenting ferocity of the man that 
 could coolly sit down to describe 
 this barbarity for his own recollec- 
 tion, llfylin, in liis Life of Laitd, 
 p. ins, and Sanderson, p. 141, charge 
 Leighton ^vith having advi.scd to 
 .slay all the Ijishops, by striking them 
 under tlie liftb rib; and in this tliey 
 are followed by Wliitelocke, p. lo ; 
 but I can find nothing of the kind 
 
 in the paniplilet itself, and he was 
 not accused of that — a circumstance 
 which I hold to be quite conclusive. 
 Besides, the expression of giving a 
 man a blow under the fifth rib, as 
 refuting him in argument, was quite 
 common. Sir Edward Dering said 
 that Laud had done so to the Pope. 
 (Ileyiin's Life of Land, p. 300; 
 Laud's Diary ; Neal's Hist, of Puri- 
 tans, vol. ii. p. 217 et seq. See Dr. 
 Benson's Tracts, No. ix. A Brief 
 Account of Arcliliishap Laud's Cruel 
 Treatment of Dr. Leit/hton. This 
 Ijoighton was father of the well- 
 known Scotch arcli-prelate, of whom 
 Burnet speaks so highly, and whose 
 works are so much prized. Sec Ken- 
 net, vol. iii. p. (JO.)
 
 ers, 
 
 OFFENCES AGAINST THE PROCLAMATIONS REGARDING SOAP. 59 
 
 That tliey could easily be replaced ; and that he was chap. 
 wilHiig to obey any orders of the vestry to restore them. — ^; 
 All this availed him nothing. Some of the lords were for 
 amercing him 1000/. ; but the majority inclining to 500/. 
 only, he w^as fined that sum, besides being condemned 
 to lose his office of recorder, make a public acknowdedg- 
 ment of his offence, and be bound over to his good be- 
 haviour.* 
 
 John Overman, and fifteen other soap-makers, were ac- Case of 
 cused of ofiending against his majesty's proclamations and aJd oTh" 
 patents regarding the manufacture and sale of soap. In ^634. 
 defence, they pleaded several acts of parliament, letters- 
 patent, charters, and acts of common council. The court, 
 however, instead of considering this plea, referred generally 
 to the opinion of Sir Eobert Berkeley, one of the justices 
 of the King's Bench. As tliey only wanted a pretext for 
 oppression, the character of the judge afforded a sufficient 
 security for obtaining it. The pertinacity of the answers 
 or defence certified that the whole answers or defence 
 should be expunged, excepting four words at the begin- 
 ning, and the last ten lines, which contained nothing 
 farther than the plea of Not guilty. Another reference 
 was made to the Court of King's Bench about the perti- 
 nency of the interrogatories, and the depositions of the 
 witnesses on the part of the defendants ; and this worthy 
 judge, with his compeers, certified, that thirty-nine of the 
 interrogatories, and the answers, should be expunged ; 
 and they were expunged accordingly. Thus these un- 
 happy men were not even permitted to be heard in their 
 own defence. But the court acted judiciously. They 
 required not to be told that the proclamations which the 
 defendants contravened were grossly illegal ; and as they 
 were yet resolved to support those breaches of the law 
 and constitution, it was needless to pass through the 
 
 * Rush. vol. ii. p. 152 et soq. ; Doome, pp. 102-3, 488-9, 491-5 ; 
 vol. iii. App. p. 54 ; Franklyu, State Trials, vol. iii. p. 519 et seq. ; 
 p. 410 et seq.; Prynne's Canterhur>y s Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 228.
 
 60 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BKITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 Cases of 
 Rea and 
 others, 
 1636. 
 
 Case of Sir 
 D. Foulis 
 and his 
 son, 1633. 
 
 mockery of legal pleadings. The defendants were sen- 
 tenced to be committed to the Fleet, and rendered in- 
 capable of ever afterwards following their trade ; while 
 one of them was, besides, fined 1500/., other two 1000/. 
 each, four others 1000 marks a-piece, and the other nine 
 500/. each. The fines were estreated into the exchequer 
 without mitigation. It is unnecessary to add, that such 
 proceedings were ruinous to these poor men and their 
 families.* 
 
 John Kea was sentenced to imprisonment during his 
 majesty's pleasure, and to be liberated only upon finding 
 caution for good behaviour ; fined 2000/., and condemned 
 to stand in the pillory with a label declaring the nature 
 of his offence ; merely, forsooth, because he exported 
 fuller's earth in the face of a proclamation. Peter Hern 
 and two others were fined 2000/. a-piece ; another, 
 1000/. ; two others, 500/. each ; and a seventh, 100/., for 
 exporting gold, which was prohibited by proclamation.f 
 
 ' In order to account for the subsequent convulsions,' 
 says Mr. Hume, ' even these incidents are not to be over- 
 looked as frivolous and contemptible. Such severities were 
 afterwards magnified into the greatest enormities.' 
 
 Sir David Foulis, a member of the Council of York, 
 was, upon a charge of speaking irreverently of his office, 
 opposing the commission of knighthood, and throwing out 
 against Wentworth some remarks, which he denied, fined 
 by the Star Chamber, 5000/. ; assessed in damages to 
 Wentworth, 3000/. ; and ordained to make an acknow- 
 ledgment of his offences both to his majesty and to 
 Wentworth, not only in the Star Chamber, but in the 
 Court of York and at the assizes, and condemned to im- 
 prisonment during the king's pleasure, as well as to be 
 deprived of his various offices of member of the Council 
 of York, deputy lieutenant, and justice of peace. His son, 
 Henry, was likewise fined 500/. J In this prosecution, we 
 
 * Rush. vol. ii. p. 2r)2-.'] ; iii. p. 54. f I^>i(J- vol. ii. p. 348 et seq. 
 X Ibid. vol. ii. p. 215 j iStiilv Trials, vol. iii. p. 58G.
 
 IXSTANCE OF THE VINDICTIVE TEMPER OF WENTWORTH. 61 
 
 have a remarkable instance of the vindictive temper of chap. 
 
 Wentworth, and of the corruption of Laud and other . ; — - 
 
 ministers of the crown. Nay, Charles himself cannot, in 
 this case, any more than in others, escape from the charge 
 of having encouraged a tribunal to pronounce a sentence 
 for the gratification of private feelings ; in other words, to 
 pervert the very end of a trial, and commit perjury, by 
 violating the oath to do justice. Wentworth was mean, 
 profligate, and revengeful enough to solicit the king and 
 the lords of the council to condemn the Foulis's, and lay 
 a heavy fine and other punishment upon them. The fol- 
 lowing words were addressed to Lord Cottington : — ' I am 
 a suitor by you to his majesty, that he would be graciously 
 pleased to recommend the cause to the lords, as well in 
 his owTi right as in the right of his absent, poor servant, 
 and to wish them all to be there.' He then proceeds to 
 give his opinion upon the extent of the fine, as Cottington 
 was hkely to begin. ' First, I desire you to remember 
 how Greenfield was fined for calling Lord Suffolk a base 
 lord : how a jury gave 3000/. damages to my Lord Say 
 for the same words ; and then balance the slander most 
 ignominiously and maliciously put upon me by Sir David 
 and his son, and let me be not less valued than other men, 
 when I conceive that I merit to be more regarded than 
 they,' &c. ' I was, all^eit unworthy, in that place, chief 
 governor under his majesty, his heutenant, and president 
 of the council, which makes this a direct mutiny, and 
 stirring up a sedition against the regal authority, as well 
 as me. Much more could I say if I were in the Star 
 Chamber to speak for my Lord Cottington. But I will 
 conclude with this, that I protest to God, if it were in the 
 person of another, I should, in a cause so foul, the proof 
 so clear, fine the father and the son. Sir David and Henry 
 Foulis, in two thousand pounds a-piece to his majesty, and 
 in two thousand pounds damages to myself for their 
 scandal ; and they both to be sent down to York, and 
 there pubUcly, at York assizes next, to acknowledge in the
 
 G2 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, foce of the whole country, his majesty's right to the duty 
 - of knightings, and the wrong to Wentworth ; craving 
 
 pardon, expressing sorrow for his offence to the king, and 
 for having skmdered the writer.' * After the sentence, he 
 thanked all the members of the court particularly, and 
 assured Laud in a letter, that he never expected to have 
 it in his power to repay the obligation. Laud answers, 
 ' I have given my lord of London thanks from your lord- 
 ship, though neither myself nor he expect any such com- 
 pliment from you, where the justice of your cause chal- 
 lenged all we did, and where I conceive the king was 
 more concerned than your person, and howsoever, where 
 you serve the church so heartily^ we churchmen were much 
 to blame if we should not serve you.^f It need scarcely be 
 observed, tliat the remark about the church clearly proves 
 that Laud's idea of it was totally independent of Chris- 
 tianity or morality — since, to favour a man who served it, 
 he would sacrifice the very first principles enjoined by 
 both. 
 
 TJiough it be somewhat out of place, we cannot refrain 
 from relating a circumstance which affords a melancholy 
 proof of Wentworth 's irritably infantine jealousy of respect. 
 Henry Bellasis, son of Lord Falconberg, was summoned 
 before the council-board, and ordained to make a humble 
 apology to Wentworth, and to be committed till he made 
 it, because he did not pull off his hat one day to that in- 
 dividual, as the president at York, though he excused 
 himself by alleging, that having been engaged in conver- 
 sation with Lord Fairfax, he did not perceive the other.;]^ 
 Wentworth applied to Charles to be allowed royal rever- 
 ence in L^eland, as the king's representative, and obtained 
 his wish.i^ 
 Case of Wilham Prynne, barrister-at-law, was a man of inde- 
 
 and'othcrs, fatigablc study and of an ardent temper, but without 
 
 1G33. 
 
 * Straff. Let. and Disp. vol. i. J Rusli. vol. ii. p. 88. 
 
 p. 144-5 (see also p. 01). § Straff. Let. and Disj). vol. i. 
 
 t Ibid. vol. i. p. 189, 212. p. 200.
 
 PRYNNE TWICE SUMMONED BEFORE THE HIGH COMMISSION. 63 
 
 pretensions to genius, or to an enlarged understanding. 
 His stupendous reading, indeed, was inconsistent with the 
 first, and baneful to the last. He was a great admirer of 
 Preston, a highly popular lecturer, who had been a few 
 years before in great favour at court (it was he who 
 recommended to Buckingham the dissolution of cathedral 
 churches, &c.), and might have, in the general estimation, 
 bid fair for the highest dignity in the church, &c., could 
 he have relaxed his principles.* In the year 1626, 
 Prynne signalised himself as a champion of orthodoxy 
 ao'ainst Montacrue and others, for which he was summoned 
 before the High Commission ; but as parliament, which, 
 according to Sir Edward Coke, ' brought judges and all 
 men to order,' was sitting at the time his case came on, 
 he easily obtained a prohibition from Westminster Hall. 
 The interference with Laud's jurisdiction so enraged him, 
 that he very nearly laid those who tendered the prohibi- 
 tion by the heels, and treasured up the incident for future 
 revenge.f Prynne was supported by Abbot, and pub- 
 lished some other tracts, particularly one against Cosen's 
 Horaries, for which he was a second time summoned into 
 the Hio;h Commission, where Laud intended to have 
 ruined him ; but, as the last parhament had not yet been 
 dissolved, Prynne was again saved by a prohibition ; and 
 the high party lay on the watch for a pretext to destroy 
 
 * Ileylin's Life of Laud, p. 156. realm, in which he spoke disadvan- 
 This writer does Preston the justice tageously enough, if not reproach- 
 to say, that ' he was (beyond all fully, of the court/ (no wonder, when 
 question) of a shrewd wit and deep we consider the favourite's charac- 
 comprehension.' Buckingham lat- ter,) ' and signified withal how little 
 terly courted him to get a party. It hope there was of doing any good in 
 was thought he might, besides choos- that place for the advancement of 
 ing his own mitre, have succeeded the cause.' — lb. Heylin states this 
 Williams as keeper of the great seal. to depreciate Preston ; but I could 
 ' But,' says Ileylin, ' he was not prin- not desire a better proof of inflexible 
 cipled for the court, nor the court integrity. He died about the time 
 for him.' He had been an honest Laud was translated to London, and 
 man. He was not seduced by such thus escaped that prelate's persecu- 
 brilliant offers to desert his princi- tion ; for ' Laud,' says Heylin, ' was 
 pies. The cause of the duke's disgust resolved there should be no more but 
 at him, was a discovery that Preston one bishop in the city.' — lb. 
 had ' written to a great peer of the t Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 155.
 
 64 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMriRE. 
 
 CHAP, bini.* That could not Ions' be wantina; under such a 
 I . . 
 
 - system, and a most extraordinary one presented itself. 
 
 Stage-plays, masks, and revels were encouraged to an 
 extravagant degree by the court : but they were irrecon- 
 cilable with the sober seriousness of the strictest Puritans. 
 The authors and yjlayers resenting these feelings, and 
 willing to please their patrons, endeavoured to hold up to 
 ridicule a class who did not patronize themselves, and 
 were obnoxious to their supporters, while they had intro- 
 duced an obscenity revolting to every pure mind. This 
 increased the alienation of the Puritans, whose disgust 
 was greatly augmented by the indecency practised at 
 court of representing plays and exhibiting other sports on 
 Sunday. If ever there were a subject on which it was 
 innocent to exercise one's judgment, this assuredly was 
 so ; and Prynne, with the best intention, espoused the 
 cause of his friends, embracing, at the same time, the 
 opportunity of censuring May-games and other pas- 
 times and practices. But any reasoning upon the inno- 
 cency of the question must have been out of place before 
 a tribunal where the attorney-general, with its approba- 
 tion, accused the defendant of having undertaken a cause 
 for which he had no mission. Prynne's whole argument 
 might have been comprised in a few pages ; but, when a 
 person of prodigious reading endeavours to prove his 
 position by authority instead of reason, it is impossible to 
 predict into what a boundless field he may enter. The 
 work entitled ' Histriomastyx ' was the labour of many 
 years, and swelled out into a thousand quarto pages. It 
 consisted chiefly of the opinions of the fathers, a species 
 of autliority, one would suppose, not calculated to allure 
 the generality of readers,f but particularly offensive to 
 
 * Heylin's Z//(' o/'Z«wr7, p. 17o-4, 'are so valued l)y the Puritanical 
 
 230 ; Cantcfh. Doome, p. 507 ct scq, party, that a sister lately dyiug in 
 
 t The follo\vinj,>- is an account of London, bequeathed a legacy to buy 
 
 the reception Prynne's works met books for iSion College in London, 
 
 with: ' Ilis books,' says one of and in her will desired that Mr. 
 
 Wentworth's correspondents to him, Prynne's works, in the first place,
 
 THE HISTEIOMASTYX. — PKYJNNE MAEKED FOR SACRIFICE. 65 
 
 Laud, who affected to venerate tliem and make them tlie chap. 
 rule of liis conduct. The Histriomastyx was Hcensed by ^- 
 Abbot's chaplain ; and in the preface, which he addressed 
 to the benchers of Lincohi's Inn, Prynne assigned his 
 motives for the pubhcation : that, on his first arrival in 
 London, he had, by the importunities of acquaintances, 
 been induced to attend a play four times ; but that he 
 witnessed such lewdness as made his penitent heart to 
 loathe, and his conscience to abhor, all stage plays ever 
 after : that he observed with concern the increasing raae 
 lor that species of amusement, in so much that there had 
 been about forty thousand productions of that nature sold 
 within a few years, while sermons were, comparatively 
 speaking, neglected, and they were printed on better 
 paper than the Bible itself : and that though there were 
 only three theatres in Pagan Eome, in vicious Nero's 
 reign, there were five now in Christian London, and a 
 sixth was about to be added. 
 
 The clergy, who now approached to the church of Eome, 
 ought, had they acted consistently, to have approved of the 
 leading principles of the book ; but this was not the order 
 of the day, and Prynne had been marked for sacrifice. The 
 style and bulk of the work were calculated to deter people 
 from the perusal; but the name of the author at once 
 roused Laud and his abettors, and Heyhn was employed 
 to hunt out objectionable passages. The manner in which 
 he performed his duty is best explained in his own words. 
 He makes 'notes, and deducts out of them such logical infer- 
 ences and conclusions as might and did naturally arise in 
 those dangerous premises. One copy of the same to be 
 left for the lords of the council, and another with Noy the 
 attorney-general, and the rest of his majesty's council 
 learned in the laws of this realm, which paper gave such 
 satisfaction to the one, and help to the other, that when 
 
 might be boviglit for tliat use ' (StraiF. all liis books, and, occasionally, most 
 Zet. and Disp. vol. i. p. 217). There important information, 
 is, undoubtedly, immense research in 
 
 VOL. II. F
 
 I. 
 
 66 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, the cause was brouglit to a hearing in the Star Chamber, 
 they repeated his instructions only, as Prynne himself in- 
 formed against him to tlie House of Commons,'* By such 
 a course, charges of the following tenor were brought 
 against the author : that players were rogues by statute 
 (which, by the way, was correct) ; that none were gainers, 
 or honoured by stage plays, but the devil and hell ; and 
 that when players and their abettors have taken their 
 wills of lust here, their souls go to eternal torment here- 
 after ; that so many as are in stage plays are unclean 
 spirits, and play-hunters incarnate devils ; and that the 
 chief cause of Nero's destruction was his frequenting 
 them. Of dancinfj, he was alleo:ed to have said, that it 
 is the devil's profession, and so many steps in a dance 
 so many paces to hell. Such were the articles charged. 
 But tlie offensive part was an exposure of certain inno- 
 vations in the church, which, though the attorney-general 
 dwelt upon Prynne's alleged language, as he acted with- 
 out a mission, it was not thought convenient to bring into 
 question. Had such been Prynne's own language and 
 ideas, people of different minds might have properly re- 
 paid his abuse of their amusements with contempt and 
 scorn ; but there was neither a principle of law, justice, 
 nor common sense, on wliicli he should have been con- 
 demned as a criminal. He affirmed afterwards, however, 
 when he had no cause to resort to subterfuges, that the 
 charges were not at all warranted by the text of his book; 
 indeed, false charges were the natural consequence of the 
 course pursued. And any one may satisfy himself, that 
 the offensive expressions are not his own, but borrowed 
 from the fathers, to whose works lie invariably refers. 
 
 Lest the humanity of Charles should interpose to save 
 this victim of ecclesiastical vengeance, an artifice was 
 adopted to inflame both him and his consort. Six weeks 
 after the publication, her mnjesty acted a part in a pas- 
 
 Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 230, 231.
 
 SENTENCES OF PRYNNE, BUCKNER, AND SPARKS. 67 
 
 toral at Somerset House, and Laud and his friends sliowed chap. 
 lier and the king a passage — women actors, notorious . ^; . 
 whores (few women appeared on the stage in those times, 
 the characters of females being generally personated by 
 men in women's clothes), and assured them that it was a 
 libel upon her, though, as has just been said, the work had 
 been published six weeks prior to her exhibition.* 
 
 Along with Prynne, Buckner, Abbot's chaplain, for 
 licensing the work, and Michael Sparks for publishing it, 
 were charged as accessories to his offence. They were all 
 provided with counsel, who stated their respective cases 
 with moderation and ability. On the part of Prynne, all 
 intention of exciting schism or sedition was solemnly dis- 
 claimed. He professed by his counsel the utmost attach- 
 ment to the king's person and government, and declared, 
 ' That he had taken his oath of allegiance and supremacy 
 m the university and inns of court, where he had taken his 
 degrees. That it never entered into his thought to approve 
 of schism or sedition ; and if anything in his book, con- 
 trary to his meaning, had a misconstruction towards his 
 majesty's government, he is ready to prostrate himself at 
 his majesty's feet, and crave pardon and grace.' We have 
 been more particular in this statement than we should 
 have deemed compatible with our plan, in order to remove 
 some misrepresentations by which the cruelty of the pro- 
 ceeding has been disguised. Mr. Hume erroneously states, 
 after Clarendon, that Prynne aggravated his punishment 
 by petulance and obstinacy in court, whereas he does not 
 appear to have opened his lips, having committed his de- 
 fence entirely to his counsel. 
 
 This unhappy man was sentenced to stand twice in the 
 pillory, once in Westminster, and once in Cheapside, and 
 to lose an ear at each place ; to pay a fine of 5000/., which 
 far exceeded his means ; to be degraded from the bar and 
 at the university; and, lastly, to be imprisoned for hfe. 
 
 * Whitelocke, p. 18. 
 y 2
 
 68 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP His book, too, which was generally termed ordure^ was 
 ^; . ordered to be burned by the hangman, in imitation of the 
 practice in foreign countries ; such a proceeding being 
 then unknown in England. Buckner was sentenced to be 
 imprisoned, and fined 50^. ; Sparks was fined 500/., and 
 condemned to the pillory, with a label on his head, de- 
 claring the nature of his offence. The court further 
 recommended a prosecution against Prynne in the High 
 Commission, for those parts of his work which reflected 
 upon the church. The chief justice Eichardson and Lord 
 Cottington declared it to be mercy in the king to try the 
 author in that court, for that he had been guilty of high 
 treason ; and the former afiirmed that he would have di- 
 rected a jiu-y to bring in a verdict to that effect. ' We are 
 troubled here,' said he, ' with a monster, monstrum hor- 
 rendum, infor7ne, ingens. I do not think JMr. Prynne is 
 the only actor in this book ; but that there were many 
 heads and hands in it besides himself. I would to God 
 in heaven, that the devil and all else that had their heads 
 and hands therein besides Mr. Prynne, were, &c., for I 
 think they are ill-Avishers to the state, and deserve severe 
 punishment, as well as Mr. Prynne doth. For the book, I 
 do hold it a most scandalous, infamous libel to the king's 
 majesty, a most pious and religious king ; to the queen's 
 majesty, a most excellent and gracious queen, such a one 
 as this kingdom never enjoyed the like, and I think the 
 earth never had a better. Eye never saw, nor ear ever 
 heard, of such a scandalous and seditious thing as this is.' 
 Earl Dorset said, ' It is not Mr. Attorney that calls for 
 judgment, but it is all mankind ; they are the parties ag- 
 grieved, and they call for judgment. Mr. Prynne, I do 
 declare you to be a schism-maker in the church, a sedition- 
 sower in the commonwealth, a wolf in sheep's clotliing ; 
 in a word, omnium malorum nequiHsimus. I shall fine 
 him 10,000/., wliich is more than he is worth, yet less 
 than he deserveth ; I will not set him at liberty, no more 
 than a plagued man or a mad dog, who, though he cannot
 
 PRYNXE'S further PROSECUTION" IN THE HIGH COMMISSIOX. 69 
 
 bite, he will foam. He is so far from being a sociable chap. 
 being, that he is not a rational soul. He is fit to live in v__^__ 
 dens, with such beasts of prey as wolves and tigers like 
 himself Therefore I do condemn him to perpetual im- 
 prisonment, as those monsters that are no longer fit to 
 live amongst men, nor to see the light. Now for corporal 
 punishment, (my lords,) whether I should burn liim in the 
 forehead, or slit him in the nose, for I find that it is con- 
 fessed of all that Dr. Leicfhton's offence was less than Mr. 
 Prymie's, then why should Mr. Prynne have a less punish- 
 ment ? He that was guilty of murder was marked in a 
 place where he might be seen, as Cain was. I should be 
 loth he should escape with his ears, for then he may get a 
 periwig, which he now so much inveighs against, and so 
 hide them, or force his conscience to make use of his un- 
 lovely love-locks on both sides.* Therefore, I would have 
 him branded in the forehead, slit in the nose, and his ears 
 cropt too. I now come to this ordure ; I can give it no 
 better term ; to burn it, as it is common in other countries ; 
 or otherwise, w^e shall bury ]\Ir. Prynne, and suffer his 
 ghost to walk.' He also advised a proclamation, calling 
 in all copies, under a threat of bringing such as kept any 
 under the censure of the court. 
 
 Prynne had made some allusion to the death of the 
 Emperor Gallienus, and said, Tribelhus Pollio relates tliat 
 Martian, Heraclius, and Claudius, three worthy Komans, 
 conspired to murder that emperor (a man much besotted, 
 and taken up with plays, to which he hkewise drew the 
 magistrates and people by his lewd examples), as Flavins 
 and others conspired Nero's murder for the self-same 
 cause. ' Now, my lords,' said Chief Justice Eichardson, 
 ' that they should be called three worthy persons that do 
 
 * Prynne had published a pam- external appearance, and being an 
 
 phlet against the use of false hair, attempt to alter the image of one's 
 
 ■which was called love-locks. He Maker by ridicidous ideas of improv- 
 
 maiutains that they are unmanly, &c. ing it. In the same work he is very 
 
 &c., and unchristian, leading people zealous against the use of paint by 
 
 to place their affections upon their ladies.
 
 70 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, conspire an emperor's death (tliougli a wicked emperor), 
 • — i- — ' it is no Christian expression.' The doctrine laid down by 
 these judges was, that if subjects have an ill prince, they 
 must pray to God to forgive him ; but bear with him at 
 all rates. Every one was louder than another in praise of 
 the present king and his consort. Of the latter, Dorset, 
 as if anxious to show his aptitude for the two extremes of 
 the most fulsome panegyric and brutal invective, said, 
 ' Her own example to all virtues, the candour of her life, 
 is a more powerful motive than all precepts — than the 
 severest laws ; no hand of fortune nor of power can hurt 
 her ; her heart is full of honour, her soul of chastity ; 
 majesty, mildness, and meekness are so married together, 
 and so impaled in her, that where the one begetteth 
 admiration, the other love. Her soul of that excellent 
 temper, so harmoniously composed ; her zeal in the w^ays 
 of God unparalleled. Her affections to her lord so great, 
 if she offend him, it is no sun-set in her anger ; in all 
 actions and affections so elective and judicious ; and a 
 woman so constant for the redemption of her sex from 
 all imputation which men, I know not how justly, some- 
 times lay on them ; a princess, for the sweetness of her 
 disposition, and for compassion, always relieving some 
 oppressed soul, or rewarding some deserving subject. 
 Were all saints such as she, I think the Eoman church 
 were not to be condemned. On my conscience, she 
 troubleth the ghostly father with nothing, but that she 
 hath nothing to trouble him withal. And so when I have 
 said all in her praise, I can never say enough of her ex- 
 cellency, in the relation whereof an orator cannot flatter 
 nor poet lie.' Such was the language of the bench.* 
 
 Many of the privy council who sat in the court of 
 Star Chamber on this occasion were suspected Papists, and 
 some of them died such. 
 
 • Ptush. vol. ii. p. 220 et seq.; p. 207; State Trinh; Hevlin's Zi/e 
 vol. iii. Ap. p. G!) ; Iranklyn, p. 446 uf Laud, pp. 230, 264; Wliitelocke, 
 et seq. ; StrafF. Let. and Disp. vol. i. pp. 18, 22.
 
 PEYNNE'S BOOKS AND PAPERS SEIZED. 71 
 
 Not sated with this cruel punishment, Laud, and others 
 of the High Commission, ordered Prynne's books and 
 papers to be seized, and brought from his lodgings, that 
 they might be sifted for fresh matter against him ; yet, 
 when he complained of this in the Star Chamber, Laud 
 had the meanness to deny it. Shortly afterwards he 
 wrote a private letter to Laud on the subject of his late 
 trial ; and though, under such circumstances, no generous 
 mind would have regarded even an improper letter, Laud 
 showed it to the kin"-, who ordered it to be delivered 
 over to the attorney-general for prosecution. Noy sent 
 for Prynne to examine him privately ; Avhen that unhappy 
 individual, with less spirit than might have been expected, 
 requested to see the letter ; and as Noy, who had a 
 pressing occasion to retire, left him a moment, he tore it 
 to pieces, and threw it over the v>andow. The pieces 
 were tagged together, but so imperfectly, that jSToy was 
 obliged to abandon the prosecution, and Laud took the 
 merit of forgiveness.* The court ordered that Prynne 
 should thenceforth be precluded from the use of pen, ink, 
 and paper. 
 
 One AlHson had reported for news at Ipswich, and Case of 
 another person of the name of Eobins at Yarmouth, that and^ 
 Laud had requested of his majesty, as he was on his way f^"]^]"^' 
 to Scotland, a toleration for the Papists to have churches 
 for worship, and that the king had confined him to his 
 house. For this silly gossip Allison was committed to the 
 Fleet, bound to his good behaviour for life, fined 1000/., 
 and sentenced to be whipped, to stand in the pillory at 
 Westminster, York, Ipswich, and Yarmouth, with a paper 
 on his head declaring the nature of his offence, and to 
 make a public acknowledgment of his offence at the 
 various places. Eobins was fined 1000/., and assessed 
 
 * Rusli.Tol. ii. p. 245 e< sey. Who- to be petulant in court. FrankljTi, 
 
 ever will tnke tlie trouble to luck into p. 454; Ileylin's Life of Land, 
 
 tbe original account of this, will be p. 2G5 ; Stralf. Let. and Dis2). vol. i. 
 
 satisfied that Prynne was not disposed p. 266.
 
 72 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 1000 marks of damages to Laud, condemned to make an 
 . ^- apology, and committed to the Fleet.* 
 The case of The ncxt great case to which we shall call the reader's 
 Bistwk'k, attention is that of Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton. But in 
 and Bur- order to understand the case of Bastwick, we must here 
 relate an enormity of the High Commission, perpetrated 
 against him some years before. One Short, a Papist, had 
 published a work in support of his religion, and Bastwick, 
 who was a member of the College of Physicians, answered 
 it. The answer was entitled, ' Elenchus Papismi et Flagel- 
 lum Episcoporum ; ' and, from the learned tongue it was 
 composed in,f would, in another age, have obtained for its 
 author both character and reward. But the times were 
 altered. His argument necessarily led him to assert the 
 royal supremacy, which, though admitted by law, was 
 denied by the prelates, nay, by the king himself ; and 
 the act was not to be forgiven. He was called into 
 the Court of High Commission, as for an attack upon the 
 Enghsh bishops ; and, in spite of his defence that he 
 intended nothing against them, but had directed all his 
 reasoning against the Eomish prelacy, he was sentenced 
 to pay a fine of 1000/. ; to be debarred practice in his 
 profession, as well as lose his place in the College of 
 Physicians ; to be excommunicated ; and to be imprisoned 
 till he made a recantation. His work, too, was ordered 
 to be burned. On the other hand, one Chowney, a fierce 
 Papist, had not only written a book in defence of the 
 Eomish religion, but had dedicated it to Laud, whose 
 patronage of the production, thus openly solicited, was 
 unscrupulously awarded, so that the arch-prelate patron- 
 ized it. At this censure of Bastwick, all the bishops 
 openly denied that they held their jurisdiction from the 
 king, as well as disavowed their dependence on the throne ; 
 while the archbishop supported Chowney's book, main- 
 taining that the Eomish cliurch was a true church, and 
 
 * Eush. vol. ii. p. 271, 
 
 t Clar. vol. i. p. 3o0 ; Straff. Let. and Disp. vol. ii. p. 57.
 
 CRUEL PERSECUTION OF BASTWICK. 73 
 
 erred not in fundamentals. ' And,' says Wliitelocke, from chap. 
 whom we have taken the above, ' somewhat was noted ^_; — - 
 to pass from him and other bishops in defaming the 
 Holy Scriptures ; and Calvin was very much slighted and 
 abused by them.' ' I cannot,' continues he, with that 
 scrupulosity which becomes every writer whose object is 
 to convey the exact truth, and to preclude the possibility 
 of mistake — '/ cannot 'precisely aver all this, though I 
 heard the most of it, as it is here set down ; and heard the 
 rest of it to this purpose from those who were present at 
 the debating of those matters in the High Commission 
 Court.* 
 
 The fine upon Bastwick swallowed up his whole pro- 
 perty ; and, as he scorned to comply with the condition 
 wdiich his conscience disapproved of, that of recanting 
 his doctrine, he lay in jail hopeless of release. But had 
 he even regained his liberty, yet, debarred the very prac- 
 tice of his profession, he had no way of obtaining a live- 
 lihood for himself, his wife, and children. Under such 
 accumulated oppression and misery human patience fails ; 
 and he pubhshed a defence of himself, with an acri- 
 monious attack upon his persecutors. The book con- 
 tained much truth, and brought the usurpations, and 
 more than lordly pride, of the bishops strikingly into 
 view. But who can read the following passage from the 
 work without pity ? ' What is cruelty if this be not ? To 
 keep a poor man close prisoner a year and a half, to the 
 starving of him and his, and that only for writing a book 
 in defence of that rehgion that is estabhshed by public 
 authority and to the honour of the king, and the glory of 
 his majesty against papal usurpation, provoked thereunto 
 by an adversaiy of both ? ' He then mentions that his 
 ' wife, at this time, was great with child and ready to lie 
 down, not knowing where to get a place to put her head 
 in.' * For this publication he was summoned into the Star 
 Chamber. 
 
 * Whitelocke, p. 22. * See liis Litany.
 
 74 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CKAF. Burton, a divine, had at one period been a chaplain at 
 ^' court, but, as he was not fitted for that religion, he had 
 been expelled for what was denominated factious con- 
 duct. He had plagued the ruling ecclesiastical party by 
 exposing their innovations, and for it he had suffered 
 imprisonment from the Court of High Commission ; and 
 indeed had only been saved from ruin in that court by 
 a prohibition.* Two sermons, with other productions, 
 now afforded the ground of change : and for these he had 
 already been suspended by the High Commissioners. f 
 His parishioners in London, immediately upon his appre- 
 hension, sent a petition to the king for his pardon and 
 liberty ; but the two individuals who were deputed to 
 present it were committed to prison. j; 
 
 The indefatigable Prynne had eluded the prohibition 
 of pen, ink, and paper (as we hear of no proceed- 
 ings on this account against the jailor, we may infer that 
 it was connived at), and published some fresh works in 
 defence of liis principles and against the writings of 
 Heylin. 
 
 The judges were consulted whether two of these indi- 
 viduals, Bastwick and Burton, could be convicted of high 
 treason, but their opinion being unftivourable, the three 
 Avere accused by information in the Scar Chamber of 
 writing and publishing seditious, schismatical, and libel- 
 lous books against the hierarchy, and to the scandal of 
 the government. They prepared their answers, but when 
 they applied to counsel to sign them, the latter afraid, as 
 the prisoners asserted, of drawing upon themselves the 
 censure of the court, refused the duty. It was, on the 
 other hand, alleged that counsel declined the task from 
 
 * Heylin's Life of Laud, pp. 155, will confess, that Burton was, botli 
 
 329 ; Cantos Doome. p. 507 et seq. in learning and acuteness, at least a 
 
 t See the substance of his two match for his antaj2on'sts. It was 
 
 sermons, witli liis appeal, (fee. It has his ability iu exposing the innova- 
 
 been the practice to hold up these tions that so inflanied his enemies, 
 preachers as equally bigoted and iin- % Straff, Let, and Disj). vol. ii. 
 
 lettered; but whoever reads these p. 57.
 
 PRYNNE, BAST WICK, AND BURTON TRIED FOR LIBELS. 75 
 
 the improper nature of the defence :* but the real evi- chap. 
 
 deuce arising out of all the facts refutes that allegation. __^: , 
 
 The defendants prayed that they might themselves be 
 permitted, according to ancient precedents, to subscribe 
 their own answers ; but they were informed that if the 
 answers were not signed by counsel they could not be 
 received, and that themselves should be held as confessed. 
 To such a height did this court proceed, that Pryiine's 
 clerk was persecuted for following his master's business, 
 and the very one who, with the consent of the lieutenant, 
 wrote a petition, dictated by Prynne, to be allowed to sign 
 his own answer, was seized by a pursuivant, and molested 
 many weeks. f The prisoners applied to the court to 
 assign them counsel, yet when one of those very counsel, 
 Mr. Holt, had, by direction of the court, taken his fee 
 from Prynne, and drawn his answer which he had ordered 
 to be engrossed, he was privately commanded by the 
 archbishop not to subscribe it ; and excused himself to 
 his client by aUeging that he durst not sign it for a 
 lumdred pieces. Mr. Tomlins, another of Prynne's coun- 
 sel, however, had the spirit to discharge his duty ; but the 
 court, pretending that the answer came too late, rejected 
 it altosrether, and the defendant was taken as confessed 
 for an alleged contemptuous refusal to plead. Burton's 
 answer, drawn, engrossed, and subscribed by Holt, was 
 received at the office without exception ; but, after nine 
 days. Laud having read it, declared it to be scandalous, 
 and forthwith referred it to the two chief justices, 
 Bramston and Finch, who, without suffering counsel to 
 be heard in its defence, expunged tlie whole, except three 
 lines at the beginning, and two at the end, amounting in 
 substance to the plea of not guilty, Kay, Finch threatened 
 
 * Rush. ToL ii. p. 324. Holt al- amongst lawyers, that few or none 
 
 leged this himself, but see Prynne's can be found to plead a caase, be it 
 
 answer to him. * ever so just, against an oppressing 
 
 t Prynne's Trial of Lnwl, p. 111. prelate, and are either menaced or 
 
 * What 'meaneth,' said Barton before imprisoned if they do it?' (See hia 
 
 his trial, 'that consternation of spirit Appeal, p. 29; ed. 1636.)
 
 76 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. Holt with pulling his gown over his ears for performino" 
 . ^; his duty in the business. Burton, who admitted and 
 justified all he had written, was commanded to swear to 
 tJie defence and answer interrosratories, and for declinino; 
 such a procedure was likewise held as confessed. Bast- 
 Avick's, whicli was the most objectionable, was rejected at 
 the office. That these individuals were disposed to ex- 
 press themselves intemperately in their defences may be 
 admitted. But the tyranny of the government, and the 
 unjustness of the charge generally against them, with 
 respect to the nature of their answers, and the refusal of 
 counsel to sign them, present themselves in the pro- 
 ceedings against the great lawyer Mr. St. John, whose 
 study was searched by a pursuivant for evidence against 
 him in consequence of a suspicion having been enter- 
 tained that he had assisted in drawing the answers. The 
 defendants tendered a cross-bill, in which they offered to 
 prove the innovation and other matters they were accused 
 of falsely imputing, but, though twice tendered, it was 
 refused, while the judges were consulted whether they 
 might not for tendering it be tried for their lives in the 
 King's Bench. The judges gave it as their opinion that, as 
 it was a pleading legally tendered, it could not be the 
 ground of a prosecution. 
 
 The court fined each 5000/., condemned them to the 
 pillory, and adjudged Bastwick and Burton to lose their 
 ears : Prynne had lost his already, but he was now sen- 
 tenced to lose the remainder (which had been spared by the 
 hangman through some remissness in his duty — a circum- 
 stance that drew taunting remarks from the court), and to 
 be stigmatised on both cheeks, S.L. for seditious libeller. 
 All three were likewise doomed to close imprisonment for 
 their lives, without access of kindred or friends, and with- 
 out books, pens, ink, and paper.* 
 
 * Though the lianirmau had had ' No mercy showed to Mr. Pi-ynne,' 
 some compassion on him on the iirst writes the Hev. Mr. Garrard to 
 occasion, Prj-nne's enemies liad none. Weutworth ; ' he etood in the pil-
 
 TIIEIE SENTENCES EXECUTED IX THE MOST SAVAGE MANNER. " 77 
 
 The sentence was executed in the most savage manner, chap. 
 
 the hangman rather sawing tlian cutting off the remainder , L 
 
 of Prynne's ears, and taking part of the cheek with them. 
 At the place of execution these miserable wretches em- 
 braced the last opportunity wdiich their enemies had 
 resolved they should ever have to expatiate upon the late 
 innovations, and the injustice of their sentence to the by- 
 standers, wdio all sympathised in their affliction ; * and 
 the remorseless Laud moved his brother servants of the 
 crown to join him in imposmg farther punishment, f 
 But, though he was not to be glutted with vengeance, they 
 were ; and they told him that the ravings of men in 
 agony were beneath his notice. Laud, finding he w^as 
 not supported, had no other resource than complaint to 
 Wentworth, in more than one letter, against the tolerance 
 to those wretches, and the respect they met wdth, saying, 
 that though ' a little 7nore quickness in the government 
 would cure this itch of Hbellino;, and somethino; more that 
 is amiss besides, truly he had done expecting of thorough.'' 
 Wentworth perfectly agreed with the ecclesiastic, but he 
 did not know how to help the evil, till he saw the good as 
 resolute in their good, as we daily observe the bad to be 
 in their evils ways, '- which ^ says he, ' (roc? of his grace 
 infuse into us^ for such are the feeble and faint motions 
 of human frailty, I do not expect it thence.' ' The remedy 
 for such a grievous and overspread leprosy,' says he in 
 another letter, ' is not fitted for the hand of every phy- 
 sician ; the cure under God must be wrought by one 
 
 lory, and lost Ms first ear in a pillory of Wentwortli tells ixs, ' that the 
 
 in the palace at Westnnnster. in full place of execution was full of people, 
 
 term ; his other in Cheapside ; where, who cried and howled terribly, espe- 
 
 while he stood, his volumes wei-e hunit cially when Biu'ton was cropt.' ' Dr. 
 
 wider his nose, which had ahnost si(f- Bastwick was very merry ; his wife, 
 
 focated hiin.' This was no part of Dr. Pool's daughter, got a stool and 
 
 his sentence (Straff". Let. and Disp. kissed him : his ears being cut oft', 
 
 vol. i. p. 261 ; Let. dated Jime 3, she called for them, and put them in 
 
 1634). a clean handkercliief, and carried 
 
 * Rush. vol. ii. p. 380, et seq. ; them away with her ' (Whitelocke, 
 
 Howell's State Trials ; Prynne's Trial p. 26). 
 
 of Laud: StmS. Let. and Disp. Tol.ii. f Prjime against Prelates, p. 44 
 
 p. 85. This reverend correspondent et seq.
 
 78 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. Esculapius alone, and that in my weak judgment to be 
 effected rather by corrosives than lenitives ; less than 
 thoi'ough will not overcome it. There is a cancerous 
 malignity in it, which must be cut forth, which long since 
 rejected all other means, and therefore to God and him I 
 leave it.' * There can be little question regarding the 
 identity of the Esculapius, Laud himself, and thus these 
 men encouraged each other to acts of cruelty, canting 
 about public spirit, goodness, and religion, while under the 
 dominion of the blackest passions they were sapping the 
 foundations of every social institution. 
 
 To return to Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton. They 
 were sent to remote prisons, and latterly to different 
 islands, one to Guernsey, another to Jersey, the third to 
 Scilly, and so rigorously was the order about the exclusion 
 of friends enforced, that Bastwick and Burton's wives 
 were not respectively even permitted to set foot on the 
 islands. Plundered of all their property too, and allowed 
 nothing to subsist on by the government, they were 
 obliged to depend upon charitable contributions for sup- 
 port. And it may be questioned whether their friends 
 were safe in this act of benevolence ; for some indivi- 
 The Ches- duals of Chester, who had visited Prynne on his way to 
 Carnarvon Castle, were prosecuted by the High Com- 
 mission ; their houses were broken into, and ransacked 
 by pursuivants, themselves fined of large sums, and 
 obliged to make an acknowledgment of their offences, 
 botli in the cathedral and town-hall of Chester. A 
 painter of Chester too, for drawing Prynne, was perse- 
 cuted by the High Commission, and all his pictures 
 ordered to be burned. Nay, Prynne's servant, whom 
 Laud had detained a prisoner for having withstood all 
 threats and promises to accuse his master, Avas indicted in 
 the High Commission, and because he refused to take the 
 ex officio oath to answer interrogatories before he had seen 
 
 ter men. 
 
 Prynne's 
 clerk or 
 servant. 
 
 ♦ Strafl". Let. and Disp. vol. ii. p. 99 et seq., 104, 119, 131, 136,
 
 LAUD'S SPEECH AT THE TRIAL. 79 
 
 the articles against him, was held as confessed to those chap. 
 very articles, excommunicated, fined 1000/., and con- ^' 
 clemned to the costs of suit, though there was no pro- 
 secutor, committed close prisoner to the Counter, and 
 afterwards sent to Wesbeck Castle.* 
 
 Laud, at the trial of Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton, 
 made a long speech in defence of his ecclesiastical govern- 
 ment ; but though he had himself urged on the prose- 
 cution, and keenly and contrary to every principle of justice, 
 interfered at every step, nay, thanked the court for the 
 sentence, he aliected to have too much delicacy to give 
 judgment, as the business had some reflections on himself I 
 He afterwards, too, set up the defence on his own trial, 
 that the sentence was the court's, not his. Not content 
 with publishing the speech he made on the occasion, he 
 got aU the lecturers and preachers in the city to express 
 their abhorrence of the crnnes for which these men had 
 been condemned ; and so well was the injunction obeyed, 
 that for many days the churches resounded with the 
 bitterest invective, f 
 
 In his speech Laud defended tlie innovations, which he 
 denied to be such, with truly Jesuitical dexterity. But his 
 language, considering how he complained of that used by 
 his adversaries, ill-became liis place. ' 'Tis superstition, 
 now-a-days,' said he, ' for any man to come with more 
 reverence into a church than a tinker and his bitch come 
 into an ale-house. The comparison is homely ; but my 
 just indignation at the profaneriess of the times makes 
 me speak it.' The clergy, following up tlieir plea of di- 
 vine right, insisted that they were entitled to keep courts 
 and issue out process in their own names, without a patent 
 from the crown ; and Charles, who clung to the clergy as 
 a support to the throne, gratified their wish. Prynne and 
 the rest had attacked this as illegal ; and Laud, in a letter 
 
 * Prynne against Prelates, MS. f Heylin's Zj/e of Laud, p. 334; 
 
 No. 943 ; Lamb. Lib. p. 559 ; StrafF. Prj-nue against Prelates. 
 Let, and Disp. vol. ii. p. 115,
 
 80 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BEITISII EMPIEE. 
 
 ,CHAP. to the king, as a preface to the piibhcation of his speech, 
 v_,__^ ' humbly, in the chiircli's name, desires of his majesty, 
 that it may be resolved by all the reverend judges of 
 England, and then published by his majesty, that their 
 (the clergy's) keeping courts and issuing process in their 
 own names, are not against law.' This was a truly com- 
 pendious way of settling the law. But he attained his 
 object. The servile judges, in obedience to his majesty's 
 commands, resolved tliat a statute of the 1st of the late 
 king, abrogating one passed in the reign of Queen Mary, 
 which again annulled one of King Edward's, was not ob- 
 ligatory, as having been cunningly inserted by the Puritan 
 party.* Laud farther, in this letter, magnifies the royal 
 clemency in sparing the lives of Prynue and the others, 
 and then makes this notable observation. 'Yet this I 
 shall be bold to say, and your majesty may consider of it 
 in your wisdom, that one way of government is not always 
 fit or safe, when the humours of the people are in a con- 
 tinual change. Especially when such men as these shall 
 work upon your people, and labour to inspire into them 
 such malignant principles, to introduce a parity in the 
 church and commonwealth.' 
 
 * Rymer, torn. xx. pp. 15.3, 108 ; their illegal practices, in vexing and 
 
 Eush. vol. ii. pp. 450, 451; Ileylin's oppressing the king's good subjects ; 
 
 Life of Laud, pp. 341-3. Of itself, nay, the}' are grown so forraidaljle of 
 
 thf fact of tlieir issuing out process late (as if tliey were some newgene- 
 
 in their own name was of no import- ration of giants), that the very men- 
 
 auce whatever. But the principle tion of a prohibition against a prelate 
 
 on which they arrogated it was: makes the courts of justice startle' 
 
 tliey contended for a divine right, (For God and the Iu?u/, p. 70). 
 
 and wished to be exempted from the When Prjime brought a prohibition, 
 
 control of the temporal courts, instead Laud, in a great passion, declared he 
 
 of pretending to act by autliority de- would lay the next that dared to 
 
 legated from the sovereign or state. bring one by tlie heels (p. 54). 
 
 ' They labour,' says IJurton, 'by all This prelate applied to the king to 
 
 means possible to maintain tliis their have prohibitions restrained {Cant J s 
 
 absolute and independent jurisdic- Doome,-p.?,Gfd; see Rymer, torn. xx. 
 
 tion, as no way depending on tlie p. 190 ; 3I>SS. Lamhcth, No. 943, 
 
 king ; and, namely, by stopping the p. 571). In the Tanscl Manuscripts, 
 
 ordinary course of the law, tliat the Rrit. Mus. No. 493, p. 232 et seq., are 
 
 king's people may be cut off from all accounts of the speeches of Prymae 
 
 benefit of the king's good laws, and and the rest (see also p. 222 et seq. 
 
 of tlieir native ancient liberties ; so relative to the answer). 
 a.s it is become very geason and a rare t iSee his Let. and Speech. Laud 
 
 matter to obtain a prohibition against was charged with worshipping the
 
 LAUD WAS FULL OF CUNMNG. 
 
 81 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 The grand object of the high clergy was ever to per- 
 suade the king that their enemies were his. But when we 
 examine their productions, we discover that they mea- 
 sured all things by the standard of church-government, 
 which they conceived necessary for their own exaltation. 
 The informations charged the defendants with sedition to 
 the king ; and in tlie address referred to above. Laud tries 
 to infuse a fear of change into his majesty's breast; but, 
 in his Diary, he candidly says that ' Prynne, Bastwick, and 
 Burton were censured for their libels against the hier- 
 archy of the church.' 
 
 John Lilburn and John Wharton were charg;ed with i^iibum 
 
 and Wluir- 
 
 having unlawfully printed and published Burton's pam- ton's case. 
 
 altar. He denied it, and vises tlie 
 following words : ' You, my honour- 
 able lords of the Garter, in your 
 great solemnity, you do your rever- 
 ence to Almighty God, I doubt not; 
 but yet it is versus altare, towards his 
 altar, as the gi'eatest place of God's 
 residence upon earth. I say the 
 greatest, nay, greater than tlie pidpit ; 
 for there it is hoc est coijnis meum, 
 this is my body ; but, in the pulpit, 
 t is at most but hoc est verhum mcum, 
 .his is my word. And a greater 
 reverence, no doubt, is due to the 
 body than to the word of our Lord. 
 And so, in relation, answerably to the 
 throne, tohere his body is usually ju'e- 
 sent, than to the seat whence his 
 word viseth to be proclaimed.' He 
 further says, ' you are bound by your 
 oath to give due honour and rever- 
 ence " Domino Deo, et attari ejus in 
 mudum virormn ecclesiasticortim ; " 
 that is, to the Lord your God, and to 
 his altar (for there is a reverence due 
 to that, too, though such as comes 
 far short of divine worship, and that 
 in the manner as ecclesiastical per- 
 sons both icorship aitd do reverence.^ 
 
 Laud was full of cunning ; his most 
 popvdar arguments to persuade obe- 
 dience, to have the communion-table 
 converted into an altar, were, ' that 
 should it be permitted to stand as 
 before it did, churchwardens would 
 keep their accounts on it ; parisliion- 
 
 VOL. n. 
 
 ers would dispute the parish business 
 at it; schoolmasters would teach 
 boys to write upon it ; the boys 
 would lay their hats, satchels, and 
 books upon it ; many would sit and 
 lean irreverently against it in sermon- 
 
 time : the dojfs would 
 
 upon 
 
 it 
 
 and dehle it ; glaziers would knock 
 it full of nail-holes ' (Heylin's Life of 
 Laud, p. 289). It is amusing to hear 
 the extravagant praises that are 
 vented generally upon every head of 
 a party. Laud's speech was a very 
 poor thing, yet Heylin talks of this 
 Demosthenes, &c. In like manner 
 Hacket ever speaks of Williams as a 
 miracle in nature, and tells us that he 
 never studied an}i;liing more than his 
 funeral oration over James, which, 
 though pregnant with learning, is 
 absolute childishness. It is likewise 
 full of the most impious flattery. In 
 speaking of how James, on his death- 
 bed, commended various people to 
 his son's love, he particularises ' that 
 diseiple of his xvhom he so loved,' 
 meaning Buckingham (p. 68, ed. 
 l(52oj. Considering the treatment 
 Prynne met with, he must have been 
 something more or less than man not 
 to have felt resentment ; yet Wharton 
 and others dwell with rancour upon 
 his malice towards Laud. Jjanguage 
 seems to fail this writer in his pane- 
 gyric on that divine. See his Intro- 
 duction to Laud's History. 
 
 G
 
 82 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, phlet, entitled 'News from Ipswich;' and an oath was 
 
 I 
 
 case 
 
 . tendered to tliem to answer interrogatories. But Lilburn 
 declared that no free-born Englishman ought to take such 
 an oath : hence he was ever after called free-born John : 
 and in spite of assurances of pardon upon compliance, 
 botli he and Wliarton resolutely resisted such an illegal 
 proceeding. Upon this they were remanded to prison till 
 they should conform themselves to the order of the court, 
 fined 500/. each, and ordered not to be hberated without 
 security for good behaviour. In addition to this, Lilburn, 
 for his undaunted defence of the rights of Englishmen, 
 was ordered to be whipt through the streets, and set in 
 the pillory. Tlie punishment was inflicted with the utmost 
 severity ; but Lilburn's spirit was not to be subdued. 
 While in the pillory he inveighed bittei'ly against the ty- 
 ranny of the bishops and the abettors, and scattered some 
 pamphlets, which the ruling party pronounced seditious. 
 The court of Star Chamber happened to be sitting at the 
 time, and, having heard of this, transmitted an order to 
 gag him during the remainder of his punishment. When, 
 however, he could no longer speak, he stamped with his 
 foot ; and an investigation was immediately instituted to 
 discover fresh matter against him in the pamphlets he had 
 cast abroad, while, for his conduct in the pillory, he was, 
 by order of the court, loaded with double irons, confined 
 in the most unwholesome part of the gaol, with the basest 
 and meanest prisoners ; and his conduct, on every visit of 
 a friend, strictly watched, that information might instantly 
 be conveyed to tlie board of what passed on such occa- 
 sions. An order was, at the same time, issued to search 
 the pockets of future sufferers, and to bind their hands.* 
 Bowyer's One Eowycr, for alleging that Laud held a correspon- 
 
 dence with the Pope, &c., was fined 3000/., condenmed to 
 stand repeatedly in the pillory, and have his foreliead 
 branded, his cars nailed to the pillory, to make submis- 
 
 • Rush. vol. ii. p. 4():5, ct scq. ; State Trials; liusli. vol. iii. App. p. G4; 
 Straff. Let, and Disp. vol. ii.
 
 CASE OP WILLIAMS, FOEMERLY LORD KEEPER. 
 
 83 
 
 sions, and to be confined to hard labour in Bridewell for chap. 
 life.* __!• 
 
 We need not proceed farther with instances of the ty- Case of 
 
 W '11* 
 
 ranny and cruel proceedings of this court, except to give i,ishopTf 
 the case of Wilhams, bishop of Lincoln, formerly lord Lmcoin. 
 keeper. Prosecutions for buildings on new foundations in 
 the city of London, as well as for residence there, have 
 already been mentioned. There were severe fines im- 
 posed for disobeying proclamations about selling of corn, 
 transporting wool, and other matters ; for words spoken 
 of peers, and the like ;f but the case of Lincoln, though 
 not the most odious in some respects, nor yet the most 
 cruel, affords, perhaps, the best specimen of the corruption 
 and baseness of the governors at this period, and, there- 
 fore, we shall recount it at some length. 
 
 Williams has been represented as having latterly in- 
 clined to the popular side, but at no period of his life 
 could he be justly charged with any disposition to become 
 an advocate of public hberty. It is true, that lie did 
 
 * Straff. Lef. and Di'sp. vol. ii. p. 
 467 ; Rush. vol. iii. App. p. G4. 
 
 t One Yoemans, and another 
 Wright, were lined 5000 marks 
 a piece, imprisoned, «S:c. 'for false 
 and corrupt dyeing of silks.^ One 
 Sampson 100/., Sec. (Rush. vol. iii. 
 App. pp. 25, 30). Savage was com- 
 mitted and lined 2000/. to the king, 
 and 3000/. to Lord Falkland ; Wel- 
 danalso committed, and tiued 1000/., 
 and Bui-ton 500/., for slandering that 
 nobleman in regard to his conduct 
 in Ireland. They complained of in- 
 justice to the council, &c. (p. 30). 
 One Archer fined for hoarding corn, 
 pilloried, &c. (p. 38). One Greuville 
 was fined 4000/. and assessed in 
 4000/. of damages to the Earl of 
 Suffolk, for saying of him that he 
 was a base lord ; committed to the 
 Fleet during his majesty's pleasure 
 (p. 43). Faver.s, a clergyman, was 
 committed to the Fleet, lined 1000/., 
 assessed in damages to the party 
 250/., &c. Frost was committed to 
 
 the Fleet during his majesty's plea- 
 sure, bound to his good behaviour, 
 pilloried, »S:c. Katheriue Bampton 
 was whipt, committed to the House 
 of Correction, <S:c. for a conspiracy, 
 in imputing incoutinency, by tliis 
 Katlieriue, to the Rev. Dr. Patersou 
 (p. 47). Fowkes was fined 1000/. 
 and 200/. to the informer, committed 
 to the Fleet, for not furnishing a 
 market with corn, according to a 
 proclamation (p. 58). Pettager wa-s 
 fined 200/., a-sessed to the Earl of 
 Kingston 2000/., sentenced to be 
 whipt, for calling him base lord 
 (p. 72). Sandford, Bills, Web, Row- 
 land, and Shipwright, were all com- 
 mitted to the Fleet, and fined partly 
 for transporting wool contrary to 
 proclamation (p. 69). The tine of 
 10,000/. upon Morley was perhaps 
 excessive, but his case seems to have 
 been a bad one : he had not only 
 reviled and challenged, but struck 
 Sir George Theobald within the 
 palace (Rush. vol. ii. p. 270). 
 
 G 1
 
 84 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, object to some of Laud's innovations, as well as to tlie 
 violence generally pursued in ecclesiastical affairs, and dis- 
 approved of certain arbitrary measures which seemed to 
 shake the stability of the throne. But he, at the same 
 time, supported doctrines which promoted the power and 
 pretensions of the clergy, and evinced himself always no 
 unsteady friend to the prerogative of the prince. Even at 
 the university he was remarked for his high-church prin- 
 ciples, and, on that account, was as much favoured by one 
 party as hated by the other. Archbishop Bancroft him- 
 self, who was regarded by the court faction as the pillar 
 of orthodoxy, did not even then deem liim unworthy of 
 notice.* His character early procured him an opportu- 
 nity of preaching before the late king, and, though he did 
 not immediately reap the fruits of the royal grace, lie was 
 so fortunate as to please the monarch. Soon after, he filled 
 the office of chaplain to Chancellor Egerton, — a situation 
 calculated to bring him into publicity, and where he boasted 
 to have acquired his pohtical knowledge. On the death 
 of Egerton, he was offered the same office in the family of 
 Bacon, who succeeded to the seals, but his disappointment 
 hitherto in court preferment had so damped his hopes, that 
 he had resolved to abandon a i^ublic hfe, and retire to his 
 cure ; and, therefore, while he expressed a proper sense 
 of obhgation for the offer, he declined it. At tliis critical 
 moment James nominated him one of his chaplains, and 
 thus brought him fairly within the pale of the court. Here 
 he soon perceived that his chance of success depended on 
 the countenance of Buckingham, who had lately got into 
 the office of favourite ; yet, dreading the inconstancy of 
 that minion's temper, but much more the mutability of his 
 fortune, and remembering that the creature, in the event 
 of the patron's adversity, is expected to share his fortune, 
 he abstained from ap})lying to the only source of great 
 preferment. This was observed by James, who, as he liked 
 
 * Tlacket, part i. pp. 0, J 7, 21, G9, 70, 81, 8G, 97 j part ii. pp. 87, 80 j 
 Great liritam's ^alonum, pp. 70, 71.
 
 WILLIAMS LABOURS FOR ABBOT'S DEPRIVATION. 85 
 
 tlie man, yet durst not promote him without the approba- chap. 
 
 tion of his own servant, advised him to enUst himself in . ; . 
 
 the train of Buckingham. WilHams no longer declined 
 the road to greatness, and having once taken that important 
 step, he determined not to waste his talents in inactivity ; 
 and his patron's intrigue with the Earl of Eutland's daugh- 
 ter, whom he married, afforded the divine a field for the 
 exercise of his talents in reconciling the family. The ser- 
 vice deserved reward ; and he may be said to have created 
 the occasion of his own advancement. Notwithstanding 
 Bacon's friendship and proffered kindness, it was by the 
 advice of this ecclesiastic that the philosopher was exposed 
 a victim to pubhc justice ; and the advice flowed from no 
 patriotic cause, but avowedly from tlie idea of screening 
 the favourite, who was under terrible apprehensions for 
 his own safety, and whose brother had deeply participated 
 in the wages of iniquity. Williams succeeded to Bacon's 
 place.* 
 
 At this time he stood so well with his patron and the 
 king, that he obtained a promise of the highest dignity in 
 the church on the first vacancy. But the death of the 
 present incumbent might be distant, and therefore he soon 
 tried to create the occasion he so ardently desired. Abbot, 
 then archbishop of Canterbury, had the misfortune to 
 wound Lord Zouch's gamekeeper with an arrow from 
 his cross-bow, as he was shooting deer, and the wound, 
 which was not mortal in itself, proved so through the 
 unskilfulness of the surgeon. As the circumstance was 
 purely accidental, and deeply deplored by Abbot himself, 
 he was an object of pity rather than of censure. But 
 Williams, transported with the prospect of obtaining his 
 place, laboured for his deprivation, representing, in a 
 letter to Buckingham, that a man defiled with blood, 
 however innocently, was by the canon law disquahfied to 
 approach the altar, and that he had, ipso jure, forfeited 
 
 • Hacket, part i. pp. 19, 24, 31, 39, 40, 49 et seq.
 
 86 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, not only his office, but his moveables to the crown. All 
 
 2^ , this was cruel and unjust ; but it required no common 
 
 decree of effrontery for the writer to insinuate his own 
 pretensions in that very letter, while he pretended to be 
 guided solely by a painful sense of duty. Luckily, how- 
 ever, for Abbot, he had one staunch friend amongst the 
 lay members of the commission, to which the matter 
 was referred for inquiry, Sir Henry Martin, at that time 
 dean of the Arches, and afterwards judge of the Preroga- 
 tive Court, who was moved by gratitude to him for his 
 advancement; and Williams had a powerful enemy in 
 Andrews, bishop of Winchester, who had himself looked 
 forward to the primacy, and saved the accused, to prevent 
 such a successor as Williams. Laud at first joined the 
 lord keeper against the primate ; but, as he soon found it 
 convenient to attempt the ruin of his benefactor, Williams, 
 as his own rival, he changed his tone. If Abbot had been 
 deposed, Williams was sure of succeeding him ; and while 
 a vacancy in the nature of things might soon be expected 
 in the present incumbent's place, leisure would be gained 
 for supplanting the expectant.* 
 
 As Buckingham dreaded any man's continuance in a 
 place of gi'eatness, there was a perpetual change at court. 
 WilHams had kept his ground longer than any ; but he 
 was doomed at last to sink under the superior dexterity 
 in intrigue, or the later introduction, of Laud. The 
 favourite was alarmed at the monarch's good opinion of 
 Williams, and was offended at a supposed want of due 
 obedience to himself on the part of his creature in not 
 sufficiently attending to his instructions in the decision of 
 causes in chancery. Such was the unblushing profligacy 
 of tlie age in judicial matters, that Buckingham's servants 
 used to beset the Court of Chancery for the purpose of 
 overawing tlie judge to determine causes in favour of 
 tlieir master's suitors, from wliom they openly received 
 
 " Ilacket, pnrt i. pp. Go, G6, G8 ; Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 8G et seq. ; 
 Cabala, 4to. ed. 1665, p. 55.
 
 WILLIAMS DRIVEX FROM COURT .VFTER CHARLES'S ACCESSION. 87 
 
 bribes. Besides, Laud, amongst otliers, was ever ready chap. 
 to meet the favourite's ear with a tale ao-ainst tlie man to ^; . 
 whom he had vowed a life of gratitude ; and WilUams, 
 though generally abject to the last extremity, permitted 
 his natural presumption at times to burst the bounds of 
 the unqualified submission exacted of him. 
 
 No sooner did the watchful eye of Laud perceive the 
 ahenation of the favourite from Williams, which was for 
 a long time after unsuspected by the public, than, to 
 borrow the language of Racket, ' he shunned him, as the 
 old Eomans, in their superstition, walked aloof from that 
 soil which was blasted with thunder.' * 
 
 The expedition to Spain, and the match, afforded scope 
 for Laud's talents, while there is reason to suspect that 
 Williams really was trying to raise himself upon his 
 patron's ruin. Laud was now flattered with the prospect 
 of the primacy ; but as Williams assiduously laboured to 
 recover liis ground, such a restless jealousy tormented his 
 rival, that his dreams, which he faithfully recorded, be- 
 spoke the visions that occupied his waking thoughts. He 
 ' dreamt that the lord keeper was dead ; that he passed 
 by one of his men that was about a monument for him,' 
 &c. ; and he interpreted it into ' dead in the duke's 
 affections.' f The service rendered by the keeper, both to 
 the duke and Charles, in detecting the plot of the Spanish 
 ambassador, appeared to recover his patron's affection ; 
 but the wound still festered ; and a succession of circum- 
 stances, together with the insidious arts of Laud, seemed 
 to render it incurable. Williams, after the accession of 
 Charles, was divested of his office as lord keeper, and 
 driven from court ; and though the king afterwards 
 flattered him with promises, he failed in his word, and 
 allowed temporary kindness to be followed with the most 
 rancorous hate. With Buckingham he was more success- 
 ful ; for, as he continued to ply him with the most abject 
 
 * Hacket, part i. pp. 107-8. 
 t See his Diary for December 14th and 15th, 1523, et passim.
 
 88 COXSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, professions, he, just before that individuars death, effected 
 ; - a reconcilement. Laud's fear of sucli an event may be 
 conceived from the following passage in his Diary. Thus, 
 'January loth, Saturday (1627), The Bishop of Lincoln 
 desired reconciliation with the Duke of Buckingham, &c. 
 January 14tli, Tuesday, towards morning, I dreamed that 
 the Bishop of Lincoln came, I knew not whither, with iron 
 chains ; but, returning loosed from them, leapt on horse- 
 back and went away, neither could I overtake him.'* 
 
 The jealousy which rankled in the breast of Laud, and 
 haunted his sleep, was augmented by Williams's attempt 
 at reconcilement with the duke, though Buckingham's 
 untimely death prevented him from deriving benefit from 
 it, and nothing short of his rival's ruin could still his 
 restless fears. Wentworth now joined him in hunting 
 down Wilhams. He, like Laud, had courted that prelate ; 
 yet now, while ready to gain the favour of his coadjutor, 
 by entering keenly into all his views and quarrels, had 
 himself a cause of cliao-rin. He had been brought forward 
 by Weston, and Williams who had likewise sounded him, 
 (boasting of what there is no reason to beheve he could 
 have accomplished,) had proposed to Weston to seduce no 
 less a man than Sir John Eliot himself to the side of 
 prerogative ; and as Weston was highly pleased with the 
 
 • Ho records another dream on tho tliem that they should keep up a 
 
 IGth (January, 1027), importing- tluit seeming enmity, that the prelate 
 
 he thuuglit the king appeared dis- might render him greater service in 
 
 pleased with him, and on the follow- t\u) parliament. The reconcilement 
 
 ing day he also records a hit against occurred after the prorogation of the 
 
 AVilliams^ lie gives another dream tliird parliament, and, in tliis way, 
 
 on the 27th :March, in which a Sir tlie favomite had promised himself 
 
 George AVi-ight, deceased, whose good support in Williams. But it 
 
 executor he was, appeared to him, is a very singular fact, tluit Laud 
 
 and wliispi-red in his ear that I (we stirred the ground of prosecution at 
 
 fihall give the very words), ' I was that very time (p. 80). Ileylin's 
 
 the cause wliy the Hishop of Lincoln Life of Zaxd, pp. 118, 110-17, W.), 
 
 ■was not admitted into favour and to 140, 172. This writer tells us tliat 
 
 court.' A\'illiams liad still good friends ahout 
 
 Ilacket's Lift' of Lmul, part i. the court (Hush. vol. i. p. I'J8). 
 
 pp. 107^,202,208; part ii. pp. 4, Hut the collector had been misled 
 
 5, IH, v.), 20, (>2, <)4-(!7, 70, 80, 8;"). by the stories industriously circu- 
 
 AVhen I'.uckiiigliam was reconciled lated against Williams (p. 420); 
 
 to Williams, it was agreed between Whitelocke, p. 8.
 
 CHARLES LISTENS TO THE SLANDERS AGAIXST WILLIAMS. 89 
 
 idea, Wentworth, estimating others by his own standard, chap. 
 
 did not hesitate to attribute to Eliot the same unprin- .^ . 
 
 cipled ambition of which himself had been guilty ; and 
 therefore justly dreaded his being taken into favour, since 
 his abdities were transcendent, and since, to cover his 
 apostasy, self-defence would obhge him to exert them all 
 on the side of the prerogative. The fear of a rival dis- 
 charged itself in fury against the individual who had 
 offered to introduce one : nor did it receive much miti- 
 gation by the death of Eliot, as the same spirit which 
 had instigated the prelate to propose that parliamentary 
 leader, might raise up another rival.* 
 
 To blast his character w^ith the kinij, numberless stories 
 were invented against him, untraceable in their origin, 
 but commonly representing him as a favourer of Puritans, 
 and an advocate of popular rights. He is also alleged to 
 have said, that he had as good a title to his deanery of 
 Westminster as the king to his crown ; and Charles, 
 though he encouraged the liierarchy to assert a divine 
 right, &c., he considered this a monstrous offence. The 
 monarch, besides, lent a greedy ear to slanderous tales 
 against Williams ; because, instead of excluding himself 
 from society while under the wrath of his sovereign, and 
 being deserted by men of eminence, he hved munificently, 
 and was greatly resorted to. Before his fall, he was odious 
 for his pride and attachments, but the exertions of his 
 adversaries brought him popularity ; nor is it improbable 
 that, though he unceasingly laboured to remove the un- 
 favourable impressions from the breast of his master, he 
 was not secretly displeased with the pubhc esteem which 
 promised to raise liim agam to a place under the crown. 
 For, should a parhament be summoned, it would be 
 necessary to soothe the people by the employment of some 
 popular men, and none was so likely to be chosen as the 
 indi\idual whose principles were known by many at 
 
 * Ilacket's Ltfe of Williams, part ii. pp. 17, 67, 82, 83.
 
 90 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, court. But this must have augmented the jealousy of 
 - -*;• - Laud, who, with Wentworth, recoiled with conscious guilt 
 from the idea of a parliament, and therefore dreaded the 
 approach to tlie throne of anyone likely to recommend 
 it. Williams was ordered not to remain about West- 
 minster. Nor was Laud's jealousy unfounded : some mis- 
 luiderstanding arose betwixt him and Weston, and the 
 latter immediately took measures for co-leaguing with 
 Williams. Whether tliis was discovered by Laud, is un- 
 certain. But his fears were never quiet. Even, in 1G33, 
 he dreamt, at AhiAvick, ' that Lord Lincoln came and 
 offered to sit above him at the council table, and that 
 Lord Holland placed him there.' * 
 
 When men in power are bent on oppressing an indi- 
 vidual, it is not difficult to find a pretext ; and a most ex- 
 traordinary one was employed against Williams. Charles 
 had consulted that prelate about the best method of 
 recovering the affections of his subjects, and Williams 
 advised to show some indulgence to the Puritans, a 
 numerous body, and even to allure the chief of them with 
 dignified livings in the church. The king approved of 
 the advice, and promised to follow it ; vrhence the other, 
 about two months afterwards, having occasion to regulate 
 liis own courts at Leicester, assigned to Sir John Lamb 
 and Dr. Sibthorp, as the cause of some indulgence to the 
 Puritan party, that it was not his own pleasure only, but 
 that of his majesty likewise. The communication was not 
 only uncensurable, but necessary, as the object could not 
 be accomplished without it. But these two worthies, who 
 
 • Diary, Ilacket's Life of Wil- to henrt, though he felt one comfort 
 
 /jrtw.s, part i. p. 54; part ii. pp. 20, in beiug absent, that he could not 
 
 2o-27, (32. lie always ascribed his have joined in Laud's prayer, Avliich 
 
 ill usage to the acts of his enemies, "vvas recommended to all the parish 
 
 and declared, that could he only get churches — a prayer wherein that 
 
 access to the king's ear for half an bisliop said, ' Double his father's 
 
 hour, he would remove every un- graces, O Lord, upon him, if it he 
 
 favourable impression (p. 04;. He /;os.sii/e ' (p. 89). Williams justly 
 
 was the only bishop not invited to calls this 'three-piled llattcry and 
 
 the christening of the young I'rince loathsome divinity,' &c. (p. 90; 
 
 Charles (,11.), and he took it much Clarendon, vol. i. pp. 90, 97).
 
 WILLIAMS ACCUSED OF EEVEALING HIS MAJESTY'S SECRETS. 91 
 
 had been both, the first in particular, deeply indebted to chap. 
 Williams, had marked the revolution of the times, and \ 
 having perceived that their fortunes depended more 
 on the ruin than the preservation of their benefactor 
 (Williams had determined to give a place which Lamb 
 wished himself to another person, and prevented his 
 extortions), posted off with what they justly deemed 
 welcome intelligence to Laud. He, grasping at the 
 opportunity of destroying his rival, ran with the news to 
 the king, and wath him formed a resolution to have 
 Williams prosecuted in the Star Chamber, for revealing 
 his majesty's secrets, contrary to his duty as a privy 
 councillor. But it is not wonderful that Laud should 
 have been exasperated against Williams at this time, 
 as the reconcilement with Buckingham had just been 
 effected. 
 
 When the information against Williams was first re- 
 ferred to the council, it was instantly rejected ; and a 
 second attempt shared a similar fate. Charles then pro- 
 mised to drop it ; but Laud, whose enmity suffered no 
 abatement, and whose power in the council daily increased, 
 was not to be driven from his purpose. He prevailed with 
 the king to break his word ; and again, with more suc- 
 cess, recurred to the charge. Williams had now the 
 meanness to make a submission to his adversary ; but, as 
 nothing could remove the fears, it was vain to expect to 
 overcome the hatred of that powerful ecclesiastic* 
 
 * Hacket, part ii. pp. 48, 62, 80, on that occasion ; ' and tliat ' the in- 
 
 89, 90, 114, 115. This writer de- formation,' by Lamb, ' was laid hold 
 
 tails in the above, repeated instances on as a means to humble the prelate, 
 
 of the king's failure in his word to make him sensible of his own 
 
 (Rush. vol. i. pp. 401, 402 ; White- duty, and the king's displeasure ' 
 
 locke, pp. 238, 239). Heylin tells (p. 172). Yet in p. 267 lie, with 
 
 us that the 'words* (those used to his usual inconsistency, speaks of 
 
 Lamb, for which Williams was the matter- as a most aggravated one. 
 
 prosecuted), 'though unadvisedly Sibthorp was the person who 
 
 spoken, yet were not thought, when maintained in the pulpit the right 
 
 first spoken, to be of such a dan- of kings to take their subjects' 
 
 gerous and malignant nature as to money at will, and reign as they 
 
 create to him all that charge and pleased. Sir John Lamb was the 
 
 trouble, which afterwards befell him individual whose words are always
 
 92 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 Laud's liatrecl had another motive besides mere jealousy, 
 tliough jealousy was mixed even with that. Williams had 
 objected to certain innovations in the worship, and the 
 other's pride was wounded. Some time previous to the 
 proceedings now detailed, he had written a letter to the 
 vicar of Grantham, which fell within his diocese, about 
 the position of the communion-table, which had been 
 placed altarwise by the vicar, and, though it had not been 
 deemed prudent to dispute the doctrine at the period of 
 publication, the present was conceived to be a fit season ; 
 and accordingly Dr. Heyhn, the great favourite of Laud, 
 
 quoted against tlie Puritans : ' That 
 to the workl they seemed to he such 
 as would not swear, whore, or be 
 drunk; but they would lie, cozen, 
 and deceive. That they would fre- 
 quently hear two sermons a day, 
 and repeat them too, and that some- 
 times they would fast all day long.' 
 — Now that bad men will affect piety, 
 &c. is a fact too evident to be 
 doubted ; and that there is always 
 some groimd for suspicion against 
 those who are righteous over much, 
 is likewise true ; but when it is con- 
 sidered that the bulk of the nation 
 were branded with Puritanism, we 
 could not pay much regard to such 
 a picture from any quarter; but if 
 the accuser have an interest to op- 
 press the party accused, for the pur- 
 pose of extortion, as was Lamb's 
 case, and he be a person of the worst 
 character, we must reject it with 
 disdain. Now Lamb is described as 
 * a creature of dark practices, the 
 most hated of all tliat trod the earth 
 in the county of Northampton, 
 where he dwelt.' lie had been ori- 
 ginally a schoolmaster, but having 
 afterwards become a proctor, he was 
 made dean of the Arches ; an olHce 
 in which he had been branded with 
 many crimes, vuider the hands of all 
 the justices and gentry, in a manner, 
 in the sliire, and in two several bills 
 to be presented to the parliaments 
 1(;2I and 1(324. Wliat followed P 
 ' This person ' (Williams), says 
 
 Ilacket, 'whose throat he went 
 about to cut, brought him off from 
 his troubles, dubbed him a doctor 
 and a knight, settled him in his 
 former offices, and got him more, for 
 which I confess he got no good 
 name to himself. Lamb marked the 
 revolution of the times, saw the 
 bishop discarded, and observed that 
 he might pluck himself better for- 
 tune sooner by being his enemy thai 
 his friend. An ungrateful creaturt 
 in the old time was held to be a 
 monster ; now-a-days none shall 
 sooner be taken into play to be a 
 state minister. Ingi-atitude is Sir 
 .John Lamb's badge ; perfidiousness 
 both his and Sibthorp's' {Life of 
 Williams, part i. pp. 3(), 37 ; part ii. 
 pp. 1)8, 112, 113). It is remarkable 
 tliat depravity generally imputes its 
 oAvn qTialities to others. This very 
 individual, who speaks so harshly of 
 the Puritans, was himself of a ' stoical 
 gravity' {Id. part i. p. 37; see also 
 Crmt.'s Doomc regarding Lamb). lie 
 was a great persecutor. See Journals 
 of Lords, for 13th March, 1621, and 
 i2th April, for further proofs of 
 Lamb's business; and the detestable 
 nature of the government. The 
 court of law could afford no pro- 
 tection to Walker. His office was 
 illegally seized and held by Lamb 
 for eight years, and the judges were 
 prohibited from discharging their 
 duty in Walker's favour.
 
 KILVERT LET LOOSE UPON WILLIAMS. 93 
 
 a man ' not fortunate in the opinion of the times,' under- chap. 
 
 took the task. ' His work, entitled " A Coal from the . ^ 
 
 Altar," was written,' says Racket, ' in order that Williams 
 might be posted about every gate in London as a dastard ; 
 or, if he replied, that then they might pull him to the 
 stake and w^orry him in the Star Chamber, where he was 
 already struggling for life ; in which fatal conjuncture the 
 king must be told that he was an enemy to the piety of 
 the times and the good work in hand' The bishop deter- 
 mined to hazard the last rather than the first, and his 
 answer had the anticipated effect in farther inflaming the 
 monarch, and giving a new spring to the prosecution.* 
 
 Tlie basest tools are necessary for the execution of that 
 vengeance which must assume the colour of justice, and 
 Laud, his creature Secretary Windebanke, and Sir John 
 Lamb, discovered an instrument wonderfully calculated 
 for their purpose. This was one Kilvert, notorious for the 
 depravity of his habits, but who, having given an earnest 
 of his abihties in a former case, was, with confidence of 
 success, let loose upon Williams, that he might hunt him 
 to destruction. ' This fellow,' says Hacket, ' interloping 
 into the prosecution, disturbed it in every point of the 
 proceeding, and left not one rule or practice of the court 
 unbroken, menacing and intimidating witnesses, clerks, 
 registers, examiners, judges — the lord keeper himself.' f 
 
 Thus beset, Williams petitioned his majesty that, if he 
 would not accept his submission, he would at least allow 
 the cause to proceed according to the rules of court ; and 
 proposed, at the same time, to prove against Kilvert the 
 fabrication of the grossest calumnies, subornation of per- 
 jury, intimidation of witnesses, &c. But the petition was 
 disregarded ; J and to such a height was the well-founded 
 presumption of this tool of oppression carried, that he 
 vapoured, in the hearing of the register, that he cared 
 
 * Ilacket's Life of Willuims, part ii. pp. 99, 100. 
 t Id. ; Ileylin's Life of Laud, p. .343. 
 X Ilacket, part ii. p. 117.
 
 94 COXSTITUTIOXAL IIISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, not what orders the lords made, as he would go to 
 . ^- , Greenvv'ich aud have them aU altered. This, too, was 
 complained of, but was passed shglitly over. Nay, Sir 
 Eobert Heath, now chief justice of the Common Pleas, 
 complained that Kilvert had threatened to have him 
 turned out of his place for forwardness, as he termed it, 
 in the cause ; and the complaint was dismissed, with 
 a little acknowledgment of rashness. But Heath lost his 
 place* 
 
 Kilvert having discovered, ' by dihgent inquiry and 
 subtle practices,' as Laud's biographer iuforms us, that 
 Wilhams's excul})ation depended chiefly on the evidence 
 of one Pregion, register of the court at Lincohi, who 
 happened to be present wlien the conversation of Avhich 
 Williams was accused took place, made it his business to 
 invalidate his testimony .f He therefore lays a bastard 
 to Pregion's charge — a most extraordinary ground of 
 objection in itself, and particularly ungracious on the part 
 of the prosecutors, as Laud had long ago stained his cha- 
 racter by tlie attempt to sanctify adultery J (it will be 
 
 • Ilacket, part ii. pp. 116 — 118. MS. at Lambetli, aud iu Heylin, 
 
 f Ileylin says, that after many displays no small share of efFrontery, 
 
 delays, ' Kilvert, a proctor in the because Heylin tells us that Lady 
 
 Arches, who had been formerly em- Penelope liich had borue several 
 
 ployed in hunting Bennet, a corrnpt children to the Eaid of Devonshire, 
 
 judge of the Prerogative Court, to his 'before she v\'as actually separated 
 
 linal sentence, 7vas entertained to from the bed of Rich ' (Z//<' o/"Zffw7, 
 
 2)rvsecute this bishop, to the like eon- p. 57 j. Now how could any who 
 
 fusion ; who having foimd by diligent pretended to be guided by the civil 
 
 inquiry and subtle practices, that the law, or any law, suppose that these 
 
 bi.shop's purgation depended most could bo legitimated per subseqitens 
 
 upon the testimony of one IVegion, i)iatrimonium ? Laud, in his prayer, 
 
 the register of the court at Lincoln, says, that lie was advised to officiate 
 
 be made it his chief work, by dis- in marrying this adulterous pair by 
 
 crediting the witness, to invalidate the importunity of false friends 
 
 and nuiko void his evidence, he lays against his own judgment {Id. p. 58, 
 
 a ba.stard to his charge, and there and Prynne's Brev. of Laud's Life). 
 
 appeared sufficient ground to indict One thing more I cannot refrain from 
 
 him for \t^ (Life of iMud, y). ?A-i). remarking; the utmost that any 
 
 Take this along witli what is quoted one disposed to feel for this profligate 
 
 in the preceding note, and I think woman ought to have done, was to 
 
 there will be no difliculty with the draw a veil over her life. But we 
 
 conclusion (llacket's Life of Wil~ are condenmed to read tlie most nau- 
 
 lianiH, part ii. p. 118). seous praites of her by Heylin. 
 t The defence for Laud; in the
 
 DETESTABLE PEOCEED^GS AT WILLIAMS'S TRIAL. 95 
 
 remembered, too, that Williams had used his endeavours chap. 
 to draw a veil over that part of his conduct), and Kilvert, ^' 
 whom they employed, had deserted his own wife, a 
 gentlewoman by birth, and lived openly with another 
 man's, who had borne several children to him. He had 
 likewise been branded long before in a parhament for 
 perjury.* But the accused perceived that, as his judges 
 only wanted a pretext for setting aside Pregion's testi- 
 mony, they would sustain this objection for want of a 
 better, and he naturally tried to weigh up the character 
 of his own witness, who appears to have been innocent of 
 the fact charged. The paternity was banded about betwixt 
 Pregion and another person, and Kilvert took the op- 
 portunity of attaching to Pregion an aggravation of his 
 alleged offence by attempting to fix the child upon a 
 wrono- father. Tliis matter held the court about eighteen 
 months ; and at first the objection was overruled, but the 
 connnand of his majesty to sustain it overawed the un- 
 principled judges. One of them being upbraided by 
 Williams for his inconsistency, coolly rephed that he had 
 been severely chidden by the king for his former vote, 
 and that he would not ruin himself for any man's sake.f 
 
 Kilvert now saw a nobler game. Williams had laboured 
 to clear his witness of the imputed offence ; and as subor- 
 nation of perjury was a higher ground than the one at 
 issue, the first was, by his advice, abandoned, and the 
 last substituted.;]^ It is needless, and would be nauseous, 
 to follow the cause through its various windino-s : suffice 
 it to say that the proceedings were to the last degree 
 detestable ; that, in the first place, though any commis- 
 sions for an exculpatory proof had never been refused to a 
 defendant before, several were denied to WiUiams ; in the 
 second place, that though every defendant, by the prac- 
 tice of the court, was permitted to choose his own exa- 
 miner, the commission to the individual pitched upon by 
 
 * Hacket'sXi/eo/7rt7//a??w,partii. t Id. pp. 118, 119. 
 
 p. 116, .1 Heyliu'.s Life of Laud, p. 313.
 
 96 CONSTITUTIOXAL IIISTOEY OF THE BEITISH EMPIEE. 
 
 CHAP, tlie bishop was stopped by Secretary Windebanke, and 
 - \ - another substituted, because the first, having been inter- 
 rogated by Kilvert, had declared that he would im- 
 partially discharge his duty. Thirdly, says Hacket, ' the 
 same secretary directed one Peachy, a messenger of the 
 chamber (start not, reader, for it is true), to attend Kilvert 
 in his coat-of-arms, all along with the commission, to 
 apprehend and imprison such as Kilvert should appoint, 
 pretending matter of state and deep consequence against 
 them ; and Peachy did apprehend and close imprison, in 
 the face of the commission, Philip Pregion, George Walker, 
 and Thomas Lund, witnesses for the bishop, and chased 
 away the rest, that durst not be seen for fear. Those 
 three prisoners were brought to London to the secretary, 
 who told them he had nothing against them, but bade 
 them give satisfaction to Kilvert, who could get no liberty 
 by his mastership's leave till they had confessed crimes 
 against the bishop, which afterwards they revoked upon 
 oath. Nor would he permit George Walker's wife to see 
 her husband, kept by the messenger, but for a courtesy 
 too base to be named.' * 
 
 This is only a specimen of the loathsome pettifogging 
 depravity exiiibited in the case. But, after the bishop 
 liad brought such a counter-proof as he was allowed to 
 lead, it was deleted by one of the chief justices, in his 
 own chambers, not as irrelevant, but merely, forsooth, 
 because it reflected upon Kilvert, and disproved the evi- 
 dence for the crown.f 
 
 Having resorted to such devices for the bishop's ruin, 
 his enemies, who sat in the Star Chamber, could not fail 
 to convict him of subornation of perjury. A fine of 10,000/. 
 was then imposed upon him, while he was referred over 
 to the High Commission, to be suspended of offices aiid 
 benefices^ and condemned to imprisonment in the Tower 
 during the royal pleasure. Some were for a milder sen- 
 
 • llacket'a Life of WilUam^y part ii. p. 119 et seq. 
 t Ibid. p. 124.
 
 I. 
 
 Williams's sentexce. — injustice in its execution. 97 
 
 tence ; but Laud, who wished his brother's deprivation, chap 
 and even deportation, he said not wliither, was dissatisfied - 
 with its lenity ; and Finch, who had been hkewise obliged 
 by Williams, declared, that if it had pleased others, he 
 would have laid some ignominy upon the prelate's person, 
 by which was understood the usual punishment of brand- 
 ing the face, shtting the nose, and cropping the ears. 
 Could anything add to our disgust at such enormities, it 
 would be the affectedly religious cant of these wicked 
 ministers of oppression. Every one was louder than 
 another against the horrid crime of perjury, of which they 
 were all at the very moment guilty. Laud, the original 
 prosecutor, the employer, and abettor of Kilvert, ' aggra- 
 vated,' to use the words of Heyhn, ' the fault of subor- 
 nation of perjury, with a pathetical speech of almost an 
 hour long, showing how the world was nearly three 
 thousand years old before it was ripe enough to commit 
 so great a wickedness. That Jezebel was the first in 
 Scripture which had been branded with that infamy, 
 whose witnesses could find no other name in Scripture 
 than the sons of Belial ; and therefore that, considering 
 the greatness of the offence, though before he had been 
 five times on his knees to his majesty in the bishop's 
 behalf, yet now he could not but agree to the heaviest 
 sentence.' Three of WUhams's servants were fined at the 
 same time. 
 
 After this, Williams had not a courtier to intercede for 
 him, as ' kings like not that any should pity them whom 
 they have undone ; ' and in the execution of the sentence, 
 the last injustice was practised. Trusting that an indul- 
 gence, which had been allowed to others, of paying a fine 
 by instalments, might not be denied to him, he proposed 
 to pay up the sum at the rate of 1000/. a year, and 
 Ch arles was himself inclined to afford him the benefit of 
 the practice. But the good offices of Laud, here inter- 
 posed, prevented this act of royal clemency ; and an 
 order to gather in and import into the exchequer what- 
 
 VOL. II. li
 
 98 CONSTITUTTOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, ever of the prelate's property could be found was issued. 
 . ^- This duty was assigned to Kilvert, who, as he entertained 
 no idea of promoting the wickedness of others without 
 sharing in the profit, instantly seized upon all the prelate's 
 personal effects, including books, plate, wine, household 
 furniture, hay, &c., to the value of fully 10,000/. (which 
 ouglit at once to have discharged the fine), and prudently 
 accounted for 800/. only. Williams's benefices, lands, and 
 leases, were proposed to be rented at 4500/. a-year, which 
 would have paid the fine in two years and a half, allowing 
 him, as was done, 500/. a-year for his maintenance ; but, 
 as his absolute ruin was intended on the one hand, and his 
 enemies had an eye to the plunder on the other, Kilvert 
 carried a letter from Windebanke to direct, or rather to 
 force, the juries, to receive no evidence against the king's 
 profit ; and to estimate the lands at half their annual rate.* 
 Williams, who, in the triumphant language of He3din, 
 ' began to find how dreadful a thing it was to fall into a 
 king's displeasure,' tried once more the effect of submis- 
 sion, and even proposed to surrender his bishopric and 
 deanery of Westminster, on condition of his majesty's pro- 
 viding for him otherwise. The offer was eagerly grasped 
 at both by Laud and his master, who intimated, that if 
 Wilhams would give in his resignation he should obtain a 
 living in Ireland ; but to this the other demurred, observ- 
 ing that he should then fall under the power of a man, 
 Wentwortli, who in six months would find out some old 
 statute to cut off his head. Foiled in their attempt to 
 remove liim in this way, they began a prosecution on 
 another ground. His book upon the holy-table was 
 charged by Laud as countenancing Prynne, Bastwick, 
 and Burton ; and his creed was tried by interrogatories in 
 
 • T racket's Z//<"o/'Tr7///r//«.s, part ii. this sentence on the public: From* 
 
 p._ 1 L'8 ct mj. Kilvert liad sharers this, with all other things, every 
 
 ■\vitli hini. Lamb, in parlicuhir, was niecliaiiic presaged ills to come, yet 
 
 well paiil for his trcaclierv. See Williams kept his spirit (Ileylin's 
 
 also p. ll'G, 127, about the ell'ect of Life of Laud, pp. 344, 340, 347).
 
 -FRESH PEETEXT FOR PROSECUTION. 99 
 
 the High Commission, in order to discover a pretext for ch.aj'. 
 his deprivation. 
 
 * 
 
 tone. 
 
 In the meantime a fresh pretext for prosecution in the Second 
 Star Chamber was discovered.f Weston, earl of Port- E'oT 
 land, having disagreed with Laud, had conceived the idea WijUams 
 
 ' o o ' _ and case ot 
 
 of formino; a coalition with Williams, in order to counter- Osbaidis- 
 poise the other ; and therefore applied to Mr. Osbaldis- 
 tone, a prebendary and head-master of Westminster 
 School, whom Williams patronised, and who was much in 
 his confidence, to mediate between them. The prelate, 
 though rejoiced at the prospect of such an opening, was 
 cautious in expressing any forwardness in the busmess, 
 lest, for the purpose of giving an advantage to his 
 enemies, Osbaldistone should have been deceived. He, 
 therefore, wrote to a friend, to ascertain exactly how 
 matters stood, and to intimate to the earl that, if he were 
 sincere in his proposition he must give an earnest of it, 
 by freeing him from the prosecution in the Star Chamber, 
 and employing a more sufficient messenger. The earl 
 soon after died, and the prelate's hopes Avith him. Now, 
 Kilvert, in searching the bishop's house, and rummaging 
 through every corner for means to gratify his own avarice, 
 or feed the mahce of Williams's enemies, lighted upon 
 the letters of Osbaldistone, which, as they fartlier taught 
 Laud the importance of his rival in men's estimation, and 
 the danger he had himself narrowly escaped, augmented 
 his revengeful passions. In those letters the earl was 
 designated the great leviathan, Laud the little urchin, 
 meddhng hocus-pocus, little grace, vermin, and the like ; 
 but no difficulty could attend the interpretation. Upon 
 these two letters, and another ii'om Williams to a friend, 
 an information was filed in the Star Chamber, against both 
 him and Osbaldistone, for having plotted to divulge false 
 
 * Heylin's Life of Laud, p. 344 ; ment, it was alleged that the prelate 
 
 Straft'. Let. and JDisp. vol. ii. pp. 149, had refused ship-money ; but he had 
 
 150; Ilaclcet's Life of Williams, only complained of being rated too 
 
 part ii. p. 129 e< sp<?. high {Ld. p. 96; Fuller's Church 
 
 t To keep up the king's resent- Hist. b. xi. p. 159). 
 
 H 2
 
 100 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAR news and lies, to breed disturbance in the state, and a 
 >- ^; -- (lifTerence between two great persons. Tlie prelate, with 
 little regard to trutli, pleaded that he had not received the 
 two letters ; that they had been opened by his secretary 
 in his absence, and by him thrown aside amongst other 
 papers, as unworthy of his master's notice ; and that he 
 did not know who were meant by such names ; and then 
 justly added, that, at all events, they had never been 
 published, and consequently could not be chargeable with 
 the intention imputed to them. Osbaldistone pleaded 
 that by the great leviathan he meant Chief Justice 
 Eichardson, and by the little urchin, &c., a Dr. Spicer. 
 Ikit the fact, as to the persons so represented, though 
 perhaps not estabhshed by competent evidence, was 
 manifest. In the investigation of the matter, however, 
 some most abominable practices, similar to those which 
 occurred in the former proceedings against Williams, 
 were resorted to, and nothing could be more opposite to 
 reason and justice than the whole charge. 
 
 The court assessed Williams in a fine of 5000/. to the 
 kinn;, and in oOOO/. of damao;es to Laud ; and a^ain con- 
 demned liini to be imprisoned during his majesty's plea- 
 sure, and to make a submission. Osbaldistone was 
 sentenced to be deprived of all spiritual dignities and 
 promotion, to stand in the pillory in the dean's yard, 
 before his own scliool, and to have his ears nailed to the 
 })inory ; to be imprisoned during the king's pleasure, and 
 to make a submission. In deliverinfj then" sentence 
 against this individual, who was a distinguished scholar, 
 tlie judges of this court could not refrain from adding the 
 meanest insolence to injustice. His calhug, as a teacher, 
 in wliich lie had made himself highly eminent, afforded 
 the illiberal theme: They would have 'the pedant' 
 made ' an example to his boys.' But he disappointed 
 their vindictive, pitiful cruelty. Though reported to be 
 fled, he was secretly in court during the trial (if it be not 
 ])rof:ming the name), and slipt away when he had heard
 
 CONCLUSION OF THESE REMARKABLE PROCEEDINGS. lOl 
 
 the opinions of the majority. Having retired to his own chap. 
 house, he destroyed some papers, 'ftad: left a note on his 
 desk, that, if the archbishop inquired for him, he was 
 gone beyond Canterbury. Messenger^, Vefe'ioikntly 
 despatched to the different port-towns to apprehend him ; 
 but he was successfully concealed in a private house 
 in Drury Lane, till the parhament met in November, 
 1G40.* 
 
 We shall conclude these remarkable proceedings by 
 observing, that the event proved that Laud was not, with- 
 out cause, jealous of Williams recovering his ground. 
 The latter was restored to power, and then, though not 
 from Williams, his own calamities began. Kilvert, after 
 this revolution, had the effrontery to wait upon Williams, 
 to ask forgiveness ; and that he might show a title to it, 
 proffered his services in hunting down Laud and his other 
 employers, as he had done the man he now addressed. 
 The prelate, having first drawn from him all the informa- 
 tion he could, assured him of his pardon, as a wretch 
 beneath his resentment, and bid him live by pettifogging 
 still, and think himself forgotten. f 
 
 The best authorities on both sides ao^ree in recrard to Court of 
 the illegal and severe proceedings of the court of High '"^ "°^' 
 Commission, where many heavy fines were imposed, in a 
 great measure for the better enabling Laud to fulfil his 
 pious object in rebuilding St. Paul's ; but the details of a few 
 cases only have descended to us. Some of these we have 
 had occasion to relate in our account of the proceedings 
 of the Star Chamber, as the cases of Bastwick, Prynne's 
 clerk, and the Chester men, and we shall add a few more : 
 — Mr. Bernard, a lecturer in London, was suspended from 
 the ministry, excommunicated, fined 1000/., besides the costs 
 
 * Ilacket's Life of Williams, part ii. No. 493, page 316. See the Journals 
 
 ^.IZO et scq.; HeyVm^s Life of Land, of the Lords early in 1(541 for tlie 
 
 p. 345 et seq. ; Whitelocke, p. 2(3 ; reversal of his sentence. 
 
 Rush. vol. ii. p. 803 et seq. ; Franklyn, t Ilacket's Life <f Williams, part ii. 
 
 p. 760; Fuller's Clmrch Hist. b. xi. pp. 137, 138, 140, 141. 
 p. 165 et seq : Lansd. MSS. Brit. Mus. 
 
 mission.
 
 102 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, of siiit, as well as imprisoned, by all which lie was ruined, 
 ^' chiefly to preaOhing against the use of crucifixes.* — 
 Mr. Workman, lecturer in' Gloucester, for preaching against 
 imageij Atas -^ispencled. oiid ordained to make a submis- 
 sion, lie repeated the offence, and was both deprived 
 and imprisoned. Having recovered his liberty he tried to 
 earn a hvelihood for himself, his wife, and a numerous 
 family of infants, by teaching ; but he was prohibited 
 from that occupation. He then endeavoured to procure 
 subsistence by the practice of physic ; but Laud inter- 
 dicted that too. As he had preached in Gloucester for 
 fifteen years, and was much beloved, the corporation, 
 taking pity on him and his family, granted him a bond 
 of annuity for 20/, ; and for such an act of generosity the 
 mayor and some of the aldermen were carried by pur- 
 suivants, first before the Council, and afterwards the High 
 Commission, where two of them were fined, and the Avhole 
 subjected to large fees, while that tyrannical court also 
 cancelled the bond.f — j\Ii'. Peter Smart, the oldest pre- 
 bend in the cathedral of Durham, for preaching against 
 the innovations introduced by Dr. Cosens — perhaps, more 
 correctly speaking, against the reintroduction of what had 
 been discarded — was fined 500/., deprived of all his 
 livings (a proceeding whereby he sustained 10,000/. 
 damages), and sent to prison ; from which he was, after 
 eleven years close confinement, only released by the long 
 parliament. J The livings from which Smart had been 
 ejected were, as might be supposed, bestowed by Laud 
 upon his own creatures. — Mr. Charles Chancy, minister of 
 Ware, was deprived, condemned in costs, and ordained to 
 
 * Til is individual had been pre- confessed that he was remarkably 
 
 viously cited into that court for using lightly dealt with, having been par- 
 
 this expression in liis prayer, ' Oh, doned, upon a submission and ac- 
 
 Lord ! open the eyes of the queen's knowledgment of his offence. But 
 
 majesty, tliat slie may see Jesus the second case liad no relation to 
 
 Christ, whom she hath pierced witli the first {Canterburij s Duome, p. .'J62 
 
 her infidelity, superstition, and idol- et seq. 
 
 atiy.' Siu-h language was alto- f Conterhurtf s Dcmne, p. 103 et seq. 
 
 gether unjustiGable, and it must be J Id. p. 'J-"5," itc.
 
 OTHER CASES IN THE COURT OF HIGH COMMISSIOX. 103 
 
 make a recantation, and, in the meantime, to give bond chap. 
 for it, or be imprisoned till he performed it, merely — < — - 
 because he opposed the railing in of the communion 
 table — an act which had not been warranted by the 
 bishop of the diocese. A Mr. Humphrey Porter suffered 
 along with him. One of Mr. Chancy's counsel, too, Dr. 
 Merick, having attempted to justify his client's conduct, 
 Avas silenced by a threat from Laud, of suspending him 
 from his practice.* — John Premly was fined, imprisoned, 
 &c., for opposing the alteration in the communion table.f 
 — Mr. Burdit, for giving the sacrament to some who 
 scrupled to come up to the rails, was nearly ruined. J — 
 The case of the churchwardens of Beckington was not, 
 properly speaking, a High Commission one, because they 
 were only forced into submission to the bishop, by a 
 threat of being summoned into that terrible court ; but 
 indirectly it operated. They were excommunicated, im- 
 prisoned, &c., about altering the communion table. § This 
 was not merely a spiritual censure. A person who stood 
 obstinately excommunicated for forty-two days, was 
 attachable by a writ out of Chancery de excommunicato 
 capiendo^ directed to the sheriff, and by him to be com- 
 mitted to prison without hail or main-prize, till he 
 conformed himself and souQ;ht absolution. — The learned 
 Selden liad written an erudite work upon tithes, in which 
 he had endeavoured to prove that they were not of 
 divine origin. A book was published on the other side. 
 But Laud had a better species of refutation in store. He 
 called Selden into the Hio-h Commission for such 
 heterodox doctrine, and obliged him to sign a humihat- 
 ing recantation. II 
 
 ' Persons of honour and great quality, of the court 
 and of the country,' says Clarendon, ' were every day 
 
 * Canterbury'' s Doome, p. 93, &c. Laud, p. 290. They were men of 
 
 f Ibid. 101. consequence. 
 
 X Ibid. 96. II Neal, vol. ii. p. 120 j Fuller, 
 
 § Ibid. p. 97 et seq. &c. ; Rusb. b. x. p. 70. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 300 ; Heylin's Life of
 
 104 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, cited into the High Commission, upon the fame of their 
 
 - ; -^ incontinence, or other scandal in their hves, and were 
 
 there prosecuted to their shame and punishment ; and as 
 the shame, whicli they called an insolent triumph upon 
 their degree and quality, and levelling them with the 
 common people, was never forgotten but watched for 
 revenge, so the fines imposed there were the more 
 questioned and repined against, because they were as- 
 signed to the rebuilding and repairing St. Paul's church, 
 and thought therefore the more severely imposed, and 
 tlio less compassionately reduced and excused.'* It was 
 afterwards declared, by a committee of the parliament, 
 that some hundreds of people in every diocese in England 
 liad been excommunicated for not going up to the rails 
 to receive the sacrament (the consequences of excommu- 
 nication have just been mentioned) ; and some hundreds 
 of ministers had been silenced, suspended, or deposed, for 
 refusing to read a declaration for sports or recreations on 
 Sunday. f The printers of the English Bible had com- 
 mitted, a typographical error in omitting the word not in 
 tlie seventh commandment, and for this they were deeply 
 fined by tlie Iligli Commission, while the whole im- 
 pression was called in.J Many, too, were severely 
 prosecuted for importing the Geneva Bibles, which had 
 been freely allowed under Elizabeth, and even by James, 
 though he disapproved of some notes about resisting the 
 chief magistrate. § 
 Book of Having alluded to the Book of Sports, as it is called, 
 
 ^^^^' we sliall here introduce an account of it. The Christian 
 church had, from the earhest times, set apart the first 
 day of the week as sacred ; but as it was a dilTerent day, 
 so it was held to be a different institution, from the 
 Jewish Sabbath ; and entitled to reverence merely as an 
 
 ♦ Clnronrlon, vol. i. p. 24. -f^PP- ^^^^i npplication was made to 
 
 f C'ft/ifcrhitri/'s Dooiitt',-^. \2S eispq. tlic Dutch goviTinnciit to prevent 
 
 t Ilcyliii's Life (if Land, p. 228. the priiitinii- of Juiii-lisli books there 
 
 § ('(intcrhitnfs Dooino, pp. l81, 182, {Life (f Liuid, ])p. oGl, •>()-■)). 
 454, 5iy, oirj/GlG, 529; l.'iish. vol. iii.
 
 SUNDAY SPORTS ENJOINED. 105 
 
 appointment of tlie church, (which was empowered by chap. 
 
 heaven to make such regulations,) not as a direct obe- ^; . 
 
 dience to the fourth commandment. Many of the re- 
 formers, however, regarded it in a different hght, and 
 observed it with all imaginable strictness as the Sabbath. 
 The Puritan clergy now carried, to the highest degree, 
 the sanctity of the Sabbath, devoting that day to preach- 
 ing, and to extemporary or pulpit-prayers after the litany. 
 Their hearers frequently permitted the service to be over 
 before they entered the church. The grand object of 
 Laud and his party, however, being in a manner to 
 supersede preaching and lecturing, and, above all, the 
 preaching of those who did not cheerfully join him in 
 his innovations, it was conceived to be necessary to lessen 
 the reverence for the Lord's day, to inure the people to 
 sports, that they might be withdrawn from sermons, and 
 to impress upon the general mind that Sunday was ex- 
 actly in the same situation with the other holidays 
 appointed by the church, and that to regard it in any 
 other hght was an unpardonable impiety. Laud seems 
 to have had more respect for the hohdays than for it. 
 This, while it struck no less deeply against the interest, 
 than it affected the piety of the Puritan ministry, whose 
 influence in the community depended on very different 
 principles from an attention to rites, meats, and vestments, 
 was particularly calculated to gratify the ambition of 
 the ruhng party, since it implied a most extensive au- 
 thority in the church — in other words, the prelates ; and, 
 besides teaching the people how inadequate they were to 
 form any judgment upon doctrinal points, ever reminded 
 them of the authority which appointed the regular 
 periods of worship, and prepared them for the reception 
 of all the ideas connected with particular days. The 
 Book of Sports had been pubhshed in the preceding 
 reign ; but there had been an express statute passed in 
 the first of this reign against plays, sports, &c., on Sun- 
 day, yet a declaration enjoining them was now ordered
 
 lOG 
 
 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 to be read by every minister, while extemporary prayers, 
 nay, preacliing, too, were prohibited. The measure ex- 
 cited general consternation : as it was intended for a 
 test of uniformity, so it was esteemed ; and indeed was 
 nothing sliort of demanding that the popular clergy 
 should, besides doing violence to their consciences, be 
 themselves the instruments of their own ruin in the public 
 opinion.* Many, though with much heart-burning, 
 complied ; lumdreds were, as we have said, silenced, 
 suspended, deprived, or obhged to leave the kingdom for 
 a refusal. The spirit with which many complied with it 
 may be conceived from the remark of one, who, having 
 read the declaration, said, 'Dearly beloved, you have 
 heard now the commandments of God and man, obey 
 which you please.' Another, having read it, preached 
 upon the fourth commandment.f 
 
 * St. 1 Car. c. 1. continued by 
 3 Car. c. 5. s. 3 ; see also 3 Car. c. 2 ; 
 Pride aux on the Sahbath, with a 
 preface by the transhitor. Ed. 1035 ; 
 Dow's Christian >Sahh(ith, 103(5 ; and 
 Innovations upon the j^f'csent Church 
 and State, ch. 9, 1037 ; Pocklington's 
 Sermon, Siindai/ no Sahlmfh, lO-'iO; 
 Ileylin's Life of Latid, Introd. p. 15 ; 
 I,ife, pp. L>5"7, 2'58, -im, 201, 310, 311, 
 312. Thi.s writer tells us that a poor 
 schoolniiister in Norfolk, one l>ra- 
 bourne, ' seduced and niis^'uidcd by t lie 
 continual inculcating of the morality 
 of the Lord's-day Sabbath, from the 
 press and pulpit, published a book, 
 in maintenance of the seventh-day- 
 Sabbath, as it was prescribed by 
 Moses, &c., that his majesty, ex- 
 tremely moved witli so lewd an im- 
 pudence, and fi'dring to he thoiKjht the 
 patron of a doctrine so abhorrent from 
 all Christian })icti/, gave orders for the 
 author to be censured in the High 
 Conmiission. The author was con- 
 vinced of his error by the arguments 
 used in that court (pp. 257, 258). 
 The chief justice, llichardson, had 
 performed liis duty in enforcing tlie 
 statute in Somersetsliire, and ' he 
 was convented at the council table, 
 and peremptorily commanded to re- 
 
 verse his order at the next assizes for 
 that county. Withal receiving such, 
 a rattle for his former contempt by 
 the Bishop of London (then Laud, 
 anno 1033), that he came out blub- 
 bering and complaining that he had 
 been almost choaked with a pair of 
 lawn sleeves ' (p. 257 ; Prynne's 
 Introd to LaiuT s J rial, ^. 158; Cant.'s 
 Doome; Fuller's Church Hist. b. ix. 
 pp. 227, 228; b. x. p. 74; b. xi. 
 p. 144 ; StrafF. Let. and Disp. vol. i. 
 p. 10() ; Rush. vol. ii. p. 191 et seq., 
 p. 459 et seq. ; May, pp. 23, 24. Mr. 
 Hume, without, as usual, taking the 
 trouble to inform himself on the 
 subject, ascribes the Book of Sports 
 to tlie king's desire to infuse moi'e 
 cheerfulness into his people, as if 
 Charles had been so insane as to 
 make men mad by an injudicious 
 attempt to compel them to be merry 
 — against the statute-law too. Laud, 
 after relating, in liis Diarj/, an ac- 
 cident that \'iscoiint Manshcld met 
 with on (iood Friday in running at 
 tilt, says, ' Should not this day have 
 other employment ? ' How he would 
 have had the Sunday employed we 
 have already shown. 
 
 t StrafF. Let, a?id Dv^p. vol. i. 
 p. 166.
 
 GROSS INJUSTICE OF THE EAEL MARSHAL'S COURT. 107 
 
 We have already had occasion to give an account of chap. 
 
 the Earl Marshal's Court, which Avas erected witliout a - ; - 
 
 pretext of law ; and, according to Clarendon himself, ^(If^s"'^^^^" 
 imposed the most extravagant fines. But it is unfortunate Com-t. 
 that no record of cases has been preserved ; Eushworth, 
 who had kept an account of them, having lost it through 
 the improper conduct of a friend to whom he had lent, 
 and who never returned it. But the two following cases 
 afford a sufficient proof of the gross injustice of tliat 
 usurping tribunal. A waterman attempted to extort 
 more than liis fare from a citizen, and, after some rudeness, 
 produced his badge, which represented a swan, the crest 
 of an earl, to overawe his employer. The latter, tired of 
 impertinence, bade him be gone with his goose ; when 
 the waterman complained to his master, and by liis in- 
 terest had the citizen summoned into the Marshal's Court. 
 Here the citizen was ruined by an immoderate fine, for 
 the alleged and clearly unintentional offence of reviling 
 the nobleman's crest, by calling the swan a goose ! A 
 gentleman owed his tailor a large bill, wdiich he had no 
 mind to pay ; and the tailor dunned him for his money. 
 The gentleman upon this laid hands on the poor trades- 
 man, and thrust him out of the room, calling him base 
 fellow. The other, thus denied his hard-earned pittance, 
 and vilely used, so far forgot the respect due to his 
 creditor, as to let fall the insulting words, that he was as 
 good a man as the other. This was an unpardonable 
 offence, and he was cited into the Marshal's Court, where 
 he was compelled to release all his debts for his ill manners. 
 It was this court that issued authority to the herald's 
 office to assess all funerals according to the quality of the 
 deceased.* 
 
 An oppressive act of the Court of Exchequer may now Case of the 
 be mentioned. A society of pious men had erected them- for buying 
 
 in impro- 
 priations. 
 * Rnsh. vol. ii. p. 104 ; Cahala, Clarendon's Life, vol. i. p. 82 ; but 
 
 4to. ed. 1055, p. 55, about this court; also on same subject, pp. 81 et seq., 
 
 Rush. vol. iii. p. 1054, 1055, 1056 ; 85 et seq.
 
 108 
 
 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, selves into a corporation, for purcliasing in impropriations 
 ^; - which had been dissolved by the Eeformation, with a view 
 of bestowing them upon ministers of their own choice. 
 Laud and his master, however, hated all lay benefices, 
 because the incumbents, though necessarily approved of 
 by their ordinaries, were generally better suited to the 
 taste of their auditory than to the spirit of the cabinet, 
 and Laud had long aimed at having these impropriations 
 restored to the church. The feoffees were therefore cited 
 into the Exchequer Cliamber, where their powers were 
 annulled, the impropriations which they had purchased 
 transferred to the church, that his majesty might bestow 
 them upon incumbents of his own choice, and themselves 
 threatened with a prosecution in the Star Chamber. It 
 was deemed advisable not to proceed against them further ; 
 but some of them were indirectly vexed with arbitrary 
 proceedings. A Mr. Foxley, supposed to favour them, 
 was confined in a chamber not four yards square, and 
 kept close prisoner for twenty months.* 
 
 We might enumerate other arbitrary proceedings, as a 
 decree in the Star Chamber prohibiting any to act as 
 printers, either as principals or servants, without a licence, 
 and ordaining that all who presumed to contravene tlie 
 decree be punished with whip[)ing, the pilloiy, and im- 
 prisonment, or in any other manner which tlie court 
 sliould think fit ; and that none should import books 
 without a licence under similar penalties, &c. (no book, 
 though formerly licensed, was to be reprinted without a 
 new warrant).! But we conceive that enough has been 
 
 • On tho 12th April, 1020, Laud 
 has an entry in liis JJiari/ as follows : 
 ' That night, after 9 o'clock, I gave 
 to tho Idng an account of what I had 
 received iu command on tho .5th 
 April, and of other things relating 
 thereto. Amongst the rest, rvdorhuj 
 iinpropridlicus. The l\ing spoke many 
 lliings very graciously tlii'rciii, after 
 I had first discoursed of the manner 
 of cITceting it.' On February 13th, 
 
 10.31-2, ho has tho following entry: 
 * The reoflees that pretended to buy 
 in impropriations, were dissolved in 
 the Exchequer Chamber. They wero 
 the main instrument for tho I'uritan 
 faction to undo the church. Tho 
 criminal part reserved' (Hush. vol. ii. 
 p. 150, et scq. ; C'ant.^s Doonu; p. .385 
 ct ■'^cq.). 
 
 t See this decree iu Hush. vol. iii. 
 A pp.
 
 A MURMUR IN ALL RANKS AGAINST SIIIP-MONEY. 109 
 
 said to convey a picture of the government ; and we shall chap. 
 now j?ive an account of the famous measures relative to -__i:^ 
 
 the tax of ship-money, The devising of this tax has, shii> 
 witli little justice, been attributed to Noy; as, in the ™"^''y- 
 second of this reign, while he was a keen advocate for the 
 constitution, a similar tax was imposed. Ships were at 
 that time required from the several ports, with the assist- 
 ance of the adjacent counties, and excepting that the 
 inland counties were now assessed as well as the maritime, 
 the tax had only so far assumed a different shape, that, 
 instead of ships, money was demanded under the pretext 
 of fitting out a fleet. It was politicly levied with great 
 fairness in the assessment, except that the clergy, though 
 they complained of being rated too high, were favoured. 
 But, as it struck at the vital principle of a free govern- 
 ment, and, if permitted to operate, swept away at once all 
 hope of another parliament, or any check to arbitrary 
 power, it excited a murmur amongst all ranks ; and the 
 name of Noy, which had been famed on account of his 
 reputed research, became worse than contemptible.* 
 
 To defraud the people, by a pretended principle of law, 
 the Lord Keeper Coventry openly charged the judges in 
 the Star Chamber, on giving them their commissions, to 
 travel the circuits, to recommend it to the diiferent 
 counties. But when this failed, another device was 
 resorted to, ' to gild this illegal pill.' Heath, who had 
 shown himself refractory in the case of Williams, was 
 removed from the office of chief justice of the Common 
 Pleas, as unfit for the occasions of government ; and his 
 })lace was supplied by Finch, who, with little law, had 
 qualities better adapted to the times when law was dis- 
 regarded. He, assisted by others, applied to his brother 
 
 * Wliitelocke,p.22; EusL.ToLii. had ofteu been exacted; and of his 
 
 pp. 21-3, 247, 253,237 etscfj.; Clar. vol. having kept the small slips of paper, 
 
 i. p. 118 e^ «Yy. Heylin tells a ridicu- on which his notes were preserved, 
 
 loiis stoiy of Noj^ having, from time in the coffin of a pie sent by hi.s 
 
 to time, made notes from the records mother {L(fc of Lcnnl, p. 320). 
 in the Tower, proving that na-val aids
 
 110 COXSTITUTIOXAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, jntlges to concur Avitli him in an extrajudicial opinion, 
 . •^- . which was to be pubUshed, that the tax was consonant to 
 the fundamental laws of the realm ; and, by much solicit- 
 ation, with promises of preferment to some, and threats 
 to others, as the judges themselves informed Whitelocke, 
 an opinion was obtained that, when the kingdom in 
 general is concerned and in danger, the king may levy 
 sums for equipping and furnishing a navy ; and that he is 
 the sole judge both of the danger and of the means to pre- 
 vent it. This extrajudicial opinion was ordered to be 
 enrolled in all the courts of Westminster ; but, however 
 it might satisfy Charles himself, whom Heylin, in regard 
 to this very case, calls ' too just a prince to exact any tiling 
 by power, Avhen he had neither law nor reason to make 
 it good,'f increased, instead of allaying the general dis- 
 content : for nothing embitters oppression more than to 
 pretend to justify it on principle ; and men, though they 
 may be dragooned, are not to be cheated out of their 
 liberties. None could be so dull as not to perceive that, 
 upon the same ground, any tax whatever might be im- 
 posed ; tliat the plea of necessity was an insult in tliis 
 instance, since the prince was so far from merely provid- 
 ing a temporary remedy for the exigencies of state, till 
 parliament could be assembled, that he had declared his 
 purpose to govern without the legislature ; that, as neces- 
 sity supersedes all law, it was utter extravagance to 
 pretend to justify the measure on legal principles ; and 
 that necessity never can be pleaded in regard to a regular 
 tax at the will of the prince, since it requires such time in 
 the levying, that there must be more than leisin^e to jiro- 
 vide a legislative remedy for the evil which is alleged to 
 call for the measure. The plea of necessity would never 
 fail a prince ; and it was well admitted on all hands 
 that, if the law gave the power, it must presume a faithful 
 discharge of the duty ; nay, afterwards, all argument upon 
 
 • Lije of Laud, p. .321.
 
 TRIUMPH OF THE COURT TARTY. Ill 
 
 the necessity of the measure was prohibited, as reflecting chap. 
 upon so benign a monarch ; and Mr. Holbourn was ^; 
 severely checked by the chief justice of the Common 
 Pleas for assuming it as a possible case that such a power 
 mio-ht be abused.* 
 
 Great was the triumph of the court party on having 
 obtained this opinion. Wentworth declared ' it to be the 
 greatest service the legal profession had done the crown 
 in his time.' ' But,' says he, ' unless his majesty hath 
 the hke power declared to raise a land army upon the 
 same exigent of state, the crown seems to me to stand 
 but upon one leg at home, to be considerable but by 
 halves to foreign princes abroad : yet sure this, methinks, 
 convinces a power for the sovereign to raise payments for 
 land forces, and consequently submits to his wisdom and 
 ordinance the transporting of the money or men into 
 foreign states, so to carry, by way of prevention, the lire 
 from ourselves into the dwellings of our enemies (an art 
 which Edward III. and Henry V. full well understood), 
 and if by degrees Scotland and Ireland be drawn to con- 
 tribute theii' proportions" to these levies for the public, 
 omne tulit pimctum.' 'This piece,' continues he, 'well 
 fortified, for ever vindicates the royulty at home from 
 under the conditions and restraints of subjects ; renders 
 us also abroad, even to the greatest kings, the most con- 
 siderable monarchy in Christendom,' &c. Such was the 
 language of Wentworth ; but he still earnestly dissuaded 
 from encraoino; in the Continental broils, alleoing; that it 
 was ' a business to be won from the subject in time of 
 peace only ; the people first accustomed to these levies.' 
 ' I beseech you,' says he, ' what piety to alhances is there 
 that should divert a great and wise king forth of a path 
 which leads so manifestly, so du-ectly, to the establishing 
 his own throne, and the secure and independent seating 
 of himself and posterity in wealth, strength, and glory,/^/' 
 
 * Wliitelocke, pp. 24, 25 : Eusli. money (see particularly, pp. 960, 
 p. 352 et iseq. ; State Trials — Skip- 970-lj.
 
 112 COXSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISII EMPIRE, 
 
 above any their progenitors ; verily, in such a condition as 
 that there were no more hereafter to be wished them m 
 this world, but that they would be very exact in their 
 care for the just and moderate government of their 
 people, which might minister back to them the plenties 
 and comforts of life,' * &c. It lias been said that Charles 
 and Ids ministers were actuated by a desire of merely re- 
 taining the ancient prerogative of the crown, but this 
 affords a direct refutation of the statement ; and with 
 regard to Wentworth's cant about just and moderate 
 government, his practice establishes his ideas upon the 
 point ; and the following passage proves also the nature 
 of his theory. He recommended that the king should be 
 ' sole merchant ' of salt in Ireland, because ' it is of so 
 absolute necessity, as it cannot stay on his majesty's 
 hand ; but must be Iiad, whether they will have it or no, 
 and may at all times be raised in price, so far forth as his 
 majesty shall judge to stand with reason and justice — 
 witness the gabelle in France.' f 
 
 Mr. Chambers and others attempted to make an appeal 
 to the laws against this monstrous tax of ship-money ; 
 but even a hearing was denied. One of the judges, indeed, 
 openly remarked, that ' there was a rule of law and a rule 
 of government, and that many things, which might not be 
 
 * Straff. Let. and Disp: vol. ii. sliould give him tliat very freely; 
 pp. Gl-2, Considerations abend a War but it would something trouble me to 
 7edh Austria. His real motives re- find those that drew and engaged him 
 
 D"e" 
 
 garding the war, he tlius develops in all these mischiefs busy about me 
 
 in a letter to Laud : ' Good, my lord, themselves, in fitting the halter about 
 
 if it be not too late, use your best to mv neclc, and in tying the knot sure, 
 
 divert us from this war ; for I fore- tljat it .-hould not slip, as if they were 
 
 see nothing in it but distractions to the persons in tlie whole world the 
 
 his majesty's affairs, aitdmitjldy dan- most innocent of guilt, hoAvbeit, in 
 
 f/ors to US thid must he viinisfers ; al- trutli, as black as hell itself, and on 
 
 bcit, not the authors of the counsel. wliom alone the punishment ought 
 
 ]t will necessarily put the king into to lie' (p. GO). 
 
 all high ways possible, else will he f Vol. i. p. 102-3. There is, in 
 
 not be able to subsist under the the State PaperOfhce, a curious docu- 
 
 charge of it; and if these fail, the ment (Oth .January, ](i.")2-.'!), enti- 
 
 next will but !)(■ the sacrificing those tied, Peq^rs eoneernint/ ye Sidt Uasi- 
 
 thiit have been ministers therein. I ness, but I do not discover the abso- 
 
 f)rofess I will readily lay down my lute impost, tliongh I suspect that a 
 
 ife to serve my master ;_ my heart direct tax was contemplated.
 
 JOHX HA^IPDEN". 113 
 
 done by tlie rule of law, might be done by the rule of 
 government.' * But when some men of high rank de- 
 manded a legal hearing, the king, confident of a favoiu*able 
 judgment from his prostituted sworn guardians of the 
 law, and anxious to stem the torrent of public indignation, 
 consented to a trial of this, the most important question 
 that ever came before an English court. The individual, 
 whose case was tried, was John Hampden, a name that Hampden 
 will be illustrious so long as patriotism and private virtue ship.^^^*^ ° 
 are venerated by men. He was a gentleman of the ^^^^j- 
 oldest extraction in Buckinfjhamshire, and of a laro-e 
 estate ; f and though, at this period, not much known as 
 a pubhc character, universally beloved in his own county, 
 and esteemed for his talents. His morals were strict, 
 but his mind cheerful : his resolution, both in the closet, 
 the senate, and the field, undaunted ; but his disposition 
 mild, his manners courteous and affiible. While such 
 were the equability and moderation of his temper, that, 
 though every opportunity was sought for an advantage 
 against him, in any unguarded act or expression, none 
 could be found. He had been only rated for twenty 
 shillings, and it was his own particular interest to submit 
 to the imposition ; but he disdained to comply with a 
 demand that annulled all the franchises of his country ; 
 and he consulted with the gi^eatest law}''ers in the king- 
 dom. | This was exactly the character fitted for the 
 juncture. The case was argued at great length in the 
 Exchequer Chamber, before the twelve judges, who 
 delivered their opinions in the fullest manner. It held 
 the Gom-t twelve days ; but, as might have been anticipated, 
 a judgment was pronounced in favour of the crown. 
 The effrontery with which the prmciples of despotism 
 
 * Eusli. vol. ii. p. 323. Chambers t Clarendon says, 1500/. a year, 
 
 could obtain no redress ; and Jen- J Clar. vol. i. p. 323 et seq. and 
 
 nings, Danvers, and Pargiter, having p. 347, n. ; vol. ii. p. 15, with n. ; 
 
 been imprisoned for refusing the vol. iv. p. 88 et seq. particularly n. s. 
 
 tax, were denied theii- habeas corpora 91 et seq. ; 'Whiteloclie, pp. 25, 70. 
 (p. 414 et seq.), 
 
 YOL. II, I
 
 114 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 Effect of 
 the judg- 
 mpiit 
 af^ain.it 
 Hampdrn, 
 and fcpl- 
 ing.s of the 
 ppoplr. 
 
 were advanced, both at the bar and on the bench, must 
 satisfy every one of the awful crisis to which matters had 
 arrived. It was asserted that the power of imposing was 
 so inherent in the crown, that no act of the legislature 
 could take it away. Even Clarendon, who indeed con- 
 demns the judgment in the most unqualified terms, tells 
 us that there were in this, as in other cases, ' many im- 
 pertinences, incongruities, and insolences in the speeches 
 and orations of tlie judges, much more offensive, and 
 much more scandalous tlian the judgments themselves.'* 
 Four of the judges dissented from their brethren, and by 
 their argument partially vindicated tlie old law of the 
 country : one of them, Sir George Crooke, had intended 
 to give his opinion for the crown, but ' his lady, who 
 was a very good and pious woman,' inspired him with a 
 better mind. ' She told liim she hoped he would do 
 nothing against his conscience, for fear of any danger or 
 prejudice to him or his family ; and that she would be 
 contented to suffer want, or any misery with him, rather 
 than be the occasion for him to do or say anytliing against 
 his judgment and conscience.' f The annals of the world 
 do not afford an instance of nobler conduct : were it 
 oftener the province of the historian to record the virtues 
 of a Lady Crooke or a Hampden, the fruit of his labours 
 would be redeemed from the charo-e of beinjji; little else 
 than a register of crimes. 
 
 Wlien the tax was first imposed, people were impressed 
 witii the idea of some state necessity — some danger from 
 al)road, and submitted to it too generally on that account. 
 ' Ihit wlien they heard it demanded in a court of law as a 
 right, and adjudged so upon such groimds and reasons as 
 every bystander was able to swear was not law — by a 
 
 * Clar. vol. i. p. ]2(i, but sco from 
 p. 121 to p. 129. See tbe case of 
 wliin-iiiorn'v in tlic Sfato Triah and 
 in Kiisli. Tilt" plciidings an; full oi 
 research. W'arburton'H reason (note 
 to vol. ii. p. 20:',) for donbtinf? the 
 patriotism of Ilunipdcii, is fuimJed 
 
 on an nnliappy confidence in the can- 
 dour of Chirendon ; tliere being (as 
 1 shall show) no doubt of the real 
 (ibjt'ct then in view, whieli the noblo 
 historian allects to ridicule. 
 t Whit.'locke, p. 25.
 
 PRESAGES OF EVIL IX E\T:RY MECHAXIC'S ilOUTH. 115 
 
 loffic that left no man anythino; whicli he miaht call his chap. 
 
 own, they no longer looked upon it as the case of one man, 
 but the case of the kino-dom, which they thought them- 
 selves bound in public justice not to submit to.* The de- 
 cision, tlierefore, along with other circumstances, filled men 
 with abhorrence, and "svith the gloomiest apprehensions ; 
 * that things carried so far on in a wrong way, must needs 
 either enslave themselves and posterity for ever, or require 
 a vindication so sharp and smarting, as that the nation 
 would groan under it.'f ' Presages of evils were in every 
 mechanic's mouth. 'J 
 
 Such were the sentiments of the great body of the 
 people ; but there»were many lords and gentlemen who, 
 looking no farther than the present time, and enjoying 
 plentifid fortunes, dwelt upon the evils which Germany, 
 wasted with war, and other countries, endured, and al- 
 leged that in France, though there were no parliaments, 
 the gentry lived well. ' Some of the greatest statesmen 
 and counsellors would ordinarily laugh at the ancient lan- 
 guage of England, when the word liberty of the subject 
 was mentioned.'^ The high-clergy in particular exulted, 
 and had it not been at the general expense, it woidd have 
 been perfectly fair, that their status and power in the com- 
 munity were raised, and that men of great families not 
 only married their daughters to their cloth, but purposed 
 to provide for their sons by breeding them to the church. || 
 
 * Clar. vol. i. p. 123. 6, 1635-6, Sundai/, William Juxoa, 
 
 t May, p. 17. lord bishop of Londoa, made lord 
 
 I Ilacket's Life of WiUiams, liigh treasurer. xSo churchman had 
 part ii. p. 127 (see Weutworth's re- it since Henry "^TI.'s time, &c. And 
 mai-ks "on Hampden, in that very let- no-w, if the church -will not hold up 
 ter in ^vhich he would entrust the themselves under God, I can do no 
 cure of the cancerous malignity of the more.' Heylin tells us that his ad- 
 times, -which must he cut forth, to rancemeut -was of serdce m regard 
 one Esculapius alone (Let. and Disp. to tithes in London (Life of Laud, 
 Tol. ii. p. 138; also p. 158; the last p. 304; Clar. toI. i. p. 175 et seq. ; 
 betrays a very coarse mind). (See Straff. Let. and Disp. toI. ii. p. 2 ; 
 also "his sneer at Old Xed Cole, May, p. 23 ). The people, when they 
 p. 108, for his dislike of monopolies.) saw the treasm-er riding with the 
 
 § May, pp. 18, 19 ; Heylin's Life other bishops, used merrily to call it 
 of Laud, p. 251. the church triumphant. 
 
 II Laud, in his Diary, says, ' March 
 
 I 2 
 
 I.
 
 116 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 
 
 CHAP. To exalt his bretliren Laud endeavoured to procure for 
 
 I. 
 
 tliem the first offices of state ; Juxon, bishop of London, 
 "was made treasurer with this view, Laud himself being 
 prime minister; and there was a talk amongst the younger 
 clergy, that there was to be one of their number, Wren, 
 bishop of Norwich, a secretary of state, and Bancroft, 
 bishop of Oxford, chancellor of the exchequer. To give 
 the parochial clergy importance too, they 'were every- 
 where made justices of peace, to the great grievance 
 of the country in civil affairs, and depriving them of their 
 spiritual edilication.'* Acting upon their plea of divine 
 right and authority to keep spiritual courts, the clergy ar- 
 rogated to themselves, as falling within their divine juris- 
 diction, suits of tithes, as well as all cases of continence, 
 &c. (which they claimed the power of punishing by 
 fine, as well as by excommunication, a punishment that 
 subjected the convict to imprisonment till he were ab- 
 solved, which might be for ever) ; and it is a very singular 
 circumstance that now, as during the papal suj^remacy, 
 great encouragement was given to the civil law. For this 
 purpose, the primate obtained a promise of the king, that 
 the masters of requests should all be doctors of the civil 
 law, and also eight masters in Chancery.f It is too natural 
 for bodies of men to esteem an individual who has en- 
 deavoured, even unjustly, to exalt their class. But it 
 should never be forgotten that Laud, by his injudicious 
 attempt to render his cloth preeminent, exposed it to the 
 utmost danger of utter ruin, 
 Ncgotia- The negotiation with Eome appears to have proceeded 
 
 tion with r A^ 1 • 1 • . 1 -r 1 T 
 
 Rome. lar ;4: antl m regard to innovations, what Laud durst not 
 
 * Clareiulon also tells us tliat thoy 7VvV//, and '/'/vV/Mtsolf. See a pam- 
 
 novv forfrot condescension and civility plilet, ])ublislicd in 1043, 4to., enti- 
 
 to their patrons and neighbours in tied, T/ie IiJ/ii/liWi Pope, which is v.'^ell 
 
 the country (C'lar. vol. i. p. 171 ei written ; niid the I'opi'\f Nu?>cio.% or 
 
 seq-). _ ^ f/w Nc(/o(Hitiom of .SVV/. Con. Pauzani, 
 
 t ITcylin's Life of J.mid^ Introd. cVc, said to be written by a Venetian 
 
 p. 2 ; i//V', p. 2iJ0 ; Strati'. Let. and gentleman ; Ileylin's Life of Laud, 
 
 Dinp. vol. i. p. 176 ; Clarendon, p. 410 et seq. This last I conceive 
 
 vol. i. p. -"'Or). be pretty conclusive evidence. 
 
 I See Necessary Ititrud. to Laucts
 
 SCHEME OF KECOXCILEMENT WITH THE POPE. 117 
 
 yet attempt in England he tried in Scotland, a country chap. 
 where it was supposed he might dictate with less danger ■ 
 of resistance. The feelings of the man may be conceived 
 from the following language to Wentworth in 1634 : — 'As 
 for my marginal note, I see you deciphered it well ; and I 
 see you make use of it too. Do so still ; thorough and 
 thorough. Oh ! that I were where I might go so too ; but 
 I am shackled between delays and uncertainties.'* It was 
 under consultation to send out a bishop to the American 
 colonies to insist upon uniformity, and to back him with 
 troops should the colonists be refractory. f Here we may 
 remark, that the advocates of this churchman have con- 
 ceived their defence of him complete, by denying his pur- 
 posed reconcilement with Eome, which yet Heylin does not; 
 but, in truth, that was a matter of no importance in such 
 a view, since the innovations by which he shook the foun- 
 dations of society would, if submitted to, have been preg- 
 nant with the same baleful consequences. Nay, not a few 
 may agree with the following sentiment in a speech of Sir 
 Edward Deering : ' He,' Laud, ' pleads popeship under the 
 name of a patriarch. But herein I shall be free and clear, 
 if one there must be, be it a pope, be it a patriarch — this 
 I resolve upon for my own choice, ^roci^Z a Jove^ procnl a 
 fulmine — I had rather serve one as far off as the Tiber, 
 than have one so near as the Thames. A pope at Eome 
 will do me less hurt than a patriarch may do at Lambeth.' 
 Heylin, with wonderful inconsistency, after having dwelt 
 upon the propriety in a religious sense of the innovations, 
 nay approved of the scheme of reconcilement with the 
 Pope, defends them on the principle of their being calcu- 
 lated to allure the Catholics into the En2;lish church, when 
 they perceived how trifling were the differences between 
 the tenets of each. J But this, while it displays little can- 
 dour, is the best proof of the extremities to which Laud 
 
 * Straff. Let. and Disp. vol. i. t Life of Laud, p. 417. I quote 
 
 p. .329. this author because he was the 
 
 t Heylin' s Life of Laud, ■p-}^.SG8-9. minion of Laud.
 
 118 
 
 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 I. 
 
 was disposed to proceed. With all his desire to attract 
 the Eomanists, he was so far from adopting measures to 
 conciliate the Puritans, the great body of the nation, and 
 the majority of whom had no dislike to the ecclesiastical 
 government as estabhshed by law,* that by acts of severity 
 and persecution he goaded them almost to madness. While, 
 too, the Eomish Avas declared to be a true and the mother 
 church, the title of church was denied even to the ecclesi- 
 astical establishments of foreign Protestant communities. f 
 
 * Ckr. vol. i. p. lo8 et seq. 
 
 t In the year 1031, the Queen of 
 Eohenuii, as she was still called, sent 
 o\ lt a Mr. Hully, a Palatinate mi- 
 nister, with letters to Laud, request- 
 injj;- that a collection might be allowed 
 and recommended for the distressed 
 ministers of that country. This was 
 acceded to, and letters patent were 
 passed under the great seal in exact 
 conformity (ivrhatim) with similar 
 precedents, both in tlie last reign and 
 this; but when Mr. Kully carried 
 them sealed to Laud, he fell into a 
 great passion, because, as formerly, 
 the suirerings of that body were as- 
 cribed to their stedfastness in ' the 
 true religion, which we, together 
 with them, profess to maintain;' de- 
 clared, that were it not for his respect 
 and engagement to the Queen of 
 r>ohemia, he would not have allowed 
 a collection to be made ; and that he 
 would not pennit the letters to go 
 forth in these terms ; he accordingly 
 struck out the passage, and got new 
 letters passed (Cant.'/i Doonic, p. -YM ; 
 Straff. Let. and JJisp. vol. ii. p. 55). 
 Yet people were committed and 
 vexed in the High Connuission, not 
 for writing, but even for pul)lisliiiig 
 books against the Papists and Arme- 
 nians — as Sparks, Jones, Putter, 
 Bowler, and others ( C'ant.^ Doomc, 
 p. l''*5), while all such works were 
 prohibited. 'The clergy,' says May, 
 ' whose dependance was merely upon 
 the king, were wholly taken up in 
 admiral inn of liis happy guvernment, 
 whicii they never concealed from 
 himself, as olten as the pulpit gave 
 them access to his ear ; and not only 
 
 there, but at all meetings discoursed 
 witli joy upon that theme ; affirming 
 confidently, that no prince in Europe 
 Avas so great a friend to the church 
 as king Charles ; that religion flou- 
 rished nowliere but in England, and 
 no reformed church retained the face 
 and dignity of a church but that. 
 ^lany of them used to deliver their 
 opinion, that God had therefore so 
 severely punished the Palatinate, be- 
 cause theirsacrilege had been so great 
 in taking away the endowments of 
 bishoprics. Queen Elizabeth her- 
 self, who had reformed religion, was 
 but coldly praised, and all her virtues 
 forgotten, when they remembered 
 how she cut short tlie bishopric of 
 Ely. Ileury VIII. was much cou- 
 denmed bv them for seizing upon the 
 abbeys,' &c. (p. 22). 
 
 See Clarendon's /S^w^eP^/Jw-s, vol. i. 
 p. 338, for the etfe(!t produced upon 
 the French Protestants by tlie Eng- 
 lish ambassador, Lord Scudamore, 
 setting up an altar in his o^vn chapel, 
 whicli they deemed superstitious. It 
 hazarded the English interest with 
 that party. 
 
 As Mr. Hume has been pleased to 
 pronounce a eulogy ujjon tiiis prince's 
 goverinnent during the disuse of par- 
 linments, ' as more gentle and equi- 
 table than that of most of Iiis prede- 
 cessors,' and to say tliat instances of 
 great rigour ' are rather to be consi- 
 dered as rare and detached incidents, 
 collected by the severe sirrutiny of 
 hist(^riaiis, tiian as proofs of the pre- 
 vailing genius of the king's adminis- 
 tration," it will be necessary to malce a 
 few remarks upon that subject. With
 
 HUME PEOXOUNCES A EULOGY ON CHARLES S GOYEENMENT. 
 
 119 
 
 We now draw to a conclusion with this melancholy pic- 
 ture. But there is one circumstance more to be adverted 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. 
 
 regard to the unjustifiable acts of 
 severity and cruelty, the reader has 
 only to enumerate those we have 
 particularised, to be satisfied of their 
 frequency, and, as we shall immedi- 
 ately show, the number was infinitely 
 beyond what we have given. In 
 former reigns, if, in an unsettled 
 state of the commimity, an irregu- 
 larity was committed by the execu- 
 tive, it was generally justified, or at 
 least palliated, as necessary by the 
 prevailing party, wlio too often en- 
 couraged such acts, and was not suf- 
 ficient to forfeit for the crown the 
 popularity redounding from an admi- 
 nistration which, as a whole, was ap- 
 proved of by the majority of the 
 people. But Charles did not even 
 conceal a determination to dispense 
 with the very forms of the constitu- 
 tion (see what Clarendon himself 
 judiciously and candidly says on this 
 head, vol. i. p. 25 et seq.) ; and in 
 the case of the northern counties tliat 
 was unequivocally practised, while, 
 in efiect, the same system was carried 
 into execution in the south. The 
 question then is, "Whether this illegal 
 system was carried through, and 
 whether the acts of severity were 
 calculated to intimidate men into 
 compliance ? Now, after the case 
 of Chambers and others, after an 
 order to seize men's goods, and im- 
 prison their persons, for attempting 
 to recover their property in a legal 
 way, what opposition could be made 
 to the duties of tonnage and pound- 
 age, though there was even a new 
 book of rates ? If the olficers had 
 been resisted, the act of the party re- 
 fusing the duties assumed a new cha- 
 lacter, and would have met with a 
 terrible punishment. Had the peo- 
 ple risen in numbers for mutual pro- 
 tection, that would at once have led 
 to martial law, trials for treason, &c. 
 Indeed, when matters came to that 
 crisis, it is not easy to conceive how 
 Charles could have made concessions. 
 That he would not is clear, from 
 
 what we shall detail in regard to 
 Scotland in the next chapter. Grant, 
 however, that he would, what does 
 this prove, but that he had no scruple 
 in proceeding to any extremity which 
 should not absolutely force his people 
 to resist him with arms ? What 
 species of government that is, need 
 not be remarked. Again, the cruel 
 ruin of the sixteen soap-boilers, left 
 no alternative to others in that line. 
 The same remark applies to other 
 cases of illegal proclamations ; as 
 fuller's earth, gold, corn, &c. &c., 
 and particularly that against the no- 
 bility and gentry residmg in town. 
 The case of Sir .Anthony Roper, &c., 
 obliged others to compoimd in regard 
 to depopulations. That of Moore, 
 who, besides being so severely fined, 
 had twelve or fom-teen houses pulled 
 down, had the same efiect in regard 
 to buildings in Loudon ; the case of 
 Maleverer, &c. in regard to knight- 
 hood ; the severe fines under pretext of 
 the forest laws operated likewise tliere. 
 Again, with regard to religion, the 
 same consequences flowed from cru- 
 elty and oppression, insomuch that 
 the people were content to quit their 
 homes, and seek an asylum in the 
 dreary wilds of America. ^Ir. Hume 
 sneers at all this, as if they were a 
 race of bigots ; while he admits that 
 these severities proceeded on innova- 
 tions made upon the religion esta- 
 blished by law ; but are the religious 
 feelings of mankind to be made sport 
 of? Are they fair subjects of perse- 
 cution because they will not adopt 
 any creed from the throne ? And 
 then, if they have no liberty in this 
 respect, because the king wills it, 
 what security have they in any other? 
 Mr. Hume justifies the government 
 in this remarkable way, that the suf- 
 ferers might have obtained immu- 
 nity from persecution by submitting ; 
 and that they suffered from their owti 
 obstinacy. But what does any ty- 
 rant propose in general to himself 
 by severity, unless it be to reduce the
 
 120 
 
 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTOKT OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 1. 
 
 to. With a view to justify, or at least palliate the tax of 
 ship-money, it has been alleged by the celebrated liistorian, 
 
 people to submission ? Private re- 
 venge, wbieli again commonly flows 
 from fear, can only extend to a few. 
 He tells us that the instances of ri- 
 gour were rare. Have we, however, 
 enumerated but a few ? And were 
 thev not done with an object which 
 they accomplished ? An object which 
 was nothing short of substituting a 
 government of will for the old laws 
 of the realm. Let us, however, en- 
 quire into their number a little. He 
 probably proceeds in this way. 
 Though sixteen soap-boilers were 
 prosecuted at once, that was but one 
 case ; but, surely, it is of no earthly 
 importance whether they were prose- 
 cuted individually or at once. About 
 two hundred of the highest ranks 
 were illegally prosecuted at once, in 
 the Star Chamber, for residing in 
 town contrary to a proclamation 
 (Rush. vol. ii. p. 288 et seq ) ; that, 
 too, may be called one case (see also 
 Straff. Let. and Disp. vol. ii. p. 142). 
 The proceedings about buildings may 
 be termed one case, but mark what 
 occurred. The .sevoritv towards 
 Moore brought 100,000?. of rents 
 under the power of tlie court ; and 
 the owners, to save tlieir property as 
 a whole, were glad to compound at 
 the rate of three years rent. Now, 
 if we allow 20/. for each house, we 
 shall find tliat about .5000 houses 
 were in tliis condition ; I think we 
 may also allow about a proprietor 
 for every house. The severe fine 
 upon IJoper brought about seven 
 hundred into composition, some for 
 1000/., some for 500/., others for 
 300/. The same thing happened in 
 (jther cases. Wliy, then, are we told 
 of the inconsiderable number of in- 
 stances ? They were such as left no 
 man anything lie could call liis own 
 — not even the ears in liis liead. 
 
 Mr. Hume says, that in conse- 
 quence of the fine imposed upon 
 Itoper, above oO,000/. were brought 
 into the exchequer. Rut, in the first 
 place, he has not done justice to his 
 
 authorities (Rush. vol. ii. p. .333, and 
 Franklyn, p. 478), for both inform us 
 that the commission which brought 
 that sum extended only to the coun- 
 ties of Oxford, Cambridge, Warwick, 
 and Nottingham, and that the like 
 commissions were granted for other 
 counties. In the next place, the sum 
 actually imported into the exchequer 
 was frequently a mere trifle in com- 
 parison of that levied. And, in the 
 last place, the Rev. Mr. Garrard thus 
 writes to Wentworth : ' Monies come 
 in apace for depopulations ; the tres- 
 passers in that kind come in apace, 
 and compound at the council table ; 
 some for 1000/., some for 500/., some 
 300/., and so set nji so many farms 
 af/ain.' (It was well remarked, that 
 if they had committed a wrong, it 
 was intolerable that they should for 
 money have been protected in it.) 
 ' My Lord of Canterbury hath great 
 care of the church in this business, 
 for, by tm-uing arable into pasture, 
 churchmen have great loss. I hear 
 of 700 trespassers in this kind, great 
 and small' (Straff. Let. and Disp. vol. 
 i. p. 491). See about licensing towns 
 to sell tobacco (p. 200). See about 
 pulling down houses (Ibid.). ' It is 
 confidently spoken,' says the writer, 
 ' that there are above one hundred 
 thousand pounds rents upon this 
 string about London. I speak much 
 within compass. For Tuttle, St. 
 Giles, St. Martin's Lane, Drury Lane, 
 Covent Garden, Lincohi's Inn Fields, 
 Holborn, and l)eyond the Tower, from 
 AVapping to Llackwall, all come in, 
 and are liable to lining for annoy- 
 ances, or being built contrary to pro- 
 clamation, though they have had li- 
 cences granted to do so. My Lord 
 of I>t'dford's licence in this case, as it 
 is said, will not avail him ' (lb. ; see 
 also pp. 243, 2()1). See about a grant 
 to Lords Dorset and Holland, to ex- 
 port sea-coal to Dunkirk and other 
 places (p. 227). N.B. In enumerat- 
 ing cases, I include all those any- 
 where given by us in notes, as well
 
 HUME ENDEAVOURS TO JUSTIFY THE TAX OF SHIP-MONEY. 121 
 
 to whose work we have so frequently referred, that the chap, 
 money was expended profitably for the state, that the nest > — ; — > 
 of pirates at Sallee was rooted out, and that the Dutch 
 were obliged to purchase a licence for fishing on the Eng- 
 Hsh coast at 30,000/. But, though this were all to be 
 admitted, it would not alter the case, since it was not the 
 amount of the assessment, but the arbitrary imposition of 
 which the people justly complained ; and everyone knows 
 that a tax imposed by a Turkish pacha is frequently ex- 
 pended for a similar object. Unfortunately, however, the 
 Enghsh had not the consolation of thinking that the money 
 extorted from them was destined to any useful purpose. 
 Luxury, hungry courtiers, and the queen's French attend- 
 ants, consumed the greater part of that ill-acquired trea- 
 sure, while a portion of it was applied towards overturning 
 the liberties and religion of Scotland. To root out the 
 formidable nest of pirates at Sallee, England sent only four 
 ships and two pinnaces, (at what time could she not have 
 done far more than this without any extraordinary exer- 
 tion ?) and the success of the measure arose entirely from 
 an accidental event. Sallee had revolted from the Empe- 
 ror of Morocco, and he having dispatched an ambassador 
 to instigate Charles to attack the town by sea, while him- 
 self advanced against it by land, the plan was successfully 
 adopted. But, when it required only so small a naval 
 force to accomplish the object, what shall be said of tlie 
 English government for having permitted these robbers to 
 commit such depredations ? As the pirates of Sallee fell, 
 the Algerines advanced to their place, and thus prevented 
 the British dominions from derivino' much benefit from 
 the measure. These fitted out a fleet of sixty sail, took 
 many vessels, one of them valued at 260,000/., and carried 
 off between four and five thousand British subjects into 
 captivity. As for the Dutch they soon resumed their 
 fishing without a licence, and captured two East Indiamen 
 
 as in the text, and introduced indi- members of parliament who were 
 rectly as well as directly, and the persecuted on the dissolution, &c.
 
 122 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHiVP. 
 I. 
 
 with impunity, valued at considerably upwards of 300,000/., 
 or above ten times the sum with which they had formerly 
 purchased a temporary right of fishing. Nor was this all : 
 France and Spain, as well as Holland, violated the neu- 
 trality of the English ports, and captured the merchant 
 vessels, while ' the seas were dangerous by reason of the 
 Dunkirkers.' Even the high admiral complained, that 
 such was the mismanagement of the fleet, ' he could 
 neither do service to the state, gain honour to himself, 
 nor do courtesies to his friends.'* 
 
 * StrafF. Let. and Disp. vol. ii. 
 pp. 25, oO, oG, 84, 115 ct seq., 1 20, 131, 
 1;>8. It was imagined that the busi- 
 ness of Sallee would have a great ef- 
 fect in inducing the people to submit 
 to ship-money ; and it is astonishing 
 that so little was done with that 
 Aiew. The first wx'it went out in 
 October, 1634, and ships were sent 
 out against Sallee in 1637 (Sidney 
 State Papers, vol. ii. pp. 375, 435, 
 531, 533; Whitelocke, p. 22 et seq. ; 
 Ihish. vol. ii. p. 322). It may well 
 be questioned whether the sixty sail, 
 sent out under the command of Nor- 
 thumberland in 1635, Avere all or 
 
 neai'ly so of the royal navy. INIer- 
 chant vessels were generally used, on 
 any emergency, to co-operate with 
 the king's ships ; and see what oc- 
 curred in 1636 (Stratf. Let. and Disp. 
 vol. ii. p. 56). One immensely large 
 ship, however, was built. It was of 
 1637 t(Mis ; the length of her keel 
 was 128 feet; her breadth, 48; height 
 of her keel, 76 feet. She was named 
 the Sovereign, and was the largest 
 that had been built in England (Id. 
 p. 116; Kush. vol. iii. pp. 1139, 
 1339; Cob. Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 554; 
 Old Pari. Hist. vol. viii. p. 440; 
 Coke's Detect, p. 259).
 
 DISTRACTED STATE OF SCOTLAND. 123 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 STATE OP SCOTLAND, AND THE INTENTION OF THE KING — HIS 
 VISIT TO SCOTLAND, CORONATION, ETC. — A PARLIAMENT THERE, 
 AND MEASURES PASSED— TRIAL OF BALMERINO, ETC. — CANONS AND 
 SERVICE-BOOK SENT DOWN, AND THE RECEPTION THEY MET VTITH 
 — COMMENCEMENT OP THE DISTURBANCES, ETC. — EXPEDITION TO 
 QUELL THE SCOTS, AND THEIR VIGOROUS RESISTANCE ; AVITH THE 
 PACIFICATION OP BERWICK — SECOND RECOURSE TO ARMS — A PAR- 
 LIAMENT IN ENGLAND, AND ITS DISSOLUTION — ENTRY OF THE 
 SCOTS INTO ENGLAND — TREATY OP RIPPON— COUNCIL OF PEERS, 
 ETC. 
 
 In a former part of our woi^k we have described the chap. 
 distracted state of Scotland, and the general discontent . ^]- 
 which the changes in the ecclesiastical establishment and 
 worship had produced ; but it Avill not be improper in 
 this place to ]3resent a rapid sketch of the various cir- 
 cumstances which fomented hostility to the government. 
 
 However the idea of giving a king to England might, state of 
 at a distance, reflect glory upon the Scottish nation, it ' "^ 
 was with a truly prophetic spirit that the people wept at 
 the departure of their monarch to take possession of a 
 foreign throne, since, notwithstanding the profit derived 
 by the young courtiers from their transference to the 
 sister kingdom, and any ultimate benefit from a union, the 
 immediate inevitable consequence was, that Scotland 
 ceased to be an independent kingdom, and sank into the 
 insignificance of a province. Many of the nobility had 
 impatiently expected the accession of James to the English 
 throne, as to an abundant harvest of place and emolu- 
 ment for themselves ; but they must have early discovered, 
 that though the first prince from the north might prefer 
 his native subjects, the prejudice in their favour would 
 not descend to his successors ; and that amid the deep-
 
 124 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, rooted animosities of rival nations, the preference of 
 . ^^' . Scotsmen to office in a foreign country must be no less 
 hurtful to tlie sovereign than invidious in them.* Though, 
 after this prince's removal to England, Scotland retained 
 her claim to independence as a kingdom, the first became 
 in reahty the seat of Scottish government — a circum- 
 stance that could not fail to mortify a people, who, at a 
 much later period, so strenuously resisted a union. The 
 proud aristocracy, who were eminent at home, felt the 
 consciousness of degradation ; that portion of the com- 
 munity who aimed at a laudable distinction in the state, 
 at a time wlien there were such limited cliannels for the 
 exertion of active talent, perceived themselves deprived 
 of a generous field of ambition, and were naturally 
 inclined to discontent. Prior to tlie union of the crowns 
 the power of the aristocracy was no less injurious to the 
 body of the people, than to the pretensions of tlie crown. 
 The resources of Eng-land enabled James to abrids^e their 
 influence ; but as men are seldom disposed to part with 
 power, the consequence on their feelings need not be 
 described. Had the British monarch, however, merely 
 directed his measures to that end, he might have gained 
 the support of the people, as he would have deserved the 
 approbation of posterity ; but he only aimed at lessening 
 the aristocratic power, as it clashed with his own, leaving 
 the people still naked of protection, while his religious 
 innovations, with many of his civil — in a word, his undis- 
 guised desire to have the command of the persons and 
 property of his subjects, ' without process of the common 
 law,' begot an hostility in all ranks. They who sincerely 
 clanix to the church-policy and the established Avorship, to 
 wliich they had sworn, for their own sake ; they who 
 were in some measure attached to the system from the 
 opportunity which it allbrded of a theatre in the General 
 
 • See Weldiiii, p. 57, regardiiif^ obtainini^ offices, &c. on the south df 
 the feelings of the iMiplish towards the Tweed, 
 the Scots in consequence of their
 
 EARLY APPREHENSIONS OF THE NOBILITY. 125 
 
 Assembly for a display of popular ability, and the Pres- chap. 
 byteriau clergy, Avliose interest and piety tended to the 
 same object, all concurred in an abhorrence of the changes 
 introduced and the tyranny with which they were enforced. 
 Nor could any man who loved his country behold with 
 indifference the real subversion of the legislature, and 
 the erection of new courts destructive of the general 
 security in the law.* 
 
 But there were other circumstances which sank deep 
 into the breasts of the aristocracy. The prelates, since 
 their late introduction to parhament, had, through the 
 extraordinary institution of the Lords of the Articles, in 
 reality obtained the command of the legislature ; and to 
 exalt them more, some great civil offices were bestowed 
 upon ecclesiastics, which still farther contracted the sphere 
 of ambition for the laity, wliile the nobles early appre- 
 hended that the establishment of the episcopacy would 
 lead to the recovery of the church lands and the revoca- 
 tion of tithes, in order to support the prelates in becoming 
 state. Their fears were realized on the accession of The act of 
 Charles : a general revocation was published ; the pidpit of'dmrX 
 began to resound with the indignant cry of the clergy lands and 
 at withholding the church's patrimony ; and the Earl ^ ' 
 Nithisdale was sent down as the king's commissioner to 
 promote the object. The circumstance threatened to be 
 productive of the most alarming consequences. The 
 nobles were prepared to sacrifice the council, as well as 
 the commissioner, to their resentment. It may afford 
 some idea of their feelinos, and of the manners of the 
 people, to mention, that at a convention of the estates, 
 where the revocation was proposed, Lord Belhaven, then 
 old and bhnd, got himself seated next to the Earl of 
 Dumfries, whom he grasped hard with one hand, as if to 
 support his weakness, while with the other he secretly 
 clutched a dagger to plunge into his breast on the first 
 
 * See Vol I., chapter relative to Scotland. Also Row's 3IS. Hist. p. 223, 
 Adv. Lib.
 
 126 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, commotion. Intimation of the general feeling was 
 . ^^- . immediately conveyed to court, and the prince, abandon- 
 ing a course clearly impracticable, adopted another, 
 wliich, though it has been productive of the most benefi- 
 cial effects, was not calculated to concihate the nobility, 
 while the manner of carrying it into execution is appar- 
 ently inconsistent with constitutional principles. 
 
 The original grants to the nobles had been grossly 
 illegal : before the lands and tithes were legally trans- 
 ferred to the crown, they were bestowed upon favourites, 
 and many gifts had proceeded from religious houses and 
 bishops, who had no title to convey property over which 
 their right was merely of a temporary nature. But even 
 if tlie lands and tithes had been vested in the crown, 
 there was no bar in law to prevent one prince from re- 
 calling what his predecessor had alienated from the royal 
 patrimony. In this case, however, the gifts had all been 
 ratified by the legislature, and, notwithstanding a quibble, 
 even by the act which annexed the temporalities to the 
 crown. Hence it seems revolting to our notions, for the 
 sovereign to recal, ex mero motu, what had been so 
 solemnly transferred ; yet tlie coui'se even latterly adopted 
 by Charles involved that conclusion.* The manner in 
 which the act of revocation was ratified by the parliament 
 witli the subsequent proceedings, as will be seen in the 
 sequel, still farther alarmed the aristocracy. 
 
 Tithes upon industry are contrary to the first principles 
 of justice; but of tliose upon land the footing is very 
 different. In all transactions relative to the soil, every- 
 one knows the terms upon which he enters into them. 
 The law which protects the owner in his property, gives 
 it to him under a certain condition or burthen ; and it 
 would be equally preposterous for the purchaser of an 
 estate, burthened with mortgages — consequently bought 
 under that deduction — to complain of the hardship of 
 
 • Burnet's Memorial of the Ila- Oum Times, vol. i. p. 20 j Forbes on 
 miUons, p. 38 et seq. ; Ilisiori/ of His Tithes, and Connel.
 
 TITHES UPOX INDUSTRY. 127 
 
 paying otlier people's debts, as for the landowner to chap. 
 complain of tithes. Yet nothing is more common than 
 to hear people, who are scarcely w^arm in their pos- 
 sessions — possessions that they never could have bought, 
 had it not been for the burthen of tithes — complain that 
 the parsons take from them so much they have httle to 
 themselves.* Where, indeed, agricultural improvements 
 are projected, tithes are hurtful, because the clergyman 
 derives part of the outlay in the shape of produce. But, 
 as in the common case, there is no hardship, so might a 
 remedy for this be provided without injuring the rights 
 of parties. The Eomish clergy did not escape the ge- 
 neral grudge at their exactions, though an expenditure 
 on agricultural improvement ^vas incompatible \vith the 
 state of society ; and as the tithes were, at the Eeforma- 
 tion, when taken from the church, instead of being 
 consohdated with the right to the soil, transferred to the 
 great aristocracy, who, under the name of titulars, ex- 
 acted them with a rigour to which the people had never 
 been exposed from the Catholic clergy, the result was 
 a dependence of smaller proprietors upon the titulars, 
 which, engendering rancorous passions, was frequently 
 productive of the most deplorable consequences. The 
 plan latterly adopted, and which was expressly declared 
 to flow from a resolution to prevent that dependency on 
 subjects, was therefore to insist, under a threat of revo- 
 cation, that the titulars should, on certain terms, dispose 
 of their rights to tithes to the respective proprietors, or, 
 as they were called, heritors, from whose estates they 
 were exigible. The terms were, that the lands should 
 be valued, and the tithes be estimated at a fifth of the 
 rent ; and that the heritors should obtain them at ten 
 years' purchase, or accumulation, then a reasonable rate, 
 
 * This is clearly stated by Swift, man's to his estate. Tliis was a 
 
 vol. iii. p. 190, Nichol's ed. He more politic ground to advance than 
 
 justly remarks, that the title of the that of divine right, 
 clergy to tithes is older than any
 
 128 COXSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. allo"\\4ng an adequate deduction for the value of leases 
 ^^' which they might hold, a modicum for the support of 
 the parochial clergyman, &c., and a tax of six per cent. 
 to the king. Obstructions were, in the first instance, 
 thrown in the way of this arrangement ; but these were 
 surmounted by rigorous measures, the parties being 
 obhged to submit their differences to the crown ; and, 
 though at the outset, the measure produced discontent 
 amongst the nobility,* it proceeded even during the in- 
 terregnum. But it could not fail to occur to all parties 
 that, on the same principle that Charles, ex mero motu, 
 set aside the authority of royal grants and parliamentary 
 ratifications, in order to promote his views, he might 
 afterwards, for the purpose of restoring the patrimony 
 of the church, wrest the tithes from the heritors, whose 
 situation rendered them incapable of a vigorous resist- 
 ance. Such a pious undertaking must have been en- 
 couraged by his arch-adviser, Laud, wJiose zeal in regard 
 to tithes induced him to prosecute Selden in the High 
 Commission, for denying them to be of divine origin. 
 What heaven had commalided to be set apart for the 
 churcli, no human act could lawfully deprive her of. 
 Another part of the plan regarded the church-lands, 
 which had been engrossed by the nobles, under the title 
 of Lords of Erection, so that the new prelacy were left 
 without adequate livings. The plan was, that the su- 
 periorities of these lands should be transferred to the 
 crown, at a reasonable composition, and new rights be 
 granted, that, out of the feudal casualties thence arising, 
 there might be a fund of augmentation for the bishops. f 
 
 The arrangement, in regard to tithes, ought to have 
 raised up a party to counterpoise the great aristocracy ; 
 
 * The clergy seem to have been Also a collection of documents in 
 
 also displeased at a measure calcu- Advocate's Lib., -which I presume 
 
 lated to deprive them for ever of are the MS. treatise quoted by Mr. 
 
 the church patrimony (Baillie, MS. Laing — I can find no other. Sta- 
 
 Tol. i. p. G). tutes in 1633. 
 
 t Foi'bes on Tithes ; and Connel.
 
 DEPUTATION SENT FROM THE BARONS TO HIS MAJESTY. 129 
 
 but, whether from the high rate of the purchase, and the chap. 
 pecuniary difficulties into which it phuiged them ; whe- . . / . - 
 ther from an idea of insecurity in the acquisition, or 
 general abliorrence at the civil and ecclesiastical innova- 
 tions which accompanied the measure, no such consequence 
 flowed from it. Indeed, at first a deputation was sent 
 from the barons (tenants of the crown, or proprietors of 
 land), to state to his majesty that ' they were not hurt in 
 their tiends (tithes) by the nobilitie who were agreeing 
 for themselves ; ' but it soon afterwards proceeded with 
 some rapidity.* 
 
 TJiough James had penetration enough, when he Ecciesias- 
 visited Scotland in 1617, to perceive the fatal effects that affairs, 
 must be produced by following the advice of Laud, to 
 obtrude farther innovation on the Scottish cliinxh, he 
 departed from that wise policy in his old age, and was 
 prevented only by death from attempting a greater change 
 by persecution. Charles, who conceived that his scheme 
 for reducins: the whole of his dominions to an ecclesias- 
 tical system compatible with his ideas of monarchical 
 government, could never be completely successful while 
 Scotland operated as an exam]:>le to his English sub- 
 jects to persist in nonconformity, and who imagined that 
 he might attempt, in that countr}^, what would still be 
 
 * Row's MS. Hist. p. 232, year had been ratified by parliament, and 
 1625 ; p. 234, year 1627. Mr. Laiug confirmed by such a length of time, 
 would have had the tithes ' gratui- and transferred it to the landowners, 
 tously restored to the landholders ; ' As to the policy of the measure, in 
 but 1 do not know the meaning of regard to attaching the heritors to 
 the word restored in this place ; for the crown in opposition to the nobi- 
 when had they belonged to the land- lity, it may be equally doubted. The 
 owners? I^ot one of them surely nobility, who were the most power- 
 could ever trace his right to any- ful, would have been alienated ; and 
 thino- like the period when tithes it would not have been difficult to 
 were first given to the church. The persuade the heritors that they were 
 heritors held their lands under the merely used as a convenient medium 
 burthen of tithes ; and whatever for ultimately recovering the whole 
 might havebeen said about the claim to the church : that after they were 
 of the clergy, it would have been, in detached from the nobility, the lat- 
 my humble opinion,most unjust, nay, ter would support such a step to 
 a revoluti(jnary measure, striking at humble them, and that then they 
 the root of property, to have taken would be incapable of resistance, 
 the right from the titulars, which 
 
 VOL. II. K
 
 130 COXSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, premature on tlie south of the Tweed, determined to, 
 proceed in the plan of innovation with a higher hand. 
 Laud became the supreme director of ecclesiastical affairs, 
 and new bishops in the north were still more eager than 
 their predecessors, or older brethren, to signalise them- 
 selves in advancing tlie authority of their order, and to 
 obtain the favour of their prince by completing his plans. 
 The first innovators, when opposed by the popular voice, 
 generally proceed with some degree of caution, because, 
 however ready to sacrifice their principles to their am- 
 bition, they retain a sense of the difficulties to be 
 encountered, and are hampered by the prejudices of their 
 youth : But their successors, if equally unprincipled, as 
 they have imbibed only the spirit of change, are superior 
 to such feelings, and becoming insensible to consequences, 
 by the hope of aggrandisement, drive matters to ex- 
 tremity. Thus it happened in Scotland : the younger 
 bishops were preferred by Charles, not as formerly, by 
 the recommendation of their seniors, but through their 
 interest at court ; and chiefly through the recommenda- 
 tion of Laud, who was naturally guided in his choice by 
 their supposed aptitude to carry through his grand de- 
 signs. Tliese men, kept apart from their seniors, and by 
 their influence with the English primate, prevailed, by 
 his mediation, on the king to prescribe rules to the older 
 bishops, which they reluctantly acceded to ; while these 
 junior prelates slighted the ordinary clergy, as attached 
 to the Presbyterian government, and thus heightened the 
 popular discontent.* 
 
 Shortly after his accession, Charles published a severe 
 proclamation against recusants ; and the Presbyterians, 
 who adliered to that religion wliich they had sworn to 
 with tlie late king, had tlie mortification to perceive them- 
 selves ranked witli Papists, a body then held by Protes- 
 tants in such abhorrence. But they still so stoutly resisted 
 
 • GuthiT, p. i.3 (i seq.; Biirnet'a Memoirs of the Hamiltons, p. 29, 30.
 
 SEVEEE PROCLAMATION AGAINST RECUSANTS. 
 
 131 
 
 the ceremonies introduced by the five articles of Perth, 
 that, when in the year 1625, the sacrament was dispensed 
 in Edinburgh on pasche-day, or Easter Sunday, only six or 
 seven people knelt. In the year 1627 (whether there 
 was one in 1626 does not appear), there was no com- 
 munion in consequence of the popular dislike to kneel, 
 and a letter Avas dispatched to Charles praying for a 
 relaxation of the ceremonies : but he, far from, listening 
 to the prayers of his people, declared himself exceedingly 
 offended at their presumption, ordered the punishment of 
 the ringleaders, and more rigorously enforced the cere- 
 monies. The people were, however, inflexible : the sa- 
 crament was either not dispensed at all, or then with the 
 greatest confusion. The Presbyterian preachers were 
 heard with reverence, the Episcopal Avith contempt and 
 detestation ; and the folly of the latter, not to give it a 
 harsher name, merited no better treatment. One uttered 
 from tlie pulpit bitter execrations against those who did 
 not keep Yoole, or Christmas Day ; another, a prelate, 
 too, preached about the divine calling of bishops. In the 
 proceedings in the sister kingdom, as well as in Ireland, 
 the people descried the approaching storm. The cruel 
 persecution of Leighton appears to have spread dismay, 
 and together with the attempt to suppress his book, made 
 that book be read with uncommon avidity. The removal 
 of Scottish ministers from their livings in Ireland augured, 
 too, no favourable intention towards Scotland.* 
 
 Matters were in this position when Charles, in the year 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 II. 
 
 * Gutbry, p. 13; Row's MS. 
 Mist. ; Bafmerino's Diffi/, in State 
 Trials, vol. iii. p. G05. The follow- 
 ing is a cnrious letter from Mr. J. 
 Mede, fellow of Christ's College, 
 Cambridge, to Sir M. Sackville, 
 dated 10th May, 1628 : ' The Satur- 
 day before the Monday the last 
 week, it is said my lord chancellor 
 of Scotland delivered a bold message 
 to the king, as from the nobility 
 and commons of that kingdom, viz. 
 that they had been informed his 
 
 majesty intended to annul the liber- 
 ties of the English nation ; and that 
 seeing their privileges were the very 
 same, and that they served the same 
 master, they looked for the same 
 measure, and would lose their last 
 drop of blood rather than their liber- 
 ties. He advised his majesty to 
 follow the advice of the parliament, 
 which, if he should once more dis- 
 solve, he would hazard the loss of 
 his kingdom ' (At/sc. MSS. Brit. 
 Mus. No. 4161). 
 
 K 2
 
 132 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 16o3, visited his native country. Joy was universally 
 v_ijl_ diffused at his approach.* The remembrance of former 
 Charles timcs of Horv to their nation was revived, and men 
 
 visits bcot- O J _ _ _ • 1 1 -IT 
 
 land, 1633. ascribed to their prince the quahties which they wished, 
 not such as his previous measures had betrayed. The joy, 
 however, vanished, and was succeeded by a very op- 
 posite feeling, Avhen they discovered that his object in 
 visiting his native country was, not to redress their griev- 
 ances, but to increase them by subverting their civil 
 constitution, and by introducing farther \dolent changes 
 in that species of worship and religious establishment to 
 which they were so zealously devoted. The coronation 
 as king of Scotland was of itself calculated to inspire the 
 highest transport in an affectionate people ; but, as if this 
 unfortunate prince had hugged the opportunity to insult 
 the fondest feehngs of his subjects, and blight every 
 hope, ceremonies savouring of Popery were exhibited. 
 The scene is well described by a cotemporary warm 
 advocate for prelacy and the royal cause. ' The Arch- 
 bishop of St. Andrew's, the Bishops of Moray, Dunkeld, 
 Ross, Dunblane, and Brechm served about the coronation 
 (which was done by the said Bishop of Brechin) with 
 whyt rochetis and whyt sleives, and loops of gold haveing 
 blue silk to thir foot. Now was remarked that ther 
 was ane four neucked taffil in manner of ane altar, stand- 
 ing within the kirk, haveing standing ther upon two 
 books, at least resembleing clasped books, called blind 
 books, with two chandlers and two wax candles, whilk 
 were milight, and ane bason, wherein ther was notliing. 
 At the back of this altar (covered with tapestrie), ther 
 was ane rich tapestrie, wherein tlie crucifix was curiously 
 wrought ; and as thir bisliops, who was in service, passed 
 by this crucifix, they were sein to bow thir knee and 
 beck, which, witli tliir liabit, was noted, and bred greate 
 fear of inbringing of Popery. '-j- 
 
 * Clarendon vol. i. p. '[S? et seq. violently thrust the Archbishop of 
 
 t Spalding, vol. i. p. 17. Laud Glasgow aside, hecause, from an aver-
 
 PAELIAMENT EEDUCED TO A CLUMSY ENGINE. 
 
 133 
 
 The extraordinary institution of the Lords of the Arti- chap. 
 cles has already been described. The whole nomination . ^^' - 
 was, particularly after the act 1G09, in effect centred 
 in the bishops, who, being again wholly dependent on the 
 throne, culled out such members from the other estates 
 as were alike suitable to their own and their master's 
 designs. But Charles even availed himself of the act 
 1594, by which a member from each estate was to be 
 summoned, of course by the king himself, to consider 
 the bills before they were even presented to the Lords of 
 Articles : and being well aware that, by all these mea- 
 sures, parliament was reduced to the situation of a clumsy 
 engine, for ratifying what had been previously resolved 
 on by himself, he sat many hours in close and deep con- 
 sultation with the Lords of the Articles. Besides, the 
 nobles were even precluded from presenting articles to 
 the lords who sat on them, or giving advice.* His 
 object was to obtain the sanction of the legislature for 
 farther inroads upon the few remaining civil privileges of 
 his subjects, and for the total subversion of the present 
 worship, as well as of the remaining vestiges of the Presby- 
 terian polity. Many baneful acts were passed ; but there Acts 
 were three in particular which struck the greatest terror, thrscot'-^ 
 and were deemed the most important. The first con- tishparHa- 
 firmed a power arrogated by the king to alter the habits 
 or apparel of churchmen. The second ratified all former 
 acts about religion, which implied a most extensive power. 
 The last confirmed the general revocation formerly issued, 
 of tithes and church lands. Whether Charles had fully 
 
 sion to incense the people, he had 
 appeared without the habit pre- 
 scribed for his spiritual function, and 
 substituted the Bishop of Ross, ex- 
 claiming, 'Are you a churchman, 
 and want the coat of your order ? ' 
 (Paish. vol. ii. p. 182;^ State Trials, 
 vol. iii. p. 605; Balmerino's Ditti/.) 
 * State Trials, vol. iii. pp. 600,607; 
 Balfom''s Annals, vol. ii. p. 67 et seq. 
 
 See also as to this subject. Vol, I. Ch. 
 IV. ; Cowper's Apolof/etical Letter. 
 He says that the bishops were named 
 by the chancellor, and they again 
 nominated the nobles, some of them 
 Papists. A list of the barons (free- 
 holders) and burgesses was given in 
 by the king. See Lord Hailes' pub- 
 lication of Letters in this reign, p. 47.
 
 134 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE 
 
 CHAP, resolved to persist in liis bold scheme for recovering 
 v__i^l_^ the patrimony of the clmrch out of lay hands, or 
 only intended that it should impend over the heads 
 of the nobility to force them into submission to other 
 measures, as in regard to religion, to the sale of tithes, 
 and to resigning superiorities, and even part of the 
 lands on easy terms, that a provision might be made for 
 the present prelacy, and even for mitred abbots, the re- 
 storation of which was part of his plan, may be ques- 
 tioned. The hrst object has been imputed to him by high 
 authority : the clergy anticipated it, and the aristocracy 
 were alarmed.* 
 
 At first sight it appears unaccountable how any parlia- 
 ment should have passed acts which were even destructive 
 of the rights of the members themselves ; but the difficulty 
 vanishes on a closer inspection. As, after the union of 
 the crowns, Scotsmen were advanced to English honours, 
 so many Englishmen were created peers of Scotland who 
 did not hold one foot of land in that kino-dom. From 
 these Charles obtained many proxies, and as the Peers 
 and Commons all sat and voted together, these were 
 of immense consequence to the king. Then there were 
 the officers of state, and many of the Scotch nobility 
 themselves, who, having ruined themselves in England, 
 were wholly dependent on the royal bounty. The act 
 about the apparel of the clergy was purposely blended 
 with another which recognised the prerogative, that oppo- 
 sition to the one might be accompanied with the appear- 
 ance of resisting the other, to which few were at this time 
 inclined on principle, and to which it would have been 
 imprudent to have objected ; moreover, all matters were 
 passed precipitately in one day without tlic colour of a 
 debate, in so much that when Lord Melville, now far ad- 
 vanced in life, stood u[) and exclaimed to the king, who 
 
 * Balfour's yl//wrt/.s, 3/.?. ; Hiirnet's cato, iindortoolc to recover the laiid.s 
 
 Hid. of hi.-< Own Tiincx, vol. i.p. 1(>, .■>4 for the crown, bill, had not been yin- 
 
 et seq. This author informs ua that cere {Memoirs of Uic Ilamiltonx, 
 
 8ir Thomas Ilape, the king's advo- p. 30)'.
 
 DETERMINATIOX TO OVERTURN THE ESTABLISHED RELIGION. 
 
 135 
 
 attended in person, ' I have sworn with your father, and the 
 whole kingdom, to the Confession of Faitli, in which the in- 
 novations mtended by these articles were solemnly abjured' 
 — his majesty, though he was disconcerted, and even re- 
 tired for an instant, soon returned and commanded them not 
 to deUberate but to vote. To such a contemptible pageant 
 of state did he reduce the legislature, that, acting the part 
 of clerk himself, he wrote down the several names as they 
 were called, and said, ' I shall know to-day who shall do 
 me service.' Yet all these arts were insufficient to com- 
 mand a majority : It was generally thought and declared, 
 . that the votes preponderated on the popular side, and 
 that the clerk-reo-ister made a false return. The Earl of 
 Eothes, who durst not have ventured so far w^ithout some 
 just ground, started from his chair and quarreled the 
 clerk on the spot. But Charles instantly commanded him 
 to be silent, or else to substantiate the charge, wliich 
 amounted to treason, on the peril of his life. Eothes, 
 knowing the insurmountable obstacles to a conviction of 
 the offender in such evil days, when the whole influence of 
 the crown would be interposed in his favour, and aware 
 that, according to the principles then recognised, he should 
 involve himself in a capital crime by a failure, prudently 
 obeyed the mandate to be silent.* 
 
 Such arbitrary measures, such a determined purpose to 
 overturn the established religion, bred a distrust in every 
 mind. Charles left Scotland discontented, and the dis- 
 senting part of the aristocracy soon perceived, by their 
 marked proscription from favour, that their names had 
 not been taken down in vain.f To remove the royal 
 
 CHAP. 
 IL 
 
 * Eow's 3IS. Hkt. p. 250 ; Cow- 
 per's ApoIo(/etical Letter, 31S. ; Rob. 
 iii. 2-lo ; Adv. Lib. Balfour's Annals, 
 3IS. p. GO et seq. ; Rush. voL ii. p. 
 183 ; Burnet's Hist. p. 22 ; Petition 
 in Balmerino's Ditty, Htate Trials ; 
 Large Deelnration, pp. 11, 12. Mr. 
 Laing says tliat Charles, in this, 
 rather evaded than disowned the 
 
 charge of a false return ; but it is 
 positively denied in the strongest 
 tonus 
 
 "t Clar. Hist. vol. i. p. 80, 81, ]03. 
 Charles would not speak to Rothes 
 and others in court. This author's 
 account of Scottish affairs is gene- 
 rally incorrect. His prejudice against 
 that people is unbounded, and it is
 
 136 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, prejudice, and, if possible, to obtain some mitigation of 
 . ^^" . the obnoxious acts, a petition was prepared by one Haig 
 an advocate, to be subscribed by the nobles and presented 
 to the throne. But, before proceeding to present the 
 petition, which, in those days, was deemed a bold step, it 
 was conceived to be advisable to intimate their purpose, 
 and Charles so severely checked the Earl of Eothes, and 
 so hotly commanded that the measure shoidd be dropt, 
 that it was instantly abandoned. The sequel affords an 
 instance of an abuse of power, and of misgovernment 
 almost unparalleled. The measures happened to be the 
 topic of conversation between the Lord Balmerino, who 
 had hitherto led a .very retired life, and a confidential 
 man of business, a writer or notary, Avhom he patron- 
 ised ; and when the latter had expressed his astonishment 
 that no petition had been presented against the unfair 
 proceedings in parliament, his lordship, having laid a 
 strict injunction of secresy, exhibited a draft of that just 
 alluded to. Pleased with the production, the notary ini- 
 fortunately conceived that he might, without any great 
 breach of trust, secretly take a copy ; and with an 
 imprudence still more exceptionable, he permitted the 
 secret to be wormed out of him by one Hay of Naughton, 
 who, unknown to him, was Balmerino's enemy. Hay, 
 elated with the opportunity of vengeance, communicated 
 the circmnstance to Archbishop Spottiswoode, who posted 
 to court, and represented that this petition contained 
 libellous matter, and had been industriously circulated to 
 stir up sedition.* That a pernicious libel may make its 
 appearance under the form of a petition, either to the 
 king or the parliament, may be admitted, and as this was 
 composed with spirit, it would not have accorded with 
 
 remavlv-ablo that be ascribes all the cessarily defeated its object ; but ex- 
 opposition to the laxity of }i-overn- perience passes over some men's 
 raent in not obtrmling' the innova- heads in vain {Lanfe Dedaratmi, 
 tions at once. The effect of his p. 11). 
 
 principles, when he --ot power, was * (luthrv,pp. 10-12; Row's MS. 
 
 bitterly felt by that nation, and ne- Hid. pp. 2oG-2(;2.
 
 BALMERINO. 137 
 
 the usual current of the administration to have permitted chap. 
 any censure of pubHc measures to pass unpunished in this - ^^' ^ 
 shape more than in another. Yet, as the shghtest 
 examination proved the falseness of the archbishop's 
 report, the petition, which was not composed by Bal- 
 merino, having neither been published, nor intended for 
 publication, but abandoned, the instant the king's senti- 
 ments about receiving it were known, and afterwards 
 merely shown to a friend in confidence, who had impru- 
 dently (he does not appear to have acted from a 
 treacherous motive) revealed it to an individual who had 
 taken a perfidious advantage of the circumstance, — the 
 government which could, on such a ground, strike at the 
 nobleman's life, had reached, almost, the last stage of 
 despotism. But Charles and his ministers had expected 
 the cordial support of Balmerino to all the public 
 measures meditated, and his opposition as a statesman in 
 parliament, to the late enactments, made them ready to 
 sacrifice him on any ground. 
 
 Balmerino's father had been condemned as a traitor in 
 the preceding reign, but pardoned and restored to his 
 blood and estate ; and it was imagined that this ought to 
 have bound the son in such indissoluble ties of gratitude 
 to the throne, as to advance all its schemes ; but he pro- 
 bably thought, with his father, that he had more cause to 
 complain of injustice in the prosecution, than to be 
 grateful for a remission of the sentence. During the 
 late king's intrigues for the English crown, he had been 
 anxious to secure the assistance of the pope in the 
 attainment of his object, and a letter with his signature 
 had, in the prosecution of his schemes, been dispatched 
 to Clement VIII. The policy was dangerous, since the dis- 
 covery of it was calculated to inspire every Protestant with 
 apprehension, and concealment was almost impracticable. 
 But in this instance the policy seemed to be justified by 
 successful secresy. Elizabeth, indeed, whose vigilance 
 nothing escaped, had got a surmise of the affair ; but a
 
 138 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, steady denial by James made it be disbelieved and 
 
 , II: . forgotten. Afterwards, however, Cardinal Bellarmine, 
 
 provoked as well by the controversial writings of the 
 British king as by the disappointment of Catholics in 
 that monarch's reign, though James went as far as he 
 durst, published this letter as a proof, either of that 
 prince's insincerity or apostasy, and the publication 
 roused that jealousy in Protestants, for which it was 
 intended. In his own justification, James denied all 
 knowledge of the circumstance, and imputed it to the 
 treachery of Balmerino, his secretary, who must have 
 taken advantage of a misplaced confidence to procure 
 the sicfnature to a document of which the monarch did 
 not suspect the existence. The event afforded a well 
 founded triumph to Balmerino's enemies, Cecil, Spottis- 
 woode, Dunbar, and others, wdio urged it to his ruin. 
 He declares in his narrative, and, as he appeals to the 
 Lords Burleigh, Lennox, and some others, for its truth, 
 we can scarcely refuse him credit, especially when we 
 collate this with other parts of James's conduct, that the 
 king botJi knew and approved of the letter ; but that he 
 (Balmerino) was prevailed on by solicitations, promises, 
 &c., to acknowledge the whole guilt of the transaction, 
 saying that 'his majesty's subscription had been serrepti- 
 tiously oljtained, by thrusting this letter amongst others, 
 which had been prepared for the royal signature : he 
 added, (and it is charitable to believe it,) that he had 
 been actuated by no criminal purpose, or enmity to 
 the established religion, but merely by a mistaken idea of 
 promoting his master's accession to the English throne. 
 On this confession he was condemned as a traitor ; but 
 the sentence was remitted, and himself restored alike to 
 his estate and blood. lie survived his disgrace two years.* 
 After his fatlier's fall, Balmerino the son, whose case 
 we now relate, lived much in retirement ; conduct which, 
 
 • S/aff' TridJx; Hulmorino'.s jA7»-. <>^ wy., and vii. p. 215 c^se^.j Ho\yeirs 
 in Caidorwood's MIS. vol. v. p. ^7^ State Trials; Laing.
 
 APPEEHEXSIOX OF BALMERIXO. 139 
 
 most likely, occasioned a misconception of liis character ; chap. 
 for nothing is more common than to attribute that to a ._i^i_. 
 subdued spirit, which in reality proceeds from the intense 
 feeHngs of an indignant one ; and the disappointment of 
 their hopes from him induced Charles, and his ministers 
 and clergy, to concur in making him an example to 
 deter others from opposition to the court. 
 
 The laws about leasing maJcinfi in Scotland, or spreading 
 false reports about the king and his government, or not 
 oivincr immediate information ao-ainst the author, inferred 
 a capital punishment, and were remarkably loose. Tlie 
 petition alluded to was therefore easily converted into 
 ' a most devihsh and pestilential libel, which depraved 
 the laws, and misconstrued the government, containing 
 reproaches, most villainously and despitefully belclit and 
 vomited forth against God's lieutenant on earth, by the 
 cursed and unhappy libeUer, as a venomous wasp ; a libel 
 that infected the very air, so that it was to be wondered 
 any person should degenerate into so monstrous a con- 
 tempt of the government, as to dare and presume to 
 think upon, much less to speak and write ; a cockatrice 
 that all good subjects should have crushed in the egg.' 
 Haig, the author, fled the instant he heard of the appre- 
 hension of Balmerino, but addressed a letter from Holland 
 owning the performance. The accused, however, had 
 failed to crush the cockatrice in the eofcr indeed his own 
 accession to it was manifest, and therefore he was exposed 
 to all the mfluence and sinister arts of government. He 
 admitted having approved of the petition as a whole, but 
 added, that he had disliked some particular expressions, 
 and, therefore, had softened them with his own hand. 
 
 A peer in Scotland was at that time subject, like a 
 commoner, to the cognisance of the criminal court, and 
 the verdict of a jury, provided the majority were of his 
 own order. Three assessors to the justice-general were, 
 in this instance, nominated by the Court of Session — 
 Learmonth, one of their number, Spottiswoode their
 
 140 
 
 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 December 
 20, 1634. 
 
 president, the second son of the archbishop, who had 
 originally instigated the prosecution, and still fomented it 
 with all the rage of unhallowed ambition, wdiich feels a 
 clog, or dreads a fall ; and lastly. Hay, tlie clerk register, 
 of whom the petition complained, for an unfair return of 
 the votes at the last parliament. Balmerino objected to 
 this individual as one of his judges ; 1st, Because he had 
 been a member of the particular committee, appointed 
 for the examination of the prisoner, and before whom, 
 accordingly, he had repeatedly been brought: 2dly, 
 Because he had been consulted with, and had given his 
 advice about the trial. The first objection was overruled ; 
 the last was referred to Hay's judicial declaration, and as 
 that was neejative of the charsre, Balmerino was oblisfed 
 to withdraw his dissent. The relevancy of the indictment 
 w^as denied in a very able argument for the prisoner ; l:)ut 
 when men are resolved upon injustice, under the colour 
 of law, they seldom search in vain for the pretext they 
 require, and the objections were overruled. 
 
 Every art to pack a jury was resorted to. The list of 
 jurors being returned by the clerk, who was a tool of 
 government, he took care to give in those Avho could be 
 most depended on ; the presiding judge who chose the 
 fifteen, a majority of whom determined the prisoner's fate, 
 selected such as he conceived most calculated for the 
 business ; and, while the peremptory challenge is unknown 
 to the criminal code of Scotland, the strongest objections 
 to jurors were disregarded. Lord Traquair, the treasurer, 
 against whom every objection was overruled, was nomi- 
 nated, and became chancellor, or foreman of the jury ; 
 and yet, with all these advantages for tlie crown, such 
 was the iniquity of the case, that the nobleman Avas only 
 convicted by the casting vote of Traquair, whose ill- 
 directed talents and address, united Avith the influence of 
 the crown, prevailed upon seven to join liim. A moving 
 incident occurred after the jury were enclosed, to deh- 
 berate upon their verdict. Gordon of Buckie, now in ex-
 
 SENTENCE OF DEATH PRONOUNCED ON BALMERINO. 141 
 
 treme old age, who had in the preceding century been chap. 
 
 concerned in a crime which James himself did not pass ,_ ,J ■ 
 
 unsuspected of having instigated, was, from the part he 
 had acted on that occasion, and the pardon he had re- 
 ceived from James, now relied on as an apt instru- 
 ment for the destruction of Balmerino. It was far other- 
 wise. He implored his fellow jurors, in the most pathetic 
 terms, to reflect that the life of an innocent nobleman, 
 whose death would lie heavy on them, was now at stake ; 
 remarkinf*: that his own hands had once been imbrued in 
 blood, (while he alluded to his crime, the tears that 
 streamed down his cheeks evinced his pt^nitence for it,) 
 and that though he had obtained a pardon from his sove- 
 reign, it had cost him many a sorrowful day and night to 
 obtain a remission also from his conscience. Every one 
 seemed subdued by this address except Traquair, who, 
 resuming the argument, told them that it was not their 
 province to consider the innocence or guilt of the prisoner's 
 intention ; that the court had pronounced a judgment of 
 relevancy regarding the seditious tendency of the petition ; 
 and that their duty, which was as simple as the fact was 
 indisputable, was merely to say whether or not Balmerino 
 knew of the writing founded on. After a long debate, 
 seven voted him guilty, and Traquair's own vote settled 
 the verdict. Sentence of death was immediately pro- March 20, 
 nounced — a sentence which, instead of overpowering the ^^^^" 
 prisoner, only excited a smile at the malice of his enemies. 
 But, to the great chagrin of the prelates, the execution 
 was suspended.* 
 
 As the prelates thirsted for this nobleman's life, so the 
 people were most anxious for his safety. They daily as- 
 sembled tumultuously in the streets, praying aloud for his 
 preservation, applauding the exertions of his friends, and 
 imprecating curses upon his enemies. Nay, they medi- 
 tated the most desperate measures for his safety, for 
 
 * State Trials ; Burnet's Hist. ; Balfour's Annals ; Row.
 
 142 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, which many secret consultations were held ; and, in the 
 ■ \^' . event of faihng, they determined to revenge his death upon 
 his judges, and those of the jury who voted him guilty. 
 One party was prepared to fire their houses ; another to 
 massacre them all. This having transpired, saved Bal- 
 merino. Traquair, whom the people had devoted to 
 destruction, trembling for his own life, hastened to court, 
 and recommended a pardon. That was yet w^ithheld ; 
 but a respite, which was deemed the forerunner of one, 
 was dispatched to Scotland, and diffused universal joy. 
 It was, however, only after a tedious and unusually cruel 
 confinement of thirteen months, that Balmerino was made 
 a prisoner at large, on condition of his confining himself 
 within certain bounds ; and a considerable time after that 
 elapsed before he received a final pardon. The merit of 
 the pardon was by some ascribed to the lenity of Laud, 
 by others to the royal clemency.* 
 
 Before proceeding to detail the consequences of this 
 unjustifiable trial, Avhich in regard even to the advance- 
 ment of the prerogative was impolitic, we shall introduce 
 a short account of Traquair, who acted so conspicuous a 
 part on the present occasion, tliough still a greater in the 
 ensuing troubles. From a private gentleman' of the name 
 of Stuart, he, by intrigue and unprincipled perseverance 
 joined to considerable talent, raised himself, under the 
 patronage of Laud, to the rank of an earl, and of secretary 
 of state, and finally of lord treasurer. But he afterwards 
 suffered a merited, yet lamentable, reverse of fortune. 
 Burnet informs us that himself saw that earl and liis 
 family destitute of bread, and that he was reported to 
 have died of hunger. f 
 
 Tliis prosecution Avas productive of very opposite effects 
 from those anticipated. Instead of subduing, it awakened 
 
 • Row ascribes it to Laud, pp. who desire to see another instance 
 
 263, 204, 2(]o; Balfour's Annals, of this nobleman's inj-ratitude and 
 
 p. 80 et acq. baseness may consult Balfour's An- 
 
 t Heylin's Life of Lmirl, p. 340 ; 7iak, p. 84. 
 Burnet's Hist. pp. 22, 23. Those
 
 BALMERIXO'S PEOSECUTIOX AWAKEXS THE NATIONAL SPIRIT. 143 
 
 the national spirit, and greatly contributed to the subse- chap. 
 
 qiient convulsions. The gross corruption of courts of 
 justice, and the powers arrogated by the privy council of 
 judging both in civil and criminal matters, made men 
 sensible of the small security afforded by the laws. So 
 striking an instance of injustice came home to every 
 breast ; and, while all wlio had voted in parliament 
 against the late statutes, and had been since under the 
 royal displeasure, perceived in such a proceeding the 
 forerunner of oppression to themselves, the act of revoca- 
 tion, though the measures hitherto pursued on it were 
 beneficial to the community, and did not hurt the patri- 
 monial interest of the possessors of church property, 
 taught men to reflect upon the precarious nature of their 
 tenures. Whether, as we have observed, Charles still 
 persisted in his purpose of revoking the grants, may be 
 pronounced uncertain ; but all who enjoyed that species 
 of property took the alarm, and an attempt to re-establish 
 mitred abbots in the place of the lords of erection, which 
 ecclesiastics expected would be accomplished with all 
 the revenue belonoincs; to them, confirmed their fears.* 
 With that view, the abbey of Aberbroath was recovered 
 from the Hamilton family, and the lordship of Glasgow 
 from the Duke of Lennox : the first was bestowed upon 
 the Archbisiiop of St. Andrew's, the last upon the Arch- 
 bishop of Glasgow. Though these were recovered to the 
 crown at their full value, and the spirit with which the 
 Marquis of Hamilton parted with his property evinced 
 
 * See what is said in the Larrje This was charged against Laud (see 
 
 Declaration ou this subject, p. et the Scotch charge in the account of 
 
 seq. ; Burnet's Hist. vol. i. p. 23 ; his trial, by Prynne, and in Ptush. 
 
 Memoriah of the Hnjniltom, p. 30; vol. iv. p. 114, and in Nalson, vol. i. 
 
 Spalding, vol. i. p. 45 et serj. ; Bal- p. 681 ; Laud's Trouhles, p. 9o ; see 
 
 four's Atmals, p. GO; Guthry, p. 13; a very curious letter amongst extracts 
 
 Gordon of Straloch's 3IS. ; Jac. v. from the original papers of Robert, 
 
 p. 4, Adv. Lib. ; Row, p. 264. This 2nd Earl of Leicester, Sat. Sept. 1 7, 
 
 author informs us that it was reported 1738, ahnut a sif/naturc for recalling 
 
 bishops were to be provided to abbeys, church lands and tithes; Aysc. 3/<S'. 
 
 and that the gifts had passed the Brit. Mus. No. 4161). 
 seals, but were stopped by Traquair. 
 
 II.
 
 144 COXSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, the feelings tliat pervaded the Scotch aristocracy, the 
 
 . ^^- . restitution was designedly reputed to be a gratuitous mark 
 
 of piety worthy of imitation. One Learmonth too was 
 
 created abbot of Lindoris ; and negotiations were set on 
 
 foot for the abbey of Kelso and others.* 
 
 Edinburgh, wdiich had formerly been comprehended in 
 the see of St. Andrew's, was now erected into a bishopric, 
 which extended from the Forth to the Eastern Borders. 
 
 As the ecclesiastical party had been supreme in the 
 late parliament, so every measure of government seemed 
 fraught with some design to exalt the clergy at the ex- 
 pense of the aristocracy. Spottiswoode, archbishop of 
 St. Andrew's, whose influence had obtained for his son the 
 presidentship of the Court of Session, was himself created 
 chancellor, the first who had held that place from the 
 Eeformation. Some were lords of exchequer, and nine 
 out of fourteen were members of the privy council, where 
 they prevailed in all questions, and insulted the proudest 
 nobles. It was in agitation to confer the treasurership 
 upon Maxwell, bishop of Eoss, the most servile tool of 
 Laud, and the ablest to render him service. Other gainful 
 offices were held by them, and chm-chmen were, every- 
 where, created justices of peace, a situation w4iich the 
 Presbyterian ministers declined as incompatible with their 
 function. Nay, it was seriously intended to fill up one- 
 half of the supreme court with ecclesiastics, according to 
 the original institution of that tribunal. Besides all these 
 advantages, they were masters of the high commission, a 
 court erected without a pretext of law, and they procured 
 warrants from the king to institute subordinate commis- 
 sions in every diocese with inquisitorial powers — a mea- 
 sure partially carried into execution, and calculated to 
 crush at once the Presbyterian clergy. Thus, not only 
 was the field of ambition for the laity daily more and 
 more circumscribed, and the Presbyterian clergy despoiled, 
 
 * liunu't's Memorials of the Duke Times, vol. i. p. 34 et seq. ; Clarendon, 
 of II(ii)ii/fa)), p. 'jO; Hist, of his Own vol. i. p. 152 et seq.
 
 UPSTART INSOLENCE OF THE PRELATES. 145 
 
 but the community at large threatened with subjection to chap. 
 the hierarchy, who fine and imprison gentlemen of quality. ^^■ 
 Their infringement of public rights was indeed gradual, 
 but though this prudence, in some degree, lulled the ge- 
 neral jealousy, matters soon became intolerable.* To have 
 expected satisfaction in the high classes, whose religious 
 propensities all inclined towards the old establishment and 
 worship, would have been to calculate upon a new phe- 
 nomenon in nature. But as if the prelates longed for the 
 opportunity to triumph with all the officiousness of upstart 
 insolence, they so al^used the royal favour as to make the 
 proudest nobles sensible of their power. One instance will 
 suffice. Lord Lome, afterwards the f^imous marquis of 
 Argyle, complained one day at the council of Sydserf, 
 bishop of Galloway, having,in his subordinate commission 
 court, imposed a fine upon one of Lome's friends, for dis- 
 obedience to the injunction to kneel at the sacrament, 
 which the individual in question called idolatrous : Syd- 
 serf, though the cliarge w^as well-founded, directly gave 
 that lord the lie, before the wdiole council, a circumstance 
 which offended all present, and wounded the pride of the 
 nobility.j* 
 
 Li this way there were the strongest grounds for dis- 
 content, independently of religious sentiments ; but the 
 injury done to the. last, kindled a general flame throughout 
 the kingdom. The Arminian tenets were studiously in- 
 troduced, with the object, as it was alleged, of trying the 
 temper of the nation, and preparing it for the other grand 
 innovations which had been resolved upon. 
 
 * Balfour's Annals, MS. p. 85; omitted in tlie late statute. May, 
 
 Spalding, vol. i. p. 45 et seq. ; Guth- p. 30 ; Baillie's Let. cmdJourn. vol. i. 
 
 ly, pp. 13, 14, IG ; Clarendon, vol. i. pp. 1 ct seq., 5 et seq. 
 
 p. 187 et seq., and Append. A, p. 183 t Clarendon, vol. i. pp. 152-15G, 
 
 et seq.; Burnet's 3[emoirs of the and Append. A, p. 183 e^.sej'.; Spald- 
 
 Diike of Hamilton, p. 30 ; Eusli. ingr, vol. i, p. 45 et seq. ; Baillie's Let. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 386; MS. Adv. Lib.; Hob. vol. i. p. 3. It is said that Lome 
 
 iii. 1,2; Account of the Litroductwn instigated the other in his contumacy, 
 
 of the Service Book, How's MS. pp. This proves, amongst many other 
 
 263, 264 ; Hist. hif. 3LS. Adv. Lib. things, that Lome was uniform in 
 
 pp. 1, 2. The caveats passed in the his conduct, 
 early assemblies of James were 
 VOL. II. L
 
 146 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMRIRE. 
 
 CH.\P. 
 II. 
 
 The new prelate of Edinburgh, who had received his 
 education at Cambridge, and been selected for his prin- 
 ciples, (such men only were advanced,) anxious to testify 
 his aptitude for the place, and gratitude for the gift, in- 
 sulted the popular feelings in St. Giles's Church, which 
 was converted into a cathedral, by language that imported 
 transubstantiation, though he wisely suppressed the word ; 
 and by telling his audience that they were bound to believe 
 whatever was taught from the pulpit, as the preacher was 
 alone responsible for unsound doctrine. His opinions re- 
 garding Catholics, though abstractly charitable and hu- 
 mane, were imprudently introduced ; he maintained that 
 the pope w\as not antichrist, and that papists might be 
 saved. Considering how the intention of forcins^ the na- 
 tion back into the Eomish principles was apprehended, it 
 must be conceded that the liberality was ill-timed. The 
 more immaterial the points of difference, the more liberal 
 and enlightened the ruling party, the less apology was 
 there for violently obtruding innovations upon that people. 
 After the king's departure, the English service, witli all 
 the new pomp and ceremony, was ordered to be used in 
 the royal chapel ; and because Bellenden, the bishop of 
 Dunblane, dreading the consequences of the popular 
 indignation, did not punctually obey the mandate, he 
 incurred displeasure, and lost the chance of preferment.* 
 
 While the kingdom groaned under the load of sucli ac- 
 cumulated oppression, and so many causes of discontent 
 existed, it required only some connuon bond of union, in 
 all classes, to raise a spirit of insurrection ; and that was 
 afforded by the introduction of ecclesiastical canons and a 
 
 * Kow's lis. pp. 25.'1, 254 ; Jlisf. 
 Information, MS', pp. 2, 3 ; Clarcji- 
 don,vol. i. p. 1.37 ef seq. See INI. (5, 10 ; 
 MS. Adv. Lib. Kimfs Letter, Oct. 12, 
 1G33; 2ik1, Laud's Letters, No. 13, 
 Jan. Ki-'U; No. 14, lAIav G, 1034; 
 No. 10, .Tilly 1()34; No. 19, May 11), 
 lOoo. Tht'so four last are published 
 by Ilailes (see also pp. 1, 2 of that 
 
 publication). It would appear tliat 
 the judges and other members of the 
 college of justice had declined to 
 obey the injunction to receive the 
 sacrament kneeling at the royal 
 chapel, and Charles sent down a 
 most peremptory order {Introduction 
 to Laud's Trial, p. 148 et seq.).
 
 IXTRODUCTIOX OF ECCLESIASTICAL CAXOXS AXD LITURGY. 147 
 
 litiiro-y, without the sanction of the legislature, or even of chap. 
 
 the church. At the packed assembly, which was held at - ^ . 
 
 Aberdeen, in the year 16 IC, where measures Avere neces- 
 sarily carried for the crown, it had been resolved that it 
 was expedient to have uniformity of church government 
 throuf^^hout the kinirdom, and it was ordained that a book 
 of canons, compiled from the books of previous assemblies, 
 and, where these were defective, from the canons and ec- 
 clesiastical conventions of former times, should be prepared 
 and printed for the common use. This business had 
 been entrusted to Law, archbishop of Glasgow, and Mr. 
 Struthers, minister of Edinburgh, who were appointed to 
 deliver the draught to commissioners nominated by the 
 assembly, with power to try, examine, and allow the same, 
 after which the canons were to be presented to the king, 
 whose ratification was to confer on tliem the vahdity of 
 law.* The arts, however, which had been employed to 
 pack, influence, and overawe that assembly, were so fla- 
 grant, as utterly to defeat its object : all men scorned the 
 acts of a meeting which, though it obtained the name, had 
 none of the characteristics of that general assembly of the 
 church, to whose determinations they were accustomed to 
 submit; and from the opposition to the five articles of 
 Perth, the intention was suspended during the life of James, 
 while the commission fell. Charles, who was fully deter- 
 mined to impose canons and a hturgy upon the people, 
 resolved at the same time that they sliould be drawn from 
 other sources than acts of assembhes, and be effected by 
 very different instruments. 
 
 The pretext for the innovations was the desire of uni- 
 formity throughout his majesty's dominions ; yet both the 
 canons and liturgy differed very materially from the Eng- 
 lish — thus defeating the pretended object ; Avhile all the 
 variations approached more closely to the Eomish tenets, 
 and partook of the spirit of those novelties which were 
 
 • Calderwood, pp. 655-057, GG4. 
 I. 2
 
 148 CONSTITUTIOXAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMriRE. 
 
 CHAP, every day covertly obtruded upon the sister kingdom. 
 ^^' Hence it was fairly concluded that an experiment, which 
 miaht afterwards be extended to Enoiand, was bes^un with 
 Scotland, whose resources were too much contenmed. On 
 the other hand, it was alleged by Charles, that it having 
 been deemed more honourable for Scotland to have canons 
 and a liturgy of her own, so individuated as might preserve 
 for her the character of an independent nation, the Scottish 
 bishops were commanded to prosecute the work, which 
 they ultimately completed according to the original plan 
 of the assembly of Aberdeen. But the statement in the 
 Large Declaration is contradictory in itself, and not quite 
 consentaneous to that of Laud, who says that both he and 
 his master were anxious for the English canons and liturgy 
 entire, but that the Scottish bishops insisted so strenuously 
 on having something peculiai', that their desire Avas acceded 
 to ; while there is the fullest evidence in support of the 
 opinion entertained by the opponents of the measure. To 
 every one, too, it must occur as perfectly obvious, that, 
 since truth is uniform, if the English canons and liturgy 
 were complete, the variations must have been heterodox; 
 and that, since there was confessedly from the fact itself, 
 of the difference between the Eno;lish and those for Scot- 
 land, a fair ground for variety of opinion, nothing can ex- 
 cuse the bloody spirit Avitli which they were forced upon 
 that people. But the truth is, that the whole business was 
 entrusted to foiu^ only of the bishops — to four who had 
 owed their advancement to Laud, and were still ambitious 
 of further preferment from the same source : that Laud 
 corresponded with them during every stage of the work : 
 that both the canons and liturgy were submitted to his 
 revision, and materially altered by him, and then printed 
 under his directions. That the measure was asjainst the 
 decided opinion of the older Scottish bishops ; and that 
 they were threatened Avith the loss of their places if they 
 declined to exert themselves in support of the undertaking. 
 Now, surely, he who plans and superintends a work must
 
 THE KINGS AUTHORITY IN ECCLESIASTICAL CAUSES. 149 
 
 be deemed the architect, and not the humble artisan who chap. 
 
 labours by his directions. The employment of the four - ^ . 
 
 Scottish bishops was politic on several grounds ; it, in some 
 manner, screened Laud, and, by making them parties to 
 the design, stimulated them to advance it.* 
 
 The Canons were published a full year before the TheSeot- 
 Liturgy, and were of the most extraordinary and arbitrary ^ong^Gse 
 description. In England it had been deemed expedient 
 to set up a plea of divine right in the church, independent 
 of the civil government ; in Scotland, and nothing more 
 clearly proves how ready the patriarch was to sacrifice his 
 principles to his ambition, — all power in ecclesiastical 
 affairs was imputed to, and arrogated by, the crown. The 
 punishment of excommmiication, a punishment which in- 
 ferred the civil consequences of outlawry and confiscation 
 of moveables, was provided for all who in any shape im- 
 pugned the royal supremacy, or denied to the king the 
 same authority in aiuses ecclesiastical, that the godly 
 kings had amongst the Jew^s, or the Christian emperors in 
 the primitive church. Another ordained the same dread- 
 fid punishment for such as should question the mode of 
 worship, or service, contained in the Book of Common 
 Prayer, and the prescribed administration of the sacra- 
 ment ; a canon assuredly of the most tyrannical nature, 
 since the very book which the people were thus enjoined 
 to consider as perfect, was not published for a year sub- 
 sequent to the promulgation of the Canons. But that 
 which regarded the administration of the sacrament, was 
 calculated to excite the most general alarm. The doctrine 
 of the leadino; members of the Enirlish church maintained 
 the real presence in the eucharist to be a fundamental 
 principle of that church ; wliile the orders to convert the 
 
 * This is a matter of considerable be necessary to prove the matter at 
 
 importance, and has been generally gi'eater lenglh than is compatible 
 
 misunderstood. Mr. Laing, whose with a note at the foot of the page, 
 
 research in Scottish history has de- the reader is referred to Note A, at 
 
 servedly gained him credit, has fallen the end of tlie volume, 
 into tho same error j and, as it will
 
 150 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, communion table into an altar, and furnisli it with car- 
 ._ ^]' _. pets, linen cloths, basons, chalices, crucifixes, &c., had in- 
 spired a general imderstanding, that the object was to 
 introduce the sacrifice of the mass, &c. The Bishop of 
 Durham himself had declared that the Eeformers, when 
 they took away the mass, deformed, instead of reforming 
 religion. But in the case of Scotland, an injunction that 
 the elements, as if really transubstantiated, should be con- 
 sumed by the poorer communicants before they left the 
 church, confirmed the common alarm. Eomanists, with 
 all who approve of their doctrine, hold that baptism is in- 
 dispensable to salvation ; but the Presbyterians held this 
 to be a damnable opinion : yet the Scottish bishops main- 
 tained openly, that new-born infants who die unbaptized 
 are consigned over to everlasting perdition ; and while a 
 font was prepared for the holy water, the ceremony was 
 allowed, as had formerly been done, to be performed pri- 
 vately ; as if, according to the Presbyterian clergy, it 
 were a charm to be wrought in a corner. Marriage was 
 by the Presbyterians esteemed merely a civil contract, and 
 dissoluble on certain grounds ; by Laud and his party, 
 it was held to be an indissoluble sacrament ; and, by the 
 new canons, divorces were merely to extend to separa- 
 tions, a mensd et toro, while the publication of banns 
 might be dispensed with. Ordination too, like a real 
 sacrament, was restrained to four seasons in the year ; and 
 no preacher was to be permitted to deviate from the un- 
 seen Book of Common Prayer. To strike at the Sabba- 
 tarian doctrine, and subvert the poAver of the popular 
 clergy, fasts too were prohibited on Sunday; auricular 
 coiifession and absolution, Avhich, according to Clarendon, 
 ' the Scots considered the most inseparable tenet of Anti- 
 christ,' and which was undoubtedly a mighty engine in 
 the hands of the priesthood, were prescribed in substance, 
 the presbyter, while he granted absolution, being ordered 
 to conceal the confessions of the ]:)enitcnt, unless they were 
 such as, by the laws of the realm, the priest's own life
 
 REGULATIONS DEVISED TO SUBDUE THE POPULAR SPIRIT. 151 
 
 might be exposed for concealment. But no sentence of chap. 
 excommunication was to be pronounced, nor absolution ■ ^^_' . 
 from one given, without the leave and approbation of the 
 bishop of the diocese. 
 
 In order to remove the very appearance of freedom in 
 the people, and to subvert the whole fabric of the estab- 
 lished ecclesiastical government, some vestiges of whicli 
 yet remained ; to subdue the popular spirit by infecting 
 it with superstition, and to exalt the hierarcliy, the follow- 
 ing regulations were devised : That whoever questioned 
 the lawfulness of consecrating bisliops, or their divine 
 right over the rest of the clergy, should be excommu- 
 nicated : that every ecclesiastic sliould take the oath of 
 supremacy : that no preacher should impugn the doctrine 
 delivered by anotlier in the same church, or any near it, 
 without the permission of the bishop, ' which the Presby- 
 terian clergy conceived to be the way to pin their whole 
 religion to the bishop's sleeve ; ' and tliat no private meet- 
 ings should be held by presbyters, or by any other persons 
 ivltatever* for expounding scripture, or for consulting 
 upon ecclesiastical affairs, such matters being only lit for 
 the prelates in their synods : that neither Presbyters nor 
 laymen should jointly or severally, under the pain of ex- 
 communication, either make new rules, orders, or consti- 
 tutions, or detract from those established, without his 
 majesty's authority, and that no assembly should be called 
 except by the king ; nor its acts be valid unless confirmed 
 by his power : that no man should teach, either in public 
 or private, without a licence from the bishop of the dio- 
 cese, or archbishop of the province under his hand and 
 seal, (those again were enjoined to license such only as 
 were of good religion, and obedient to the orders of the 
 church) : and that nothing should be printed without a 
 licence from the visitors appointed for that purpose, under 
 a penalty at the discretion of the prelates. It was further 
 
 * Clarendon prudently sinks this only meetings of the clergy (vol, i. 
 clause, printed in italics, mentioning p. 188 et seq.).
 
 152 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BKITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, advanced, with a view to raise the clergy, that no pres- 
 
 ^IJ: , byter slioiild, under the pain of suspension, become surety 
 
 or cautioner in civil bonds or contracts for any person 
 whatever ; and that such bisliO])s and presbyters as should 
 depart this life, without issue, should leave their goods, or 
 a great ])art of them, to the church and for holy uses ; 
 and, notwithstanding their having children, that they 
 sliould leave some testimony of their love for the church 
 and advancement of religion.* 
 
 These Canons were obtruded upon an indignant people 
 without a shadow of legislative, and, what displeased the 
 episcopal clergy themselves, without even any regidar 
 ecclesiastical, authority. Nothing further was deemed 
 requisite than a letter from the king, followed up by an 
 order or act of the privy council, which was poorly 
 attended, and composed of members suited to the busi- 
 ness, f 
 
 The powers claimed and exercised by the king, together 
 with the very nature of the Canons, implied a right to 
 make further alterations at his pleasure. Indeed, if his 
 riiilit, as vicejierent of heaven, to make the laws which 
 were imposed on this occasion were recognised, there 
 seemed to be no limit to regal authority ; for the power 
 that legislates must be qualified to adapt laws to the 
 exigency, to abrogate or cliange them, according to the 
 varying ideas of expediency, of which it is sole judge. 
 But Charles and his advisers were aware that, however 
 unboimded his pretensions, there possibly might be some 
 limits to the people's patience ; that, consequently, it 
 miglit not be altogether prudent to usher in all at once 
 tlie whole novelties wliich presented themselves to 'a 
 restless spirit, that loved to toss and change, and bring 
 tilings to a pitch of reformation floating in his own brain ;' 
 and that, considering how distasteful to the kingdom were 
 
 ♦ Seo this printed before the Clar. vol. i. p. 183 et seq. 
 Ciinous. How'.s MS. p. 2(UW'/ .fryy. ; f Clar. vol. i. p. 183 et seq., and 
 
 llcylin'ri Life of Laud, p. 2iJ'.> vt ticq.] Hid, Inf. p. 2.
 
 PRETEXT INVENTED FOE FUTURE CHANGE. 153 
 
 sucli innovations, it was necessary to invent a pretext for chap. 
 
 future change, lest the people, perceiving no end to alter- «-_^ . 
 
 ations in doctrine and worship, should resolutely oppose 
 the measures. A canon was therefore devised, which, 
 while it conferred no farther power than was implied by 
 the others, and was expected to pass unnoticed, was ad- 
 mirably calculated to afford a colour for subsequent inno- 
 vation : ' for as much as no reformation in doctrine or 
 discipline can be made perfect at once in any church, 
 therefore it shall and may be lawful for the kirk of Scot- 
 land, at any time, to make remonstrances to his majesty or 
 his successors.' * The poor people of Scotland were pro- 
 hibited, under the most terrible penalties, from impugning 
 a liturgy they had not seen, or expounding the Scriptures 
 amongst themselves, by which they might judge of the 
 doctrine; and yet it is announced by the very act which 
 imposed it, that the doctrine or discipline could not be 
 perfect ! But the kirk might represent. Now, as all 
 meetings were interdicted, except of the bishops in their 
 synods, the conclusion incontestably is, that the prelates 
 only, who were mere tools of governmeilt, should have 
 power to address the throne against any of the innova- 
 tions ; in otlier words, that they who were moved at the 
 royal discretion, should at any time apply for farther 
 chano;e. Laud was most eag:er for this canon as well as 
 for its being undetected by the people. '/ am very 
 glad,' says he in a letter to his great instrument, Bishop 
 Maxwell, wherein he encourages that prelate to proceed 
 without fear in God's cause and the king's, ' I am very 
 glad your canons are also in so good a readiness, and that 
 the true meamnf/ of that one canone remains still under the 
 curtaine. I hope you icill take care that it may be fully 
 printed and p)assed unih the rest. 'Twill be of great use 
 for the settling of the church.' f 
 
 * See the Cations, 4tli of C. 8. tember 19, 1635. One would ima- 
 
 t This letter is puhlished hy giue that the passage was beyond the 
 
 liailes; but I have copied the above power of a quibble ; but see a proof 
 
 from the original, C. lOj No. 20, Sep- of Laud's Jesuitical dexterity regard-
 
 154 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMriRE. 
 
 CHAP. As the Canons -were not at that time published, it is 
 evident tliat even the few who were instructed were not 
 let into all the secret intentions of the court. By another 
 part of that letter, we likewise discover that the Liturgy 
 was then in greater readiness than the Canons, and we 
 learn from Baillie, that one edition was disposed of to the 
 tobacconists and grocers as waste paper. But Laud had 
 many alterations to make, some of which required ex- 
 planation, even from the Scottish bishops, of their own 
 meaning ; and when a copy of the Liturgy was transmitted 
 to him by Archbishop Spottiswoode, written only on one 
 side, the numerous additions, abstractions, and alterations 
 necessarily led to much delay. In the meantime the 
 Presbyterian clergy, who descried in the Canons the 
 subversion equally of their own importance in the com- 
 munity, and of the religion they professed, were not 
 deterred by the threatened penalties from, both by con- 
 versation and pamphlets, warning the public of their 
 danger. 
 Lihu-gy, The Liturgy at last appeared and justified the general 
 
 appreliension. The English was sufficiently repugnant to 
 the Presbyterian principles ; but this differed from it 
 materially. It was alleged, and whoever will peruse the 
 writings of Baillie and Prynne will allow that the allega- 
 tion was not made Avithout cause, that it was extracted 
 chiefly from the Missal and the Breviary. It inculcated 
 in substance whatever in the Popish faitli, particularly in 
 
 ing it in tlie Hist, of his Troubles, been a friend to the constitutional 
 p. 101. liegardinf^ this work, I shall liberty of the people and the laws, 
 just remark that it is merely notes and to say that he never advised 
 of his defence to the impeachment, arbitrary "taxes. Laud does this, 
 and that his admirers would have whose very letters breathe nothing- 
 acted prudently in allowing it to lie but recommendations of ' thoroui/h,'' 
 imder the curtain. They, however, who encouraged Manwaring's and 
 appear to have protruded it upon the Sibthor])'s sernums, and whose whole 
 public as a sort of deathljed declara- ci\ il and ecclesiastical administration 
 tion, which was fit to be regarded as subverted everything like rights in 
 a complete refutation to direct evi- the community (Haillie's Let. vol. 
 dence against him. It is only neces- i- pp. 4 ct svq., 12, 15_ c^ seq., '<i\ ct 
 sary to observe, that he does not scq.). 
 scruple to declare himself to have 
 
 1G37.
 
 ir. 
 
 THE LITUEGY JUSTIFIES THE GENEEAL APPEEHENSION. 155 
 
 regard to the communion, the people held in the great- chap, 
 est abhorrence. The consecrated water with the cross in 
 baptism, the ring in marriage, and the like were offen- 
 sive ; but the rubric, in regard to the communion, the 
 prayer of consecration, importing the real presence, to- 
 gether with an altar in the place of a table, the offertory, 
 &c., betrayed their original, and indeed were a transla- 
 tion from the Missal. The real presence was indubitably 
 implied, and as the altar imported a sacrifice, so the word 
 sacrifice Avas used ; while the presbyter* was enjoined to 
 consecrate the elements standino; before the altar, and of 
 course with his back to the congregation, according to the 
 Komish custom, so that he could not be heard, which 
 supplied the place of consecration mumbled over in a 
 dead tongue ; and as this posture was enjoined, ' that lie 
 might freely use both his hands,' it was concluded that it 
 was intended to usher in the elevation of the host.f Then, 
 besides the fair linen cloth for the altar, there was other 
 decent furniture prescribed, which was shrewdly sup- 
 posed indicative of a purpose to usher in crucifixes, 
 according to the new practice adopted by Laud at Lam- 
 beth and Croydon, and to what had been done even in 
 Scotland at the late coronation. Eeverence too was 
 enjoined to the altar, which, though the English primate 
 affirmed, as we have shown formerly in a note, was 
 
 * The word presbyter was allowed reverence for their teachers (see 
 
 ill Scotland as a great concession to Sarpi's or Father Paul's Hist.). But 
 
 the prejudices of the people, instead a different reason for the practice 
 
 of the derivative, priest, which had was assigned, for the satisfaction of 
 
 been lately introduced with much the vulgar : — that some peasants had 
 
 pomp into England (Heylin's Life of caught the words of consecration 
 
 Zand, p. 348). from the priests, and pronounced 
 
 t At the famous Council of Trent, them over their ordinary meal in the 
 
 there was a strong party for allowing fields, when the bread, to their utter 
 
 communion in both liinds, and in the astonishment, was instantly con verted 
 
 vulgar tongue. But both points into flesh, and fire from heaven 
 
 were overruled ; it having been held destroyed both them and it. Hence- 
 
 that the first concession would only forth the consecration was ordered 
 
 induce the people to demand some- to be pronounced, not only in a foreign 
 
 thing greater ; and that the second tongue, but inaudibly (Baillie's 
 
 would awaken them to new disputes. Parallel, p. 44). Laud's innovations 
 
 and make them throw off tlie implicit effected the object.
 
 156 COXSTITUTIOXAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, different from the worship paid to the Supreme Being, was 
 . — ; — . not distinguishable from it by a carnal multitude. The 
 rubric, in regard to the decalogue, prescribed that the 
 people (who were ordered to kneel all the while) should 
 ask forgiveness of every commandment as it was read, 
 ' either according to the letter, or to the mystical impor- 
 tance of the said commandments,' a rubric which destroyed 
 the morality of the commandments, and was not unrea- 
 sonably presumed to be levelled at the second and fourth. 
 The one in its literal sense being subversive of the prin- 
 ciples by which crucifixes and other images had lately 
 been introduced by Laud into English churches, and the 
 other, of his doctrine about the Sunday. Hence the 
 second commandment had been wisely delete by the 
 Catholics from their missals and breviaries, as only cere- 
 monial, and calculated for the Jews not the Christians. 
 By the spirit of mysticism the object might be indirectly 
 accomplished till matters were ripe for farther cliange. 
 The loss of the Sabbath was supphed by holidays, and 
 the calendar was crowded with saints ; nor did certain 
 prayers, extracted from the Missal, in commemoration 
 of saints Aiil, when compared with the late doctrine 
 on the soutli of the Tweed, to frighten the people with 
 the idea of an intention to restore the Avorship of them. 
 Many other alterations on the English service were com- 
 plained of ; and the whole was so directly repugnant to 
 tlie genius of the Presbyterian system, and tlie feehngs of 
 the nation, that it would afford no apology for Charles 
 and his advisers to prove that the Liturgy was, in some 
 res])ects, misconceived, and that the alterations upon the 
 established fliitli and Avorship were intrinsically unimpor- 
 tant.* This last, indeed, is the most wretclied excuse 
 ever invented for that unfortunate prince ; since, if they 
 really appeared unimportant to himself, on what ground 
 
 • r>aillie's C'anterhurean s Self- 3Iis.^al, lircrian/, kc. ; I'rynne's 
 Cwirivtwu, (iml a PuraUrl hrtwi.it the Kecrs.san/ Introd.'to Laud's Trial, and 
 Scottish Service Book and the liominh the Trial.
 
 "PROCLAMATION PRESCRIBING THE SERVICE-BOOK. 157 
 
 shall his conduct be vindicated for iiis resolution to im- chap. 
 
 pose them even with fire and sword ? If he considered - ^ - 
 
 them in a different light, ought not the same cliarity for 
 his understanding to be extended to his subjects? Or are 
 the errors of bigotry and superstition only excusable in 
 princes and their ministers, while the people must not 
 even presume to murmur at any of their arbitrary inno- 
 vations ? But of what radical importance they were in a 
 religious sense we have already shown, while the Canons 
 were destructive of the civil rights of tlie community, 
 and the monarch's eaoferness for these novelties w^as the 
 offspring of love of power alone.* 
 
 Tlie Liturgy, like tlie Canons which enjoined it, was sanc- 
 tioned neither by the legislature, nor by any ecclesiastical 
 assembly. A letter was transmitted by the king to the privy 
 council, commanding tliem to authorise and enforce it ; and 
 a proclamation Avas immediately issued by that obsequious Prockma- 
 body, prescribing the service-book, under severe penalties, LiuJ^y!^'^ 
 to botli clergy and laity, as the only species of worship 
 which liis majesty thouglit fit to allow, and commanding 
 every minister of the Gospel, upon pain of being esteemed 
 a rebel, to purchase two copies of it for his own use, and 
 that of his parish. The council, thougli a lay meethig, 
 was, in reality, composed of the bishops : eleven mem- 
 bers constituted a quorum, and that number was expressly 
 selected for the occasion : nine of them were ecclesiastics, 
 and the other two were unprepared to vote, as they had 
 not even seen the book which the meeting authorised and 
 enforced, f 
 
 The proclamation spread an instantaneous alarm 
 throughout all ranks of the kingdom. The Presbyterian 
 clergy exposed the Popish doctrine and practice in the 
 Liturgy, which they compared to the mass-book, and 
 
 * This will fully appear in the f Hist. Inf. p. 3. This work was 
 
 sequel. lu regard to the general drawn up by the Earl of liothes. 
 
 feeling as to the invasion of public Row's 3IS, • Eaillie's Let. vol. i. 
 
 rights, see Hist. Inform, pp. 29, 49, p. 4 et seq. 
 
 58, 79.
 
 158 COXSTITUTIOXAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, roused the piety of tlie kingdom to resist innovations 
 -_ ^^- . Avhich at once swept befoTe them whatever their fathers 
 liad deemed vahiable amongst men. On this one point, 
 all the various causes of discontent were concentrated ; a 
 bond of union for all ranks being afforded by a project 
 equally injudicious and wicked, to subvert, not only the 
 civil rights of the country, but the established religion to 
 which the people were so warmly attached. 
 
 The most prudent of the council and moderate of the 
 bishops perceived the consequences of such ill-advised 
 measures, and the primate himself inclined to defer the 
 accomplislmient of the object for a season. But the 
 clashing of interests marred this prudent counsel, which 
 might possibly have moderated the royal ardour as well as 
 that of Laud. The office of high treasurer had lately 
 become vacant by the death of John, earl of Mar, and 
 the prelates, anxious to fix the office on their own coat, 
 for which they had an example in England, supported the 
 pretensions of Maxwell, bishop of Eoss : the aristocracy 
 were alarmed, and, though they disliked Traquair, strenu- 
 ously supported him to prevent a precedent so injurious 
 to their own interest. The earl was chosen, and the 
 prelates entered into intrigues for his ffdl. He, on the 
 other hand, was no stranger to these intrigues, and having 
 for some time borne a deep grudge to the Scottish 
 primate for disappointing him in a marriage that he 
 intended for one of his cousins with a rich heiress,* 
 determined to humble them. With this view he pro- 
 cured a warrant to dissolve the commission of tithes, and 
 thus thwarted the primate in his hopes of augmenting his 
 revenue, and stopped a gift of 5000/. sterling to the 
 Archbisliop of Glasgow, The two arch-prelates resolved 
 immediately upon a personal journey to London to com- 
 plain of injustice ; and, conceiving that they could not 
 render a more acceptable service to the crown than by 
 
 • See How's MS. p. 184 ; Giitluy, p. 12.
 
 rUBLIC AGITATION AXD TUMULT. 159 
 
 obtruding the Liturgy, they procured an immediate order chap, 
 
 from the court, and without the concurrence of tlie -_ ^ - 
 
 council, as well as contrary to an agreement which Tvas 
 publicly announced by* the Bishop of Edinburgh, to defer 
 it till the autumn, commanded it to be intimated from the 
 pulpit, that the service should be used on the next Sunday. 
 They imagined that by taking the people by surprise they 
 should have less cause to apprehend resistance ; but they 
 were mistaken. The apparent perfidy of this unexpected 
 resolution kindled rasfe, it ha\dno; been well-remarked that 
 ' they who are false to God cannot be true to man ; ' and, 
 during the whole week, the public mind was agitated 
 by pamphlets and discourse. The late prosecutions of 
 Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton too made the people ap- 
 prehend similar proceedings in the North, should the 
 power of the prelates be submitted to. Some episcopal 
 writers assert that there was a preconcerted plan to ob- 
 struct the service by violence ; but, though it would be 
 too much to deny the assertion, there does not appear 
 sufficient evidence (no proper enquiry into the fact was 
 ever instituted) to authorise the belief of it. But it is 
 clear that the ideas of the better informed were transfused 
 into the lower ranks ; and that the latter perceived them- 
 selves countenanced by their superiors in the ensuing 
 tumults.* 
 
 The tumult on the Sunday is acknowledged to have Tumult at 
 been the greatest that had occurred from the Eefor- Jic/Zon of 
 mation.^ I shall therefore, in order to convey a correct the ser- 
 picture, freely borrow the language of contemporaries, juiy 23, ' 
 ' In the Grey Friars church,' says Sir James Balfour, a ^'^^''• 
 contemporary who applauds the resistance he describes, 
 ' thir was such a confused acclamation, such a covered- 
 
 * Balfour's Annals, MS. vol. ii. p. advocate, as acting for the rest (Spal- 
 
 84 ; Baillie's Let. &c. vol. i. p. 5 ; diug-, vol. i. p. 45 et seq. ; Heyliu's 
 
 Giithry, p. 20. He gives the very Life of LmucI, pp. 347, Ou7 ] Hist. 
 
 namesofthe women who were alleged Lnf. p. 0). 
 to have been instigated byBalmeriuo t Baillie, vol. i. p. 5. 
 
 and Sir Thomas Hope, the king's
 
 160 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. Iieaded gazing (for that was the greatest reverence that 
 
 V ^ , Avas given to the new service), such a wringing of handis, 
 
 and such effusion of eye-streams, that Mr. James Fairlie 
 the ordinar pastor (and now bisliop of Argyle) was forced 
 to put ane end to that patched work before he had scairce 
 begun.* ' In the high-cluu'ch, which had now been con- 
 verted into a cathedral, the tumult was still greater. The 
 bishop and the dean came accompanied with the arch- 
 bishops and other prelates, the lords of session, and the 
 magistrates, in order to give the service greater solemnity: 
 but the book was scarcely opened by the dean, when a 
 number of the meaner sort of people, ' with a clapping of 
 their hands, cursings, and outcries, raised such an uncouth 
 noise and hubbub in the church, that not anyone could 
 either hear or be heard. The gentlewomen did fall a 
 tearing (shedding tears), and crying that the mass was 
 entered amongst them, and Baal in the church.' f Females 
 of the lower class, cried ' Sorrow, sorrow, for this dreadful 
 day ; they are bringing in popery amongst us.' J ' The 
 dean was mightily upbraided. Sum cried, he is one of a 
 witche's breeding and the deville's gette' (child). ' No 
 wholesome water can cum furthe from such a polluted 
 fountain, &c. Others did cast their stools against his face ; 
 others ran out of the kirk with a pitiful lamentation, so 
 that the reading of the service-book was then interrupted.'*^ 
 The bishop, expecting greater reverence from his office, 
 mounted the pulpit ; || but ' false antichristian wolfe, 
 beastlie belligod, and crafty fox, were the best epithets 
 and titles of dignity which were given him.' ^ — All admit 
 that one stool w^as thrown at his lu^ad, which he narrowly 
 escaped ; but Gordon and Whitelocke tell us that what- 
 ever was within the people's reacli was hurled at him, and 
 the magistrates found all their authority insufficient, either 
 to stop the disorder or to protect the prelate. By an 
 
 * T'alfour's Stanie-Ficld Day. § J'Jalfour's Stmiie-Field Day, 
 
 t (Jonlon of Stralocli'd MIS. p. 5. || 1 tow's MS. p. i>81. 
 
 i Iiow'a 3/6'. p. 261. *!\ \jii\iom a Stotiie-Fu'kl Daij.
 
 INCREASED FUEY OF THE MULTITUDE. 161 
 
 effort, the most unruly were thrust out of the church ; chap. 
 but becoming more infuriated, they tried to force the . — ;. — . 
 doors, and having broken the Avindows they tlirew in 
 stones, ' Crying a pape, a pape, antichrist, stane him, pull 
 him down.' * Balfour, in recounting what occurred after 
 the congregation left the church, together with the speech 
 of a woman, says, ' no less worthie of observation is that 
 reuouned Christian valyancie of another godly woman at 
 the same season ; for when sche hard a young man be- 
 hind sounding furth Amen to that new composed comedie 
 (Godis service, or worschip, it deserves not to be called), 
 which then was impudentlie acted in the public sicht of 
 the congregation, sche quicklie turned her about, and 
 after sche had warmed both his cheeks with the weight 
 of her hands' (Gordon of Stralochf tells us that she 
 increased their weight by that of her bible), ' sche thus 
 shot against him the thunderbolt of her zeal : " False 
 thief," said sche, " is their na uther pairt of the churche to 
 sing mess in, but thou most sing it at my luge ? " The 
 young man being dasched at such a sudden rencountre, 
 gave place to silence by way of recantation.' % After the 
 congregation left the church, the fury of the multitude 
 first discharged itself against one of the bishop's clerical 
 attendants : ' A voluntarie,' says Balfour, ' who cam offi- 
 ciouslie to say Ameri, was put in no small danger of his 
 life. His gown was rent, his service-book taken from 
 him, and his body pittifullie beatten and bruised, so that 
 he cryed often for mercie, and vowed never after to give 
 his concurrence to such clagged devotion.' § The bishop's 
 
 * Large Bcclar. p. 23 ; Paish. vol. Yet Mr. Laing quotes Gordon of 
 
 ii. p. 387 et seq. ; Whitelocke, p. 27 ; Straloch's 1/.S'. along with De Foe 
 
 Gordon of Straloch's 3IS. p. 5. for it. The uproar was predeter- 
 
 t See his iV/<S'. minedand instantaneous, and violence 
 
 X 'Q&liour'&Stonie- Field Day. This seems only to have been resorted to 
 
 is the circumstance which gave rise according to the natural course of 
 
 to the story of a woman beginning things, as the passions warmed and 
 
 the tumult, by throwing a stool — a the confusion promised to prevent 
 
 storv which I can only trace to De detection. 
 
 Foe's Me7noriakof the Scottish CJwrch. § Balfour's Stonie-FicM Day. 
 
 VOL. IL M
 
 162 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP lodgings were within a few paces of the church ; but he 
 
 >.. ,J . was intercepted in his passage thither, which, owing to 
 
 his great corpulency, was none of the quickest, assailed 
 with dirt, reproaches, curses, and well nigh trodden to 
 death, when he was rescued almost breathless from the 
 infuriated mob — a rescue that seems to have been la- 
 mented by men of rank. Sir James Balfour remarks of 
 the assailants, that ' if their handis had been as active as 
 their minds were willing, they would have demolished 
 the great bull which they aymed at ; ' such language, 
 levelled apparently, like the other reproaches, at the 
 ecclesiastic's corpulency and devotion to the belly, did 
 this unhappy attempt to undermine the national worship 
 draw from a gentleman and scholar of that age. ' A 
 certaine woman,' continues the same writer with much 
 satisfaction, ' cryed, " Fye, if I could get the thrapple 
 (windpipe) out of him : " And when ane replyed that tho' 
 sche obtained her desire, yet their micht presentlie chance 
 cum a muche worse in his rewme, sche answered, " after 
 Cardinal Beaton wes sticked (stabt, run through the body), 
 " we had never another cardinal sin syne ; and if that 
 false Judas the bishop were now stabt and cut of, his 
 place would be thocht so prodigious and ominous, that 
 scarce any man durst hazard or undertake to be his suc- 
 cessor." ' This speech, it may be remarked, though, to the 
 present age, it discover the temper of a coarse female 
 mind, showed intelligence superior to what could possibly 
 belong to the lowest rank of society ; and affords proof, 
 amongst other things, that the episcopal faction were not 
 far wrong in imputing a participation of the tumult to 
 people of a higher class than was acknowledged by the 
 opposite party. 
 
 The service was, by certain precautions, particularly 
 that of precluding the women, secured from interruption in 
 the afternoon ; yet the bishop, conceiving himself no longer 
 safe in his own lodgings, got himself conveyed in the Earl 
 of Roxburgh's coach to Ilolyrood House, situated at the
 
 MELANCHOLY FOREBODINGS OP THE COMMUNITY. 163 
 
 farther end of the town, and at tlie distance of about three- chap. 
 quarters of a mile from the church. Such, however, ^^' ■ 
 was the increasing fury of the populace, that the earl's 
 numerous attendants, with drawn swords, could scarcely 
 prevent them fi-om rushing in upon the carriage, that 
 they might drag forth the object of their resentment and 
 tear him to pieces. When they found this impracticable, . 
 they endeavoured to reach him with stones, which they 
 continued to shower upon the carriage till its arrival at 
 Hol}n:"ood House. It is said in the Large Declaration by 
 the king, that the prelate had nearly suffered the death of 
 the first Stephen the martyr.' * 
 
 The humour of the people did not subside with this 
 expression of it. — They determined on still bolder mea- 
 sures, if the service-book were again attempted to be 
 used. The reflecting part of the community were full of 
 melancholy forebodings ; but as for the bishops, whose 
 fears sugg-ested sanoTiinary measures, thus incurrins; the 
 evil they wished to shun, they procured a proclamation 
 of council, dated the 24th July, 1G37, denouncing death, 
 without mercy, to all who spoke either against their body, 
 or the inferior clergy.f A prince who had proceeded so far 
 in an arbitrary course, was not likely to abandon it now 
 that his pride was, with the wdiole principles of his reign, 
 so deeply engaged ; and if matters w^ere to be pushed to 
 extremity, there was reason to apprehend direful mea- 
 sures, both to punish the past disorder, and prevent its 
 recurrence. The town-council, as responsible for the city, 
 
 * Balfour's Stonie-Field Day, MS. ; Balfour approves of lier spirit as 
 
 Row's MS. p. 281 et seq. ; Rob. iii. directed literally against his person. 
 
 2. 1 ; MS. Adv. Lib. p. 36 ; "Wood- Hist. Infonn. ; Copy in Woodrow's 
 
 row's it/.S. 4to. Adv. Lib. p. 83. This Col. MS. vol. xi. pis. 3 et seq., 144 
 
 is a ti-anscript of Balfour, only a et seq., Rush. vol. ii. pp. 377, 378 ; 
 
 little softened. Thus, in recoimting Large Decl. p. 23 et seq. ; Spalding, 
 
 the attack on the bishop, he says of vol. i. p. 45 et seq. ; Guthry, pp. 22, 
 
 the woman who wished the prelate's 23; May, p. 34; Heylin's Life of 
 
 thrapple, ' I persuade myself this did Laud, pp. 347-349 ; Clarendon, p. 183 
 
 not proceed from malice to his person, et seq. ; Whitelocke, p. 27 ; BaiUie's 
 
 but zeal to God,' — a fit distinction Let. vol. i. p. 15 et seq. ; Gordon of 
 
 for a casuist ; but I suspect it was Straloch's MS. 
 above the woman's capacity, while f Hist. Inf. p. 5, 6. 
 
 M 2
 
 164 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, 
 II. 
 
 encleavoiired, by letters full of submission, to deprecate 
 the wrath of Charles, and of his ghostly adviser, imputing 
 the tumult to the ' rascal multitude.' The chancellor, 
 Archbishop Spottiswoode, in his dispatches accused his 
 enemy Traquair, the treasurer, for his absence ; while the 
 other deeply censured the prelates for alienating the 
 ])ublic mind by their precipitation, their high pretensions, 
 and unfounded complaints.* lie might have proceeded 
 farther, and shown that their whole conduct tended to 
 disgust the people, whom, if success in ecclesiastical mea- 
 sures were desired, it ouglit to have been their province 
 to conciliate and gain. Their undisguised amusements of 
 cards and dice, as well as field sports on Sunday, insulted 
 the general feelings. Debauchery and gluttony, vices 
 ill- becoming their calling, and yet too clearly proved 
 .against the majority, brought additional abhorrence at the 
 prelatical function. f 
 
 As the truth was concealed from Charles at this junc- 
 ture, the whole blame of the tumult being imputed to the 
 lower classes, whose outrao^es were alleged to be detested 
 by the better informed part of the community, it is not 
 wonderful that this ill-advised prince should have still 
 steadily persisted in his resolution : — That he should have 
 committed the cognisance of the disturbance, and the 
 punishment of the rioters to the council, and again com- 
 manded the adoption of the service-book. Thus en- 
 couraged, the prehites, having obtained an act of council 
 for that ])urpose, charged some of the most eminent Pres- 
 of homing, bytcriau ministers on letters of horninj,^ to purchase two 
 
 Act of 
 council to 
 charge the 
 ministry 
 
 * Buraet's Mem. of Duke Hamil- 
 ton, p. V>\. 
 
 f Haillie's Let. Sec. vol. i. pp. 5 e( 
 seq., lo'j ct seq., 160 et scq. 
 
 J Letters of horning- are a war- 
 rant running in the king's name, and 
 passed under the signet, directed to 
 tlie proper officers, called messengers 
 at arms, by which they are to cliarge 
 and command the party to fulfil a 
 decree, &c., under the pain of being 
 
 denounced a rebel. If tlie charge is 
 not complied with, then, in due time, 
 the messenger, at the market cross, 
 and after three oyeses and blasts of 
 his horn, denounces the party a rebel, 
 wlien ultimate diligence against his 
 person, or a writ to take and imprison 
 him, &c. follows. Hence the Anti- 
 qi((ii'y, in tlie popular novel of tliat 
 name, is made to say, that in Scot- 
 land no man is liable to imprisonment
 
 THE COUNCIL ADDRESS THE KING EEGARDING INNOVATIONS. 165 
 
 copies of the Liturgy for the use of their congregations, chap. 
 and the regulation of pubhc worship. Four of the Pres- . ^^' . 
 byterian clergy protested in a legal form against the 
 proceeding, and appealed to the council by way of sup- 
 plication. From that body, the prelates, who had long Suppiica- 
 preponderated there, expected a favourable result ; but, *^*^"" 
 whetlier it were that tlie members who took the most 
 active part in that business, were such as had hitherto 
 abstained from the council, or that the lay members, in 
 general, either had begun to be affected witli the conta- 
 gion, or saw the impracticability of carrying the measm^e, 
 the judgment upon this important question disappointed 
 the prelac}^ The council held that the proclamation 
 merely enjoined the purchase, and not the use, of the book. 
 So cautious were they, that, though seven or eight women 
 were confined on account of the late tumult, they soon 
 restored them to their liberty, without punishment or even 
 trial. About the same time the council addressed his 
 majesty regarding the innovations, representing to him 
 the state of the popular feelings, the daily accession to the 
 common cause, of men even of the most eminent rank, 
 and the numerous supplications against the service-book, 
 — a representation which ought not to have been lost 
 upon this prince : But, as intiexible obstinacy, so long as 
 conciliation was attainable, was a striking feature of his 
 character, and Laud was ever ready to stimulate him to 
 perseverance, Charles, instead of yielding to the reasons 
 urged by the council, reproached them with a breach of 
 duty, in not punishing the authors of the late outrage, 
 and enforcing the liturgy ; nay, even denied their request 
 to summon a few of their number to court, that they 
 might, in person, afford him ampler information.* The 
 temper with which James's innovations had ever been 
 resisted, might have given an idea of that people's dispo- 
 
 for debt, but merely for rebellion to even by civil outlawry, or diligence 
 
 bis majesty. At tbe time we are for debt, &c. 
 
 treating of, forfeitures were incurred * Hi^t. Inform. MS. p. 1.3 rt scq.
 
 166 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, sition ; but, in spite of this experience of the national 
 . ^ ^" - temper, tlie notion which seems to have been entertained 
 by the ruhng faction was, that, could the Liturgy be once 
 read, the opposition would cease, — as if it were merely a 
 bitter dose, which, once swallowed, w^ould no more be 
 thought of ; and it is extraordinary, that upon such men, 
 amongst the very chief of whom Clarendon himself must 
 be ranked, the direful effects of these measures were so 
 far from teaching wiser as well as more charitable policy, 
 that they only confirmed them in their intolerant bigotry. 
 Tumult in The kiug's answer confirmed the general hatred of the 
 lasgow. Lit;urgy : the attempt to recommend it in Glasgow had 
 nearly proved fatal to one preacher, and another was 
 threatened with being torn from the pulpit if he dared to 
 allude to it. ' This tumult was so great that,' says 
 Baillie, ' it was thought not meet to searcli either in 
 plotters or actors of it, for numbers of the best qualitie 
 would have been found guiltie.' * 
 
 * Baillie's Xc/. vol. i. p. 21. 'At cn'es, and candles set out from many 
 
 the outj^oing of tlie church/ says this ^\"indo^YS, he escaped all bloody 
 
 writer, who was one of the most wounds. Yet he was in great dan- 
 
 prolound scholars of any age or na- ger, even of killing.' The baillies 
 
 lion, natiu'ally of a mild temper, and protected him to his horse next day, 
 
 a man of great talent — ' about thirty ' for many women were in waiting to 
 
 or forty of our honesfest women, in aftront him more. At his onleap- 
 
 one voyce, before the bishops and ing, his horse unhapellie did fall 
 
 magistrate, did fall in rayling, cur- above him in a very foul mire, in 
 
 sing, scolding, witli clamours on Mr. presence of all the companie ; of 
 
 AV. Annan '(the clergyman who tried which accident was more speech 
 
 to recommend the service-book). than of any other ' (Id. p. 20 ct 
 
 ' Some two of the meanest was taken seq.^. 
 
 to the tolbooth ' (prison). ' All the The same writer, in this very 
 
 day over, up and down the streets letter (p. 2:3), says that ' There was 
 
 where he went, he got threats of in one land never such an appearance 
 
 .sundry in words and looks ; but after of a sturr : the whole people thinks 
 
 supper, wliile needlesslie he will go I'operie at tlie doors : the scandalous 
 
 to visit the bishop, who had taken pamplilets which comes daily now 
 
 his leave with him, lie is not sooner from England, adde oyl to this Hame: 
 
 in the street, at nine o'clock in a no man may speak anything in j)ub- 
 
 mirk night, with three or four minis- liclv for the king's part, except he 
 
 ters with liim, but some liiin(h-eds of would have himself marked for a 
 
 inraged women of (til qualities are sacrifice one day. I think our people 
 
 about him with iicaves ' (fists), ' and possessed with a bloody devill, farr 
 
 staves and peats, but no stones. They above anytliing tliat ever I could 
 
 beat him sore ; his cloak, ruffe, and have imagined, though the masse 
 
 liat were rent: however, upon his in Latin had been presented. The
 
 K^UMEROUS PETITIONS TO CHARLES. 
 
 167 
 
 Twenty peers, a great proportion of the gentry, and 
 eighty commissioners from towns and parishes, now 
 joined the four original suppHcants to the council ; and 
 their numerous petitions were transmitted to Charles by 
 the Duke of Lennox, who was requested to vindicate the 
 council, and to report, as an eye and an ear-witness, the 
 real posture of affairs. That the representation might 
 have the greater effect, the nobility, gentry, and Presby- 
 terian clergy ranked themselves up in tlie high street in 
 vast numbers to urge their petitions.* 
 
 The council deferred theu^ answer to the supplicants, 
 as they were styled, till October, as they expected his 
 majesty's answer by that time.f The leaders in the in- 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 II. 
 
 ministers who has command of their 
 mind does disown their unchristian 
 humour, but are noways so zealous 
 against the de^■ill of their furie as 
 against the seducing spirit of the 
 bishops.' The woi-k is fidl of melan- 
 choly forebodings that God, ' to re- 
 venge the crying siuns of all estates, 
 (which no example of our neigh- 
 bours' calamities would move us to 
 repent), is going to execute his long 
 denounced threateniugs, and to giye us 
 over to madness, that we may every 
 one shoot our swords in our neigh- 
 bours' hearts : our drugs is like to be 
 more bitter than was the brimme of 
 God's cup bitter to the French or to 
 the Dutch.' . . , .' The barricades of 
 Paris, the Catholic League of France, 
 is much before my eyes ; but I hope 
 the devill shall never finde a Duke 
 of Guise to lead the bands.' . . . . ' My 
 heart,' says he, in the next page, ' is 
 for the present full sore, for that poor 
 land wherein we were borne, and 
 church wherein we were regenerate ; 
 if it were not a God who permitted 
 a powerful devill to blinde and in- 
 rage men against the common prin- 
 ciple of cleare natural reason, let it be 
 equity or religion, I think both our 
 bishops and their opposers might be 
 easily withdrawn from destroying 
 themselves and all their neighbours, 
 but God and devills are too strong 
 for us.' lie looked forward to his 
 
 own destruction because he had re- 
 mained, and was resolved to remain, 
 moderate (Ibid.). From all this his 
 account of the tumult becomes truly 
 of moment. How ho afterwards 
 acted will be seen. 
 
 * Hist. Inf. pp. 1.3, 15, 16 ; Guthry, 
 p. 26. 
 
 t The conduct of the prelacy was 
 as presumptuously foolish as wicked. 
 The Earl of Rothes had a conversa- 
 tion with Archbishop Spottiswoode, 
 the chancellor, upon the subject ; 
 and the latter challenged him to 
 produce instances of imsound doc- 
 trine. The earl accepted of the 
 challenge, and proceeded to give 
 the instances, when the chancellor 
 laughed, and said it was worse inter- 
 preted than it needed to have been — 
 that he had transmitted a copy to 
 the Bishop of Deny, who lamented 
 that Scotland should have prevented 
 England in so good a work. Rothes 
 objected to that prelate's testimony, 
 that he was the most unsound minis- 
 ter attached to the national establish- 
 ment in Ireland. The chancellor 
 laughed again, and told him that if 
 the king turned papist, resistance 
 was useless : that it behoved them to 
 obey — who could resist princes? 
 (Hist. Inf. pp. 18, 19.) Was insulting 
 the religious feelings of a people a 
 mere sport ?
 
 168 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 Immense 
 crowds re- 
 sort to Ed- 
 iuburgh in 
 October. 
 Proclama- 
 tions, tu- 
 mults, &c. 
 
 terval were not idle ; and daily accessions, with well- 
 concerted plans, afforded a rational hope of successfnl 
 resistance. In October, when the answer was expected, 
 and the harvest was finished, a number of people flocked 
 to Edinburgh from all quarters south of the Grampians ; 
 supplications were presented against the Liturgy from two 
 hundred parishes ; and had the answer even then im- 
 ported a recal of that detested service, the spirit of insur- 
 rection would at once have subsided, and peace been 
 secured. But what was the general rage when one pro- 
 clamation was issued commanding the people to their 
 several homes ; another ordering the removal of the 
 supreme court of justice to Linlithgow, and then to 
 Dundee; and a third, calling in a book (afterwards 
 avowed by a learned and eminent divine, Gillespie), en- 
 titled, ' A Dispute against the English-Popish Ceremonies 
 obtruded upon the Kirk of Scotland ' — a work of great 
 learning and ability ; and certifying, that whoever should 
 be found to have a copy in his possession, should incur 
 the same punishment which awaited the author when 
 discovered — a proclamation that denied to the people 
 even the liberty of inquiring into the nature of the Liturgy 
 forced u]^on them. 
 
 The effects of these arbitrary proclamations were very 
 different from what had been anticipated. The removal 
 of the Court of Session from Edinburgh would, it was 
 supposed, subdue the spirit of a town which, in so great 
 a measure, depended on it, and delay weary many out 
 (jf their opposition, as well as afford an opportunity to 
 break the confederacy ; but, instead of this, it gave rise to 
 a measure which formed a new bond of union. A formal 
 complaint against the prelates, as authors of the Canons 
 and Liturgy, and by consequence of all the troubles, 
 was secretly prepared, and then rapidly subscribed by all 
 classes. The general indignation directed against some of 
 the bishops, and Tiaquair likewise, vented itself in open 
 violence : Sydserf, bishop of Galloway, who was reported
 
 THE EIOTEES NOW CONFESSEDLY PEOPLE OF RANK. ISi) 
 
 to wear a concealed crucifix in his breast, and was after- chap. 
 
 wards convicted of using one in liis private devotions, was • ^ - 
 
 surrounded as lie walked the streets, greeted with fearful 
 curses and acclamations, and would most probably have 
 been torn to pieces by the increasing mob, whose fury 
 augmented with its numbers, had he not been assisted in 
 an escape into the council-room. Even there, though the 
 place of greatest reverence in the kingdom, he found not 
 safety. The council was besieged, and the magistrates, 
 who were applied to on this emergency, stood themselves 
 in need of protection. They were imprisoned in their 
 own council-chamber, and forced, under a threat of im- 
 mediate execution, to subscribe certain articles : that they 
 would join tlie supplicants against the service-book, and 
 restore their silenced ministers, Earnsay and Eollock, and 
 Pat. Henderson, a reader. This moderated the fury of the 
 mob, but it was only by the interposition of some popular 
 noblemen that the privy council was released ; and Tra- 
 quair, who had likewise been attacked in the street, and 
 stripped of his treasurer's staff, his cloak, and hat, escaped 
 with difficulty. Sir John Hay too, the clerk-register, of 
 whom we have already spoken, who had been, by royal 
 authority, thrust upon the town as its provost, was so 
 hated, that a little more opposition would have induced 
 the mob to have torn both him and Traquau- to pieces : 
 neither durst, for a season, appear in public. The rioters 
 were now confessedly people of rank, and instead of per- 
 mitting reproaches to be continued against the tumult in 
 July, the higher classes defended it, alleging, that though 
 the populace alone acted on that occasion, and the mob is 
 an ass, yet that it had pleased the Lord to open its mouth, 
 as heretofore it had done Balaam's, to testify his dis- 
 pleasure at tlie wickedness introduced, and that, had 
 human beings been incapable of appearing as instruments 
 on the occasion, he would have raised up inanimate natui-e 
 for his glory. Edinburgli was, therefore, joined witli tlie 
 other burohs, and its cause defended as a common one.
 
 the Tables. 
 
 170 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, for ' that the matter whicli tlie bishops called so barbarous 
 
 - II: and tumultuous, was nought but a very modest keeping 
 
 of their profession, when these, against all law, would have 
 intruded the corruption of their religion ; and the conse- 
 quences were imputable to the usurpers, not the defenders, 
 according to King James's maxims of the powder treason, 
 that in the danger of the prince, c>r of the religion, every 
 one may run to their defence.' * 
 Erection of As the spiiit of oppositiou daily increased, the popular 
 party assumed a more decided tone and a greater cha- 
 racter of union. A petition was presented to the council, 
 in the name of noblemen, gentlemen, burgesses, &c., 
 against the Canons and Liturgy, and craving that the pre- 
 lates should not longer be permitted to sit as judges in 
 questions whicli involved their own pretensions. The 
 leading men, too, under the pretext of preventing com- 
 motions by the conflux of such numbers to the metro- 
 polis, made a proposal to the council, that representatives 
 of the supplicants should be elected for managing the 
 business of the whole body. The council, whether secretly 
 conniving at the success of a cause which they were ex- 
 pected to oppose, or hoping to divide, bribe, or intimidate 
 a small number which they despaired of accomplishing 
 with tlie multitude, or whether really insensible to con- 
 sequences, approved of a measure that promised to put a 
 period to scenes of violence, and thus acquiesced in the 
 erection of a new representative government, known under 
 the name of the Four Tables, which became so famous. 
 According to this institution, a certain number, represent- 
 ing the nobility, formed the first table ; so many gentle- 
 men, who represented the shires, constituted the second ; 
 a number of clergy, for the presbyteries, the third ; and 
 so many burgesses, for the burghs, a fourth. A member 
 from each of these constituted a general table ; and there 
 
 * Lan/e Declarof io)i , \). 30 et scq.; Baillie's Let. vol. i. p. 31 et seq. 
 Rush. vol. ii. p. 404 et scq.; Hid. (printed copy); Bidfoiir's Annals; 
 Inf. M.S. pp. 28, 29, 84, 40, 42 5 IStonie- Field Bay.
 
 TilAQUAIE SUMMONED TO COUET. 
 
 171 
 
 were still other tables subordinate to the four that con- 
 sulted upon what was to be propounded by the four to 
 the- general one. The promiscuous multitude was now 
 dismissed ; the disorders incident to such meetings, and 
 which injure the best of causes, were no longer appre- 
 hended ; and as the sources of discontent and jealousy- 
 were so deep as to be nearly incurable in the leaders, it 
 w^as impracticable to disunite, gain, or intimidate them.* 
 Charles, who had no intention of renouncing the Canons 
 and Liturgy, and yet had, in some measure, become 
 sensible to the expediency of temporising, commanded 
 the privy council to announce by proclamation that he 
 delayed an answer to the petitions, because he had seen 
 no disavowal of the late tumults ; and to signify, in gene- 
 ral terms, his aversion to Popery and superstition, and 
 that he intended nothing against the laws of his native 
 country. To some this afforded partial satisfaction, as 
 they conceived themselves warranted in inferring from it, 
 that the innovations were imputable rather to the prelates 
 than to the prince ; but the quicker-sighted saw through 
 the veil. The servants of the crown laboured to dis- 
 unite the supplicants, but they were unsuccessful ; f and 
 Traquair was at last summoned to court, at the request 
 of the council, for the purpose of giving information to 
 the king. This statesman now began to be actuated by 
 opposition to the service-book. Hating the prelates for 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 II. 
 
 * Hist. Inf. pp. 34, 45, 47, 5-3 et 
 seq. The leadiug men acted with 
 great prudence. They engaged the 
 most eminent comisel, and followed 
 tlieir advice at every step. With re- 
 gard to the people, notwithstanding 
 their tumultuous opposition to their 
 service-hook in church, they were ac- 
 knowledged hy the council itself to 
 have conducted themselves with great 
 moderation. It is singular that 
 Hope, the king's advocate, who then 
 secretly favoured the popular party, 
 and aftei-^-ards joined them, told 
 them that the erection of Tables was 
 
 lawful. The Ilidorkal Information 
 imputes the first hint of acting hy 
 commissioners to the Bishop of Gal- 
 loway and the clerk register. Their 
 motive was to gain or intimidate the 
 few {Id. 82 ; Baillie's Letters, vol. i. 
 pp. 2-5 et seq., 44, .50 etseq., 31 etseq.). 
 We have already quoted passages in- 
 dicative of the general feelings. In 
 the place last referred to, more to 
 that purpose will be found. The 
 spirit is appalling. 
 
 t Baillie, vol. i. pp. 26-27; Hist. 
 Inf. T^: 6G et seq.
 
 172 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, having aspired to liis office, lie bore no affection to their 
 
 . ^_ cause : ahve to tlie general odium which he had incurred 
 
 by his arbitrary measures, and particularly by the pro- 
 secution of Balmerino, he was anxious to recover his 
 character, and he had sufficient sagacity to perceive with 
 what difficulties the introduction of the service-book was 
 attended. Hence, he avowed privately to Eothes his 
 hatred of the Liturgy, declaring a resolution rather to 
 resisn his white staff than ag;ree to it, and recommended 
 to the court the absolute withdrawing of both it and the 
 Canons. His hatred of the bishops was amply I'epaid, 
 and his popular advice conspired with their representa- 
 tions to beget the strongest suspicion of treachery : but 
 as, when matters came to the proof, he preferred his 
 office to his late sprung popularity, he soon abandoned, 
 and consequently lost, the people, without overcoming 
 the jealousy of the ruling party, and thus fell under the 
 imputation of being false to both.* A notable scheme 
 was now devised for reducing tlie disobedient. Moved, 
 as it is said, by the success of his grandmother in the 
 Violent case of Eizzio, whose murderers were dispersed by de- 
 Eonl'^"''^" nounciiig them rebels, Charles resolved to adopt a 
 1638. similar course in the present instance. He dispatclied 
 Traquair with a proclamation to declare his approbation 
 of the Liturgy, to prohibit the supplicants, under the pain 
 of treason, from re-assembling, and to denounce the 
 petitions as detracting from the i)rerogative, and, there- 
 fore, meriting the severest punishment, though a pardon 
 was held out to the nobility, gentry, and burghs, if they 
 immediately submitted. As no mention w^as made of a 
 pardon to Edinburgh, however, the suspicion immediately 
 suggested itself, that the design of making it an example 
 Avas still entertained, and it awakened feelings adequate 
 
 • ///.s-^ ////■. p. 8.'^.; Raillio, vol. i. p. missal as the service-book in its 
 
 44 <t acq. ; llarclwicko's State I'tipcrs, present form. (76. see p. 101, in 
 
 vol. ii. p. 00. Traquair, in a letter which he recommends the with- 
 
 tn Mar((nis Hamilton, declares that drawing of it.) 
 it would bo as easy to establish the
 
 SCHEME FOR REDUCING THE DISOBEDIENT. 173 
 
 to the occasion. The nobihty declared that they would chap. 
 instantly prosecute the prelates in turn for erecting new ^_,__^ 
 judicatories against law, for which their lives were re- 
 sponsible. * 
 
 That this extraordinary measure should have its full 
 effect, it was intended to conceal the project till it ])urst 
 upon the people like a peal of thunder ; but the suppli- 
 cants, who were men of great sagacity as well as activity, 
 and of the most extensive connections, had friends at 
 court, who faithfidly transmitted to them intelhgence of 
 this amongst the other secret schemes ; and, as it spread 
 an instantaneous alarm throughout the whole body, a 
 protest, according to the legal form, was immediately 
 pi'epared. Traquair, with the bishops, having learned 
 this, formed the design of secretly departing for Stirhng 
 (to which the courts of justice had been removed), in 
 order to publisli the proclamation there, as well as 
 another, to proliibit the supplicants from appearing in 
 that place ; and, with this, they also determined to im- 
 prison Eothes and Balmerino, who were employed to take 
 the protest. But this plot likewise transpired, and a 
 great concom^se of people, with suitable arrangements, 
 defeated it. The protests were accordingly taken, and Protests 
 when tlie proclamation was afterwards made in Edin- ^,fo^kmi^ 
 burgh, the same measure was adopted.^ tion. 
 
 Matters had now arrived at sucli a crisis, that half The Cove- 
 measures must have been ruinous to the popular party ; 
 and even a retreat from, their opposition would have 
 failed to bring safety to the leaders, who must have soon 
 found themselves naked objects of that despotical ven- 
 geance which had been visited on Balmerino. Indeed, 
 their submission would have deprived them of a plea in 
 their own defence, since, by renouncing the cause, they 
 necessarily confessed that it was equally unjust and un- 
 
 * Hist. Inf. p. 117 e^ seq.\ Baillie, 120, 129, V^O ; EailUe, vol. i. pp. 49 
 vol. i. pp. 50 et scq., 57 with 35. et seq. ; Hardwicke's State Papers, 
 
 •j- Second Hist. Inf. pp. 119, 120, vol. ii. p. 101 ; Lanjc Dedar. -\x is.
 
 174 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, tenable ; while they were fully sensible that as England, 
 
 •- ^ . which had attentively watched all their motions (the 
 
 leading men of both countries corresponded), might pro- 
 bably join them, so Charles had now a deep interest to 
 prosecute his purpose keenly, since, by concession or 
 failure, England would be roused to recover her rights.* 
 To cement the various classes, therefore, whom the oppo- 
 site party tried to disunite, the renewal of the National 
 Covenant was proposed ; and the plan, which was speedily 
 embraced, formed one of the strongest bonds that ever 
 united a people. In the measure, however, the leaders 
 had not the merit of originality. It had been adopted at 
 the commencement of the Eeformation from the covenants 
 of Israel with the Lord, and renewed at various times. 
 This famous one Avas prepared by Alexander Henderson, 
 the celebrated divine who took so active a part in these 
 troubles, and Archibald Johnston, afterwards of Warriston, 
 an advocate on whose advice the Covenanters chiefly relied. 
 It was revised by Eothes, Loudon, and Balmerino. Its 
 renewal was vindicated by various statutes, which were 
 cited. It contained a general profession of the principles 
 established at the Eeformation, and a strong abjuration of 
 tlie doctrine, rites, and ceremonies of the Eomish church, 
 with the prelatical hierarchy, and concluded with a bond 
 of union — cautiously expressed to suit certain queezy sto- 
 machs that had of late years sucked in the principles of 
 passive obedience, or rather possibly had not courage, 
 which yet they soon acquired, to go beyond a definite limit 
 — to resist the innovations and support the king in pre- 
 serving rehgion, liberty, and law.f 
 
 Having adopted this memorable scheme, they trans- 
 mitted the Covenant to all quarters for subscription ; and 
 the Presbyterian clergy exerted every nerve to kindle the 
 
 * See Baillie as to this idea in re- proved or opposed every measure 
 
 gard to Enjrland {Id p. 4U). Tra- {llist. Inf. p. 112, 113). 
 
 quair himself told IJothes that the t Hist. Inf. p. 137 ct seq. (see 
 
 king was apprised of all their meet- Baillie's Letters) j Rush. vol. ii. p. 
 
 ings, consultations, &c.; and who ap- 734 et scq.
 
 THE NATIONAL COVENANT. 175 
 
 zeal of the community. They did not preach in vain. In chap. 
 about two months the Covenant obtained the assent of 
 ahnost every quarter of Scotland, with the exception of 
 Aberdeen, which was withheld, through the influence of 
 the Marquis of Huntly, its patron. Like every grand 
 national movement against arbitrary power, civil and re- 
 ligious, tliis was not merely a cool assent of the under- 
 standing, but the resolution of the heart, heated to an 
 enthusiasm of which a faint conception only can be 
 formed by those who have lived in quiet times. The 
 Covenant was embraced with tears of penitence for past 
 defection, and shouts of iLnutterable joy from the hoped- 
 for fruits of reconcilement with heaven.* 
 
 That part of the Covenant which deserves severe repre- 
 hension, is the intolerance towards the Cathohc body. 
 Men who were themselves smartins under the effects of 
 intolerance, might have had sympathy with the feelings of 
 those who also adhered to their own notions of worship- 
 ping their Maker : but the spirit of Presbyterianism was 
 intolerance, while some apology is due to the great cove- 
 nanting body (they were called Covenanters by their 
 enemies in derision, but they were not ashamed of the 
 appellation) for following the clergy in their inhumane 
 principles. The Papists were the most restless, intriguing- 
 faction : men who suffer under a despotical system to 
 
 * Baillie's Let. vol. i. p. 53 et scq. is important ; and that tlie Liturgy, 
 
 Ministers, wliom Strafford bad driven wbich was illegally enforced, "was 
 
 out of Ireland, vrere ver^^ busy on the likewise subversive of tbe religion 
 
 occasion (Balfour's Ans. ; Hard- of tbe community', as establisbed by 
 
 wicke's State Papers, vol. ii. p. 107). law. Now I sbould imagine tbat 
 
 Mr. Laing displays little plii- nothing in the form of worship or 
 losopby, though I rather suspect that doctrine is futile which people think 
 tbe remark was intended to convey otherwise. Men will never agree 
 an idea of his own superiority to upon that subject, and it is quite 
 vulgar opinion, when be says that enough that principles abhorred by 
 'the abhorrencewbich the Canons and the nation were arbitrarily imposed. 
 Liturgy excited, was certainly dis- It is singular that this author sets 
 proportionate to their futility.' He out with the just principle that no- 
 admits tbat the first were subver- thing can be imimportant in religion, 
 sive of the fundamental laws of the and yet that he sliould have lost 
 realm; if such be futile, I am in- sight" of it when most required, 
 capable of forming an idea of what
 
 176 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 The king's 
 opinion of 
 the Cove- 
 nant. 
 
 Marquis 
 Hamilton 
 sent to 
 Scotland 
 as the 
 king's com- 
 missioner, 
 May 1638 
 
 draw them back to a species of union with a clinrch they 
 liave abandoned, cannot overcome a feehng of indignation 
 towards the class so favoured ; and it ought always to be 
 remembered, that while the Covenanters were merely in- 
 tent upon preserving the religion and law of their native 
 country, which the bulk of the nation heartily revered, the 
 pohcy of Charles was destructive of both, against the ex- 
 press wishes of the people. 
 
 This league was considered by the king and his advisers 
 as the most horrid rebelhon to authority, and stamped 
 with every reproach which rage could furnish to disap- 
 pointed ambition. It was a feature of his character, 
 never to yield to the demands of his subjects till the hour 
 of conciliation was past. When he did give his tardy 
 consent to any demand, therefore, as it was evidently the 
 effect of compulsion, (after too his withholding it had 
 forced the people on fresh measures for their security, or 
 on such as had inspired success of compelling him to 
 submit to still greater concessions,) so it was ever received 
 as the offspring of insincerity that concealed a purpose of 
 recovering his ground on the first opportunity. In the 
 present instance, the representations of the council, 
 communicated by Sir John Hamilton the justice-clerk, 
 who was dispatched on purpose, as well as the advice of 
 Traquair and Eoxburgh, were lost upon him. And, as 
 the Covenanters daily increased in strength, their demands 
 rose in proportion. They now petitioned not only against 
 the Canons and Liturgy, but to be relieved of ' the High 
 Commission, as from a burthen which they feared and 
 felt to be more heavy than tliey should be able to bear,' 
 and to have the powers of the prelates restrained, the 
 privileges of assemblies restored, and a parhament called. 
 
 Cliarles was not moved to recede from his arbitrary 
 innovations, but he wanted a proper military power t(3 
 enforce them. It Avas, tlierefore, his object to dissolve 
 the confederacy hj stratagem, and, at all events, to 
 temporise till a sufficient army was raised. For tliis pur- 
 pose, the Marquis Hamilton, a nobleman who had been
 
 TWO KOYAL DECLAEATIOXS TO THE COVEiVANTERS. 177 
 
 much indebted to the royal bounty, and professed unhmited chap. 
 devotion to his master, was sent down as commissioner. 
 He carried with him two royal declarations, which could 
 have no other effect than to inflame the people farther. 
 That the acts of council which enforced the Canons and 
 Liturgy should be annulled, and that these ecclesiastical 
 novelties should not be pressed, ' but in such a fair way 
 as should satisfy all his loving subjects;' and that the High 
 Commission should be restrained within suchhmits 'as not 
 to be a just cause of grievance to his subjects.' That all 
 should be pardoned who instantly renounced the Covenant, 
 and used every means for delivering up copies ; but that 
 they who continued refractory should be declared rebels, in 
 all time coming ; and tliat his majesty ' would use all the 
 forcible means with Avhich God hath armed royal au- 
 .thority' to reduce the stubborn and disobedient. The 
 commissioner was authorised by his instructions, to exact 
 an oath of the council, in favour of the royal measures, 
 and to dismiss such as refused it ; to convene the council 
 wherever he thought fit, Edinburgh excepted ; to proclaim 
 traitor all who protested against his majesty's declarations; 
 to admit of no petition against the five articles of Perth ; 
 to promise rewards to some leading men, in order to 
 break their union, and to resort to any act of hostility 
 which he deemed advisable if the people continued in 
 their opposition ; or, as it was denominated, rebellion. 
 'You shall declare,' says the 23d article of the Instruc- 
 tions, ' that if there be not sufficient strength within the 
 kingdom to force the refractory to obedience, power shall 
 come from England, and myself will come in person, bemg 
 resolved to hazard my hfe, rather than suffer authority to 
 be contemned.' The principle on which he acted had 
 already been expressed by him in writing, under his own 
 hand, that, ' so long as the covenant continued, he had no 
 more power than the Duke of Venice.' * 
 
 * Burnet's Mem. p. 42 et seq.; nature of the instructions was Imown 
 Baillie's Let. toI. i. p. 70 et seq. The before the marquis left London. The 
 
 VOL. II. N
 
 missioner. 
 
 178 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAr. At his departure from court, the commissioner was 
 , ^^- . desired to write frequently to his master, and to Laud, the 
 only English subject fully entrusted with Scottish affairs :* 
 the private understanding seems to have been, that no- 
 thing farther could be accomplished by the marquis, than 
 to ascertain exactly the strength and resources of the 
 Covenanters, seduce or intimidate some of the leaders, 
 and temporize with the great body, till his majesty's 
 military preparations enabled him to crush the disaffected 
 at once. 
 Proceed- Qu his arrival at Berwick, the commissioner received 
 
 kint'scom^- from tlic Earls of EoxburQ'h and Lauderdale, and Lord 
 Lindsay who met him there, such accounts of the Cove- 
 nanters as might have damped his hopes, if they were ever 
 sanguine, and oudit to have inclined him to advise con- 
 ciliatory measures. But his information served only as a 
 hint to warn the king to prepare a force to overpower 
 them. EQs own self-importance, too, was mortified at 
 the small respect paid to his high office. Listead of a 
 vast concourse of people to welcome him to Scotland, he 
 met with little respect till he arrived at Dalkeith, where 
 the Secret Council, the Lords of Session, and such of the 
 nobility as had not subscribed to the Covenant, waited 
 upon him in great formahty.f 
 
 As the first object of the commissioner was to inform 
 liimself exactly of the posture of affairs, he soon dis- 
 covered that matters were in a far more formidable state 
 for the croAvn than he had anticipated ; and that Lord 
 Lindsay had rightly informed him at Berwick, that no- 
 thing short of recalling, not only the Canons and Liturg}^, 
 but the five articles of Perth, and summoning a parlia- 
 ment and general assembly of the church, would satisfy 
 the people. Almost the whole council, though they had 
 
 Archbishop of St. Andrew's and the districts {Ibid.). 
 Bishop of lioss advised to raise the * Buniet's 31em. p. 51. 
 
 IligliLnnd clans ; but the Covenanters + Burnet's Mem. p. 52 et seq. ; 
 
 disappointed that project, by attain- Busli. vol. ii. p. 749 et seq. ; Baillie's 
 
 ing- the accession of the northern Let. vol, i. p. 78 et seq.
 
 WOEST APPREHENSIONS OF THE COVENANTEES CONFIRMED. 179 
 
 not subscribed to the Covenant, secretly favoured it. Sir chap. 
 
 Thomas Hope, the greatest lawyer of his time, though __lji: , 
 
 king's advocate, was really of the covenanting party ; 
 while even the Earls of Traquair, Koxburgh, and South- 
 esk, the best affected to the royal cause, vexed the com- 
 missioner with hmitations. Lome, and some others, 
 acted the part of inter communers^ or mediators.* He 
 endeavoured to seduce or intimidate the chief of the 
 covenanting nobility, the Earls of Eothes, CassilHs, Mon- 
 trose, Loudon, and Lotliian, and Lords Lindsay, Tester, 
 Balmerino, and Cranston ; but at this juncture, neither 
 promises gained nor threats overawed them, while the 
 proclamations, the nature of which had been ascertained, 
 instead of satisfying, irritated all as a mockery," and proof, 
 of a determined purpose to continue in an illegal course.f 
 Nay, the prelates were so sore under their humiliation, 
 that they coidd not refrain from gratifying their vanity, 
 by giving the people to understand, that even in any 
 concession his majesty was insincere. J A circumstance 
 which occurred at this time, too, confirmed their worst 
 apprehensions. A small vessel arrived in Leith Eoads, 
 wdth arms and ammunition for the crown ; and the cir- 
 cumstance spread such alarm, that many proposed not 
 only to arrest them, but to seize the Castle of Edinburgli, 
 and force both the commissioner, the council, and session 
 to take the Covenant. These violent courses w^ere re- 
 strained by tlie more prudent ; yet strict precautions 
 were taken to prevent the arms and ammunition, which 
 were carried, in the meantime, by the commissioner's 
 orders to Dalkeith, from being conveyed to the castle. 
 A watch of fifteen hundred citizens nightly guarded the 
 city, particularly the gates ; and the gentry themselves 
 
 * Baillie's Let. vol. i. p. 81 et seq. ct so neglectful of tlieir gracious mas- 
 
 passim. ter's honour, that, by their words and 
 
 t Burnet's Mum. p. 53, and Bail- actions, they make the world suspect 
 
 lie's Let. vol. i. p. 81 et seq. that the king has no intention to keep 
 
 X ' The bishops,' says Baillie in a his word ' (p. 64). 
 familiar letter on the occasion, * are 
 
 N 2
 
 180 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOKY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 ciTAP. Avere unremitting in their vigilance night and day.* 
 -- ,J . Hence the mai'quis, if he had previously doubted it, be- 
 came now fully aware of the correctness of the intimation 
 given him at Berwick by Lord Lindsay. He therefore 
 apprised the king, that he must either resolve upon yield- 
 ing to the demands of the Covenanters, or quickly adopt 
 certain measures which would infallibly insure success : 
 dispatch his fleet with 2000 land forces, provide arms for 
 the English northern counties, and garrison Berwick and 
 Carlisle — the first with 1500 men, the last with 500 ; 
 while he should send expresses to Holland in particular, 
 to prevent the purchase of arms by the Covenanters. But 
 he represented ' that his majesty would consider how far 
 in his wisdom he would connive at the madness of his 
 own poor people, or how far in his justice he would 
 punish their folly, assuring him the present madness was 
 such, that nothing but force would make them quit their 
 Covenant, and that they would all lay down their lives ere 
 they would give it up.'f 
 
 The council met frequently at Dalkeith, and heard the 
 supplicants : but nothing memorable occurred, except 
 that when the Archbishop of St. Andrew's appeared there 
 as chancellor, not one of the covenanting lords would 
 speak to him. The commissioner then proceeded to 
 Edinburgh, and was on his road met by a croAvd, which, 
 according to some reports, amounted to sixty thousand, 
 amongst whom were five hundred clergy arranged on an 
 eminence ; and the individual amongst them of strongest 
 lungs, Mr. W. Livingston, was deputed to address him on 
 the public grievances. But Dr. Balcanqual, who had 
 accompanied the marquis as his cha])lain, and expected 
 an archbisho]u-ic for his services, persuaded him that the 
 address ^vas a studied declamation against episcopacy, 
 which, it is said, was a mistake, and the commissioner 
 declined to hear it. At the sight of so many thousands, 
 
 * Burnet's Afcm. pp. 52, 5.3 j Baillie's f Burnet's Mem. p. 53 et seq. ; see 
 Let. vol. i. p. 79 ct scq. also Baillie's let. vol. i. p. 84.
 
 HAMILTON PKEPARES TO PUBLISH HIS DECLARATION. 181 
 
 ill a manner the wliole country, so earnestly and humbly chap. 
 crying for the safety of their liberties and religion,'* — ^l' . 
 the marquis was moved, even to tears, and professed his 
 wish that kino; Charles himself had seen so affectino; a 
 spectacle. From his courteous and affable deportment, 
 and the fairness of his private speeches, many entertained 
 hopes of his yielding to all their demands ; but these 
 hopes vanished wdien he intimated tliat his powers ex- 
 tended no farther than to authorise the publishing of the 
 declaration he had brouo-ht with him. 
 
 His instructions and the nature of the declaration had 
 been ascertained by the Covenanters before he left Lon- 
 don, such were their vigilance and means of acquiring in- 
 formation ; but they appeared to have flattered themselves 
 ^vith the hope that he brought with him some secret 
 authority which had been granted within the knowledge 
 of his master and Laud only. He now prepared to Commis- 
 publish his declaration ; and when he was informed that termTues*^to 
 a protest was prepared against it, he laboured by threats p^i'iish a 
 and promises to prevent what he conceived, with Charles tion— pro- 
 himself, to be an insult upon regal autliority. But the ^t^^fi^st^it 
 Covenanters were neither to be frightened nor won ; and, 
 as he still persisted in his purpose, he announced his 
 intention to suppoil the herald in person, and make all 
 the protesters be denounced rebels. Preparations were 
 accordingly made at the cross ; but, on the other hand, 
 a scaffold opposite the cross was erected for the protesters ; 
 the people assembled, and some thousand gentlemen, 
 sword in hand, took their station to protect their ofhcial 
 men in their duty. The commissioner, upon hearing of 
 this, ordered horses, and as it was immediately conceived 
 that the object was to publish the declaration in other 
 towns, the popular party ordered their horses likewise, 
 that they might instantly accompany the declaration with 
 their protestations ; while, lest any advantage should be 
 
 * Baillie's Let. voL i. p. 82 et seq.
 
 182 
 
 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISII EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAR 
 II. 
 
 Policy of 
 the com- 
 missioner. 
 
 King's 
 conduct. 
 
 June 11, 
 1638. 
 
 taken, protesters were provided for every burgli to which 
 it was likely to be sent. Tliis obliged the commissioner 
 to drop his intention for the present.* 
 
 Hamilton, following his instructions, now endeavoured 
 to amuse the Covenanters with false hopes, and to engage 
 them in negotiations till the king should be prepared to 
 crush them with mihtary force. But the policy did not 
 elude the vigilance of those whom it was intended to 
 beguile to their ruin ; and they too were not idle in pre- 
 paring for defence. Though they were averse from 
 any league with France, lest it might liave the effect of 
 uniting all parties in England against them, they had 
 sounded the inchnations of the French court, which they 
 had discovered to be rather favourable, and arms were 
 secretly provided in Holland. All this was again sus- 
 pected by the commissioner, and measures were adopted 
 to frustrate their schemes ; so that each party saw through 
 the game of its antagonist.! How far the commissioner 
 was enjoined to mislead the people, appears by his 
 master's letters, which, unfortunately for his memory, are 
 still extant, and fully establish that he was actuated by 
 very different motives from the pious ones so liberally 
 ascribed to him. These letters somewhat break the 
 thread of the narrative ; but they are too characteristic to 
 need any apology for inserting them. 
 
 ' Hamiltox, — Though I answered not yours of the 
 fourth, yet I assure you that I have not been idle, so that 
 I hope by the next week I shall send you some good 
 assurance of the advancing of our preparations. This I 
 say not to make you precipitate anything, (for I like of all 
 you have hitherto done, and even of that which I find you 
 mind to do,) but to shew you that I mean to stick to my 
 grounds ; and that I expect not anything can reduce that 
 people to their obedience but only force. I thank -you 
 for the clearness of your advertisements, of all which 
 
 * Burnet'8 Mem. p. 54 et seq. ; Baillie's Let. vol. i. p. 82 ; Hist. Inf. p. 293 
 ct npq. t Baillio, Ibid.
 
 CIIAELES'S LETTERS TO THE COMMISSIONER. 18) 
 
 none troubles me so miicli as that, in a manner, they chap. 
 
 have possessed themselves of the Castle of Edinburgh ; ^^: 
 
 and, likewise, I hold Stirling as good as lost. As for the 
 dividing of my declaration, I find it most fit, in that way 
 you have resolved it ; to which I shall add, that I am 
 content to forbear the latter part thereof, until you hear 
 my fleet hath set sail for Scotland, In the meantime, 
 your care must be how to dissolve the multitude, and, if 
 it be possible, to possess yourself of my castles of Edin- 
 burgh and Stirling, which I do not expect. And to this 
 end I give you leave to flatter them with what hopes you 
 please, so you engage not me against my grounds ; and, 
 in particular, that you consent not to the calling of a par- 
 liament, nor general assembly, until the Covenant be dis- 
 avowed and given up ; your chief end being now to win 
 time, that they may not commit public follies until I be 
 ready to suppress them : and since it is, as you well ob- 
 serve, my own people whicli, by this means, will be for a 
 time ruined, so that the loss must be inevitably mine ; and 
 this, if I could eschew, (were it not with a greater,) were 
 well. But when I consider, that not only now my 
 crown, but my reputation, for ever lies at stake, I must 
 rather suffer the first, that time will help, than this last, 
 which is irreparable. This I have written to no other 
 end than to show you I will rather die than yield to those 
 impertinent and damnable demands, as you rightly call 
 them ; for it is all one, as to yield to be no king in a very 
 short time.' In a postscript, he desires him not to declare 
 the adherers to the Covenant traitors, till he heard that 
 the fleet had sailed, — and again recommends the gaining 
 of time. In a letter, dated two days later, Charles pro- June 13, 
 mises to take Hamilton's advice, to stop the public pre- 
 parations, but intimates his intention to proceed silently : 
 and advises him ' to get a considerable number of ses- 
 sioners and advocates to give an opinion, that the Covenant 
 is at least against law, if not traitorous ; ' clearly proving, 
 that, in his estimation, the law was subordinate to prero- 
 
 1(j38.
 
 184 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, gative. In another letter, dated on the 20th, he mentions 
 
 II. 
 
 June 20, 
 1638. 
 
 his preparations, his funds, &c. ; and then he says, ' Thus 
 you may see, that I intend not to yield to the demands of 
 those traitors, the Covenanters, who, I think, ivill declare 
 themselves so by their actions, before I shall do it by my 
 proclamation ; which I shall not be sorry for, so that it be 
 without the personal hurt of you, or any of my honest 
 servants, or the taking of any English place. This is to 
 shew you that I care not for their affronting or disobey- 
 ing my declaration, so that it go not to open mischief, and 
 that / may have some time to end my preparations.'' 
 Charles and his advisers captiously laid hold of the bond 
 of mutual defence in the Covenant as exclusive of the 
 support of his person. And as nothing was farther from 
 the intention of the Covenanters, than to trench even upon 
 the lawful prerogative, they agreed to an explanation, 
 though they perceived that it was sought to create delay. 
 June 25, Now, in a letter dated five days posteiior to this, he thanks 
 the marquis for his labours, particularly as he had been 
 disheartened by his fellow-councillors ; and proceeds thus : 
 ' There be two things in your letter that require answer, 
 to wit, the answer to their petition, and concerning the 
 explanation of their damnable covenant : for the first, the 
 telling you tliat I have not changed my mind in this par- 
 ticular, is answer sufficient, since it was both foreseen by 
 rae and fully debated betwixt us two before your down- 
 going ; and for the other, I will only say, that so long as 
 this Covenant is in force, whether it be with or without 
 explanation, I have no more power in Scotland than as a 
 duke of Venice, which I will rather die than suffer. Yet 
 I commend the giving ear to the explanation, or any- 
 thing else to win time, which now I see is one of your 
 chiefest cares, wherefore I need not recommend it to 
 vou.'* 
 
 These letters at once solve the question as to this 
 
 * Burnet's Mem. p. 55 at seq.
 
 THE EXrECTATIONS OF THE PEOrLE ARE RAISED. 185 
 
 prince's sincerity ; and whether piety, or a cold sehish chap. 
 love of power, were his ruUng passion ; whether he loved . ^ ^- , 
 his native country, or respected her laws and happiness. 
 It is impossible indeed to conceive a more melancholy 
 picture of a heart corrupted by power into a perfect indif- 
 ference to the rights and fate of a people wliom he had 
 been appointed to govern. He admits that their ruin was 
 the inevitable consequence of his measures ; but they had 
 provoked their fate by opposing his pretensions ; and he 
 regarded it only in so far as it affected himself, through 
 the destruction of his own property, whicli he accounted 
 his subjects. This, however, could not be permitted to 
 stand in competition with liis preposterous ideas of 
 honour. As to the law, he studied merely how to cor- 
 rupt its ministers, that it might be rendered subservient 
 to his selfish lust of dominion. 
 
 Having amused the people for a time, the commissioner The com- 
 requested leave of his majesty to I'eturn to court, being fii.srjour-^ 
 anxious to R'ain time, to inform his master fully of the ^^7 *" 
 
 ^ ^V. . T . 1 r» 1 Loudon. 
 
 posture or aiian^s, and to ascertain the exact state oi tlie 
 mihtary preparations. He also wished to try what could 
 be done to establish the Confession of Faitli of 1560, ra- 
 tified by parliament this year, and again in 15G7, which 
 he conceived would quiet the popular fears of innovation, 
 and thus gain a party of the Covenanters, or at least make 
 the royal cause appear more favourable to the world. The 
 plan pleased Charles, who yet desired Hamilton to assure 
 liis fcAv adherents that he would neither desert his ground 
 nor them. The commissioner having obtained this hberty, 
 pretends to entertain hopes by his presence to procure 
 more favourable terms ; and intimated that he had a pro- 
 clamation which would greatly satisfy the general mind. 
 The expectations of the people ran high. They doubted 
 not, what the commissioner seems to have intimated, that 
 it woidd at least free them from the Liturgy ; but the 
 bishops could not suppress the knowledge which consoled 
 them for present degradation. The declaration, when pro-
 
 186 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BKITISH EMriKE. 
 
 CHAP, claimed, fell far short of the character that had been pre- 
 ^^- , viously given of it, and of the people's expectations, being 
 only the first part of that Avhicli the commissioner had 
 brought down with him. ' We all marvel,' says BaiUie, 
 ' that ever the commissioner could think to give satisfac- 
 tion to any living soul by such a declaration, which yet he 
 oft professed with much confidence of that piece before it 
 was heard. Tliere must be here some mystery which yet 
 is not open.' It met with a protestation, drawn with great 
 deference to the prince, but with ability and judgment. 
 The Covenanters complain that their proceechngs were 
 stigmatised as disorderly and seditious ; that his majesty, 
 while he declares his abhorrence of innovation, merely 
 promises not to press the Canons and Liturgy, but in such 
 a legal way as should satisfy all his good subjects, indi- 
 cating that they were neither superstitious nor illegal ; and 
 that instead of abolishing the High Commission, which had 
 been established without legislative authority, he merely 
 promises to rectify it. They then declared that a parlia- 
 ment and an assembly only could remove these evils. In 
 the afternoon the commissioner was told by Lord Loudon, 
 when he signified his intention to get the council to ap- 
 prove of the declaration, that he knew of no other bands 
 between a king andliis subjects, but those of religion and 
 laws ; and though, witli the exception of two, Lome and 
 Southesk, the council, at the instance of Hamilton, did 
 subscribe an approbation of it, they quickly repented, and 
 tore the paper in pieces. A parhament and an assembly 
 were strenuously insisted for : the commissioner was in- 
 formed that if he did not return with powers to call the 
 latter, it should be siunmoned witliout the royal au- 
 thority.* 
 
 Hamilton, on reaching the English capital, discovered 
 that the king's preparations were not yet in a posture 
 to warrant a breach ; and by representing the strength 
 
 * Baillio'3 Let. vol. i. p. 82 ct seq. ; Hist. Inform. 3IS. p. 419 et seq. ; Large 
 Dcclar. pp. 00-9o et seq.
 
 HAMILTON INDUCES CHAELES TO MAKE GREATER CONCESSIONS. 187 
 
 and enthusiasm of tlie Covenanters, together with the tern- chap. 
 
 per of tlie council, he induced his master to make greater . ^^' . 
 
 though not more satisfactory concessions. An assembly King 
 
 was to be called ; yet under conditions destructive of its gfanran 
 
 rio'hts. That bishops, who had been obtruded as mo- -assembly 
 
 , r. . PI under cer- 
 
 derators of presbyteries by an act of a packed assembly tain con- 
 in the former reign, should be received as constituent ^^^^"^" 
 members ; that all ministers lately deposed should be re- 
 stored, and none who had not been admitted by bishops 
 should exercise the clerical function ; and that the clero-v 
 only shoidd be eligible — a course which, together with the 
 restriction of the body to those who had been admitted to 
 holy orders by the bishops, was calculated to render an 
 assembly the instrument of the crown. Lest, however, 
 these precautions should fail, the commissioner was in- 
 structed to recommend, that the bishops should protest 
 against the proceedings, in order to afford a pretext foi" 
 annulhng them. To such conditions the Covenanters could 
 not agree.* They assigned their reasons in a respectful, yet 
 firm tone ; and intimated, that as tlie church had an inhe- 
 rent right to summon assemblies, so one would be called 
 without his majesty's consent, if it was still witliheld.f 
 The commissioner proposed another journey to London, The com- 
 holding out the delusive hope of accommodation, while ^U^^^"^^'"'^ 
 his object was to gain time, as well as to show the king journey to 
 how necessary it was, either to break with the Covenan- 
 ters, or yield to their terms. On his way south, he stopt 
 at Broxmouth, the seat of the Earl of Eoxburgh, near 
 Dunbar ; where certain articles of advice to his majesty 
 were concerted by himself and the Earls of Traquair, 
 Eoxburgh, and Southesk. That, as the causes of all the 
 late distractions were the fear of religious innovation, by 
 the introduction of the Canons and Liturgy, against the 
 forms of the church ; the enormous unbounded power of 
 the bishops in the High Commission, (a court erected not 
 
 * See Balfour's Anntih. f Burnet's MemortaU, p. 70.
 
 188 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, only without legislative authority, but expressly against 
 ^^' the statute law, which declares all judicatories established 
 without an act of parliament to be of no force ;)* the five 
 articles of Perth, even episcopacy itself, — they advised his 
 majesty to dispense with all these but the last ; and even 
 with regard to it they observe, ' although we conceive 
 episcopacy to be a church government most agreeable with 
 monarchy^ yet the illimited power which the lords of the 
 clergy of this kingdom have of late assumed to themselves, 
 in admitting and deposing of ministers, and in divers other 
 of their acts and proceedings, gives us just ground hum- 
 bly to beg, that your majesty may be pleased to remit to 
 the consideration of the Assembly this their unwarranted 
 power.' By such concessions, and an unconditional par- 
 don to all, these noblemen conceived tliat the present dis- 
 content should be allayed; or, if any stood out, they might 
 be overwhelmed by the power of government, without 
 military force. The advice had its effect. Hamilton re- 
 turned to Scotland, with powers to recal, unconditionally, 
 the Canons and Liturgy, and the High Commission ; to 
 suspend the five articles of Perth, and to summon a par- 
 hament, and an assembly in which the prelates miglit 
 be prosecuted, and the episcopal government restrained 
 within the limits of the law. But, in order to supersede 
 the Covenant, he unfortunately brought with him, accord- 
 ing to his own recommendation, a renewal of what was 
 called the negative confession of faith, with the bond sub- • 
 scribed by the late king in tlie year 1589 ; a confession 
 which both grieved and alarmed the episcopal clergy, and 
 in which the errors of Popery are stamped with the same 
 reprobation as in that which had been lately subscribed 
 in Scotland. Had such terms been proposed earlier, all 
 discontent miglit have been allayed ; or could the Cove- 
 nanters even now have trusted to the king's sincerity, that 
 desirable object might have been accomplislied. But, as 
 
 * I)Uri)(>t"8 Mciiioriah, p. 70.
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR A GExVERAL ASSEMBLY. 189 
 
 the marquis was instructed to sow dissension between tlie chap. 
 laity and clergy of the Covenanters, by infusing into ^' - 
 the first, particularly the nobility, that the clergy, if not 
 restrained, Avould soon obtain a superiority over them- 
 selves ; into the latter, that if the nobility were gratified 
 in their views of lay elders, the clergy's influence would 
 cease; and, as there was subjoined to the negative con- 
 fession, a bond to maintain the established relio-ion as at 
 present professed; which, however suitable to the state of 
 affiiirs in 1589, could only be productive of dissension now, 
 (since, in the present unsettled posture of things, it was 
 impossible to say what was estabhshed,) these conditions 
 failed to satisfy the people. It was Charles's misfortune 
 never to make a concession with sincerity; and as his re- 
 servations were discovered, they naturally recoiled upon 
 their author. By the words, ' as at present professed,' he 
 wished his subjects to understand the Presbyterian estab- 
 lishment, while himself meant the episcopal ; and it must 
 have given no favourable idea of his candour, to subscribe 
 articles so inconsistent with the principles which it had 
 been the darling object of his reign to obtrude upon three 
 kingdoms. The council, after deliberation, subscribed the 
 confession, and the Covenanters protested against it.* 
 
 The covenanting lords were not idle in their preparations 
 for the approaching Assembly, and even the Presbyterian 
 clergy seem to have entered into the feelings artfully 
 disseminated by the commissioner : but the lay elders, 
 who were revived, outnumbered the clerical, while their 
 rank and influence in society were calculated to add a 
 weight to their measures which the other never could 
 have attained. Hamilton at once perceived the natural 
 fruits of this meeting, that episcopacy would be over- 
 turned, and advised his master to proceed with his mili- 
 tary preparations, to levy soldiers in Holland, and secure 
 
 * Biirnet's_ Mem. p. 72 ct seq. ; rect picture of Scottish aifairs, and 
 Baillie, vol. i. p. 80 et seq. These the springs of action. 
 Letters afford by far the most cor-
 
 190 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. Berwick ; Avliile it should be his study how to discover 
 
 FT - • 
 
 .• ■ nullities in the Assembly, upon which a pretext migljt 
 be got for dissolving it. The bishops trembled so for 
 their office, that they advised a prorogation before its 
 meetino; : but the kins; concurred with Hamilton in con- 
 ceivino- this inconsistent with his honour, and that it was 
 more advisable to contest the legahty of the elections, to 
 insist upon assessors for the crown being admitted as 
 members, and to admit the bishops' declinature, whereby 
 grounds would easily be got for a dissolution : ' as for the 
 opinions of the clergy,' says he, ' to prorogue this Assem- 
 bly, I utterly dishke them, for I should more hurt my 
 reputation by not keeping it, than their mad acts can 
 prejudice my service, wherefore I command you hold 
 your day ; but, as you ^vrite, if you can break them by 
 nullities in their proceedings, nothing better. Lastly, 
 concerning assessors, I like their names, and, as you say, 
 you must not suffer me to lose my privileges.'* 
 
 Having concerted matters thus far, a declinature for 
 the bishops, or protest against the lawfulness of the assem- 
 bly, was revised by Charles himself as a pretext for its 
 Assembly dissolutiou. The Assembly met at Glasgow, as in a quar- 
 ^ow No- ^^^ most devoted to the commissioner ; and, notwith- 
 YomLer2i, standiuo: tlic mcasurcs taken to annul it, and to subdue 
 
 1638 
 
 the country by force, Hamilton, in his address, dared to 
 use such language as this : ' The next false, and indeed 
 foul and devilish surmise, wherewith his good sub- 
 jects have been misled, is, that nothing promised in his 
 majesty's last most gracious proclamation, though most 
 ungraciously received, was ever intended to be performed, 
 not the Assembly itself, but that only time was to be 
 gained till his majesty, by arms, miglit oppress this his 
 own native kingdom, than which report hell itself could 
 not have raised a blacker.' f The dechnature of the pre- 
 lates was rejected, and the protest for the bishops was 
 
 * Burnet's Meni. p. 87 ct scq. f IhkL p. 94.
 
 THE COMMISSIONER DECLARES TPIE ASSEMBLY DISSOLVED. 
 
 191 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 presented before the clioice of a moderator ; but the 
 Assembly refused to enter upon business till they were 
 regularly constituted. Alexander Henderson, the pres- 
 byter of greatest capacity in affairs, was chosen moderator, 
 and the commissions of the members were ratified. 
 Under the pretext of this, as well as that the Assembly 
 could not be judge of its own nulhties, &c., the commis- 
 sioner declared it dissolved. 
 
 This imprudent measure, as it had been previously Argyie de- 
 concerted, so it was adopted, without the assent of the thTco^^- 
 council, whom, on the interrogatory of Lome, now, by ^''"*- 
 the death of his father, earl of Argyie, the commissioner 
 informed that his majesty had given him positive instruc- 
 tions, and therefore he could not admit of a debate. The 
 Assembly, composed of men who had determined to meet 
 without the royal assent, were not, at this stage of the 
 business, to be deterred from prosecuting their views ; 
 and the Earl of Argyie, who had hitherto acted the part 
 of intercommuner^ in hopes of preventing a breach, openly 
 joined them. This was a most important accession : the 
 talents of Argyie far surpassed those of his brother peers ; 
 his character, unblemished by the personal vices which 
 too frequently accompany high fortune, joined to his 
 influence in society, at once designated him as a leader. 
 His conduct now was denounced by his enemies as a 
 treacherous desertion of the prerogative, which, in the 
 capacity of a councillor, he was alleged to have hitherto 
 supported ; but, in truth, his principles had been uni- 
 formly favourable to the common cause ; his adherence to 
 the council having been merely as an intercommimei', in 
 order to preserve alike religion and peace.* Interested 
 
 * Mr. Laing imagined lie had 
 made a discovery in a passage of 
 Straff. Bisj). ToL ii. p. 325, but lie 
 bad not even attended to tbe nature 
 of tbat veiy passage, for it implies 
 that Argyle's principles were tbe 
 cause of tbe plot witb Antrim, 
 tbougb bis Imowledge of tbat plot 
 
 was supposed, and probably with 
 reason, to mabe him declare for tbe 
 Covenant (tbat is, depart from his 
 character of mediator, which such a 
 plot proved to be fruitless), earlier 
 than be intended. In a letter to 
 Strafford, Antrim early charged 
 Argyie witb possessing a part of bis
 
 102 CO^S'STITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMriRE. 
 
 CHAP, motives will ever be imputed to public men, and these he 
 ^' - has not escaped ; yet it is creditable to him never to have 
 
 been guilty of tergiversation even while in office. His 
 mediation between the king and his subjects begot the 
 strongest enmity in the bishops, and a plan (which he 
 discovered) was in consequence treacherously devised for 
 depriving him of his lands by an invasion from Ireland, 
 of the Earl of Antrim, who pretended a title to part of 
 his estate. 
 Act of (lie Under such a leader they boldly proceeded in their 
 ssem y. j-j-jg<jg^^vgg_ ^^^^q preceding assemblies, packed by the 
 
 crown, w^ere declared null, the articles of Perth abro- 
 gated, episcopacy itself abolished, and the rights of pres- 
 byteries fully restored. The trial of the bishops suc- 
 ceeded ; and wdiile the gross indecency and irregularity 
 of their lives leave us not room to deplore their degra- 
 dation, the Assembly found likewise sufficient grounds in 
 their usurped, authority, and in the nature of their 
 doctrine.* 
 
 Charles had long been preparing for war, and he now 
 determined to commence it. In one instance he had. 
 indeed been disappointed : a negotiation with the regency 
 of the Spanish Netherlands for 6000 veterans, to be 
 exchanged for Irish recruits, was defeated by the dis- 
 
 (Antiim's) predecessor's lands, and This author does injustice to Arg^-le 
 intimated that Argyle was provid- by ascribing to him Language in the 
 iiig men and arms, "^dth all the General Assembly at Glasgow, 
 power he had, giving out an inten- which, it is evident from other au- 
 tion to encounter Antrim. Antrim, thorities, he could never use (p. 41.) ; 
 while he professes his ignorance of but he followed the Large Declara- 
 Argyle's intentions, mentions that tion (see Ilardwicke's State Papei's, 
 he had moved 'the king for arms vol. ii. pp. 100-115). 
 for his majesty's senace and the * niaillie's History of the General 
 better defence of his country ' (Ed. Ass('7)ihl>/ held at Glasgow in 1638, 
 vol. ii. p. 84). Argyle, however, in vol. i. of his Z^'^., from pp. 91-149. 
 continued to mediate long after the See also an accoimt of tlie primate 
 discovery of the plot to invade his and chancellor in p. r;4. He re- 
 country. Had I\Ir. Laing looked to nounced his chancellorship for 
 pp. 210, 2:.^0, 225, 2-17, 2(;(;, 299, £2500 sterling (see Puirnet's Mem. 
 even of the same volume, he would p. 79). He was notoriously bank- 
 have discovered his mistake (Ihir- rupt (see Ilardwicke's State Papers, 
 net's 3L)n. p. .5.'5 ; Guthrv, p. .'Jl). vol. ii. p. 114).
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR WAR. 193 
 
 asters of Spain.* But a formidable train of artillery had chap. 
 been provided, some troops procured from Ireland, and ^^' 
 levies were resorted to throughout England. Hamilton, 
 too, had persuaded himself that by stopping their trade, 
 on which, though limited, they greatly depended, the 
 Scots might easily be reduced. Notwithstanding the 
 extortions from the subject, the great gifts to favour- 
 ites, the support of twenty-four palaces, and the purchase 
 of paintings, expense of masks, &c., had, together with 
 the previous debt, left the exchequer without sufficient 
 funds for the support of a war. Loans were therefore 
 exacted from the nobility, contributions asked of the 
 clergy, and gifts, at the instigation of the queen, were 
 contributed by the Papists in support of an episcopal 
 war, a contribution which met with a check from the 
 Pope, who had been disappointed in his expectation of 
 recovering the spiritual dominion of the British Isles.f 
 
 The Scots had also been busy : arms had been long 
 providing on the Continent: a small supply of money had 
 been obtained from Eichelieu : their agents had been 
 active with all the popular party in England, who were 
 taught to consider the Scotch their own cause : and the 
 Covenant had been transmitted for the subscription of 
 their countrymen in the Swedish service. Alexander 
 Leslie, a distinguished officer, was invited by Rothes, in 
 the name of the Covenanters, to take the command of 
 the army.;|; The country was divided into districts, and 
 the volunteers everywhere trained. § When, too, they 
 foimd themselves denounced rebels, they summoned home 
 many officers from the Continent, who had served under 
 
 * Clarendon's State Fapers, vol. ii. vol. ii. pp. 180-188, 190-102 ; Ilard- 
 
 p. 23. wicke's State Pa2}ers, vol. ii. p. 118 et 
 
 t See his Letter in Rush, and seq). 
 
 Ilardwicke, and Clarendon's State % Burnet's Memorials, p. ll(]. 
 
 Papers, vol. ii. The negotiation § See Hardwicke's State Papers, 
 
 with the Pope seems to have been vol. ii. p. 124. N.B. The whole 
 
 broken off about this time, and Laud's papers relative to the Scottish 
 
 book was republished by the king's troubles in this collection, throw 
 
 order (see also Rush. vol. ii. p. 790 great light upon this portion of his- 
 
 et seq. ; see Straff. Let. and Disp. tory. Sir Thomas Hope, the king's 
 
 VOL. XL O
 
 194 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CK.ip. Gustavus Aclolplius ; defeated a scheme of Wentwortli to 
 v__i3:_^ surprise Dumbarton Castle ; took Edinburgh Castle ;* for- 
 
 tified Dalkeith witli the arms deposited there ; and put 
 otlier places in a posture of defence. Other most prudent 
 military arrangements were likewise adopted ; while such 
 was the zeal to prepare Leith for resistance, that all ranks, 
 ages, and sexes emulated each other in carrying sand and 
 rubbisli, as well as other materials.f 
 Effect of Scottish affairs had been so cautiously concealed by the 
 
 affiiira on king, that, except Laud and Wentworth, the cabinet was 
 theEng- jjq|^ cntrustcd with a knowled2:e of them, and such of the 
 English aristocracy as were attached to the court were 
 surprised at the mention of an insurrection in Scotland, a 
 country to whose condition they were greater strangers 
 than to that of the continental states. But the popular 
 party, especially they who had been imprisoned for ship- 
 money, or were averse to the new ceremonies, and perhaps 
 even to episcopacy, considered the Scottish cause as their 
 own. The levies were, therefore, murmured at as uncon- 
 stitutional, the trained bands insisting that they were not 
 obliged to follow the king out of the country, and the 
 Lords Say and Brooke declared that they could not be re- 
 sponsible to parliament for engaging in such a business. 
 Ireland had been goaded almost to madness by the arbi- 
 trary measures of Wentworth, a minister whose govern- 
 ment, it has been well observed, raised up against him a 
 greater degree of personal hostility than was ever per- 
 haps the fate of any individual, Verres excepted. Hence 
 the troops which could be spared from that country were 
 insignificant. Even the English Catholics, as we have 
 seen, were desired by his holiness to desist from their 
 
 advocate, wLile liis sons were active or otlier lady a sum to be contributed 
 
 ■with the Covenanters, atfected bini- to the common cause. 'Given to 
 
 self to come down to a much later hir 5 rosnoblis for the contribution 
 
 period — (see his Dianj, \t. 114 H to the common cause made be wo- 
 
 scq.) — to be with them iu religion yet men ' (p. 9(!). 
 
 never to own to join on civil grounds * Burnet's Memorial^ p. 116 ser/. 
 
 —for obedience to the command of t Hid. p. 114; Baillie, ie^. p. 158 
 
 the king he reg;u'ded as Clod's com- ot seq. 
 mand (p. 70.), yet gave to his wile
 
 CHARLES ADVANCES TO SCOTLAND. 195 
 
 contributions for support of the war, as it was not their chap. 
 duty to join with tlie pohtical party, whicli had not ^ ^^' . 
 acknowledged his supremacy. To concihate the EngHsh, 
 Charles recalled patents and monopolies ; but this, how- 
 ever welcome in itself, was too evidently the offspring of 
 temporary policy to effect the object, and the general 
 hope was, that the Scottish troubles woidd lead to a par- 
 liament.* 
 
 Charles marched to the borders in mighty parade : King 
 some of the nobility even injured their circumstances for ^\'|h ^^q^ 
 his entertainment ; and those of the aristocracy that held ='i"'"y ^o 
 
 ,. T 11111 !••/• • subdue the 
 
 their estates upon the old and obsolete condition or serving Scots, 
 against the Scots, were confidently summoned to the royal ^^'^^^ 
 banners. What, however, the army thus gained in num- 
 bers, it lost in consistency. But Charles flattered himself 
 that by ruining the Scottish trade by his shipping, he 
 would reduce the people to such straits, or despair, that 
 the very pomp of his preparations would dissipate their 
 army.'l' 
 
 Charles appointed Hamilton to the command of the Military 
 fleet, and empowered him to assail the Scots wdth fire and *'^"'' ^°°^' 
 sword. He directed a portion of his forces to enter Scotland 
 by Kelso, while the main army approached by Berwick 
 and Coldstream. The main body of the Scots took their 
 station on Dunse-Law ; a detachment under Munro inter- 
 cepted the invaders by Kelso. In cavalry, Charles was 
 superior ; in infantry, and in short in the number of 
 troops, the Scots excelled. But they excelled far more 
 in discipline, and in the ability of their general, nay even 
 of their inferior commanders. The Scottish troops were 
 chiefly athletic young ploughmen, of the most devout 
 
 * Clarendon Siate Papers, vol. ii. it had been anticipated by liini, that 
 
 p. 42 i't seq. ; Whitelocke, p. ."iO ; the English nobility and gentry 
 
 Hardwifhe's State I'apers, vol. ii. wonld not engage in an ofiensive 
 
 p. 126; Rush. vol. iii. p. 915 ; Strati". war with Scotland; and he soon 
 
 Let. and Disp. vol. ii. pp. 266-7 ; perceived that he had not been much 
 
 Sidney Pr/;3«-s, vol. ii. p. 591 ; Baillie, mistaken (Rush. vol. iii. p. 936; 
 
 Let. p. 184. Nalson, vol. i. p. 231 ; see also Clar. 
 
 t Clar. vol. i. p. 195 et seq. Yet Hist, and Baillie). 
 
 o 2
 
 196 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, and sober liabits. The nobility eaoerly testified their zeal 
 
 TT • ^ u ./ ^ 
 
 __,,: - to the cause, while, contrary to the apprehensions of many, 
 
 they exhibited the readiest obedience to the general, who, 
 though diminutive, distorted, and old, gave proof of un- 
 common energy and ability for the station. Accustomed 
 to command mercenary soldiers, it was scarcely to have 
 been expected that he should at once mark the different 
 treatment which became the volunteers whom he now 
 commanded ; but, as he perceived the true line of policy, 
 he conciliated all. The most proper dispositions were 
 made to supply the troops with provisions : the ministers 
 continued to remind them of their duty by the most pious 
 exhortations : their colours were inscribed with the crown 
 and covenant of Christ ; and the soldiers were summoned 
 to devotion by the drum. 
 
 On the other hand, the English general, Arundel, was 
 unqualified for the command : the leading men in the 
 camp were averse to the war : the common soldiers, while 
 nuicli worse disciplined than their opponents, w^ere so far 
 from having any of their enthusiasm, that they were in- 
 fected with the general spirit so prevalent in England. 
 Had, therefore, the Scotch army acted on the offensive, it 
 is probable that the English would have sustained a total 
 defeat : but, as they had reluctantly taken arms, so they 
 were anxious for accommodation ; and in spite of all the 
 illegal measures of the crown, still felt an ardent affection 
 for their king. Besides, they dreaded the effect of routing 
 the royal army, as the English, wdio were at present dis- 
 posed to favour them, might resent the disgrace to their 
 king and country.* Cliarles had flattered himself with the 
 idea of gaining many adherents, by proclaiming a pardon 
 foi- the past, and offering the conditions proposed to the 
 assembly at Glasgow ; but denomicing all those who should 
 refuse to submit on such terms, traitors, and disposing of 
 their lands to their tenants or vassals who embraced the 
 side of regal power, and the feudal holdings of the vassals 
 
 * JJaillie, vol. i. p. 182.
 
 MODEEATION OF THE SCOTS. 197 
 
 to the superiors of whom they held, and likewise the pro- chap. 
 
 perty of tenants who adhered to the Covenant to the .^ ,J . 
 
 superiors and landowners who took the opposite side. 
 'This wise plot,' says Baillie, ' proved as pedantic a policy as 
 all the former had done ; not a man regarded the favoiu- ; 
 all were more enraged with that lawless condemning and 
 alienatino; of lands."* 
 
 Lord Holland advanced with his cavalry towards the 
 army under Monro, but soon perceived the propriety of 
 retreating : yet the Scottish army obeyed a proclamation 
 not to advance within ten miles of the royal camp. Matters, 
 however, hastened to a crisis. The Scots were destitute 
 of the means of resting long on the defensive ; that they 
 possessed many advantages they were perfectly aware. 
 The following picture of their moderation, drawn in a 
 famihar letter by a covenanting minister who accompanied 
 the army, is so very o])posite to the opinion of matters 
 generally entertained, that it deserves to be transcribed. 
 ' We knew at once the great advantages we had of the 
 king ; yet such was our tenderness for his honour, that, 
 with our hearts, we were ever wilhng to supplicate his 
 ofFcoming. Yea, had we been ten times victorious in sett 
 battels, it was our conclusion to have layd down our armes 
 at his feet, and on our knees presented nought bot our 
 first supplications. We had no other end of our warres ; 
 we sought no crownes ; we aimed at no lands and honours 
 as our partie ; we desyred bot to keep our own in the 
 service of our prince as our ancestors had done : we loved 
 no new masters. Had our throne been voyd, and our 
 voyces sought for the filhng of Fergus's chaire, we would 
 have died ere any other had sitten down on that fatall 
 marble, bot Charles alone.' f 
 
 * Baillie, vol. i. pp. 165-173. into any one discourse that I had 
 
 t Ibid, passage quoted at p. 215. read ' (p. 208). Hence _ little re- 
 
 The Lavije Declaration this writer liance can be placed on it ; and 1 
 
 pronounces ' an unexampled mani- suspect that the story of Miehelson 
 
 teste,' ' heaping up a rabble of the the prophetess (p. 226.) is one of the 
 
 falsest calumnies that ever was put forgeries of Balcanqual.. Ross, and
 
 198 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. The moderation of the Scots rapidly gained upon the 
 . ^^" Enghsli ; and as Cliarles, disappointed in tlie hopes 
 Treaty. treaclierouslj encouraged by Montrose, perceived that 
 discomfiture would, in all probability, be the issue of a 
 battle, he opened a negotiation.* The commissioners 
 from the Scottish camp used the style of supplication, and 
 matters might have at least been arranged upon a definite 
 basis, had not the king personally intruded into the con- 
 ference. At first the negotiation appeared to proceed 
 smoothly ; but so many grounds of delay began to be 
 brought forward, tliat tlie Scots apprehended that they 
 were studiously sought for, in order to starve an army 
 that declined to avail itself of its superiority ; and Leslie 
 intimated his purpose to advance towards the royal camp. 
 This had the desired effect ; for, though the articles were 
 unfortunately too indefinite, certain points were conceded, 
 and principles understood. The commissioners insisted 
 that his majesty should ratify the acts of the assembly 
 held at Glaso-ow, This he refused : but he asrreed to call 
 a new assembly immediately, and to ratify its acts in a 
 parliament which lie promised to summon. The commis- 
 sioners were willing to yield to this, provided he did not 
 oblige them to renounce that assembly. He replied that 
 he would not press it, but that that assembly should not 
 be mentioned on either side. The commissioners urged 
 the abolition of episcopacy. The king said that he woidd 
 not prelimit his vote in the ensuing assembly, by declaring 
 the nature of it beforehand. A royal declaration was 
 
 others. Burnet gives no authority, what is said of disaflfection and the 
 
 and Baillie and others never allude disappointment in the hope ■which 
 
 to it. Baillie says that had they had heen based on proniises of Eng- 
 
 seen the />r/«/v//(Vw sooner, it would land's coiijimrlion as in a common 
 
 have stopt the treaty. The Cieneral cause (see Baillie, p. 214 ct seq.). 
 
 Assembly afterwards supplicated that 'A\'hoever attends to this will be 
 
 the book, on account of the many satisfied that they did not, the next 
 
 foul and false relations it contained, year, rt>quire tlie alleged perjury of 
 
 should be called in and reprobated Savelle to induce them to cross'the 
 
 by tbe king- ; while Balcanqual, and Tweed. 
 
 others concerned in the publication, * May, pp. 4G-48 ; Burnet, pp. 139, 
 
 should be given up for trial (llu.^li. 140. 
 vol. iii. p. 960). The reader will tiud
 
 BOTH ARMIES DISBANDED. ' 199 
 
 afterwards published, in which Charles says that while he chap. 
 could not acknowledge the assembly held at Glasgow, he - ^ ^' .. 
 would call a new one, and ratify its acts.* 
 
 Had Charles entered into the negotiation with sincerity, 
 any future quarrel on this ground might have been pre- 
 vented. It was evident, and indeed is particularly stated 
 in notes of advice for the king by Hamilton, that the next 
 assembly would just adopt what had been enacted in the 
 one at Glasgow ; and his refusal to ratify the past could 
 be regarded in no other light than as a punctilious ad- 
 herence to a point which involved his own honour.f 
 
 Upon this understanding both armies were disbanded, 
 and all forts held by the Scots were surrendered ; but as 
 they soon perceived the insincerity of their king,J they 
 prudently retained the officers whom they had invited 
 home from foreign service. § Such, indeed, was the S3^s- 
 tematic want of candour of this prince, that he formally 
 granted powers to tlie Marquis Hamilton to make pro- 
 posals and promises, not with the view of leading to an 
 agreement, but for the purpose of circumvention. |j 
 
 The peace was, on the part of Charles, a most advisable Conse- 
 measure ; but it was not on that account a less humiliat- the royaf^ 
 ing one. To be forced into concessions by a people whose expedition 
 opposition to arbitrary power had been branded with every peace. 
 odious epithet — whose resources had been derided as in- 
 adequate to offer any resistance to the royal army, and to 
 whose damnable demands, as he called them, he declared 
 that he would rather die than submit, as they reduced 
 his power to that of a duke of Venice, was a catastrophe 
 calculated equally to hiunble his own pride, and to de- 
 grade him in the estimation of foreign states, as well as of 
 
 * Burnet, p. 140 et seq. ; Baillie, || See the warrant in Hardwicke's 
 
 vol. i. p. 214, particularly p. 215 et State Papers, vol. ii. p. 141. This 
 
 (ieq. ; Hardwicke's State Papers, vol. ii. I suspect to be the gxound of tlie 
 
 p 130 et seq. ; liush. vol. iii. p. 940. story told by Clarendon (\n\. i. 
 
 t Burnet, p. 144. p. 268 et seq.) to vilify Hamilton. 
 
 \ Straff. Let. vol. ii. p. 363. o t h were equally guilty. 
 
 § Burnet, p. 156.
 
 200 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, liis English subjects : while successful resistance by a des- 
 N — ,1— pised province, such Scotland had been too much con- 
 sidered, might rouse its southern neighbour to assert its 
 rights. This last idea rankled deeply in the breast of the 
 queen, of Laud, and of the courtiers in general, who, as if 
 the Scottish army had been as despicable as their own 
 wishes would have had it, and their own powerful as their 
 presumption, found no other way to vent their spleen 
 than by reproaches against the commanders. To such a 
 height was this carried, that one Avould conclude from the 
 relation of Clarendon, whose bigoted hatred of the Scots 
 is equally discreditable to his head and heart, that to 
 have reduced them it was merely necessary to have at- 
 tempted it : for that they, who were in reality so nume- 
 rous, and so well-disciplined and commanded, were com- 
 paratively few in number, ill-accoutred, and altogether 
 untrained.* 
 
 The issue of this expedition, though dreaded by many 
 of the Covenanters, as exposing them to the royal resent- 
 ment, without attaining the object of the war,f brought 
 credit to the Scots in proportion to the dishonour of the 
 king. In the whole business, indeed, they had conducted 
 themselves with great ability and admirable prudence. 
 Their leaders were men of enlarged capacity and equal 
 courage. The clergy, on whom they greatly depended, 
 were profound scholars, and no despicable politicians. 
 Nothing can be more misplaced than the ridicule which 
 has been so profusely levelled at that body. They proved 
 themselves ambitious ; but, to be satisfied of their talents, 
 and to admire their knowledge, it is only necessary to 
 peruse their works. The writings of Baillie, even his 
 familiar letters, breathe a manliness of spirit, and evince 
 intelligence and erudition, that must for ever rescue from 
 contempt, a class of which he did not conceive himself 
 entitled to rank at the head. He is said to have been 
 
 • S.'o Clar. IHsL vol. i. p. 201 d seq. 
 + Huillie, vol. i. at p. 21S et srq.
 
 PKOJECTED ASSEMBLY OF THE CHUFX'H. 201 
 
 master of twelve or thirteen languages, and though the chap. 
 eulogy which has been pronounced upon the purity of . -^^^ . 
 his Latin composition has been latterly much questioned, 
 yet the character of a true scholar remains unimpugned. 
 The productions he gave to tlie world evince that his 
 English style was, with the exception of a few provincial- 
 isms, generally beyond that of his contemporaries in the 
 south ; while his knowledge was as universal as his class- 
 ical attainments were great. Alexander Henderson was 
 the ecclesiastical organ of the party ; and, according to the 
 testimony of both sides, deservedly so. ' Upon him,' says 
 an episcopal writer, ' all the ministry of that judgment 
 depended ; and no wonder, — for in gravity, learning, 
 wisdom, and state policy, he far exceeded any of them.' 
 
 Charles had himself mtended to preside in the asseml)ly 
 of the church, but the persuasions of Windebanke not 
 to trust his person with such mutinous subjects, diverted 
 him from his purpose.* When, therefore, his intention 
 transpired, and he ordered fourteen of the chief Cove- 
 nanters to meet him at Berwick, the greatest jealousy 
 arose. Three of each estate at last undertook the office ; 
 and of the three peers, Montrose, Loudon, and Lothian, 
 the first, whose previous treachery we have related, con- 
 certed a fresh treacherous correspondence with the king, — 
 with whom had been previously tampering, — was seduced 
 from his party and principles,f and afterwards became the 
 most furious enemy of the cause he had formerly been the 
 most forward to espouse. Hamilton, tired of painfid pre- 
 eminence, declined the office of commissioner,;]; and it was 
 devolved upon Traquair. But, in the meantime, by the 
 royal instructions, he acted the part of a spy, in drawing 
 from the chief Covenanters, whom he had an opportanity of 
 negotiating with, their intentions in the ensuing assembly 
 and parhament.^ 
 
 * Clarendon's State Pajwrs, vol. ii. State Papers, vol. ii. p. 116 ; Baillie, 
 
 p. 56. vol. i. 188 ; Burnet, vol. i. p. 148. 
 
 t See a character of Montrose | Burnet, p. 145 et seq. 
 
 by Marquis Hamilton, Hardwicke's § Nalson, vol. i. p. 241 et seq.
 
 202 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. Wliatever Charles might apparently concede in regard 
 
 . ^ . to episcopacy, he was resolved to restore it ; and his 
 
 oftheki"/"^ object now was to amuse with the specious appearance 
 of vieldimr to the Covenanters, while he should retain a 
 pretext for afterwards denying the meaning of the con- 
 cession. The instructions to Traquair were the result of 
 long and deej) consultation betwixt the king, Hamilton, 
 and Traquair himself; and the latter assisted him with a 
 device as notable for its dexterity as for its perfidy — that, 
 let the parliament abolish episcopacy, &c., there would 
 still be a'ood grounds for restoring^ them whenever his 
 majesty was able to carry the measure ; for that, as the 
 bishops were, by the laws of Scotland, one of the three 
 estates, no act passed without their concurrence, parti- 
 cularly if they protested against it, could be valid. 
 
 By his instructions, Traquair was authorised to consent 
 to prohibit the Liturgy, but not as superstitious ; to agree 
 to abolish the Canons ; and, rather than break with the 
 Scots, even episcopacy itself, as contrary to the constitu- 
 tion of the Scottish church, but not as unlawful in a 
 Christian church ; to repeal the five articles of Perth, yet 
 not as abjured in confessions of faith ; and to remove the 
 Hi"-h Commission f wliich was constituted not onlv without 
 law but contrary to the statutes), yet not as illegal. The 
 first idea that these captious distinctions suggest is, that 
 they were proposed, either to save the king's notion of 
 honour, or prevent a claim for similar measures in England, 
 on the ground that Episcopacy, the Canons, and Liturgy 
 were unlawful in a religious sense. But the royal motive 
 was nothing else than a refined duplicity to overreach 
 his subjects. He instructs Traquair to conceal his inten- 
 tion : he desires him, after passing the acts, to take a 
 protest that his majesty miglit object to anytliing preju- 
 dicial to his interest ; he dispatclies a letter in the hand- 
 writing of Hamilton, and interlined by Laud, to the 
 Archbishop of St. Andrew's, assuring that divine that, 
 however he miglit yield for a time, it should still be one
 
 PEOCEEDIXGS OF THE GENERAL ASSE^IBLY. 203 
 
 of his chiefest studies to rectify the government of the chap. 
 
 Scottish church, and to repair the bishop's losses. He < ,J . 
 
 instructs that primate to present a protestation, in the 
 name of the prelates, against the ensuing assembly, by 
 the hands of some mean person, — a protestation wliich 
 was not even to be read or intimated to the assembly ; 
 and, says he, ' We promise to take it so into consideration 
 as becometh a prince sensible of his own interest and 
 honour, joined with the equity of your desires ; and you 
 may rest secure that, though perhaps we may give way 
 for the present to that which mfiy be both prejudicial to 
 the church and our own government, yet we shall not 
 leave thinking in time how to remedy both.'* 
 
 When the assembly met, it adopted the conclusions of General 
 the one held at Glasgow ; but all allusion to it was o/tl™ ^ 
 studiously abstained from. The Liturgy, the Canons, the church of 
 Articles of Perth, episcopacy, and its corrupt assemblies, 
 were emmierated, in the language of the assembly, as 
 superstitious, tyrannical, or adverse to the confession of 
 faith ; yet, to please the king, they were only condemned 
 as unlawful in the Scottish church. The Covenant was 
 explained in regard to the reservation of the royal 
 authority, which had been captiously objected to ; and, 
 when tlie commissioner agreed to ratify those acts in the 
 ensuing parliament, the intelligence was received with 
 bonfires, ringing of bells, and every demonstration of 
 
 joy-t 
 
 The news of these proceedings had a very different Secret in- 
 effect upon the king and his advisers. Besides the conse- l^e^^n'^o- ''^ 
 quences which were apprehended from them on the 
 English, Charles perceived that the words, unlawful in the 
 Scottish Church, defeated all his fond hopes of over- 
 reaching that people : and instructions were transmitted 
 to Traquair, not to consent in his majesty's name to the 
 rescinding of any acts of parliament which had been 
 
 * Buniet, pp. 49, 154, 156, 157 ; Nalson, vol. i. p. 244 et seq. 
 t Burnet's Mem. pp. loG-158.
 
 204 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, made in favour of episcopacy, for that he did not con- 
 . ^ ^' . ceive his refusal to abohsh those acts to be inconsistent 
 with what he had already agreed to ; and, says he, ' there 
 is less danger in discovering any future intention of ours, 
 or, at the best, letting them guess at the same, than if we 
 should permit the rescinding those acts of parliament, 
 which our father, with so much expense of time and 
 industry, established, and which may hereafter be of so 
 great use to us.' He concludes with declaring, that he 
 would rather hazard a rupture than consent to abrogate 
 them.* 
 
 But that which alarmed Charles most was the resolu- 
 tion to define tlie powers of the Lords of Articles, as well 
 as judicatories in general. Tliis resolution, in his opinion, 
 proved that they aimed at notliing else than the overthrow 
 of royal authority, and would justify him to the world in 
 the anticipated breach. Whoever reflects for an instant 
 upon the nature of the institution of the Lords of Articles 
 as it existed at that time, and the gross abuse of it by the 
 crown, as well as on the nature of the judicatories of 
 which the people complained, will not hesitate to con- 
 clude that Charles conceived every indication of legisla- 
 tive power a usurpation on royal authority. 
 
 Tliis letter was written before the meeting of parliament, 
 upon intelligence of their intended proceedings. f 
 Pariia- When tlie parliament did assemble, it evinced its 
 
 moderation by allowing the commissioner to choose that 
 number of peers as Lords of Articles, who had been on 
 former occasions elected by the bishops ; but this parlia- 
 ment, wliile its tenderness of touching whatever was 
 supposed to belong to the prerogative, prevented it from 
 exercising its right now, determined to provide against 
 the recurrence of an evil which, in reality, extinguished 
 its clahn to the character of a legislative assembly. Tliey 
 protested against their present acquiescence being con- 
 
 * Burnet's 3/em. pp. 8, 0; Nalsoii, t Burnet's Afem. p. 158; Bush. vol. 
 
 vol. i. p. 255 ; Hush. vol. iii. p. 955. iii. p. 949 e< $eq. ; Nalson, vol. i. p. 255. 
 
 ment.
 
 PARLIAMENT ASSEMBLES. — ACTS RESCINDED. 205 
 
 sidered as a precedent ; and prepared an article, which chap. 
 
 provided that each estate should thenceforth choose its own ._ j. . 
 
 members to sit on the articles ; that the powers of the 
 lords of the articles should be restricted to those of a 
 committee, without that negative on debate which had 
 heretofore proved so fatal to the independence of parlia- 
 ment ; and that their meetings should continue Avithout 
 interruption from the appointment of this committee till 
 the confirmation of the articles. 
 
 There had been, as we have already shown, a practice 
 introduced since tlie union of the crowns, of conferring 
 patents of Scottish nobility on Englishmen who had not a 
 foot of land on the north of the Tweed, and to obtain 
 proxies from them for the purpose of giving a preponder- 
 ance to the crown. To remedy this evil, it was provided 
 by another article, that the gift of peerage should be 
 confined to such as held property of a certain value 
 within the Scottish territories. An insidious proposal, on 
 the part of the crown, to substitute lay abbots for the 
 spiritual estate, was on the same principle rejected ; it 
 having been clearly foreseen, that, from the very nature 
 of their nomination, they must be subservient to the 
 throne. There was likewise a bill to prevent arbitrary 
 proclamations, — an abuse which had originated with the 
 late king ; and the powers of the privy council were 
 defined. To ensure frequent meetings of the legislature, 
 a bill was prepared for triennial parliaments. 
 
 The coin was miserably debased, and they directed their 
 attention to a remedy. By other articles, the customs were 
 to be regulated on definite principles, instead of arbitrary 
 exactions ; and the national fortresses were to be entrusted 
 to natives, elected by the advice of the estates, according 
 to the old practice of Scotland. These were the chief 
 articles, besides those which had been transmitted from 
 the General Assembly for the confirmation of the legis- 
 lature.* 
 
 * Rescinded Acts ; Balfour's Amials,
 
 206 
 
 CO^'STITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 Parlia- 
 ment pro- 
 rogued. 
 
 Conduct of 
 Traquair. 
 
 Commis- 
 aiontTS 
 sent to 
 court hy 
 thf Cove- 
 nanters, 
 
 As yet nothing had been conchided, nor even debated 
 in parliament ; but Traquair, foreseeing the result, disap- 
 pointed it by a sliort prorogation ; a measure contrary to 
 the fundamental principle of the Scottish parhament, by 
 which, as adjournment and prorogation were words of 
 similar import, that right had been ever exercised. Cau- 
 tious, however, not to afford a pretext for a breach, the 
 estates obeyed the order in the meantime, and dispatched 
 commissioners to the king to represent against so unconsti- 
 tutional a proceeding, and to obtain his majesty's com- 
 mand upon his commissioner to ratify the articles. But 
 as the commissioners from parliament appeared at court 
 without a warrant from his commissioner, Charles refused 
 to hear them, and immediately commanded Traquair to 
 prorogue the parliament till June following, or for about 
 ten months, and to come up himself to give an account of 
 his proceedings. 
 
 When Traquair reached court he was coldly received 
 for having subscribed the Covenant ; and his old enemies, 
 the bishops, availed themselves of the circumstance to 
 destroy his credit with the king. A man so unprincipled 
 and ambitious coidd not hesitate about the means of 
 recovering his ground. He immediately advised hostilities 
 against his countrymen ; and, as a pretext for war, showed 
 a letter Avhich had been written, but never dispatched, to 
 the French king, for his assistance and protection. Such 
 a letter, as it established the correspondence of a subject 
 with a foreign potentate against his sovereign's interest, 
 amounted to high treason by the law of Scotland ; and 
 Charles determined to take advantage of the law to crush 
 some of his chief subjects of that country.* 
 
 The Covenanters,to avoid a rupture, dispatched a mes- 
 senger to court, to request leave to send some of their 
 number for the purpose of vindicating their proceedings ; 
 and the request having been granted, the Earls of Loudon 
 
 • Burnet's Mem. p. 159 et seq. ; Eusli. vol. iii. p. 992 et seq.
 
 LOUDON AND DUXFERMLINE CHARGED WITH HIGH TREASON. 207 
 
 and Dunfermline were again appointed commissioners chap. 
 
 II. 
 
 with the 
 
 for the general body. As public messengers, authorised 
 by the king himself, these noblemen were entitled to ex- ^Hl^ ^on- 
 pect personal security in their important mission ; and, if sent; and 
 Charles suspected them of any crime, he was bound to ment. 
 have ordered their impeachment in Scotland, where they 
 were alleged to have committed it, and to whose laws 
 alone they were amenable, while he left the Covenanters 
 to a free choice of other commissioners. But the royal 
 conduct was far different. Scarcely had they begun to 
 vindicate the intended acts of their parliament as con- 
 formable to the principles of the Scottish constitution, 
 w^hen they were thrown into the Tower on a charge of 
 hio'h treason for having- written a letter to the French 
 king ; and it was understood by some of the best informed, 
 that not only without a trial, but even any charge, a war- 
 rant was issued for the private execution of Loudon on the 
 followino; mornino;: but that Sir William Balfour, the 
 heutenant, finding his own remonstrances fi'uitless, applied 
 to the Marquis Hamilton to use his influence against so 
 horrid an act ; and that the latter, entering his majesty's 
 chamber at midnight, succeeded in having the warrant 
 destroyed, by assuring Charles that Scotland would be 
 irrecoverably lost, and that himself would instantly set ofi" 
 for that kingdom, to satisfy his countrymen that he had no 
 part in such a transaction.* Loudon afterw^ards vindi- 
 
 * This is so extraordinary an event, it was afterwards told by Biu-net in 
 
 tliat I rejected it in the first in- a party, and his testimony, which 
 
 stance ; but, on maturer reflection, I might be thought insufficient iu 
 
 have seen it in a diiierent light. It itself, is corroborated by that of Scot 
 
 does not appear ever to have been a of Scotstarvet, in his Stcif/geriitg State 
 
 popular story, for I do not find it al- of Scottish Statesinau ; an individual 
 
 luded to in the letters of the times, who was minister both of James 1. 
 
 and, therefore, cannot be supposed and Charles I., while the work did 
 
 an invention to blacken the royal not see the light till about the 
 
 character. It is hinted at in Burnet's middle of the last century. See 
 
 Memoirs of the IlamilUms, which Birch's Enquinj into the Transactions 
 
 were written at a period when ho of Glamorgan, App. and Preface ; 
 
 was a thorough courtier, and though Scot's Staggering State of Scottish 
 
 that work was revised by Charles II. Statesman ; Burnet's Me>n. pp. 160-1 ; 
 
 and his ministers, the passage does Rush. vol. iii. p. 99 et secj. But it 
 
 not appear to have been objected to : has been argued, had this been true.
 
 208 
 
 C0JS'STITUT10:S'AL IlISTOEY OF THE BKITISII EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 The Scots 
 prepare for 
 a second 
 
 war. 
 
 cated himself from the charge on fair grounds : That the 
 letter had not been finished, was undated, and not even 
 addressed, au Roi having been added by another hand; 
 and that, as it had not been dispatched, no criminal act had 
 been committed: that the object of it, at the worst, was 
 merely to procure the mediation of the French king with 
 their own sovereicjn durino; the late troubles ; and that, if 
 there had been an offence, it fell under the act of oblivion 
 in the late pacification at Berwick : that, at all events, he 
 was ready to submit to a trial of his peers ; but that, as he 
 had gone to court upon the royal warrant, he had a right 
 to demand a safe return as a freeman to his native country. 
 His hfe was spared ; but he lay many months a prisoner 
 in the Tower.* 
 
 As the Scots foresaw the recommencement of hostilities, 
 they prepared themselves for the event. The country 
 was akeady not indifferently supplied with arms, and 
 Leslie went to the Continent to provide more. Foreign 
 states encouraged them, for Charles was no more a 
 favourite abroad than at home.f The Dutch not only 
 supplied them wdth arms on credit, but allow^ed native 
 Scots in their service to return to their own country in 
 this emergency, without forfeiting their rank in the army 
 of that republic. The commissioners for the Scottish par- 
 liament too were resorted to by some leading men in 
 England — by the Earls of Essex, Bedford, Holland, Lord 
 
 Balfour — wlio became a distin- 
 guished commander against Charles 
 — would have published it {Nofos to 
 the last edition of Burnet). Charles 
 and his advisers ever laboured under 
 tlie delusion that the leading men, 
 who merely gave utterance to the 
 popular .spirit, created it : and hence 
 lie must ha\e flattered himself with 
 accomplishing much by the removal 
 of T^oudon, an event Avhich would 
 have prol)ably raised a more resolute 
 one in his place. 
 
 The letter is said not to have been 
 dispatched on account of some bad 
 French ; but the true cause appears 
 
 to have been a resolution not to ap- 
 ply for foreign aid till matters ar- 
 rived at the last extremity ; the 
 Scots being sensible that, by such a 
 step, they might raise England against 
 them. This is clear from BaiUie's 
 Lctfert^. vSee Plailes' Coll. p. 57, as 
 to tilt" French style. See the Letters 
 in the Jonr/uik of the Lords (of the 
 Eng. Pari.), for l3th and 16th April, 
 1G40. 
 
 * Burnet's Mem. pp. KiO-l ; Clar. 
 Hid. vol. i. p. 228 H seq. ; White- 
 locke, pp. 31, 32; May, pp. 50, 57. 
 
 t Racket's Life of Williams, part 
 ii. p. 137.
 
 KESOLUTIOX TO CALL A PARLIAJIEXT IN ENGLAND. 209 
 
 Say, Messrs. Hampden and Pym, and many other lords chap. 
 
 and gentlemen of great interest, including those that in- . ;. — . 
 
 clined to a republic. All these were deeply engaged from 
 a hope of benefit or change from Scottish opposition.* 
 
 The exchequer was so completely exhausted, that the state of ^ 
 
 servants of government could not obtain their wages,f and afflirs^Ld 
 
 in spite of the iudo-ment for the crown in Hampden's case, resolution 
 
 ^ ^ . . I 1-11 summon 
 
 ship-money had been in all instances reluctantly paid, and a pariia- 
 in many flatly refused. J In this posture of affairs, Laud, ^^1^;^. 5^' 
 Hamilton, and Wentworth advised the king to summon a i639. 
 parliament ; and their motion was approved of by the 
 whole council. As the object, however, was to deprive the 
 sister kingdom of its privileges, the convening of the legis- 
 lature could not be supposed to spring from any disposition 
 to restore the rights of England ; and a resolution voted 
 at the council-board fully establishes with what spirit the 
 measure originated : That should the parliament refuse to 
 comply with the royal request, or prove peevish, the 
 council would assist his majesty in extraordinary ways. § 
 All the proceedings in regard to this parliament, too, were 
 merely a repetition of what had occurred in the three 
 former: the eternal chime was, tliat his majesty's business 
 could not brook delay ; that a supply must be instantly 
 granted, and therefore that his business must have the 
 preference of all other ; but that if his demands were satis- 
 fied, he would permit both houses to continue their ses- 
 sion for settling their own affairs ; — yet, though the 
 resolution to call a parliament was taken on the 5th of 
 December, the writs were issued for the 13th of April, — 
 a fact which establishes beyond all doubt, that the object 
 was not only to gain time for intrigue in the ensuing elec- 
 
 * Whitelocke, p. 32 j Rush. voL Pajicts, vol. ii. p. 81. This letter 
 
 iii. p. 979. from Windebanke to Sir Arthur 
 
 t Sidnerj State Pajjers, vol. ii. p. Hopeton, sets matters in a strong 
 
 636. light. See also in Sidney Papers, 
 
 X Eush. vol. iii. pp. 975, 977, 985, vol. ii. p. 623, a Letter from the 
 
 991-2. Earl of Northumberland to the Earl 
 
 § Laud's Diary ; Clarendon's State of Leicester. 
 
 VOL. n. p
 
 210 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, tions, but to defer the meeting till the plea of necessity 
 
 >_ ^ - for an instant grant should appear irresistible. 
 
 A parliament, after so long an interval, and such com- 
 plicated sufierings from an arbitrary government, was, by 
 the great body of the people, hailed as an auspicious 
 event : but the courtiers, wherever they had influence, 
 bestirred tliemselves, no less tlian the popular party, to 
 have members of their principles returned ; and there 
 would appear to have been in the Lower House a con- 
 siderable number of the former, or at least of individuals 
 who did not choose to put themselves beyond the pale 
 of court-preferment.* 
 Meeting of Cliarlcs opcucd the parliament in person ; but he com- 
 Engiish niitted the detail of business to the lord keeper Finch, the 
 ment, individual who had betrayed his duty to the last parlia- 
 1640. ' ment, and had since carried the arbitrary principles of 
 government to the very utmost limit. His speech now 
 was as inconsistent with the canons of taste as the rules 
 of constitutional law. He stated that ' his majesty's kingly 
 resolutions were seated in the ark of his sacred breast, 
 and it were a presumption of too high a nature for any 
 Uzzah uncalled to touch it ; yet,' continues he, ' the king 
 is now pleased to lay by the shining beams of majesty, as 
 Phoebus did to Phaeton, that the distance between sove- 
 reignty and subjection should not bar you from that filial 
 freedom of access to his person and councils ; only let us 
 beware how, like the son of Clymene, we aim not at the 
 guiding of the chariot, as if tliat were the only testimony 
 of fatherly affection : and let us remember that, though 
 tlie king sometimes lays by the beams and rays of majesty, 
 he never lays by majesty itself — His detail of affixirs, 
 particularly of the Scottish, was in a similar strain : the 
 conduct of that people he characterised as the most 
 horridly rebeUiuus tliat any age had ever witnessed ; for 
 that they had cast oil" the loyalty and obedience which, by 
 the laws of God, of nature, and of nations, they owed unto 
 
 • Whitelocke, p. 32.
 
 CHARLES DEMANDS A SUPPLY. 211 
 
 their sovereign ; had taken up arms against the Lord's chap. 
 anointed ; had seized upon the trophies of honour, and / - 
 invested themselves with power and authority, while they 
 had even applied to foreign states for assistance against 
 their king : that Scotland was the part of the royal 
 dominions whither all the rheums and fluxes of factious 
 and seditious humours Howed ; that the Idng had there- 
 fore resolved to reduce them by a powerful army, though, 
 as he had been forced mto such a measure, so he would 
 make his piety and clemency towards them conspicuous to 
 all the world, provided they humbly returned to their duty. 
 But,' continues the keeper, ' his majesty will not endure 
 to have his honour weighed at the common beam, nor 
 admit any to step between him and his virtue ; and, there- 
 fore, as he w^ould upon no terms admit the mediation of 
 any person whatsoever, so he should judge it high pre- 
 sumption in any to offer it.' — That the charge of an army 
 for subduing the Scots must be considerable, while the 
 royal coffers were drained, though whatever had been 
 drawn from the subject had, like vapours exhaled from the 
 earth, returned to it in refreshing showers : that debts had 
 already been incurred upon the security of the king's 
 personal estate, and the credit of his servants : that coun- 
 cils and deliberations which promised benefit might 
 endure a debate ; but that the present exigency was in- 
 capable of delay, and therefore that his majesty expected 
 they would immediately grant a supply to enable him to 
 take the field ; while he pledged his royal word to give 
 them time for other business afterwards. — Notwithstand- 
 ing all that had passed about tonnage and poundage, he 
 declared that the king had only taken the duty de facto, 
 according to the example of former kings, who levied it 
 from the deaths of their predecessors, till parhament had 
 conferred it upon them by law ; and that his majesty did 
 not desire it but as the gift of his subjects,* 
 
 * Journals of botli Houses ; Rush. Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 528 et seq. ; Old 
 vol. iii. p. 1114 et seq.: Cobbett's Pari. Hist. yo\.^\\. -^.2^7 et seq.
 
 212 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 Had an3'thing been wanting to satisfy tlie parliament 
 that Charles, though he had called them, was predeter- 
 mined to deny them the power of a free assembly, this 
 speech must have been sufficient. But it failed in the 
 intended effect. No sooner had the Commons chosen 
 their speaker, and settled preliminary business, than they 
 entered upon the state of the nation ; and petitions poured 
 in from the counties against the numerous illegal mea- 
 sures which the kingdom had groaned under for so many 
 years. Many members, but particularly Grimstone, 
 Waller (the poet), and Pym, dwelt at great length upon 
 the various grievances from arbitrary taxes, projects, 
 and monopolies, whence had accrued great profit to 
 individuals, little to the crown — rehgious innovations, 
 arbitrary courts, and other proceedings. The records 
 of the comts of King's Bench and Star Chamber were 
 likewise called for, and the conduct of the speaker in 
 the last parliament was inquired into. But, Avhile they 
 were thus proceeding with these weighty matters, they 
 were summoned into the banqueting house before they 
 had sat five days, that the lord keeper might propound 
 to them the necessity of giving the king's business the 
 preference to every other. The keeper again commented 
 strongly upon the urgency of the occasion, stating, that 
 his majesty's honour was engaged, and that the army 
 would cost 100,000/. a month. That he might soothe 
 them into compliance with the royal demand, he stated, 
 that it liad not been his majesty's intention to issue 
 writs for ship-money this year, but that he had been 
 since constrained to it for tlie purpose of preserving the 
 sovereignty of the narrow seas, and repressing the inso- 
 lence of the Algerines, who liad now a fleet of sixty sail, 
 and had taken many English vessels — one of them the 
 Eebecca, worth no less than 260,000/. This last state- 
 ment, however, could only serve to remind the house of 
 the waste of that very treasure which had been so illegally 
 extorted ; and every friend to constitutional hberty must
 
 MESSAGE DELIVEEED BY VANE AGAIN DEMANDING SUPPLY. 213 
 
 have been sensible that, by giving his vote for money to chap. 
 deprive the Scots of their rights, he put an engine into tlie - ^^ ' . 
 Yoysl hands for the extinction of their own. 
 
 Disappointed in this measure, Charles adopted another 
 directly unconstitutional. He prevailed with the Upper 
 House, over which his influence was great, to use tlieir in- 
 terest witli the Lower to persuade it to vote a supply. The 
 Lords declared that, as they had the word of a king, and 
 not only of a king but of a gentleman, that he would 
 afterwards listen to their grievances, they would no more 
 be guilty of distrusting it than of the highest undutifid- 
 ness. But their interference with the proceedings of the 
 Commons roused the indignation of that house, and the 
 latter required some time to vindicate their privileges by 
 adequate resolutions. A conference, which was managed 
 on the part of the Commons by Pym, St. John, and Hol- 
 born, Avas subsequently held between the houses about the 
 various breaches of liberty and of the rights of property, 
 as well as the innovations in rehgion ; and it was clearly 
 discovered, on a motion for a second, that the majority of 
 the house were determined to give grievances the pre- 
 cedency of any money bill. On the 2nd of May, a message 
 was delivered from the throne by Sir Henry Vane, that 
 though his majesty had in various ways acquainted them 
 wath the urgency of the public danger, which threatened 
 equally the whole state, his own honour, and that of the 
 kingdom, and which could only be averted by immediate 
 supply, he had received no answer to his demand ; that 
 he had already informed them that delay was no less 
 destructive of his own and the general security and honour 
 than denial ; and that he again desired them to return an 
 immediate answer, assuring them he still intended to keep 
 his promise in regard to allowing them time for other 
 business after his own was settled. The Commons instantly 
 turned themselves into a grand committee to take the 
 message into consideration; but though they continued the 
 debate till six o'clock in the afternoon (at that time they
 
 214 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, met always at eight in the moming, and rose generally at 
 . ^^' - twelve),* they came to no determination ; and they re- 
 
 solved to resume the subject at eight on tlie next Monday 
 morning. But scarcely had they assembled when they 
 received a second message by Sir Henry Vane, that his 
 majesty would accept of twelve subsidies, to be paid in 
 three years, and would in return consent to any law 
 abolishing ship-money — a proposition which imported a 
 right to that illegal tax ; that if they complied with his 
 demand, he would still allow them as much time as pos- 
 sible now for their own business, and assemble them again 
 at IMichaelmas ; but that he expected an immediate and 
 positive answer. They again turned themselves into a 
 grand committee, and spent the whole day in debate ; 
 but as at six in the evening they had not arrived 
 at any conclusion, they desired Sir Henry Vane to in- 
 form his majesty that they meant to resume the debate on 
 the following morning. They met accordingly, but before 
 they had entered on business, they were summoned by 
 the usher of the black rod to attend the king in the 
 Dissoiu- Upper House. Charles having there complimented the 
 pariia-'^^'' Lords, aiid declared his displeasure at the Commons, 
 ment, May commanded the lord keeper to dissolve the parliament.^ 
 Thus was it dissolved after it had sat about twenty days, 
 though, according to Clarendon, it was not usual to enter 
 upon any important business during the first fortnight, 
 that there might be time for the appointment of com- 
 mittees and other preliminary matters ; J but there is 
 reason to believe that Charles and his advisers had formed 
 a juster estimate of the Lower House than the noble his- 
 torian ; for that, though there might be many members 
 disposed to promote the views of the court, the majority 
 would never have voted away the public money to further 
 schemes calculated primarily to subjugate the sister king- 
 
 * Ckr. vol. i. p. 233 cf spq. Cob. ParJ. Hist. vol. ii. p. 542 et seq.; 
 
 t Journals nf Lords and Commons; Kush.vol.iii.p. llSZt'^sey.j May,p.59. 
 Old Pari. Hid. vol. viii. p. 420 et seq. ; X Clar. vol. i. p. 232 tt seq.
 
 VINDICATION OF SIR H. VANE. 
 
 215 
 
 dom, but, in the natural course of events, to extinguish 
 British liberty for ever. Such, however, was the temper 
 of the liouse, that some of the chief amongst the oppo- 
 sition so disliked it, that they could scarcely conceal their 
 joy at the dissolution. Mr. St. John, with unusual satis- 
 faction in his countenance, told Clarendon himself, then 
 Mr. Hyde, ' that all was well, and that it must be worse 
 before it could be better ; and that this parliament would 
 never have done what was necessary to be done.' * 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 II. 
 
 * Clar. vol. i. p. 246 et scq. ; but 
 see from p. 232 to 248, also affixed 
 A. This author has a long- statement 
 to prove that this parliament was so 
 well disposed, tliat had it not been 
 precipitately dissolved, it would have 
 supplied the throne ; and that the 
 issue was in a great measure attribu- 
 table to Sir Henry Yane, who told 
 the house that his majesty would not 
 take less than the twelve subsidies 
 (p. 244). But the subsequent con- 
 duct of Vane was the cause of an 
 unj ust aspersion. The message from 
 Charles for twelve was in writing-, 
 as Clarendon himself states (pp. 238 
 et seq., 244), and therefore the account 
 by some authors that he commanded 
 to ask only six subsidies, while Vane 
 demanded twelve, is altogether un- 
 founded. Indeed, this is e\'ident 
 from the fact itself, since ship-money, 
 Avhich was to be renounced, yielded 
 far more than six subsidies payable 
 in three years; and therefore Charles, 
 who was so pressed for money, would 
 liave lost by the transaction. It is 
 alleged by Clarendon, as the cause 
 of the dissolution, that both Vane 
 and Herbert, queen's solicitor, as- 
 sured the king that the house would 
 pass a vote against ship-money, which 
 would blast that source of revenue ; 
 but that though Hampden and others 
 laboured for this, they would not 
 have been able to accomplish it 
 (p. 245). Let this be compared with 
 the whole context, and the incon- 
 gruity will be apparent. The house, 
 however, seems to have been nearly 
 imanimous in their opinion of ship- 
 
 money ; and the noble historian 
 himself tells us, ^that Glanvill the 
 speaker, who laboured all he could 
 to procure the grant of twelve sub- 
 sidies, wondeifidly conciliated the 
 house by declaring- that ship-money 
 was against law, if he knew what 
 law was (p. 243). This author says, 
 that Charles condemned Vane's con- 
 duct, and -wished to have recalled 
 the parliament by proclamation 
 (p. 247). But his imprisonment of 
 the members disproves this (see 
 Clar. Col. of State Papers, where 
 the integrity of Vane is manifest, the 
 measure having been approved of as 
 necessaiy hy others, vol. ii. p. 83). 
 Besides, Vane never forfeited the 
 good opinion of his master by his 
 conduct in this instance ; and in the 
 royal declaration the parliament is 
 abused without mercy, while prin- 
 ciples are stated which are contrary 
 to the very first idea of a legislative 
 assembly, and it is accused of having 
 opposed those pretensions of preroga- 
 tive. It is chai-ged as a crime, that 
 parliament acted as if kings were 
 obliged to give an account of their 
 regal actions and manner of govern- 
 ment (Rush. vol. iii. p. II60). The 
 message delivered by Sir H. Vane is 
 preserved by this collector (p. 1154), 
 and was recited in the royal declara- 
 tion (p. II65). Heylin imputes 
 no blame to Vane {lAfe of Laud, 
 pp. 421, 422 ; Sidney Papers, vol. ii. 
 pp. 652, 655). See Hardwicke's State 
 Papers, vol. ii. p. 151 et seq., for a 
 a proof of the confidence reposed in 
 Vane after the dissolution Indeed,
 
 216 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOKY OF THE BEITISII EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 Members 
 
 ini[iri- 
 
 Boiied. 
 
 Convoca- 
 tion and 
 its pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 No sooner was the parliament dissolved than Charles 
 pubhshed a declaration to justify the measure, and ordered 
 three members to be imprisoned for an unlimited time. 
 These were Mr. Crew, chairman of the committees, for 
 refusing to deliver up to the clerk of the house certain 
 petitions which had been presented against ship-money ; 
 and Sir John Hotham and Mr. Bellasis, for refusing to 
 disclose to the council what had passed in parliament. 
 The study, cabinets, and even pockets of the Earl of 
 Warwick and Lord Brooke were searched for papers.* 
 
 While the parliament was thus dissolved, and followed 
 by such measures, the convocation was continued by a 
 new commission, which Finch and others declared to be 
 lawful, in order that it might frame new canons, &c., 
 which were condemned in the next parliament, as de- 
 structive of both the civil and religious liberty of the 
 subject, and impose a subsidy upon the clergy exigible 
 under the penalty of suspension, excommunication, and 
 deprivation, without tlie privilege even of appeal. This 
 tax was no less illegal than the canons, since, though 
 tlie convocation was in the practice of making a grant 
 of money, their act required the sanction of the legis- 
 lature to render it lawful, being on their part merely a 
 proposition to parliament. To give a colour to the 
 present measure, it was pretended to be a benevolence, 
 something different from a grant under that name, which 
 every subsidy was, as if the power of giving were still 
 reserved for every individual of the general body.f 
 
 treachery on his part was impracti- 
 caVjle in the presence of the other 
 officers of the crown. I believe that 
 the house was inclined to pfive six 
 subsidies OVhitelocko, p. .34), but I 
 conclude tliat it was upon the same 
 condition that twelve were asked — 
 that ship-money should be abolished 
 — by whicli tlie revenue w(uild have 
 been diminislu'd. The temper of the 
 house was fully proved on the mo- 
 tion for a second conference with tlic 
 
 Ivords, the division being 257 against 
 it, and 148 only for it (Rush. vol. iii. 
 p. 149). 
 
 * Rush. vol. iii. p. 1167; Journals 
 of both Houses, 10th of November. 
 
 t Whitelocke, p. ."U ; Rush. vol. iii. 
 p. 1186; Ileylin's Life of Laud, 
 p. 422 et seq. ; Cobbett's rhrl Hist. 
 vol. ii. p. 659 ; Rmcdm Pajwrs, 
 p. 78. (3ne bishop was sent to the 
 Tower for refusing to .*ign the pro- 
 ceedings.
 
 NARRATIVE OF SCOTCH AFFAIRS RESUMED. 217 
 
 A parliament, after so long an interval, and such a chap. 
 train of arbitrary measures, had been hailed by the 
 
 people as a sort of deliverance from bondage ; and the J^'^iiTdis-^ 
 general discontent at the dissolution was altogether un- solution. 
 paralleled.* In every corner of London placards were 
 posted up against Laud, denouncing him as tlie author of 
 such a national calamity, and inciting one another to 
 destroy him. These were followed with open violence, 
 insomuch that it required all the precaution of the 
 executive to rescue him from the popular fury. Five 
 hundred at one time attacked his house, and the inter- 
 position of the military only saved him. One of the 
 mob was apprehended and executed for high treason 
 next morning — a measure which appalled the populace, 
 but excited a murmur amongst the better informed as 
 illegal, since there had been merely a riot, a few windows 
 only having been broken, and the popular indignation 
 not having been directed against the king, it covdd not be 
 called a levying of war against him.f 
 
 It is now necessary to resume the narrative of Scottish Scottish 
 afitxirs. Charles having resolved to prorogue the par- Ail7o{ 
 liament a second time, appointed the Lords Elphinstone ^^'j^''^J^^'" 
 and Napier, the justice clerk, and king's advocate, liis 
 commissioners, in tlie place of Traquair, to perform that 
 duty. But it having been discovered that the commission 
 contained no warrant from Traquair, which seemed to 
 be implied as necessary by the words of their powers, 
 first Elphinstone, and then Napier, declared tliat it was 
 impossible for them to act upon it. The justice clerk 
 and the king's advocate protested against them, (though 
 many suspected that the latter was too deeply engaged 
 with the Covenanters to be very zealous in the business,) 
 but the parliament proceeded. The articles which had 
 been previously prepared were passed into laws ; and 
 
 * Sidney Papers, vol. ii. pp. Go2, Whitelocke, p. 34 ; Rush. vol. iii. 
 653 et seq. p. 1137 et scq. 
 
 t Clar. vol. i. pp. 246, 252 et seq. ;
 
 218 CONSTTTUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EJIPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, tliat tliere miglit be no pretext for asserting that there 
 
 II 
 
 wanted a thkd estate, (in the language of the Scottish 
 parliament, everything was said to be done by the three 
 estates,) to render their measures vaHd, they specially 
 declared that the three estates were composed, 1st, of the 
 nobility ; 2ndly, of the barons or commissioners of shires ; 
 and, lastly, of the commissioners of burghs. The royal 
 assent was still awanting ; but necessity obliged them to 
 dispense with it ; indeed it was not requisite by the old 
 constitution of Scotland,* and the executive was trans- 
 ferred to a conmiittee of the estates. 
 
 For the support of the war, a tax, at the rate of a 
 tenth on rents, and the twentieth j^enny on interest, was 
 imposed ; and as this fell far short of the occasion, 
 voluntary contributions, &c. supphed the deficiency. 
 Tlie clergy exhorted the people to advance their money 
 liberally, and kindled such zeal, that the ladies brought 
 into the public fund not only their plate, but their very 
 jewels and rings. The Earls of Eothes and Cassillis 
 granted their bonds for large sums, and one Dick, a 
 rich citizen of Edinburgh, lent them many thousand 
 pounds.f 
 
 As the Scots had long been preparing for hostilities, 
 they were in a condition to take the field as soon as the 
 king ; and such was the female zeal, that their army, 
 which consisted of twenty-three thousand foot, and three 
 thousand horse, with a considerable number of small 
 artillery,^ was supplied by the ladies with cloth for tents. 
 
 * See this fully proved by Laiiig, pieces, wliicli one liorso may easily 
 
 note I to vol. i. draw, lie saw some of them upon 
 
 t Baillie, vol. i. pp. 247, 255, &c. ; the carriages, being more than two 
 
 Burnet's 3/("?«om//.s, p. 102; Balfour's foot lon^', and better than Saker bore ' 
 
 AimaU, MS.; Rescinded Acts. {TaI. and Di.tp. vol. ii. p. 271). But 
 
 J lliU'dwiclve's /SVff/fPrt/JW.s', vol. ii. Burnet says, in his Ilu^tori/, 'They 
 
 p. 144. Wentwortli, in a letter to had also an invention of guns of 
 
 Laud, gives a particidar accomit of white iron, tinned, and done about 
 
 them, as he hud it from a gentleman witli leather, and corded, so tliat tliey 
 
 whom he employed to obtain iutelli- couUI serve for two or three dis- 
 
 gence. * He tells me,' writes he, charges' (vol. i. p. 29; edition of 
 
 'there is one Hamilton, wlio hath of 1023, p. 49). 
 late cast a great number of brass lu his Memoirs of the JIamiltons,
 
 Charles's want of funds for the army. 
 
 219 
 
 CHAP. 
 II. 
 
 army. 
 
 Leslie invested Edinburgh Castle, though, if we may 
 credit what is alleged, with no display of ability. 
 
 The English army was commanded by the king in English 
 person, by the Earl of Northumberland as general, and 
 by Wentworth, who had a little before been created earl 
 of Strafford, as lieutenant-general, Lord Conway being 
 appointed general of the horse. Strafford had hoAvever 
 the principal direction of affi:iirs. It was by his advice 
 chiefly that the command had been devolved upon North- 
 umberland and Conway, from an idea of the perfidy or 
 incapacity of those who had commanded in the last war ; 
 but Northumberland appears, by his private correspon- 
 dence, to have incurred the suspicion of being disaffected, 
 because he was fully sensible of the real distress of his 
 master, and the difficulties with which he must neces- 
 sarily struggle.* 
 
 Though Charles had succeeded in collecting an army, Projects of 
 he was destitute of funds to keep it together for any ^^^,\lf' 
 length of time. The grant by the convocation and contri- mo^ey. 
 butions and loans by ministers of state fell far short of 
 the exigency, and the most illegal projects were resorted 
 to in vain. The bullion belonging to the Spanish mer- 
 chants was seized, and only returned upon their grant- 
 ing a large loan ; but Charles reproached his ministers 
 
 he also speaks of leather guns. I find 
 iron and brass guns spoken of in co- 
 temporary letters, but no mention of 
 the other (see Letters in State Paper 
 Office, and particularly a paper con- 
 cerning the Scottish proceedings, and 
 other matter of the present state, ' by 
 one who hath longe resided there.' 
 20th February, 1G89-40). 
 
 * ' The particulars of the unhappy 
 breache of the parlement' (writes 
 Northumberland to the Earl of 
 Leicester, on the 7th of May, 1640), 
 ' your lordship will hear from divers ; 
 I am certaine the captain will relate 
 it punctually. Notwithstanding the 
 dissolution, the king intends vigo- 
 rously to pursue his former desigiies, 
 and to leauie the same army of 30,000 
 
 foote and 3,000 horse. About three 
 weeks hence, they are to be drawne 
 together ; but as yet I can not learue 
 by what means we are certaine to 
 gett one shilling towards the defray- 
 ing this greate expence. What will 
 the world iudge of us abroade to see 
 us enter into such an action as this 
 is, not knowing how to mentaine it 
 for one month ? It greeues my soule, 
 to be inuolued in these councells ; 
 and the sence I have of the miseries 
 that are like to insu, is held by somo 
 a disatfection in me ; but I regard 
 little what those persons say or thinlc 
 of your lordship's most faithful, ^;c.' 
 {Sidney Papers, vol. ii. p. 052 ; see 
 pp. 626, 027, 629).
 
 220 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, for their timidity in thus returning the gold. Pepper 
 > — ^ — - belonging to merchants was also seized, and sold at a 
 great undervalue, though the king bound himself to 
 indemnify the sufferers. An old favourite scheme of 
 Charles too, that of coining base money, three-fourths 
 copper and one silver, was now meditated ; and he was 
 only prevented from attempting the measure, to the 
 extent of two or three hundred thousand pounds, by the 
 representations of the council as to its impracticability, 
 or rather by discovering that they would not join him in 
 his plan. The abandonment of the project was, however, 
 held out to the city as an inducement to lend that amount ; 
 but the application there, was no less successful than the 
 other measures, though some of the aldermen were 
 committed to prison for refusing to give a Hst of those 
 who were able to lend. The city, indeed, had a particu- 
 lar cause of discontent, their plantation of Londonderry 
 having, by an unjust decree of the Star Chamber, been 
 taken from them, Even the old oppressive modes of 
 extorting money were now very unproductive. Ship- 
 money was resisted, and threats against the high sheriffs 
 for negligence in collecting it, were unaccompanied with 
 any great effect. Coat and conduct money, furnishing of 
 horses, &c. were resisted, and billeting of soldiers com- 
 plained of. Another scheme to procure money from 
 Spain, by the marriage of the princess, proved abortive.* 
 The troops whom Charles was almost destitute of the 
 means of keeping together by affording them part of 
 their pay, began to mutiny in different quarters, declaring 
 that they would not fight to maintain the power of the 
 bishops, and, in one instance, they killed their lieutenant 
 as a suspected Papist. Lord Conway wrote to Laud, 
 recommending martial law, and declaring, tliat if the 
 
 • SuJneJ/ Papers, vol. ii. pp. 0.55, State Papcrx, vol. ii. p. 147 et seq. ; 
 CioC, fio7, ijoH ; s^ea Oar. State Papers, Clar. Hist. vol. i. p. 14H; White- 
 vol, ii. pp. 74, 84, 85, 86, 87, 89, locke, p. 35; Kush, vol. iii. p. 1177 
 112,114,115 et .%eq. They present et scq.). 
 •A miserable picture (Ilardwicke's
 
 II. 
 
 THE SCOTS CROSS THE TWEED. 221 
 
 soldiers imagined that it was illegal to punish their dis- chap 
 orders in that way, the service would be ruined. He 
 dissuaded from taking the opinion of lawyers upon the 
 subject, for that they would decide the point by their dis- 
 obedience, as the country did by their ship-money, and 
 proposed to hang the first lawyer who delivered an 
 opinion against the measure.* 
 
 The Scots had marched to the borders, but they con- 
 tinued there three weeks improving in military discipline ; 
 and as their enthusiasm was kept up by the exhortations 
 of the clergy, they were a truly formidable body. Edin- 
 burgh Castle had been taken by a detachment left behind, 
 and effectual measures were adopted by Argyle and others 
 for repressing the king's friends in tlie North. No sooner 
 was it announced that Conway had advanced to New- 
 castle, than the army under Leshe struck their tents to 
 march into England, and crossed the Tweed at Cold- 
 stream. j- This important measure was not adopted by 
 the Scots without full assurances of a favourable disposi- 
 tion in England, and they published a declaration of their 
 friendly motives, and containing an appeal to their gallant 
 countrymen upon the necessity of the proceeding. This 
 
 * Rusli. vol. iii. p. 1191 et seq. ' The for lie sajs lie himself was applied to, 
 
 king,' says Heylin, ' neither found amongst others, even in the preced- 
 
 the same men nor the same afi'ec- ing year (pp. 30, 32). It is extraor- 
 
 tions as he had so unfortunately dis- dinary that we find no account of such 
 
 charged the year before ; many of a letter in the cotemporary corre- 
 
 the soldiers being so ill-principled, spondence. Now it must have led 
 
 or so persuaded, that, in their march- to a strange explanation, and could 
 
 ings through the country, they brake scarcely be thus passed ovei' in si- 
 
 into churches, pulled up rails, threw lence. I suspect, therefore, that the 
 
 down communion tables,' (Why does whole story was an after fabrication 
 
 not the author as usual call them against that nobleman ; at all events, 
 
 altars in this place ?) ' defaced the it could not move the Scots, who, 
 
 common prayer books, tore the sur- according to Clarendon, Baillie, and 
 
 plices, and committed many other others, had friends even at court, 
 
 acts of outrageous insolence ' {Life who advertised them of every mo- 
 
 of Laud, p. 454 ; Whitelocke, p. 35 ; tion, and corresponded with them on 
 
 May, p. 64). every circumstance (see Hailes' Col. ; 
 
 t This has been attributed to a Hardwicke, vol. ii. p. 145). The fact, 
 
 letter which was forged by Lord too, carries internal evidence with it, 
 
 Savile, in the name of some English from their various negotiations (Sid- 
 
 noblemen, inviting them ; but the nej/ Papers, vol. ii. p. G45 et seq. ; 
 
 Scots were not so easily moved, and 31em. I)'' Estrades, tome i.), 
 Whitelocke's account is conclusive.
 
 222 COXSTITUTIOIS^AL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, bold stroke, wliicli the commencement of hostilities by the 
 . ^^- . royal navy afforded a pretext for, had been predicted by 
 Marquis Hamilton, and created alarm in Charles. To 
 meet the invaders lie tried a general array at the expense 
 of the inhabitants ; but the proposal was, everywhere, 
 heard with coldness and disaffection ; the Yorkshire men, 
 in particular, having declared their inability to follow the 
 royal standard without a previous advance of twelve 
 days' pay ; and the gentry appear to have been unmoved 
 by the eloquence of Strafford, who, in the king's pre- 
 sence, assured them, that none but beasts would hesitate 
 on such an emergency. 
 
 But treachery in the Scottish army proved to be more 
 successful for the royal cause. In the preceding month of 
 July, Montrose had procured a meeting of some noblemen 
 at the seat of the Earl of Wigton, where a counter asso- 
 ciation was entered into and a bond subscribed for the 
 purpose. Montrose, however, would seem not to have 
 relied solely on this, but to have calculated on resources 
 more pecuharly his own. He had himself the command 
 of 2000 foot and 500 horse ; his friends and dependants 
 commanded about 5000 more, and an authority no less 
 his own than if it had proceeded from his own pen, 
 informs us that had not the greatest part of those friends 
 and dependants broken their engagements, he had eitlier 
 carried the whole army over to the king, or have at least 
 defeated the designs of the Covenanters. 
 English The Scottish army marched to Newburn without inter- 
 
 routed at Tuptiou ; but as Lcslic's rcqucst to be permitted to pass 
 Newburn, the Tyuc was then, of course, refused, he determined to 
 1640. ' force a passage. Conway had erected works on the oppo- 
 site side of the river ; but these were so slight, that an 
 unexpected fire from the Scottish artillery obliged his 
 undisciplined and lukewarm troops to abandon the bat- 
 teries. The Scots then passed the river, a small troop of 
 six or seven and twenty lawyers on horseback having led 
 the way, and the artillery, though attended with little
 
 LESLIE KOUTS THE ENGLISH AKMY. 223 
 
 carnage, forced tlie English cavalry, which were drawn ch.vp. 
 lip to receive the assailants, to retire. Leslie perceived ,' .. . 
 the advantage, and quickly advancing with his reserve, 
 routed the English army. The standard of the general, 
 three generals, and many gentlemen fell into the hands 
 of the victors. But they did not follow up their success, 
 being partly prevented by the approach of night, and 
 partly by the neighbourhood of a wood, to which the 
 English retired, but much more by their affection to their 
 southern neighbours, whom, as strangers to the spuit of 
 hostility which rankled in the bosom of their common 
 king, it was their interest to concihate. The loss on the 
 part of the English was variously estimated, from sixty 
 to five hundred ; that of the Scots did not amount to a 
 dozen — though it included a gallant young man, the only 
 son of Sir Patrick M'Ghie, of Largo Hills, who, as he 
 flourished the English colours which he had seized, was 
 slain by his countrymen in a mistake. 
 
 The English freneral held a council of war at midnight. The Scots 
 
 t. I- "NT 
 
 when it was resolved to retreat towards Durham in the easUe. ^^" 
 morning, and then to retire into Yorkshire. Newcastle, 
 which was evacuated by the troops, and, in a great 
 measure also, by the inhabitants, was surrendered to the 
 Scots next day, who found in the royal magazine there a 
 timely supply of biscuit and cheese, and also 5000 stand 
 of arms and ammunition. JN'o victory could have hap- 
 pened more opportunely. Before it they were in a miser- 
 able plight. Destitute of money, they were like\vise dis- 
 appointed in their hope of a supply from the English ; 
 and they perceived, that, if they hved for any time at 
 free quarters on the inhabitants, they would raise the 
 country against them. Many of thek men, too, suffering 
 from want of victuals, and the strictness of mihtaiy dis- 
 cipline, had nm from their colours : but they met a just 
 return for their misconduct, in being mtercepted by the 
 English troops at Berwick. The present success revived 
 the spirit of the army as well as it afforded them neces-
 
 224 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, saries ; and other propitious events, the surrender of 
 . ^^- , Dumbarton by the king's forces, and the defeat of an 
 
 incursion from Berwick, all occurring on the same day, 
 which had been devoted to a general solemn fast by the 
 church, the whole appeared like a special interposition of 
 Providence in their favour, and, being regarded in that 
 light, elated them with hope.* 
 
 With Newcastle, the Scots also obtained possession of 
 Tynemouth, Shields, and Durham, and they might have 
 quickly brought the metropolis to great straits, by stop- 
 ping its supply of coals ; but their policy w^as very dif- 
 ferent. The people everywhere lied ; but the mild 
 conduct of the Scots soon concihated all. They did, 
 indeed, take victuals for wliich they only paid in part ; 
 but they gave their notes for the residue of the price, 
 and declared that the necessity of their situation alone 
 induced them to adopt such a course.^ 
 Situation Charlcs had been sadly disappointed in his anticipations 
 kiug. of powerful armies. Strafford's boast of bringing over 
 
 10,000 foot and 1500 horse from Ireland had entirely 
 failed ; and the royal army, wdiich was expected to amount 
 to 20,000 foot and 2000 horse, did not exceed in all 
 15,000, and these were both iU-disciplined and disaffected. 
 On this emergency he retreated from Northallerton to 
 York. In the meantime twelve peers assembled in Lon- 
 don to petition the king for another parhament — setting 
 forth the national grievances in the strongest light. The 
 city adopted the same measure, and drew a striking pic- 
 ture of the general decay of industry from so many 
 oppressions. Perplexed on all sides, unsupported by the 
 people, and damped with the disaffection and even mutmy 
 
 * Baillie, vol. i. p. 55 et seq. ; Con- full of outrages done, or feigned, by 
 
 way's Narrative, in Clarendon's State the English themselves, are presented 
 
 Papers, and Hailes ; Nalson, vol. i. to the king against us ' (p. 209 ; May, 
 
 p. 426 ; Balfour's Annah. p. G4 et seq. ; Rush. vol. iii. p. 1238 
 
 t Nalson, vol. i. p. 42G ; Haillie, et seq.; Hardwicke's State Fajjers, 
 
 vol. i. p. 262 et seq. : ' Some of the vol. ii. p. 159 et seq. See Letter of 
 
 English, under our blue caps, became Conway in State Paper Office, p. 255 
 
 robbers everywhere j' ' at once libels, et seq., boldly defending himself).
 
 STRAFFORD ACQUIESCES IN THE PROPRIETY OF NEGOTIATING. 225 
 
 of the troops, Charles determmed to negotiate, and, at so chap. 
 alarming a crisis, summoned a council of peers at York to . _ V ^ 
 consult with on tlie posture of affairs.* 
 
 As much has been said, particularly by Clarendon, conduct of 
 about the opposition of Strafford to any treaty, and the straflFord. 
 proof which he afforded the king of the practicability of 
 driving the Scots out of England, it will be necessary in 
 this place to clear up that point. When the royal army 
 first marched north, he was confined by a severe fit of the 
 stone, a disease which appears to have been very preva- 
 lent in that age. But the natural overbearing violence of 
 his temper suggested to him that the side on which his all 
 depended, required only to act vigorously in order to be 
 victorious. Conway had prudently resolved to decline an 
 engagement, and rather to retreat upon the main army ; 
 and it was the reproaches of Strafford that induced him 
 to abandon his own plan and hazard a battle at Newburn, 
 where he was so shamefully routed. Strafford then ap- 
 pears to have imagined that his own presence would re- 
 trieve affairs, and he entered the camp before liis disease 
 had entirely left him. The state of his body affecting a 
 naturally mitable temper, made him act with sucli out- 
 rageous indignation against all the officers, that, accord- 
 ing to Clarendon, ' the army was, in a short time, more 
 inflamed against him than against the enemy.' But 
 his own observation soon satisfied him of the justice 
 of the previous representations which had been made to 
 him, and he seems to have acquiesced in the propriety 
 of neo-otiatinor as no long;er avoidable amid such dis- 
 affection in the troops, such discontent in every quarter 
 of the country, and such distress for money, that Conway 
 says that the army, for want of pay, could scarcely be held 
 together. The story told by Clarendon of his having 
 defeated some troops of Scots vrith an equal number of 
 English, to convince the king how easily the invaders 
 
 * Whitelocke, pp. 35, 36, 37 5 Rush. vol. iii. p. 1260 et seq. ; Nalsou, vol. i. 
 p. 435 et seq. ; Hailes' Col. 
 
 VOL. II. Q
 
 226 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, might be overcome, is quite ridiculous, and arose from a 
 
 . ^_ trifling incident, that of one troop of Scots, which had 
 
 privately gone out on a marauding, or plundering, expe- 
 dition, having been intercepted by several troops of Eng- 
 lish. As this was magnified by the noble historian, whose 
 hatred of the Scots appears to have inclined him to deny 
 them not only the natural courage, but the physical 
 strength, of ordinary men, into so notable an affair, it 
 ought to render us cautious in receiving his account of 
 other transactions.* 
 
 When the council of peers assembled at York, they 
 were resolved to advise the king to call a parliament 
 instantly ; and Charles, who had foreseen this, anticipated 
 the motion, by informing them that he had resolved upon 
 it by the advice of his consort, whom he expected in this 
 way to ingratiate with his subjects. He seems to have 
 imagined that the peers might themselves have imposed a 
 tax on such an emergency, and one of them dehvered an 
 opinion to that effect ; but the rest all concurred in declar- 
 ing a parliament to be the only remedy for the present 
 evils, as well as the only legitimate organ of taxation. 
 The first point to be settled was the subsistence of the 
 Scottish troops, which fell heavily upon the northern 
 counties ; and this, with other preliminary business, con- 
 sumed a considerable portion of time ; but, at last, 850/, 
 a day were allotted for the Scots. In a letter to Sir 
 George Eatcliffe, dated 1st September, 1640, Straf- 
 ford himself gives the most melancholy picture of the 
 army. ' Pity me,' says he, ' for never came any man to 
 
 * See Ilardwicke's State Papers, any idea of fighting' was desperate ; 
 
 p. 183. See other letters, particularly and states that, without an imnie- 
 
 p. 191, and dlinutes of the Great diate supply, theroyal army could not 
 
 Cowicil of Feer.s, i'rom ]}. 20S to 2i)S. be held together, when the whole 
 
 Strafford indeed said, that if money kingdom would be open to the Scots ; 
 
 could be had, and the disaffection of and, what is most extraordinary, lie 
 
 the troops and people be cured, the says, ' he had never advised to tight ' 
 
 Scots might be driven out — a propo- (p. 294). Leslie stole the hearts of 
 
 sition, of the trutli of which few the English people (pp. 159, 1G4). 
 
 could doubt ; l)ut he aclcuowledges Clarendon's State Papers, vol. ii. p. 97 
 
 that, under the present disaffection, ct seq. ; Hist. vol. i. p. 251 et seq.
 
 PARLIAMENT SUMMONED. — TERMS DEMANDED BY TEIE SCOTS. 227 
 
 SO lost businesse. The army altogether unexercised and chap. 
 
 unprovided of all necessaries. That part which I bring . J: , 
 
 now with me from Durham, the worst I ever saw. Our 
 horse all cowardly, the country from Berwicke to Yorke 
 in the power of the Scott, an universal affright in all. A 
 general disaffection for the king's service, none sensible of 
 his dishonour.'* In order to raise 200,000/. the king was 
 obliged to apply to the Lords for their personal respon- 
 sibility to the city of London for sucli a sum on loan — so 
 chano;ed was the condition of that monarch, who, a few 
 months before, had imprisoned the lord mayor and alder- 
 men because they refused to betray their office, by assist- 
 ing- him to extort such a sum from the citizens. Tlie 
 loan, even now, was granted on the faith of a parliament's 
 being immediately summoned ; and when the writs were 
 delayed, the city intimated its resolution to witlihold tlie 
 money.f 
 
 The terms demanded by the Scots were, a ratification Treaty re- 
 of the acts of their late parliament ; absolving their London '^ 
 countrymen in Enoiand and Ireland from an illegal ^vhitiiera 
 oath, which had been imposed on them by the advice or was sum- 
 Strafford about the first breaking out of hostilities ; the 
 restoration of their property, and the removal of every 
 impediment to a free trade ; giving up incendiaries, as 
 Strafford and Laud, to trial ; and supporting their gar- 
 rison in Edinburgh for the defence of the people. Tlie 
 parties could not agree upon the terms, and the treaty 
 was protracted till it was deemed expedient to remove it 
 to London, whither the parliament was summoned. To 
 this, and granting a parliament at such a time, the future 
 misfortunes of Charles, and the triumph of the popular 
 party, have been attributed — but unjustly. In every 
 grand revolutionary period, each movement has been 
 
 * Life mid Cori-espondence. Ilardwicke's State Papers, already 
 
 t Clar. Hist. vol. i. p. 146 et scq. ; referred to ; Whitelocke, pp. ofj, .'57 ; 
 
 State Papers, p. 140 et seq., particu- Ihish. vol. iii. p. 1205; Ilailes' Col. 
 
 larly pp. 1;{0, 131, 132. See whole p. 110. 
 
 proceedings in the second volume of 
 
 Q 2 
 
 moned.
 
 228 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, attributed to some trifling cause, because that incident 
 
 > }l: , preceded and, in some measure, regulated it. Every act 
 
 of the power that faUs is then aUeged to have hastened 
 its fate : if it act vigorously, this at once brings matters 
 to a crisis, and is pronounced imprudent ; if it temporise, 
 that is equally condemned as encouraging the disaffected 
 by indecision. Thus it happened in the present case. 
 The error of Charles lay in interfering so absurdly with 
 the religion of the state, as well as in overturning the 
 vital principles of the constitution ; but, while he persisted 
 in such a scheme, every step only accelerated his own 
 downfall, and has therefore, in relation to tliat business, 
 been unjustly condemned. The whole people of England 
 were now inflamed against the executive, and loudly de- 
 manded a parliament. The continuance of the treaty at 
 Eippon, and the refusal of a parliament, thougli they 
 might have led to some difl^erence in the result, would 
 have, in all probability, given a still more terrible turn to 
 aflairs, which again would have provoked censure, and 
 caused the whole disasters to be imputed to the king's 
 obstinacy in not complying with the universal w^isli of 
 liis people to call a parliament, as w^ell as in not removing 
 the treaty to the metropolis. From the general disaffection 
 of the army, all men, including Strafibrd himself, were 
 satisfied that the attempt to bring it into action would 
 have been pregnant with ruin ; and had the city of 
 London not granted a loan upon the security of tlie peers, 
 the troops could not have been kept together. Hence, 
 while the Scottish army was in full spirit, Charles would 
 have been in a very short time destitute of military sup- 
 port ; Ijut as the lords interposed their credit, and the 
 city even then made the loan upon the promise and faith 
 of a parliament, he was left only to the alternatives of 
 complying witli the wisli of his people, by calling a par- 
 liament, or of exposing the whole government to tJie 
 Scottish army, while he utterly Igst the hearts of the 
 English. The Scots, on the other hand, daily gained
 
 THE SCOTS GAIN UPON THE AFFECTIONS OF THE ENGLISH. 229 
 
 upon the affections of Engiislimen, and tliey had resolved chap. 
 to winter in England, unless the prince complied with ^_ — ^ — . 
 their demands. As for continuing the treaty at Eippon, 
 wliile the parhament was held at Westminster, it was in 
 effect impracticable. This important business, in which 
 the parliament was so deeply interested, must have been 
 substantially transacted at the seat of government ; and 
 therefore the result, under a different form, would have 
 been the same. But it has been alleged, that Charles 
 ought to liave called the parliament to York instead of 
 London, where the factious disposition of the citizens 
 gave such a preponderance to the Commons. It was, 
 however, natural and politic in him to hold the legislature 
 at a distance from an army which was hostile to him ; 
 and it was his interest to conciliate the metropolis, instead 
 of giving it a fresh and great cause of provocation, at 
 such a crisis, by so strong a proof of distrust. So unusual 
 an event, too, could not have failed to excite the utmost 
 jealousy in all quarters, of some sinister purpose, and 
 must thus have diffused a still deeper- rooted spirit of dis- 
 affection. It was in a great measure the advantage which 
 the turbulence of the metropolis afforded against the 
 popular cause, by inspiring fears into the aristocracy of a 
 design to overturn their exclusive privileges, that induced 
 them to join the royal standard, and thus put the monarch 
 at the head of an English army. From the predetermined 
 purpose which he always betrayed, never to make a con- 
 cession with an intention to keep it, and his various 
 intrigues with the Irish and foreign states for troops to 
 subjugate Britain, it is most probable tliat, even in so 
 forlorn a condition, he would not have yielded to the 
 general wish. But rash measures of that description 
 could only have hastened the catastrophe. He had just 
 one chance left of attaining security, that of retracing his 
 steps, and sincerely yielding to constitutional measures.* 
 
 * Clarendon's Hist. vol. i. p. 283 p. 457. This writer, in opposition 
 ■et seq. Heylin's Life of Laud, to all other authorities, says that
 
 230 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. The situation of Charles was now deplorable ; as he 
 . ^^' . had selected his servants for their aptitude to promote 
 his arbitrary plans, he could not expect that they who 
 Avere false to their country could be true to him ; and his 
 council was rent with faction. ' The court,' says Claren- 
 don, 'was full of faction and animosity, each man more 
 intending the ruin of his adversary, and satisfying his 
 private malice, than advancing his master's service, or 
 complying with his public duty, and to that purpose 
 directhig all their endeavours, and forming all their inter- 
 course ; whilst every man thought him whom he found an 
 enemy to his enemies, a friend to all his other affections, 
 or rather by the narrowness of his understanding, and 
 extent of his passion, having contracted all his other 
 affections to that one of revenge.'* 
 
 It is singular, that the pacification of Berwick was now 
 proposed by the kmg himself as the basis of the treaty, 
 though he had formerly denied the terms. f 
 
 Strafford gained the affections of tlie ney Tnpcr», vol. ii. p. 657). By some 
 
 soldiers. mistake, I had not taken a note of 
 
 The real feeling of the English ap- this when I formerly mentioned the 
 pears strongly from the following breach of friendship between Straf- 
 passage of a private letter from Bail- ford and Laud ; and though I re- 
 lie. ' Nothing fray es ' (affrights) 'all collected of having seen such a 
 here so much as our quick agreeing passage, I could not, on the instant, 
 with the king and the disbanding of recollect where. This accounts suf- 
 our army thereupon. Under God, they ficiently for the language of Lord St. 
 all everywhere professe that they are Alban'a and Clanrickarde, in regard 
 aughtin to that armie their religion, to his enemy Strafford (from whom 
 liberties, parliaments, and all they he had suffered much), 'that when 
 have: That, if we take conditions the Parliament did sit, the day would 
 for ourselves they say they are un- come should pay for all,' uttered in 
 done ' (Baillie, p. 275 et seq. ; see a letter to Laud's confidential crea- 
 whole letter from p. 274, Bee. 2, 1040. ture, Wiudebanke, 9th October, 1640 
 
 * Clar. Hid. vol. i. p. 251 ct seq. (Ilardwicke's b'f ate Papers, vol. ii. p. 
 
 ' The straight friendship that was 196). See Sidney Papers, vol. ii. p. 
 
 betwixt 112 (Lord Archbishop)) and 655, for a character of AVindebanke. 
 
 115 (Lord Lieutenant Strafford) is The Earl of Northumberland calls 
 
 shaken,' writes Northumberland to him, in a letter to Leicester, ' the 
 
 Leicester, 22nd July, 1040 ; ' and the basest and falsest creature that lives.' 
 
 great confidence is now betAveen 119 In p. 623, in another letter, he says, 
 
 (Cottington) and 115 (Lord Lieu- ' to think well of 542 (Reformed Be- 
 
 tenant) ; 106 (Hamilton) seems to ligion) is cause enough to make 112 
 
 keep an interest in tliem all : but he (Archbishop) their enemie.' 
 
 deceives the world, if he have kind- f ' B" the pacification,' says Vane 
 
 ness for them or any body else ' (*S'iV/- to Wiudebanke, 'could be the me-
 
 ME. HUxMES VINDICATION OF CHARLES, EXAMINED. 
 
 231 
 
 dium, I conceive it were to be endea- 
 voured by US, but I do apprehend 
 ruder conditions ; and that we shew 
 so much our desires for peace, that 
 they will grow the more inso- 
 lent upon us ' (Hardwicke, vol. ii. p. 
 18*J). Does not this prove that the 
 terms of that pacification were im- 
 derstood and violated by the king ? 
 (Hardwicke, vol. ii. p. 191.) 
 
 ' The treacherous, the cruel, the 
 unrelenting Philip,' says Mr. Hume, 
 ' accompanied with all the terrors of 
 a Spanish inquisition, was scarcely, 
 during the preceding century, op- 
 posed in the Low Coimtries with 
 more detennined fury than was now 
 by the Scots, the mild, the humane 
 Charles, attended vtith his inoffen- 
 sive liturgy.' To those who have 
 attentively weighed the preceding 
 detail, supported as it is with unques- 
 tionable authorities, this must ap- 
 pear a most extraordinary state- 
 ment: yet, as the fallacy of the 
 whole passage may not at once 
 strike every reader, we shall miravel 
 it. With regard to the private cha- 
 racters of these individuals, they 
 must justly be left out of the ques- 
 tion. It is a poor apology to a peo- 
 ple for violated rights, to allege that 
 their prince is, for instance, a faith- 
 ful husband. Let us then compare 
 the public conduct of these sove- 
 reigns. Philip lived in a new era of 
 the world, when the wisest men 
 were lost in amazement at the ten-i- 
 ble aspect of aff"airs, and dreaded lest 
 the spirit of innovation, which mani- 
 fested itself in such a variety of 
 forms, .should confound all the rights 
 of property, and relations of society, 
 and Philip was necessarily affected 
 with the general panic. Charles 
 flourished after the lapse of a century 
 had banished the alarm, by bring- 
 ing matters to the test of experience, 
 and when, therefore, there was less 
 excuse for persecution. Philip 
 merely maintained the principles, 
 civil and religious, which had been 
 established time immemorial before 
 his age. Charles waged war with 
 all the civil and religious institutions 
 of his country, because they crossed 
 his desire of arbitrary power. As for 
 
 treachery, let the acts of Charles be 
 weighed, from first to last, as they 
 appear even by his own letters, &c. 
 As for unrelenting cruelty, let it only 
 be considered, that he was prepared 
 to destroy the people of his native 
 country with fire and sword, as is 
 manifest from documents under his 
 own hand, because they would not 
 adopt his creed. On one condition, 
 which is the sum total of every ty- 
 rant's demands, they might have 
 foimd him mild and humane, and 
 stilled every inclination to cruelty — 
 by submitting to all his innovations. 
 But I know not upon what principle 
 he deserves the character of mildness 
 in a business where he proclaimed a 
 piu'pose sooner to die than renoimce 
 his innovations, though he knew 
 and avowed that his object was 
 fraught with the utter ruin of his 
 covuitrymen. But Philip was accom- 
 panied with a Spanish Inquisition. 
 Now, if a people must be forced by 
 arbitrary violence to embrace a cer- 
 tain worship, and no toleration is to 
 be allowed, it matters not whether 
 the violence appears in the shape of 
 an inquisition or not. The violence 
 and persecution must, in such a case, 
 be proportioned to the resistance. 
 Charles would be satisfied with no- 
 thing short of absolute submission, 
 and Philip could not desire more, 
 ]\Ir. Hume did not hesitate to call 
 the Court of High Commission, 
 erected imder Elizabeth, an inquisi- 
 tion. But, in spite of his assertions 
 to the contrary, we have proved that 
 its powers were extremely limited 
 during that reign ; that, as it was es- 
 tablished by statute, so its authority 
 was always restrained by the courts 
 at Westminster within the bounds 
 prescribed to it by law, which per- 
 mitted ecclesiastical censures only, 
 while, under the present prince, its 
 authority was arbitrarily extended; 
 yet that Mr. Hume's statements are 
 calculated to convey a very different 
 picture. It is remarkabh^, however, 
 that the same writer, who saw every 
 proceeding by the Tudors in so 
 odious a light, should have been so 
 blind to the administration of their 
 successors, as to have espied no 
 
 CHAP. 
 XL
 
 232 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP ground of censure, in the erection of 
 jl_ a court in Scotland, called a Court of 
 
 , ' High Commission, -without even a 
 
 pretext or colour of law : nor even 
 in the warrant by Charles to erect a 
 subordinate Court of Commission in 
 every diocese. These, as they were 
 established without a colour of law, 
 and against an express statute, which 
 prohibited the establishment of new 
 courts, acted up to the arbitrary 
 principle on which they were brought 
 into existence, and were nothing 
 short of an inquisition. It is, how- 
 ever, ridiculous to talk of particular 
 courts, when all were so corrupted, 
 and the Canons denied to the peo- 
 ple everything like civil or reliiiious 
 liberty. But then his Liturgy was 
 inoffensive. Inoffensive ! could that 
 be inoffensive which excited such 
 xmiversal abhorrence ? The expres- 
 sion implies a contradiction in terms. 
 Possibly Mr. Hume meant that it 
 ought to have been inoffensive, for that 
 the innovations were harmless in a 
 religious sense. Admit this principle, 
 
 however, and there is end of every 
 notion of tolerance in a state. Every 
 sect proclaims the soundness of its 
 doctrine. But surely a more liberal 
 spirit might have been expected from 
 a philosopher ; and it never can be 
 allowed to a prince to change the pub- 
 lic religion at his pleasure. It is vain, 
 too, to allege that the imiovatious 
 were trifling. It is enough that they 
 were hateful to the people ; and, as 
 we have all along said, the more in- 
 different they were abstractly, the 
 less apology is there for the mon- 
 arch's having so arbitrarily obtruded 
 them. If it be said that he acted 
 from piety, then the same apology 
 is due for the people ; and it should 
 never be forgotten that they ad- 
 hered to the religion established by 
 law, while his purpose was to change 
 it. The innovations were, however, 
 of the last importance ; and, as we 
 have fully established by his own 
 correspondence, &c., he was actuated, 
 not by religious feelings, but a desire 
 of power.
 
 HOPES OF THE PEOPLE FROM A CONSTITUTIONAL ASSEMBLY. 233 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 FROM THE MEETINa OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT TILL ITS FIRST 
 
 ADJOURNMENT. 
 
 statt; of the i^ation, etc. — gkievan'ces detaixed is the 
 lo^oter house — eemoisrstraxce op the irish parliamext — 
 
 IMPEACHMEXT of STRAFFORD, LATID, FIXCH, ETC. — PLIGHT OF 
 •\VIXDEBAXKE AND FIXCH — ATTACK UPON THE HIERARCHY — 
 TRIENNIAL BILL — TRIAL OF STRAFFORD — PLOT TO BRING TIP 
 THE ARMY AGAEtifST THE PARLIAMENT — BILL OF ATTAINDER 
 AGAINST STRAFFORD, WITH HIS EXECUTION — ACT FOR CONTINUING 
 THE PARLIAMENT — HIGH COMMISSION AND COURT OF STAR 
 CHAMBER, ETC. ABOLISHED — TONNAGE AND POUNDAGE — KING'S 
 JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND, ETC. 
 
 The calling of the last parliament, which was so prema- chap. 
 
 turely terminated, had diflfused general satisfaction, as the , !^^— - 
 
 precursor of a better system ; but wise men perceived fj^f^jj-o^ 
 that matters had not yet arrived at the crisis when the at the 
 authority of the legislature could be effectually exerted ihTLong° 
 against that horrid train of evils which the kino^dom had P-'^^ij^- 
 so long groaned under ; and the people at large, though 
 they hoped much from a constitutional assembly, had 
 been too greatly dispirited by oppression to feel confident 
 of its power. The influence of the crown, therefore, 
 to^Tether with that of the fTreat families attached to ar- 
 bitrary principles, operated considerably in elections ; 
 while, of those returned as members on more independent 
 grounds, and who had not yet enhsted under the banners 
 of administration, there were many who were politicly 
 inclined not to forfeit their chance of preferment from a 
 system which they deemed it impossible to control. On 
 the other hand, prudence dictated to the most public- 
 spirited the propriety of preserving a tone of moderation.
 
 Ill 
 
 234 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, in order, if possible, to reclaim the monarch, and, at all 
 events, to avoid affordmg him a pretext with any consider- 
 able portion of his subjects, for hurrying matters to an 
 extremity which, however it might end, must, in the 
 interim, be productive of national calamities. The course 
 of elections even then, however, so disappointed Charles 
 and his ministers, that the Earl of JSTorthumberland, pre- 
 vious to the meeting of that parliament, predicted, in a 
 private letter to the Earl of Leicester, that it would be 
 short-lived, as unfit for the purposes of the executive.* 
 But all saw now, that, from the necessities of the prince, 
 this parliament could not be ignominiously dissolved 
 like the four preceding ; and proportionally strong was 
 their confidence in having at length found a remedy for 
 all their grievances. The influence of the executive in 
 elections was therefore vastly diminished.^ The selfishly 
 cautious laid aside their .interested prudence with the 
 change of times, and the patriotic struck up upon a 
 bolder key. There was even another class, who, though 
 they had formerly truckled to power, now manfully de- 
 claimed against the infringements of public rights. Of 
 the last, the most conspicuous was Mr. Hyde, afterwards 
 the famous Lord Clarendon, who does not scruple to 
 inform us, in his history of his own life, that, during the 
 discontinuance of parliaments, he had so gained the 
 patronage of Laud and other ministers, that their coun- 
 tenance procured him high respect from the judges in the 
 courts at Westminster — a circumstance which, having 
 been generally remarked, brought him great professional 
 
 * Siclncrf State "^Papers, vol. ii. p. prove that Sir H. Vane and Herbert 
 
 041. He writes, 19th INIarch, IGoO- were not singular in their opinion of 
 
 40: ' Tlie elections that are gene- tliat parliament? 
 rally made of kniglits and burgesses t Hardwicke's State Tapers, vol. 
 
 in this kingdonie, giiies us cause to ii. p. I'JO ; {Clarendon's State Papers, 
 
 feare that the parliament will not vol. ii. p. 181, as to the interference 
 
 sittlong'; for such as hane depend- of p'overnment. The course of the 
 
 ance upon the court, are in diners elections is complained of in the 
 
 places refused ; and the most refrec- Mkon (Whitelocke; p. 37). 
 torie persons chosen.' Does not this
 
 AWFUL CEISIS AT WHICH PARLIAMENT MET. 235 
 
 practice.* This noble historian endeavours, in the course chap. 
 of his work, to depreciate certain lawj^ers who rose to 
 eminence during the ensuing civil broils, by alleging that 
 they had been previously little heard of in the profession ; 
 but the manner in which he accounts for his own success, 
 defeats the effects of his remarks upon others in the same 
 line, and must leave small room for doubt in any unpre- 
 judiced mind, that it is more creditable to the memory of 
 those whom he undervalues for their want of success, that 
 they were little known, than to his, that the sworn 
 guardians of the law favoured him as the creature of 
 Laud, for tlie purpose of ingratiating themselves with that 
 meddling priest and his coadjutors. 
 
 It is needless to dwell upon the awful crisis at wdiich 
 this parliament met. The invasions of liberty had been as 
 avowed as they were profligate ; the very semblance of 
 justice, which is at least an homage to law, as h}q30crisy is 
 to virtue, had been despised, despotism unmasked having 
 raged in all its deformity. The faithful discharge of duty 
 in the senate had not only been attended v/itli the most 
 disgraceful dissolutions, but been visited with terrible pen- 
 alties in the persons of its members ; while the determi- 
 nation had been formed to dispense entirely with the legis- 
 lature ; a determination from which an unforeseen necessity 
 alone had obliged the prince to depart. The pulpit, by 
 the very royal injunctions, the council table, the bench, 
 had all been polluted with the disclosure, and the two last 
 with the practice also, of principles subversive of every- 
 thing valuable in civil institutions. Industry had been so 
 suspended, by destructive monopolies and arbitrary impo- 
 sitions, with other illegal proceedings, that a portion even 
 of the manufacturers of woollen cloth, the staple of Eng- 
 land, had emigrated with their capital to the Continent :f 
 while the rights of property had been so violated, that it 
 
 * Clarendon's Life, vol. i. p. 30 et f Cobbett's Purl. Inst. vol. ii. pp. 
 
 srq. ; but see also pp. 14 et seq., 22 et 643, 655 ; Old Pari. Hist. vol. ix. 
 seij. pp. 67, 85.
 
 236 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, was well observed in parliament that the people had be- 
 
 TXT ^ 
 
 . come tenants at will. Nor was it a small aggravation, 
 
 that the money despotically wrung from the community, 
 instead of being conveyed into the treasury, went to en- 
 rich individual favourites. Illegal, unheard-of cruel im- 
 prisonments, and inhuman corporal punishments, as Hog- 
 ging, cropping the ears, slitting the nose, and branding the 
 face, had been brought to the assistance of arbitrary courts 
 against men of rank and learnino;. The established reli- 
 gion had been nearly subverted for the pageantry of the 
 Romish superstition, while the impugners of audacious 
 novelties had been exposed to the tyrannical vengeance 
 of arbitrary courts, which set no limits to their punish- 
 ments. Nay, even those who preferred to seek a habitation 
 in the then dreary and savage climes beyond the Atlantic, 
 to living under a state of civil and religious slavery at 
 home, were interdicted from this last resort, while measures 
 were prepared to bring the American settlements under 
 the same yoke with the mother country. The clergy liad, 
 under the royal countenance, assumed, in convocation, 
 legislative powers, and even imposed on the general body, 
 taxes which were exigible under severe penalties. They 
 had affected to be independent of the civil power, and 
 even endeavoured to have themselves exempted from or- 
 dinary jurisdiction ; while, by their illegal courts, they had 
 spread general dismay : Laud had almost assumed the 
 style as well as the powers of the Pope. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs in England ; but had all 
 these grievances been insufficient to rouse that people into 
 a proper sense of their condition, and of the incalculable 
 misery which would necessarily flow from the present un- 
 constitutional system, the measures lately pursued against 
 the Scots, and the policy of Strafford in Ireland, must 
 have satisfied them, tliat if they did not embrace the pre- 
 sent opportunity for redressing their wrongs, all that they 
 valued in their religious or civil institutions would pro- 
 bably be lost for ever. In Scotland, Charles had openly
 
 MR. HUME'S language ON THE FOSTURE OF AFFAIRS. 237 
 
 tried to overturn everything civil and religious which the chap. 
 
 people most venerated, and had branded resistance to such .^ ^^^: . 
 
 unhallowed measures as the most unnatural rebellion, — a 
 rebellion which he delegated powers to crush with fire and 
 sword, declaring in the stubbornness of pride, that he 
 would rather die than submit to the demands of his sub- 
 jects, — demands which merely imported a recalment of 
 innovations upon the estabhshed worship and laws. Nor 
 had he a colour for the apology usually resorted to, and 
 which he availed himself of on other occasions, that he 
 consulted the general wish against the factious inclinations 
 of the few, who raised a clamour under that pretext, to 
 embroil civil affairs ; for he did not hesitate privately to 
 express his conviction, that his measures were fraught 
 with the ruin of his people. In Ii-eland, the administration 
 of Strafford had kindled an hostility to the government, 
 and a personal abhorrence of himself, almost unparalleled 
 in history. 
 
 While such was the posture of affairs, one could scarcely 
 have anticipated the following language, even from Mr. 
 Hume : — ' The grievances which tended chiefly to inflame 
 the parUament aud nation, especially the latter, were the 
 surplice, the rails placed about the altar, the bows exacted 
 on approaching it, the Liturgy, the breach of the Sabbath, 
 embroidered copes, lawn sleeves, the use of the ring in 
 marriage, and of the cross in baptism. On account of 
 these,' continues he, ' were the popular leaders content to 
 throw the government into convulsions ; and, to the dis- 
 grace of that age and of this island, it must be acknow- 
 ledged, that the disorders in Scotland entirely, and those 
 in England mostly, proceeded from so mean and contemp- 
 tible an origin.' How far this view of facts is correct, the 
 reader must by this time be prepared to determine ; but 
 the passage, and it is only a specimen of this author's 
 manner, is surely as remote from philosophical liberality 
 as from truth. Aware that the attempt to justify the 
 monarch for endeavouring to impose Popery upon the
 
 238 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, nation, would never be listened to with patience, the his- 
 ,_ ^^^- torian generally ridicules the imputed purpose as a sense- 
 less clamour, and probably means to convey, in this 
 passage, that the innovations introduced were altogether 
 unimportant. But he forgets that if it were disgraceful in 
 the nation to be so appalled with such mean and con- 
 temptible innovations, it betrayed, even in a religious 
 view, a much greater want of good sense in Charles and 
 his advisers, whose cause he advocates, to attach such 
 consequence to them as not only to impose them under 
 severities revolting to humanity, but at the liazard of a 
 convulsion ; for there is a mighty difference between the 
 case of a people who merely adhere to the established 
 worship, against the wish of their monarch, who has no 
 right to dictate to them, and that of a king who, in de- 
 spite of the laAVS, abuses the power entrusted to him, in 
 order to force his subjects into the adoption of his peculiar 
 tenets. If, on the other hand, it be alleged, that Charles 
 was endowed with too much good sense to be the slave 
 of such contemptible superstition, then the historian en- 
 tirely overlooks, that the conduct of the prince assumes, 
 in that case, the character of the blackest depravity, in 
 wantonly inflicting the most hideous punishments for dis- 
 obedience to his capricious commands, and exposing the 
 kingdom to all the horrors of a convulsion, for an object 
 which he considered intrinsically unimportant. But it 
 cannot be denied that the people, even though they had 
 regarded the innovations as abstractly trivial, would have 
 shown themselves utterly unworthy of their political pri- 
 vileges, had they not resisted changes thus tyrannically 
 obtruded ; since the introduction of them, with such pen- 
 alties, imported powers in the throne inconsistent with 
 every idea of civil and religious liberty. The most des- 
 potical monarchs have commonly the good sense to know 
 that the attempt to interfere with the establislied religion, 
 against tlie wishes of the people, would shake their 
 thrones. It was vain for Mr. Hume, however, to repre-
 
 THE RELIGIOUS INjN'OVATIONS CONSIDERED. 239 
 
 sent the innovations as so unimportant: even those which chap. 
 he enumerates were abhorred by the people, not as merely ^^^' 
 ceremonial, but as indicative both of greater changes, and 
 of substantial alterations in faith ; and this was question- 
 less the object with which they were introduced. The his- 
 torian himself elsewhere takes nearly the same view, inform- 
 ing us, that ' not only the discontented Puritans believed the 
 church of England to be relapsing fast into the Romish 
 superstition, but that the court of Eome itself entertained 
 hopes of regaining its authority in this island.' 'And,' 
 says he, ' it must be confessed, that though Laud deserved 
 not the appellation of a Papist, the genius of his religion 
 was, though in a less degree, the same with that of the 
 Eomish. The same profound respect was exacted to the 
 sacerdotal character, the same submission requked to the 
 creeds and decrees of synods and councils, the same pomp 
 and ceremony were affected in woi^ship, and the same su- 
 perstitious regard to days, postures, meats, and vestments.' 
 It was not the name of Popery that the people dishked, 
 but the thing ; and with regard to Laud, it was well re- 
 marked in parliament, tliat a pope at Eome was less into- 
 lerable than one at Lambeth. It would have afforded some, 
 though a very inadequate, apology for this prince, that he 
 was actuated by mistaken notions of religious duty ; but 
 it is, unfortunately, demonstrable, from his own corre- 
 spondence, that his object was merely to assimilate the faith 
 and worship to those of despotical countries, that they 
 might operate in preparing the public mind for the same 
 civil subjection. Without the prevalence of such super- 
 stition, he conceived it impossible to subjugate his people, 
 and in order to accomplisli the fond object of his wishes, 
 he did what no prudent despot ever attempted, attacked 
 all that the community venerated, and thus kindled a flame 
 which was necessarily directed against that usurped pre- 
 rogative which imposed innovations. By his absurd and 
 wicked policy, tlierefore, he roused into an eneni}^ tliat 
 religious feeling which, in these measures, he insidiously
 
 240 CONSTITUTIONAL IlISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, aimed at converting into a necessary ally of arbitrary 
 . • ^ power. Aware that lie stood by public opinion, lie yet, 
 in the chimerical hope of substituting sentiments more 
 favourable to his pretensions, lost that support of the 
 throne, by insulting as well as violating all that the people 
 esteemed most sacred. All the religious innovations 
 which, as we have shown, were, in spite of Mr. Hume's 
 sneers, of the most aggravated nature, and were also the 
 precursor of farther change, sprang from the grossest 
 abuse of civil power ; and the grievances in church and 
 state, therefore, necessarily found the same advocates. 
 Hence the field which has been opened for the ridicule so 
 successfully poured upon that period. Men became natu- 
 rally zealous for their faith in proportion to the violence 
 with which the prince attempted to deprive them of it, 
 and as their language corresponded with the occasion, it 
 is easy to misrepresent the age, by viewing its character, 
 throuoli the medium of times when the established reli- 
 gion was protected instead of being sapped, and abstracted 
 from all the circumstances that then operated upon the 
 public mind. 
 
 The picture which has been given of the age is, 
 therefore, unjust ; and it is only necessary to peruse the 
 works of that period, even the productions of professed 
 Puritans, as Ludlow, Hutchinson, Milton, &c., to be 
 • satisfied that the same minds which were so fervently 
 imbued with religious zeal, were not only illuminated by 
 genius, but enriched with the choicest literature of 
 ancient and modern times. Gloomy and fanatical as that 
 period is represented to have been, it is not to be doubted 
 that a similar interference, even now, with the established 
 faith and worship, would lead to the same result. But 
 it should always be remembered, that the arbitrary pro- 
 ceedings of the prince, in regard to religion, not only 
 implied the arrogation of a power to make any farther 
 changes, but an authority incompatible with the very 
 idea of every thing like civil or religious rights. Eeligion,
 
 FARTHER REFUTATION OF MR. HUME'S STATEMENTS. 241 
 
 therefore, formed a grand portion of the contest, even chap. 
 viewed in regard to its civil consequences, and it was ^ , , '_. 
 dearly esteemed on its own account : but it was only an 
 integral part of the general disease of the state. The 
 privileges of the nation had been assailed in all points, 
 and there was an almost universal cry for redress.* 
 Had the people failed to embrace the opportunity for 
 redressmg their wrongs, and adopting measures to pre- 
 vent their recurrence, they must have deservedly been 
 pronounced worthy of the slavery which had been 
 prepared for them ; and matters must have either termi- 
 nated in a dreadful convidsion in the next age, or Britain, 
 the seat of wealth and innumerable comforts, the pre- 
 server and disseminator of rational liberty in modern 
 times, and hence the nurse of genius and the mother of 
 science — the land which has, in reahty, given the impulse, 
 in modern times, to the cultivation of every thing 
 valuable in all quarters of the polite world, must have 
 sunk into all the deplorable misery of the Peninsula. 
 When the case is thus broadly stated, there is scarcely a 
 mind which can refuse its assent to the proposition, that 
 at a certain limit submission would have been criminal ; 
 yet it ought not to be overlooked, that the advocates of 
 arbitrary power would have then discovered, in the 
 
 * ' But/ says Mr. Hume, ' it may publiflied during the contest ? The 
 be worth observing, that all histo- parliamentary leaders were indeed 
 rians who lived near that age, or blamed by one of their own party 
 what perhaps is more decisive, all for dwelling too much on the reli- 
 authors who have casually made gious grievances, and thus in a man- 
 mention of those public transactions, ner withdrawing the public attention 
 still represent the civil disorders and from the multiform oppressions un- 
 couvidsions as proceeding from reli- der which the liingdom had groaned ; 
 gious controversy, and consider the but no one can peruse the sources of 
 political disputes about power and infoi-matiou to which we have re- 
 liberty as entirely subordinate to the ferred, without being satisfied of the 
 other.' Now, who are the historians groundlessness of this artful, sweep- 
 and authors to whom he alludes ? — ing, unauthorised, statement. The 
 AVIiitelocke, Clarendon, nay Ludlow, cotemporary royalist writers always 
 or even Hutchinson and Milton ':' maintained that the clamour about 
 Does he discover it in the Parlia- religion was a mere colour for fac- 
 incntanj Dehaiex, or tlie State Papers, tious designs against the govern- 
 or in the imnmierablo pamphlets ment ! 
 
 VOL. IL * R
 
 242 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, previous tyranny and the pusillanimous acquiescence, still 
 ■ ^^^- . stronger arguments with which to vindicate the prince 
 and condemn the people. Every former act of arbitrary 
 power would have been, in that event, represented in 
 the blackest colours, and the submission of the people 
 vilified, in order to throw odium upon the nation for 
 their unjust rebellion to a sovereign, whose only fault 
 consisted in acting mildly upon the principles to which 
 he had equally succeeded with the throne ; while the 
 popular leaders would have been reproached as artful 
 demagogues, who inflamed the people with chimerical 
 notions of freedom to which their ancestors never pre- 
 tended, — as austere fanatics, who were content to plunge 
 the kingdom mto convulsions for an object altogether 
 mean and contemptible. All the benefits accruing from 
 their virtuous struggle would have been forgotten, while 
 the calamities, the vices, arising naturally out of a period 
 of convulsion, would have been incalculably exaggerated, 
 as a warning' to after ages never to assert their riohts 
 against the will of the chief magistrate. To the spirit of 
 our ancestors, therefore, we owe all our most invaluable 
 privileges ; and it would be ungrateful not to acknow- 
 ledge the obligation.* 
 
 * In the above I have endeavoured of the most frivolous and ridiculous 
 to embrace the sum and substance liind.' Eeally it is distressing- to 
 of Mr. Hume's defence of the Stuart find an author of Mr. Hume's powers 
 family. But the followiug singular writing in this style ; and it is 
 note deserves a remark : ' Lord Cla- scarcely possible to conceive a more 
 rendon (vol. i. p. 233; in the Oxford complete noyi scqxitur than that, be- 
 edition, which I quote, it is p. 408 ct cause the people desired an abolition 
 seq.), says, that the parliamentary of ceremonies, which were intended 
 pai'ty were not agreed about the en- to substitute a religion of the imagi- 
 tire abolition of episcopacy. Tliey nation for that of the heart, in order 
 were only the root and branch men, to prepare the public mind for the 
 as thej' were called, Avho insisted on doctrine of passive obedience in the 
 that measure. But those who were state, ceremonies which were not so 
 willing to retain bi.shops, insisted on inhumanly enforced as altogether in- 
 reducing their authority to a low significant, but which implied- points 
 ebb, as well as on abolishiug the of faith universally abhorred — that 
 ceremonies of worship and vestments because they desired to reduce the 
 of the clergy. The controversy, power of a body, or even to abolish 
 therefore, between the parties was the order tliat had so monstrouslj' 
 almost wliolly theological, and tlnit abused their function against the
 
 STKAFFOKD FORESEES HIS FALL. 
 
 243 
 
 StrafTorcI, who had long ago foretold, that if the king 
 were forced to call a parliament he, as a chief minister, 
 would be sacrificed to the public resentment, and whose 
 injustice and unrelenting barbarity had made him personal 
 enemies, who were resolved to pursue him to the scaffold, 
 now solicited leave to retire to his government of Ireland, 
 or to remain with the army at York, that, removed from 
 the eye of parliament, he might elude its vengeance ; but 
 Charles, who depended much upon his advice, insisted 
 on his being near his person, assuring him that not a 
 hair of his head should be touched.* The event proved 
 that, though in despite of experience, the king continued 
 obstinately blind in regard to the posture of affairs, his 
 minister had discernment to perceive that the royal 
 power which had raised .him, and countenanced him in 
 injustice, was unable to protect him hi the hour of 
 retribution. 
 
 civil and religious privileges of the 
 nation, — ' therefore, that the con- 
 troversy between the parties was al- 
 most wholly theological, and that of 
 the most frivolous and and ridiculous 
 kind.' Did it really follow tliat, 
 because this was one branch of griev- 
 ance, there was no other ? With 
 such logic, we should not wonder at 
 his conclusions, even independently 
 of his statements. But was this 
 author so miphilosophical and mi- 
 charitable as to conclude, that be- 
 cause all points of faith were, in the 
 absti'act, viewed with indiiference by 
 himself, the people nught justh' be 
 compelled, by bloody persecution, to 
 embrace any religious innovations at 
 the will of the prince '■^ Did he not 
 perceive the political consequences of 
 these innovations ? and infer that, as 
 they were imposed out of political 
 motives, so they were justly resisted 
 on the same principle ? It is strange, 
 too, that great part of his argimient 
 goes to establish that new ideas of 
 government had sprung up during the 
 dynasty of the Stuarts, and yet that 
 elsewhere he ascribes all to religion. 
 * Whitelocke, p. 37. This writer 
 
 tells us that, as the parliament was 
 to meet on the 3rd of November, 
 ' some persuaded the archbishop to 
 get it adjourned for two or three 
 days, because that the third of No- 
 vember was an ominous day : the 
 parliament called on that day, 20 H. 
 VlII., beginning with the fall of 
 Cardinal Wolsey and ending in the 
 dissolution of abbeys; but the arch- 
 bishop took little heed of any such 
 things.' But Laud does not allude 
 to the caution in his Diary, while he 
 faithfully records other omens which 
 alarmed him. On January 24th, 
 1640, his father appeared in a tlream, 
 and asked, ' What he did there ? ' 
 Laud, after some speech, inquired, 
 how long he would stay. ' He an- 
 swered,' (we give Laud's own words,) 
 ' " he would stay till he had me away 
 with him." I am not moved ^vith 
 dreams; yet I thought fit to remem- 
 ber this.' On October 27th, he found, 
 on entering his study, that his pic- 
 ture, which was hung there, had 
 fallen upon its face, on the floor. ' I 
 am almost every day threatened 
 with my ruin in parliament,' says 
 he, ' God grant this be no omen.' 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 Stafford 
 ordered to 
 attend the 
 king 
 
 against his 
 own wish ; 
 but under 
 an assur- 
 ance of 
 protection. 
 
 R •.:
 
 244 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. The king, who depended much upon the dexterity of 
 
 , ^i:_ the speaker of the Lower House for managing the Com- 
 
 Pariia- mous, had predetermined to have Sir Thomas Gardner, 
 
 November^ rccordcr of Loudou, appointed to that situation ; but, 
 
 t' •"',^^n notwitlistandino; all the efforts of government, the people, 
 
 chosen who kucw tlic charactcr of the man, (he was afterwards 
 
 the'coL- impeached for recommending ship-money,) declined to 
 
 mons. return him as one of their representatives ;* and Mr. 
 
 Lenthal], a bencher of Lincoln's Lm, and a lawyer of 
 
 great practice, was nominated by the Commons at the 
 
 desire of the crown. It was not without difficulty that 
 
 he accepted of the office. 
 
 Grievances "jhc Commous assembled in 2:reat numbers, and the 
 
 detailed by ,, , , "^ , . , . 
 
 Pym and court party soon discovered that, as the national grievances 
 others. |^^^j bccu aggravated by the dissolution of the late par- 
 liament and the subsequent proceedings, so the popular 
 spirit assumed a far more decided tone. Committees for 
 grievances were nominated, and the deplorable state of 
 the kingdom was depicted by Pym, followed by many 
 others, in a style as just as pathetic ; and, since we have 
 just adverted to Mr. Hume's statements, we may here 
 remark, that it is inconceivable how, with these speeches 
 before him, in which the various forms assumed by 
 arbitrary power against all law and the rights of person 
 and property, are detailed in language which, while it 
 does credit to the speakers, appals the reader, he should 
 have ascribed the fervour which pervaded all classes 
 against such multiform abuses, solely to disgust at a few 
 
 * Clar. Hist. vol. i. p. 295 et seq., loyalty would have made the mon- 
 and Appendix B, which it would arch independent of parliamentary 
 be amusing to compare with the suj^plies, Clarendon would not avail 
 other. Of course, tliis writer at- himself of it, and thus laid tlie foun- 
 tributes his non-election to the dation of his own ruin. But what- 
 strenirth of the faction : yet him- ever apolog-y Buniet might have for 
 self joined tlie faction at the out- tliis statement in the erroneous re- 
 set. No character has been more ports he received, subsequent histo- 
 misconceived tlian Clarendon's. P.ur- rians have none. For, independently 
 net (vol. i. pp. l.'jU et seq., 200 ct seq.), of all other authorities, the publica- 
 who liked him for his bigoted at- tion of Clarendon's life, wi-itten by 
 tachment to episcopacy, i-ays, that himself (as well as his secret papers), 
 when, on the Kestoratiou, the tide of completely disproves it.
 
 PRYNNE, BASTWICK, AND BURTON. 245 
 
 trilling ceremonies. The court faction, who could not chap. 
 deny the extent of the evil, did not even attempt to . ^^}' . 
 oppose the general complaint ; and Charles, after having 
 dissolved the last parliament like the three preceding, 
 because it preferred the consideration of grievances to 
 his demand for immediate supply, discovered now the 
 truth which had been predicted, — that the next would 
 take lip the ground of its predecessor, and with a bolder 
 spirit. Such, indeed, was the unanimity of the house, 
 that as every abuse was proposed for censure, it Avas 
 immediately voted to be a grievance, without a dissenting 
 voice. * 
 
 Amono;st the first acts of the Commons was one of An ordor 
 strict justice — that of issuing an order for the appearance commons 
 of Prynne, Bastwick, and Burton, who after losing their for the 
 ears, and suffering other detestable punishments, were of Prynne, 
 sent to languish out their existence in solitary confine- ^nd^^ll]!!' 
 ment, each transported to a separate island ; while the ton, &c. 
 access of friends and kindred was strictly interdicted, 
 and themselves denied the use of books, pen, ink, and 
 paper. Laud, with his coadjutors, had thence fondly 
 fiattered himself, that the voice of these wretched victims 
 of oppression would never molest him more ; and that, 
 at all events, his own elevation was too strongly fenced 
 with power ever to dread that retributive justice which 
 ousfht to liave alarmed his conscience. But he was 
 miserably mistaken ; Prynne survived to pursue him to 
 tlie scafibld. — By thus sending for those individuals, the 
 Commons did not reverse their sentences. These did not 
 warrant their being sent out of England ; and therefore 
 the Lower House merely took under its protection men 
 whose inhuman punishment there was not even the 
 pretext of a judgment to authorise. It was so contrived 
 that Prynne and Burton landed at one point at the same 
 
 * Whitelocke, p. 38 ; Clar.p. 171; etseq.: Paisli. vol. iii. p. 1364; see 
 Cobbett's I'arl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 630 p. 1336 et seq., vol iii. p. 1 e< seq. 
 et seq. ; Old Pari. Hist. vol. ix. p. 17
 
 246 
 
 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 A resolu- 
 tion 
 against 
 monopo- 
 lists. 
 
 Character 
 of Hamp- 
 dnn. 
 
 time ; and they were conducted to the metropolis by an 
 immense crowd in mihtary triumph.* 
 
 As monopolists so grossly infringed the law, they were, 
 as unworthy of legislating for a people whose rights they 
 had violated, banished the house, to which they had been 
 elected by court influence ; and new writs were issued for 
 fresh elections, f 
 
 Great occasions, as we have frequently remarked, call 
 forth talent to meet them ; and when the cause of liberty 
 flourishes, it never wants advocates. Virtuous men may 
 deplore the evil of the times ; but they would cease to 
 deserve the character of virtuous, did they encourage 
 resistance to arbitrary power without a prospect of 
 success. When a favourable juncture occurs, however, 
 then they nobly exert themselves in the public cause ; 
 then the wavering are confirmed, and even the former 
 tools of injustice imblushingly pretend to patriotism. 
 The present crisis was one which demanded the exertion 
 of all the human powers ; the House of Commons af- 
 forded a field for the successful development of profound 
 knowledge and solid judgment, conveyed in a stream of 
 masculine eloquence ; and the characters unfolded would 
 not suffer by a comparison with tlie worthies of any age 
 or nation. The individual to whom all men looked as 
 the prime leader in the present perilous juncture was 
 Hampden ; and he did not belie the general opinion 
 either of his understanding or integrity. Eegarded as 
 the statesman most qualified to recover, and vindicate, 
 
 * Jonrnah of Cu»i7>io>is, 7tli Nov. 
 see also about Leighton and Lilburn, 
 in Oth, 8mart, in lOtli ; Old Pari. 
 Hist. vol. ix. p. 34; Clai*. vol. i. p. 
 109; Wlutelocke,p..'59; r,nillie,vol. i. 
 p. 270 : ' On Saturday, Burton and 
 I'rynne came through the most of the 
 citio triumpliantlio ; never here such 
 a like show : about a thousand liorse, 
 and as some of good note sayes, 
 above four thousand; above a hun- 
 dred coatches, and as many saves 
 above two liuudri'd: witli a world of 
 
 foot, every one with their rosemary 
 branch. Bastwick is not yet come 
 from Sillie ' (Scilly) ; 'this galled the 
 bisliop8exceediuglie"(7i/V/.j. The let- 
 ter is dated the 2nd December (1640), 
 and is addressed by Baillie to the 
 presbytery of Irvine, of which he 
 was a member. Mr. Hume does not 
 do liimself justice iu his remarks 
 up(m tliis case. 
 
 t JoHnial.s of Commons, 0th ; Cob- 
 bett's I'arlidinotltiri/ Jlisfori/, vol. ii, 
 p. G51 ; Whitelocke, p. 38.
 
 HAMPDEN — TO WHOM ALL LOOKED AS PRIME LEADER. 247 
 
 the violated and insulted rights of his country, he was chap. 
 
 yet sufficiently modest and self-possessed not to abuse his 
 popularity by embracing every opportunity to attract the 
 pubUc notice. Though his judgment privately directed 
 in every question, he reserved his powers as a speaker 
 for the Q-rand emerg-encies alone. The man who had 
 braved authority might have been expected to be violent 
 in his temper and morose in his manner ; but it was his 
 peculiar virtue to imite the mildest and most affable 
 disposition to unskaken firmness, both as a statesman and 
 a soldier. In early life, he had not been altogether free 
 from that licence which commonly accompanies large 
 foi'tune and eminent station ; but no one ever insinuated 
 ao-ainst him behaviour that indicated a rotten or selfish 
 heart, or even inveterate habits of licentiousness ; and 
 early sensible of his error, he corrected it without losing 
 that cheerful affability wdiich had partly seduced him 
 into imprudent indulgence.* As it is great occasions 
 only which present opportunities for the exertion of 
 popular talents, so the men who figure then are generally 
 such as have scarcely hitherto engaged in public affiirs ; 
 and yet nothing is more common than the attempt to 
 deny the genius which distinguishes itself in a tem- 
 pestuous season by remarking its previous want of 
 distinction. Ordinary heads are necessarily the best 
 calculated for ordinary business, since nothing can be 
 well accoraphshed, which is not zealously undertaken, 
 and small matters, to which they are fully adequate, 
 engross all their vigour; while, on the other hand, a 
 
 * Whitelocke (p. 70) gives Hamp- i. p. 323 ct seq.; vol. li. pp. 15, 01 et 
 
 den a high character for talent as seq. See also what is printed in p.- 
 
 ■well as worth, yet says : ' He spoke 88 et seq. as a note from the manu- 
 
 rationally and subtilely and often script. It is rather less favourable), 
 
 proposeddoubts more than he solved.' As might be expected, the author 
 
 There is gxeat ability, and, consider- imputes bad motives, but he does 
 
 ing that the author was not only full justice to his many great and 
 
 a "keen partisan, but undertook his estimable qualities ; and it would 
 
 history for the king's vindication, have been well had Mr. Hume 
 
 even 'itupartiality, in Clarendon's studied it. 
 character of the same individual (vol. 
 
 III.
 
 248 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, great mind, ever forming to itself a lofty standard, is at 
 . ^^}- . once conscious of being too far above the business, and 
 yet is naturally diffident of its own powers : it cannot 
 enter with alacrity into affairs wdiich afford no room for 
 the trial of its strength : it doubts its ability not in com- 
 parison of those around — it never measures itself witli 
 them — but of the model which imagination always 
 presents. Wlien, however, the great juncture occurs, 
 then its vigour is roused, and while other minds sink 
 under, it rises superior to, an inexperienced emergency. 
 This seems to have been the case of Hampden : he 
 was returned to the second and thu'd parhaments of this 
 prince ; and yet, though he afterwards so fully proved 
 his aptitude to express his sentiments both with lluency 
 and signal precision, he does not appear at that time to 
 have ever tried his powers. But all men of discern- 
 ment, who had an opportunity of conversing with him, 
 remarked his extraordinary talents ; and as his affability 
 charmed, while his integrity gained him profound respect, 
 his reputation, heightened by his refusal of ship-money, 
 rose liiLrh before he distinijuislied himself in the senate. 
 There, he was at once regarded by all as their sheet- 
 anchor ; and none was ever better calculated to improve 
 the favourable impression. His assiduity was inde- 
 fatigable ; his manner bespoke only an anxiety to obtain 
 information, and his adversaries could not withhold their 
 esteem ; but his modesty did not prevent him from 
 leading those who were flattered by an appeal to their 
 understandiniz;. 
 P;ym. 'j'j^g j-^^xt great character was Pym, who, to a perfect 
 
 knowledge of forms, which, from the long disuse of par- 
 liaments, was extremely valuable, united a clear, vigorous 
 judgment and profound information, together with the 
 eloquence of a man of business and a character of uniform 
 uprightness. Such a speaker could not fail to be listened 
 to. It has been said that his sagacity was more fitted for 
 use than ornament ; and a better compliment could not
 
 OTHER GREAT CHARACTERS — PYM, VANE, AND ST. JOHN. 249 
 
 have been paid. Ehetorical flourishes are innocent enough chap. 
 
 in the absence of real business, but they are impertinent -_ ^ - 
 
 when men are assembled to discuss the deepest concerns 
 of a great nation ; and, however an artful speaker may 
 inflame the passions, none will ever be heard with patience 
 on momentous occasions who have not at least the charac- 
 ters of capacity for affairs. Sir Harry Yane, the younger, sir Hany 
 displayed uncommon intellectual powers and a masculine „'^ll'^^^^ 
 eloquence, together with an ardent enthusiasm of temper, 
 which fervently embraced alike state policy and religion. 
 He was prepared for sharp remedies to the alarming 
 grievances of the commonwealth ; yet he does not appear 
 to have been at any time transported with the passion of 
 vengeance, or to have acted under the influence of sel- 
 fishness. 
 
 The temper of St. John was haughty and vehement, st. John, 
 but his principles had been consistent, and his talents were 
 universally respected. As a lawyer, his abilities and 
 learning were everywhere admitted ; and the old English 
 lawyers (witness Bacon, Coke, Selden, Whitelocke, Claren- 
 don, Maynard, and others) united to their professional 
 attainments general information and accomplishments, 
 which do not appear to have descended to their suc- 
 cessors.* 
 
 * ^Some persons/ says Mr. Hiuue, cultivation of polite letters and 
 
 'partial to the patriots of this age, civilized society: the whole dis- 
 
 liave ventured to put them in balance course and language of the moderns 
 
 with the most illustrious characters were polluted with mysterious jar- 
 
 of antiquity ; and mentioned the gon, and full of the lowest and most 
 
 names of Pym, Hampden, Vane, as vulgar hypocrisy.' It has ever ap- 
 
 a just parallel to those of Cato, peared to me, that the works of this 
 
 Brutus, Cassius. Profoimd capacity, celebrated author, with all their 
 
 indeed, undaunted courage, extensive genius, and no one is readier than I 
 
 enterprise ; in these particulars per- to allow their merits, betray the oc- 
 
 liaps the Romans do not much sur- casional rawness of a solitary student, 
 
 pass the English worthies ; but what who has not surveyed society with a 
 
 a difference when the discourse, con- practical eye, and that he was not 
 
 duct, conversation, and private as devoid of a species of intolerant 
 
 well as public behaviour of both are bigotry, though of a different kind 
 
 inspected ! Compare only one cir- from that he everywhere censures, 
 
 cumstance, and consider its conse- as well as of an interested predilec- 
 
 quences : The leisure of those noble tion for the aristocracy of letters. 
 
 ancients was totally employed in the In this passage, I conceive that we
 
 250 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 Remon- 
 strancp of 
 the Irish 
 parliament 
 against 
 Strafford 
 reported to 
 the Com- 
 mons. 
 
 A committee had been appointed for Irish affairs, and 
 a remonstrance from the Irish parhament was reported 
 by it to the house. In this remonstrance the Irish com- 
 plained that industry had been suspended, and trade 
 
 have a proof of it. Polite letters, 
 &c. are only so far worthy of admi- 
 ration as they enlarge the capacity 
 and improve the heart ; and, there- 
 fore, in estimating a pnljlic character, 
 we have no occasion to inquire into 
 his private conduct unless in so far 
 as it is spent in vice ; for good pri- 
 vate conduct is the best security for 
 purity in public life. Of the private 
 discourse and studies of the ancients, 
 we knoAV little ; and the author has 
 reviled the moderns without founda- 
 tion. Was Hampden a hypocrite, 
 and was his discourse full of cant, 
 &c. ? The account of Clarendon 
 would lead us to infer the very re- 
 verse. Were the English worthies 
 ignorant of Grecian philosophy and 
 eloquence, or of polite letters ? The 
 great blemi.sh of the public speaking, 
 &c. of that age, is the pedantry 
 which a I'amiliar acquaintance with 
 ancient literature produced ; and it 
 ought to be remembered, that to 
 Grecian philosophy they joined tliat 
 of Bacon, &c. ; to the polite litera- 
 ture of Greece, the works of Spenser 
 and Shalispearc, not to mention 
 others. That they were sincerely 
 devoted to the Christian religion is 
 unquestionable ; but surely it will 
 not thence be contended that they 
 were incapable either of relishing 
 polite literature and philosophy, or 
 of themselves displaying the highest 
 reach of genius. If it were, Shak- 
 speare ought not to be admired, nor 
 Milton read : nay, the grand dis- 
 coveries of Newton should be des- 
 pised. With regard to the public 
 conduct of the P^nglish worthies, it 
 may well be put in competition with 
 that of tlie ancients, for their pa- 
 triotism, I will venture to affirm, was 
 as unsullied, and more usefully di- 
 rected ; while their capacities, cou- 
 rage, and entcrpri'^e were not inferior. 
 Even in tlie conduct of tliose nu- 
 
 cients, Mr. Hume might have dis- 
 covered a useful lesson for his direc- 
 tion in estimating the proceedings of 
 this reign. Those noble ancients, 
 thougli above the superstition of 
 their age, had too much good sense 
 to insult and provoke, far less perse- 
 cute their countrymen, upon their 
 religion. 
 
 Since I am upon this subject, I 
 cannot refrain from noticing another 
 attempt to lower the character of 
 Hampden. ' Then,'' says he, ' was 
 (Usplai/ed the mighty ambition of 
 Hampden, taught disguise, not mode- 
 ration from former restraint ; sup- 
 ported by courage, conducted by 
 prudence, embellished by modesty; 
 but whether founded in a love ofpoxoer, 
 or zeal for libertg, is still, from his 
 nidimelg end, left doubtful and uncer- 
 tain.' Now, I really do think, that 
 when the character of a statesman 
 cannot be assailed with the imputa- 
 tion of a single vice, it in a little hard 
 to insinuate away his fame by al- 
 leging that lie might, had he lived 
 longer, by swerving from virtue, have 
 betrayed an original depravity. Such 
 an ordeal no character can pass un- 
 sullied; and the author might have 
 considered that the same objection 
 could be brought to his favourites, 
 Brutus and Cassius. Might it not 
 be said too, that Cato probably 
 would have been as great a usurper 
 as Julius Ca3sar, if he had been 
 as successful ? But this last mem- 
 ber of the sentence, faulty as it 
 is, was meant to meet objections to 
 the preceding members, without de- 
 stroying their eftect. By setting out 
 with an attack tipon the mighty am- 
 bition and the disguise of Hampden, 
 the author had really determined the 
 question as to his motives, which lie 
 ■set concludes with saying had been 
 left doubtful.
 
 III. 
 
 IRISH GRIEVAXCES AND THEIR CAUSE. 251 
 
 extremely injured by new and illegal impositions and chap, 
 destructive monopolies, joined to other arbitrary proceed- 
 ings ; that all causes, real and personal, had been arbi- 
 trarily determined by the council, from which there w^as 
 no appeal ; that there was a monopoly of tobacco, which, 
 under the pretext of increasing the revenue, was in reality 
 a fund of a private emolument to the lieutenant ; tliat they 
 were grievously oppressed by the court of High Commis- 
 sion, a species of nuisance which cried aloud for redress in all 
 tlie three kingdoms ; that a proclamation had been issued 
 by Strafford, forbidding the departure of any individual 
 for England without a licence, which w^as never allowed 
 without exorbitant fees ; and that while many subsidies 
 liad been granted, the king was still in debt. They con- 
 cluded with demanding an account of the public treasure, 
 and desiring either a present redress of grievances or 
 access to the king.* The cause, as minister, of all these 
 • evils, was Wentworth, earl of Strafford, who had arrogated 
 to himself all the judicial powers, which he had exercised 
 with an iniquity worthy of such a usurpation, and yet 
 had encouraged Laud to follow his example in England ; 
 who had himself obtained the patent for tobacco, by which 
 he is said to have amassed a large sum ; and who, in short, 
 had, in every instance, substituted his own will for the 
 law of the land, and even the natural obligations of justice. 
 The manners of the man had, in all respects, corresponded 
 with the arbitrariness of his actions. It might be alleged 
 that tlie external deference which he even applied to the 
 king for liberty to exact in Ireland, w\as an homage to his 
 office, not to himself ; but as his treatment of parliament, 
 which he threatened into the srant of lar^e subsidies, was 
 inconsistent with the duty of a pubhc character, his con- 
 duct in all respects was so like that of a bashaw, that, as 
 appears from his own letters, the title had been bestowed 
 
 * Journals of Lords, 7tli January ; vol. iv. p. 53 ; see also p. 220, vol. viii. 
 Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 669; pp. 7, 11 et seq. 
 Old Pari. Hist. vol. ix. p. 40 ; Rush.
 
 252 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, upon liim by the general voice of that kingdom. In his 
 ^_ ^^}' - correspondence, we find him ever lamenting to the king 
 or Laud that he was grossly mahgned, and deprecating 
 the consequences which the complaints of that people — 
 complaints which he ascribed to an aversion of authority 
 — might have upon his master; and declaring himself in- 
 nocent of the crime imputed to him, of amassing a fortune 
 at the public expense.* These letters were intended to 
 meet the murmurs which he could not suppress ; but, that 
 the voice of complaint should be as much stifled as pos- 
 sible, he prohibited the unfortunate victims of his t}T:anny 
 from quitting the island, lest they should have an oppor- 
 tunity of uttering their grievances to the throne. The 
 day of retribution, however, had at last arrived, when 
 the united cry of three kingdoms, with all the personal 
 wrongs of individuals, called for justice. It will therefore 
 be necessary to give an account of his commitment. 
 Strafford On the ] 1th of ISTovember, a motion was made by Pym 
 oHdlargt for his impeachment ; and as it met with the universal 
 ot high api)robation of the house, it is singular that Clarendon 
 tiie Com-' should, without at least taking his own portion of the 
 ^^^^' 1 blame, have afterwards condemned the measure as the 
 
 November _ ' 
 
 11, 1640. height of injustice, and tlie Commons as extravagantly 
 tyrannical for adopting it ; since he himself appears to 
 have joined, instead of attempting to arrest the torrent. 
 Lord Fallvland, indeed, stated, that while he agreed with 
 his brethren in the propriety of the measure, he con- 
 ceived that it would be advisable to pause till they had 
 digested the articles against the accused ; but Pym, who 
 had named Strafford as the greatest enemy to the liber- 
 ties of his country, and promoter of tyranny, that any age 
 had ever produced, answered, that such a delay miglit 
 probably blast all their hopes, as such was Strafford's 
 influence with the king and queen, and so loudly did his 
 own conscience admonish him of the fate he merited, tliat 
 
 See liis Letters and Di'sp,
 
 IMPEACHMENT OF THOMAS, EARL OF STRAFFORD. 253 
 
 for his own safety he would hkely advise a dissohition of chap. 
 
 the parhament, or fall upon some other desperate mea- . ^^i^— ' 
 
 sure, though it should be pregnant with the ruin of the 
 kingdom. The motion was therefore put to the vote, and 
 carried without a dissenting voice. Pym then, followed 
 by the house, went to the bar of the Lords, and, in the 
 name of the Commons, accused Thomas, earl of Strafford, 
 of high treason. The accused, it is said, having obtained 
 proof of the correspondence held between some of his 
 prime adversaries in both houses and the Scots, had 
 determined to anticipate the blow by impeaching them — 
 a circumstance which, it is alleged, and possibly Avitli 
 reason, quickened the motions of the popular party against 
 him ; * for though it is extremely improbable that, in the 
 present posture of things, his charge against po]:>ular cha- 
 racters would have been seriously entertained, the event 
 might have created leisure for the court to concert new 
 measures. When tlie impeachment was announced to 
 liim, he came to the house with his usual proud, stern 
 look ; but, to his mortification, he w^as instantly ordered 
 to withdraw, and then brought to the bar on his knees to 
 hear the charge of the Commons. He attempted to speak, 
 but was refused an audience, and committed to the usher 
 of the black rod. These proceedings against a man who 
 had just been regarded with terror in all quarters, drew 
 together a crowd to the door, who, as he passed, all 
 gazed, ' no one capping to him, before whom, that morn- 
 iug, the greatest in England would have stood discovered 
 (uncovered), all crying, " What is the matter ? " He said, 
 " A small matter, I warrand you." They rephed, " Higli 
 treason is a small matter." ' f Wlien he had reached the 
 place where he expected his coach, he was disappointed 
 to learn that it had been taken to a different station, and 
 that he must repass the crowd, which had enjoyed his 
 humihation. After he did gain his coach, the usher, 
 
 * Lauds Troubles, p. 85; Clar. vol. i. p. 175. 
 t Baillie, vol. i. p. 272 ct seq.
 
 254 COKSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, whose faculties seem to liave been overpowered by so 
 . ^\ ' . unexpected an event, now recollected his duty, and in- 
 formed the earl that, being his prisoner, his lordship must 
 accompany him, not in his own, but the usher's coach ; 
 and he was forthwith conducted to the Tower. ' In- 
 tollerable pryde and oppression,' observes Bailhe on this 
 occurrence, ' cryes to heaven for a vengeance.' * 
 Laud com- Laud, as the prime mover of the rehgious innovations 
 a^charge of in Scotlaiid, had been charged by that people as one of 
 
 1^'sh the grand incendiaries, and he was impeached accord- 
 
 treason. , o . . . , '- 
 
 ingiy ; but, in spite of his former power to do mischief, 
 he soon became so contemptible that ' all cast him out of 
 their thouglits as a pendicle at the Heutenant's ear.'f 
 winde- Windebanke, understanding that the Commons were pre- 
 pared to charge him as an enemy to church and state, an 
 open protector of Seminary priests and Jesuits, and a pro- 
 moter of their religion, absconded to the Continent, and 
 at Paris, where he fixed his residence, forgot his degrada- 
 tion in merriment, telling all that he ever knew or did, 
 and declaring that he had acted, in all cases, by the ex- 
 press injunctions of the king and queen, and that his 
 majesty had assisted him in his escape. It is also said 
 Finch im- that lic dicd a professed papist. J The Lord Keeper Finch 
 His iii<^dit. h^t^ betrayed his duty as speaker to the parliament of 
 1628, and had subsequently been the most zealous in pro- 
 moting every iniquitous measure : his knowledge of law, 
 which indeed was limited, he had prostituted to the vilest 
 of all purposes — that of unhinging the rights of property, 
 and inventing pretexts for oppression, (he was the indivi- 
 dual who had, by threats and promises, first extorted the 
 extrajudicial opmion of the judges in favour of ship- 
 
 * Whitelocke, p. 38 ; Clar. vol. i. Cobbett's Pari. Hid. vol. ii. p. 680 
 
 p. 299 et seq. with Appendix 1> ; Jour- Whitelocke, p. 39 ; Clar. vol. i. p 
 
 ;u//,sof both IIoiLses, 11th November ; 309 aud Appendix B; Baillie's Ze<, 
 
 Cobbett's I'arl. Hid. vol. ii. p. 732 vol. i. p. 250. 
 
 et seq. ; Rush, vol iv. p. 42 ; May, p. t Clar. Papers, vol. ii. p. 134 
 
 88 ; Baillie's Let. vol. i. p. 217. Hid. vol. i. p. 310 ct seq., Appendix 
 
 t Journals of Lords, l8tli Decern- B, p. 520 etseq. ; At^hitelocke, p. 39. 
 ber, 26th Februaiy, 1641, cti^odea',
 
 ARTICLES AGAINST FINCH. HIS SPEECH. 255 
 
 money, and afterwards, in Hampden's case, again threat- chap. 
 ened them ;) and he had even declared from the bench, -. . ' — - 
 that a resohition of the council-board should always be a 
 sufficient ground for him to make a decree in chancery : 
 yet, when now impeached by the Commons, he, with an 
 effrontery absolutely inconceivable, eloquently harangued 
 them upon his innocence. The commencement of his 
 speech was as mean as it was false. ' I give you thanks,' 
 says he, ' for granting me admittance to your presence : I 
 come not to preserve myself and fortunes, but to preserve 
 your good opinion of me : for, I profess, I had rather beg 
 my bread from door to door, with date ohoium Belisario, 
 with your favour, than be ever so high with your dis- 
 pleasure.' He concluded thus : ' If I may not live to serve 
 you, I desire I may die in your good opinion and favour.' * 
 This was the language of the man who had attempted to 
 cut up parliaments by the roots ; and in all things substi- 
 tute the will of the prince for law : yet we are told by 
 Whitelocke that ' many were exceedmgiy taken by his 
 eloquence and carriage, and that it was a sad sight to see 
 a person of greatness, parts, and favour, appear in such a 
 posture, before such an assembly, to plead for his Hfe and 
 fortunes.' The articles against him were to this effect : 
 That he had traitorously endeavoured to subvert the 
 fundamental laws and the estabUshed constitution of 
 England, and to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical 
 iziovernment : that, in the accomplishment of his traitorous 
 purposes, he had, as speaker of the House of Commons, in 
 the third and fourth of his majesty's reign, prevented the 
 reading of a remonstrance relative to the safety of the 
 king and state, and the preservation of religion, declaring 
 that, if any offered to speak, he would immediately leave 
 the house, which he accordingly did — a proceeding that 
 tended to subvert the ancient and undoubted right of par- 
 liaments : that, as one of his majesty's council, he had 
 
 * Cobbett's Purl. Hist. vol. ii. p. G85 ct scfj.; Rush, vol. iv. p. 120 et seq. ; 
 Whitelocke, p. 39.
 
 256 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, endeavoured to enlarge the forests, particularly in Essex, 
 beyond due bounds: that, when chief justice in 1635, he 
 drew the questions propounded to the judges regarding 
 ship-money, and had, by undue means, obtained their 
 signatures to an opinion previously prepared by him : 
 that he had given his opinion against Mr. Hampden in the 
 Exchequer Cliamber, and had threatened the other judges 
 to prevail on them to concur with him : that he pub- 
 lished in his circuit that the king's right to ship-money 
 was so inherent in the crown, that no act of the legis- 
 lature could take it away, and had threatened all who 
 resisted the assessment : tliat, in his character of chief 
 justice of the Common Pleas, he had transacted the 
 greater part of the business in his own chamber, and had, 
 in his judicial capacity, committed various acts of gross 
 corruption, of which a list was given ; and that he had 
 tried to incense the king against parliaments, and advised 
 the declaration which was published after the dissolution 
 of the last. — Well aware that every one of these articles 
 could be distinctly proved against him, Finch prudently 
 fled ; and the Commons, who deemed one or two sacri- 
 fices to justice sufficient, and properly selected the most 
 dangerous characters, as well as the most wicked, are, 
 with the ai)pearance of truth, accused of having connived 
 at his escape.* Tlie Commons still, however, gave in 
 their charge to the Lords, and the duty of presenting it 
 was devolved upon Lord Falkland, who. is reputed by 
 Clarendon to have been one of the brightest characters in 
 history, and wlio died lighting under the royal banners. 
 He observed that the charge required no assistance from 
 the bringer, ' leaving,' says he, ' not so much as a colour 
 for any defence, and including all possible evidence and 
 all possible aggravation, that addition alone excepted, 
 which he alone coidd have made, and has made, I mean 
 
 * Clar. vol. i. p. 309r><S(7., Appen- iniiu- Uic establiBhed laws were 
 liiv l*>, p. •'")-2 d f<r(/. Thin aullidi" Iri'asdii, Miicli was notoriously 
 admits, that it' au attempt to under- guilty.
 
 LORD Falkland's observations on finch. 257 
 
 liis confession included in his flio-ht. There are many chap. 
 
 mighty crimes — crimes of supererogation, so that high ^ — - 
 
 treason is but a part of his charge, pursuing him fervently 
 in every several condition ; being a silent speaker, an un- 
 just judge, and an unconscionable keeper. His life appears 
 a perpetual warfare, by mines and batteries, against our 
 fundamental laws, which, by his own confession, several 
 conquests had left untouched ; against the excellent consti- 
 tution of this kingdom, ivhich hath made it appear to 
 strangei^s rather an ideal than a real commonwealth, and 
 produced the honour and happmiess of this as the iconder 
 of every other nation. He practised the annihilating of 
 ancient and notorious perambulations of the whole king- 
 dom — the meers and boundaries between the liberties of 
 the subject and sovereign power. He endeavoui'ed to 
 have all tenures durante bene placito, to bring all law 
 from his majesty's courts into his majesty's breast.'* This 
 extract is illustrative of the temper of the Commons, and 
 throws light upon the character of Falkland, who died 
 fighting for the king, while it completely disproves the 
 notion, that the English were not sensible of the superior 
 nature of their government, and that they were now 
 merely inflamed with bigoted rage against a few unmean- 
 ing ceremonies introduced into the public ^vorship — a 
 notion altogether irreconcilable, not only with the tem- 
 ])er of this assembly, but of every parhament which had 
 been summoned during the dynasty of the Stuarts. 
 
 Sir George raitclifFe, the former fellow-sufferer with I^^^J^^^'^*' 
 Strafford for refusing the loan, but since his instrument com- 
 and coadjutor in all arbitrary ways, was likewise charged "''"^'^• 
 with high treason. f 
 
 As ship-money was voted to be illegal, so general reso- Proceed- 
 lutions were passed, that the judges who had acted in agSnsttixc 
 that business, together with the lieutenants, &c. of coun- .)"'^gf.' <^*^'- 
 
 ' a for ship- 
 
 * Ohl Pari. Hist. \o\. ix. p. 139; December, e^ jjos^m ; Old Pari. Hid. ^^^oney,&c. 
 
 Cobbett'.s Pari. Hist. voL ii. p. G95. vol. ix. pp. 51, 153 et seq. ; Cobbett's 
 t Journah of Commons, lotli No- Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 698 et seq. 
 
 rember, et pustea; of Lords, 29tb 
 
 VOL. n. s
 
 258 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, ties, should be prosecuted for their presumption, and be 
 ■ ^^^- . Hable in damages to the parties injured. Against some of 
 the judges regular impeachments were brought, both on 
 this and other accounts ; Berkley was charged with high 
 treason and arrested on the bench.* The lieutenants had 
 only to complain that the threat of prosecution impended 
 over them ; and the proceeding has been unqualifiedly 
 condemned, because the duty had been imposed upon 
 them ; but some of them were themselves privy coun- 
 cillors, and consequently to a certain extent primarily 
 accessory to the unlawful tax, while they ought to have 
 resigned their places rather than comply with an unjust 
 command against the community, f The king himself is 
 protected by law as incapable of doing wrong, and unless 
 the servant were responsible, there could be no check 
 upon the executive ; while it is evident that, without un- 
 just ministers, the monarch's acts could scarcely be inju- 
 rious. On the same principles, the farmers of the customs 
 were ordered to be prosecuted ; and they compounded 
 for their extortions by paying 150,000/. The various 
 tyrannical sentences of the Star Chamber and High Com- 
 mission courts were resolved by the Commons to be illegal ; 
 and it having been farther resolved that reparation should 
 be made to the sufferers out of the delinquents' estates, 
 the cases were transmitted to the Lords, by whom the 
 sentences were reversed.;]] It was likewise resolved by 
 both houses that the convocation has no power to make 
 canons, or impose taxes, without the intervention of the 
 legislature; that both on that account, and from their ab- 
 stract tendency, the late proceedings were against the 
 
 * Journals of Lords, 12tli Feb. May. Clarendon, who does justice 
 
 1041. _ to i3astwick's Latin style, says, that 
 
 t WliiteldC'ke, p. 40 ; Journal of he was unknown to either university 
 
 Lords, '2-2m\ Dec. et postca ; of Com- or the College of Physicians ; but 
 
 mons, 12th February, 1(541. there is an express order of the Com- 
 
 + Clarendon, vol. i. pp. '^\X ct scq., nions, Uth June, to restore him to 
 
 349 ct scq., and Append. C ; JoHrn. of the College of Phvsicians (Cob. 
 
 C'o;h7/!0«.s, 8th and 22nd Dec. 1640; Pw/. ^?5i;. vol. ii. pp.'671-700: Rush. 
 
 20th April, 1041 ; of Lords, 20th vol. ii. p. 469).
 
 CHARGES AGAINST COSENS. 259 
 
 fundamental laws of the realm ; and that the members of 
 the convocation were lial^le to punishment. A bill to that 
 effect was ordered, and immediately brought into the 
 Lower House.* 
 
 Other ecclesiastics besides Laud fell under the animad- impeacii- 
 version of the Commons, and were ordered to be im- wren, 
 peached — as Wren, bishop of Ely; Pierce, bishop of cosmS'^"*^ 
 Bath and Wells ; and Dr. Cosens. The two first were 
 informed against for many high crimes and misdemeanours 
 — practising and enforcing superstition and idolatry, and 
 persecuting all who did not join in their innovations. 
 They were therefore ordered to give bail for 10,000/. to 
 stand trial. f Cosens was charged witli a variety of 
 articles to the following!; effect : he removed the com- 
 munion-table from its old situation in the body of the 
 church, and placed it in the east end altar-wise — an 
 alteration on which he expended 200/. of the public 
 money entrusted to him : he restored, and got gloriously 
 painted, images which had been defaced by the commis- 
 sion imder Elizabeth : he officiated at the sacrament with 
 his back to the people, according to the popish practice ; 
 had boys with tapers, and all the bows of the Eomish 
 superstition, used in the sacrifice of the mass ; had a con- 
 secrated knife, which he would not permit to be defiled 
 to profane uses, for cutting the communion bread ; had 
 declared that the Eeformers, when they took away the 
 mass, took away all good order, and instead of a reformed, 
 made a deformed religion : he had so pertinaciously in- 
 sisted upon the people bowing to the altar, &c., that 
 when some ladies omitted the ceremony, he called them 
 jades and pagans, &c., and, quitting his place, laid violent 
 hands on them, in the face of the congregation, and rent 
 their clothes : he had converted several prayers in the 
 Liturgy into hymns, to be sung to the organ, and had 
 
 * Journals of Commmis, 16tli of ctpostea; o/" Comwiow*', p. 194, 24th 
 December. December ; Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. 
 
 t Journal of Lords, 19th December, ii. pp. 682, 702. 
 
 s 2
 
 260 
 
 CONSTITUTIOXAL ITISTORY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, 
 III. 
 
 Petifion 
 against 
 episeo- 
 f)acy, &e. 
 
 neglected psalms : one Candlemas-clay, he had lighted up 
 three hundred wax candles m honour of our lady, three- 
 score of which he had placed on and about the altar : 
 before his marriage, he had worn a white satin cope, 
 whic]i he laid aside when he took a Avife : he had denied 
 the I'oyal supremacy, having declared that the king had 
 no more power over the church than the boy who rubbed 
 his horse's heels ; and had aggravated all tliese supersti- 
 tions, and the denial of the supremacy, by the most cruel 
 persecution — })articularly against Smart, a prebendary, 
 and likewise asi;ainst one of the canons.* 
 
 Episcopacy had, at the Reformation, been declared to 
 be a human institution, under the appointment, as Avell as 
 control, of the throne ; but the whole endeavour of the 
 government lately, had been to make the hierarchy appear 
 a divine institution, independent of civil authority ; and 
 the new doctrine, as it inflamed a party on religious 
 grounds, raised a powerful addition to that party even 
 from amongst those who neitlier were Puritans nor ini- 
 
 * Old Pari. Hist. vol. ix. p. lO^l ; 
 Cobhett's Pari Hist. vol. ii. p. 725; 
 Rusli. vol. iv. p. 208. See his case 
 in IIowelFs State Trials, vol. iv. As 
 Cosens "was appointed cliaplain to the 
 royal family abroad during the life 
 of Charles, it is clear that he (Charles) 
 meant to make no concession to the 
 popular wish, though it appears by 
 his Letters that he adhered to epis- 
 copacy from political motives alone 
 (Clar. Sf(rfe Papers, vol. ii). A peti- 
 tion was presented against T>v. Lay- 
 field, and the facts are said, l)y the 
 report of the committee, to be fully 
 proved. It sets forth that he had 
 placed the communion-table altar- 
 ■v\nse, and raised ten rails, with ten 
 several images upon those rails, to be 
 set at the altar ; that he bowed three 
 times, — \sf, at his going to the rails ; 
 2r////, within the rails; Pidii/, at the 
 table; and so in the return. But that 
 after the images were taken down, 
 he bowed oulv twice — at the rails 
 
 and the table — ' which is an argu- 
 ment that he bowed before to the 
 images.' That he caused J. II. S. to 
 be set in gold letters upon the table, 
 and forty places besides ; and said to 
 the people, 'Heretofore, we saw 
 Christ by faith ; but now with our 
 fleshly eyes we see him in the sacra- 
 ment.' That he charged the people 
 with sacrilege for taking down the 
 images. That he caused one Boulton 
 to be excommunicated for not coming 
 up to the rails, and refused to read 
 his absolution, ttc. That he said 
 ' they are black toads, spotted toads, 
 and venomous toads, like Jack Straw 
 and Watt Tyler, that speak against 
 the ceremonies of the church ; and 
 that they were in a state of damna- 
 tion.' He tells them, 'They must 
 confess their sins, he is their parson, 
 and they ought to do as he advises 
 them; the sin is his, not theirs/ &c. 
 (Jown. 25th November, 1G40).
 
 A DECLAKATION AND PETITION AGAINST EPISCOPACY, 261 
 
 mical to the court. These, perceivmg tlie principle on chap. 
 which the prelates and their supporters advanced the ^^^- . 
 pretension, naturally opposed it, as destructive both of 
 civil and religious liberty ; and the cruel tyranny of the 
 bishops, with the new ceremonies which they so into- 
 lerantly enforced, incalculably augmented the number of 
 such as desired the abolition of episcopacy. Had it been 
 the policy of government to make some concessions to 
 the popular wish, or liad it even abstained from innova- 
 tion, tlie hierarchy would, in all probability, have run no 
 hazard ; but Avhen men saw in the establishment no secu- 
 rity for their faith, and found it necessary to make a 
 vigorous opposition, they naturally became hostile to an 
 institution which, by Avantonly attacking all the prin- 
 ciples on which was supposed to be founded its right to 
 exist, destroyed its own title to tlie general esteem. Not 
 content with the degree of power enjoyed by their im- 
 mediate predecessors, they would lead back the people to 
 the old superstition, that with it they might enjoy all the 
 consequence attaclied to it ; forgetting that, by the very 
 attempt, they, in the meantime, irrecoverably lost over 
 the public mind the authority which their spiritual func- 
 tion would otherwise have commanded. Firndy attached 
 to the Christian faith, Hampden and his coadjutors, on 
 religious grounds, opposed these innovations ; but, had 
 they been really patriotic freethinkers, they could have 
 followed no other course. They were bound to assert 
 the rights of tlieir fellow-subjects, whose consciences 
 were illegally forced ; as good citizens, they were called 
 in duty to raise their voices against the attempt to enforce 
 a religion of the imagination, and by such arts to enlist 
 the external senses on the side of the priesthood and of 
 arbitrary power. When, therefore, a declaration, said to 
 be signed by seven hundred ministers of London and the 
 adjacent counties, was presented by ten or a dozen of the 
 cloth at the bar of the Commons, and a petition from the 
 city of London, signed by 15,000 citizens, was presented
 
 262 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, by Alderman Pennington, they did not meet with an un- 
 favom^able reception, and tlie petition was followed by 
 others.* The Commons themselves entered into resolu- 
 tions against the temporal power of the bishops, and the 
 clergy's enjopng civil offices ; but they as yet proceeded 
 no farther ; except that they appointed a committee to 
 inquire into the lives of the clergy, who were grievously 
 complained of. Petitions from parishes poured in against 
 many of the cloth, and various scandalous vices were im- 
 puted to some of them : superstitious innovations were 
 charged against very many. That they received hard 
 justice is likely ; but, on the other hand, it cannot be 
 denied, that though there were amongst them many indi- 
 viduals of great learning and worth, yet that the majority, 
 in their zeal for the advancement of their order, in their 
 cupidity for civil offices, their scrambling and mean 
 ti'uckling for place, as well as in their pitiful arrogance 
 on unexpected power, liad alike forgotten the duties and 
 dispositions of Christian pastors and of good citizens. 
 Indeed, it is alleged, that many men of loose lives were 
 appointed to livings for the purpose of affronting tlie 
 Puritans, and, considering how decent conduct Avas ridi- 
 culed and hated by the ruling party, it is not unlikely. f 
 Whitelocke tells us, too, that ' the House of Commons 
 made an order (and Sir Eobert Harlow, the executioner 
 of it) to take away all scandalous pictures, crosses, and 
 figures, within churches and without ; and the zealous 
 knight took down the cross in Cheapside, Charing Cross, 
 and other the like monuments impartially.' In this 
 passage the author certainly intends a slight ridicule of 
 the over-zeal of the knight ; but ]\Ii\ Hume, in order to 
 
 * Old Pari. Hist. vol. ix. p. 114; novations, and particularly the read- 
 Cob. Pari. Hist, vol. ii. p. ()73 ; ing of tlie king's orders for the Book 
 Whitelocke, p. 39 ; Clar. vol. i. p. of Sports, because the ' established 
 356 et seq. g-overnment, both in church and state, 
 
 t May, p. 81. The niannor in had strictly enjoined them;' but 
 
 ■which Mr. Hume speaks on this sub- thougli the king ordered it, it was 
 
 jeet is singular. He justifies the in- directly against law.
 
 SCOTTISH ARMY STILL IN ENGLAND. 263 
 
 throw odium on the age, so far improves his authority as chap. 
 to say, that Harlow's 'abhorrence of that superstitious >.„ ^ /' _. 
 figure wduld not any where allow one piece of wood or 
 stone to lie over another at right angles.' In order to 
 enter into the spirit of the proceeding, we must recollect 
 the state of the times. The cross had originaUy been 
 erected as an object of devotion, and the age of that 
 superstition was too recent to let men regard such things 
 with the indifference to which we are accustomed ; but 
 this feehng would have been faint, had it not been for 
 the injudicious attempt to restore image-worship, and the 
 adoration which really began to be paid to such monu- 
 ments of idolatry. It is by not attending to these matters 
 that a particular period may be misrepresented. 
 
 The Scottish army still continued in England, and the Scottish 
 royal army was not disbanded. The first did not remain 
 on the south of the Tweed without the approbation of 
 the parliament and people, who plainly foresaw, that 
 should the kins: be relieved of his embarrassments before 
 the legislature had devised a remedy for the pulDlic griev- 
 ances, he would, according to his past conduct, imme- 
 diately revert to that arbitrary rule which had brought 
 the kingdom into so deplorable a condition. Parliament, 
 therefore, voted limited supphes, from time to time, allow- 
 ing the Scots 850/. a-day, but leaving their claims un- 
 settled; and, lest the money raised upon the subsidies 
 voted should be diverted from its legitimate object, ap- 
 pointed a committee of both houses, according to the 
 ancient practice, to attend to the expenditure. * 
 
 The celebrated Alexander Henderson, the leader of Scottish 
 the Scottish clergy, the accomphshed Baillie, the erudite London!^ 
 Gillespie and Blair, were early sent for from Scotland, by 
 the Earl of Eothes and the other commissioners from the 
 parhament of that kingdom, in order that they might 
 
 * Old Pari. Mist. voL ix. pp. 43, 20th Nov. et imdea ; of Commons, 
 49, 179 ; Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. 5th December, et postea ; VVhite- 
 pp. 671, 701, 707 ; Jotmi. of Lords, locke.
 
 264 
 
 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 Trieiiiial 
 Act, Feb- 
 ruary 16, 
 161]. 
 
 attend to the interests of their church in the pending 
 treaty. These famous divines preached as chaplains, by- 
 turns, in one of tlie lecture-rooms ; and, as was to have 
 been expected at such a juncture, from men of their re- 
 putation, capacity, and profound as well as varied erudi- 
 tion, they drew immense crowds : if we may form an 
 estimate of their pulpit-oratory from their works, we may 
 safely pronounce that the English did not discredit them- 
 selves by flocking to hear such preachers.* 
 
 By statute, a parhament was appointed to be called 
 every year ; but, unfortunately, there was no provision 
 in the act for the assembliui>; of the legislature in the 
 event of the sovereign's desiring to avoid it ; and, fre)m 
 the late utter departure from the constitutional course, it 
 
 * Clarendon, vol. i. p. 331 et seq ; 
 see also Baillie's Letters, vol. i. p. 
 214 et seq. Clarendon says, that 
 ' to hear those sermons thei-e was so 
 great a conflux and resort by the 
 citizens, out of humour and faction ; 
 by others of all quality out of curi- 
 osity ; and by some, that they might 
 the better justify the contempt they 
 had of them ; that from the first ap- 
 pearance of day on every Sunday, to 
 the shutting in of thelight,the church 
 was never empty. They (especially 
 the women) who had the happiness 
 to get into the church in the morning, 
 (they who could not, hung upon or 
 about the windows without, to be 
 auditors or spectators), keeping their 
 places till the afternoon's exercise 
 Avas finished; which, both morning 
 and afternoon, except to palates 
 ridiculously corrupted, was the most 
 insipid and fiat that could be deli- 
 vered upon any deliberation' (Ibid.). 
 Such language was naturally to have 
 been expected from this historian, 
 whose task of vindicating the royal 
 cause required something of the kind, 
 and whose bigoted dislike to the 
 Presbyterian ettablishmeut, and an- 
 tipatliy to the Scots, particularly the 
 clergy, and above all to Henderson, 
 blinded him to any merit in them. 
 Jjut one is amused with Mr. Hume's 
 
 statement upon the above authority : 
 ' Those who were so happy as to find 
 access early in the morning, kept 
 their places the whole day: those 
 who were excluded, clung to the 
 doors and windows, in hopes of catch- 
 iiuj at least some distant murmur or 
 broken 2^^trases of the holy rhetoric. 
 All the eloquence of parliament, 
 now well-refined from pedantry, 
 animated with the spirit of libert}> 
 and employed in the most important 
 interests, was not attended to with 
 such insatiable avidity as were these 
 lectm-es, delivered with ridiculous cant, 
 and a provincial accent, full of bar- 
 barism and ignorance.' As for their 
 provincial accent, the author ought 
 to have had some sympathy for it, 
 and it showed the good sense of the 
 English to overlook it : as for their 
 barbai'ism and ignorance, it is only 
 necessary to say that, had he perused 
 their works, he would most probably, 
 in spite of all his prejudices, have 
 deeply venerated their profound eru- 
 dition. Yet the most illiterate field- 
 preachers could not be more con- 
 temptuously spoken of: but, it may 
 be observed, that, had the peojile not 
 flocked zealously to hear such men 
 at such a crisis, it would have been 
 little short of a miracle in natm-e.
 
 GOODMAX THE JESUIT. — STRAPFORD. 265 
 
 became necessary to make a provision against the abuse, chap. 
 
 A bill, therefore, hke that lately passed in Scotland, was . .J . 
 
 introduced into the Lower House, providing that a par- 
 liament, which should not be prorogued or dissolved 
 within a certain time, should be held at least once in 
 three years ; and tliat the sheriffs should themselves issue 
 writs, provided the period elapsed without a parliament.* 
 The passing of this bill by the king gave great satis- 
 faction. 
 
 In one instance, the Commons cannot be acquitted of Case of 
 intolerance, though they proceeded according to law. [Jiy"j"sull. 
 The statutes against Jesuits and Seminary priests, who 
 endeavoured to withdraw the people equally from their 
 religion and allegiance, had never been executed capitally 
 against any who had not likewise been engaged dkectly 
 in a plot against the state ; but parliament, having heard 
 that one Goodman had been convicted, and dreading lest 
 the suspension of the law in liis case should pave the way 
 for the pardon of Strafford, insisted upon his execution. 
 Charles at first endeavoured to save the accused, but the 
 convict having himself petitioned for death, that his life 
 might not be a ground of contention, he yielded him up 
 a victim to the parliament, who, having gained their 
 object, permitted the priest to hve forgotten.f 
 
 The select and secret committee for drawing the charge Strafford, 
 against Strafford devoted themselves indefatigably to 
 the business, and at last brought it forward in twenty- 
 eight different articles. It was presented to the Lords by 
 Pym, and as it filled two hundred sheets of paper, and 
 involved the conduct of the accused for fourteen years, 
 he requested to be allowed three months to prepare his 
 
 * Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 295, 298. This Jesuit, whose manly 
 
 702-716 ; Journ. offering himself a sacrifice for peace 
 
 t Journals of Lords, 23rd Jan. is so creditable to him, had been 
 
 1041, et postea. ; Old Pari. Hist. vol. condemned before and sent away 
 
 ix. pp. 168, 171, 174, 176 ; Cobbett's witli an assurance that he would be 
 
 Pari. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 710, 712 et hanged if he returned (p. 293j, 
 seq. ; see Baillie's Let. vol. i. pp. 298,
 
 2G6 COXSTITUTIOJ^'AL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, answer. This was deemed too long, but he was allowed 
 - "/• ■ from the 30th of January till the 24th of February. A 
 question was agitated whether counsel should be assigned 
 to him in a case of treason ; and, after a debate, he was 
 allowed to have counsel in points of law, but not of fact. 
 He selected Sir Eichard Lane, Gardiner, and others, who 
 likewise drew his answers.* 
 
 In order to save the life of tliis devoted individual, 
 Charles appointed Mr. St. John solicitor-general ; and 
 meant to bestow the high offices on the Earl of Bedford, 
 Lord Say, Messrs. Pym, Hollis, Hampden, and others ; 
 but though, with this view, Juxon resigned his treasurer's 
 staff, and Cottington his office of master of the wards, the 
 arrangement failed. Lideed, it could not possibly have 
 succeeded according to tlie royal expectations ; for, from 
 an idea that their popidarity both with the English and 
 Scots would enable them to accommodate all matters 
 agreeably to the king, it was intended to unite these men 
 in administration with the very individual whom they 
 were so hotly pursuing. Policy, as w^ell as duty to his 
 people, ought to have dictated the choice of popular 
 ministers; but no mistake is more fatal to a prince, whose 
 misgovernment is so universally condemned, than the 
 notion that, by changing his ministers, he may yet gain 
 the hearts of his people, and continue his misrule. The 
 popularity of individuals arises from the confidence re- 
 posed in tlieir principles, and the instant they turn 
 apostates they lose their characters. The tergiversation 
 of statesmen is no doubt useful to bad rulers, by sickening 
 the general mind at all j^rofessions, and by the opportunity 
 which it affi.)rds them of ridiculing everything like public 
 spirit. But, in the present temper of the kingdom, Charles, 
 had he succeeded in seducing those individuals, would 
 have soon discovered that he had only rendered them 
 
 * Clarendon is very disingeuuoiis Lords, 19th Xov. etpostea. ; Old Farl. 
 on this subject, vol. i. p. 394 et seq. Hist. vol. ix. pp. 186, 187 ; Cob. 
 See Whitelocke, p. 41 ; Jourtuds of Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 740.
 
 TEIAL OF STRAFFORD. 267 
 
 the greatest objects of public hate, and roused others to chap. 
 
 take their place, perhaps on higher ground.* . ^^i_^ 
 
 The trial of Strafford commenced on the 22nd of Trial of 
 March, and a more imposing spectacle never was ex- be^u^ 
 hibited. It was held in Westminster Hall ; and the kincr ^Jfi'^'i -2- 
 
 •-^ 1041. 
 
 and queen, with a vast concourse of ladies, attended. 
 The Lords in their robes, and with the Earl of Arundel, 
 as lord high steward of England, at their head, sat in 
 the middle of the hall, on forms covered with red cloth. 
 The Earl of Lindsay, who was created high constable of 
 England for the occasion, was director of the place. 
 Scaffolds were erected on either side of the hall, and at 
 the lower end of these were seated the members of the 
 Commons as a committee. At the upper end there was a 
 chair or throne, with a cloth of state for the king, with a 
 small chair for the prince ; but these were never occupied. 
 A gallery of two apartments was erected on each side, one 
 for the king, queen, prince. Princess Mary, Prince Elector, 
 and some ladies belonging to the court ; the other for 
 some hiijh French nobles. In the first of these did 
 Charles daily watch all the proceedings of the whole 
 house ; it having been, anterior to the trial, tacitly re- 
 solved upon by them to proceed idtimately by act of 
 attainder, and the house, holding it necessary and fit that 
 all the members might be present at the trial, to the end 
 every one might satisfy his own conscience in the giving 
 of their vote to demand judgment.f Hundreds of gentle- 
 men were accommodated with places. At the lower end 
 there was a place for ladies of quality, who, as we have 
 said, resorted to the trial in vast numbers, and soon en- 
 listed themselves on the side of the prisoner. J The pre- 
 
 * Clar. vol. i. p. 3G9 etseq.; see liament, 'who is unsatisfied with him, 
 
 also p. 341 ; Whitelocke, p. 41 ; believiuo- hiin to be gained by the 
 
 Sichiei/ Papers, vol. ii. pp. 664, GGG. king' {Id. p. 064). 
 
 It is curious that the Earl of North- t Journal for 11th March, p. 102 
 
 umberland, on the 3rd December, et seq. 
 
 \vi'ites-to the Earl of Leicester, that \ Journals of Lords, pai'ticularly 
 
 if Bedford got the treasurer's place, for lOtli March ; Whitelocke, p. 46 ; 
 
 it was not by the favour of the par- Clarendon, vol. i. p. 376 et seq. :
 
 268 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 Substance 
 of Stnif- 
 lord's im- 
 peach- 
 mcut. 
 
 lates did not attend, as the canons of the church forbade 
 their interferinic in cases of blood or death.* 
 
 Strafford had some advantages of person, and he knew 
 the vahie of exterior on so momentous an occasion, 
 when, as the subject of this grandly impressive scene, he 
 was necessarily surveyed with the deepest interest and 
 curiosity. His complexion was dark and coarse, but 
 manly ; his figure tall, and in some respects well-formed. 
 He natin-ally stooped much, which would, at another 
 time, have detracted greatly from his appearance ; but, 
 being now attributed to his late bodily infirmities, it ex- 
 cited sympathy. He appeared in black, the solemnity 
 of which corresponded with his present fortune ; and his 
 carriage was at once modest and dignified. Nothing, 
 indeed, could smooth the contraction of his brows, but 
 as it iiO longer indicated the stern haughtiness which 
 had raised against him so many personal enemies, it im- 
 posed something like a mysterious awe, by inspiring the 
 idea of calm reflection and self-collectedness, becoming in 
 a man who liad fallen from such a height of power, while 
 his unwonted affability stole upon those who approached 
 him.-j- 
 
 The substance of the twenty-eight articles of the im- 
 peachment was, That he had ti'aitorously endeavoured to 
 subvert the fundamental laws and constitution, both of 
 England and Ireland, and to introduce an arbitrary 
 government in their place ; a project which he had 
 developed by traitorous counsels and actions, having even 
 advised his majesty to reduce the people to submission 
 
 Ilail. 3ISS. Britisli Museum, No. 
 1709; Scott's »SoM(W6'' Tracts, vol. 
 iv. p. 230 ; May, p. 01, 92 ; Litrod. to 
 the Trial, by Hush. vol. viii. ; Bail- 
 lie's Let. vol. i. p. .314 et seq. 
 
 • Clar. vol. i. p. 379 et seq.; Wlute- 
 locke, p. 41 ; Sanderson, p. 37G; 
 Journals of Lords. 
 
 t Wiiileloclco, p. 42 ; Hush. vol. 
 viii. p. 772; Clar. vol. i. p. 218; 
 
 Baillie, vol. i. p. 259; War. Mem. 
 p. 112; Scott's So/ners' Tracts, \o\. 
 iv. p. 231 ; Ilarl. 3/66'. Brit. Mus. 
 No. 1769 ; Mem. par Motteville torn, 
 i. p. 251. ' II etoit laid, inais assez 
 agreable de sa personue, et la Heine 
 me contant Unites ces choses, s'arreta 
 }Kmr medire quil avoit les jyhts belles 
 mains da monde.''
 
 SUBSTANCE OF THE ARTICLES AGAINST STRAFFORD. 269 
 
 by military force : That he had traitorously assumed regal chap. 
 power over the hves and persons of the subjects in both ^^^' 
 kingdoms : That to enrich himself, and to enable him to 
 carry through his traitorous designs, he had, in spite of 
 the king's necessities, diverted the public money from 
 the state to his own private emolument : That he had 
 traitorously abused the power and authority of his office, 
 by encouraging Papists, that they might assist him in 
 turn : That he had maliciously tried to stir up enmity 
 betwixt the subjects of England and Scotland, and had 
 thus caused the effusion of blood, and the loss of New- 
 castle : And that, to preserve himself from being ques- 
 tioned, he had endeavoured to subvert the fundamental 
 rights of parliament.* 
 
 Such was the substance of the twenty-eight articles, in 
 which were enumerated the various acts of tyranny on 
 which each charge w^as founded : As that his commission 
 for the Council of York had been, contrarj^ to form and 
 precedents as well as law, altogether unlimited : That all 
 prohibitions had been rejected by him, and that he had 
 fined, disinherited, imprisoned, &c. at discretion ; while he 
 had even declared that ' some were all for law, and 
 nothing but law would please them ; but that they should 
 find the king's little fmger of prerogative was heavier than 
 the lovers of the law ; ' That in Ireland he had declared 
 the island to be a conquered country, and the chapters of 
 Dublin discretionary grants from the crown : That the 
 Earl of Cork had sued out a process for the recovery of 
 his lands, from which he had been ousted by the accused 
 and the council-table, upon a paper petition, without any 
 legal proceeding ; and that Strafford threatened to im- 
 prison him for adopting this legal course, declaring that 
 he would neither have law nor lawyers to question his 
 orders : That, on another occasion, he had likewise 
 denied justice to this earl, and openly said, that he would 
 
 * Jormial of Lords, 25tli Nov. (see forMarcli 2oth, ctpostea).
 
 270 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, have liim and all Ireland know that, so Ions; as he held 
 III • 
 
 the government there, any act of council already made, 
 
 or which should be thereafter, should be no less obliga- 
 tory than an act of parliament. He was likewise accused 
 of having, on many other occasions, arrogated power 
 above the laws and the established government. The pro- 
 ceedings against Lord Mountnorris formed other articles. 
 This peer had been hurried before a court-martial without 
 the slightest suspicion of such an event, on a charge of 
 some words loosely spoken at the chancellor's table several 
 months before — words which he denied havinoj ever 
 uttered ; and was, by the unjust influence of Strafford, 
 capitally condemned. It was also charged against Straf- 
 ford that he had thrust this nobleman out of the manor 
 of Timour, in the county of Armagh, wdiich he had quietly 
 possessed upon an undisputed title for eighteen years, by 
 an order of the council- table merely, upon a paper petition 
 of one Eichard Ealston. It was charg-ed that Lord Dillon 
 had been thrust out of his possession in consequence of 
 an extrajudicial opinion extorted from the judges : That 
 the Earl of Kildare, for refusing to submit his title and 
 lordship of Castleleigh, to the council-table, was imprisoned, 
 and not even liberated when he had obtained his majesty's 
 letters of enlargement : That a lady of the name of 
 Hibbets, had also been oblio-ed to submit her rifjhts to 
 the council, and had been denied even the benefit of the 
 regular proceedings of that tribunal ; for that though the 
 majority voted in her favour, Strafford commanded an 
 order to be entered against her, and tln^eatened that if she 
 refused to submit he would imprison her, and amerce her 
 of 500/. ; and that, if she continued obstinate, he w^ould 
 double the fine every month. The lady, however, per- 
 ceived too well the folly of resistance to contend Avitli 
 him. Tliere were many similar instances enumerated ; 
 but the most detestable, for it apparently sprang from the 
 most odious motive, was the case of Chancellor Lord 
 Loftus, who had held the seals of Ireland for twenty years
 
 VARIOUS ACTS OF TYRAXNY IX IRELAND. 271 
 
 with high reputation. The accused, it would appear, chap. 
 liad formed an ilhcit attachment to this noble judge's . ^^^' - 
 daughter-in-law ; and as she, though false to her husband's 
 bed, was yet true enough to his pecuniary interest, or 
 rather to her own, she prevailed with her paramour to 
 force her father-in-law into concessions to the son ; and 
 because the chancellor refused obedience to an iniquitous 
 award of the council-table, on a paper petition, he. was by 
 Strafford not only deprived of the seals but imprisoned.* 
 He was accused of having delegated the arbitrary power 
 which- he had assumed, to the Bishop of Down and 
 C(onnor, and his chancellor, with their several officers, 
 empowering them to attach and imprison the poorer sort 
 who refused obedience to their decrees : of havino' en- 
 hanced the rate of the customs f from a twentieth of the 
 value of the article to a fourth, and sometimes a third ; 
 of having restrained the exportation of staples, and then 
 granted a licence for money ; of having procured to him- 
 self a monopoly of tobacco, and then having prohibited 
 the importation of the commodity without a licence, under 
 the most terrible penalties. The goods of the contraveners 
 were ordered to be seized, themselves subjected to a dis- 
 cretionary fine, imprisonment, and even to the pillory. 
 In this way, he is alleged to have amassed the enormous 
 sum of a hundred thousand pounds. Flax was a staple of 
 Ireland, and it was charged against Strafford, that, having 
 
 * Clar. Yol. i. pp. 386, 390 et seq. ; What a picture of depravity does not 
 "\VarT\'ick's J/em. pp. 116, 117. Cla- tlie whole exhibit? The same au- 
 reudou says that ' The case of the thor (Ibid.) informs us, that letters of 
 lord chancellor seemed, to common f»-reat affection and familiarity which 
 iinderstaudiug's, an act of less vio- were found in her cabinet at her 
 lence, because it concerned not life; death (for she was lately dead), were 
 and had some show of formality at exposed to public view, and we can- 
 least, if not regularity, in the proceed- not doubt their existence, considering- 
 ings ; and that which was amiss in the authority ; but he is mistaken so 
 it took its growth from a nobler root far, for the Commons did not insist 
 than the other — b>/ hoio much love is on the charge regarding the chau- 
 a more honourable passion than re- cellor — a clear proof that they did 
 venc/e'' (Id. j). 3U0). The last words not search after scandal. See Rush, 
 printed in italics, were prudently and Baillie. 
 omitted by the original editors. f He farmed the customs himself.
 
 272 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EiiriRE. 
 
 CHAr. raised a vast quantity on his own lands, and otherwise 
 ^^^' engrossed an immense stock, he had prohibited the manu- 
 facturing of wool, nnd then insisted upon the natives 
 spinning the flax in a particular manner, whereby he, in 
 a short tmie, got a monopoly in his own person, at an 
 infinite expence to the inhabitants : That he had imposed 
 illegal oaths upon shipmasters and others ; had exacted 
 taxes by troops of soldiers ; and, Avherever his orders were 
 resisted, he had quartered a party of soldiers till his com- 
 mands were fulfilled : That, in the same way, lie had 
 driven many families from their possessions : That he had 
 obtained authority from the king to prevent the complaints 
 of the injured from reaching the royal ear, by a procla- 
 mation that none should quit the limits of his government, 
 without a licence from himself, and had fined and im- 
 prisoned all who had dared to disobey his proclamation : 
 That he had said his majesty was so well pleased wdtli 
 the ariTiy in Ireland, that he meant to make it a pattern 
 for England : That he had encouraged Papists, and raised 
 an army of 8000 from that body : That he had imposed 
 an illegal oath upon the Scots in Ireland, and exacted 
 enormous fines of those wdio refused to take it : That on 
 his late departure from Ireland, he pronoimced the Scots 
 all traitors, and declared that, if he returned, he would 
 drive them out root and branch : * That he had stirred 
 up war betwixt England and Scotland ; and, though he 
 liad advised a parliament, he had assured his majesty at 
 the same tune, that he would assist him in extraordinary 
 Avays, if it proved refractory ; and had for that purpose, 
 confederated with Sir George EatchfTe to bring over the 
 Irish army : That he afterwards advised the king to 
 
 * That lie entertained the deliber- he unwittingly thought would con- 
 ate purpose of banishing ' all the un- tinue his instrument — a humble re- 
 der Scots in Ulster, by proclamation,' quest to that efiect, than to issue a 
 with the exception of a few great a proclamation grounded upon it 
 landholders, is fully established by a (Whitaker's Life of Rat. p. 200 et 
 letter from liim to iSir (leorge Had- scq.'). The letter is endorsed by Hat- 
 cliffe. His project was to elicit from cUtle, ' Projwsitum Scots rpjected hy 
 the Irish House of Commons — which me and crossed.''
 
 CHARGE AGAINST STRAFFORD CONTINUED. " 273 
 
 dissolve the parliament, and declared to him, that he was chap. 
 now absolved from all rules of ofovernment : That he _IHi 
 advised the Idng to go on vigorously with levying ship- 
 money ; and had recommended the prosecution of sheriffs 
 in the Star Chamber for not pursumg measures to raise 
 that illegal tax : That a loan of 100,000/. having been 
 demanded of the city of London, and the citizens having 
 declined to advance the money, the names of the principal 
 refusers were demanded : and when the mayor and alder- 
 men had resisted this iniquitous demand, he told them 
 that no good could ever be expected till the mayor and 
 some of the aldermen were hanged : That, by his advice, 
 the bullion in the Tower had been seized, and the measure 
 to debase the coin projected ; and when the officers of 
 the mint represented to liim the consequences of a debase- 
 ment of the coin, he answered, that the French king set 
 commissaries of horse to search into men's estates, and 
 to peruse accompts, that they might know what to levy, 
 and that the money was raised by force ; that having said 
 this, he turned to the Lord Cottington, who was present, 
 and remarked, that this was a point Avortliy of his con- 
 sideration ; fartlier, that he had imposed a tax in the 
 county of York for the maintenance of the trained bands. 
 The twenty-eighth article regarded his conduct in the late 
 war.* 
 
 His answer to the charge, prepared by coimsel, was 
 specious, but scarcely bore examination ; f and no sooner 
 had the Ldsh parliament felt themselves freed from the 
 terror of his government, than they had drawn up a re- 
 monstrance against him. This was read at the beginning 
 of the trial, and so transported Strafford with passion, 
 that he declared there was a conspiracy to take away his 
 life ; but the Commons having resented the speech he 
 
 * See the Chanje at length, in 350, forms the most complete re- 
 Rush, vol. viii., which is filled with port. 
 
 this remarkahle trial ; and which, f Baillie's Journal, pp. 313-350. 
 with Baillie's Journal, from p. 313 to 
 
 VOL. II. T
 
 274 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BEITISII EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, made an apology : Maynard remarked that the remon- 
 . ^^}- strance was not read as a charge, but merely as evidence 
 to contradict what he had said in his preamble.* 
 
 Very arbitrary acts during his presidentship of York 
 were proved against him ; but he denied that he had 
 been instrumental in procuring the commission chiefly 
 objected to, alleging that he had gone to Ireland about 
 the time the commission was sent down, and that he had 
 never sat as president after the new instructions were 
 framed. That he had never presided in the council after 
 the instructions were sent down is true ; but then he had 
 retained the office, and discharged the duty by means of 
 a deputy, so that in effect the whole power was centred 
 in himself; and he, in acting by deputy, necessarily in- 
 curred the responsibility. With regard, again, to his 
 instrumentahty in obtaining such instructions, it was not 
 directly proved ; but as it was distinctly established that 
 he had, on one occasion, thrown himself upon his knees 
 to the king, and prayed of his majesty that he might be 
 permitted to retire from the office, if his authority were 
 restrained by the legal course of a prohibition from 
 Westminster Hall ; and as the article against prohibitions, 
 an article which disfranchised the whole northern counties 
 of the piivileges of English subjects, formed the grand 
 exception to the instructions, it follows that he must be 
 considered more than the adviser of them. In short, 
 those instructions merely warranted, in the I'oyal name, 
 what he had arrogated and prayed for as a power to be 
 considered inherent in his office, before they were issued. 
 It was also proved that he had threatened to lay any by 
 the heels who sued out a proliibition ; and, had his dis- 
 patches been open to the inspection of tlie prosecutors, 
 there would not have been left the colom* of an excuse ; 
 for he had even used all his inlluence to accomplish the 
 ruin of a judge, Vernou, for merely acting in the con- 
 
 " Jlmh. vol. viii. p. 127 ; Baillie's Journal, p. 219.
 
 Hume's vindication of the council op york. 275 
 
 scientious discharge of his duty against the other's usurped chap. 
 power. He also argued with pecuhar effrontery, that it - ^^}' . 
 was laudable to desire power, that a man might be in a 
 sphere to do the more good.* 
 
 We have already given a particular account of the 
 Council of York, and we shall not farther resume the 
 subject here, than to remark, that the first great invasion 
 of liberty had occurred towards the close of the late 
 reign ; and that, by the last commission granted by tlie 
 present king, the whole northern counties were com- 
 pletely disfranchised of their rights. The vindication 
 of the late and present monarch, but particularly of 
 Charles and his advisers, especially Strafford, by Mr. 
 Hume, is perhaps the most singular ever used. ' The 
 court being at first instituted,' says he, ' by a stretch 
 of royal prerogative, it had been usual for the princes 
 to vary the instructions ; and the largest authority 
 committed was altosrether as lecral as the most mo- 
 derate and most limited.' According to this logic, 
 should a prince erect a court illegally, for the trial of 
 causes below twenty shillings, it could not be any breach 
 of duty in a public minister to advise, and obtain, powers 
 for engrossing every species of cause whatever, involving 
 the persons and fives, as well as real and personal property 
 of the people, and dispensing with the whole established 
 laws. Besides, it ought to be remembered, that an abuse 
 is not sanctioned by its antiquity ; and that small matters 
 are frequently overlooked, because no one thinks them 
 worth his interference : but, if the inveteracy of a trifling 
 abuse, which has only been submitted to because it was 
 deemed unworthy of notice, were to form a justification 
 for at once overturning the whole estabfished laws, it 
 would be preposterous to talk of anything like law or a 
 constitution in a state. The origin of that court, which 
 Mr. Hume appears to have little studied, has been ex- 
 
 * CTittrye I. ; see also vol. ii. of lie's Journal, p. 219 ; Straff. Let. and 
 Rush, already referred to, and Bail- Disp. vol. i. pp. 129, 130. 
 
 T 2
 
 276 CONSTITUTIOJSTAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, plained ; and the reader need not be reminded, that 
 , ' - the judicial powers attempted to be assumed under tlie 
 Tudors, had been restrained ; that the courts of West- 
 minster were open to that part of the kingdom against 
 any abuse of power or undue arrogation of authority 
 by that tribunal. 
 
 The second article charged, that he had said ' some 
 we're all for law, and nothing but law would please them ; 
 but that they should find tliat the king's little finger of 
 prerogative should be heavier than the loins of the law,' 
 was proved by no less than five witnesses. Strafllird alleged 
 that he merely said, that they would find the little finger 
 of the law heavier than the loins of the prerogative ; and 
 that he had used the expression relative to kniglit-money, 
 conceiving that the composition was lower than the legal 
 rate. To prove this he brought forward two witnesses : 
 The first, a Dr. Duncombe, deposed, that he heard a 
 report of the speech afterwards, at a dinner, from one 
 who called himself Sir Edward Stanhope, and that it 
 agreed with Strafford's own edition : the otlier was Sir 
 B. Penny man, who w^as not sworn, but declared that he 
 was present, and that the account by the accused was 
 correct. With regard to Duncombe, his deposition was 
 not even in the shape of evidence ; and as to Pennyman, of 
 whom Baillie informs us that ' both here, and manie tymes 
 else, he deponed point blank all he required,' — there were 
 circumstances attending his statement which satisfied all 
 present that he did not speak truth. Maynard, as manager, 
 desired that it might be asked of him when the words 
 first came to liis remembrance (no question was put to 
 a Avitness directly except by the lord high steward), 
 and he answered that he had always remembered them, 
 but that they had been particularly brought to his recol- 
 lection since they were charged ngainst Strafford. May- 
 nard presently catches him ; that he must be responsible 
 to the house, for not only not having made this statement 
 to the Commons when the charge was voted, but for him-
 
 STRAFFOKD'S ANSWER TO THE CHARGE RELATING TO IRELAND. 277 
 
 self having voted to an article which he knew to be chap. 
 unfounded. Upon this there was a general liiss, and ^_if,L_. 
 Pennyman fell a- weeping ; while the prisoner declared, 
 that he would rather commit himself entirely to the 
 mercy of God than any witness for him should incur 
 danger or disgrace. It is needless to observe that the , 
 proof was sufficient in law, and that the testimony of 
 these five witnesses finds corroboration in the language 
 used by him in his dispatches, as well as in the very 
 powers usurped by him over the northern counties.* 
 
 His answer to that part of the charge which related to 
 Ireland was flaming in the extreme : that he had pro- 
 moted the cause of religion ; increased the revenue of 
 the church ; built churches ; and preferred learned and 
 orthodox preachers ; had advanced the king's power ; and 
 had so augmented the revenue as to have paid oJT large 
 debts, and left a considerable sum in the exchequer : that 
 he had increased the army and governed it by the strict- 
 est discipline : that he had been the means of calling 
 parliaments, and putting an end to projects and mono- 
 polies as burdensome and grievous to the people : that, 
 under his government, the shipping had increased a hun- 
 dred fold ; trade had prospered, and justice had been 
 administered without partiality or corruption : that the 
 laws of Ireland were quite different from those of Eng- 
 land ; and that consequently he could not be judged of by 
 the law of the latter : tliat the council had always exer- 
 cised an extensive jurisdiction ; and that martial law was 
 justified by the practice of his predecessors, who had used 
 it with the same moderation as himself. f To this defence 
 Pym replied thus : ' For religion we say, and shall prove, 
 that he has been diligent indeed to favour innovations — 
 to favour superstition — to favour the encroachments of 
 
 * RusTi. voL viii. The five wit- gram. See Baillie's Journal of the 
 
 nesses were, AVilliam Long, Sir Trial, p. 321 et seq. 
 
 Thomas Layton, Mar. Pottes, Sir t See his Answer in Rush, vol, 
 
 David Fowlis, and Sir William In- viii.
 
 278 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, the clergy ; but, for religion, it never received any aclvan- 
 V ^ - tage from him ; nay, a great deal of hm^t.' 
 
 ' He saith he hath been a great husband for the church, 
 and truly hath brought in many lands to the church ; but 
 he hath brought them in by ways without law, without 
 rules of justice : he hath taken away men's inheritances. 
 And here, my lords, is an offering of rapine ; an offering 
 of injustice and violence ; and will God accept such an 
 offering; ? Must the revenues of the church be raised that 
 way ? It is true it was the more in the way of preferment. 
 He knew who sat at the helm here, the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury ; and such services might win more credit 
 with him. It was not an eye to God and religion ; but 
 an eye to his own preferment.' 
 
 Mr. Pym then proceeds to consider his statement about 
 building of churches, and says : ' Many churches have 
 been built since his government. Truly, my lords, why 
 he should have any credit or honour if other men built 
 churches I know not : I am sure we hear of no churches 
 he hath built himself If he would have been careful to 
 have set up good preachers, that would have stirred up 
 devotion in men, and made them desirous of the know- 
 ledge of God, and by that means made more churches, it 
 had been something ; but I hear nothing of spiritual edi- 
 fication — nothing of the knowledge of God that hatli, by 
 his means, been dispersed in tliat kingdom. And cer- 
 tainly they that strive not to build up men's souls in a 
 spiritual way of edification, let them build all the material 
 churches that can be, they will do no good ; God is not 
 worshipped with walls, but with hearts.' 
 
 ' He saith that many orthodox and learned preachers 
 liave been advanced by his means, and the doctrine and 
 discipline of the church of England by his means pro- 
 tected and defended. My lords, I sliall give but two or 
 three patterns of the clergy that he hath preferred : If 
 you will take Dr. Atherton, he is not to be found above 
 ground, for he Avas hanged for many foul and unspeak-
 
 PYM PROCEEDS TO CONSIDER STRAFFORD's STATEMENT. 279 
 
 able offences : Dr. Bramhall hath been preferred to a great chap. 
 
 bishopric ; but he is a man that now stands charged with . ^^}- , 
 
 high treason : he hath been but two years in Ireland, and 
 yet he hath laid out at least 30,000/. in purchases. I 
 shall name but one chaplain more, and that is one Arthur 
 Gwyn, who, about 1G34, was an under-groom to the Earl 
 of Cork, in his stable : in the year after, Dr. Bramhall 
 preferred him to be a clergyman ; and a parsonage and 
 two vicarages were taken from my lord of Cork, and 
 given to this Arthur Gwyn. I shaU add no more patterns 
 of his clergy.' 
 
 ' As for the honour of the king, my lords, we say it is 
 the honour of the king that he is the father of his people ; 
 that he is the fountain of justice ; and it cannot stand 
 with liis honour and justice to have his government 
 stained and polluted with tyranny and oppression.' 
 
 ' For the increase of the revenue : it is true there may 
 be some addition of sums ; but we say there is no addi- 
 tion of strength nor wealth, because in those parts where 
 it hath been increased this earl hath taken the G;reatest 
 share himself : and when he hath spoiled and ravined on 
 the people, he hath been content to yield up some part 
 to the king, that he might wath more security enjoy the 
 rest.' Pym then enters into a particular examination of 
 the revenue, and refutes Strafford's statement, showing 
 by the records that, since the year 1Q22 (nine yeans 
 before his appointment), Ireland had supported itself: 
 that he g(3t the most extraordinary subsidies from the 
 parliament (by what means we have seen, and shall im- 
 mediately see more ) ; that he had been guilty of rapine 
 and injustice, forcing men even to resign their estates ; 
 and that his expenditure had been excessive, while he had 
 himself, by a deceitful bargain to farm the customs, made 
 from eighteen to twenty thousand a-year ; nay, that he 
 had even taken 24,000/. from the exchequer, about two 
 years since ; and though the royal army was in want, had 
 only paid the money in lately : that, as to his pretence of
 
 280 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BEITISII EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, having put down monopolies, he best proved the cause of 
 . -^^Z' . his dishke to them by taking the most profitable to him- 
 self, as well as by his farming of the customs, with which 
 certain monopolies put down by him interfered. That, 
 as to the great increase of shipping and of trade — that 
 arose out of the particular situation of that kingdom, which 
 had been for the first time settled in peace a little before 
 his appointment, and consequently was in a condition to 
 make a most rapid advance, not from the nature of his 
 government, which had, by the number of monopolies, 
 &c., exercised in his oWn person, been destructive to 
 trade. 
 
 ' He says,' remarks Pym, ' he was a means of calling a 
 parliament not long after he came to his government. 
 My lords, parliaments, without parhamentary liberties, are 
 but a fair and plausible way into bondage. That parlia- 
 ment had not the liberties of a parliament : Sir Pierce 
 Crosby, for speaking against a bill in the Commons' house, 
 was sequestered from the council-table, and committed to 
 prison. Sir John Clot worthy, for the same cause, was 
 threatened that he should lose a lease he had. Mr. Barn- 
 well, and two other gentlemen, were threatened they 
 should have troops of horse put upon them for speaking 
 in the house. Proxies by dozens were given by some of 
 bis favourites. Parliaments coming in by these ways are 
 grievances, mischiefs, and miseries ; no works of thanks or 
 honour.' — His desperate dispatch to Laud, as Prynne calls 
 it, relative to Ihs mode of balancing the parties of Pro- 
 testants and Papists in parliament, and governing the 
 whole assembly, had, unfortunately, not yet been obtained 
 by the Commons. 
 
 ' He saitli he had no commission but what his prede- 
 cessors had ; and that he hath executed that commission 
 with all moderation. For tlie commission, it was no 
 virtue of his if it were a good commission : I shall 
 say nothing of that.' ' But, for the second part, his 
 moderation ; when you find so many imprisoned of tlie
 
 ATROCITIES CHARGED AGAINST STRAFFORD IN IRELAND PROVED. 281 
 
 nobility ; so many men, some adjudged to death, some chap. 
 executed without law ; when you find so many public _£iL_ 
 rapines on the state, soldiers sent to make good his 
 decrees ; so many whippings in defence of monopolies ; 
 so many gentlemen that were jurors, because they would 
 not apply themselves to give verdicts on his side, to be 
 fmed in the Star Chamber ; men of quality to be dis- 
 graced, set on the ]jillory, and wearing papers and such 
 things as will appear through our evidence, can you think 
 there was any moderation ? And yet truly, my lords, I 
 can believe that if you compare his courses with otlier 
 parts of the world ungoverned, he will be found beyond all 
 in tyranny and harshness ; but, if you compare them Avith 
 his mind and disposition, perhaps there was moderation. 
 Habits, they say, are more perfect than acts, because they 
 are nearest the principles of action. The habit of cruelty 
 in himself, no doubt, is more perfect than any act of 
 cruelty he hath committed ; but, if this be moderation, I 
 think all men will pray to be delivered from it ; and I may 
 truly say that is verified in him, tlie mercies of the wicked 
 are cruel.''* 
 
 The greatest atrocities charged against him during his 
 government of Ireland were distinctly proved, and though 
 lie did adduce evidence to show that arbitrary acts 
 had likewise been committed by his predecessors, (how 
 far that ought to have been deemed an apology, we shall 
 not stop to inquire,) it was fully established that he had 
 far exceeded them all. Take the case of martial law : it 
 was distinctly proved that it had never been resorted to 
 except on manifest rebels, the kerns chiefly, and that Lord 
 Falkland's instructions allowed it only in the cases of war 
 and rebellion. JSTow, the case of Lord Mountnorris affords 
 the most complete evidence, to use the words of Clarendon, 
 of a temper excessively imperious. Mountnorris alleges, 
 and his allegation derives great support from Strafford's 
 
 * Rush. vol. viii. p. 104 et seq.
 
 282 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, letters, that the prisoner first took offence at a supposed 
 . ^^}' . want of respect to his brother, Sir George Wentworth, 
 and then insisted upon Mountnorris making a dishonour- 
 able sale of his offices : that he refused to sell at the de- 
 puty's command ; and that the latter thence lay on the 
 watch for his destruction. However this may be, the 
 pretext for a sentence of death against Mountnorris by a 
 court-martial was perhaps tlie most extraordinary that 
 ever occurred in any country where such a thing as law 
 was known. A Mr. Annesley, a distant relation of Mount- 
 norris, was in the service of the deputy, and had acciden- 
 tally dropped a stool upon his gouty toes : Wentworth, en- 
 raged with pain, instantly struck him violently with his 
 cane, and the incident happened to be a topic of discourse 
 at the chancellor's table in the presence of Mountnorris, 
 who, his pride being naturally wounded at such treatment 
 of a kinsman, remarked that tlie gentleman had a brother 
 who would not have borne such an insult.* This having 
 been reported to the deputy by eaves-droppers, who 
 aimed equally at gratifying him and obtaining the other's 
 offices, (Sir A. Loftus, the brother of the principal witness, 
 and husband of Strafford's fair friend, had been promised 
 the chief of them,) Wentworth, who began to dread that 
 in Mountnorris he might find an enemy fit to ruin liim 
 afterwards, eagerly embraced the opportunity which 
 seemed to present itself for tliat lord's destruction. The 
 remark was made in April, and Mountnorris never heard, 
 or thought more of it till December following, when he 
 received a message to attend at a council of war next 
 morning. Thither he went, perfectly unsuspicious of the 
 
 * Nothing- of this kind appears in his account is corroborated by Bail- 
 liush., and probably it was not lie (Clar. vol.i. p. 38G 6"^ «'5'.; Baillie's 
 brought out. It was enough for Journal, p. 325 et seq.). By the 
 Mountnorris to depo>e that the words way, Baillie's warm loyalty appears to 
 charged were never spoken by him ; have cooled at this juncture. 'The 
 but in this I have followed the ao day of coronation, we were deaved 
 count of Clarendon, who, thougli (deafened) all day with the ringing- 
 very incorrect in regard to the trial, of bells ' {Ibid.). 
 seems to have told the fact here, for
 
 CASE OF LORD MOUNTXORRIS. 283 
 
 cause, and inquired at his brother-councillors the meaning chap. 
 of this sudden summons to them all ; but they pretended ^Ji^ 
 equal ignorance A\dth himself. The deputy entered, and 
 told the council that he had so unexpectedly summoned 
 them for the trial of Mountnorris, who, though one of the 
 council of the army, had spoken mutinously against him 
 as the general ; and he then produced a letter from the 
 king commanding them to give reparation for the dan- 
 gerous injury done to his deputy. Tlie charge, which 
 was materially different from what had really passed, was 
 then read to this effect : — That it having been mentioned 
 at the chancellor's table, that Annesley had let a stool 
 drop on the deputy's toes, Mountnorris remarked, in a 
 scornful and contemptuous manner, ' perhaps it was done 
 in revenge of that public affront that my lord deputy 
 did me formerly ; but I have a brother who would not 
 have taken such a revenge.' The accused having heard the 
 charge, and the king's letter read, fell upon his knees, and 
 requested time for consultation, with a copy of his charge, 
 and to be allowed to retain counsel ; but all was denied, 
 and he was commanded instantly to confess or deny the 
 words, for that they should be proved if he denied them. 
 Mountnorris, as might be expected, was confounded, yet 
 he pleaded for his right as a subject and a peer; offered 
 to take his oath that he had never spoken the words 
 charged, and proposed to call the lord chancellor, and 
 even his son. Sir A. Loftus, who obtained his place, and 
 about twenty others who were present, to testify his inno- 
 cence ; but these requests, however reasonable, were all 
 insolently rejected ; while Lord Moore, who sat as one of 
 the judges, and Sir Eobert Loftus were desired to swear 
 to the contents of a paper produced by the deputy, which 
 appears to have been written out with his own hand, but 
 which they had subscribed. Upon this testimony, the 
 obsequious council found the accused guilty upon two 
 articles of disciphne, one importing banishment from the 
 army, the other death. They long endeavoured to satisfy
 
 284 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. Wentwortli with a verdict on the first ; but he vehemently 
 ' — ^ ' urged both or neither ; and they, having previously sti- 
 pulated for Mouutnorris's life, gratified his revengeful 
 enemy.* The accused then received sentence of death, 
 when the deputy told him that he should intercede with 
 his majesty for his life, and that himself would rather lose 
 his arm than Mountnorris a hair of his head or drop of 
 his blood ; a speech which, instead of soothing the con- 
 vict, appeared to add fresh insult to injury, by ])utting the 
 deputy's arm in comparison with his head. Mountnorris 
 was instantly committed to prison, as well as deprived of 
 his offices, which were bestowed upon this Loftus as a re- 
 turn for his wife's affection for Wentworth. Nor did the 
 deputy intend that his sufferings sliould terminate even 
 here. To soften his oppressor. Lady Mountnorris, who 
 was a kinswoman of the deputy's by his second wife. Lady 
 Arabella Hollis, addressed him in a most pathetical letter; 
 but she did it in vain.f Wentworth was inexorable, be- 
 cause his guilty conscience whispered to him that at no 
 distant time the victim of his oppression might have it in 
 his power to call for justice, and he eagerly grasped at the 
 present opportunity of crushing him beneath the power of 
 proving dangerous. Foiled in her interposition liere, the 
 lady escaped' with difliculty to England to lay her com- 
 plaint at the foot of the throne ; and she was so far suc- 
 cessful as to obtain a letter from the king for her husband's 
 liberty, upon condition of his submitting to the deputy. 
 
 * In a letter to Secretary Coke, choice, whether he must lose his 
 dated about three weeks after the head, or I my head, this should re- 
 sentence, Straftbrd (then Lord Went- deem that ' (Let. and Disp. vol. i. 
 worth) says that, as he had signed p. 504 ef. scq.). The letter is dated 
 the sentence along with the members 3rd Jan. 1G35 ; the sentence (Id. p. 
 of the council of war, so he joined 499 el seq.) the 12th of December 
 them in letters, * where we all be- preceding. His defence then was, 
 came petitioners to liis majesty for that while the sentence was just, he 
 his life, which was, God knows, so was merely passive. See above Let- 
 little looked after by me ; but how- ter, and others in the same collection, 
 beit I hold under favour the sentence f Scott's So>ners' State Tracts, 
 most just, yet, Avero it left to me iu vol. iv. p. 202.
 
 STRAFFORD COJIPARED TO THE BASHAW OF BUDA. 285 
 
 A step so spirited, as it evinced a disposition not tamely to chap. 
 
 brook oppression, inflamed AVentworth with additional . ^ — - 
 
 rage by inspiring him with new fear, and he resolved so 
 to avail himself of the terms expressed in the royal letter, 
 as to exact an acknowledgment of the justice of the sen- 
 tence, which he foohshly imagined would, in a great mea- 
 sure at least, secure him from the probability of after 
 question, by bereaving his victim of his ground of com- 
 plaint. On terms so humiliating, Mountnorris long refused 
 to purchase his hberty ; but, wearied at last with oppres- 
 sion, he submitted. Wentworth was, however, still un- 
 satisfied, and therefore not only harassed him with fi^esh 
 prosecutions in the Star Chamber, but, by iniquitous de- 
 crees of the council-board, deprived him of his property, 
 reducing him, his wife, and seven children to beggary. 
 
 Well might such proceedings procure for Wentworth, 
 as we learn from his letters they did, a comparison with a 
 bashaw of Buda ; and his defence did not extenuate his 
 guilt. He argued, that in the case of Mountnorris before 
 the council of war, he merely discharged the duty of his 
 place in preferring a complaint ; that he did not vote 
 against the accused ; that even after sentence was passed, 
 he assured the prisoner of his being no way exposed to the 
 hazard of his life ; and that he had interceded with his 
 majesty for his pardon. Such was the defence set up by 
 Strafford, in a case where he had been the sole author of 
 the atrocity, — where the council had been moved at his 
 sovereign will, — when, guilty tool as it was, it had put a 
 modifying restraint upon his remorseless thirst for ven- 
 geance, by stipulating for the prisoner's life as a condition 
 of the sentence, — when again he had, both in the assurance 
 he gave at the time, and in the subsequent pretended in- 
 tercession to the throne, only acted up to the condition, — 
 nay, in the latter instance, joined the council daily ; and 
 wdien thus foiled in his object for the utter destruction of 
 his enemy by a direct course, he had resorted to the basest
 
 286 
 
 CONSTITUTIOXAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, indirect means to bring absolute ruin upon that victim of 
 ^^^- . lawless oppression, his wife, and children.* 
 
 * Rush. Tol. viii. Arts. v. and vi. 
 Clarendon tells us that * the standers- 
 by made an excuse for Strafi'ord ; 
 that Mountnorris was a man of great 
 industry, activity, and experience in 
 the aifairs of Ireland, having raised 
 himself from a very private, mean 
 condition, (having been an inferior 
 servant to Lord Chichester,) to the 
 degree of a viscount and a privy 
 counsellor, and to a very ample re- 
 venue in lands and offices ; ' that ' he 
 had always, by servile flattery and 
 sordid application, wrought himself 
 into trust and nearness with all de- 
 puties at their first entering upon 
 their charge, informing them of the 
 defects and oversights of their pre- 
 decessors ; and after the determina- 
 tion of their commands, and return 
 into England, informing the state 
 here, and those enemies they usually 
 contracted in that time, of ^chafsoevej- 
 they had done or suffered to be done 
 amiss; whereby they either suffered 
 disgrace or damage, as soon as they 
 were recalled from those honours, 
 which usually lasted not above six 
 years. So that this dilemma seemed 
 unquestionable, that either the de- 
 puty of Ireland must destroy my Lord 
 31ountnorris, or my Lord Mountnor- 
 ris must destroy the deputy as soon 
 as his commission was determined. 
 This character imputed to Mount- 
 norris, is certainly not an amiable 
 one ; but it ought to be remembered 
 how readily every grand witness 
 against Strafford was calumniated : 
 taking it, however, as true, it merely 
 amounts to this, that though, for his 
 own interest, he overlooked crind- 
 nality in the successive deputies dur- 
 ing their administration, he after- 
 wards turned informer. It is not 
 alleged that he accused anj^ of them 
 unjustly; and though the part he 
 is said to have acted might i'lihly 
 have induced Wentworth not to 
 place confidence in him, or show him 
 uuirks of respect, it could not on any 
 just principle operate farther; Avhile 
 
 it must be evident that, unless he 
 had known that he could not justify 
 his government, he could not have 
 had a motive for destroying Mount- 
 norris in self-preservation (Clar. 
 vol. i. p. 389 et seq.). Just before 
 this, the noble historian says, ' the 
 injustice whereof (the proceedings 
 against Mountnorris) ' seemed the 
 more formidable, for that the Lord 
 Mountnorris was known for some- 
 time before, to stand in great jea- 
 lousy and disfavour with the earl, 
 which made it be looked upon as a 
 pure act of revenge ; and gave all 
 men warning how they trusted them- 
 selves in the territories where he 
 commanded ' (p. 388). * In vain,' 
 says Mr. Hume, without quoting 
 any authority whatever, ' did Straf- 
 ford's friends add as a further ap- 
 ology, that Mountnorris was a man 
 of an inffwiotfs character, who paid 
 com-t by the lowest adulation to all 
 deputies while present, and black- 
 ened their character In/ the vilest 
 calumnies when recalled ; and that 
 Strafford, expecting like treatment, 
 had used this Cd-pedicnt for no other 
 furpose than to subdue the petulant 
 spirit of the man.' Though this 
 writer "does not quote an authority, 
 it is perfectly clear to me that he 
 had no other than the above from 
 Clarendon ; and the reader will be 
 able to judge how far he has done it 
 justice. Indeed, one would almost 
 imagine from his language, that 
 Strafford's friends had spoken to 
 this effect at the trial. Clarendon 
 does not say that Mountnorris was 
 charged with inventing calumnies, 
 but with giving information of the 
 truth. He does not pretend that the 
 sentence was passed to subdue the 
 petulant spirit of the man, but builds 
 the apology upon the necessary ruin 
 cf that individual to Straffbrd's 
 own safety. No public transgi'ession 
 could be proved against Mountnorris; 
 and that nothing short of his abso- 
 lute ruin could pacify his enemy, the
 
 Strafford's defence in mountnorris's case. 
 
 287 
 
 Former deputies appear to have arrogated powers in- cHAr. 
 consistent with law, but Strafford far exceeded them all ; ^__IHl_, 
 
 ■whole proceedings show (see StrafF. 
 Let. and Disp. vol. i. pp. 497 et seq., 
 508-511, 514-519; vol. ii. p. 5, 
 15, 21, 27). Wentwoith, who was 
 allied to Lady Mountnorris tlirough 
 his second wife, seems at one time 
 to have com-ted Mountnorris. See 
 a very confidential letter by him to 
 that lord, in Aug. 1G32 (vol. i. p. 7'.'>), 
 which is the best answer to Mr 
 Hume's statement (see also p. 76, 
 78, 99, 115). The correspondence of 
 Strafford's with Moimtnorris's ac- 
 count makes the matter quite clear. 
 Mountnorris who held the office of 
 vice-treasurer, which in effect was 
 that of treasurer in Ireland (War- 
 wicke, p. 110.), had not shown him- 
 self quite so pliant as the deputy 
 had anticipated (see Let. and I)i»p. 
 vol. i. p. 119). And after his quar- 
 rel with Sir George Wentworth, the 
 deputy wished his removal from his 
 offices, particularly that of vice- 
 treasurer. He proposed, therefore, 
 that Mountnorris should make a dis- 
 honourable sale of his office, and the 
 proposal had been attended with al- 
 tercation. But Mountnorris, not con- 
 tent with refusing to comply with 
 the demand, wrote out an account of 
 what had occurred on the occasion ; 
 (it appears by a letter afterwards 
 referred to, that he wrote admir- 
 ably ;) and transmitted it to his at- 
 torney in England, who had handed 
 it about. It fell into the hands of 
 the Beverend Mr. Garrard, the 
 deputy's great correspondent, who 
 not only showed it to Lord Cotting- 
 ton, but instantly announced the cir- 
 cumstance to his patron {Id. p. .388). 
 Garrard's letter is dated the 12th of 
 March, 1634-5 ; and it is singular 
 that, on the 7th of next month, the 
 deputy has a violent attack upon 
 Mountnorris, in a letter to Secretary 
 Coke, as a person ' held by us all 
 that hear him, to be most imperti- 
 nent and troublesome in the debate 
 of all business.' ' And,' says he, 
 * indeed so weary are we of him, 
 
 that, I dare say, there is not one of 
 us %villing to join with him in any 
 private counsel. Surj I am, my 
 lord chief baron complains of him 
 extremely in the ExcJiequer, that he 
 disorders the proceedings of the 
 whole court through his wilfulness 
 and ignorance, so as he were a happy 
 man if he were delivered of his vexa- 
 tion there.' This certainly disproves 
 the idea of his sycophancy. He 
 then censures his scandalous way of 
 life, as a dishonour to the place — 
 for that he was ' extremely given to 
 good fellowship, and was full of talli 
 in that humom*,' — a statement which 
 does not accord with Clarendon's 
 character of him ; and tluit ' he sat 
 up by night to play for large sums, 
 very meanly pursuing his advantage 
 upon young noblemen and gentle- 
 men, not so good gamesters as him- 
 self,' &c. lie also makes a charge 
 against him for not paying £200 
 upon a warrant, and alleges that he 
 had agi'eed to resign his place in 
 October preceding, &c. He then 
 recommends Loftus, and desires 
 power to inquire into some of Mount- 
 norris's actions (LI. p. 403-4). The 
 proceeding in the Council of War 
 occurred in December following 
 (p. 498 et seq.). 
 
 In each of the letters referred to 
 above, that were written by Straf- 
 ford, he vindicates the j ustice of the 
 sentence, which, however, appears 
 by the letters to have been imiver- 
 sally execrated ; and meanly pleads 
 that he did not vote at the council, 
 therefore that the sentence was not 
 his. It appears also, from these and 
 other letters, that A^"entworth was 
 perfectly sensible of the general 
 hatred, as resembling a bashaw of 
 Buda ; but he consoles himself with 
 the idea that it had been his fortune 
 all his life to have proud, revengeful 
 qualities, &c. falsely ascribed to him. 
 Wandesforde writes to him, Dec. 29, 
 1628, thus, 'the breath of envy hath 
 always blown strong against you.
 
 288 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, nor does the matter rest merely on the evidence of wit- 
 ■ _ ^^/- . nesses, which yet is complete, since his own dispatches 
 fully establish it. Scarcely was he warm in his place, 
 when he applied, in the following terms, for illegal, un- 
 hmited, powers : ' I find that my Lord Falkland was re- 
 strained by proclamation, not to meddle in any cause be- 
 twixt party and party, which certainly did lessen his power 
 extremely. I know very well the common lawyers will 
 be passionately against it, who are wont to put sucli a pre- 
 judice upon all other professions, as if none were to be 
 trusted as capable of administering justice but themselves ; 
 yet how well this suits with monarchy when they mono- 
 pohse all to be governed by their year books, you in Eng- 
 land have a costly experience ; and I am sure his majesty's 
 power is not weaker in this kingdom, wherever hitherto 
 the deputy and council-board have had a stroke with 
 them.'* It was not thought fit to recal the proclamation 
 on this subject by a new one, conferring the powers re- 
 quested ; but a special dispensation was granted to Went- 
 worth, with the single exception of cases already depend- 
 ing before courts of law ; and how he abused his power, 
 is established no less by his letters than by the evidence 
 adduced against him ; for he encourages Laud ' to rule 
 the common lawyers in England, as he, poor beagle, did 
 in Ireland, declaring that he would continue to do so at 
 the peril of his head.' In his defence he, of course, at- 
 tempts to justify his illegal decrees on the principle of 
 abstract justice, and pleads that, as he was no professional 
 lawyer, his ignorance ought to form his excuse. The last 
 
 and like the bees over the cradle of estate nor person, further ^ than to 
 
 Plato, hung- over vour actions ever remove him thence, where,' says he, 
 
 since I was acquainted with them ' ' he was a trouble as well as an 
 
 (vol. i. p. 50). See a very pathetic offence unto me ; that being- done, 
 
 letter from Moimtnorris to Straiford, (howbeit through his own fault with 
 
 just before his execution, which more prejudice than I intended), I 
 
 throws great light upon this subject, could wish there was no more de- 
 
 and of itself goes far to disprove the bate betwixt us, &c.' (Straff. Let. 
 
 account given of the former by and T)isp. vol, ii. p 145). 
 Clarendon {State Papers, vol. ii. p. * This has been quoted from his 
 
 135). Wentworth himself writes to Letters and Dispatches in the preced- 
 
 Lord' Conway, that he told IMount- ing volume, 
 norris 'he never wished ill to his
 
 TWENTY FEESH CASES ENUMEEATED AGAINST STEAFFOED. 289 
 
 plea proceeded with a peculiarly bad grace from the in- chap. 
 dividual who had boasted of ruling the common lawyers ^^^- . 
 in all things, and proclaimed it as a merit that he was re- 
 solved to persist in such a course at the peril of his head. 
 The first was no less unfounded, for, as was justly observed 
 by Pym, the Commons charged him with nothing ' but 
 what the law in every man's breast condemns, the light of 
 natm^e, the light of common reason, the rules of common 
 society.' JSTor were the instances of injustice and illegality 
 confined to those charged. Sergeant Grlyn remarked that, 
 were the matter yet to frame, they would give as many 
 new cases as those of which he was accused. Strafford 
 stormed at this, and dared him to the proof. But when the 
 other, having accepted the challenge, enumerated twenty 
 fresh cases, in the issue of Avhich he liad largely partici- 
 pated, the prisoner stopped him l^y a complaint against 
 travelling out of the charge. 
 
 The legislative powers assumed by liim in Ireland, to- 
 gether with liis grossly tyrannical and selfish abuse of 
 them, were strikingly displayed in his measures relative 
 to wool and flax. Having a monopoly of the customs, he 
 imposed new duties upon the exportation of the first, and 
 prohibited the manufacture of it in the island : thoudi 
 the last was the chief production of tliat kingdom, and 
 linen-yarn for exportation the staple, he interdicted the 
 sale of it unless it were reeled in a certain mode, a mode 
 the poor people were unacquainted with, while of all not 
 prepared for the market according to his directions, he 
 ordered a general seizure, to effect which power was given 
 to break into houses. What aggravated this policy was, 
 that the yarn seized, instead of being, as forfeited to tlie 
 public, brought into the exchequer, went to his own 
 looms ; while he had a direct interest in excluding a com- 
 petition with his own flax, which he raised in great quan- 
 tities on his own newly -purchased lands. In the execution 
 of his orders on tliis subject great enormities were com- 
 mitted ; and thousands, debarred tlie only means of liveli- 
 
 VOL. ir. u
 
 290 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, liood, for the May rents were paid by the price of the 
 > ^^ /" - flax and yarn, were absolutely famished. His defence 
 was, that lie prohibited the manufticturing of wool lest it 
 should interfere with that of England ; that the motive in 
 regard to the orders about yarn was to break the people 
 of their barbarous mode of preparing it — a measure which 
 might be legally adopted in the same manner as yoking 
 oxen by the tail, and burning the straw to separate the 
 corn from it, had been interdicted ; that the council con- 
 curred in tlie proclamations, and therefore the blame 
 should not be imputed to him ; and that, at all events, 
 this was not treason. With resjard to the council, it was 
 completely under his control, while, at all events, as the 
 prime leader, he must be responsible for unconstitutional 
 measures, and it appears by his own letters that he had 
 earnestly pressed his majesty for liberty to pursue that 
 system.* As for his defence that this was not treason, it 
 was well-urged by Maynard, that, if to overturn all the 
 fundamental principles of the constitution be traitorous, 
 this imquestionably was so, as it included not only the 
 suspension of the public rights, but a power to issue what 
 new orders he pleased in the place of law. It is singular 
 that in his letters to the kmg on this very subject, he ad- 
 vised his majesty to make a monopoly of salt in his own 
 person ; for tliat, as it was a commodity altogether indis- 
 pensable, he miglit, in imitation of the gabelles of France, 
 raise the price at pleasure.^ 
 
 It was distinctly proved that he had been in the prac- 
 tice of quartering soldiers upon all who refused to comply 
 with any order of the council for the payment of money, 
 however unlawful, the demand. One instance shall suffice. 
 One Barns was charged on a paper petition to appear 
 before the deputy about a debt which, though nominally 
 rated at 100/., he might have compounded for 5/., but 
 
 • See Lis Let. and Disp. vol. i. p. Journal; StrafF. ie^. and Disp.\o\.\. 
 03. pp. i);5, 108, 193. 
 
 t Trial in Rusli. and Baillie's
 
 STKAFFORD'S illegal advice to CHARLES. 291 
 
 which, as altogether unjust, he refused to settle even on chap. 
 such terms ; and Strafford, under the colour of a contempt, ^^' . 
 quartered a party of troopers upon him who consumed 
 property to the value of 500/., burned the very partitions 
 of his house, nay the door, for fuel, and ' sold his trunk, 
 his bedsteads, his dining-table, and all they could light 
 on in his house,' so that, being reduced to utter beggary, 
 he was obliged to flee the country, leaving his wife and 
 children, and serve as a soldier in Flanders.* 
 
 These particulars, however, though highly important, 
 have perhaps been pursued too far, and therefore we shall 
 proceed to the grand point about teUing tlie king that he 
 was absolved from all rules of government, and had an 
 army in Ireland by which he might reduce the kingdom ; 
 but, in passing, we may remark that the articles about 
 prohibiting people of family, &c. from going to England, 
 and imposing an arbitrary oath on the Scots were fully 
 proved. 
 
 To ascertain the point with regard to his illegal advice, 
 it was necessary to examine the councillors, and Charles 
 was reluctantly obliged to yield to a demand of the Com- 
 mons, to relieve the council from tlieir oath of secresy — 
 a measure bitterly inveighed against by the noble apolo- 
 gist of the king, and, what is more extraordinary, by Mr. 
 Hume, as restraining the freedom of the board, and ren- 
 dering ministers liable for every rash or inconsiderate 
 expression. But surely if, and there can be no doubt of 
 it, every councillor is bound by his oath to give constitu- 
 tional advice, and that only to the king, the oath of secresy 
 never can or ought to extend to counsel, which has for 
 its object the overthrow of all the fundamental laws ; and 
 it is an inquisition Avhich no good man need fear, for none 
 will ever attempt to persuade the sovereign, to absolve 
 himself from all tho.se rules upon which he is entitled to 
 govern ; while, if such a measure could not be adopted, 
 
 * Trial in Rush, and Baillie. 
 D 2
 
 292 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, it is perfectly evident tliat the greatest of all wickedness 
 . ^"- - would be safe even from question. The grand point 
 to be determined here was, whether Strafford had not ad- 
 vised his majesty to act as if absolved from all rules of 
 government ; and had such a point not been open to in- 
 vestiiration, there would have been at once an end of all 
 legitimate government.* 
 
 Nothiui*: could be more distinct than the charo;es ao;ainst 
 
 O DO 
 
 Strafford ; each particidar was stated with a precision 
 which could not have been expected any more than it is 
 practised in indictments in general ; but some of the dif- 
 ferent articles naturally cohered, or reflected light upon 
 each other ; and, in regard to the advice about the king's 
 acting as absolved from all rides of government, there 
 were five articles taken together — tlie twentieth, twenty- 
 first, second, tiiird, and fourth : tliat he had advised an 
 offensive war with Scotland, allefjino- that the demands of 
 
 ' CO 
 
 die Scottisli parliament justified it, before the commis- 
 sioners of that parliament had been heard in viudication 
 of their proceedings : that he had declared his readiness 
 to supply his majesty by extraordinary vvaj^s, unless the 
 English parliament should grant twelve subsidies ; and had, 
 for wicked ends, in confederacy with Sir George Eatcliffe, 
 raised an army of 1000 horse and 8000 foot in Ireland: 
 that he had declared openly to several individuals that the 
 king ought first to try the affections of his people in par- 
 liament ; but, if that failed, then he might use his pre- 
 I'ogative in levying Avhat lie required ; and that, when 
 parliament disappointed liis hope of twelve subsidies, he 
 advised the dissolution, declaring that his majesty was free 
 from all rules of government ; adding, tliat he had an army 
 in Ireland with Avhich he mi2;ht reduce the kinodom to 
 obedience. , The first point in regard to Scotland was 
 
 * Journnls of Loi-(h relative to council-board, unless it imported a 
 this examination. No man could revealing of what might be corn- 
 urge more strenuously tlinn did Straf- municated by the king- {Let. and 
 ford himself the examinaticm of Dinp. vol. ii. p. 28G'i. 
 councillors as to -what passed at the
 
 DEPOSITIONS AGAINST STEAFFOKD. 293 
 
 proved by the Earls of Traquair and Morton, and even by chap. 
 
 Juxton, bishop of London and lord treasurer, as well as . ^ — - 
 
 by Sir Henry Vane. Traquair particidarly swore too, 
 that afterwards, at the council of peers, at York, the pri- 
 soner, in res:ard to Scottish affairs, declared that the un- 
 reasonable demands of subjects in a parliament icere a 
 ground for the king\s putting himself in a posture of war. 
 The Archbishop of Armagh (the celebrated Dr. Usher) de- 
 posed, that, about April last, he had a conversation with 
 Strafford, at Dublin, relative to levies of money, when the 
 other declared that he ao-reed with those in Enaland, 
 who conceived that, in case of imminent necessity, the 
 king might levy what he needed, though, in his opinion, 
 his majesty should first try a parliament ; but, if that sup- 
 plied him not, ' then he might make use of his prerogative 
 as he pleased himself, or words to that effect.' * Lord 
 Conway deposed that, having previous to the meeting of the 
 short parliament, asked the prisoner how the troops were 
 to be paid ; he answered, that he confidently expected 
 twelve subsidies from the parliament ; but, upon Conway's 
 saying, ' What if the parliament would not give that 
 assistance, my Lord of Strallbrd said the cause was very 
 just and lawful, and if the parliament would not supply 
 the king, then he was justified before God and man if he 
 sought means to help himself, though it were against their 
 wills.' Sir Henry Vane deposed, that, at the council on 
 the 5th of December, 1639, Strafford said, that if the par- 
 liament should not grant supplies, he woidd be ready to 
 assist his majesty any other ^vay. The Earl of Bristol 
 deposed, that, in a casual conversation with the prisoner, 
 after the dissolution of the short parhament, he himself 
 stated that he attributed the great distractions of the times, 
 particularly the riot at Lambeth, and mutiny of some sol- 
 
 * Strafford most particularly ap- appear to Iiave been great friends, 
 
 plied for leave to adduce Ilsber as a Usher seems to have approved of 
 
 witness in his favour (Journals of Straftbrd's imcoustitutional mea- 
 
 Lonls, 20th March, et postea). They sures (Roclen Papers, pp. 78, 79).
 
 294 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, diers against their officers, to the breach with that assem- 
 . ^^^- . bly, and expressed it as his conviction, that the safe plan in 
 such distresses was to summon another parhament directly, 
 alleo-ino;, that he feared the issue of hostihties with Scot- 
 land, unless the king were assisted both with the purse and 
 the affections of his people : for that he conceived it very 
 unlikely that the nation, labouring under such grievances, 
 would willingly and cheerfully enter into a war against 
 the sister kingdom, which laboured ' under the same griev- 
 ances with themselves ; ' that, in answer to this, Strafford 
 observed, that the times did not admit of so sIoav and un- 
 certain a remedy as a parliament : that he had already 
 been denied from that quarter ; and, using the maxim, 
 Salus reipuhlicce suprema lex, said ' the king must provide 
 for the safety of the kingdom by such ways as he should 
 think fit in his wisdom : that he must not suffer himself 
 to be mastered by the frowardness and undutifulness of 
 his people, or rather, as he conceived, by the disaffection 
 and stubbornness of particular men.' Lord Newburgh 
 swore, that, to the best of his belief, he heard the prisoner 
 say that, seeing the parliament had not supplied the king, 
 his majesty might take other courses, or something to that 
 purpose : tlie Earl of Holland swore that he heard him 
 tell the king, after the dissolution, that the parliament, in 
 denying a supply, had given him an advantage to supply 
 himself by other ways. The Earl of Northumberland 
 deposed that he heard Strafford tell his majesty, before 
 the meeting of the short parliament, that if tlie people 
 refused to supply him, he Avas absolved from rules of 
 government, and acquitted before God and man. Sir 
 Henry Vane deposed that he heard the prisoner say this 
 to the king after the dissolution, ' Your majesty, liaving 
 tried all ways, and been refused, in this case of extreme 
 necessity and for the safety of your kingdom and people, 
 you are loose and absolved from all rules of government ; 
 you are acquitted before God and man ; you have an army 
 in Ireland ; yow may employ it to reduce this kingdom.'
 
 DEPOSITIONS FOR STEAFFORD. 295 
 
 The Commons also adduced several witnesses, as Lord chap. 
 Eanelagh, Sir Eobert King, Sir Thomas Barrington, to - ^^^' ^ 
 prove that his creatures, Sir George Eatcliffe and Sir 
 George Wentworth, had used strong expressions relative 
 to the Irish army being used to second his majesty's 
 illegal courses, in the event of resistance. On the other 
 hand, Strafford alleged that the speeches of Eatcliffe, or 
 of his brother, were nothing to him, and that he knew his 
 duty too well as a privy-councillor to divulge to them his 
 master's secrets : that it was stransje that no one heard 
 the words relative to the Irish army but Sir Henry Vane : 
 that he might easily mistake this for that country ; and 
 that, as the army had been raised to reduce Scotland, and 
 the Scottish business was then agitated, the remark had 
 necessarily reference to it : that, accordingly, the Earl of 
 Northumberland, and others, deposed, that they under- 
 stood the army was intended for Scotland ; and that, as 
 there was no war in England which called for it there, it 
 necessarily followed that it never could be meant to intro- 
 duce it into this kingdom : that he had perhaps said that 
 his majesty might use his prerogative in raising money, 
 but he always spoke in reference to legal ways — never 
 supposing it possible for his master to resort to any other: 
 he then adduced the Bishop of London, lord treasurer, 
 who swore positively that he never heard anything about 
 an intention to bring the Irish army into England ; but 
 being interrogated whether he ever heard Lord Strafford 
 say that the king was loose and absolved from all rules of 
 government, ' He answered that he desired time to consider 
 of that ; he remembers not any such thing, but he reserves 
 himself for that.' He also deposed that he did not remem- 
 ber of having heard the prisoner tell the king that the 
 parliament had deserted him. Cottington swore that he 
 never heard Strafford talk of extraordinary ways, but 
 that he had heard him say the king ought to seek out all 
 due and legal ways, and to employ his power candide et 
 caste ; observing tliat, after the present necessity was past,
 
 296 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, and the work done, the king ought to repair it, and not 
 leave any precedent to the prejudice of his people, for 
 that 'his majesty never could lie happy till there were a 
 union betwixt himself and the parliament, and tJie prero- 
 gative and liberty of the subjects were determined.' Tlie 
 Marquis of Hamilton swore much to the same purpose : 
 Lord Goring and Mr. German merely deposed to the use 
 of the words candide et caste : but, what is most extraor- 
 dinary of all, Northumberland himself, who swore that he 
 heard the prisoner say, before the meeting of the short 
 parliament, ' if the people do refuse to supply the king, 
 the king is absolved from rules of government' — deposed 
 to other interrogatories, that, though he said that his 
 majesty might use his power when the kingdom was in 
 danger or unavoidable necessity, he did after say that that 
 power was to be used candide et caste, and an account 
 thereof should be given to the next parliament, that they 
 might see it was only employed to that use.' If such 
 words were used by Strafford, and this deposition is to 
 be admitted as a whole, the conclusion is that he had 
 merely employed them to guard against any after im- 
 peaclmient, whicli, as appears by his letters, he always 
 conceived a possible case ; for what is the meaning of 
 parliamentary power, if it may be dispensed with at the 
 will of the prince upon his conception of necessity ; or why 
 talk of submitting what had been done in defiance of one 
 parhament, to the cognisance of another ? If the king- 
 may levy money at ])leasure, upon any plea of necessity 
 which the grand council has in the first place denied — a 
 necessity of which he is sole judge, in defiance of the 
 legislature — it is an extravagance to talk of parliamentary 
 power. The evidence of Cotthigton, in the first place, 
 proved too much, as Strafford had admitted that he had 
 spoken of extraordinary ways, which yet the other could 
 not remember. In the second place, it was contradic- 
 tory ; for unless he had been adverting to extraordinary 
 or unconstitutional ways, how could he talk of repairing.
 
 STRAFFORD'S CASE CONSIDERED. 297 
 
 after tlie work was accomiDlislied, what had been done ch-1P. 
 
 TTT 
 
 through necessity? A breach must be made before it .__^: . 
 
 can be repaired. 
 
 In considering a case of this nature, we are, in judging 
 of the propriety of the verdict, always bound to take the 
 evidence as it stands, without regard to those facts which 
 may be disclosed to the historian by time. But authors 
 have endeavoured to the utmost to vilify, not only this 
 grand assembly for its judgment, but the characters of 
 Sir Henry Vane, sen., and of his son and Mr. Pym, (the 
 reason of the last will afterwards appear,) as if the first 
 had perjured himself, and the two latter had assisted him 
 in swearing away the life of that great individual. It 
 will, therefore, not be improper to disclose some facts 
 which, though they could not be discovered then, are 
 established upon the most indisputable evidence now. 
 On the 10th of December, 1640, Northumberland writes, 
 in cypher, to the Earl of Leicester, that ' he doubts the 
 king is not very well satisfied with him — because he 
 will not perjure himself for Lord Lieutenant Strafford.''^ 
 Laud has an entry in his Diary, of the 5th December, 
 1639, that, when a parliament had been determined 
 on, of which the first movers were Strafford, Marquis 
 Hamilton, and himself, 'a resolution was voted at the 
 board to assist the king in extraordinary ways, if the 
 parliament shoidd prove peevish and refuse.' Secretary 
 Windebanke writes to Sir Arthur Hopeton, who was at 
 that time at Madrid, that it having been concluded by 
 the select committee for Scottish affau^s, that nothing 
 except force of arms could quench the fire in Scotland, a 
 fire which threatened monarchical government, not only 
 there but even in England, the question then was how 
 money could be raised : Tliat a parliament was thought 
 at first impracticable, as it was unlikely that it would be 
 inclined to supply his majesty's wants in time, or in 
 
 * Sidney Papers^ vol. ii. p. 665.
 
 298 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, proportion to the exigency ; and that many extraordinary 
 ■ _ , ' , Avays were debated, bnt that at last ' the lords being 
 desirous that the king and his people should meet, if it 
 were possible, in the ancient and ordinary way of par- 
 liament, rather than any other, were of opinion his 
 majesty should make trial of that once more, that so he 
 might leave his people without excuse, and have where- 
 withal to justify himself to God and the world, that in 
 his own inclination he desired the old way ; but that if 
 his people should not cheerfully, according to their 
 duties, meet him in that, especially in this exigent, when 
 his kingdoms and person are in apparent danger, the 
 world might see he is forced, contrary to his own incli- 
 nation, to use extraordinary means, rather than by the 
 peevishness of some factious spirits to suffer his state and 
 government to be lost. These considerations, ripening 
 this creat business for a resolution, it was thought lit to 
 bring it to the general council, and to give the board 
 account of what had passed in the committee.. Which 
 being done, and the Earl of Traquair, his majesty's com- 
 missioner in Scotland, newly come from thence, having 
 likewise, by his majesty's commandment, made particidar 
 and exact relation to the lords, of the late assembly and 
 parhament in Scotland, and of their high and insolent 
 demands, together with his opinion of their purpose to 
 persist in them, and tliat there was no probability of 
 reducing them but by force, his majesty demanded the 
 opinion of the lords by vote what was to be done ; 
 whereupon the lords unanimously voted, that rather 
 than his majesty should yield to such demands, and suffer 
 this high rebellion to continue, he must of necessity 
 vindicate himself and his Jionour, and secure his crown 
 by force of arms ; and that to maintain this force, the 
 best way was the ordinary by parhament, which they 
 doubted not would be sensible of the honour of his 
 majesty and the nation, and of their own safeties, and 
 enable him to settle his affairs. But before his majesty
 
 EXTRACTS FROM VARIOUS LETTERS. 299 
 
 would declare his resolution for this way, he was pleased chap. 
 to put another question to the board, whether, if the _£!,L_. 
 parliament should prove as untoward as some have lately 
 been, the lords would not then assist him in such extra- 
 ordinary ways in this extremity as should be thought fit. 
 Which being put to votes, the lords did all unanimously 
 and cheerfully promise, that in such case they would 
 assist him with their lives and fortunes, in such extra- 
 ordinary ways as should be advised and found best for 
 the preservation of this state and government. Where- 
 upon his majesty declared his resolution for a parliament.'* 
 Now it is remarkable that Northumberland writes to the 
 same purpose to his friend Leicester, saying that two 
 ways onlj^ of raising money were thought of, ' by the 
 ordinarie way of parlament, or by extraordinarie wayes 
 of power ;' that ' laying excises, enioineing each countie 
 to mentaine a certaine number of men, whilst the warre 
 lasted, and such like wayes were by some farre pressed ; 
 but mett with so many weightie obiections, that those 
 lords that were all this while most auerse to parlaments, 
 did now begin to advise the king's makeing triall of his 
 people before he used any way of power. This being * 
 advised by their lordships, (who, to say truth, found 
 themselues so pusseld that they knew not where to begin,) 
 the king was soon gained, and resolued the next councell 
 day to propose it to the rest of the* lords. 'f Windebanke, 
 immediately after the dissolution, wrote to Sir A. Hope- 
 ton, that ' it was a very great disaster, but there was no 
 other way, and his majesty had wherewithal to justify 
 himself to God and the world.' J When, along with 
 this, it is considered that Strafford's letters all breathe 
 a spirit of uncontrolled power ; that, in considerations 
 drawn out by him expressly for the king himself, while 
 he so rejoiced at the extrajudicial opinion of the judges 
 in the case of ship-money, he declares that though ' it 
 
 * Clar. State Papeis, vol. ii. pp. 81, t Sichm/ Papers, vol ii. p. 623. 
 
 82. X Clar. Papers, vol. ii. p. 84.
 
 300 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 was the greatest service the legal profession had done 
 the crown in his time, yet iniless his majesty had the like 
 power declared to raise a land army upon the same 
 exigent of state,' (a necessity of which the king was sole 
 judge, and therefore was not bound to render any 
 account,) ' the crown seemed to him to stand but upon 
 one leg at home, to be considerable, but by halves, to 
 foreign princes abroad ;' but if that point were gained, 
 which the opinion regarding ship-money evinced to be- 
 long to the king, then the royalty was for ever vindica- 
 ted from under the conditions and restraints of subjects: 
 That in a letter to Mr. Justice Hutton, after that judge 
 had voted in the minority in Hampden's case, he says 
 that ' the power of levies of forces by sea and land is 
 such a property of sovereignty, as, were the crown 
 wilhng, yet it could not divest itself thereof:'* That 
 
 * We have already given many 
 extracts from Straft'urd's Letters and 
 Dispatches, but his language to IMr. 
 Justice Hutton will be found to 
 throw such light upon the evidence 
 at the trial, that we cannot refrain 
 from quoting it. ' I must confess/ 
 says he, ' in a business of so mighty 
 importance, I shall the less regard 
 the forms of pleading, and to con- 
 ceive (as it seems my Lord Finch 
 pressed), that the power of levies of 
 forces at sea and land for the very, 
 not feiyned, relief of the public, is 
 such a property of sovereignty, as, 
 were the crown willing, yet can it 
 not divest itself thereof : salus popidi 
 suprema le.r; nay, in cases of ex- 
 tremity, even above acts of parlia- 
 ment.' (Now there is something 
 feasible in this : a 7-eal, not feit/ned 
 necessity is certainly paramount to 
 all law ; but the succeeding sen- 
 tences show his ideas of necessity.) 
 • And 1 am satisiied that monies 
 raised for setting forth a fleet was 
 chastely bestowed that way, not at 
 all vitiated by any application other- 
 wise ; nay, satisfied that it was ne- 
 cessary that it should be so, and that 
 our fleet at sea were in these times 
 
 of mighty honour to the king, most 
 lit to preserve the rights of private 
 subjects, the peace and safety of the 
 commonwealth. And considering it 
 is agreed by common consent, that 
 in time of public danger and neces- 
 sity such a levy may be made, and 
 that the king is therein sole judge, 
 how or in what manner or propor- 
 tion it is to be gathered, I conceive 
 it was out of li amour t)pposed by 
 Hampden beyond the duty of a sub- 
 ject, and that reverence wherein we 
 ought to have so gracious a sove- 
 reign, it being ever understood the 
 prospects of kings into mysteries of 
 state are so far exceeding those of 
 ordinary common persons, as they 
 be able to discern and prevent dan- 
 gers to the public afar off, which 
 others shall not so much as dream of 
 till they feel the unavoidable stripes 
 and smarts of them upon their naked 
 shoulders; besides the mischief which 
 threatens states and people are not 
 always those which becomes the ob- 
 ject of every vulgar eye, but those 
 commonly of most danger, when 
 least discovered ; nay, very often, if 
 unseasonably, over early puldished, 
 albeit privately known to the king
 
 FARTHER REMARKS ON STRAFFORD S CASE. 
 
 301 
 
 StrafForcl's own government of Ireland, which he held 
 out to Laud us a model for England, was contrary to 
 all constitutional principles, and supported by absolute 
 force : That he had become the arch-adviser of his master; 
 and that the war which he advised with Scotland had 
 its foundation merely iu that people's resistance of 
 arbitrary power ; we shall not be disposed to view the 
 evidence of Vane in a suspicious light. Money was, 
 after the dissolution, to be raised by power ; and if, after 
 such indications of disaffection, the king and his ministers 
 did not contemplate such a spirit of resistance as, if not 
 put down by military force, would blast aU their hopes, 
 they must have been blind to all consequences. Whoever 
 advises arbitrary proceedings, must be presumed to 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 III. 
 
 before, miglit rather inflame tliau re- 
 medy the evil ; therefore it is a safe 
 rule for us all in the fear of God to 
 remit these supreme watches to that 
 regal power, whose peculiar indeed 
 it is ; submit ourselves iu these high 
 considerations to his ordinance, as 
 being no other than the ordinance of 
 God itself, and rather attend upon 
 Ills will, with confidence in his jus- 
 tice, belief in his wisdom, assurance 
 in his parental afTections to his sub- 
 jects and kingdoms, than fret our- 
 sidves with the curious questions, 
 with the vain flatteries of imaginary 
 liberty, wliich, had we even our silly 
 washes and conceits, were we to 
 frame a new commonwealth even to 
 our own fancy, might yet in con- 
 clusion leave ourselves less free, less 
 happy than now, thanks be to God 
 and his majesty, we are ; nay justly, 
 ought to be reputed by every mode- 
 rate minded Christian ' (Straft". Ld. 
 and Disj). vol. ii. pp. .'388, 389). These 
 sentiments require no comment, 
 being such as could only fit such a 
 region as Morocco. They would not 
 have been received in France by that 
 portion of the connnunity that might 
 be said to enjoy privileges — the 
 nobility. Yet if this had been spoken, 
 and deposed to^ and the first part 
 
 brought out by cross-questions, how 
 might it have been dwelt upon by 
 historians? Assuredly Mr. Hume 
 must not have perused these letters, 
 otherwise he never could have made 
 the remarks upon Strafford's cha- 
 racter which he has indulged in. 
 He mistakes, too, the time of Straf- 
 ford's admission to office, making 
 it after the dissolution of the third 
 parliament, when the. necessities of 
 state had begun, instead of during the 
 prorogation. Had he attended to 
 dates, he would have found that the 
 individual whom he eulogises went 
 over at once to the court, and with- 
 out the colour of an apology, es- 
 poused instantly the principles wliicli 
 he had just before so vehemently 
 opposed. In regard to his letters, 
 they are the more entitled to regard, 
 that he never wrote one unadvisedly, 
 nor dispatched it, without sh owing- 
 it to his friends Sir George Ratcliffe 
 and Wandesfoi'de, master of the Rolls 
 in Ireland, whom he likewise con- 
 sulted on evei-y thing of any moment 
 concerning either political or do- 
 mestic business. See Ratcliff"e's 
 Essay. This makes the remarks of 
 Ratcliffe relative to the army of in- 
 finitely greater importance.
 
 302 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMriRE. 
 
 CHAP, include the means of effecting tliem; for, after their 
 . • - adoption, there seems to be no retreat compatible either 
 with the safety of the minister, or the folse honour of 
 the prince. The way of power, or of force, is recom- 
 mended, and it can only be so because the minister 
 conceives that the monarch has the requisite strength. 
 The guilt of Strafford, therefore, is not augmented by 
 that part of his alleged advice which regarded the Irish 
 army. 
 
 That the Irish army was primarily raised for the sub- 
 jugation of Scotland is unquestionable, but it did not 
 thence follow that, upon a similar exigency, it miglit not 
 be conceived ready for a similar service in England. As 
 for the probability of any mistake, by Vane, of this for 
 that country, it seems to be unfounded, especially when 
 we view his testimony in connection with a document 
 which was afterwards brought to corroborate it, and of 
 which the following history was given. The minutes of 
 council had all (lest they should be produced against his 
 servants) been destroyed by the command of the king ; but 
 Sir Harry Vane having, during his absence in the North, 
 sent the key of his study to his son, Sir Harry Vane the 
 younger, in order that some private documents might be 
 transmitted to him, the latter found in the cabinet notes 
 of a council held after the dissolution of the late parlia- 
 ment ; and as these developed designs most pernicious to the 
 state, he showed them to Pym, who visited him during a 
 severe indisposition. Pym insisted upon being allowed to 
 take a copy of them for the public good, and young Vane, 
 overborne by his importiniities, reluctantly consented. 
 The cabinet was then locked, and the matter concealed 
 from the father. Such is the history of a document wliich, 
 now alleged to be valuable in consequence of the destruc- 
 tion of the original, was, when the elder Vane's testimony 
 was of itself thought insufficient to convict the prisoner, 
 produced by Pym, and supported both by his evidence 
 and til at of the younger Vane. Old Vane, who either
 
 DOCUMENT PRODUCED BY PYM AGAINST STRAFFORD. 303 
 
 was, or affected to be, extremely offended at his son's ch.ip. 
 conduct, said, upon liis examination, that he had nothing ^^^- 
 to add to his former evidence, except that he had taken 
 notes, and that the document was hke them. The title of 
 the notes was, ' No Danger of a War with Scotland ; if 
 offensive, not defensive ; ' and they were as follow : — 
 
 ' K. C. " How can we undertake offensive war if we 
 have no money ? " 
 
 ' L. L. Tr. (Strafford). " Borrow of the city 100,000/. ; 
 go on vigorously to levy ship-money. Your majesty having 
 tried the affection of your people, you are absolved, and 
 loose from all rule of government, and to do what power 
 will admit. Your majesty having tried all ways, and being- 
 refused, you shall be acquitted before God and man. And 
 you have an army in Ireland that you may employ to 
 reduce this kingdom to obedience ; for I am confident 
 the Scots cannot hold out five months." 
 
 ' L. Arch. (Laud). " You have tried all ways, and have 
 always been denied ; it is now lawful to take it by forced 
 
 * L. Cot. (Cottington). " Leagues abroad there may be 
 made for the defence of the kincfdom ; the Lower House 
 are weary of the king and the church. All ways shall be 
 just to raise money, in this inevitable necessity, and are to 
 be used, being lawful." 
 
 ' L. Arch. " For an offensive, not any defensive war." 
 
 ' L. L. Tr. " The town is full of lords ; put the com- 
 mission of array on foot, and if any of them stir, we will 
 make them smart." ' 
 
 Either this was the grossest conspiracy between the two 
 Vanes and Pym, or there can be no question about the im- 
 port of Strafford's advice. The Irish army had been raised 
 for Scotland, and there could be no occasion for remind- 
 ing his majesty of its existence in regard to the commo- 
 tions there ; but when raising money by force in England, 
 in such an hour of disaffection, was contemplated, it seemed 
 necessary to consider of the means to second the present 
 power. The words were spoken in relation to raising
 
 304 COXSTITUTIONAL HISTORY 01'^ THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, money, and seem incapable of another construction. Charles 
 ,_^^}- . had himself early thought of introducing foreign troops to 
 carry tJirough his arbitrary designs ; and it was distinctly 
 proved that the language of Sir George Eafcliffe and Sir 
 George Wentworth corresponded with the design imputed 
 to Strafford,* while the facts proved in the subsequent 
 charges establisli on what principles he was disposed to 
 conduct the administration of England. The grand objec- 
 tion to Vane's testimony was brought by Lord Digby at 
 ])assing the bill of attamder. He had been one of the 
 small secret committee for preparing the impeachment of 
 Strafford ; and he told the Lower House that, being now 
 absolved from his oath of secresy, he would state the 
 grounds upon which he could not agree to the bill : 
 ' That Vane had been examined thrice upon oath before 
 the secret committee ; that, in the first examination, he 
 positively said, in answer to interrogatories regarding the 
 Irish army, " I cannot charge him with that ; " but for the 
 rest desires time to recollect himself, which was granted 
 him. Some days after he was examined a second time, 
 and then deposes these words concerning the king's being 
 absolved from rules of government and so forth very 
 clearly. But being pressed to that part concerning the 
 Irish army, he said he could say nothing to that.' He 
 then states that it was some weeks afterwards Avhen Vane 
 recollected the words about the Irish army. Digby 
 
 * It was proved by tlie evidence ou this point also established that 
 of Sir Robert King and Lord Rane- the general apprehension, even of 
 la<jh that Sir George Ratcliffe had official men in Ireland, was of a de- 
 said, in answer to their qneries about sign against England. Cottington 
 raising money, that his majesty had appears, by the notes of council, to 
 an army, and if he wanted money, have been himself one of the most 
 who would pity him ; tluit his criminal ; and we learn from the 
 majesty was ready to sup^dy him- correspdudence of the Earl of Nor- 
 seli" : and that he could make peace tliumberland, that, during the pre- 
 with the Scots when he liked. Sir ceding summer, he had become the 
 Thomas Barring, too, swore that Sir entire conlidant of Straflbrd, when 
 George Wentworth had, in a conver- the latter and Laud had disagreed 
 sation about the late parliament, said (Sidtici/ Papers, vol. ii. p. G57j. Cot- 
 that this commonwealtli is sick of tingttm's evidence, too, is strangely 
 leace, and will not be well till it cautious (see Rush. vol. viii. p. 504). 
 
 ! 
 
 »e conquered again. 'I'hc evidence
 
 THE NOTES OF . COUNCIL — VANE — DIGBY. 305 
 
 argued, in regard to the notes, that they were not evi- chap. 
 
 dence, as there was no conchision of counsels, which >_ , ' 
 
 ought to be the only cause of taking notes, but merely 
 the venomous parts of discourses, calculated to bring men 
 into danger. In this objection, however, there appears to 
 be no weight whatever. The title imported the con- 
 clusion, and that could be disputed by none. The cause 
 of taking notes on such an occasion is not merely to 
 register the conclusion which the minutes must ever put 
 beyond the possibility of question, but to preserve an exact 
 account of the opinions of individual councillors for one's 
 own regulation. The previous want of recollection in Vane 
 may be deemed a matter of more serious import. But, 
 in the first place, this at least proves that he had no 
 luiderstanding with the prosecutors ; and it is not won- 
 derful that, considering what had passed in the interim, he 
 should not all at once remember the speeches of the 
 councillors, though they might be recollected afterwards.* 
 In the second place, it is proper to mention that the 
 Commons questioned Digby next day for his speech ; and 
 after its publication, voted it to be scandalous, and false 
 to the witnesses, and that it would not be enough to 
 show that he had some foundation for his statement, 
 since all depends upon the way in which a thing is done. 
 In the third place, that this individual, though sworn to 
 secresy as one of the preparatory committee, was believed 
 to have conveyed to Strafford intelligence of all the 
 evidence, in order to prepare him for itf — a circum- 
 stance which exceedingly lessens our idea of the prisoner's 
 abihty in defence. And, lastly, that Digby stole the copy 
 of the notes of council, which, as one of the secret 
 committee, he had an opportunity of doing, and that, 
 when an oath was administered to aU the members 
 
 * The objection to Vane's first al- t Baillie, vol. i. p. 340. ' Digby,' as 
 
 leged want of recollection applies it is thought, ' had given particular 
 
 with tenfold force to most of the other information to Strafford of all their 
 
 witnesses, whose memories confessed- depositions.' 
 ly continued incurable to the last. 
 
 VOL. IL X
 
 306 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIEE. 
 
 of the committee relative to the docmnent, he was the 
 readiest to swear solemnly that it had not been purloined 
 by him, though he had already gained the royal favour 
 by delivering it to Strafford, as appeared by a copy under 
 his own hand, found in the royal cabinet, taken after the 
 battle of Naseby.* The matter, too, did not rest upon 
 the testimony of Vane. If he perjured himself, both Pym 
 and Vane the younger were in the same predicament, and 
 must be charged with conspiring with him to take away 
 Strafford's life. The notes are supported by other evidence 
 in all points excepting that of the army. The remaining 
 part of the charge, which reflects so much light upon 
 this, was almost entirely established by the best evidence. 
 The conclusion of Strafford's defence, after the addi- 
 tional proof was led, has been admired (though his pre- 
 vious summing up was thought tedious), and we shoidd 
 be doing injustice to our readers by withholding it. ' It 
 is hard to be questioned upon a law which cannot be 
 shown. Where hath this fire lain hid so many hun- 
 dreds of years, without any smoke to discover it, till it 
 thus burst forth to consume me and mv children ? That 
 punishment should precede promidgation of a law, — to be 
 j)unished by a law subsequent to the fact, is extreme 
 hard. What man can be safe if tliis be admitted ? My 
 lords, it is hard in another respect — that there should be 
 no token set by which we should know this offence, no 
 admonition by which we should avoid it. If a man pass 
 
 * Wliitelocte, p. 43. By the way, not at least show that he knew any- 
 I am satisfied that there has been no thing of the matter. Vane's testi- 
 little alteration upon Whitelocke's niony at the trial was quite consis- 
 text by the editor in regard to Straf- tent. The high compliments, too, 
 ford. The general accuracy of White- paid to Strafford — compliments 
 locke evei-jone must admit, yet in a which imply his innocence, are nei- 
 case where ho acted as chjiirmaii of thcr consistent ^yith the usual style 
 tlie secret committee, and managed of Whitelocke, nor with the fact of 
 great part of the evidence as counsel his having voted that individual 
 for the Commons, there occurs one guilty. I am not the first who has 
 absurd blunder. The remarks upon suspected unfairness in the publica- 
 Vane's testimony before the com- tion, and what I have sho^A^l in re- 
 mittee are put into the mouth of gard to tlie embassy proves how 
 Strafford, who, whatever he had editors proceed, 
 secretly learned from Pigby, could
 
 Strafford's defence. 307 
 
 the Thames in a boat, and spht upon an anchor, and no chap. 
 buoy be floating to discover it, he who oweth the anchor ^^^' 
 shall make satisfaction ; but if a buoy be set there, every 
 man passeth at his own peril. Now, where is the mark, 
 wliere the token upon this crime, to declare it to be high 
 treason ? My lords, be pleased to give that regard to the 
 peerage of England as never to expose yourselves to such 
 moot points — to such constructive interpretations of laws. 
 If there must be a trial of wits, let the subject-matter be 
 of somewhat else than the lives and honours of peers. It 
 will be wisdom for yourselves, for your posterity, and for 
 the whole kingdom, to ' cast into the fire these bloody 
 and mysterious volumes of constructive and arbitrary 
 treason, as the Christians did their books of curious arts, 
 and betake yourselves to the plain letter of the law, that 
 telleth us what is and what is not treason, without being 
 more ambitious to be more learned in the art of killing 
 than our forefathers. It is now full two hundred and 
 forty years since any man was touched for this alleged 
 crime, to this height, before myself : let us not awaken 
 those sleeping lions to our destructions, by raking up a 
 few musty records that have lain by the walls so many 
 ages forgotten or neglected. May your lordships please 
 not to add this to my other misfortunes. Let not a pre- 
 cedent be derived from me so disadvantageous as this will 
 be in the consequence to the whole kingdom. Do not, 
 through me, wound the interest of the commonwealth ; 
 and, however these gentlemen say they speak for the 
 commonwealth, yet, in this particular, I indeed speak for 
 it, and show the inconveniences and mischiefs that will 
 fall upon it ; for as it is said in the statute, 1 Hen. IV., no 
 man will know what to do or say for fear of such penalties. 
 Do not put, my lords, such difficulties upon ministers of 
 state, that men of wisdom, of honour, and of fortune, may 
 not with cheerfulness and safety be employed for the 
 public. If you weigh and measure them by grains and 
 scruples, the public affairs of the kingdom will lie waste ; 
 
 X 2
 
 308 COJS^STITUTIONAL HISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 
 
 CHAP, no man will meddle with them who hath anything to 
 
 III. 1 ^ "" 
 
 > - , ,. lose. 
 
 ' My lords, I have troubled 5^011 longer than I should 
 have done, were it not for the interest these dear pledges 
 a saint in heaven left me.' Here he paused, and shed a 
 few tears. ' What I forfeit for myself is nothing ; but 
 that my indiscretion should extend to my posterity, 
 woundeth me to the very soul. You will pardon my 
 infirmity ; something I should have added, but am not 
 able, therefore let it pass. And now, my lords, for 
 myself, I have been, by the blessing of Almighty God, 
 taught that the afflictions of this present life are not to be 
 compared to the eternal weight of glory which shall be 
 revealed hereafter. And so, my lords, even so, with all 
 tranquillity of mind, I freely submit myself to your judg- 
 ment ; and whether that judgment be of life or death, 
 
 ' Te Deum laudamus.' * 
 
 The eloquence of this passage is above its logic. The 
 reasoning proceeds upon the assumption that the charge 
 of the Commons had been substantiated, and just amounts 
 to this — that though all men know that it is criminal to 
 infringe a particular law, yet a minister of state, who 
 takes advantage of particular circumstances to overturn 
 the whole established laws, cannot be justly questioned, 
 because, there being no particidar statute which exactly 
 applies to such a case, he had no legal warning against 
 the proceeding. A position so monstrous came with a 
 remarkably bad grace from the individual who advanced 
 it, because he had himself been one of the most zealous 
 promoters of the petition of right, which was expressly 
 passed to prevent such an invasion of the national privi- 
 leges. His allegation, that he pleaded for the law, while 
 he assumed the very principle in argument of having 
 laboured to overturn all law, is strangely inconsistent. 
 
 * I have taken the above from fire (see Nalson, vol. ii. ; Scott's 
 Whitelocke. Other copies have less Sorners^ Tracts, vol. iv. ; Rush. &c.).
 
 BILL OF ATTAINDER. 309 
 
 But, in a resjular trial, the objection that there was no chap. 
 
 ^— ' ' TT T 
 
 estabhslied rule of law for his condemnation, seems to , ' - 
 have been well-founded ; and the Commons themselves, 
 after a full pleading upon the point of law, Avhich, on 
 their part was undertaken by St. John, and on Strafford's Bill of at 
 by Lane, abandoned that mode of proceeding, and brought ^'^^^ ^^' 
 in a bill of attainder. 
 
 The bill of attainder has been generally condemned, 
 even on abstract principles — that is, assuming the guilt 
 of Strafford ; but the argument which appears to be of 
 the greatest weight has been used by a late celebrated 
 statesman : That nothinsr but a case of clear self-defence 
 can justify a departure from the sacred principles of 
 justice ; but that, whenever an individual can be brought 
 to trial, he is within the power of his prosecutors, and 
 that, therefore, when there has been no law distinctly 
 provided against the species of offence of which he is 
 accused, the present delinquent should be allowed to 
 escape, and a legislative enactment be made to meet the 
 crime in future.* It is not without hesitation that I differ 
 from this author, fortified as his opinion is by that of 
 writers in general ; but it has ever appeared to me that 
 there is a fallacy in the argument, in consequence of the 
 distinction, between the legislature and ordinary courts of 
 law, having been overlooked. Courts of law, as they act 
 by delegated authority, must necessarily be governed by 
 the rules which the state that appoints them has thought 
 proper to establish. The one is a necessary consequence 
 of the other ; and were any other principle to be recog- 
 nised for an instant, the legislative power would centre in 
 these tribunals. But it is a very different question indeed, 
 whether, on some great and crying occasion, when all 
 that is estimable in society has been invaded, and rescued 
 with difficulty from utter ruin, the perpetrators of this 
 unprecedented wickedness, who acted upon the idea that 
 
 * Fox's Introduction to bis Iligt.
 
 310 ^ CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, the enormity of their guilt would protect them ; who, ' if 
 
 >- ^^}- they found themselves above the reach of ordinary justice, 
 
 and feared not extraordinary, by degrees, thought that no 
 fault which was like to find no punishment,' * may not 
 be called to account by the legislature itself, in whose 
 power are the lives and fortunes of the whole community? 
 Whether, in short, that power which binds the whole, 
 may not pass an act to touch an individual who has been 
 guilty of the last degree of criminality? The sacred 
 principles of justice are not impinged, for here is no pre- 
 cedent set for ordinary courts to transgress the limits 
 prescribed to them ; and the guilt is such as requires no 
 written law to define it. Well may it be questioned too, 
 whether it be not most advisable for a state to leave such 
 monstrous iniquity undefined, lest, on the one hand, the 
 study be how to commit wickedness in a new way so 
 as to evade the statute ; and, on the other, lest such 
 definitions should unnecessarily clog the administration. 
 It has been argued, that the innocent may, by bills 
 of attainder, be sacrificed to the vengeance of a prime 
 minister ; f but this is assuming that the legislature might 
 be converted into a mere tool in his hand ; and, if that 
 were to occur, surely the mention of law and justice 
 would become a mockery ; while there could not be any 
 leccal restraint against the commission of the act whenever 
 the minister had an object to accomplish. It may be 
 alleged that this is a reason for fortifying public opinion 
 against the possibility of the measure ; but it may fairly 
 be conceded, that wherever a people are so neghgent of 
 their own rights as to commit their lives, fortunes, and 
 privileges, to a power in which they have so little confi- 
 dence, they need not trouble themselves about the possi- 
 bility of injustice to an individual whose high sphere 
 must give an interest to that power to protect him, lest 
 the members of it should create a precedent against 
 
 * Clar. vol. i. p. 119. f Laing.
 
 BILL OF ATTAINDER. 311 
 
 themselves. In such a situation, men of humble rank ch.ip. 
 
 • III 
 
 could not be liable to that unusual mode of proceeding, —_ ^-^ — - 
 
 because general laws can always be made to reach 
 them ; and the attainder of a grand dehnquent produces 
 a notoriety that must either secure him from injustice, or 
 more strongly impress the public with the conviction, 
 that a change is necessary in the constitution of their 
 government. Thus this argument, which assumes the 
 possibiUty of such corruption, defeats itself The legisla- 
 ture has seen cause repeatedly to suspend the Habeas 
 corpus act ; and, however men may diifer as to the pro- 
 priety of the measure on any particular occasion, it must 
 be admitted in the abstract, that there may be a sufficient 
 ground for it. But assuredly there is no comparison be- 
 tween immuring any numbers in a dungeon, and striking 
 at the life of some grand dehnquent by a law for the 
 occasion. The last excites universal interest, and, should 
 there be injustice, general sympathy for the victim of 
 oppression, and abhorrence against his persecutors. The 
 former exposes thousands to the possibihty of a greater 
 evil. They have not the satisfaction of being heard in 
 their own defence ; they lose the pubhc sympathy, and 
 lie forgotten ; nay, when restored to society, it is with 
 broken health, and, in all probability, broken fortune, to 
 be shunned like a pestilence, and exposed to the odium 
 of vice, without the means of self-vindication, as they 
 were to punishment exceeding perhaps, in their estima- 
 tion, what the law, in its utmost severity, could have 
 inflicted on a full proof of the crime of which tliey were 
 merely suspected. The magnitude of tlie evil none will 
 deny ; but the question is, Whether it must not be endured 
 to avoid a greater ? An act of attainder, where the guilt 
 of the accused is established by competent evidence, and 
 amounts to that of attempting to overturn the constitution 
 of the government, in a manner which had not been con- 
 templated by the law, is not liable to such objections. 
 In vain does the accused pretend that there was no
 
 312 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, statute to warn him of the crime, since it is an intuitive 
 - ^^^- - . truth that, if to violate one law be criminal, the violation 
 of all the laws, which is involved in the attempt to sub- 
 vert the whole system, must be infinitely more so. 
 
 With regard to the guilt of Strafford, none can, with- 
 out prejudice, peruse the evidence, and yet deny that it 
 was fully established — whether we consider his govern- 
 ment of the northern counties, which were completely 
 disfranchised — his administration of Ireland — his uncon- 
 stitutional advice, or the measures adopted in consequence 
 of it. The invariable attempt has been to invalidate the 
 testimony of Sir Henry Vane, which yet appears to have 
 been correct ; but, were it even left out of view, the 
 other evidence, even in regard to the unconstitutional 
 advice, would be sufficient. That he told the king that 
 he might use his prerogative in raising money, and was 
 absolved from rules of government, is indisputable ; in- 
 deed, he admitted that he might have used the first, and 
 his quibble about the meaning of the words could never 
 be seriously listened to, when it is considered that the 
 advice was given because the legal mode had previously 
 proved ineffectual. But, if this be established, what re- 
 lated to the Irish army was a matter of no importance. 
 He who recommends the adoption of an arbitrary course, 
 and particularly in that of taking the money of the sub- 
 ject by violence, necessarily calculates either upon having 
 already a sufficient force to effectuate the object, or on 
 being able to command it ; and the conclusion is, therefore, 
 inevitable, that Strafford either w^as prepared to introduce 
 the Irish army, or flattered himself that the executive 
 had strength to carry through the measure without its 
 assistance. The Irish army could merely have effected 
 the purpose in view ; in either case, the country was ' to 
 be reduced to obedience ; ' and, on the same principle 
 that the Scots w^erc to be overpowered by military force 
 for resisting arbitrary measures, we cannot doubt that the 
 same men were ready to advise, and pursue, a similar
 
 SHARP OPPOSITION TO THE BILL, ESPECIALLY FROM DIGBY. 313 
 
 course in regard to England. When matters have pro- chap. 
 ceeded to that extremity, there is, as we have said, . _ ^^}- . , 
 scarcely an alternative, and the conclusion would other- 
 wise just be, that Strafford contemplated illegal violence 
 of every Idnd, which should be persisted in till the people 
 had evinced a readiness to repel force by force — a con- 
 clusion that would not alleviate his guilt. Surely, then, 
 whatever may be said of the bill of attainder, it must be 
 conceded that he had committed the most aggravated 
 treason against the state, and that there would have been 
 a deplorable defect in the constitutional system, if crimi- 
 nality of so horrid a dye, partly acted upon too, had been 
 allowed to escape punishment in a country, where the 
 heavy penalties of justice were severely visited on each 
 petty offender ; and unquestionably, at all events, what- 
 ever may be said on that point, it cannot be disputed 
 that the generous tear which has been shed for him, 
 might well have been spared. It may be added, that 
 there seemed every reason to conclude, that the fate of 
 the empire depended in a great measure upon his — a 
 view which even brings the matter within Mr. Fox's idea 
 m regard to self-defence. 
 
 When the bill of attainder was brought into the Lower Condiict of 
 House, it encountered sharp opposition, particularly from by. 
 Lord Digby, who yet used the following language : ' Truly, 
 sir, I am still the same in my opinions and affections as 
 unto the Earl of Strafford. I confidently believe him to 
 be the most dangerous minister, the most insupportable 
 to free subjects that can be charactered. I believe his 
 practices in themselves as high, as tyrannical, as any sub- 
 ject ever ventured on ; and the malignity of them hugely 
 aggravated by those rare abihties of his, whereof God 
 had given him the use, the devil the application. Li a 
 word, I believe him to be still that grand apostate to the 
 commonwealth, who must not expect to be pardoned in 
 
 * Cob. Pari. Hist, \o\.\i. p. 750. laboured early to save that individual 
 Digby's father, the Earl of Bristol, (see Ilailes' Letters, pp. 115-16J. 
 though a witness against Straflord,
 
 314 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, this world till he be despatched to the other.'* To render 
 
 III 
 
 his opposition more effectual, this lord, as we have said, 
 stole the copy of Sir Henry Vane's notes, to which, as a 
 member of the secret committee, he had access. The 
 loss of so important a document created a strong sensa- 
 tion, and the theft was imputed to Whitelocke, to whom, 
 as chainnan of the committee, it had been entrusted. 
 He protested his innocence, declaring that he had never 
 shown it to any but the members of the committee ; but 
 the Commons insisted that all the members of the com- 
 mittee should make a solemn protestation in the house, 
 that they neither conveyed it away, nor knew what had 
 become of it ; and Digby took it ' with more earnestness, 
 and deeper imprecations than any of the rest.'* Yet it 
 afterwards appeared that he was the individual ; and the 
 promotion he obtained evinced that it was not unaccept- 
 able to his master. The bill, after a keen debate, passed 
 with fifty-nine dissenting voices ; and was transmitted to 
 the Lords with a message, that the Commons were ready 
 to maintain the legality of it in the presence of the earl 
 himself. The duty of arguing the case was devolved upon 
 St. John.f 
 
 * Whitelocke, pp. 43, 44. auxilmm invocat, qui in legem com- 
 t I have not ventured, for fear of vtittit, from the lex talimis ; he that 
 misapprehension, to give any opinion would not have had others to have 
 of Mr. St. John's speech, in the had a law, why should he have any 
 text. That it was learned, all must lawhimself? Why should not that he 
 admit; but as there was a passage done to him that himself would have 
 in it which has been generally and done to others ? It's true we give 
 justly condemned — that 'we give law to hares and deer, because they 
 law to hare and deer, because they be beasts of chase. It was never ac- 
 he beasts of chase ; but it was never counted either cruelty or foul play 
 accounted either cruelty or foul play to knock foxes or wolves on the 
 to knock foxes and wolves on the head, as they can be found, because 
 head ; ' the reader may be gratified these be beasts of prey. The war- 
 with the context. 'My lords, it rener sets traps for polecats and other 
 hath been often inculcated, that law- vermin, for preservation of the war- 
 givers should imitate the supreme ren. Farther, my lords, most dan- 
 Lawgiver, who commonly warns gerous diseases, if not taken in time, 
 before he strikes. The law was pro- kill ; errors in great things, as war 
 nonnced before the judgment of and marriage, allow no time for re- 
 death for gathering the sticks. pentance : it would have been too 
 No law no transgression. My l<n-ds, late to make a law when thei-e had 
 to this rule of law is, Frustra le(jis been no law. My lords, for farther
 
 PITIABLE SITUATION OF THE KING. 315 
 
 His majesty was now in a very pitiable situation in chap. 
 reojard to Strafford. To condemn the minister who, ■ ^^^' . 
 however great a dehnquent to the community, had Procped- 
 steadily endeavoured to promote what Charles conceived king*iu 
 to be liis own cause, conveyed equaUy a reproach upon ^^g=^^ '^'^ 
 himself and an idea of cruelty towards the servant. His 
 power, however, was now too much circumscribed to 
 struggle openly with the torrent, and he tried the effect 
 of intercession to prevent the passing of the bill by the 
 Lords ; having previously, to mollify botli Houses, con- 
 sulted them upon a marriage between his daughter, the 
 Princess Mary, and the young Prince of Orange. He 
 now called both Houses before him, and passionately 
 requested them not to proceed severely against Strafford. 
 He requested the interposition of the Lords, declaring at 
 the same time that lie deemed the accused unfit to dis- 
 charge the lowest office in future, not excepting that of 
 a constable. It could not, however, fail to alarm all 
 men, after what they had suffered, &c., to hear his 
 majesty, even at this time, protest that no one had ever 
 advised him to alter any of the laws, and that, had any 
 had the impudence to do it, ' he would have set such a 
 mark upon them, and made them such an example, that 
 all posterity should have known his intention.' This 
 
 answer to tliis objection, he hatla of- rary Scotch lawyer and politician, 
 
 fended against a law, a law -wdthin Johnstone of Waniston, who, in a 
 
 the endeavouring to subvert the laws letter to Lord Balmerino, says, 
 
 and polity of the state wherein he ' The advocates here have fine ren- 
 
 lived, which had so long, and with counters of speech, of quick turns of 
 
 such faithfulness, protected his an- wit, but little syllog-istical solidity 
 
 cestry, himself and his whole family. of matter ' (Hailes' Let. p. 118-19J, 
 
 It was not malum quia prohihitum, See Journals of Lords, relative to 
 
 it was malum in se, against the die- Strafford's trial.) 
 tatesofthe dullest conscience, against N.B. In case I should have over- 
 
 the light of nature, — they not having looked the following passage in Bail- 
 
 a law, were a law to themselves. lie's Journals, and fall into this error 
 
 Besides this, he knew a law without, aftei-wards, I here advert to it : ' The 
 
 that the parliament, in cases of this plotts of our enemies since hath been 
 
 nature, had potestatem vita; et necis,^ kything, and God goeing on to com- 
 
 &c. (Rush. vol. viii.) This language pound them to his own way above 
 
 was assuredly, to say the least, inju- man's will and strength, as it may be, 
 
 dicious, and seems somewhat to you shall here shortlie.' 
 justify the remark of the cotempo-
 
 316 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, speech was resented by the House ; for that were such an 
 . ^^^' . interference A\dth bills allowed, there would be an end to 
 
 free discussion in parliament.* 
 Army plot. But mcasurcs of a very different description were 
 secretly concerting at court, to save the life of this 
 devoted individual, and rescue the prerogative from 
 its present danger. The field officers in command of the 
 English army happened at this time to be in the metro- 
 polis, and the army was left under the direction of Sir 
 Jacob Ashley. These officers, anxious to obtain the 
 royal favour, supposed that the English army might be 
 converted into an instrument against the parliament ; and 
 soon began to concert matters with his majesty and 
 the queen about the use of military force, both in res- 
 cuing Strafford and controlhng parliament. The army 
 itself began to be affected with a very ill spirit, and some 
 desperate designs were agitated. But, fortunately, these 
 men could not agree upon the mode of acting in the face 
 of the Scottish army ; and Colonel (son of Lord) Goring, 
 who had expected the chief command and been disap- 
 pointed, gave information to Pym, whose vigilance pre- 
 vented its execution. The plot, however, went on, even 
 after the death of Strafford; so we shall have an oppor- 
 tunity of recurring to it afterwards. On the 28th of 
 April, Mr. Hyde was sent up to the Lords with a 
 message that the Commons apprehended a design for the 
 escape of Strafford, and they petitioned for the removal 
 of Papists and disbanding of the L4sh army. But on the 
 3rd of May the plot was disclosed, and a protestation for 
 the maintenance of the Protestant rehgion, the king's 
 person, and the power of parliament, was drawn up by 
 the Commons, and transmitted to the Lords for their 
 common subscription. It was on that very day that a 
 mob of about six thousand citizens surrounded the par- 
 liament, crying out for justice upon Strafford and other 
 
 • Whitelocke, pp. 40-44; Cob. Varl. Hid. vol. ii. pp. 715, 754 et seq.-, 
 Clar. vol. i. p. 265 et soj.
 
 MILITARY PLOT. 
 
 317 
 
 incendiaries, and to be secured from plots against the 
 parliament, and for the earl's rescue. They also posted 
 up at Westminster the names of the minority in the 
 Lower House who had voted against the bill, and whom 
 they stigmatised as Straflbrdians and betrayers of their 
 country. The minority complained of being thus posted 
 up ; but against a mob no redress could be obtained.* 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 III. 
 
 * The original Letters, publislied 
 by Lord Hailes, throw great light 
 upon this point (see pp. 117, 120, 
 124, 134 ; AVhitelocke, p. 45 ; Paish. 
 vol. iv. p. 248 et seq., vol. viii. p. 741). 
 Lord Clarendon's account of the 
 army plot is exceedingly disingenu- 
 ous. He, in the first place, charges 
 Pym and the others -with ha\'ing 
 brought out the particulars in such 
 degrees as suited their purpose, and 
 not having disclosed it tiU three 
 months after the discovery. In the 
 second place, he alleges that all that 
 was ever done, was drawing out a 
 petition to the king and both Houses 
 for the subscription of the army, in 
 which, after enumerating the good 
 things which had been done, it is 
 stated, that ' there were certain 
 stormy and pragmatical wits, who 
 would be satisfied with nothing 
 short of the subversion of the whole 
 frame of government, and that these 
 were backed by the multitude, ivho 
 flocked down to JMntehcdl, not only 
 to the prejudice of that freedom 
 which is necessary to great councils 
 aud judicatories, but possibly to some 
 personal danger of yom- sacred ma- 
 jesty and the peers. The vast con- 
 sequence of these persons' malignity,' 
 the petition continues, ' and of the 
 licentiousness of those multitudes 
 that followed them, considered in 
 most deep care and zealous aftection 
 for the safety of your sacred majesty 
 and the parliament ; our humble 
 petition is, that in your wisdom you 
 would be pleased to remove such 
 danger by punishing the ringleaders 
 of these tumults, that your majesty 
 and the parliament may be secured 
 from such insolencies hereafter. For 
 
 the suppressing ofiohich in all humilitj/ 
 we offer ourselves to loait upon you, if 
 you please, hoping we shall appear 
 as considerable in the way of defence 
 to our gracious sovereign, the par- 
 liament, our religion, and the estab- 
 lished law of the kingdom, as what 
 number shall audaciously presume to 
 \-iolate them : so shall we, by the 
 wisdom of your majesty and the par- 
 liament, not only be vindicated from 
 precedent innovations, but be secured 
 from the future that are threatened, 
 and likely to produce more dangerous 
 effects on the former.' This petition, 
 according to the noble historian, 
 being shown to his majesty, he ap- 
 proved of it, ' and was content that 
 it might be subscribed by the officers 
 of the army, if they desired it.' The 
 officer who presented it remarked 
 that ' very few of the army had yet 
 seen it, and that it would be a great 
 countenance to it, if, when it was 
 carried to the principal officers to 
 sign it, any evidence might be given 
 that it had passed his majesty's ap- 
 probation ; otherwise, they might 
 possibly make scruple for fear of 
 offending him.' ' Hereupon his ma- 
 jesty took a pen, and writ at the 
 bottom of the petition C. It. as a 
 token that he had perused and allowed 
 it ; and so the petition was carried 
 down into the country where the 
 army lay, and was signed by some 
 officers ; but was suddenly quashed, 
 and no more heard of, till the 
 discovery of the pretended plot ' 
 (vol. ii. pp. 205-7). See what the 
 noble historian tells us by way 
 of introducing the petition, p. 244. 
 jS^ow, after telling us the petition was 
 quashed, he proceeds thus : ' The
 
 318 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 The plot for bringing up the Enghsh army was con- 
 nected with a design of procuring assistance from France, 
 
 mpctings cmithmwg between those 
 officers of the army and some ser- 
 vants of his majesty, to the ends 
 aforesaid, others of the artm/, who 
 had expressed very brisk resolutions 
 towards the service, and were of emi- 
 nent command and authority with 
 the sokliers, were, by special direc- 
 tion, introduced into those coimcils 
 (all persons obliging themselves, by an 
 oath of secresy, not to communicate 
 anything that should jxiss amongst 
 them), lor the better executing what 
 shouhl be agreed.' He proceeds to 
 tell us that, at the Jirst meeting, one 
 of the persons so introduced proposed 
 to bring ' up the army presently to 
 London, which would so awe the 
 parliament that they would do any- 
 thing the king commanded ; ' that 
 all the rest abhorred the proposal ; 
 and that he, either fearing a disco- 
 very, or resenting the rejection of 
 his advice, went next day and dis- 
 closed the whole to the Earl of Bed- 
 ford, Lord Say, and Lord Kimbolton; 
 and yet afterwards proposed to the 
 court party, with a crew of good 
 fellows, to rescue Strafford, &c. He 
 then says that, ' as dangerous as the 
 design was afterwards alleged to be, 
 it was not 2nd)lished in three months 
 after to the houses against whom the 
 design was intended,'' &c., and only 
 brought out to accomplish the ruin 
 of Strafford. Even Clarendon's own 
 account of the matter shows that it 
 was sufficiently appalling ; for the 
 proposal in the petition, to toait upon 
 you, * could,' as Mr. Laing well re- 
 remarks, ' mean notliing else than to 
 march directly to London ; ' while the 
 subsequent meetings and oath of se- 
 cresy, which that learned gentleman 
 did not advert to, evince a most ex- 
 traordiiuiry spirit. But IMr. Laing, 
 thoiigli lie lias some sound remarks 
 upon the subject, has not considered 
 it with his usual attention, and 
 therefore we shall expose the state- 
 ment of Clarendon. In the first 
 ])lace, with regard to the conceal- 
 
 ment of the plot for three months, 
 so contradictory is his statement, 
 that he himself tells us that ' the 
 discovery of the jilot concerning the 
 army was made abmd the middle of 
 April ' (p. 250) ; and that, in conse- 
 quence of Pynl's disclosure, the pro- 
 testation was prepared on the 3rd of 
 May] ! (pp. 251-4) The plot itselif, 
 as appears by the evidence, was 
 agitated dm-ing March, April, and 
 downwards, but not earlier ; and in- 
 deed this is evident from liis lord- 
 ship's own statement, since the 
 communication to the Earl of Bed- 
 ford, Sic, was made the day after the 
 first meeting subsequent to dropping 
 the petition, and that was the middle 
 of April ! ! It is clear, therefore, 
 not a day could be lost in making 
 the disclosure, even by his own 
 account. In the second place, the 
 petition which Clarendon presents 
 as genuine, carries on its face the 
 most unequivocal marks of fabrica- 
 tion. 1st, it alludes to the free 
 course of justice against all delin- 
 quents, of what quality soever, which, 
 if it mean anything, must include the 
 case of Strafford, whose tri.al could 
 scarcely have j^et begun ; 2ndly, it 
 alludes to * the removal of all those 
 grievances wherewith the subjects 
 did conceive their liberty, &c. " pre- 
 judiced," ' which must assuredly 
 mean the courts of Star Chamber, 
 High Commission, &c., all which 
 then, and for some time after, ex- 
 isted ; and lastly, what puts the 
 matter beyond all doubt is, that it is 
 grounded upon the circumstance that 
 thousands Hocked to the call of cer- 
 tain men in parliament, and beset 
 the parliament and AVhi(ehall itself; 
 and the very first tumult, according 
 to all authorities, including the noble 
 hislorian hinisclf, occurred on the 
 identical 3rd of May, in consequence 
 of the city having been agitated ivith 
 rumours of a plot, wh(>n the disclo- 
 sure was made by Pym, and the 
 protestation drawn out ! ! Indeed,
 
 MILITARY PLOT. 
 
 319 
 
 drawing into the field the Irish army, which parhament 
 had often in vain appHed for the reduction of, his majesty 
 decHning to gratify them, ' for divers reasons best known 
 to himself.' JSTay, one object of the plot was to prevent 
 it, and even raising troops in London, under the pretext 
 of intending them for the service of Portugal. There 
 was a design, too, to introduce into the Tower, under the 
 pretence of guarding it, a hundred men, commanded by a 
 Captain Billingsley, who had undertaken to rescue Straf- 
 ford, that he might flee to Ireland and join the army 
 there. So desperate a plot required all the vigilance of 
 parliament. An application was made to the king for an 
 order to stop the ports, to prevent the escape of the 
 conspirators ; but though the order was issued, Mr. 
 Jermyn, a favourite of the queen, was assisted by the 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 III. 
 
 it is completely established by the 
 evidence, that the chief ofHcers be- 
 gan to take offence about the money 
 (that occurred in the beginning of 
 Mai"ch — see Dhirnal Occurrences, &c. 
 ed. 1641 ; Hailes' Let. p. 110). That 
 having taken an oath of secresy, they 
 had many consultations, and fell 
 upon petitioning for money, and 
 other points, the heads whereof were 
 — ' 1st, Concerning the bishops' func- 
 tions and votes; 2nd, The not disband- 
 inc) the Irish armif until the Scots were 
 disbanded too ; 3rd, The endeavouring 
 to settle his majesty's revenue to 
 that proportion it was formerlj^ ' 
 (Percy's Letters, &c.). That first 
 one petition and then another were 
 destroyed with his majesty's know- 
 ledge, neither of them being like 
 that preserved by Clarendon. That 
 the one given by Clarendon was 
 first published by his majesty long 
 afterwards, along with a state paper 
 (how he had a copy of a petition 
 which was destroyed, he did not dis- 
 close) ; and as there is every reason to 
 believe Clarendon himself the author 
 of the state paper (see what he says 
 on that point in his Life), so we 
 may conclude that he who, accord- 
 ing to his own account, was a dex- 
 
 terous forger of speeches and letters, 
 which, with the king's knowledge, 
 he published in the name of leading 
 members of parliament (see his Life, 
 pp. GO, 70, 130, 137), was the fabri- 
 cator. Mr. Hume ridicules the idea 
 of marching the army to London ; 
 but this, which is a species of argu- 
 ment that he always uses, will never 
 rebut the most decisive proof that 
 the thing was contemplated ; -and he 
 overlooks the circumstance of mili- 
 tary assistance being expected from 
 France, &c., while the metropolis 
 would have been in the power of the 
 army. But is it not extraordinary 
 that this author should give so tri- 
 vmiphant a sneer, when he so deeply 
 censures the conduct of the royal 
 advisers for recommending a treaty 
 with the Scots, and retails the story 
 told by Clarendon, of Strafford's 
 having shown how easily they could 
 be driven out of England ? It was, 
 however, expected that the Scottish 
 officers might be won over to connive 
 at the others' march. Clarendon's 
 statement about the plot for raising 
 troops under the pretext of sending 
 them to Portugal, is so unsatisfiictory 
 as to leave little room for doubt on 
 the subject.
 
 320 COXSTITUTIO.XAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, court ill quitting the kingdom. Percy, brother of the 
 . ^^_^- _ Earl of Northumberland, who with others lay concealed, 
 
 mother. 
 
 afterwards, in a letter to his brother, gave such an account 
 as might extenuate his own conduct, and as led to further 
 discoveries.* In this alarmed state of the public mind 
 it was naturally agitated with imaginary danger. Even 
 before this, apprehensions had been entertained of the 
 Earl of Worcester raising a body of Papists, and a report 
 had prevailed of 1500 men having been trained with 
 arms in Lancashire. The effect of these reports, how- 
 ever, has been exaggerated, to throw ridicule on the 
 grand design ; and the facts themselves have, with the 
 same view, been given out of their order. In the No- 
 vember before, people had been startled by one James, a 
 Papist, who, having been pressed to take the oaths by 
 Mr. Hey wood, a justice, suddenly drew^ his knife and 
 stabbed him, reproaching liim at the same time for 
 persecuting poor Catholics. This fellow was afterwards 
 believed to be insane ; but the event at iirst excited con- 
 sternation, some imasininoj that he w^ould not have ven- 
 tured on so bold a measure had he not been promised 
 assistance from his brethren, f The effect of all this upon 
 Queen- the populacc led them to offer insidt to the queen-mother, 
 Mary de Medicis, on account both of her character and 
 the number of Papists who resorted to her. This lady, 
 who was remarkable for her intriguing disposition, had, 
 in consequence of a combination with the Duke of 
 Orleans, and the ill success of that enterprise, made 
 France too hot for her, and had been driven to Brussels, 
 where she was a while caressed by the cardinal infanta ; 
 but even there she provoked so many enemies, that, 
 dreading personal violence, she sought an asylum with 
 
 * Rush. vol. i^■. p. 2.j2 ft scq., vol. depositions and letters thereunto un- 
 
 viii. p. 735 ct scq. ; Cob. Pari. Hist. nexed ' (Husband's Collection, p. 195 
 
 vol. ii. p. 71(\ ct scq. 'Thedecla- f'/ .scy. ; Whittdocke, pp. 45, 46 ; Jowr- 
 
 ration or remonstrance of the Lords nahj Diurnal Occurrences). 
 and Commons in parliament assem- t Clarendon, vol. i. p. 249 ; and 
 
 bled, May lOtli, hj42, with divers see Rush, vol iv. p. 57.
 
 QUEEN-MOTHER SUSPECTED OP INTRIGUING IN ENGLAND. 321 
 
 tlie Prince of Orange in Holland. As, however, she chap. 
 could not remain quiet, in the year 1638 she came into . ^^}' . 
 England, where, says Whitelocke, ' the people were 
 generally discontented at her coming, and at her fol- 
 lowers, which some observed to be the sword and pesti- 
 lence, and that her restless spirit embroiled all where she 
 came.' * The fatal influence that the queen began to 
 acquire over her husband had been remarkably evinced 
 in the late plot, in which she had been particularly 
 active. But the queen-mother was again suspected of 
 encouraging her daughter, as well of herself intriguing in 
 affairs of state ; and the populace of England began to 
 treat her with insult similar to what she had experienced 
 elsewhere. The king upon this sent a message to the 
 Commons, who, while they expressed their readiness to 
 assist his majesty in all just ways for her protection, 
 humbly besought him to move her to leave the kingdom, 
 as their precautions might be insuflicient to save her 
 from insult. f She afterwards went to the Low Countries, 
 where she died. J 
 
 Had parliament been otherwise disposed to abate their 
 rigour towards Strafford, the obstinate refusal of Cliarles 
 to disband the Irish army, and the army-plot, must have 
 inflamed them with additional keenness. The prince who 
 could contemplate such measures, could never, after this 
 detection, expect to recover the confidence of the people ; 
 and the leading members in either House must have been 
 sensible that, in the event of liis success in such schemes, 
 they would be sacrificed to the royal vengeance. In the 
 case of Ehot and others, they had a warning to a certain 
 extent, and aggravated must have been the vengeance in 
 proportion to their late vigorous controlment of the pre- 
 rogative, and hot pursuit of the royal servants. When, 
 
 * Whitelocke, p. 29. The French locke, p. 45. This again is given out 
 
 about court were to take arms on the of its place by Mr. Hume, to cast 
 
 advance of the troops. odium on the parliament. (See Laud's 
 
 t Rush. vol. iv. pp. 266, 267. Biury, October 19th, 1638.) 
 
 \ Ibid. vol. iv. p. 292 j White- 
 
 VOL. II. y
 
 322 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, therefore, some of the Straffordians, as they were called 
 >_i^L_. by the populace, privately urged a judgment against that 
 criminal as for a minor offence — a judgment in which 
 they would have concurred, it was answered, that were 
 he voted guilty of a misdemeanour, and doomed to banish- 
 ment from the royal presence, and incapacity to serve in 
 a pubhc station, as well as to fine and imprisonment, the 
 king would immediately, on a dissolution of parliament, 
 remit the punishment, and, with a general pardon, restore 
 him to favour and place, when he would act over again 
 all that had been so deeply as well as justly complained 
 of.* Indeed, after the late desperate plot, the most 
 bloody measures were, in that case, to be apprehended. 
 State of the Government was now in great arrears to both armies, 
 .iiid°bm'for lying ill the bowels of the kingdom ; and though parlia- 
 the conti- meut might vote subsidies, money, wdiich was mstantly 
 pariia- wautcd, could oiily be raised immediately by loan. But 
 "^^^*' the city, whence the money was expected, was not in- 
 clined to lend but upon the assurance of a general redress 
 of grievances ; and it was commonly believed, that were 
 the armies disbanded, the king would at once dissolve the 
 parliament, and recur to his old illegal courses, while he 
 would dearly visit on the heads of the popular members, 
 the attempt to restrahi him in the exercise of arbitrary 
 power. What in politics is intended to appear to by- 
 standers and in reality does seem to them a sudden unex- 
 pected movement, is known to those behind the scenes to 
 be the result of a preconcerted purpose. Such I appre- 
 hend to have been the case with the bill to prevent par- 
 liament from being dissolved, prorogued, or adjourned 
 without the consent of both Houses. Thouo;h the matter 
 was moved by one of the members for Lancashire as the 
 offspring of his own head alone, he rested his position on 
 the ground that his majesty would pass such a bill in 
 order that parliament might continue till a provision was 
 
 • Clar. vol. i. p. 241 et seq.
 
 STEAFFOED VOTED GUILTY OF HIGH TEEASON. ' 323 
 
 made for the loan, as well as grievances redressed. He chap. 
 Avould undertake to procure a loan for 650,000/. The _i^L_^ 
 spirit with which the proposition was not only received, 
 but instantaneously acted upon, sufficiently denotes a pre- 
 vious secret understanding. A committee was at once 
 named to draw the bill, and it was not only introduced 
 next morning, but passed that very day.* It was then 
 transmitted to the Upper House, by which it was also 
 passed. In the meantime, tlie bill of attainder was 
 passed by the Lords, who had previously taken the opinion 
 of the judges regarding its consonance to law. And now 
 appeared an extraordinary revolution in the feelings and 
 sentiments of the bench within a few months : the iudo-es Biiiofat- 
 unanimously delivered it as their opinion, that the crimes pas^sed'by 
 })roved against Strafford amounted to high treason. For- ^^^ ^o^<is- 
 tified with this opinion, the peers proceeded to vote, when, 
 out of the number of forty-five who attended, twenty-six 
 voted him guilty on the fifteenth article, for illegally 
 levying money in Ireland by force ; and on the nine- 
 teenth, for imposing an unlawful oath on the Scots. f 
 
 These two grand bills, one for the continuance of par- Charles 
 liament, the other for the attainder of Strafford, were LuTofat-^ 
 presented to the throne too;ether. The embarrassments tainder, 
 of Charles were great, the cry of a discontented people for con- 
 loud. He convened his privy council, and that body, parHa-^*^^^ 
 without one dissenting voice, advised him to pass both ment. 
 bills. But as the monarch still contemplated the scheme 
 of overpowering the parliament with the military, it was, 
 in all probability, the one of attainder alone about which 
 he was sohcitous. The other bill, though it proved so 
 momentous in its consequences, must have appeared in- 
 significant to the prince, while his assent to so novel a 
 bill was above all things calculated to throw the Houses 
 off their guard, and cast discredit — at least, in so far as 
 
 * Whitelocke, p. 45 ; Diurnal Oc- f Cob. Pari. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 757, 
 
 ctirrences, Journals ; Cob. Pari. Hist. 768 ; Whitelocke, p. 45. 
 vol. ii. p. 780; Clar. vol. i. p. 450 et seq. 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, the royal pair were concerned — upon the evidence which 
 . ^^^- might be adduced to substantiate the conspiracy. We 
 find a passage by Clarendon in his own life, showing that 
 Charles was, or pretended to have been, assured by 
 learned men that the act was invalid from the beginning, 
 and beyond his power to put such a restraint upon the 
 inherent rights of the crown. As to Strafford, it was 
 argued that he was merely an individual ; and that, as the 
 consequences of a furious multitude, with an almost uni- 
 versally deep-rooted distrust of the executive, might be 
 very terrible, so there was no other expedient to appease 
 the public mind — to induce parliament to make provision 
 for the public exigency, or the city to advance money on 
 loan. Amongst others, Williams, who had a little before 
 been so persecuted, but had been lately, according to his 
 own prediction, taken into the council, and apparently 
 restored to favour, is said to have been an active adviser 
 on the occasion, alleging that his majesty had a twofold 
 duty to perform, one to himself, t]ie other to the public, 
 and tliat his conscience might, in a public capacity, do 
 what, in a private, it might condemn : that all ordinary 
 cases of life and death were referred to the judges through 
 whom the king acted ; and that, in this, not only the two 
 Houses of Parliament had concurred, but the judges deli- 
 vered their opinions against the accused. Thougli Wil- 
 liams had been the most virulent adviser, and should, if 
 he had acted from personal and vindictive motives, be 
 fairly censured, yet of all men Strafford had least cause 
 to complain, since he had himself so profligately assisted 
 in the persecution of that individual : the man who 
 abuses his present power to crush an adversary should 
 not murmur at a similar return on a change of fortune. 
 But some writers, particularly Clarendon, appear to have 
 done Williams little justice on any occasion, and less than 
 usual on this. The House of Lords themselves nominated 
 four prelates, the Lord Primate Usher and tlie Pisliops 
 Morton, Williams, and Potter, to satisfy his majesty upon
 
 STRAFFOKD BEQUESTS CHARLES TO TASS THE BILL. 
 
 ozo 
 
 this subject ; and they all concurred in one opinion, while 
 the first still retained the confidence of the earl to that 
 degree (Could a better proof gf the correctness of his 
 evidence at the trial be desired ?) that ' he prayed with 
 him, preached with him, gave him his last viaticum, and 
 was with him on the scaffold as a ghostly father till his 
 head was severed from his body.' The rest of the coun- 
 cillors, and the bishops, at least acquiesced in the opinion.* 
 Strafford himself, understanding what had passed, and 
 having lost all hopes of rescue from the Tower, addressed 
 a letter to Charles, requesting him to pass the bill, that 
 his life might no longer be the means of preventing a 
 reconcilement of the prince with the people. Whatever 
 might be his motive for writing this letter, whether to 
 acquire popular favour by a show of magnanimity, as he 
 l^robably expected fhat the request would be divulged, or 
 to rivet himself more firmly in the monarch's affections 
 by a pretended concern for his welfare, the sequel proved 
 that he did not anticipate the request would be granted. 
 Hence we may easily conclude that the story told by 
 Clarendon, of a purpose entertained by the keeper of the 
 Tower to order the earl's head to be struck off privately 
 in case the king refused to pass the bill, and of this having 
 been the prisoner's inducement (he having heard of the 
 plot) to write the letter, must be as unfounded as the act 
 itself would have been atrocious. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 III. 
 
 • Clarendon appears, from the ran- 
 cour witli -wbicli lie always speaks 
 of AVilliams, to have had a personal 
 enmity to him. While he so strongly 
 condemns him, and unjustly, on this 
 gi-ound, he yet admits that the others 
 acquiesced. (But see Hacket's Life 
 of WiUiiims, from which the above 
 quotation is taken, part ii. p. 161.) 
 Authorities on this point are not, as 
 indeed might be expected in a case 
 where the greatest odium was sup- 
 posed by the party to be attached to 
 the advice, quite in unison. Nal- 
 son says that Juxon dissuaded his 
 master from passing the bill (vol. ii. 
 
 p. 192) ; but other authorities do not 
 support the statement. An attempt 
 too has been made to vindicate 
 Usher upon an account alleged to 
 have been privately given by himself; 
 but, even according to that, he told 
 his majesty that he (the king) should 
 himself be satisfied as to the proof of 
 the facts, but that, as to their legal 
 effect, he ought to be guided by the 
 judges, an advice that approximated 
 to that of "Williams. (See Biog. Brit. 
 article Usher.) The statement is 
 disproved by the facts as given by 
 Ilacket, &c.
 
 326 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. Urged by liis council, and apparently pressed by the 
 ^^^}' . criminal himself, Charles granted a commission to pass 
 both bills, and sent Secretary Carleton to apprise the pri- 
 soner of his fate, with the motives that had influenced 
 the king, among which was particularly mentioned his 
 own- request. Stunned with the unlooked-for intelligence, 
 Strafford conjured the secretary not to trifle with his feel- 
 ino;s, but to declare the truth. The other assured him of 
 the fact, when he started from his chair, and, lifting his 
 eyes to heaven, at the same time laying his hand on his 
 heart, exclaimed in agony, ' Put not your trust in princes, 
 nor in the sons of men, for in them there is no salvation.' 
 Charles himself felt immediate remorse for having given 
 his consent, and the next day, which was the 11th, wrote 
 a letter to the Lords with his own hand, beo-oino- them to 
 interpose with the Lower House to l^are the earl's life. 
 He added a postscript in these words : ' If he must die, 
 it were a charity to reprieve him until Saturday.' That 
 was three days. He afterwards explained tliis as intended 
 to afford Strafford an opportunity to settle his affairs. 
 They, however, refused to interfere, yet assured his ma- 
 jesty that they would be suitors to him for mercy to be 
 shown to the earl's innocent children, and to approve any 
 settlement for them. In consequence of this it became 
 necessary for the prisoner to prepare for execution.* 
 
 * Jonrnah of Lonh ; Cob. Pari. was most probably improved at least 
 
 Hist. vol. ii. p. 758; Whitelocke, p. by himself, for whoever has studied 
 
 45 ; Clar. vol. i. p. 450 et seq. ; Rush. the works of that author, must be 
 
 vol. iv. p. 202 ct .<ieq. Mr. Hume, in satisfied of his want of scrupulosity 
 
 a note, ^lys, that ' Mr. Carte, in in any statement on that side of the 
 
 his Life of the Duhe of OrmonrI, question. 
 
 has given us some evidence to prove Amongst Carte's papers at Oxford, 
 that this letter was entirely a I found a card from Birch to him, of 
 forgeiy of the popular leaders, in whicli the following is a copy : ' To 
 order to induce the king to sacri- present Mr. Carte from falling into 
 fice Strafford.' Mr. Hume then new mistakes, Mr. Birch thinks pro- 
 gives his reasons for inclining to per to assure him, that he had not 
 the other opinion. But the story tlie least liand in tlie letter to the Rev. 
 which Carte gives us (lie says he re- Mr. Tliomas Carte, nor ever saw one 
 ceived it from a Mr. Howard, to line of it before it appeared in print ; 
 whom he appeals, and wlio had it and that his expostulations with 
 from another, &c.) is ridiculous, and Mr. Carte's at Childe's Coffee-house,
 
 STKAFFOSD S EXECUTION. 
 
 327 
 
 Strafford was appointed to suffer on the 12th of May, chap. 
 
 upon a scaffold erected on Tower HiU. In his passage ^'- — - 
 
 thither, he looked up to the apartment of Laud, who Execution 
 stood at the window dissolved in tears, and who having ford, May 
 pronounced his blessing, sank down overpowered.* The ^'^' ^*'^^- 
 interested, guilty friendship of these two individuals had 
 been latterly dissolved by deadly hate ; but a common 
 calamity — each, in the other's misfortunes, beholding his 
 own — had since restored a mutual sympathy. f The earl, 
 accompanied with the Primate of Armagh, the Earl of 
 Cleveland, and his own brother, Sir George Wentworth, 
 walked with a firm step and undaunted mien to the place 
 of execution, where, having addressed the bystanders, 
 and coolly adjusted his hair and clothes, he died with 
 perfect composure. Drauglits of speeches, which, it is al- 
 
 were founded upon the enclosed com- 
 parison of tliat gentleman's two per- 
 formances at that time drawn up by 
 him; whicli, in justice to himself, 
 he is determined to publish if 3Ir. 
 Carte introduce him in any manner 
 into his dispute with the Bi/stander, 
 or with the author of the said letter 
 to Mr. Carte. 
 
 ' Feby. 2d, 174f .' 
 
 The ' Comparison/ which has two 
 columns on every page, one cfmtain- 
 ing the one statement, the other the 
 other statement, or diflerent autho- 
 rities, certainly exhibits the most ex- 
 traordinary misrepresentations and 
 inconsistencies that can well be ima- 
 gined, and is only equalled by the 
 extreme violence and insolence with 
 which Carte writes to his correspond- 
 ent Mr. Boswell, rector of Taunton, 
 on the subject. Carte did not him- 
 self directly venture to enter the lists 
 with Birch (see Birch's Preface to 
 the last edition of his Enqninj), but 
 it appears by his correspondence with 
 Boswell, that he got that individual 
 to publish an answer in his own 
 (Bosweirs) name. The work was 
 published in ITo-i, imder the title 
 of the Case of the Royal Martyr con- 
 
 sidered, 4'c. Carte's Pape)-s, C. C. C. 
 C. or E. E. E. E. (I think they are 
 marked both ways). Loose Pajicrs, 
 No. 2, 378. The person who had 
 drawn out the catalogue had not at- 
 tended to the correspondence, other- 
 wise he would not have accused Mr. 
 Boswell of having ' pirated ' the per- 
 formance and published it in his own 
 name. 
 
 * Nalson, vol. ii. p. 198 ; Rush, 
 vol. viii. p. 782 ; Hej^in's Life of 
 Laud, p. 480. 
 
 t We have already given author- 
 ities on this subject. After Straf- 
 ford's great ascendancy, which was 
 in 1G39, Laud seems to have truc- 
 kled to him as the other had formerly 
 done to Laud (Sidney I'aperSj vol. ii. 
 p. G26). But Straftbrd had at that 
 time lost the good graces of the 
 queen (Clar. vol. i. p. 222), while 
 Laud was deep in her favoiu' (see 
 Diary, &c.). The first too joined with 
 Cottiugtou in great confidence {Sid- 
 ney Papers, vol. ii. p. 657), though 
 an individual whom Laud appears 
 to have been very jealous of (See 
 Straff. Let. vol. i. p. 480 ; Clar. vol. i. 
 p. 222; see also what we have already 
 said on this subject.)
 
 328 COXSTITUTIONAL IIISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, leged, he had prepared about the time of his death, have 
 
 . ^: . been attributed to him ; but they do not appear to be 
 
 genuine, and are at variance with that which Eushworth 
 took from his hps on the scaffold, as well as with the 
 heads of it which that collector has preserved from the 
 •written copy under the earl's own hand. Charity would 
 induce all who are acquainted with his correspondence 
 and misconduct to wish that it had been otherwise ; or, 
 at all events, that that portion at least of the speech 
 actually dehvered on the scaffold, — in which he declares 
 himself to have been always a friend to parliaments, were 
 not authentic, for it is deplorable to believe that his last 
 moments were polluted with an untruth.* 
 
 Thus died Strafford in the forty-ninth year of his age, 
 atoning, in some measure, for the errors of his life by the 
 manner of his death. We have dwelt the more upon his 
 trial, both as it has been generally misrepresented, and as 
 his fate was so remarkably connected with the succeeding 
 convulsions. A man of talents he unquestionably was ; 
 but in vain do we search his letters and dispatches, as 
 well as his defence, for proofs of those transcendent 
 abilities which have been commonly ascribed to him. He 
 had, from his youth, earnestly cultivated composition and 
 public speaking, and though he attained no perfection in 
 the first, he acquired, what is absolutely necessary in the 
 last, and hides many defects — fluency of language. The 
 natural impetuosity of his temper was, therefore, unre- 
 strained by the difficulty, which so many experience, of 
 finding words to give it vent ; and his manner appears, 
 from all accounts, to have been exceedingly graceful. 
 But he had one vast advantage in what Lord Bacon calls 
 the eloquence of accident. The king and queen (how far 
 their influence extended we need not inquire), the cour- 
 
 * Rush. vol. iv. p. 207 et seq., vol. attended the execution, yet uot an 
 
 viii. p. 759; Nalsou, vol. ii. p. 198 indecent expression escaped one of 
 
 el scq. ; Scott's SonxTs' Tracts, vol. iv. them (Rush. vol. viii.). 
 p. 254 et seq. About 100,000 people
 
 VICISSITUDES OF LIFE EXEMPLIFIED IX STRAFFORD S CASE. 
 
 329 
 
 tiers, the ladies, the clergy ( ' who, in general,' says May, 
 ' were so fallen into love and admiration of this earl, that the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury was almost quite forgotten by 
 them'),* were ready to applaud everything that fell from 
 his lips. The vicissitude of human hfe, so strongly ex- 
 emplified in the case of one who, w^ith such rank, had 
 lately possessed such power, and was still expected to 
 recover it if he escaped the present danger, yet now 
 appeared as a criminal, was necessarily affecting, while he 
 equally derived importance, and borrowed lustre, from 
 the exertions Avhich were made to bring him to justice, 
 and the imposing solemnity of the whole scene.f His 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 III. 
 
 * May, p. 92. 
 
 t Those who collate his defence to 
 the different articles, with the an- 
 swer to the charge, will find the 
 chief argimients urged by him then, 
 used in the last ; and if Digby, as was 
 believed at the time, and may be in- 
 ferred as nearly indisputable from 
 the part he acted regarding the 
 notes of council, carried to him an 
 account of all the depositions, there 
 is the less to admire. People are 
 foolishly apt to wonder at everything 
 spoken, though they would see no- 
 thing particular in it if it had been 
 written, as if a man could not say 
 what he could put on paper, when 
 he has a little time to recollect him- 
 self. The self-collectedness shown 
 by Strafford has been greatly ad- 
 mired. But when we consider the 
 grand theatre on which he exhibited ; 
 that, whatever the issue, he still had 
 the admiration of a gi'eat body, we 
 can admire it the less. Even Laud, 
 though naturally timid, and placed 
 in very different, and far more trying, 
 circumstances, was admitted to have 
 defended himself with the utmost 
 readiness and great acumen. I have 
 already spoken of what are called his 
 troubles, and I need not repeat what 
 I have said. I do not admire them; 
 but in point of readiness, &c., they 
 exceed what we find in Strafi'ord's 
 defence. It was the conclusion only 
 of Strafford's which filled people 
 with admiration, particularly his 
 
 pausing to weep at the mention of 
 his second wife. But Laud had a 
 vast number of authorities from the 
 fathers to quote ; and in short de- 
 fended himself on abstruse points as 
 well as on facts, the evidence of 
 which he disputed. In my opinion, 
 a man who, in such circumstances, 
 defends himself, has an advantage ; 
 he can always tell his own story in 
 commenting upon the evidence, and, 
 as he speaks confidently, he is a sort 
 of witness in his own favour : the 
 magnitude of the occasion, too, if he 
 have any power, rouses him to the 
 highest exertion. It is true that a 
 little mind is apt to sink imder a 
 great occasion ; and there are state 
 cases where the prisoner should never 
 open his own lips, because the senti- 
 ments which he utters may be held 
 by the jury to savour of what he is 
 arraigned. But Wentworth himself 
 never expected to lose his life. The 
 utmost he looked for was a sentence 
 for misdemeanour, which his majesty 
 had, by a letter imder his hand, pro- 
 mised to pardon without aftecting 
 his fortune (see Let. in Biog. Brit. 
 to his wife ; see also Charles's Letter, 
 Ih.) There' is even a mysterious 
 letter to his secretary, Slingsby, 
 showing that he had some faint hope 
 after the bill was passed (Rush. vol. 
 viii. p. 774). Wliat was the nature 
 of his expectations I shall not pre- 
 tend to determine.
 
 330 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, deatli, by satisfying justice sootlied his adversaries, and 
 ^.^^ left his friends the power of magnifying his virtues : 
 the subsequent events produced in the Eoj^ahst party 
 a species of devotion to his memory, because, with his 
 fate, tliey all, including the monarch himself, associated 
 their own misfortunes. The supposed authenticity of the 
 Eikon, in which Charles is made to lament his rash con- 
 cession to the voice of his people, increased the feeling — 
 a feeling which has descended from one generation to 
 another — till with many, especially the high churchmen, 
 it became a mark of disaffection to doubt either the mag- 
 nitude of his talents, the baseness of his persecutors, or 
 the integrity of his life : and it is somewhat singular that 
 the latter has commonly been most vehemently asserted 
 by such as have been themselves remarkable for enter- 
 taining principles approximating to those which he suffered 
 for acting upon. The cause of the extraordinary attach- 
 ment to his memory may be fully discovered in the words 
 of his friend Sir George Eatcliffe : ' He died a martyr for 
 the chuirh and the king.'' But there never was a more 
 unfounded notion : he encouraged a system — which, how- 
 ever, he merely adopted from a view to self- aggrandise- 
 ment — that had nearly occasioned the utter ruin of both 
 tlie one and the other, while it led to the untimely death 
 of his royal master. 
 
 He was thrice mnrried, first, at a very early age, to 
 Lady Margaret Clifford ; * then to Lady Arabella Hoi lis ; 
 
 * 
 
 The authors of the Biop. Brit. my unfaithful niemoiy hath lost part 
 
 have questioned the date of this mar- of the occurrences which concerned 
 
 ri;ige, making it much later, because, my lord, I am loth to let slip the 
 
 in setting out witli his 7iAwy towards remainder.' In dates he is remark- 
 
 the life of Strafford, Sir George ably correct so far as' his Essmj 
 
 TfatclifFe complains of the decay m ^oes; he certainly was better able to 
 
 his memory, Avhicli would prevent judge regarding the probability of 
 
 him from doing Strafford justice in his patron's marriage than these 
 
 sundry particulars, and they think writers ; and he never could be mis- 
 
 the man-iage too early in his life ; taken in this respect, as, if he had, 
 
 but, in trutli, Untcliffe's statement is the son to whom the Ensay was ad- 
 
 not an apology for ineorreclness, ])ut dressed, could have corrected the 
 
 for having so little to relate, as he error, 
 immediately writes this, • But seeing
 
 STRAFFORD S THREE MARRIAGES. 
 
 0| 
 
 OOJ 
 
 and lastly, within a year of Lady Arabella's death, to 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Godfrey Eliodes, a lady whom 
 he preferred to a daughter of the Earl of Cork, though he 
 was, at the same time, so ashamed of the connection, as 
 beneath his rank, that he concealed the marriage, which 
 was a private one, for about a twelvemonth. By the first 
 he had no children, but he had four by the second, two 
 sons and two daughters (of whom one of the sons died 
 young) ; and two by the third, a son, born two years after 
 the marriage, who pre- deceased himself, and a daughter, 
 whom he left an infant.* 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 III. 
 
 * Lady Ai'abella is said to have 
 been remarkably beautiful aud ac- 
 complished, and he always spoke of 
 her memory with the highest respect, 
 as his saint, &c. ; while 8ir George 
 Ratcliffe tells us that he carried him 
 out of bed to receiye her last bless- 
 ing. But perhaps the fair reader 
 may not deem his attachment to 
 have been of a very exalted nature, 
 or his affection long-liyed, when she 
 reflects that he was talking about a 
 third marriage within not many 
 months of her death, and actually 
 formed his third connection within 
 the year. She died in October, 1631 ; 
 and, fi-om a letter by him to Mount- 
 norris, on the 19th of August fol- 
 lowing, it appears that he had then 
 declined a marriage with the Earl of 
 Cork's daughter (Let. and Disp. vol. 
 i. p. 73). ilatclitfe tells us that he 
 married next (October ; but fi'om the 
 following letter it may be doubted 
 whether that eyent had not occurred 
 earlier, though Ratcliffe might either 
 not choose to mention it, or might 
 himself be a stranger to all the truth. 
 ' Madam, I haye in little much to 
 say to you, and, in short terms, to 
 profess that which I must appear all 
 my life long, or els one of us must 
 be much to blame. But in truth I 
 haye that confidence in you, and that 
 assurance in myself, as to rest secure 
 the faulte will neyer be made on 
 either side. Well, then, this little and 
 this much, this short and this lomj, 
 which I aim at, is no more than to 
 
 give yoti this Jlrst im'tten testimony 
 that I am your hushande, and that 
 husbande of yours that ivill ever dis- 
 chardy e those dutyes of love and respect 
 towards you which yood 7Vomen may 
 expecU, and are justly due from good 
 men to dischardye them with a hallowed 
 care and continued jjerseverance in 
 them ; and this is not only much but 
 all things which belongs me, and 
 wherein I shall treade out the re- 
 mainder of life which is left me ; 
 more I cannot say, nor perform much 
 more for the presentt ; the rest must 
 dwell in hope iintill I have made it up 
 in the ballance that I am, and tmist be, 
 7ioe other than your ever-loving hus- 
 bande, Wentworth ' (York, 30th Oc- 
 tober, 1632). From a postscript to 
 this letter, about a paste for the 
 teeth, one box to himself another to 
 her, it appears that the lady was in 
 London (nay, he desires her to speak 
 to Ratcliffe for the paste), and he 
 does not by his letters appear to have 
 been from York that month (see his 
 Let. and Disp. during that month 
 and even August) ; whence we may 
 conclude that the connection was of 
 an earlier date, or that he had sent her 
 off immediately after the ceremony. 
 But is there not something myste- 
 rious in this matter ? Though pri- 
 vately mai-ried, surely the lady 
 needed not have been afraid, as she 
 evidently was, of being discarded 
 like a cast-mistress, since she might 
 have easily proved the marriage. 
 She had answered this letter in a
 
 332 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BEITISH EMriRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 The children were, by act of parhament, restored to their 
 blood and estate.* 
 
 humWe strain, and he wrote thus, on 
 the 19th of November, ' Dear Besse/ 
 (the former cold madam, probably, 
 tended to freeze the lady), ' j^our tirst 
 lines were wellcmu unto me, and I 
 will keepe them, in regard I take 
 them to be full as of kiudnesse soe of 
 truth. It is no presumption for you to 
 write unto me, the fellowship of mar- 
 riadge ought to carry with it more 
 of love and equality than of any 
 other apprehension,' &c. The con- 
 tinued strain of the letter is in itself 
 exceedingly good ; but she had cause 
 to lament the want of equality, nay. 
 
 downright degradation, since he did 
 not acknowledge her as his wife, and 
 kept her at a distance — strange con- 
 dition for a newly married woman 
 — nay, sent her into Ireland next 
 January (1633) under the charge of 
 Sir George RatcliiFe, while himself 
 did not follow till July after (see 
 Bio(j. Brit. "Wentworth, Ratcliff'e, et 
 seq. But the writers of the Biog. Brit. 
 appear to pay no attention to dates, 
 for while they mention that she went 
 with Ratcliff'e to Ireland in January, 
 1633, they say that Wentworth did 
 not think proper to carry her over 
 
 * Journals, 15th June, 1641. No- 
 thing regarding Strafford has been 
 treated with common justice^ The 
 usual clause in a bill, j^^'o ve natd, 
 that it should not be drawn into a 
 precedent, and which is a proper re- 
 straint upon the ordinary courts, to 
 which alone it is applicable, has been 
 represented as an implied admission 
 of the illegality of the bill : even 
 the restoration of the children has 
 been laid hold of by Mr. Hume as a 
 confession of injustice. Yet it may 
 safely be remarked, that had parlia- 
 ment refused that concession, their 
 conduct would have been stigmatised 
 as the heiglit of barbarity. In the 
 concession they merely followed the 
 example which had been set them 
 in various cases by the family on the 
 throne, and particularly in the case 
 of Sir Everald Digby"s son, though 
 Sir Everald's treason was of the 
 blackest kind — the Gunpowder Plot. 
 And, for my part, I am not disposed 
 to give him entire credit for the con- 
 scientious part he performed in that 
 plot. It is true that false religion 
 had satisfied his scruples ; but did lie 
 not expect temporal power as a reward 
 for religious zeal ? Of late, many ex- 
 ertions havebci'ii made to put an end 
 to the attaint of tlie blood in the case 
 of treason ; but the reasoning used 
 lias not convinced me. It is the pro- 
 tection of the law? which has en- 
 
 abled every individual to succeed to 
 title and estate from his ancestors ; 
 and when he endeavours to destroy 
 all law, it is but fair that he should 
 forfeit them for his posterity : he 
 breaks the condition on which he 
 was permitted to enjoy them. Be- 
 sides, a man will frequently be de- 
 ten'ed from the perpetration of an 
 enormity out of regard to his chil- 
 dren, when he might not otheinvise 
 be restrained ; and, in that case, 
 severitj' to the individual is mercy 
 to the community. I suspect that 
 people's reasoning on this subject 
 is apt not to be unmixed : that they, 
 in considering the point, call to 
 mind the instances of men who have 
 either been unjustly condemned, or 
 have merely been unsuccessful in a 
 noble struggle for the liberties of their 
 country— such as the cases which oc- 
 curred in the two next reigns, and 
 have taken place in other states — 
 and that the feelings inspired by 
 these instances wai^p the judgment 
 in deciding upon the propriety of 
 extending the penalties to the heirs. 
 But this is assuredly an unfair view 
 of the question ; since, on all hands, 
 the enormity of the crime and the 
 necessity of terrible punisliment are 
 assumed, tlie guilt being tliat of in- 
 dividuals heading a faction to de- 
 stroy that system under which the 
 community at large choose to live.
 
 KESIGNATIONS FROil THE TRINCirAL OFFICEES OF STATE. 
 
 ODD 
 
 The principal officers of state, as we have already chap. 
 mentioned, had tendered their 
 
 resignations with a view to v_ 
 
 III. 
 
 himself, but left lier to the care of his 
 trusty friend Katcliffe, &c., whereas 
 he himself went only in July, 1633 ; 
 and if they mean that she was 
 brought over in January, 1634, they 
 are equally wrong, as Ratclifle states 
 the matter precisely. Indeed, after 
 Wentworth acknowledged the mar- 
 riage, there was no occasion for living 
 longer separate. Ratclitfe tells us that 
 Sti'aftbrd consulted him and Green- 
 wood on all his domestic as well as 
 public affairs (see Laud's Letter, 14th 
 Uct. 1633, about the marriage in Let. 
 and Disp. vol. i. p. 125). On the 
 back of Wentworth's first letter to 
 his third wife were wiitten these 
 words in a female hand. ' Tom ' 
 (the first child) ' was borne the 
 seventeenth of September, being 
 Wednesday, in the morning, betwixt 
 two and three o'clock, and was chris- 
 tened of the seventh day of October, 
 1634 ' {Bioff. Brit.). It is a little odd 
 that Clarendon should have known 
 so little of Strafibrd's family, as to 
 say that he had all his children by 
 Lady Aa-abella {Hist. vol. i. p. 188j ; 
 and it is strange that Stratford, 
 whose private letters show that he 
 was much, attached to his child by 
 the third wife, should never allude 
 to her, nor to his wife, when he 
 paused in his speech : but the rhe- 
 torical eifect would have been spoiled 
 (Rushworth, vol. viii. p. 773). The 
 authors of the Bioy. Brit., I suspect, 
 have fallen into a mistake in sup- 
 posing, from a passage in a letter, 
 that he had more daughters by his 
 third wife, forgetting that he then 
 included his two former daughters : 
 (see a letter to his wife, to whom 
 he professed great attachment, in 
 Somers' Tracts, vol. iv.). 
 
 ' He was much defamed,' says 
 RatclifFe, ' for incontinence, wherein 
 I have reason to believe that he was 
 exceedingly much wronged. I had 
 occasion of some speech with him 
 about the state of his soul several 
 times, but twice especially, when I 
 
 Officers of 
 
 state re- 
 verily believe he did lay open unto gign_ 
 
 me the very bottom of his heart : 
 One was, when he tvas in a very great 
 affliction vj)on the death of his second 
 wife ; ami then, for some days and 
 nights, I was very few minutes out of 
 his company. The other time was at 
 Dublin, on a Good Friday (his birth- 
 day), when he was preparing himself 
 to receive the blessed sacrament on 
 Easter Day following. At both these 
 times, I received such satisfaction as 
 left no scruple with me at all, bid much 
 assurance of his chastity.'' It is clear 
 from this, that his character had been 
 noted on this account before the 
 death of Lady Arabella; because, 
 otherwise, Ratcliffe would not, at 
 her death, have required to have his 
 scruples removed. Ratclift'e con- 
 tinues : ' I knew liis ways long and 
 intimately, and though I cannot ac- 
 quit him of all frailties (for who can 
 justify the most innocent man), yet 
 I must give him the testimony of 
 conscientiousness in his ways that he 
 kept himself from gross sins ' (was 
 not the affair with Chancellor Lof- 
 tus's daughter-in-law a gross sin ? or 
 Avas it merely a frailty ?), ' and endea- 
 voured to approve himself rather 
 unto God than unto man, to be re- 
 ligious inwardly and in truth, rather . 
 than outwardly in show.' The same 
 Ratcliffe celebrates his justice, &c., 
 only admitting, that ' he was exceed- 
 ing choleric' 
 
 In Strafibrd's case, as well as in 
 the instances of cotemporaries, was 
 sadly exemplified the misery of those 
 ' who hang on prince's favours ' — and 
 the baseness of the men. Williams, 
 whom he had courted, he aftei-^-ards 
 tried to ruin. Weston, earl of Port- 
 land, to whom Wentworth professed 
 the most ardent devotion, had scarce- 
 ly introduced him to court when he 
 suspected, from Wentworth's union 
 with Laud, of whom Weston was 
 jealous, that he was trying to sup- 
 plant him {Let. and Disp. vol. i. pp. 
 79, 211). Cottington had written
 
 334 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 their places being bestowed upon tlie chief popular mem- 
 bers, on condition of their dropping the prosecution of 
 Strafford ; but as that arrangement had failed, the resig- 
 nations were not accepted. The fate of Sti'afford now, 
 however, so alarmed these official men, that they declined 
 to retain their dangerous pre-eminence longer, and Cot- 
 tino-ton's office of master of the wards was bestowed 
 upon Lord Say ; Juxon's, of high treasurer, was put into 
 commission ; the Earl of Essex was made chamberlain of 
 the household ; the Earl of Leicester nominated lord 
 heutenant of L-eland ; Newcastle resigned his place of 
 
 to Strafford about the dangerous in- 
 disposition of Weston, and he an- 
 swers (on the 28th March, lG35),that 
 he had been so affected, that he had 
 not been well since ; ' that Monday 
 night last he swooned twice before 
 they could get off' his clothes ' {Id. 
 p. 393). In a letter to the Earl of 
 Newcastle, on the 9th of April, that 
 is, within a fortnight of the one to 
 Cottington, he expresses himself 
 thus: 'The truth is, I conceive. my 
 lord treasurer, sometime before his 
 death, wished me no good, being 
 gTown extreme jealous of my often 
 writing to my lord of Canterbury, 
 and myself, out of a sturdiness of na- 
 ture, not so gently passing by his 
 tmkind usage, as a man of a softer 
 and wiser temper might have done ; 
 for, I confess, I did stomach it very 
 much to be so meanly suspected (be- 
 ing as innocent and clear of crime 
 towards him as the day), considering 
 that I had, upon my coming from 
 court, given him as strong a testi- 
 mony of my faith and boldness in 
 his affairs, nay, indeed, a stronger 
 than any other friend he had, durst, 
 or at least would do for him. So as 
 finding myself thus disappointed of 
 the conffdence I had in his profes- 
 sions at our parting, I grew so im- 
 patient as to profess, even to himself, 
 I would l)orrow a being from no man 
 living but my master, and there I 
 would fasten myself as surely as I 
 could ; so as by his death it is not 
 altogether improbable that I am de- 
 
 livered of the heaviest adversary I 
 ever had (Id. p. 411). No wonder 
 that Weston was jealous, consider- 
 ing Wentworth's correspondence with 
 Laud, to whom Wentworth professed 
 the most unlimited devotion. ' He 
 should end his life in acknowledg- 
 ments to his grace,' &c. (see his 
 Letters to Laud during the life of 
 Weston). How these individuals 
 afterwards split we have already 
 seen. Again, Wentworth even ap- 
 plies for an earldom to stop the ma- 
 lice of his enemies, wlio sought his 
 ruin, but might be deterred by such 
 a mark of the royal favour. Charles 
 long refused it (see Hiog. Brit, and 
 Let. and Disp.). 
 
 It is alleged that Sir Henry Vane 
 had perjured himself out of revenge 
 for an injury done him by Strafford, 
 in taking the title of Baron Raby, 
 Raby being the name of Vane's 
 estate ; but the best proof of the cor- 
 rectness of Vane's testimony is, that 
 in spite of it, he retained the king's 
 conffdence (see ' Correspondence be- 
 tween Charles and Secretary Ni- 
 cholas ' in the Appendix to Evelyn's 
 3Ie»i.). The paper for Bridling Par- 
 liaments, in Ludlow's Apjjendir, is 
 improperly attributed to Straflford, 
 having been the production of Sir R. 
 Dudley in the preceding reign (see 
 HoweU's State IVials, vol. iii. p. 387). 
 I should not have noticed this had 
 not the same error been committed 
 by the editor of Hutchison's i(fewo»rs.
 
 THE COMMONS ATTEMPT THE ABOLITION OF THE HIERARCHY. 335 
 
 governor to the prince, and the office was afterwards chap, 
 
 bestowed on the Marquis of Westford — a matter of which . ^^^i— - 
 
 we shaU liave, in the sequel, particular occasion to 
 speak.* 
 
 During the momentous trial of Strafford, bills were Abolition 
 brought into the Lower House for the abolition of the chlmberf' 
 court of Star Chamber, the High Commission, the Court of &c. 
 York, the Court of the Marches of Wales, and other un- 
 constitutional tribunals ; but they were not transmitted to 
 the Lords till a considerable time after his fate was deter- 
 mined. The two first, having passed the Upper House 
 likevv^ise, were presented to the throne along with a poll- 
 bill; but his majesty, while he passed the last, took no no- 
 tice of the first, and the circumstance excited discontent, 
 which induced him to pass those biUs also.f His grand ob- 
 ject was to retain the ecclesiastical government, which the 
 current now ran strongly against. A bill, in consequence a bm to 
 of former resolutions, having passed the Lower House, to ^ishoT 
 restrain bishops and the other clergy from intermeddling &c. from 
 with secular affairs, and which affected the right of the offices. 
 prelates to sit as members of the Upper House — a right 
 that, according to the most eminent lawyers, they had 
 enjoyed, not as belonging to their ecclesiastical function, 
 but to their secular baroniesj — was transmitted to the 
 House of Lords ; but as was to have been anticipated, it 
 naturally met with a powerful opposition from the spiritual 
 members, of whom there were twenty-six ; and as several 
 temporal peers joined them, they succeeded in throwing 
 out the bill.§ The Lords, however, voted that the pre- Deering's 
 lates and other churchmen should neither be j)rivy conn- ulterextir- 
 cillors, members of the Star Chamber, nor justices of pation of 
 peace. The fate of this bill only induced the Commons to deans and 
 
 cbapters. 
 
 * Cob. Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 793 ; larly 2nd, 3rd, and 5tli July, 
 Wliitelocke, p. 46. J AtJi Inst. pp. 35, 46, 321. 
 
 t Cob. Pari. Hist. toI. ii. pp. 844, § Cob. Pari. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 725, 
 
 851; Ptusli. vol. iv. p. 304; Nalson, 763, 792, 794, 814, 816, 822, 828; 
 
 vol. ii. ; Journals of Commons and of Clar, vol, i, p. 477, and Appendix F, 
 Lards, 11th June, et iwstea, particu-
 
 336 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 III. 
 
 attempt a bolder measure — that of utterly abolisliing the 
 hierarchy, with deans and chapters, &c. The bill on this 
 subject, though introduced by Sir Edward Deering, is 
 said to have been drawn by St. John ; and to have had, 
 for its most active promoters. Sir Henry Vane, junior, and 
 Oliver Cromwell. 
 
 According to Clarendon, the first reading of this last 
 encountered the most strenuous opposition. It was, how- 
 ever, on the same day read a second time and committed, 
 the majority being considerable. In committee it under- 
 went much discussion ; * but the noble historian, to whom 
 we have just alluded, having been appointed chairman, so 
 protracted the discussion on every point, that the summer 
 was wasted in useless debates. This he did in conjunction 
 with a secret understanding with the monarch himself, 
 and yet with an effrontery that must equally excite 
 our pity and contempt. In his Life, he exultingly re- 
 lates his own petty tricks to postpone the measure. A 
 new church goveriniient, by commissioners in every dio- 
 cese, was proposed as a substitute, with a liberal allow- 
 ance to the present incumbents. To terrify the hierarchy 
 too, thirteen of the bishops were impeached for their 
 illegal proceedings at the late convocation. Wren, upon 
 a report of the committee, was voted to be incapable of 
 holding any office, either in church or state, and com- 
 mitted to the Tower. Six of the judges were also im- 
 peached, f A vote of the Commons, in regard to the city 
 of London, may likewise be properly introduced in this 
 ])lace: — The city had purchased a large plantation in 
 Ireland ; and this the court of Star Chamber, which had 
 
 • Cob. Pari. Hid. vol. ii. p. 814; see 
 Decri>n/'s tSpeechrs, London, printed by 
 F. Englesfiuld, 1(542 ; Clar.vol. i. p. 482 
 et seq. ; Lift', vol. i. p. 90 et seq. ; 
 JoiiriKih of Lords, l:',ih May, cf posted. 
 It was tlirown out on the Hth .Tune, 
 after having been the subject of con- 
 ference between the Houses and fre- 
 quent debates. 
 
 t Rush. vol. iv. p. 310 rf srq. AVho- 
 ever will take the trouble to com- 
 pare this wuth Clarendon's own 
 speech against the judges, on the 
 Gth July, I(;41, will set a proper 
 value upon his statement in his his- 
 tory on tonnage and poundage (see 
 Din null Proceedinys ; Journals of 
 Lords and Commons, 12tli June).
 
 CONTINUED INVESTIGATIONS OF THE ARMY-PLOT. 337 
 
 no power even by usage for interfering with questions of chap. 
 freehold, had adjudged to be void ; an act in which it had . ^^ }- . 
 not even attended to the abstract principles of equity. The 
 Commons voted the proceeding to be a usurpation, as well 
 as a pure act of injustice, and resolved that the city 
 should be restored to its property.* The right of parha- 
 ment in the case of tonnage and poundage, that former Tonnage 
 grand point of dispute, was now completely vindicated. ^°g^^""*^" 
 A committee having been appointed to inquire into the 
 rate of duties, and the proportion which articles would 
 bear in such a period, after a long investigation, fixed 
 upon certain temporary rates ; and an act was passed 
 granting the duties to the crown from the 15th of May 
 to the 25th of July ; by another, they were granted from 
 the 25th of July to the 10th of August ; and again, 
 from the 10th of August to the 1st of December. But, 
 in the preambles, the exclusive right of parliament to give 
 such duties was fully recognised, and it was provided by 
 a particular clause in each, that if any officers whatever 
 levied such duties, or any customs except what were 
 denominated the perpetual customs, and had been regu- 
 larly paid from the time of Edward III. to that of Queen 
 Mary, they should incur the penalty of a premunire, and 
 disability to maintain any action in a court of justice. f 
 
 The Irish army, which had been expressly raised for irisharmy. 
 the subjugation of Scotland, had now become unneces- 
 sary, and parliament strenuously insisted upon the dis- 
 banding of it. In the meantime the Commons continued 
 their investigations of the army-plot, in which Ashburn- 
 ham, Wilraot, Sir John Berkley, O'Neil, and others w^ere 
 found to have been deeply engaged, though to the House 
 they had disclaimed everything, even to the oaths of 
 secresy, which was then no longer denied by the Eoyalist 
 party. This complete discovery made the evil recoil 
 upon the king, who, fearing the consequences of refusing, 
 
 * Rush. vol. iv. p. 379. 
 t Journals j Nalson, vol. ii. p. 280 ; see stat. 16 Car. cc. 8, 12, 22, 
 
 VOL. II. Z
 
 338 
 
 COXSTITUTION'AL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP 
 III. 
 
 King's 
 intpiition 
 to visit 
 Scotland. 
 
 now reluctantly consented to disband tlie Irish army.* 
 But lie then intimated that he had made an arrangement 
 with the Spanish court for transporting the troops to the 
 Continent. This, however, neither satisfied the parlia- 
 ment nor the nation. It was easy to perceive that, under 
 such a pretext, the army might be kept on foot till both 
 the Scottish and English armies were disbanded, and 
 then introduced into the bowels of the kingdom. In the 
 original army-plot they had a sufficient warning of the 
 king's insincerity and desperate counsels ; and even the 
 actual transportation of the Irish army did not secure 
 them from dan2:er. 
 
 Charles did not with this abandon his dark projects. 
 He had been tampering with some of the Scottish com- 
 missioners, and corresponding with an unprincipled violent 
 faction in Scotland, with whose assistance he expected to 
 recover the ground he had lost. With the view of 
 strengthening that faction, and maturing his schemes, he 
 proposed a journey to Scotland. The Commons, who 
 apprehended mischief from that quarter, as well as from 
 his presence with the armies (part of the Scottish com- 
 missioners had early taken the alarm, and a strange 
 letter from the Earl of Montrose, whose ambitious 
 designs were now generally suspected, had been dis- 
 covered), begged his majesty to postpone his journey till 
 the armies were disbanded, and they succeeded in gaining 
 time ; but they had agreed to his beginning it on the 
 10th of August ; and when they prayed him to delay it for 
 a fortnight longer, he positively refused ; yet, to remove 
 discontent, he passed a bill against knighthood-money, 
 and another for liberty to make gunpowder and salt- 
 petre. Sir Artliur Hastings had brought in a bill to 
 settle the militia by sea and land in such individuals as 
 should be agreed upon by tlie legislature ; and though it 
 was only once read, and dropped for the present, Charles 
 
 * Hush. vol. iv. p. 360; Nalson, vol. ii. pp. 233, 465, 460; Clarendon, 
 vol. i. p 490 et scq.
 
 ing of the 
 armies. 
 
 OMMITTEE APPOINTED TO ACCOMPANY CHARLES TO SCOTLAND. 339 
 
 had every reason to believe that it would afterwards be chap. 
 
 • • TTT 
 
 persisted in. As, however, so extraordinary a bill could ._ , ' _.. 
 only be justified on the ground of want of confidence 
 in the king, he politicly anticipated the measure by 
 granting a commission to the Earl of Essex, who had 
 become very popular, constituting him, during his 
 majesty's absence, general of the forces in the south of 
 the Trent, with power to raise troops in case of necessity.* 
 
 The grand point of debate now regarded the disband- Disband 
 ing of the armies, the question being which should be 
 disbanded first ; but it was at last prudently resolved 
 that both should be disbanded together. This was 
 accordingly begun on the 6th of August, and ' the Scots, 
 with store of English money and the best entertain- 
 ment, left their wai'm and plentiful quarters.' An act of 
 pacification was likewise passed .f The disbanding of 
 the Irish army was begun in June, As the king was 
 peremptorily resolved to commence his journey by the 
 10th, the Commons sat all Sunday to finish important 
 business ; but they apologised for it to the people as an 
 act of necessity, and declared that it should not be drawn 
 into a precedent. They pressed much for a regency in 
 the king's absence, but it was refused. They likewise 
 appointed a committee to accompany his majesty, with 
 a view of attendinc; to the Enoflish interest, thou^di, in 
 reality, to watch his motions. The committee were, the 
 Earl of Bedford, Lord Howard, Sir Philip Stapleton, Sir 
 William Armyne, Mr. Fiennes, and Mr. Hampton. 
 
 All the vigilance of parliament proved necessary ; and 
 so perverse was the royal policy, that an attempt to 
 debauch the troops was made, even at disbanding the 
 armies. J 
 
 After the king's absence, nothing important was done, 
 
 * Clarendon, vol. i. p. 279. J E-iisli. voL iv. p. 275 ; Claren- 
 
 t Whitelocke, p. 47 ; Rush. yoI. don, vol. i. p. 290 ; Diurnal Occur- 
 
 iv. p. 362 ct seq. ; Nalson, vol. ii. rences. 
 
 p. 466 ; Clarendon, vol. i. p. 279. 
 
 z 2
 
 340 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISII EMPIEE, 
 
 CHAP, except that the army-plots (for there appear to have been 
 . _ ^\^' . two) were farther successfully investigated ; that some 
 
 orders were issued about pubhc worship ; and that the 
 Commons, by their order, &c., of the 8th September, 
 frustrated the private agreement between the king and 
 the Spanish ambassador, to engage a great part of the 
 Irish army for Spain. The Commons, as well as the 
 Eecess. Lords, adjourncd on the 9th September till the 20th 
 October, having appointed a committee to watch over 
 the public interest during the recess.* 
 
 * Cob. Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 904 et seq. ; Journals.
 
 CHARLES LABOURS TO GAIN LEADING MEN IN SCOTLAND. 341 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 SECRET POLICY OF THE KING — AFFAIRS OF SCOTLAND, AND CONDrCT 
 OF MONTROSE — THE KING's JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND — THE INCIDENT, 
 AND SETTLEMENT OF AFFAIRS THERE — THE IRISH REBELLION AND 
 MASSACRE — THE RE-MEETING OF THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT — 
 GENERAL APPREHENSIONS OF PLOTS, ETC. — RETURN OF CHARLES 
 TO LONDON ; HIS RECEPTION THERE — THE REMONSTRANCE — IM- 
 PEACHMENT OF THE BISHOPS, AND PROCEEDINGS IN REGARD TO 
 EPISCOPACY — ACCUSATION OF THE FIVE MEMBERS — TUMULTS — 
 PROCEEDINGS IN REGARD TO IRELAND — KING LEAVES LONDON J 
 ARRIVES AT YORK — PREPARATIONS FOR CIVIL WAR. 
 
 We have repeatedly remarked, that it was ever a fotal chap. 
 
 error of Charles and his advisers to impute the opposition 
 which his measures encountered to a few leading men, ^^cy^^ 
 who merely acted as organs for the expression of the charies. 
 general sentiments ; and that, as a consequence of this 
 erroneous opinion, he always flattered himself with the 
 hope of removing the opposition, could he destroy or gain 
 the individuals to whom he attributed the lamented con- 
 trolment of his prerogativ.e. If he thus allowed himself 
 to be deceived in English affairs, it is not wonderful that 
 he should have been misled in regard to Scotland — a 
 country narrow in itself, and so aristocratic as to give a 
 few families great ascendancy. It was from that country, 
 however, that his illegal government had received so re- 
 markable a check ; and, though the late events in England 
 might have taught him that the crisis there had only been 
 hastened, not created, by the Scottish appeal to arms, he 
 had deemed the Scottish army the grand impediment to 
 the most desperate measures against the parliament, and, 
 consequently, against the whole privileges of the common- 
 wealth. He had assiduously laboured, therefore, to gain 
 leading men in Scotland, that, with their assistance, joined
 
 342 
 
 CONSTITUTIOxVAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 Montrose. 
 
 to that of certain individuals wlio, as incendiaries, had 
 been reserved for judicial procedure, he might destroy the 
 rest, Avhen he doubted not his ability to accomplish a com- 
 plete revolution, which would also enable him to recover 
 his lost power in the South, particularly as he was promised 
 from Scotland the grounds of a capital prosecution against 
 those whom he most dreaded in England. With the ex- 
 ception of Eothes however, whom, now a widower by 
 the death of his wife the preceding year, an offer of a place 
 in the bed-chamber, and the promise of a great marriage, 
 had so won, that it is extremely probable, in spite of his 
 professions to his old friends, a premature death alone 
 rescued from the disgrace of apostasy,* — the Scottish com- 
 missioners had been proof against all the arts of the court, f 
 But the king liad in Montrose a fund of hope which suf- 
 ficiently buoyed him up amid other disappointments. This 
 nobleman, who had supposed himself neglected by the 
 court, being destitute of either public or private prin- 
 ciple, early joined the Covenanters, with the indiscriminate 
 keenness of a man who regards politics merely as a me- 
 dium of self-exaltation ; and his presumptuous ambition 
 had flattered him with the hope of standing at the head 
 of both the civil and military affairs in the approaching 
 strufTo'le. But the nomination of Leslie to the chief com- 
 mand disappointed him in the latter ; while the influence 
 and abilities of Argyle, whose conciliatory policy at the 
 outset had probably suggested the idea of want of decision, 
 by soon setting him at the head of the former, likewise 
 frustrated tlie hopes of Montrose in that department. His 
 
 * Clar. vol. i. p. 280; Baillie's 
 Let. MS. vol. ii. p. VlQo. Eaillie, in 
 a letter to his wife, dated the 2Dd of 
 June, vi^hicli, for what reason I can- 
 not <^'ues.s, the editor has not thought 
 worthy of puhlicatitjn, write.s tluit a 
 Scotch nobleman would prohaljly 
 change all the court ; that the king 
 and queen begin much to affect him, 
 and if he go on he is like to be the 
 greatest courtier, either Scotch or 
 
 English. That he would likely take 
 a place in the bed-chamber, iind 
 might have Lady Devonshire with 
 £4000 sterling per annum. Tiiis 
 was Iiothes (see Printed Letter, vol. 
 i. p. '-i'U ; see too liotlies's own letter 
 to Warriston on the subject, 25th 
 June, l(J4l; Ilailes' C(>l. p. 1.% ; 
 Burnet's Mem. of the ILan. p. 184. 
 t Ilailes' Col. p. 10? li seq.
 
 MONTROSE DETECTED IN CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE COURT. 34 
 
 presumptuous expectations thus blasted, lie embraced the chap. 
 first opportunity to earn the royal favour by testifying his ^^ ' 
 aptitude to betray his party ; and even at Dunse-Law had, 
 it is said, proffered his services ' to have given over the 
 whole North to the enemy.'* At Berwick, whither he was 
 sent to negotiate, his conversion was complete. Though 
 he thenceforth still affected steadiness to his professions 
 against the royal measures, he secretly corresponded with 
 the court, and endeavoured to raise up a faction against 
 Argyle that should, under the pretext of adhering to the 
 Covenant, in reahty subvert it. For this purpose, he had 
 drawn a bond, or band, as it was called, for a counter 
 association before the expedition to England, and had pro- 
 cured to it the signatures of no less than nineteen peers. 
 On the expedition to England, the committee of estates 
 had wisely enacted that, without the consent of three at 
 least of their number, none should, on pain of death, hold 
 any correspondence with the court ; and as Montrose, 
 whose motions were watched, for nothing escaped the 
 vioilance of these men, was detected in such a corre- 
 spondence, he might have instantly been proceeded against 
 capitally. But as the union, which had been so remark- 
 ably displayed by the Scots, had, in effect, been the foun- 
 dation of their strength, so it would have been imprudent 
 and hazardous, at that critical juncture, when the confi- 
 dence of success was necessary to secure it, to have given 
 any unequivocal proof of want of faith amongst them- 
 selves, and Montrose had intimated that he w^as not sin- 
 gular in maintaining such a correspondence. The matter, 
 tlierefore, upon his submission, was hushed up ;f but his 
 practices continued, till he fell on a cutting, by judicial 
 forms, or violent means, not only Argyle, who was justly 
 deemed the most formidable man in Scotland, but Eothes, 
 whose subsequent conduct, had he lived, would have likely 
 acquired the royal protection ; and even the Marquis 
 
 * Ilailes' Let. p. 147. 
 t Burnet'a Mem. of the Hanu'lto/is, pp. 178, 179; Baillie, vol. i. p. 210. 
 
 o
 
 344 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. Hamilton himself, whose political, unprincipled dexterity 
 
 . J--_. was such, that, when he perceived the ascendancy of the 
 
 popular party, and dreaded a prosecution as an incendiary, 
 he had, notwithstanding all that had passed, acquired the 
 countenance of the Covenanters, a favour which, however, 
 he partly merited for procuring the release of Loudon.* 
 But, with that, he had lost his credit at court. The cor- 
 respondence which Montrose continued with the court had 
 been long suspected, and at last was fully detected. He 
 had returned to Scotland in May, and a messenger to him 
 having, in consequence of secret information, been inter- 
 cepted near Dunbar, the letters were discovered in the 
 pommel of the saddle. With this detection the affair of 
 the bond, entered into the previous year, came also to be 
 discovered ; and Montrose and some of his coadjutors 
 were arrested and imprisoned in Edhiburgh Castle. Still 
 were his practices persisted in to ruin Argyle and the 
 others. Montrose incited a gentleman of the name of 
 Stewart to accuse them of an intention to depose Charles. 
 This wicked instrument alleged against Argyle, in parti- 
 cular, that he had heard him say before certain men, that 
 the opinions of lawyers and divines had been taken about 
 the lawfulness of deposing the present king, and that, as 
 they were agreed upon the subject, the states contemplated 
 the measure. The allegation was unfounded, and, l3efore 
 Charles could leave England, the matter was investigated 
 — when Stewart, perceiving himself clearly detected in an 
 inifounded statement of so atrocious a nature, confessed 
 his crime. The statutes about leasing-making had pro- 
 vided a capital punishment for the offence; yet as, except 
 in the case of Balmerino, to whose condemnation they had 
 been so iniquitously perverted, they had never been en- 
 forced, many scruples arose regarding their validity, but at 
 last the bench pronoimced them efficient, and Stewart was 
 
 • Burnet's 3/«»oiV.s-, pp. 148-171 ; vol. ii. p. 141. See the Sidney 
 Nalson,vol. i.p. 081 ; Clar. vol. i. pp. ropers regarding Hamilton, vol. i'i, 
 152-189 5 Ilardwicko's Slate I'dpcrs, pp. ()o4, Go7.
 
 montkose's plot to euin argyle, hamiltox, and eotiies. 345 
 
 sentenced to an ignominious death. It is very likely, how- chap. 
 ever, that the punishment would never have been inflicted, 
 had it not been for the pertinacious wickedness of Montrose, 
 who privately circulated, that the confession of Stewart had 
 been procured by the undue practices of Argyle, who had 
 promised the convict his life, and was too sensible of the 
 justness of the charge against himself to hazard a farther 
 disclosure by alloAving the sentence to be executed. This 
 alarmed the whole party afresli, who saw that their own 
 fate was involved in the accusation of their leader, and 
 that the pardoning of the calumniator would give every 
 advantage to Montrose. They therefore strenuously urged 
 on the convict's fate, and he suffered the statutory pun- 
 ishment.* 
 
 This failure of the plot did not divert Montrose from 
 his object. He still flattered Charles with the prospect of 
 effectuating his purposes when witnesses should be en- 
 couraged by the royal presence to give evidence, and 
 their adversaries be damped.f We have already spoken 
 of the understanding with leading men in England, upon 
 which the Scots undertook the invasion, and one part of 
 the present plan appears to have been to collect informa- 
 tion on that head in Scotland, which, by being apparently 
 lately acquired, might afford the better pretext for making 
 a few sacrifices to the manes of Strafford at the critical 
 moment of ascendancy in the North, J thus removing those 
 
 * Baillie, MS. Let. vol. ii. p. 1208. misery, aud bloody butchery, but 
 
 He writes to his cousin Strang on the God strangely discovering it has 
 
 l(3th July, 1641 : ' When we came made it evanish and turn much to 
 
 to Edinburgh we foimd aue very our good.' (See also printed copy, 
 
 evil spirit had been stirring and much vol. i. p. 320 ; Guthry's Mem. p. 94 ; 
 
 prevailing both in church and state. Woodrow's MSS. Y. Ixv. X. 10 et 
 
 A wicked plot, desperate, devilish, seq., Advoc. Lib. ; Append, to late 
 
 and new, to having accused, in pre- publication of Scots Ads for 1041). 
 
 sence of the king and parliament, t Baillie's Let. vol. i. p. 327. 
 
 Hamilton, Argyle, Eothes, of words, % If, as we are told, Stratford had 
 
 at best, of liighest treason, and to got proofs of the correspondence 
 
 have proven them by suborned wit- between leading men in England aud 
 
 nesses. The grounds of this are the Scots, the king must have been 
 
 not yet found out ; you shall hear acquainted with them : therefore his 
 
 more of it at once; but, had it sue- object must have been what I have 
 
 ceeded, we had fallen into a woful represented.
 
 346 COIs'STITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIEE. 
 
 CHAP, whom the monarch most dreaded. During the late treaty, 
 .__,_:_^ Charles had used all his influence to include in a general 
 indemnity Traquair and others who were accused as in- 
 cendiaries ; but the Scottish commissioners were inflexible, 
 and he, after resorting to many threats and entreaties, was 
 obliged to submit to their exemption. As, however, he 
 still considered their safety equally necessary to his honour 
 and success in recovering his ground, he intended to be 
 jDresent at their trials, that they might have the benefit of 
 aU the influence arising from his personal appearance ; 
 and tlie presumptuous promises of Montrose, whose con- 
 fidence in his own resources nothing could damp, flattered 
 him with the prospect of not appearing in vain.* 
 
 Such were the views with which the kino; had resolved 
 upon a journey to Scotland. But matters had taken an 
 unfortunate turn before his arrival. Argyle, with the 
 Marquis Hamilton, and his brotlier the Earl of Lanerick, 
 personally exasperated at the late attempt against them- 
 selves, and finding by this instance that their own existence 
 as politicians and that of Montrose were incompatible, 
 soon detected his secret practices, as well as discovered 
 the plot he had been engaged in, and, as they exerted 
 themselves to accomplish his ruin, they had procured his 
 committal, along with that of his confederates, who were 
 called plotters or banders, on a charge of conspiracy 
 against the state. In tliis way the Eoyalist party appeared 
 to be entirely defeated ; the ascendancy of Argyle in 
 ])arliament was unchecked ; and the measures adopted by 
 that assembly were all calculated to diminish the power 
 of the crown. But Charles still did not despair, and the 
 spirit of Montrose was unsubdued. New plots were 
 hatched by that individual, and the time consumed about 
 the trials of the incendiaries and banders was favourable 
 to his schemes. Having opened a fresh correspondence 
 with his majesty througli William Murray of the bed- 
 cliamber, afterwards created Earl of Dysart, he still 
 
 * Hailes' Ld.
 
 SCHEME AGAINST THE HAMILTONS AND AEGYLE. 347 
 
 insisted that evidence might be procured against the chap. 
 Hamiltons and Argyle ; ' but,' according to Clarendon, 
 ' rather desired to have made them both away,' or, as he 
 had also expressed it in tlie manuscripts, ' to kill them 
 both,' which he frankly undertook to do ; but the kmg, 
 allowing that expedient (though) for his own security, 
 advised ' that the proofs might be prepared for the par- 
 liament.'* Such is one statement of this historian, who 
 confessedly derived his information from his royal master, 
 whose vindication was the object of his writing ; l^ut it is 
 in one material incorrect, and as it now turns out by the 
 publication of a separate account prepared by him inten- 
 tionally — that Montrose personally made the proposal, 
 whereas he was at the time imprisoned, and consequently 
 precluded from such an interview. In that other account 
 we are told, that the king was informed by some near 
 about him who had correspondence with Montrose, that 
 Hamilton had betrayed him, and that he and Argyle 
 combined together to destroy him. The statement is again 
 contradicted by the other under the same hand, and 
 advised that they should both be accused of high treason ; 
 that the king, afraid of the success, was against the mea- 
 sure, when Murray assured him that such was the feeling 
 of the major part of the nobihty, that they would join to- 
 gether, and t]iat they should be no sooner accused of high 
 treason but they should be immediately carried to prison, 
 and then it would be no hard measure to break their 
 factions and master their dependants. The historian, in 
 apprising us of the king's assenting to this, no doubt adds 
 that everyone knew that, in the case of failure in the 
 proof, the informer, by the Scottish law, exposed himself 
 to the punishment which conviction would have brought 
 on the other : but the apology is contradicted by his 
 other statements. Now let it be considered that here is a 
 proposal of assassination deliberately made by Montrose, 
 
 * Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 17 ct scq., Append. B.
 
 348 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMriRE. 
 
 CHAP, and as deliberately submitted by the courtiers to the king, 
 that the royal correspondence evinces connivance witli 
 
 them all who stand daily higher in the royal favour, and 
 contrasted with the same historian's other statements, the 
 disposition of this monarch will be, in some measure — as 
 well as that of the good Lord Clarendon — appreciated. 
 But the actual plot ultimately determined on seals the 
 royal character, while the development by his apologist 
 affords a clue to the policy in the subsequent impeach- 
 ment of the six members of the English parliament. The 
 scheme determined on against the Hamiltons and Argyle 
 The inci- was, from its unexpected nature, denominated the Incident. 
 tober ^^' ^^^^ individuals who undertook the part of chief actors, 
 1641. were the Earl of Crawford, a Colonel Stewart, a Colonel 
 Cochrane, who commanded a regiment at Musselburgh, 
 and Lieutenant-Colonel Hume. The two Hamiltons and 
 Argyle, sent for in the king's name to the drawing-room, 
 were to have been there arrested as traitors, when 
 they were to be delivered over to Crawford, who, at the 
 head of two or three hundred men, was to have been 
 secretly stationed in the garden attached to the palace, 
 and prepared to hurry them to the shore in a close car- 
 riage, in waiting at the back of the garden ; a boat was to 
 have been in readiness to convey them to a frigate lying 
 in Leith roads, without any other visible object. The 
 frigate was to serve as a prison, till they could be brought 
 to trial : but Crawford and liis party had also undertaken 
 to assassinate them on the sliglitest resistance ; and indeed 
 it would almost appear that the alternatives of stabbing 
 and trans] )orting them to the king's ships were regarded 
 with equal indifference.* Thus far matters rest upon 
 
 * See the Earl of Lanorick's Re- note. But, while I conceive that this 
 
 hHon of the Incident in Hardwicke's author has clearly made out the real 
 
 IStdlc Papirs, vol. ii. p. 20'.). See the existence of a plot, 1 consider that 
 
 evidence in Hall'our's Diurna/, 3IS. his hypothesis about the alleged 
 
 Adv. Lib. ; T/ie Truth of the Pro- forged letter by Saville is unfounded. 
 
 ceedimis in Scutkmd eonccrninff the Burnet, as the ne])hew of Warris- 
 
 Disrorrrj/ of the hdc ('<»ispin/ri/, (on, is entitled to notice, when he says 
 
 printed, 1U41 ; Lainy's Hid. vol. i. tluit WarristoJi was pressed to give
 
 THIS PLOT PROMISED TO PUT SCOTLAND IN CHARLES'S POWER. 349 
 
 evidence, wliicli no unprejudiced mind can refuse credit chap. 
 
 to ; but the general understanding, though not so well ^_I,J - 
 
 established, went much farther, and seems, from the 
 whole complexion of the case, to be extremely probable : 
 that Cochrane was to march at the head of his regiment 
 to secure Edinburgh, and, with the assistance of friends 
 there, make fast, or kill, if necessary, that is, if they re- 
 sisted, ' so many of the parliament men as were suspected 
 might have been ready for the prisoner's relief : ' that 
 means for liberating Montrose and his fellow-prisoners, 
 and giving them command of the castle, were also devised ; 
 that the Kers, Humes, Johnstons, and other borderers, 
 were instantly to take arms : and that the troops stationed 
 at Berwick were to co-operate ^vith them.* Such a plot 
 promised to put Scotland within the Idng's power. Parlia- 
 ment, deprived of its leaders, and under military force, 
 ■would have become an instrument in his hands, since, 
 though the majority deserted an assembly in which the 
 freedom of debate and vote were alike proscribed, some 
 few would have been found to give the appearance of a 
 constitutional meeting ; the Hamiltons, Argyle, and other 
 obnoxious individuals, if they escaped assassination, would 
 have been convicted on suborned testimony, provided by 
 Montrose : the monarch would have been set at the head 
 of an army, and, in this critical moment, would have 
 impeached leading men in England, which was clearly 
 part of his scheme, while, under the pretext of tumults 
 purposely raised, he would have returned to that king- 
 dom, attended by a military force, m order to insure 
 their condemnation, and compel the parliament to comply 
 
 up the letter ; but uncles do not al- but SaviUe, who was now in favour, 
 ways tell their young nephews every- Mr. Laing thinks that Stewart's ac- 
 thiug, and Burnet does not say that cusation was defeated ; but that is 
 he derived his knowledge from the contrary to the assertion of Mon- 
 lirst authority. Again, with a know- trose's party, that he had been tarn- 
 led "-e of the existence of that letter, pered with to accuse himself un- 
 Charles must have learned that it justly, and Argyle could not be 
 was forged, and, consequently, must charged on another ground, 
 have known that the fact could be * Baillie, vol. i. pp. 330, 331. 
 provpd, so tliat it could injure none
 
 350 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISII EMPIRE. 
 
 I\ 
 
 CHAP, with his demands. Such were the designs apparently 
 contemphited ; and it is not a httle singular that he had 
 been earnestly writing to have money raised upon a large 
 collar of rubies, which had for that purpose been sent to 
 Holland.* 
 
 InteUigence of this detestable plot reached the Hamil- 
 tons and Argyle as it was on the eve of completion. 
 Captain Stewart, whose character had been mistaken, 
 having been applied to as an agent by the colonel of that 
 name, apprised Lieutenant-colonel Hurry of the design. 
 Hurry immediately communicated his information to 
 General Leshe, and he to the objects of the plot, having 
 carried Hurry with him to tell his own stoiy. Their 
 inquiries of Captain Stewart and others having convinced 
 them of its truth, they instantly secured their houses 
 against surprise for the night, and next morning wrote to 
 the king, intimating their reasons for having absented 
 themselves from court on the precedmg evening. His 
 majesty's conduct that afternoon confirmed their and the 
 people's worst apprehensions. He went to the parliament 
 in his coach, followed by five or six hundred soldiers, and 
 other attendants, 'with their arms in a menacing way, 
 amongst whom were all those that were cited to the par- 
 liament, and likewise those that were accused by Hurry 
 and Stewart to have been of the plot.' We are not in- 
 formed of the pretext on which Charles adopted this 
 extraordinary step; but it would be difficult to figure 
 any which could justify the measure, or satisfy any un- 
 prejudiced mind that he had not harboured some black 
 design. The friends of the Hamiltons and Argyle might 
 have assembled in such numbers as to have afforded them 
 protection, and they insisted on attending them ; but as 
 this could not have failed to give rise to tumults, and 
 possibly to bloodshed, which would again probably have 
 afforded the monarch a pretext for new measures against 
 
 * Appendix to Evelyn's Memo- King Cliarles I. and Sir Ed. Nicho- 
 rinh, vol. ii. * Correspondence between las,' p. 19 et seq.
 
 CHARLES PROXOUXCES THE WHOLE TLOT A FABRICATIOX. 351 
 
 the public peace (indeed, it would have been little short chap. 
 of a fresh commencement of hostilities), they prudently . ^]- . 
 and properly retired to Kenneil, the seat of the Hamiltons' 
 mother, about twelve miles from town, then to Hamil- 
 ton, and lastly to Glasgow, till affairs were restored to 
 such a state as could warrant their quiet return.* 
 
 Edinburgh was in a state of the utmost alarm. The 
 citizens kept a strong guard, and many of the well-affected 
 noblemen wisely set a watch upon their houses, while the 
 estates were so offended, that they insisted on a very 
 absolute commission being granted to Leslie, to guard 
 the parhament with all the city bands, and the regiments 
 yet on foot, together with some troops of horse. Having 
 got his warrant, the old general lost not a moment in 
 making the requisite arrangements, prudently including 
 in these the precaution of dismissing all the officers of 
 Cochrane's regiment, and appointing others whom he 
 could better depend upon. Crawford, Cochrane, and the 
 rest, were also apprehended. f 
 
 Charles, alleging that the whole plot was a mere fabri- 
 cation, professed to detest all such base treacheries, and, 
 complaining of the injury done him by the flight of the 
 Hamiltons and Argyle, insisted that they should be se- 
 questered from parliament till the matter were investi- 
 gated, and his innocence established by a public inquiry. 
 
 The parhament, which clearly saw the influence that 
 the king's presence might have at such a juncture, and 
 the probable effect of the publication of disjointed parts 
 of the evidence, determined to follow a different course, 
 and therefore appointed a secret committee to investigate 
 the whole affair, and report the result. Charles threatened 
 ' to raise or leave the parliament in confusion, if they 
 would not yield to his demand of a pubhc trial ; but 
 herein he had a hard enough rencounter; for a very 
 strange declaration was drawn up, and had passed the 
 
 * Lanerick's Relation ; Baillie, voL i. pp. 331, 332. 
 t Baillie, vol. i. pp. .331, 332 ; Spalding, voL i. p. .327.
 
 352 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, committee of barons and burroughs, which so moved his 
 . _ ^^^- . majesty and his cabin council, that without farther delay 
 they pelded to the trial of a private committee, whereat 
 the king should not be present, and all the members 
 should be sworn to secresy till the trial was ended.' We 
 have already related the facts which were then brought 
 out.* 
 
 We shall have afterwards occasion to narrate what 
 occurred in England about the same period, and the 
 effects there of the Scottish Incident ; but, in the mean- 
 time, and before specifying the proceedings of the Scottish 
 parliament, and the nature of the settlement with it, it 
 will be necessaiy to give a concise account of the Irish 
 rebellion and massacre, which broke out on the twelfth 
 day after the Incident. 
 
 In passing we must remark, that the scheme of an 
 insurrection for the purpose of acquiring the dominion, 
 must be contra-distinguished from the measure which, in 
 the progress of events, accompanied the rising. The chief 
 of the Irish conspirators did not contemplate a massacre, 
 and were horrified at such an unanticipated result. If, as 
 we shall endeavour to show, Charles was accessory to 
 the insurrection, it yet was clearly without the other 
 as the issue. Assuming his connection with the plot for 
 a rising to obtain command of the island, and afford him 
 an army against England, we shall see how admirably 
 the Incident and it were calculated to co-operate in his 
 favour. Had the Incident succeeded to his hopes, Scot- 
 land had been in his power, a military force against the 
 sister country at his command, before the English parha-- 
 ment had reassembled after the recess. England would 
 have been in a state of consternation, the king's supporters 
 in a bustle to embody troops. Assembled on the 20th, 
 or on the ninth day after the event in Scotland, parha- 
 
 * Baillie, vol. i. p. 331. See * Cor- the Appendix to 'Ex elyn's Memorials; 
 respondence between Charles and Woodrow MSS. Ixv. No. 0. 
 Secretary Nicholas,' at this time, in
 
 POSTUSE OF AFFAIRS IN IREL.\ND. 353 
 
 ment would have been unable to devise measures for the chap. 
 common security, when tidings of the insurrection in . _ -^y- _. 
 Ireland, concerted to occur on tlie 23rd, or the third day- 
 after the reassembling of the English parliament, would 
 have inspired absolute despair in the supporters of free- 
 dom, while it acted as an additional stimulus upon their 
 enemies. 
 
 As we have, in Vol. I. Chap. I., drawn a picture of i^sh 
 the state of Ireland at the commencement of this reign, 
 there will be the less occasion for interrupting the narra- 
 tive here with any detailed account of the posture of 
 affairs at this period. Ireland had, during the last forty 
 years, apparently made rapid advances ; but, from the 
 nature of things, the progress had necessarily, in spite of 
 misgovernment, proceeded with accelerated motion in the 
 latter portion of that time. Those immense tracts of 
 country which had been disposed of by Ehzabeth and 
 her successor, in plantations to English and Scots, and 
 which had, under the natives, lain almost in a state of 
 nature, had, by judicious management on the part of the 
 settlers, been brought into such a state of cultivation, as 
 to yield a large return, and many of the natives who had 
 obtained from the crown titles to lands, upon the con- 
 dition of managing them in the English mode, had made 
 considerable improvements ; towns had been built ; the 
 English .jurisprudence (or something approaching to it) 
 and customs had been substituted through the island for 
 the native barbarous usages and institutions, and the 
 whole began to wear an aspect of prosperity. The native 
 chiefs tried to imitate the manners of their invaders, and 
 some intercourse of society seemed to soften the mutual 
 prejudices. There were even chiefs who preferred British 
 to Irish tenants, and, dispossessing their countrymen, sent 
 them to perish on their native mountains — a proceeding 
 which, such is the selfishness of man, was approved of by 
 the invaders as indicative of a spirit of improvement, but 
 which necessarily embittered those sufferings that them- 
 
 VOL. II. A A
 
 354 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, selves were doomed in turn to feel. On the other hand, 
 
 ■ ^]'- ■ many of the new English settlers let their grounds to the 
 
 natives. Some of the higher ranks too, in spite of their 
 
 religion, practised at the bar, sat on the bench of justices, 
 
 and were admitted as well into parliament,* 
 
 What to the English appeared so flattering a posture 
 of things, was viewed very differently by the Irish : while 
 their pride and prejudices were shocked by subjection 
 to a foreign state, they saw themselves despoiled of 
 their country by conquering invaders, amongst whom 
 were distributed tliose lands to which they conceived 
 their claim undoubted, and which the loss of necessarily 
 brought misery, if not a wretched death to thousands. 
 The old English settlers, or English of the Pale, whose 
 long possession had, in a measure, obscured its origin, 
 and whose manners had degenerated in many respects 
 into those of the natives, miglit be endured ; but great 
 were the heart-burnings at the late plantations. This was 
 aggravated by the insecurity of their tenures in regard to 
 what they retained. No length of possession afforded a 
 right ; every flaw in the patent was fastened on to annul 
 the legal grants. f The late Earl of Strafford had carried 
 his proceedings in regard to property to the most un- 
 justifiable lengths, and. no man could predict where the 
 commissions for defective titles would end. It is true, 
 that many of the British settlers, as the Scots, had felt 
 his power and injustice ; yet the natives could not but 
 observe that, ultimately, every proceeding of that kind 
 would fall most severely upon them, whose manners were 
 unfavourable to the projected improvements, and who 
 had neither tlie same access to the English court, nor 
 money to purchase an exemption from injustice. The 
 height of the evil may be conceived, from the circum- 
 stance of four of the counties of Connauglit having lately 
 been found by packed inquests to belong to the crown ; 
 
 * Temple's Ilistonj of the Rebel- t Carte's Life of Ormonde^ vol. i, 
 
 lioii, p. 20 et seq:
 
 THE IRISH EEGARD THE BRITISH SETTLERS WITH CONTEMPT. 355 
 
 and from extensive territories in Munster and Clare he'um chap. 
 
 TV 
 
 in the same predicament. > . ^ . 
 
 Tlie Irish, who had in an eminent degree the national 
 pride, with all the feelings and prejudices of a people 
 attached to their country, regarded the British settlers 
 with contempt, as upstart adventurers, as well as with 
 abhorrence as invaders ; and humiliating indeed must it 
 have been to their feelings, to perceive that the title on 
 which they could expect intercourse with these strangers 
 — an intercourse that was requisite for the preservation 
 of their lands — was the adoption of their manners and 
 language, whereby they appeared in the character of 
 ungraceful imitators and inferiors. Nor could they be 
 strangers to the feelings of contempt on the part of the 
 British, who considered them as little else than bar- 
 barians, whom, if they could not reclaim, they might 
 lawfully extirpate. 
 
 To these sources of irritation was superadded religion. 
 The natives were Catholics of the fiercest description, both 
 because they were ignorant, and because their religion 
 was associated with the many other embittered feelings 
 ever kept alive by the cunning instigations of their priests. 
 Those, educated in Italy and Spain, returned to their 
 native country with all the impressions, not only of their 
 brethren abroad and the pope, to encourage their flocks 
 to assert the independence of their country, by which the 
 clergy would recover their livings, tlie pope his su- 
 premacy ; but even of foreign potentates, who used them 
 to stir up dissension and embroil British affliirs. The 
 innovations of Laud, and the interest they excited, added 
 fiiel to the flame, by the anticipated prospect of a return 
 into the Catholic church ; while, by disgusting the Pro- 
 testants, as approximating to the Eomish tenets, they 
 kindled in them a fresh flame against the religion of the 
 natives, and thus widened the breach. 
 
 Under such circumstances, the only chance of gradually 
 reconciling the natives to the government, must have 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, been founded in a conviction of the impracticability of 
 ■ __ ^y- shaking off the British yoke ; for, so long as they con- 
 ceived the possibihty of recovering their independence 
 and territory, it could scarcely be expected that they 
 would not harbour the design. It had therefore been 
 judicious poUcy in Ehzabeth, not only never to employ 
 them as soldiers, but, though some of her servants acted 
 against the principle, to deny them liberty to enlist into 
 the service of foreign states. James, however, conceiving 
 that their entering into foreign service was a means of 
 ridding the country of part of the superfluous population, 
 had, unfortunately, departed from that precaution ;* and 
 as regiments under their own leaders went into the 
 Spanish service, they were, with all the advantages of 
 mihtary disciphne, prepared to return to their native 
 country whenever it suited the interest of the house of 
 Austria to disturb the British government. But Charles 
 went infinitely farther. Not only did he allow such levies ; 
 but, even in despite of Strafford's remonstrances, had, 
 with the view of employing the force against Scotland, 
 granted a commission to the Earl of Antrim to raise an 
 army of native L:ish, from amongst those who had ever 
 been prone to rebeUion : even the new army which Straf- 
 ford himself had levied for that service Avere chiefly 
 Cathohcs, a circumstance which in effect transferred the 
 sword to that body, while the severe restrictions upon 
 saltpetre and gunpowder disarmed the Protestants.f 
 
 * Carte's it/e of Ormonde, vol. i. that none of tlie ofRcers joined 
 
 p. 46. the rebellion ; but this also appeared 
 
 t Carte tells us that, in order that to be unfounded. The utmost that 
 the newly raised Catholic army might Borlase ventures to say is, * Certain 
 be imder a complete control, a thou- it is, that most of these soldiei'S, 
 Band of the old anny, amongst whom thus raised, betook themselves to 
 there was not a .single Papist, were the rebels' party ; although very feio 
 incorporated with them ; that the of thi;ir officers, if we may credit a 
 privates of tlie old army were ap- late hidorian, were polluted with 
 pointed non-commis,si(med officers ; the crime.' (Borlase, p. 9 ; TJie Pro- 
 that there was not one Popish officer testantx'' Answer to the Rebels' Re- 
 in the army ; and that instead of monstrance, in Hush. vol. iv. p. 391.) 
 8000 there were only 7000 newly Yet ]\Ir. Ilume, TN-ithout quoting any 
 raised foot. Carte likewise alleges authority, for he was probably
 
 SIR PHELIM O'JS^EIL. 357 
 
 The Irish officers on foreign service had long enter- chap. 
 tained a correspondence with leading natives at home, 
 about expelhng the Enghsh, and had received encourage- 
 ment to attempt it from both France and Spain. The 
 last Earl of Tyrone, who held the rank of colonel in the 
 Spanish service, and who naturally desired the recovery 
 of his great possessions, was the chief in all these schemes ; 
 but his death gave affairs a new direction. Sir PlieUm 
 O'lSTeil, the head of the sept, was then regarded as the 
 representative of the Tyrone family, and his slender 
 abilities, though cultivated by an education in the Iims of 
 Court, did not promise great success in his undertakings ; 
 but possibly his presumptuous rashness, which did not 
 weigh consequences, proved in the sequel no less im- 
 portant, perhaps more so, than higher qualities.* Still 
 this disposition to revolt, with the incitements of a cunning 
 priesthood, and of foreign states, might either not have 
 burst into action, or would have been easily repressed, 
 had it not been for the critical posture of affairs at home. 
 
 The government of Strafford had roused general dis- 
 content equally in Protestants and Catholics. He offended 
 great men by his haughtiness and illegal measures to 
 reduce their power ; while his policy was no less revolting 
 to the low ranks, whose habits he despised, and happiness 
 he disregarded, provided they either opposed his own 
 selfish views or his notions of improvement ; and his 
 
 ashamed to quote Carte, wlioni lie O's and Macs as would startle a 
 
 abuses, though he borrows from him whole coimcil-board on this side to 
 
 plentifully, makes the same state- hear of,) and all his other friends, 
 
 ment. requiring them, in his majesty's 
 
 With regard to Charles's anxiety name, to meet him with their forces, 
 
 to raise a Popish ai'my from the so as this business is now become no 
 
 wildest portion of the natives, where secret, but the common discourse 
 
 rebellion had been the most com- both of his lordship and the whole 
 
 mou, see Straff. Let. and Disp. vol. kingdom (p. 300 ; Lft. to Secretary 
 
 ii. pp. 290, 297. StrafiFord says iu Windehanke, 20th March, 1638-9; 
 
 one letter, that Antrim told him ' he see Antrim's Pro2Msitmis, p. 805 j see 
 
 had, upon receipt of his majestv's p. 319, 322 e^ seg-.). 
 letter, sent to the O'Haras, the 6'Lur- * Temple, pp. 32, 76, 116, 121; 
 
 gans, (if I mistake not the name) Nalson,vol. ii. p. 543; LordM'Guii-e's 
 
 the MacGennises, the M'Guyres, the Relation ; Carte's Ormonde, vol. i. 
 
 M'Mahons, the M'Donnels, (as many p. 158.
 
 358 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, designs necessarily fell with most afflicting distress upon 
 ^ _ ^^ ' ■ the natives, whose barbarity rendered them incapable of 
 adopting his plans. The ecclesiastical government intro- 
 duced by him at the instance of Laud, disgusted the Pro- 
 testants by its approach to Catholicism, and thus aug- 
 mented their dislike to their Popish neighbours, without 
 gaining the Eomish party — whose clergy perceived them- 
 selves still hopelessly excluded from all participation in 
 church livings. The flame raised about religion in Scot- 
 land, and which had extended to England, with the 
 successful vindication of their rights and establishment of 
 their ecclesiastical government, by the first kingdom, 
 naturally kindled a fresh desire in the Irish to assert their 
 faith : the Popish army raised against Scotland, and the 
 royal distrust of Protestants, inspired them with confidence 
 in their own strength ; while the general clamour about 
 Popery and the religion of the queen, with the avowed 
 principles of leading men in England, together with the 
 employment of Papists, convinced them that their creed 
 should not meet with great objections from the throne. 
 The threat of Strafford not to leave a Scot in Ireland was 
 a lesson to the natives to extend the act of expulsion. 
 
 Strafford, on his impeachment, wished the government 
 of Ireland to be devolved upon his friend the Earl of 
 Ormond as his deputy, for he still held the office of lord 
 lieutenant ; but the Irish Committee resisted his nomina- 
 tion, and the king granted a commission to Lord Dillon, 
 of Kilkenny west, the brother-in-law and creature of 
 Strafford, and to Sir William Parsons, master of the wards 
 in Ireland, as lords justices. The first, however, was, for 
 similar reasons, objected to by the Irish Committee ; and 
 Sir John Borlase, master of the ordnance, was appointed 
 in his stead. These w^ere both esteemed men of great 
 integrity, and the first was much valued for his particular 
 knowledge of the kingdom, as well as beloved amongst 
 the people. These individuals entered upon office on the 
 9th of February, and as the Earl of Leicester, though
 
 GOVERNMENT OP IRELAND UNDER PARSONS AND BORLASE. 359 
 
 appointed lord lieutenant, never discharged the duty — chap. 
 they continued at the head of afiair-s till the rebellion y* . 
 broke out.* Their constitutional government with the 
 wise measures of the council and parhament, promised to 
 be accompanied with lasting benefits. The various hu- 
 mours which had arisen from the former administration, 
 they endeavoured, by gentle lenitives, to mollify. All 
 proceedings against law they at once declared themselves 
 opposed to. The usurpation of the council in arrogating 
 the decision of points, fit only for the cognisance of judi- 
 cial courts, they repressed. They made enactments like- 
 wise against monopolies, and other grievances, while, with 
 the royal consent, they abated from 40,000/. to 12,000/. 
 each the subsidies extorted by Strafford. But there were 
 still two acts of far greater importance prepared in addi- 
 tion to these. The one, called the act of limitations, in- 
 disputably settled all estates of land in the kingdom, upon 
 those whose right of property had not been questioned 
 for sixty years — an act that had been denied under the 
 administration of Strafford, but which Avas absolutely 
 requisite in the peculiar situation of things : the other 
 declared the relinquishment of his majesty's right, as 
 found by inquests, to four of the counties of Connaught, 
 together with the extensive teri^itories in Munster, in- 
 cluding the county of Clare ; all which it had been deter- 
 mined on disposing of amongst British undertakers. The 
 Eomish party, too, in spite of the artful infusions from 
 the British side of the water, that the Puritans meant to 
 insist upon all indulgence to their worship being with- 
 drawn, were treated with great liberality. The wliole 
 complexion of affairs, therefore, indicated future good 
 government and great prosperity.'!' 
 
 * Sir J. Temple's Hid. of the Re- drawing of the usurped power of the 
 
 beUion,-p-p. 23, 24; Caxte's' Ormonde, council-board, to judge in all cases, 
 
 vol. i. p. 116. real and personal, the restriction on 
 
 t Temple, p. 24 et seq. ; Borlase, monopolies, putting down the High 
 
 p. ; Carte's Ormonde, vol. i. p. 144 Commission, &c., could be liable to no 
 
 et seq. One would think that a with- objection, yet Mr. Hume, after Mr.
 
 360 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. The activity of the Irish promoters of rebelHon had, in 
 ^^- the extraordinary confluence of their clergy out of foreign 
 parts, with the return of officers in the Spanish service, 
 under the pretence of asking leave to raise soldiers for 
 Spain, been observed by the English government, and 
 together with some secret intimations of a projected re- 
 bellion, had induced Charles, in March, to desire Secretary 
 Vane to warn the lords justices to watch the proceedings 
 of the natives ;* but such was the profound dissimulation 
 of that body of men, that no conspiracy could be traced.f ' 
 In the meantime, tlie king's own conduct ministered 
 alarm. As the lately raised Popish army of 8000 foot 
 and 1000 horse was no longer necessary for the service 
 for wlueh alone it had been levied, nor had become 
 requisite for Ireland by new occurrences, it was naturally 
 to have been expected, that not a day would have been 
 lost in disbanding it, both for the purpose of saving money 
 in the present exigencies of state, and preventing the 
 soldiers from acquiring habits dangerous to the public 
 safety. Yet the preservation of that military body as a 
 pretended counterpoise to that of the Scots was, as we 
 have seen, one of the objects of the army -plot. If it 
 were dangerous to levy a Popish army against the civil 
 and religious liberties of Britain, it was still more so to 
 evince tliat such a military force was regarded by the 
 
 Carte,' calls these, -with the restraint thority of the council illegal ? Were 
 
 on martial law, and the like, which, not acts of state, and proclamations 
 
 in fact substituted the will of the in the place of law, illegal ? They 
 
 princes for the constitutional law of were all so, according to his account, 
 
 tlie land — an invasion of every order imder the Tudors. But I presume 
 
 or institution which depended on that he here uses the words violence 
 
 monarchy — a despoiling of the prince and illegal in a sense peculiar to 
 
 without the least pretext of any himself ; for if martial law do not in- 
 
 violence or illegality in his adminis- elude violence, and the vaiious acts 
 
 tration. Was not the court of High of Strafford were not violent, as 
 
 Commission, which had been erected well as illegal, I do not know the 
 
 in tlie 11th of this reig-n, without meaning of the words, 
 any legislative autliority, illegal ? It * See Letter in Clarendon's State 
 
 was an inquisition under Elizabeth, Papers, vol. i. p. 134, taken from the 
 
 though erected by law, and subject original draught, 
 to the control of the ordinary f Borlase, p. 8. 
 
 courts! Was not the usurped au-
 
 CHARLES PROPOSES TRANSFERRING THE TROOPS TO FRANCE. 361 
 
 court as tlie main security of the prerogative ; and the chap. 
 intrigues of conspirators daily increased, while the Cathohc - "^y* . 
 body, in general, appear to have displayed greater con- 
 fidence in their own strength. In parliament they were 
 numerous, and the lawyers there, under the pretext of 
 vindicating the general privileges, and asserting the law 
 in cases with the crown, began to lay down, what soon 
 turned out to be, the most pernicious principles — as 'that 
 being killed in rebellion, though found by matter of 
 record, would give the king no forfeiture of estates ;' and 
 that, ' though many stood up in arms in a kingdom, 
 working all manner of destruction, yet that if they pro- 
 fessed not to rise against the king, that it was no re- 
 bellion.' * 
 
 When, from the detection of the army-plot and other 
 circumstances, the evasions about disbanding the Irish 
 army could no longer be listened to, Charles proposed to 
 enter into an agreement with France and Spain for trans- 
 ferring the troops, with part of the Enghsh also, to their 
 service. As, however, the first was accused at the very 
 moment, and on good ground, of a purpose to assist the 
 English king with military aid against his subjects, the 
 parliament would have disregarded all the ordinary rules 
 of policy and common sense, had they acceded to any 
 proposal from that quarter ; and it must appear strange 
 to every reflecting mind, that the same king who, not 
 many weeks before, had himself apprehended such 
 danger from levying troops under the pretext of raising 
 tliem for Spain, should now himself propose a measure 
 which necessarily gave full operation to the desperate 
 spirit he so justly dreaded. Of the officers who had 
 returned from foreign service, and now were active in 
 listing the troops under the pretext of carrying them 
 abroad, many were the most active leaders in the ensuing 
 rebellion ; and they undertook this levy with no other 
 view than to turn the army against the government. 
 
 * Temple, p. 132,
 
 362 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. But the English parliament opposed this transaction, and, 
 , -^^ . to a certain extent, Charles was obliged to acquiesce : 
 the warrants to colonels were withdrawn ; and it is 
 singular that, even of these colonels, several proved the 
 most active rebels, having been amongst those who had 
 engaged in the business merely to promote the projected 
 insurrection. Still the king granted licences to four of 
 these colonels to engage four thousand for Spain ; and 
 it is remarkable that, even of these four, one was amongst 
 the most forward in the rebellion, while the other three, 
 instead of returning to the foreign service they had left, 
 remained to join the king against the parliament. The royal 
 object was opposed even in regard to these four thousand; 
 but Charles alleged that he stood pledged to the Spanish 
 ambassador, and, while some of the troops were shipped, 
 they were artfully detained by the conspirators to join 
 their countrymen in arms.* 
 
 The English parliament has been deeply censured for 
 opposing the negotiation with France and Spain, to 
 transfer the Irish Popish army to those countries : but as 
 Charles had so unaccountably kept up this army, and 
 had himself plotted with the officers of the English army 
 to prevent its dissolution, men were justified in presuming 
 that this might be used as a mere pretext to preserve it 
 till the Scottish army were disbanded. Even the trans- 
 portation of those troops afforded no security, since they 
 might be brought back at any seasonable juncture after 
 they had, by foreign discipline, together with the habits 
 of war, become more calculated for the royal purposes. 
 The intrigues with France and Spain in the preceding 
 year, for both military and pecuniary aid, could not be 
 unknown, and it is ever safe to conclude that what a man 
 
 * Carte's OnnoMr/c, A- ol. i. pp. 183, in tlic text (see p. 157; Borlase, 
 134,135. Colonel li. Plunket was p. 9). It is singular that Carte, while 
 one of the colonels who origin- he states the facts given in the text, 
 ally obtained a licence, and there inconsistently condemns the English 
 was not a more active rebel. Gart. parliament for opposing the trans- 
 Barry was one of the four mentioned action (Temple, p. 123).
 
 PARLIAMENT OPPOSES THE NEGOTIATION — ITS REASONS. 363 
 
 has been detected in he may repeat. But the objection chap. 
 to France becomes infinitely stronger when we consider . ^^- . 
 that she was at this moment accused, on apparently just 
 grounds, of a design to send forces into England to 
 co-operate with the king against the parliament. The 
 dangers from Spain were likewise imminent ; and it 
 slioidd not be forgotten that she had always been deemed 
 a hostile power ; that the late revolt of Portugal from 
 her had been regarded by the British as an auspicious 
 event ; and that she was condemned at this very moment 
 for concin-ring with the other branches of the house of 
 Austria in withholding the palatinate fi'om the English 
 king's nephew, in whose behalf Charles was at the time 
 applying to the parliament, having sent with their appro- 
 bation a threatenino; manifesto to the diet at Eatisbon. 
 Surely, therefore, as at the best any supply of military 
 must have enabled Spahi to carry through her designs, 
 whicli equally involved the recovery of Portugal and 
 the detention of the Palatinate, it would have been the 
 most inconsistent policy to have accommodated her, 
 thou2:h no dark measures from the cabinet at home had 
 been apprehended. In addition to this, it may be observed, 
 that, in the event of hostilities between the respective 
 kingdoms, Spain could give the utmost annoyance to the 
 British empire by pouring into Ireland a body of men 
 whose acquaintance with every creek and haven, and 
 correspondence with their discontented countrymen at 
 home, encouraged by their clergy, rendered them incal- 
 culably the most dangerous of all invading enemies.* 
 
 Independently of all these obvious motives, it is evident 
 that foreign service was just a seminary for Irishmen to 
 accomplish themselves for rebellion ; and that part of the 
 mass of this army must at some period or other have 
 returned upon their country. On the other hand, the 
 
 * See Journals, 8tli September, Manifesto, with Speeclies relative 
 1041 ; Diurnal Occurrences, p. 357; to the Parliament; Cob. Pari. Hist. 
 Speech on the 28th August ; Kinri's p. 856 et seq.
 
 364 
 
 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 army had not been so long embodied, though much 
 longer than any colour could be given for, but that they 
 might be restored to the mass of society, and the approach 
 of harvest promised them employment in the first in- 
 stance.* But the most conclusive argument for the 
 dissolution of that army is the actual fact, that the 
 officers who pretended to engage the troops for foreign 
 service, undertook the business with the view of detaining 
 them in the country to act in the projected rebelhon. 
 
 The Popish army was in a great measure disbanded in 
 June, and completely by August, when the arms were 
 piled up in Dublin Castle : f but it was imagined that the 
 castle might be surprised, and the troops re-armed, as 
 well as plentifully supplied with ammunition, while arms 
 would farther be procured for several thousands more. 
 No plan could have been better laid. The Protestant 
 army, which was always necessarily kept on foot, scarcely 
 exceeded 3000, and were distributed in small bodies 
 through various and remote parts of the island. Tlie 
 olFicers of the nine thousand of the disbanded troops 
 were equally disaffected with the men, and therefore an 
 organised army, that more than trebled the Protestant 
 army, which again was too much scattered to have been 
 of essential service, would at once have been in arms 
 independently of the irregular thousands that were to be 
 summoned into action, and were to surprise the other 
 ibrts on the same day with the capture of Dublin Castle ; 
 
 * Rudyai'd's Speech, Sec. 
 
 t Carte, in his Life of Ormonde, 
 (vol. i. p. 1.34) says that the army was 
 all dissolved by the middle of June ; 
 but he gives no authority for the 
 statement at the foot of the page. 
 There are, however, letters from 
 Ormoiid to "\"iino, and from Vane to 
 Ormoud, published by him in the 
 third volume, which import that the 
 disbanding had been eil'ected in June; 
 but I suspect that a part only had 
 then been disbanded, and arrange- 
 ments made for the rest, and that the 
 
 matter had on that account been 
 considered as done ; for the idea of 
 the complete dissolution of the army 
 in June is contradicted not only by 
 other authorities (see Borlase, p. 
 10), but by the nature of things, 
 since it was in September that the 
 Commons of England passed votes 
 against allowing them to be sent to 
 Spain ; a clear proof that, though 
 disarmed, they were still kept to- 
 gether (see Correspondence between 
 Charles I. and Seo'etary Nicholas ^ 
 p. 4 et seq.).
 
 SEASON OF THE REBELLION WELL SELECTED. 365 
 
 while the British forces must be ao:aiii embodied, a work chap. 
 
 TIT 
 
 of time, ill order to be sent against them. But the season >_ ,J - 
 
 w'as well selected on another ground. At the breaking 
 out of the rebellion the Irish exchequer was empty, and 
 the money levied by the collectors w^as in their custody 
 ready to be paid in, while the rents throughout the 
 kingdom were now in the possession of the tenants, to 
 be paid at the approaching term. The rebels therefore 
 flattered themselves with the hope of securing the whole 
 of their treasure, and thus abundantly supplying them- 
 selves with the means of supporting the war in the outset. 
 But they also expected assistance from Spain, the Pope, 
 and even France ; and the Irish officers in foreign service 
 concerted to return with as many of their men as possible, 
 torrether with arms for more, whenever the insurrection 
 commenced. On the other hand, they were sufficiently 
 aware of the defenceless state of the Protestant part of 
 the community, owing to the pohcy of Strafford in regard 
 to gunpowder.* 
 
 One of the most active conspirators was Eoger Moore, Roger 
 a man of narrow fortune but high descent, and who ^^' 
 valued himself exceedingly on his birth, attributing with » 
 justice the smallness of the family inheritance to the 
 English invasion. He is said to have united many advan- 
 tages of person to high talents and consummate address ; 
 to have entered upon the undertaking rather with the 
 generous ambition of vindicating what he conceived to 
 be the liberties of his country, than with views of self- 
 aggrandisement ; and never to have once contemplated 
 the detestable enormities that stained the cause. It is 
 said that when he beheld so woful a tragedy, which he 
 found it impossible to check, his spirit sank under it. 
 He, from his station in life, acted in a subordinate capacity 
 to Sir Phelim O'lSTeil, but from his talents, enterprise, and 
 address, he w^as virtually the main-spring of the con- 
 
 * Temple, p. 46.
 
 366 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, spiracy ; and it was he who first undertook to bring over 
 . ^^;-.._ the old Enghsh of the Pale.* 
 
 Of the committee from the Irish parliament, the ma- 
 jority were Papists, and it is alleged that they were 
 TVTiether amongst the most active promoters of rebellion. But it 
 enco^i°f ed ^au scarccly be credited, that the king and queen while 
 theinsur- cabalhug with officers of the British army, in regard 
 rection. ^^ ^^^^ -^^^^ army, and with Montrose and others, as par- 
 ticularly evinced in the army-plot and the Incident, 
 should entirely neglect the Lish commissioners, and they 
 are accordingly both accused, on strong presumptions, of 
 having intrigued also with them. The violence with 
 which this question has been viewed on both sides, has 
 arisen from the execrable massacre which ensued ; but 
 though we were to assume that he incited some of the 
 conspirators to attempt their pre-conceived scheme of an 
 insurrection, it by no means followed that he contemplated 
 the horrid massacre which accompanied it. In order to 
 estimate the presumptions for and against the idea of his 
 being accessory to the insurrection, it is necessary to 
 have a correct view of the real posture of afiairs at the 
 juncture, as well as of the royal intentions as to the 
 sacrifice in regard to power which had been already made 
 in Scotland, and which was ready to be demanded of him 
 in England. The grand points on which he formally 
 spht with the English parliament, and ever refused accom- 
 modation, were the abolishment of episcopacy, and the 
 surrender of his power over the militia by sea and land. 
 The first had been so hotly pursued by the parhament, 
 backed by the city, that, as we learn from Clarendon, 
 Charles himself grounded his hope of obstructing it on 
 the dexterity of such as the noble historian himself in 
 protracting measures till the royal departure for Scotland ; 
 the other had, in consequence of the projects for turn- 
 ino- the military against the two Houses, been assumed 
 
 • Carte's Ormonde, vol. i. p. 15G.
 
 Charles's ixtextion to crush the parliaments. 367 
 
 by tliem, which, as the king had early suspected, would chap. 
 be the result of the concession on this head in Scot- . ^^' . 
 land, and counsels were in agitation to vest the power 
 permanently in the parliament. The Scots had a pre- 
 text for their demand, as to the mihtia and civil offices, 
 and Charles an excuse for granting it, in the residence of 
 their sovereign in a foreign country, and the probability 
 of his being misled by those foreign counsels regarding 
 the interests of Scotland, as well as in the ancient prac- 
 tice of his native country ; in respect, also, to the Presby- ' 
 terian system of church government, they could plead 
 the established law of that kingdom. But, while he knew 
 how to avail himself of this apology for making con- 
 cessions to the Scots, which he was determined not to 
 grant to the English, he, in the Incident, afforded a mel- 
 ancholy proof of his purpose to take the first opportunity 
 to retract his concessions, and overwhelm, by military 
 force, as well as by stratagem against their leaders, the 
 great body of the people who had the spirit to demand 
 them : the treachery of the Incident, too, was the more 
 odious from the profound dissimulation with which the 
 monarch had conducted himself. It had just been re- 
 marked by a courtier, that Henderson, the Presbyterian 
 pastor, had become a greater favourite than ever Canter- 
 bury was, and was never from him night or day.* 
 
 In these })lots, as well as in his anxious endeavour to 
 keep up the lately raised Irish army, and his last attempt 
 to debauch the English troops, we have the most incon- 
 testable evidence of his intention to crush the parliaments 
 of both kingdoms by force ; and therefore a conclusive 
 answer to Mr. Hume's argument against his being con- 
 cerned in the Irish insurrection — founded on his not 
 having intended to make war upon the parliament. While, 
 as we have said, he had now the very same motive for hos- 
 tilities that he ever had afterwards — and which, in spite of 
 
 * Carte's Original Letters, vol. i. letter is addressed to the Earl of 
 p. 14, date 2otli September. The Ormond.
 
 368 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 
 
 CHAP, his most solemn protestations to the contrary, accompanied 
 with appeals to heaven for liis sincerity, led to many 
 intrigues for the introduction of foreign troops, as well 
 as secret treaties with those very Irish for an army, after 
 they were stained with every enormity, and consequently 
 must have been expected to act over again in Britain the 
 scenes of inexpressibly brutal cruelty which had been 
 displayed in Ireland. Now that, amid all the late plots 
 and intrigues, the Irish committee, of whom the majority 
 were Catholics, and became eminent in the rebellion, 
 should never have been applied to, is inconceivable ; and 
 the presumption arising out of the nature of things is con- 
 firmed by testimony and authority which there is no rea- 
 son to doubt.* But in order to understand this subject, 
 it is necessary to attend to the progress of events, and to 
 ascertain what were the views of the Popish members of 
 the Irish committee, who were from the old English of 
 the Pale. 
 
 It will be remembered that the committee came over to 
 assist in the prosecution of Strafford, whose trial began 
 on the 22nd of March, and for whose life neither Charles 
 nor himself was then apprehensive. The committee, as 
 they had every reason, pursued him keenly ; and indeed 
 matters had arrived at that crisis, that their safety and his 
 return to Ireland as lieutenant, w^ere incompatible. It 
 was the interest of Strafford, and the purpose of his mas- 
 ter, to preserve the Irish army for future services in 
 England, and the plot with the English army, with hopes 
 from France, promised to restore the powers with which 
 Cliarles was resolved not to part without a struggle. At 
 this time, however, the native Irish, unknown, as it would 
 appear, to the old English of the Pale, were secretly con- 
 certing an insurrection for the purpose of expelling the 
 invaders. Strafford had formerly got notice of tlieir mo- 
 
 • Rush. vol. V, p. 3-4G et seq.\ pondix to ClavQuiiori & History of the 
 Scott's Sotmrs' Tracts, vol. v. p. 573 Iri^h RehelKon. 
 et scq. ; /Vntrim's Information in Ap-
 
 IRISH POPISH ARMY. 369 
 
 tions, and had adopted precautions to quell them.* The chap. 
 
 late resort of old soldiers and priests out of foreign parts ^ — ' 
 
 awakened afresh the suspicion of the English government, 
 which doubtless had been previously excited by the lieu- 
 tenant ; and in the posture of things, at that time, nothing 
 could be more baneful to the interests of the monarch 
 and his devoted minister than a rebellion. Whether the 
 Irish Popish army joined the insurgents, which it most 
 probably would, or were employed against them, or were 
 disbanded or sent out of the country, as would have been 
 insisted on for the common security, if it did not join the 
 insurgents, it would have been in all these cases lost to 
 the crown, whose distresses would have been augmented : 
 the English army would have, in all probability, been dis- 
 patched to Ireland ; and then the Scots, who would not 
 have moved, would have been masters of England in con- 
 junction with the parliament, while the latter would have 
 been enabled to insist on the power over the English army 
 being devolved upon them. Hence, as well as, it must be 
 presumed, from better motives, Charles directed Secretary 
 Vane, on the 16th of March, that is, before the commence- 
 ment of Strafford's trial, to warn the lords justices of the 
 danger. But the aspect of affairs was afterwards com- 
 pletely changed, and the policy of Charles changed with it. 
 As it had been deemed by such a favourite minister as 
 Strafford a grand stroke of policy to have four of the coun- 
 ties of Connaught and other territory found by inquests 
 for the crown, we may well conclude that liis master would 
 not easily be brought to relinquish an object which had 
 been with such difficulty gained : f and in this conclusion 
 we are further warranted by what occurred in regard to 
 the city of London's plantation. By an iniquitous decree 
 of the Star Chamber, that had been adjudged to be for- 
 feited to the crown, and the resentment of the city, which 
 Charles ought to have conciliated, was deep : yet, when 
 
 * Carte's Onnonrle, vol. i. p. 155. 
 
 t Straff. Lc4. and I)isp. vol. ii. p. .360 j Rush. vol. v. p. 348. 
 
 VOL. II. B B
 
 370 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISII EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, the Commons had voted the decree null, Charles eagerly 
 - _ ^/ . wrote to his secretary from Scotland to raise a party in 
 the Upper House to prevent a similar vote there.* But 
 his policy towards the Irish was so very opposite, that he 
 assured tlieir committee that he would at once renounce 
 his right to tliose counties and other territory, confirm 
 defective titles, as well as jdeld in other points (conces- 
 sions called the graces, which their parliament had been 
 so anxious to attain) ; and there is reason to believe tliat 
 his anxiety about Londonderry arose from his intention 
 to bestow the land upon that people. On the other hand, 
 the Popish party in the Irish parliament, whose views 
 were no doubt represented to the throne, were eager for 
 keeping up the late army, and now began to use language 
 hostile to the Puritan party in England, with whom they 
 had previously co-operated against the prerogative, while 
 tliey aimed at conclusions which induced tlie Protestant 
 party, with the lords justices, to resolve upon an adjourn- 
 ment. 
 
 The insurrection had been originally conceived by the 
 native Irish ; but there are both presumptions and direct 
 evidence, that the lords of the Pale (particularly Lord 
 Gormanstown, who had been one of the committee, who 
 is said to have had secret interviews with the queen, and 
 was afterwards a leading man in the rebellion) were madp 
 privy to the design in the course of the summer, and the 
 commissioners, who returned in August, are alleged to 
 liave fomented the spirit of insurrection. f Bnt the views 
 
 * App. to Evelyn's Memoirs, ' Cor- language of statesmen apostilcs ; and 
 
 respontU-nco between King Charles this is the apostile on the above 
 
 I. and Secretary Nicholas.' The paragraph : — ' You must command 
 
 eecretaiy writes thus, on the 28th my learned councell, in my name, 
 
 of August, 'The sentence whereby that they doe what they may, that 
 
 Londoudcrry was adjudged forfeited tlie same vote passe not the higher 
 
 to your majesty, is by the House of house' (p. 12). Y"et his anxiety- to 
 
 Commons declared null, and tliat gain tlie city appears by the same 
 
 land thought fit to be restored bnclvc cori'os])oiidence (see p. L'>)- 
 
 to tlic citty of London.' Chnrlcs f 8oe IJorlase, p. 18. No one who, 
 
 returned the letter with marginal without prejudice, peruses the whole 
 
 remarks and directions, called in the evidence, including the original cor-
 
 DEMANDS OF THE IKISII CATHOLICS. 371 
 
 of the latter appear to have been more moderate than chap. 
 those of the first ; and it is not only probable that the . ^y* ■ 
 idea of exterminating the late settlers never was hinted to 
 tlie latter, but that the latter hoped to have acquired the 
 direction of their more ferocious associates. Indeed, Eoger 
 Moore, who is represented as having been so active in 
 drawing in the lords and gentry of the Pale, was himself 
 utterly shocked at the barbarities which ensued. The de- 
 mands of the Irish Cathohcs, as they were afterwards fully 
 expressed, were that, in addition to the graces already al- 
 luded to, they should have the complete independence of 
 their parliament from that of England conceded to them, 
 and tliat tlieir parhaments should be allowed to elect 
 agents, with power to remove them, who were to attend 
 his majesty continually as a body autliorised to represent 
 tlie national grievances; that they should have a free trade, 
 and the establishment of their religion, which implied that 
 the ecclesiastical livings should be devolved upon their 
 own clergy, and all the degrading disqualifications under 
 which their party laboured, be annulled ; that all tlie civil 
 and military offices should be confined to their country- 
 men ; and tliat they should have a right to keep up trained 
 bands for their own security. Whatever might be alleged 
 by the Protestants against these concessions, there does not 
 a]:»pear in them any great ground of objection; and it was 
 well pleaded by the Irish, the bulk of whom were Papists, 
 tliat they were fully as much entitled to them as the Scots 
 to the concessions in their favour.* Had Charles merely 
 intended to yield to such demands, in order to conciliate 
 tliat people, the impartial voice of history at this distance 
 of time could not condemn him. And it is rather sino-ular 
 that, while his introduction of the Irish into Britain after- 
 wards, though their atrocities had become so revolting, 
 
 responclence published by Carte bim- confidently as if be bad been person- 
 self, and attends to all facts, can ally acquainted with every move- 
 doubt this, in spite of tbe arrogant nient. 
 assertions of CartC; who talks as * Borlase, p. 40. 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 COXSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAT, slioiild have been approved of by certain historians, his 
 .• - concessions in regard to rehgion should have been, in the 
 face of the clearest evidence, strenuously denied. The ob- 
 ject has been to represent him as a martyr for the Church 
 of England ; but we have seen that, in the outset of his 
 life, he wished to acknowledge the spiritual supremacy of 
 the pope ; that his whole rehgious government was founded 
 on a love of civil power, and tended to Catholicism ; that 
 the Eomanists were ever favoured, while the Presbyterians 
 and Puritans were persecuted ; that though he conceived 
 the measures of the Scots to establish their own ecclesias- 
 tical system, which it is beyond all doubt he abhorred 
 infinitely more than the Popish, a sufficient reason for de- 
 stroying them with fire and sword, yet that he latterly 
 yielded to their demands as necessary for the peace of that 
 country ; while he conceived the demand of the same con- 
 cession by the English a justifiable ground for hostihties, 
 and refusing all accommodation even when his affairs were 
 desperate. Wliere then was the inconsistency in granting 
 to the Irish their own mode of worship, though he disap- 
 proved of it — in the same way that he had yielded to the 
 Scots ? That he ultimately did agree to it, as a return for 
 proffered military service and general support, is estab- 
 lished by complete evidence ; and here we may remark, 
 that the same historians who deny his knowledge of the 
 Irish insurrection, also deny the army-plots, the Incident, 
 ihe transactions of Glamorgan, &c., though they rest upon 
 evidence which cannot be rebutted. 
 
 Having shown what it was that the Irish avowedly de- 
 manded of the crown, it may now be proper to show what 
 could be expected of them, and what they promised. They 
 alleged that the Puritan party in England deprived the king 
 (jf his just prerogative, and trampled upon the privileges of 
 the neighbouring isle ; and, even after they had failed in 
 their main object of seizing the castle of Dublin, they pro- 
 mised that, wlien they liad established their power in Ire- 
 land, they would send an army to assist the monarch in
 
 WHAT CHARLES EXPECTED OF THE IRISH. 373 
 
 recovering his power in England.* But matters bore a chap. 
 far more promising aspect at the outset. Had their at- . ^]' 
 tempt against Dubhn Castle, and with it the capital itself, 
 been successful, the lately disbanded army w^ould have at 
 once been reorganised, and other troops speedily raised, 
 when Ireland would inevitably have been their own. The 
 other forts were likewise to have been attacked at the same 
 time ; indeed many fell into the insurgents' hands ; and had 
 the scheme against the capital succeeded, none of the other 
 forts could have stood. Then the parliament, wdiicli had 
 been adjourned, would have assembled ; and as the Pro- 
 testant members would have been frightened away, the 
 Itoman party would, if sanctioned by the throne, have 
 carried everything, and possibly ordered what they after- 
 wards called for, a free parliament — in other words, one 
 composed of their own party — since they were infinitely 
 tlie most numerous, and the Protestants durst not have 
 contested an election with them. New taxes would have 
 been levied ; arms imported, and such an army organised 
 as might have bid fair to render the monarch independent 
 in Britain ; while it is likely that the atrocities would have 
 been greatly prevented. Nor is it unw^orthy of remark, 
 that he had promised a visit to his Irish subjects.f It is 
 likely enough that aU this would have proved abortive, 
 as the British, now that the veil was so odiously laid aside, 
 would, with the exception of the Popish party, have united 
 as one man ; but as Charles seems ever to have conceived 
 that with an army his power would be irresistible, so all 
 his measures tended to that object ; and it must be con- 
 fessed that, of aU his schemes, this was unquestionably the 
 most feasible. If, too, he attempted so much without that 
 help ; if he even at last, when the execrable cruelties of 
 the Irish shocked every British subject, relied confidently 
 on subduing the parliament with an army from them, we 
 need not wonder at his pohcy here. If this were the most 
 
 * See Temple, &c. Patrick Wemyss to the Earl of Or- 
 
 t See second letter from Sir monde. Carte's Let.
 
 374 
 
 COXSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISII EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 IV. 
 
 feasible, it was perhaps, according to the anticipated re- 
 sult, the most blameless of all his attempts at arbitrary 
 power, and is particularly innocent when contrasted with 
 his measures in about eighteen or nineteen months after- 
 wards in regard to Scotland. Before the Scots had enter- 
 tained any idea of the Solemn League and Covenant, while 
 Charles was protesting that he would preserve their privi- 
 leges inviolate, before the cessation of hostilities with the 
 Irish, he concerted with the Earl of Antrim to carry over 
 a body of the Irish rebels to overwhelm that kingdom, in 
 an imsuspecting moment of security. 
 
 Had the first plot succeeded, the atrocities that followed 
 would, in all probability, have never occurred. A regu- 
 lar army, instead of an undisciplined rabble, whom their 
 leaders, including the clergy, found it requisite to stimulate 
 to direful cruelty, would have been under the control of a 
 vigorous government, and the fears which gave rise to 
 all their horrid deeds could never have existed. Sir 
 Phelim O'Neil goaded his tumultuary army to every act 
 of abomination, that, having lost all hope of mercy, they 
 might not desert him ; and it is but charitable to attribute 
 the ferocious instigations of the clergy to the same cause. 
 No sooner did the Pale join the rebellion, than the 
 cruelties were lessened ; wlience we may conclude, that, 
 had matters succeeded at first, they never would have 
 disOTaced human nature. 
 
 According to Antrim, whose declaration appears to 
 have been strangely overlooked,* even the Earl of 
 
 • See 'The Information of the 
 Marquis of Antrim/ in the Append, to 
 Clarendon's History of the lichellion 
 and a oil Wars in Ireland. It was 
 taken in lOoO. Antrim .said that he 
 knew ni idling of tlio commission 
 alleged to have been granted Ijj the 
 king ; ' but that the late king, before 
 the said rising of the Irish in Ireland, 
 sent one Thonuis Hourk, Idnsman to 
 the Earl of Clanrickarde, to the 
 Lord of Ormonde, and to him the 
 
 Jjord of Antrim, with 
 that it was the king's pleasure 
 and command, that those eight 
 thousand men, raised by the Earl of 
 fStrallord in Ireland, should be con- 
 tinued without disbanding, and that 
 they should be made up twenty 
 thousand, and that they should be 
 armed out of the store of Dublin, 
 and employed against the parlia- 
 mi'ut ; and particularly that the 
 castle of Dublin should be surprised
 
 ORMOND AND ANTRIM APPLIED TO, TO SECURE DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 375 
 
 Ormond, as well as himself, was applied to, for tlie pur- 
 pose of securing Dublin Castle, re-arming the Popish 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 IV. 
 
 and secured.' 'That the letters of 
 credence, by the late king to Thomas 
 Bourk before mentioned, were in 
 substance as followeth : " Thomas 
 Bourk, you are to repair to Ormonde 
 and Ajitrim in Ireland, who are to 
 give credit to what you are to say to 
 them from us, C. R." ' Antrim pro- 
 ceeds to state ' that he and Or- 
 mond attempted, by correspondence 
 through third parties, to have a 
 meeting, which, however, did not 
 then take place, owing to their fear 
 of being suspected : that Ormond 
 advised, that as the army was al- 
 ready disbanded, one of them two 
 sliould repair to the king to receive 
 his instructions ; that himself, being 
 a stranger at court, could not go to 
 England without suspicion ; but that 
 Antrim might. Antrim says that ho 
 declined to go without Ormond, but 
 by the pressing solicitation of (Jol. 
 John Barry (this was one of the 
 colonels who was to carry a regiment 
 out of Ireland, and whose loyalty 
 is vaunted of by Carte, because he 
 afterwards joined the royal army in 
 England), lie sent a Captain Bigby, 
 constable of the castle of Bunluce, in 
 the north of Ireland, belonging to his 
 lordship, who saw the king at York, 
 and that instructions were received 
 from his majesty, though sent by a 
 different gentleman, William Ha- 
 marstine, that all possible endeavours 
 should be used for getting again to- 
 gether those eight thousand men so 
 disbanded ; and that an army should 
 immediately be raised in Ireland, that 
 should declare for him against the 
 parliament in England, and do what 
 was therein necessary and conve- 
 nient for the service' — that he (An- 
 trim) 'spoke to Lord Germanstown, 
 and others of the Pale, but that, 
 owing to the folly of part of the 
 conspirators, the rising took place 
 before matters were fully ripe : that 
 the plan was to seize the castle of 
 Bublin, while the parliament, which 
 should declare for the king, was sit- 
 
 ting, and tliat the lords justices and 
 others should be secured,' &c. 
 
 It wiU here be proper to make a few 
 remarks upon the objections to An- 
 trim's statement. ' That it cannot 
 be true, but either Antrim deceived 
 the world, or Bourk imposed upon 
 him ; for besides that Ormond and 
 Antrim were unfit to be joined in a 
 commission, as well because thero 
 never was any good understanding 
 between them, as also because they 
 were of ditlerent religions and in- 
 terests ; how much more obvious 
 and easy, less scandalous, and more 
 effectual, would it have been for the 
 king to have made Ormond lord 
 deputy, than to order him to sur- 
 prise the castle and the lords j ustices.' 
 —Now, with regard to the first ob- 
 jection, it is easily answered : — 1st, 
 Antrim had, as we have seen, been 
 intrusted before, and Strafford, Or- 
 mond's patron, had been ordered to 
 assist his schemes ; 2dly, The fol- 
 lowing letter, by the king, dated 
 12th March, 1043-4, after att'airs had 
 become less reconcilable betwixt 
 these two, puts matters beyond all 
 doubt : — ' Ormond, 1 ham received 
 such an account of Antrim and 
 O'Neile's neyociations with the Irish, 
 as gives mo an expectation, that, 
 witli your help and co-operation, 
 they may do me very eminent good 
 service. I have commanded Digby 
 to inform you exactly of all particu- 
 lars : oti/i/ one thin;/ I fhoiit/ht neces- 
 sary earnestly to yive you in cha?-ye 
 myself — which is, that you will unite 
 yourself in a strict and entire corre- 
 spondence tvith Antrim, and contrilnde 
 all your poicer to further Mm in those 
 services which he hath undertaken ; for 
 I find that ahnost that whole Mny- 
 dom is so niuch divided betwi.ttyour two 
 interests, that if you Join in the 7vays, 
 as well as in tlie end, for my service, 
 you will 7neei loith small difficMlties 
 there ; which I no way durdd, heiny 
 thus recommended hy your assured 
 friend Charles.'' — Oxford, 12th March,
 
 376 
 
 CO^'STITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 army, of which Ormond had been commander, and 
 raising more troops ; but the other conspirators hurried 
 
 1G43. (App. to Carte's Ormonde, vol. 
 ii. p. 4.) 
 
 The other objection is equally 
 futile: Charles wished to appoint 
 Ormond deputy, and was prevented 
 by the parliament. No secret com- 
 mission could be issued in England, 
 for, 1st, If the plot failed, the royal 
 cause was ruined ; 2dly, Charles had 
 left the capital on his way to Scot- 
 land, and could not grant it then; 
 and, 3dly, As the Scottish army was 
 not disbanded before his departure, 
 he durst not do it sooner, nay, the 
 keeper of the seal durst not have 
 passed it ; 4thly, A commission 
 under the gi-eat seal of Scotland, 
 which Charles had access to, would 
 have been disregarded as of no vali- 
 dity in Ireland by the lords justices, 
 who were in the parliament's in- 
 terest. 
 
 The next objection is, that there 
 were not twelve thousand stand of 
 arms in Dublin Castle (Temple states 
 the number at only ten thousand), 
 and therefore not enough to arm 
 20,000 men-; but, 1st, It is not to be 
 supposed that Charles knew exactly 
 how many arms StraiTord had pro- 
 cured, and he might be deceived by 
 that minister ; 2dly, It was the in- 
 terest of the king to magnify his re- 
 sources, and arms could soon have 
 been procured hij the mmiey raised 
 mi the large collar of rabies for in- 
 stance. The other ibrts too would 
 have supplied a number; and the 
 Protestant army, if it declined to join, 
 could have been disarmed. The 
 tliird objection is, that matters then 
 tended to an accommodation with 
 the parliament, which is directly 
 contrary to fact, tlie measures of that 
 assembly being such as Charles was 
 prepared at all hazards to resist ; and 
 the incident proves it. 
 
 The third objection is, that Charleys 
 knew the troops would be disbanded, 
 which proves little ; 4thl3', The 
 letter from Charles on the 31 st 
 October, tu Ormond, to suppress the 
 
 rebellion is produced ; and lastly, a 
 letter dated Windsor, February 8th, 
 1642, in favour of Bourk, which, it is 
 said, is the original one alluded to by 
 Antrim, is founded on. But the 
 last letter to Ormond does away 
 the effect of the first to him, by 
 showing that secret instructions 
 were sent to him not quite in unison 
 with the public instructions. The 
 letter is this : ' Ormonde, being well 
 satisfied of the fidelity of this bearer, 
 Mr. Bourk, I have thought fit not 
 only to recommend him to you, but 
 also to tell you that I have commanded 
 him to impart to you what I have 
 not time to write, which I think will 
 much conduce to the reducing of the 
 rebels, which I know none desires more 
 than yourself, and so I rest.' Now, 
 1st, this letter proves that secret ne- 
 gotiations were going on, though 
 Charles pretended to have devolved 
 the conduct of the business on the 
 parliament. 2dly, It never could be 
 the one alluded to by Antrim, and 
 it does not even appear that this was 
 the same Bourk. 3dly, Does it fol- 
 low that, because one letter was 
 given, a second should not? One 
 commission to raise the Irish was 
 granted to Antrim in May, 1643, and 
 another without reference to the for- 
 mer, in Januarv, 1 644. Compare a 
 letter of the 26th Januarj', 1642, by 
 Charles, to the Scottish chancellor, 
 with this, which Bourk carried to 
 Ormond. (Burnet's Lives of the 
 llamiltons, p. 189.) 
 
 Antrim's intrigues with the Irish 
 rebels, the pope's nuncio, &c. so en- 
 raged Ormond, that, on the Restora- 
 tion, he insisted Antrim should not 
 have the benefit of the act of settle- 
 ment. Antrim however justified all 
 he had done by letters, commissions, 
 &c. from the late king, and a special 
 letter grounded on this, was written 
 by Charles II. and passed the seal in 
 1663, ordering the commissioners 
 under the act of settlement, wlio 
 were swoi'u judges, to acquit him.
 
 LETTER FROM HYDE TO SECRETARY NICHOLAS. 
 
 377 
 
 on matters and marred the business. It was Charles's 
 misfortune to be ever engaged in various plots at the 
 same time, which, though all tending to the same object, 
 had different degrees of guilt, according to his discernment 
 of the disposition of the parties. Thus Hyde, afterwards 
 Lord Clarendon, and the other ministers wliom the king 
 affected to trust with all his counsels, never received a 
 hint of some of the Irish transactions : ' I must tell you,' 
 says Hyde in a letter to Secretary Nicholas, relative to 
 his history, ' tliat I care not how httle I say in that 
 business of Ireland, since those strange powers and in- 
 structions to your favourite Glamorgan, which appear to 
 me so inexcusable to justice, piety, and prudence. And I 
 fear there is very much in that transaction of Ireland, 
 both before atid since* that you and I were never thought 
 wise enough to be advised with in. Oh, Mr. Secretary, 
 
 CHAP 
 IV. 
 
 Now, it is said, that Antrim did not 
 join the rebellion for two years, and 
 that he rendered good service by as- 
 sisting Montrose. Bnt his own 
 story proves that he was in a plot 
 at the outset. He, as a rebel, was 
 made a prisoner to the Scottish 
 Major-General Monro, in April (No ; 
 it was in .Tiuie, but he went to his 
 castle of Dimluce in April, and was 
 there playing a double game), 1642, 
 and sent to Dublin, where he broke 
 prison. See Carte's Ormonde, vol. ii. 
 p. 310. See also Clarendon's ac- 
 count of all this matter in his Life, 
 vol. ii. p. 127 et seq. His lordship 
 admits (and it is singular, that 
 though he apologises for the letter 
 by Charles, he had opposed Antrim's 
 petition for the royal interposition in 
 his favour. See Burnet's History 
 of His Own Times, vol. i.), that An- 
 trim was engaged with the rebels at 
 the outset. See also what Claren- 
 don says in his History, \o\. iv. p. 
 607. See the Parliament's Declara- 
 tion of 25th July, 1643_, that is 
 some time before the expiration of 
 the two years in which the treason 
 of Antrim, &c. are talked of as in- 
 
 disputable. See also Borlase, p. 190, 
 App. p. 128 ; Scott's Somers' Tracts, 
 vol. V. pp. 618, 625. In this, there- 
 fore, Mr. Hume, who merely takes 
 up the unwarranted assertions of 
 Carte, is clearly mistaken. Antrim's 
 consequence chiefly arose from his 
 having married the dowager Ducliess 
 of Buckingham, who was likewise 
 heiress of the House of Ilutland 
 (Clarendon, vol. iv. p. 606). In May 
 1643, before a single step had been 
 taken towards the Solemn League and 
 Covenant, and before the Irish cessa- 
 tion, he carried a commission to ne- 
 gotiate with the Irish rebels for the 
 invasion of Scotland, and was caught 
 a second time. (This shall be pro- 
 ved.) In January following, he 
 carried another commission to raise 
 an army, and was empowered to offer 
 Monro an earldom, and 2000/., per 
 annum, and more, if he would bring 
 his army to the king. See the com- 
 mission in Clar. State Papors,'\o\. ii. 
 pp. 165, 166. 
 
 * Wliy does Mr. Laing omit these 
 words in quoting this passage ? See 
 note to his Hist. No. XL
 
 IV 
 
 378 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMriRE. 
 
 CHAP, those stratao;ems have given me more sad hours than all 
 the misfortunes in war which have befallen the king, and 
 look like the effects of God's anger towards us.'* In 
 another letter he says that he is satisfied even Digby was 
 uninformed of the commissions to Glamorgan. f — Though 
 Ormond was then his ostensibly confidential servant, and 
 beheved himself to be entirely trusted, he was never 
 apprised of the powers and instructions given to Glamor- 
 gan, or yet of various intrigues with Antrim. It is not 
 unlikely therefore that, while Ormond was engaged to a 
 certain extent, negotiations which involved deeper con- 
 sequences were going on at the same time with the lords 
 and gentry of the Pale, as well as Avith the native Irish. 
 The rebels ever declared that they acted by the royal 
 authority, in opposition to the Puritan party, whose mea- 
 sures were no less hurtful to the prerogative than baneful 
 to them ; and they even produced as genuine a com- 
 mission under the great seal of Scotland to justify their 
 rebellion. That commission has, by later writers, gene- 
 rally been pronounced a forgery by the leading rebels, 
 to delude then- countrymen ; but the more I reflect upon 
 and weigh all the evidence and probabilities on either side, 
 the more am I satisfied of its genuineness. The coinci- 
 dences and facts relative to it are, indeed, otherwise inex- 
 phcable, while the objections to the copy which has been 
 preserved, as not having been the same in substance with 
 that produced by the rebels, though conceived to be insur- 
 mountable, do not bear examination, and accounts given 
 of the manner in which the rebels procured the seal affixed 
 to the alleged forgery are altogether unsatisfactory. J 
 
 • Clar. State Papers^ vol. ii. 337. remarked at court to be an iincom- 
 t Ibid. 346. mon favourite. He left the king 
 J The commission, with instruc- about the beginning of October, and 
 tions, was supposed to have been carried letters to be sworn in a privy 
 carried to Ireland by Lord Dillon of councillor of L'eland. Now, the 
 Castlelougli, who, when tlie Irisli commission is dated on the first of 
 committee left the king in August, October, while the Incident occurred 
 accompani(>d liis majesty, by tlic on tlie eleventh, and there is a parti- 
 queen's orders, to Scotland, and was cular clause in favour of the Scots,
 
 23rd OCTOBER FIXED FOR SEIZING DUBLIN CASTLE. 
 
 379 
 
 We now return to the narrative. The clay fixed upon 
 for the insurrection, and particularly for seizing Dublin 
 
 whom it was imagined tlie Incident 
 would, as a people, have put imder 
 tlie royal manao-ement against all 
 their former measures. See letter 
 from Sir Patrick Wemyss to the 
 Earl of Ormond about Dillon, &c., 
 and whicli appears, by comparing the 
 matter contained iu it witli the 
 Scottish parliamentary records and 
 acts lately published, to have been 
 written between the first and the 
 eighth of the month of October, 
 while the postscript shows that it 
 was carried by Dillon (Carte's 
 Letters, vol. i.). Dillon afterwards 
 avowed himself a Papist, and soon 
 became active for the confederated 
 Irish (Paish. vol. v. pp. 349, 350). 
 
 Another remarkable coincidence 
 regards the Scottish great seal, which, 
 prior to the 2nd of October, 1641, 
 had been ' for these yeirs begane,' 
 to use tlio language of the Scots 
 Acts (see late publication of Scots 
 Acts, vol. V. for 30th of Septem- 
 ber, and 1st and 2d of October, 
 and Append, p. G7G et seq.), in the 
 possession of tlie Marquis Hamilton 
 and his under-keeper, John Hamil- 
 ton, advocate; but which, on the 
 appointment of Loudon as chancellor, 
 with Ihe approbation of the states on 
 the Ist October, was ordered to be pro- 
 duced in parliament by the marquis 
 and his under-keeper, on the follow- 
 ing day, that it might, with all for- 
 mality, be delivered in parliament 
 by the king to the newly appointed 
 chancellor. This was accordingly 
 done, and an act of exoneration, which 
 had been previously prepared in fa- 
 vour of the marquis and his under 
 keeper, was passed that very day 
 (Ibid.). Now the supple character 
 of the marquis, is well-known, and 
 the nuder-keeper was likewise a 
 keen royalist, and indeed the other's 
 creature. Though, therefore, it may 
 be inferred, from the Incident, that 
 they knew nothing of any intention 
 to grant a commission to the Irish, 
 it does not follow that the seal, 
 whicli was not confided to the mar- 
 quis, as chancellor or regular keeper, 
 
 was not at all times at tlie king's 
 service. Indeed, it might easily bo 
 required, or might be given up as a 
 test of loyalty without suspicion of 
 any foul purpose, either on his or his 
 imder-keeper's part ; and it was al- 
 leged to have been occasionally in the 
 possession of Endymion Porter, one of 
 the king's attendants, who had for- 
 merly accompanied him to Spain (Mys- 
 teric of Iniquity, ed. 1043, p. 37-8). 
 
 Now, it is remarkable, that Burnet, 
 in his Lives of the Hamiltons (and 
 he was at that time a keen royalist), 
 though he takes notice of this pas- 
 sage in the above pamphlet, and de- 
 nies the charge about the commis- 
 sion, says nothing about the seal's 
 having been occasionally in the cus- 
 tody of Porter. See p. 2o0 and com- 
 pare it with Carte's pretended re- 
 ference to this work for his state- 
 ment, in his life of Ormonde, vol. i. 
 p. IbO. See also Charles's own 
 offer, in his answer to the declara- 
 tion of no more addresses — (Was not 
 this answer originally drawn by 
 Clarendon without the icing's know- 
 ledge ? Yes ; and that without 
 communication with Charles, though 
 his majesty afterwards approved of 
 and thus in a manner adopted it. See 
 Clar. Let. vol. i. p. 244 et seq.) — 
 Works, ed. 1662, p. 289, to prove 
 bj' witnesses, that the Scottisli seal 
 had not, for many months previous to 
 the date of the alleged commission, 
 sealed anything, without mention- 
 ing the only witnesses who could 
 have possibly been admitted. The 
 fact is, that both the marquis and 
 the under-keeper soon engaged for 
 the king, and that the act of exoner- 
 ation closed both their mouths, since, 
 without renouncing the benefit of it, 
 they could not allege that they had 
 not faithfully kept the seal — the 
 ground on which it was granted. 
 Now, if there were a coincidence be- 
 tween the date of the alleged com- 
 mission, the departure of Dillon and 
 others ; for, ' presently after the date 
 of this commission,' it is said, ' But- 
 ler and divers other Irish com- 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 Irish re- 
 bellion 
 breaks out, 
 Oct. 23, 
 1643.
 
 380 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 Castle, was the 23rd of October. To prevent alarm, two 
 hundred men only were selected to make the attack ; and 
 
 niauders, of Viiicli tlie court was 
 theu full, were ' (as well as Dillon), 
 ' despatched for Ireland with his 
 majesty's licence,' {Mi/stet-ie of In- 
 iquity, ed. 1043, pp. 37-8) — if, I say, 
 there was a coincidence between 
 these and the Incident, surely there 
 was a greater between the date of the 
 commission and the delivery of the 
 great seal to Loudon, when it was jiut 
 beyond the king's reach. Parliament 
 then met early in the morning, and 
 Friday the first of October was con- 
 sequently the last day on which 
 Charles could command the seal. 
 
 But it is said that no true copy 
 of the pretended commission was 
 ever produced — that in Milton and 
 liushworth being an evident fabrica- 
 tion, as it relates to events which did 
 not happen till some months after- 
 wards. Now, it will be curious, if 
 this shall turn out to be a perfect 
 mistake. The commission states, 
 that for the preservation of his per- 
 son, the king had been enforced to 
 make his abode for a long time in 
 Scotland, in consequence of the dis- 
 obedient and obstinate carriage of 
 the English parliament, which had 
 not only presumed to take upon them 
 the government, and disposing of 
 those princely prerogatives that had 
 descended to him from his predeces- 
 sors ; but had also possessed them- 
 selves of the whole strength of the 
 kingdom, in appointing governors, 
 commanders and officers, in all parts 
 and places therein, at their own will 
 and pleasure, whereby he was de- 
 prived of liis sovereignty, and left 
 ualved without defence : That being 
 sensible that these storms whicli 
 blew aloft were very likely to be 
 carried by the vehemency of the 
 Puritan party into IreUuid, and en- 
 danger his royal power there, lie 
 authorised them to assemble with 
 all the speed and diligence which a 
 business of sucli consequence re- 
 quired, and determine upon settling 
 Hnd ellecting the great work men- 
 
 tioned, and directed in his letters, 
 and for that purpose to use all 
 politic ways and means possible to 
 possess themselves of all the forts, 
 castles, and places of strength and 
 defence in that kmgdom, excepting 
 those belonging to the Scots, and 
 also to seize upon all the goods, 
 estates, and persons of the English 
 Protestants, but to spare the Scots. 
 
 This commission is said, in regard 
 to the question about the power of 
 the militia, to relate to events which 
 did not occur for some months after- 
 wards ; but ]Mr. Hume, who in this 
 follows Rapin, had not much studied 
 this subject, otherwise he never could 
 have made such a statement. For, 
 so early as the lOth of May, 1641, 
 the very day on which the bill was 
 passed for continuing the parliament, 
 a report was made in the Lower 
 House, ' from a committee that was 
 appointed to prepare heads for a 
 conference,' (with the Lords,) ' tliat 
 one have power to command in chief 
 on this side of the Trent, and such 
 power to choose officers as the now 
 general hath ; and to bring a list of 
 their names to the king and both 
 Houses of Parliament ' {Journals for 
 10th May). Again, in the ten pro- 
 positions to be presented to the king 
 before his going to Scotland, there 
 was one that his majesty might be 
 petitioned to remove evil counsellors, 
 and commit the business and aflairs 
 of the kingdom to such counsellors 
 and officers as the parliament may 
 have cause to confide in ; another 
 regarded lords lieutenants and their 
 deputiey ; and there is one expressed 
 thus : 'That the cinque ports and 
 other ports of the kingdom may be 
 put into good Inuids, and a list of 
 those who govern them may be pre- 
 sented to the parliament, and that 
 those persons may be altered upon 
 reason, and tliat especial care be 
 taken for reparation and provision of 
 the forts ' (Nalson, vol. ii. pp. 311, 
 313). In addition to this we may re-
 
 MAEKET DAY CHOSEN FOR THE IXSUREECTIOX. 
 
 381 
 
 the market day was chosen, that, in the usual mukitucle 
 assembled on that occasion the conspirators might not 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 respondence shows, tbat Charles was 
 apprised by Secretary Nicholas of 
 the intention of the English par- 
 liament to make the concessions in 
 Scotland a precedent for themselyes. 
 Nicholas's letters were sent back 
 apostiled ; and therefore we shall 
 present them in the original form. 
 On the 2<Sth of August, he writes 
 from "Westminster, ' All things are 
 like to be now very still here, every 
 man's expectac'on being fixed upon 
 yo'' ma''''% and the Parliament's pro- 
 ceedings there, &c.' On the 24th 
 September he writes from Thorpe : — 
 
 mind the reader of Hazelrig's bill ; 
 all which is the more astonishing^ 
 that Mr. Hume should have over- 
 looked, since Mi-. Carte, from whom 
 he borrows so liberally, has dis- 
 tinctly stated it (see his Hist. vol. 
 iv. p. 366). But the Commons were 
 not content with all this, for they 
 actually interfered with the forts, 
 &c., as may be seen by the Journals 
 for the 14th, 21st, "' and 25th of 
 August. What had occurred in 
 Scotland prior to the date of the 
 commission confirmed their pur- 
 poses. A publication of original cor- 
 
 ' This inclosed from my Lo. Keeper was brought to me last night to be 
 conveyed to yo' ma"^, and will I hope give yo' ma"'' an account of yo' 
 last let' to his lo''''. Yo' ma'' may he phased to procure from if p'liament 
 there some further reiteration of their declaracon, that rchat yo ma'" hath 
 consented unto concerning xf election of officers there may not he drawne into 
 example to yo' ma''" preiudice here, for, if I am not misinformed, there 
 wilbe some attempt to procure the like act here concei-niny officers hefore y' 
 act of tonnage and poundage nilhe passed to yo' ma'" for lief.' 
 
 * I heare that y^ comittee of y^ commons hath appointed to take 
 into considerac'on on yo' ma''^' revenue y^ next weeke, and that they 
 will then set at least twice a weeke. I am unwilling to give yo' ma"'' in 
 yo' gi-eat affairs there too long an interruption with the tedious lynes of 
 
 Yo' Sacred Ma*'", &c.' 
 — App. to Evelyn's Mems. p. 24. 
 
 On the 27th of September, Nicholas writes from Thorpe that the parlia- 
 ment had, by its unusual proceedings, begun to lose the reverence it had 
 before the adjournment ; and then proceeds thus, 
 
 ' I heare there are diverse meetings att Chelsey att the Lord Man- 
 deville's house and elsewhere, by P}T2i and others, to consult what is best 
 to be donne at their next meeting in P'liam' ; and I beleeve they will, in y® 
 first place, fall on some plausible thing that may redintegrate them in y'' 
 people's good opinion, w''*' is their anchor hold and only interest ; and (if I 
 am not much misinformed) it will be either upon papists, or iqym some act 
 for expunging of officers and counsellors here, according to y' Scottish p'cedent, 
 or on both together, and therefore it u-ill import go' ma"% by soine serious and 
 faithful advise, to do something to anticipate or prevent them hefore their next 
 meeting.'' 
 
 JV.B. — The apostiles to this letter are dated the 2d October (Ilnd. p. 25). 
 
 On the 29th of September Nicholas writes from Westminster, and the 
 following is one passage : — 
 
 ' By let" to partic'lar persons (which I have seene), dated 25°, T*"', it is 
 advertised from Edenb. that yo' Ma*" hath nominated y^ Lord Lodian to be 
 chancellor. Whatsoever the newes that is come hither amongst y'^ partie 
 of y*" protesters, they are observed to be here of late very iocund and cheer- 
 full, and it is conceaved to arise from some advertisements out of Scotland, 
 from whose accons and successes they intend (as I heare) to take a patterne 
 for their proceedings here att their meeting.' 
 
 ' It is so, and 
 lykes me 
 well.' 
 
 ' I lyke your 
 proposition, 
 and shall 
 gett a.smuch 
 as I maj'; 
 however, I 
 thank j-ou 
 for yonr 
 advertise- 
 ment.' 
 
 ' I pray God, 
 it he to good 
 purpose, and 
 that there be 
 no knavery 
 in it.' 
 
 ' I command 
 you to send, 
 in my name, 
 to all those 
 lords that 
 my wyfe 
 shall tell you 
 of, that they 
 faile not to 
 attend at tlie 
 doune sitting 
 of the par- 
 liament.' 
 
 ' It vs-ere not 
 amiss that 
 some of my 
 seruants met 
 likewise to 
 counter- 
 mynd thcr 
 plots, to 
 w'ch end 
 speake with 
 my v,-jfe, 
 and receave 
 her direc- 
 tions.' 
 
 ' It is not 
 Loudon yet.' 
 
 ' I believe 
 before all be 
 done, that 
 they icill not 
 hare such 
 great cause 
 of joy."
 
 382 
 
 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 attract attention. Small as this number was for making; 
 -. the attack, it was calculated to be sufficient in the first 
 
 This was apostiled on the 5th of 
 October, but his majesty mentions 
 that he had that day also received 
 one dated the 1st {Ihld. p. 28). 
 
 Other letters from Nicholas, dated 
 the .3d and 5th of October, are, if 
 possible, stronger. But it cannot be 
 supposed that he was, besides the 
 queen, the only correspondent of 
 Cliarles who gave advertisements of 
 what occurred in England ; and as he 
 evinced great anxiety about conceal- 
 ing his letters, lest they should bo 
 the occasion of his ruin, we may 
 conclude that the king had still 
 more explicit, or at least more 
 alarming, intelligence from other 
 quarters. The result therefore is, 
 that from this, coupled with Hazel- 
 rig's bill and other proceedings, 
 and, above all, what had just oc- 
 curred in Scotland, by the advice of 
 the English committee, Charles was 
 bound to infer that the object of 
 parliament would now be to wrest 
 the appointment of officers, &c. from 
 him ; and, as he was advised to an- 
 ticipate the measures of parliament, 
 it is not in the slightest degree ex- 
 traordinary, that, if he issued a com- 
 mission to the Irish at all, he should 
 assume as done what had already 
 been determined on by the parlia- 
 ment ; and tliis will appear the less 
 strange if we consider, that in his 'in- 
 structions to Colonel Cochrane, to bo 
 pursued in liis negotiations with the 
 king of Denmark,' he says, that the 
 parliament had endeavoured to lay 
 a great Itlcmisli upon that prince's 
 family, ' endeavom-iug to illegiti- 
 mate all derived from his sister ' 
 ((yharles's mother), ' at once to cut 
 off the interest and pretensions of tlio 
 whole race, <fcc.' Indeed, the more 
 one studies this period, the more he 
 discovers that no important proposi- 
 tion ever came upon cither ])arty un- 
 expectedly, as one would infer from 
 ordinary histories. The ol)jection, 
 tliereforo, to tlie copy of the alleged 
 commission is futile ; and tlierc 
 
 does not appear to be a shadow 
 of ground for presuming, that what 
 is preserved is not an exact transcript 
 of that published by the rebels a few 
 days after the insurrection. Indeed, 
 I do not think that an imposition on 
 that head was possible (see Rush, 
 vol. iv. p. 400). Though there be 
 nothing in the matter to prove that 
 it was subsequently fabricated, yet 
 there is matter enough to show that 
 it was above the capacity of Sir P. 
 O'Xeil to forge the document. 
 
 We shall now consider the ac- 
 count given of the seal affixed. Cla- 
 rendon says that it was au Eiiyli-'^h 
 seal, torn from some patent ; but his 
 statement is in direct opposition to 
 all authority, and indeed cannot 
 possibly be correct, because the com- 
 mission was dated from Edinburgh, 
 and said to be under the great seal of 
 Scotland ; and had an English seal 
 been affixed, all who knew what a 
 seal Avas, to whom O'Neil showed it, 
 and to whom alone it was necessary, 
 would have detected the forgery 
 {Hist, of Irish liebellion). By other 
 accounts, (Eorlase, p. 29; ' Life 
 of Charles,' prefixed to the edi- 
 tion of liis works, publislied by 
 autliority in 1002, p. 30,) tlie seal was 
 said to have been taken by one 
 Plunket from an obsolete patent in 
 Farnham Abbey ; but the most 
 notable account is that given under 
 the hand and seal of iJr. Ker, dean 
 of Ardagh, at the desire of Lord 
 Viscount Lanesborough, on the 28t]i 
 of February, 1081. According to 
 this statement, Sir Phelim O'Neil, at 
 his trial, was questioned about ithe 
 commission ; but lie denied that ho 
 ever had one ; and being reminded 
 of that he showed, he acknowledged 
 that he had forged it upon seizing 
 tlio castle of Charlemont, and that 
 he had ordered Mr. Harrison, then 
 in court, and another gentleman, to 
 cut off the broad seal from a patent 
 found there, and affix it to tlie forged 
 commission; and that Harrison, in
 
 TWO HUNDRED MEN THOUGHT SUFFICIENT FOR THE ATTACK. 
 
 383 
 
 instance ; and it was imagined that, by turning the great 
 guns upon the town, it might be kept in check till the 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 the face of the whole coiu't, confessed 
 the fact, and stated how he had ac- 
 complished it. The same reverend 
 doctor further certifies, that he heard 
 Sir Plielini on the scaftbld declare 
 that he had been repeatedly offered 
 his life by L. General Ludlow, if he 
 would accuse the late king, but that 
 he would not, to save himself, be 
 guilty of such a crime — a crime 
 which he had continued to commit 
 down to that period, by never pub- 
 lishinj^ this story before ! (Nalson, 
 vol. ii. p. 528 d seq.) But the story 
 carries its own refutation with it ; for 
 is it within the compass of possibi- 
 lity that sucli facts, acted in the face 
 of day, before a crowded court and a 
 large assemblage, should slumber so 
 for about thirty years ; that however 
 useful for the vindication of the royal 
 martyr, they never were whispered 
 till then ? Where was this reverend 
 doctor's loyalty when the family 
 stood more in need of his interposi- 
 tion ? How were the regicides left 
 60 long unstained with such a charge, 
 when every press in Europe teemed 
 with productions against them ? 
 The worthy dean wished to be a 
 bishop ; and he probably flattered 
 himself that a pious fraud was laud- 
 able in such a cause. Similar frauds 
 were innumerable ; but the eftrontery 
 of this dean, considering the account 
 published by authority — an accoimt 
 said to be attested by the confession 
 of many — surpassed that even of his 
 contemporaries. Carte, who never 
 hesitates at an assertion, after cor- 
 recting Clarendon, in regard to the 
 seal, stating that it was the Scottish, 
 not the English {Life of Ormonde, 
 vol. i. p. 180), takes up this story as 
 indisputable, and circumstantially 
 adds this to it — ' that the very 
 patent from which the great seal was 
 torn, and which contained a grant of 
 some lands in the county of Tyrone, 
 was, about five or six years ago,' 
 (that is, previous to the publication 
 of the Life of Ormonde, which took 
 
 place in 173G), ' upon a suit of law, 
 in relation to those lands, produced 
 at the assizes of Tyrone by the late 
 Lord Charlemont, having on it evi- 
 dent marks of the seal's being torn 
 from it, and an indorsement proving 
 the fact ; and was allowed by the 
 judge as a proper endence to prove 
 his lordship's right to the land in 
 question ' {Ihid. p. 182). One would 
 imagine that no author could have 
 had the hai'dihood to make such a 
 statement, without the most perfect 
 assurance of its truth ; yet such is 
 the fact. Leland, who espouses the 
 same side on this subject, and adopts 
 the statement, says in a note to his 
 History of Ireland, that his dear 
 and honoured friend, the then Earl 
 of Charlemont, assured him he 
 had no patent answering the de- 
 scription (vol. iii. p. 121). Now, it is 
 impossible that such a patent, within 
 so short a period, should have been 
 lost, and the earl know notliing of 
 the matter. But what puts the 
 fact bej^ond all doubt is, that the 
 great seal of Scotland could not, in 
 the nature of things, be affixed to an 
 Irish patent, the island being a de- 
 pendency of England only, and not 
 of Scotland, so tliat a patent under 
 the Scottish seal would have been 
 altogether invalid. Tlien whj^ should 
 either James or Charles, neither of 
 whom was scarcely ever in Scotland 
 after the union of the crowns, dream 
 of attempting to pass such grants, as 
 kings of that country? The best 
 proof that they never attempted it is, 
 that no account handed down to us 
 authorises the belief; and the Eng- 
 lish would not silently have sub- 
 mitted to such a violation of tlieir 
 exclusive right. Clarendon saw this 
 objection, and therefore made it the 
 English seal ; while others, with a 
 different account from the Dean of 
 Ardagh, say nothing about that fact. 
 In tlie Jjife of Bi-'^hop Bedel it is said 
 (p. 177), that ' a seal was cut off' from 
 another charter, and put to a forged
 
 384 
 
 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISII EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, troops on ship-board were landed and armed : througli 
 -, ,' ^ their assistance again it was not doubted that matters 
 
 commission, giving warrant to what 
 they were going about, and bccaufte 
 the kiny was then in Ireland they 
 made use of a Scottish seal.' The 
 story then recoils upon the inventors ; 
 and we have still to be informed how 
 a Scottish seal came into the pos- 
 session of Sir Phelim O'Neil ; nay, 
 Low it could be in Ireland without 
 the concurrence of some person in 
 Scotland for an evil purpose ? 
 
 The other objections by Mr. 
 Hume have elsewhere been mostly 
 answered ; and the pretended dying 
 confession of O'Xeil is one. liume, 
 Carte, and others, who so strenuously 
 deny Cliarles's participation in this 
 attair, also, in the face of the clearest 
 evidence, deny the army-plots, the 
 Incident, the commissions to Glamor- 
 gan, &c. But his commissions to the 
 last, which he disclaimed, as well as 
 the petition signed C. R., afford a 
 strong presumption against him in this 
 instance. Indeed, it has been well 
 observed that he never very point- 
 edly denied the commission. The 
 case of the Marquis of Antrim, too. is 
 very strong, if not conclusive, as to 
 his being concerned ; and from all 
 circumstances we may safely presume 
 that, even though Lord Castlelough 
 did not carry the commission, he did 
 instructions. The lately published 
 correspondence between Charles and 
 Secretary Nicholas corroborates the 
 other proofs. Though anxious to 
 please the city of London, he was 
 keen about the plantation of London- 
 derry, while he conceded everything 
 to the Irish. The following is an 
 apostile of the IGth September. * I 
 command you to draw up anie such 
 warrant as my wife shall direct you, 
 for the disposing of the great collar 
 of rubies that is in Holland, and tell 
 her how I have directed j^ou to 
 wait her commands in this, and that 
 I am confident of your secrecie in 
 this, and anit; thing else tliat I shall 
 trust you with. C. II.' (App. to 
 Evelyn's 3Ic7n. p. 19; see again p. 23). 
 
 Nicholas answers thus : * Yester- 
 day Sir Job Ilarby and I attended 
 the Queeue about yo' collar of rubies, 
 vpon wh'^'* he saith there is alreddy 
 •2hr%' &c. His Majesty apostUes 
 his wonder, &:c. at this' (see also 
 p. 32). These are dated prior to the 
 Incident, and therefore may be sup- 
 posed to apply to it ; but see again 
 p. 39, Apostyle, 20, S""' ; see 
 again 29, 8""^ p. 50. The mer- 
 chants had declined, through fear of 
 parliament t presume, to engage the 
 collar (p. 39). 
 
 It appears also from the same 
 source, that Charles had some secret 
 ground of confidence in his own re- 
 sources (see p. 28, already quoted). 
 See an apostile to a passage in a 
 letter, dated 3rd October, and apos- 
 tiled the 9th, regarding a report 
 about Argyle's being made chancel- 
 lor, which was incorrect. ' You may 
 see by this,' says Charles, 'that all 
 ther desyres hit not, and I hope 
 before all be done, that they shall miss 
 of more ' (p. 29. See farther on 
 the same page about elections to 
 offices. See again, p. 30. See also 
 otlier letters about Episcopacy, &c.) 
 On the 6th of November, this apos- 
 tile occurs, 'when ye deliver this 
 inclosed to my "\^'V'fe, desyre her 
 not to open it but when she is alone ' 
 (p. 51). The English Protestants in 
 Ireland were almost all Puritans, and 
 had offended Charles by petitioning 
 for the abrogation of episcopacy 
 (Ilawdon Papers, p. 82). The Earl of 
 Essex told Bishop Burnet, ' that he 
 had taken all the pains he coidd to 
 inquire into the origin of the Irish 
 massacre, but could not see reason to 
 believe the king was accessory to it ; 
 but he did believe that the queen 
 did hearken to the propositions made 
 by the Irish, who undertook to take 
 the government of Ireland into their 
 own hands, which they thought they 
 could perform, and then they pro- 
 mised to assist the king against the 
 hot spirits of Westminster. With
 
 SIE W. COLE GIVES THE FIRST HINT OF THE CONSPIRACY. 
 
 385 
 
 could be kept secure till all the late army were re- 
 organised, and additional men embodied. A simultaneous 
 attack was to be made on the other forts, by other bodies 
 of conspirators, and the insurgents in Ulster were to 
 move towards the capital for arms.* 
 
 It has been often remarked, that barbarous nations are 
 generally characterised by an extraordinary capacity for 
 dissimulation, so that the widest, as well as the deepest 
 laid schemes are frequently conceived by them without 
 the shghtest indication of their purpose ; and the present 
 case affords a striking proof of the justness of the obser- 
 vation. Though the conspiracy was so widely spread, 
 scarcely one of the number engaged betrayed the design, 
 or gave an unnecessary hint of the plot ; and it was only 
 on the evening of the 22nd that anything like precise in- 
 formation was first communicated to the frovernment. 
 Sir Wilham Cole had, on the 11th, dispatched a letter 
 from Enniskillen, to the lords justices, in which he stated 
 that he had observed a great resort of several suspected 
 persons, fit instruments of mischief, to Sir Phelim O'Neil's, 
 in the county of Tyrone, and also to Lord M'Guire's, in 
 the county of Fermanagh ; and tliat Lord M'Guire had 
 made several journeys of late within the Pale and other 
 places, and spent much of his time in writing letters and 
 sending dispatches ; f but this intelhgence was so dark, 
 that the lords justices did not imagine themselves war- 
 ranted in proceeding farther upon it, than to require him 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 this the insurrection began, and all 
 the Irish helieved the queen en- 
 couraged it' (Hist, of His Own Times, 
 vol. i. p. 41). I cannot distinguish 
 between the king and the queen, 
 considering their dark correspondence 
 and joint plots ; and late discoveries 
 of original letters, in regard to the 
 transactions of Glamorgan, have 
 thrown much light on Charles's 
 character since Burnet's time (see 
 Birch's Inquiry ; Neal, vol. ii. p. 
 503 et seq. ; Harris's Chai-les I.). 
 
 But here must a distinction be again 
 pointed out between the massacre 
 and the proposition by the Irish to 
 take the government of that island 
 into their own hands, of being ac- 
 cessory to the first the king must be 
 acquitted. The last is in a difl'erent 
 predicament. 
 
 * Temple, pp. 93, 121 et seq.-, 
 M'Guire's Relation in Nalson, vol. ii. 
 
 t See the Letter in the 3rd volume 
 of Carte's Ormonde, p. 35, 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 C C
 
 386 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, to be very vigilant and industrious to discover the cause 
 
 v.. ^ ' of those meetings, and inform tliem immediately. Indeed 
 
 it has been well remarked, that, had they upon such 
 grounds laid M'Guire and O'Neil fast, the rebels would 
 have asserted with some colour that they had been driven 
 to arms by the causeless suspicion of the government. It 
 afterwards appeared that Sir William Cole was successful 
 in obtaining information from some of the conspirators ; 
 but his letters had either miscarried or were intercepted.* 
 Discovery- j^ was rescrvcd for one Owen O'Conally, who had for- 
 
 of the con- , . , '' 
 
 spiracy uicrly bccu \\\ the service of Sir John Clotworthy, but had 
 tbe^\ords ^xcd his rcsidencc in the county of Londonderry, to make, 
 justices on q^v the eveuins^ of the 22nd, the disclosure which saved 
 
 the evening -r\iT ii/^ i ni • tt 
 
 of October Dublm, auQ truly nrst alarmed the executive. He was a 
 ox'onaiiy geutlemau of pure Irish extraction, but had been brought 
 with the up in the Protestant faith, and had lived much with the 
 conspira- English. Ouc of the conspirators. Colonel Hugh Oge 
 tors, &c. M'Mahon, wishing to draw him, as a native, into the con- 
 spiracy, wrote to him to meet him in Connaught, in the 
 county of Monaghan, about business of importance. 
 Thither tlie other went ; but on his arrival found that 
 M'Mahon had gone to Dublin, and he followed him to the 
 capital. There they met on the 22nd, and M'Mahon, 
 after what he deemed proper precautions, revealed the 
 design ; but O'Conally protested against it, using every 
 argument to divert him from his purpose, and induce 
 them to disclose the conspiracy to the executive. This, 
 as it did not prevail on M'Mahon to abandon his object, 
 necessarily alarmed him ; and, for his own safety, he de- 
 termined to detain O'Conally for the night, while he also 
 threw out a threat of murdering him if he attempted to 
 escape or turn informer. O'Conally resolved to disengage 
 himself, yet aware that he could only succeed by strata- 
 gem, drank deep, and then, affecting to have occasion to 
 retire, left his sword with M'Mahon as a pledge for his 
 
 * Temple, p. 32 j Borlase, p. 19.
 
 APPEEIIENSION OF THE CONSPIRATOES. 387 
 
 return. Not satisfied witli this, M'Mahon desired his chap. 
 servant to accompany his guest ; but O'Conally having ^. / . 
 leapt a pahng, got safely off, and went directly to the 
 Lord Justice Parsons, with the dreadful intelligence. 
 Partly, however, owing to what he had drunk, partly, as 
 he afterwards said, to the horror produced by the dis- 
 closure which had just been made to him, his narration 
 of the conspiracy was so broken and confused, that his 
 lordship gave it little credit, and dismissed him with or- 
 ders to rejoin M'Mahon, in order to discover as much more 
 of the plot as possible, and return with his information. 
 But the lord justice, though he almost entirely disbelieved 
 the story, did not so despise it as to neglect the precautions 
 necessary for the common safety. He issued strict com- 
 mands to the constable of the castle to place strong guards 
 upon its gates, as well as to the mayor and sheriffs to set 
 watches in all parts of the town, and arrest all strangers, 
 while he himself went straig-ht to the residence of Lord 
 Justice Borlase, a little way out of town, to consult with 
 him and others of the council upon the intimated danger. 
 Li the meantime an accident had nearly deprived them 
 of O'Conally's testimony, now that he had recovered his 
 recollection ; for the watcli had seized him, and was car- 
 rying him to prison, when one of Lord Borlase's servants, 
 who had been sent to walk the streets, and particularly to 
 attend O'Conally's motions, came critically to his rescue, 
 and conducted him to his master's house. Having now 
 recovered from the effects of fear and intoxication, he 
 gave a distinct account of all the particulars which he had 
 learned from M'Mahon. 
 
 The lords justices sat up all night in deep consultation, 
 and being joined next morning with more of the council, 
 they ordered the apprehension of M'Mahon, whose lodg- 
 ings had, in tlie interim, been strictly watclied. He and 
 his comrades at first attempted resistance with drawn 
 swords ; l)ut finding it useless they surrendered them- 
 
 c c 2
 
 388 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, selves prisoners. Put to the rack, a proceeding at all times 
 .,^_,_:_. indefensible, yet more excusable now than almost on any 
 other occasion, M'Mahon confessed the whole design, 
 withal informing them that though the capital had been 
 saved, the other fortified places could not ; and that, if he 
 should fall, his fate would at least be revenged. Lord 
 M'Guire, with about thirty more, was afterwards seized ; 
 but Eoger Moore, Colonel Plunket, Birne, and several 
 others, who had undertaken the chief part of the business, 
 escaped. Along with these prompt proceedings, the 
 executive adopted other salutary measures to preserve the 
 city, and the peace of the neighbourhood.* 
 The insur- Thus was Dubliu rcscucd from tlie impendino; danger, 
 
 rection in tip t -ii i 
 
 Ulster, &c. and the fortunate discovery, with the measures pursued 
 by the government, so awed a large portion of the con- 
 spirators, that a considerable time elapsed before they 
 openly appeared in rebellion. But in Ulster the insurrec- 
 tion began, under Sir Plielim O'Neil, on the appointed 
 day, and in a short time he found himself at the head of 
 about thirty thousand men. At the outset Sir Phelim 
 proceeded with some moderation. The English were, 
 indeed, despoiled of their possessions and moveables, 
 but their persons were safe. It was when the news 
 arrived of the detection of the conspiracy and tlie safety 
 of Dublin, together with its consequences on the great 
 body of the conspirators, that, tormented Avith the dread 
 of being left alone a victim of public justice, and confident 
 of his power to bear down all opposition did the troops 
 remain steady — he and his clergy instigated them to the 
 most atrocious acts, that being precluded every prospect 
 of mercy, they miglit place all their hope in a desperate 
 adherence to their leader and the cause. Then beeran the 
 direful work of slaughter, liorror, desolation. Then every 
 evil passion got vent ; and religion, which ought to have 
 
 * Temple, p. 33 et seq. ; Borlase, p. 20.
 
 ATKOCITIES COMMITTED BY THE TROOPS. 389 
 
 softened their hearts, encouraged tlieir savage ferocity, chap. 
 The Enghsh, men, women, and children, stripped of their . ^^' . 
 clothes, and driven from their houses, in an unusually 
 inclement season, without food, perished in vast numbers, 
 in bogs, morasses, or on hills, to which they Hed to escape 
 a yet more horrid death. Hundreds were pricked for- 
 ward with spears to rivers and drowned in the stream. 
 Vindictive fury acquired additional rage by gratification. 
 Between the two classes of men few or no sympathies 
 existed ; and the new settlers were at last destined to feel, 
 in its utmost bitterness, the effects of the system they had 
 pursued. Inventive cruelty was then put to the rack ; 
 many were burned in their houses ; some were dragged 
 by ropes through woods, bogs, and ditches, till they ex- 
 pired ; some hung on tenter hooks ; some slashed and 
 cut, to inflict the utmost torture without proving im- 
 mediately mortal. The helpless innocence of infants 
 did not protect them. Women great with child were 
 first tormented till they parted with the burthens of 
 their wombs — which were given to dogs and swine 
 — and then destroyed with an indecency equal to the 
 inhumanity. Some wretches Avere prevailed upon, by 
 a promise of life, to be the executioners of their dearest 
 friends and kindred ; and when they had, through a 
 pusillanimous fear of death, incurred this tremendous 
 guilt, were, with satanic triumph, butchered upon their 
 murdered relations. Others, tempted by the same 
 promise of safety to disown their faith, and conform 
 to the Eomish rites, were then coolly told, that as they 
 were now prepared for heaven, it would be charity to 
 send them thither instantly, lest they should relapse, and 
 they were fortliwith dispatched. Others — but enough of 
 this disgusting picture. Many of the cruelties were per- 
 petrated to extort a confession of concealed goods or 
 money ; but savage vengeance and fear were the prime 
 instigators. The brute creation did not escape the indis-
 
 390 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOKY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, 
 IV. 
 
 Insurrec- 
 tion in 
 Leinster, 
 &c. 
 
 criminate fury of worse than brutes in human form : 
 cattle were houghed and mangled because they had be- 
 longed to Protestants, though it was now the interest of 
 the victors to secure what had fallen into their hands. 
 Never were more dismally displayed the terrible effects of 
 bigotry. The complaints and shrieks of dying wretches, 
 instead of mollifying their enemies, only drew from them 
 an exulting yell, that their present sufferings were but the 
 beginning of eternal torments.* 
 
 Had the Protestants, leaving their separate dwellings, 
 collected for mutual defence, they might have at least 
 arrested the torrent till succour had been sent, or dearly 
 sold their lives ; but so unexpected Avas the event, that 
 each, imagining the danger only at liis own door, tried 
 to save his goods, and their families individually fell an 
 easy prey to the msurgents. Irish proprietors delivered 
 their tenants into the hands of their enemies. Irish 
 tenants destroyed their landlords. In his own family, a 
 master often found his servants prepared to sacrifice him- 
 self, his wife, and children ; or to invite their country- 
 men to the deed of horror. Besides, the insurgents early 
 surprised several forts and places of strength, which 
 gave them the command of great part of the country.f 
 The Scots, who were, spared in the first instance, saved 
 themselves afterwards, in a great measure, though they 
 still suffered much, by defending themselves in bodies. 
 
 Thus raged the rebellion in Ulster ; but several coun- 
 ties in Leinster soon declared themselves, and the danger 
 threatened the capital, both from the north and south. 
 The other provinces soon also rose, and the Pale itself 
 openly joined the rebelUon in the beginning of December. 
 The atrocities fell short of those acted by the followers of 
 Sir Phelim O'Xcil ; but they were every wliere dreadful. 
 
 et scq. ; Bill-net's 
 
 of Kilniore. 
 et seq.) 194.
 
 MULTITUDES FKOM ALL QUARTERS FLOCK TO DUBLIN. 391 
 
 From all quarters were seen multitudes flying towards chap. 
 Dublin, as to the only place of refuge ; and as they daily _£J[l_^ 
 arrived there in vast numbers, never did town exhibit a 
 more disgusting spectacle. Many persons of good rank and 
 quality, exhausted with suffering, and without any other 
 coverino; than a little twisted straw to hide their naked- 
 ness, hourly poured in. Eeverend ministers and others, 
 who had escaped with their lives, appeared all wounded ; 
 wives deplored their husbands butchered before their 
 faces ; mothers their children ; while infants again that 
 had been carried off from the savage murderers, were 
 ready to perish in their helpless mothers' bosoms. Many, 
 overcome w^ith long travel and want of food, came crawl- 
 ing on their knees ; others, stiffened with cold, scarcely 
 retained existence. Some, again, overwhelmed with grief, 
 and distracted with their losses, were utterly bereft of 
 their senses. In every street wretches wandered like 
 ghosts ; and so completely were many subdued by their 
 misfortunes, that they could not make the necessary exer- 
 tion to put on the clothes which the humanity of the 
 government and the citizens had furnished to them ; others 
 ao-ain would not bestir themselves for the food which had 
 been provided for them, but miserably perished in filth, 
 and covered with loathsome rags, when help was at hand. 
 The churchyards were soon filled, and other ground was 
 necessarily set apart for the bodies of the sufferers. The 
 churches, as well as every barn, were crowded with the 
 miserable survivors. 
 
 Every hour teemed with some fresh report, and 
 each new stranger spread terror by an account of his 
 sufferings, and by painting the danger under the im- 
 pression of his own fears. The Enghsh inhabitants 
 of the city therefore imagined that all the evils which 
 had been felt elsewhere were already arrived at theii' 
 gates. The Popish inhabitants were disposed to abet the 
 insurgents, and indeed had contributed to the escape of
 
 392 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, leading conspirators.* There were no fortifications about 
 , • - the suburbs ; none even about the city, but a ruinous 
 wall, part of which had fallen down. The inhabitants of 
 the suburbs crowded into the town ; the higher classes 
 into the castle ; while many chose rather to quit the king- 
 dom, with great pecuniary loss and other disadvantages, 
 than remain in that distracted city. Even those who had 
 embarked, and were detained in harbour, preferred all 
 the privations of shipboard to returning to the town. The 
 most stormy weather did not intimidate men from 
 encountering one danger in their eagerness to avoid 
 another. The very Scottish fishermen, who had proffered 
 their services, partook to such a degree in the general 
 alarm as to put to sea, and not re-appear upon the coast 
 that year.f 
 Number of It is quitc hopclcss to arrive at anything Hke an exact 
 ant's m^mr- estimate of the number of Protestants who perished in the 
 dered. first year of this deplorable rebellion. The passions, feel- 
 ings, and even interests of the parliamentary party parti- 
 cularly, led them to exaggerate the massacre ; those of the 
 Catholics (though some of their writers boasted at the 
 time of the murder of about 200,000 Protestants), to deny 
 the enormities, and diminish the number who fell victims 
 to the fury of the insurgents. The high-church faction 
 have so far espoused the cause of the rebels as to support 
 their statements ; and there have been writers hardy 
 enough to assert that scarcely 4000 were sacrificed. If 
 the general statements handed down to us are little to be 
 rehed upon, hypothetical calculations founded on the pro- 
 portion borne by the Protestant part of the population to 
 that of the Catholic, and again on that of the number 
 massacred to that which escaped, are not more so ; since 
 every one must know how impossible it is, in a case of 
 this kind, where there was no census to guide one, to fix 
 
 * Temple, p. 82 ; see particuLarly what tliey did about money. 
 t Ihid. p. 109 ct seq.
 
 THE ENGLISH OF THE PALE TREATED AS ABOVE SUSPICION. 393 
 
 upon the proper ratio, and what effect an apparently small chap. 
 error in that has on the result. That the accounts trans- , ' .. 
 mitted to us by Protestants of 150,000 having perished in 
 the province of Ulster alone are greatly exaggerated, may 
 safely be affirmed ; but the disposition of later times has 
 been to fall short of the truth. Clarendon was not likely 
 to represent matters in the worst light for the Catholics, 
 and his intimacy with Ormond afibrded him excellent 
 opportunities of knowledge ; yet, in his grand history, he 
 informs us, that ' about forty or fifty thousand of the 
 English Protestants were murdered before they suspected 
 tliemselves to be in any danger, or could provide for their 
 defence by drawing themselves into towns or strong houses.' 
 Though, in his account of the Irish rebellion, written when 
 Ormond and he were with Charles 11. together at Cologne, 
 he does not specify any number, his language would lead 
 us to infer that it was much greater ; for he there says 
 that an incredible number were destroyed.* 
 
 Though the evidence of M'Mahon, with other suspicious Conduct of 
 circumstances, attached guilt to the old English of the justices. 
 Pale, and consequently justified the executive in presum- 
 ing that their expressions of loyalty and abhorrence of 
 the insurrection, with their eager desire to quell it, were 
 the offspring of cunning and of disappointment in the pro- 
 jected attempt on Dubhn Castle, yet the lords justices 
 and council, calling to mind their loyalty in former rebel- 
 lions, and anxious to fix them in their duty, treated them 
 as above suspicion. On this principle they granted com- 
 missions to the leading lords to preserve the public peace, 
 and even issued amongst them seventeen hundred stand 
 of arms. But the danger of this liberal policy soon mani- 
 fested itself, and through the vigilance of the government 
 nine hundred and fifty stand of the arms were fortunately 
 recovered before the Pale joined the rebellion. 
 
 * Clarendon's Hist. vol. ii. p. 299 ; 12 ; Carte's Life of Ormonde, vol. i. 
 Hist, of the Irish Rehellion, pp. 11, p. 177 ; Warwick, p. 199, &c.
 
 394 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIEE. 
 
 CHAP. The lords justices and the council had formerly pro- 
 . ' - rogued the parliament, in consequence of the dangerous 
 spirit that began to show itself; and they afterwards 
 propounded reasons to the English council — reasons 
 which were approved of, for farther proroguing it till 
 February.* Tlieir reasons were now become more 
 cogent ; for, besides that the spirit of disaffection was 
 augmented, the capital was, in most men's opinion, still in 
 the most imminent hazard, and the meeting of the legis- 
 lature would necessarily have afforded a pretext for an 
 unusual resort of Catholics, who might then have effec- 
 tuated the purpose which was only suspended till a fit 
 opportunity presented itself. The former intention was 
 therefore resumed; but the leading Papists, who had not 
 yet appeared in arms, and affected the greatest anxiety to 
 suppress the rebellion, so strenuously urged for an oppor- 
 tunity in a legislative form to testify their loyalty, that 
 their wish was acceded to, and the parliament met on the 
 16th of November. Their language then, however, indi- 
 cated feelings so very opposite to those which they had 
 previously pretended (they would not even call the insur- 
 gents rebels, but discontented gentlemen), that the execu- 
 tive prudently prorogued the parliament without delay, 
 though only till the 11th of January. -j- 
 
 The lords justices, immediately on the breaking out of 
 the rebellion, announced the worst to the English parlia- 
 ment, and called upon it for aid, while they also sent 
 O'Conally thither, that he might personally communicate 
 the alarming intelligence. Despatches were likewise sent 
 from tliem and other hands to the king in Scotland ; and 
 we shall now return to our account of transactions in that 
 
 * Temple, p. 29 ; Append, to Eve- Anglesea's Ansrcer to CastteliaverC s 
 
 Ivn's Mci>}nir>t, 'Covrespondenoo bo- Mem. pp. 34, oo. 
 tween Clmrles I. and Nicliolu.s,' p.oO. f Temple, p. 244 et scq. ; Borlase, 
 
 This is a singiilai* fact ; but Charles p. -32 et seq. ; Carte's Ormonde, vol. i. 
 
 himself sanctioned the measure. p. 221 et seq.
 
 NEW FORCES ExMSED BY THE EXECUTIVE. 
 
 395 
 
 kingdom. But we may, in passing, observe that new 
 forces were raised by the executive in Ireland, and 
 armed from the stores in DubKn Castle ; and that arms 
 Avere Hkewise distributed to Protestants who were likely 
 to use them.* 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 * These lords justices were Puri- 
 tans, that is, they favoured the ec- 
 clesiastical proceedings in England ; 
 and it is therefore not surprising that 
 they should have heen abused with- 
 out mercy, and have had every de- 
 testable motive imputed to them by 
 such a wi-iter as Carte, whose state- 
 ments have yet been too closely 
 followed by fiume — a circumstance 
 the more extraordinary, since the 
 same Mr. Hume pronounces him 
 ' an author of gTeat industry and 
 learning, but full of prejudices, and 
 of no peneti-ation.' We shall expose 
 a little the inconsistencies and ab- 
 surdities of that author, in his Life 
 of Ormonde. He panegj'rises the 
 unconstitutional government of Straf- 
 ford, and -violently censures the lords 
 justices for governing strictly by law, 
 and encouraging the abolition of 
 arbitraiy courts ; and yet he accuses 
 these veiy j ustices of purposely driv- 
 ing men to despaii- and rebellion by 
 their tyi-annical courses. In the 
 same breath, he accuses them of 
 preventing foreigTi levies and allow- 
 ing them ; alleging that the officers 
 employed were the most dangerous 
 instruments of conspii-acy ; and yet 
 these were the very officers whose 
 licences by Charles they objected to ! 
 In this way he violently condemns 
 the opposition to the levying of 
 forces for Spain ; yet in another place 
 as keenly condemns the lords justices 
 for permitting any motions by the 
 officers from abroad towards it, for- 
 getting that he had ever condemned 
 them for opposing the licences 
 gi-anted by Charles to officers re- 
 tm-ned from foreign service, who 
 were afterwards the most active in 
 rebellion. He charges them with 
 the most criminal negligence in not 
 
 detecting the conspiracy, or rather 
 villany in conniving at it, that they 
 might have a ground for forfei- 
 tures — because 'they had repeated 
 advertisements sent to them of the 
 danger, and express orders to provide 
 against it, yet neglected both. The 
 king,' continues he, ' received ac- 
 coimts from his ministers in Spain, 
 and other foreign courts, of an tm- 
 speakahle nmnher of Irish churchmen 
 going thence to their own country, 
 and of several good old officers doing 
 the same, under pretence of asking 
 leave to raise men for the king of 
 Spain, and that the design was to 
 raise a rebellion.' Yet this same 
 author, in the same paragraph, in- 
 forms us, that 'the design of an 
 insurrection was confined to the old 
 Irish, and not communicated to above 
 half a score of them till the very 
 moment of execution : the chiefs 
 depending upon the strong disposi- 
 tion of their vassals to follow their 
 lords in all actions whatever, and on 
 the mortal hatred which the Irish in 
 general, and the gentlemen in parti- 
 cular who had been dispossessed of 
 their estates by the plantation, bore 
 to the English nation and govern- 
 ment ' (vol. i. pp. 165, 166). One 
 would thence infer, perhaps, that the 
 design was formed solely by the 
 churchmen and officers from abroad. 
 Yet this author, in a preceding para- 
 graph, assigns as a reason why 
 Colonel Plunket's account of having 
 had inten'iews during the summer 
 with the Irish committee, must be 
 unfounded — that the colonel had 
 been so long abroad, ' that he was 
 very ill qualified to propose anything 
 regarding it, and had been then en- 
 tirely ignorant of the conspiracy.' 
 This is abundantly absurd. I be-
 
 396 
 
 CONSTITUTIOXAL IIISTOEY OF THE BKITISII EMPIRE, 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 ^ ^.^ 
 
 Tlie king 
 informs the 
 Scottish 
 parliament 
 of the re- 
 bellion ; its 
 measures 
 in conse- 
 quence, &c. 
 
 So early as the 28th of October, Charles received several 
 dispatclies from the ISTorth of Ireland ; and one of them 
 
 lieve tliat a great many were in- 
 trusted with the design, but that, 
 from the causes stated above, the 
 secret was admirably kept. Carte's 
 principal reason for disregarding evi- 
 dence against the lords and gentry of 
 the Pale, is, that they were chiefly 
 under the influence of lawyers, ' a 
 set of men who, though the most 
 active of any for redress of grievances 
 in a parliamentary way, are yet 
 always averse to war, in which their 
 profession is of little use.' But he 
 forgets that the Scots, whose oppo- 
 sition to Charles's arbitrary measures 
 he pronoimces the blackest rebellion, 
 had acted entirely under the direc- 
 tion of lawyers, and that the same 
 class were amongst the most forward 
 in England afterwards. He paints 
 the extreme danger of Dublin for a 
 considerable time after the com- 
 mencement of the rebellion, yet mer- 
 cilessly condenms the lords justices 
 for keeping there so many troops — 
 troops deemed by most insufficient 
 for the defence of the capital, so that 
 the withdrawing of them might have 
 been attended with its ruin (pp. 194, 
 195). By the way, the advice of 
 Ormoud to draw out the troops ap- 
 pears strange. AVIien Sir Charles 
 Coot went with GOO men to Tredagh 
 or Drogheda, after a defeat of the 
 English forces. Sir John Temple 
 tells us, that * had the rebels drawn 
 nil the forces which they had on 
 both sides the Boyne, for the siege 
 oi Tredagh, and marched directly to 
 Dublin, they would have found so 
 strong a party there, that they could 
 not have failed of success ' (p. 267). 
 Carte says, that had the Pale been 
 concerned at lirst, Dublin must have 
 fallen ; but every one knows the 
 eli'ect of a discovery in such a case — 
 tliat all confidence ainongst the con- 
 spirators being dissolved, their mo- 
 tions are paralysed. 
 
 The tendency of all his writings is 
 to run down parliamentary powers. 
 
 Yet forsooth the Irish parliament 
 ought to have met at this crisis, for 
 the Boman senate ever sat in the 
 hour of danger. This really proves 
 the extent of his want of judgment. 
 If the Irish parliament had fairly 
 represented the community, it neces- 
 sarily must have encouraged the 
 rebellion ; for the bulk of the people 
 favoured it, in order to shake off the 
 English yoke, and establish their 
 OAvn religion. The parliament was 
 only tolerated by the English under 
 certain conditions, and the question 
 was, whether the Popish party should 
 obtain the ascendancy in the legis- 
 lature, and have an opportunity of 
 bringing their adherents to the capi- 
 tal. Had the Protestant portion of 
 the inhabitants preponderated as 
 much as the Catholic, the parlia- 
 ment might have been most usefully 
 employed at such a juncture. 
 
 Tlie inhabitants of the Pale are 
 said to have been driven into re- 
 bellion, because, not having been 
 allowed arms, and having been pro- 
 hibited latterly from taking refuge 
 in the capital, they could not oppose 
 the native Irish, and therefore were 
 constrained to join them. There 
 was a proclamation judiciously is- 
 sued, ordering all strangers, who 
 had no pretext for resorting to the 
 capital, to depart ; but the lords of 
 the I'ale were, with otliers of the no- 
 bility, summoned to the capital, to 
 be consulted with on the posture of 
 atfairs ; and they refused to obey the 
 summons, alleging that they were 
 afraid of a massacre (Temple, p. 312). 
 The information which led to the 
 defeat of the government forces at 
 Gellistown Bridge— a defeat Avhich 
 raised the hopes of the L-ish to the 
 utmost height — was given by Lord 
 Gormanstown's groom, with his 
 lordship's knowledge (Temple, 
 p._2(J4; Borlase, p. 86)5 and yet 
 tliis very nobleman was treacherously 
 pretending to direct the English
 
 IRISH DISPATCH MID BEFORE THE SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT. 
 
 397 
 
 from Belfast, by Lord Chichester, he laid before the Scottish 
 parliament, while he sent an express with the intelligence 
 to the Englisli parliament, wliich had now assembled. 
 Lord Chichester stated that, two nights before, certain 
 Irish septs, of good quality in the north, whose object he 
 could not conceive, but who were all of the Eomisli 
 persuasion, had risen with force and taken Charlemont, 
 Dungannon, Tonrages, and Newry — ' towns all of good 
 consequence ' — and, with these towns, had seized upon his 
 majesty's stores there, though they had only killed one 
 man ; that the farthest of those towns was only about 
 forty miles from Belfast, towards which the rebels, who 
 were increasing in numbers, now advanced ; and that he 
 had prepared the troops and given orders to the inhabit- 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 commander in his intended attack 
 upon the rebels (Carte's Ormonde, 
 p. 241). It is ever the pretext of 
 men, that they were forced into 
 illegal com-ses. But if it had been 
 ■well founded here, the Pale would 
 not have so eagerly adopted the 
 principles of the natives, and carried 
 them to such lengths. At tirst 1700 
 stand of arms were distributed 
 amongst them, and commissions 
 against the rebels granted to them : 
 yet even then their conduct was to 
 the last degree equivocal ; and for- 
 tunate it was that 950 stand were 
 recovered : still they soon foimd 
 arms for rebellion, though they had 
 none for defence of the government. 
 Indeed, every day men who had been 
 trusted went over to the rebels. See 
 Clanrickarde's Memoirs, in regard to 
 some of his ovni relations. The Pale 
 complained of, and assnmed it as 
 a ground of rebellion, the enmity 
 which had always been borne to 
 them by Sir William Parsons, who, 
 forsooth, maligned them the graces, 
 and had prorogued the parliament to 
 prevent their passing. But it is sin- 
 gular that while the Irish committee, 
 who were chiefly Catholics of the 
 Pale, had objected to the appointment 
 
 of Onnond, and Lord Dillon, of Kil- 
 kenny West, they had approved of 
 this individual — the most conclusive 
 answer to their allegations, and all 
 Carte's charges. Indeed, it is only 
 necessary to consider that, had the 
 Pale been armed and trusted, and 
 joined the insurgents, Ireland would 
 have been lost — to disregard all the 
 unsupported chai'ges against this in- 
 dividual in particular. But I do not 
 mean to say that his religious notions 
 were not confined ; yet, it must be 
 confessed that the Popish religion, 
 from depending on foreign powers, 
 whose interest it was to encourage 
 them to shake oft' the English yoke, 
 was most dangerous. "Were we even 
 to suppose him too cautious, there 
 would surely be an excuse for him. 
 
 I shall just make an observation 
 on Lord M'Guire's relation, which he 
 delivered to Sir John Conyers, lieu- 
 tenant of the Tower, and which 
 Carte depends so much upon. That 
 it contains much truth is imdoubted ; 
 but that it was written for any ob- 
 ject rather than from compunction, 
 is evident fi-oni this — that on the 
 scaftbld he declared his approbation 
 of the conspiracy. It should there- 
 fore be received with allowances.
 
 398 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, ants for defence. When this letter was read, his majesty 
 
 - ^ . stated, that if, as he trusted, this should prove a small 
 
 matter, there would be no occasion to apply to them ; but 
 that if it happened to be a great affair, then he con- 
 fidently relied on their assistance : that it was proper to 
 ascertain how foreign states stood affected ; and he be- 
 lieved there was no reason to apprehend danger from their 
 aiding the Lish ; for that France was bound to him in 
 strict amity, besides being engaged in hostilities with 
 Spain : that from Spain there was still less danger, since 
 she was so completely occupied in war, particularly with 
 France, Holland, and Portugal. The parliament, how- 
 ever, appointed a committee to meet that afternoon on 
 the business, and report the result of their deliberations 
 to the House next day. Their report, which was made 
 accordingly, and adopted, does them credit: — That Ire- 
 land being wholly dependent upon the crown and king- 
 dom of England, their interference in this business, with- 
 out the authority of the English parliament, might give 
 rise to jealousy and mistakes regarding their intention : 
 that the present imperfect accounts did not even warrant 
 the adoption of any particular course for suppressing the 
 insurrection, and his majesty had properly dispatched 
 messengers to Ireland to ascertain the truth and extent 
 of the mischief, while he had also sent an express to the 
 English parliament : that should the affair turn out to be 
 of that magnitude as to require their assistance, and the 
 Enghsh parUament should ask it to co-operate with their 
 troops, the Scottish forces could be ready as soon as 
 theirs ; but that if, after resolutions taken by his majesty, 
 with the advice of both parliaments, present assistance 
 should be deemed necessary, they would prepare* it with 
 all imaginable speed. Thougli, however, the parliament 
 wisely abstained from adoptmg any measures relative to 
 this affair, which must have had the effect of exciting- 
 jealousy, and involving the two kingdoms in a quarrel, it 
 was not idle in ascertaining the extent of the assistance
 
 THE SCOTS EVINCE THEIE ALACEITY TO ASSIST THE KING. 399 
 
 wliicli could be rendered to the sister kingdom. A com- chap. 
 mittee was appointed on the 29th, to ascertain what boats . ^^- 
 and other vessels could be procured on the west coast for 
 transporting troops ; and, on the 30th, the committee re- 
 ported, that between Glasgow and Ayr there were vessels 
 sufficient to carry over four or five thousand men, besides 
 what might be obtained to the north of Glasgow.* This 
 evinces their alacrity; and, in a few days afterwards, 
 when the accounts of the extent of the rebellion, with the 
 evils which accompanied it, were more precise, they 
 reduced their proposals to proper form, offering to levy 
 eight regiments, consisting of 10,000 men — 2500 of them 
 from the Highlands, and 7500 from the Low country ; 
 and also to supply instantly 3000 stand of arms, two- 
 thirds muskets, and the other third pikes, provided the 
 English parliament would enage to indemnify them.f 
 This sufficiently testifies their zeal ; and it has been justly 
 observed, that had their offer been accepted, the Irish 
 rebels might have been quickly reduced. But it has been 
 forgotten that England had by this time given orders for 
 raising 6000 foot and 2000 horse ; and that, therefore, as 
 these could be as soon in the field as the Scots, a small 
 supply from Scotland, to be sent into Ulster, was deemed 
 sufficient. At first, therefore, they asked 1000 only ; but 
 when they resolved upon raising 10,000 themselves, they 
 requested first 5000, and then 10,000, from Scotland.} 
 The grand obstruction arose from the subsequent disputes 
 between the king and the English parliament. An army, 
 of which he nominated the officers, never could be trusted; 
 and as he would not renounce his right while the parlia- 
 ment was equally resolute, there seemed to be an obstacle 
 to any armament from the south. In that case it would 
 have been necessary to consign the defence of Ireland to 
 
 * Late publication of Scots Acts, X P"*'^- Hist. vol. ii. p. 923 et seq. ; 
 
 vol. V. p. 442 et seq. ; Balfour's Dmr- Journals, 13th Nov. ; App. to J^yq- 
 
 nall, MS. Adv. Lib. pp. 128, 129, lyn's 3Iemoirs, ' Private Correspon- 
 
 134 et seq. dence with the King,' p. 39. 
 
 f Balfour's DiurtiaU, p. 143.
 
 400 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOKY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, the Scots, who had determined tliat the colonels should be 
 . ^^- . nommated by the kmg and parliament, or, in the interval 
 of parliament, by the king and comicil ; (we shall imme- 
 diately see that the council had been rendered independent 
 of the crown ;) but this would have, in a measure, placed 
 Ireland in the power of Scotland ; and in the event of any 
 interested union with their common king, that people 
 might liave compromised the rights of England over the 
 island entrusted to them. Indeed, nothing could be 
 more preposterous than an arrangement which gave the 
 Scots the whole military power of the empire, as well as 
 of Ireland in particular, while the English were at the 
 whole expense of the armament. But no arrangement 
 could be completed with the Scottish parliament, which 
 was dissolved on the 17th of November ; and, therefore, 
 the business was devolved upon the committee, who were 
 appointed as conservators of the late treaty, and with 
 whom negotiations and arrangements occurred, which we 
 shall relate in their proper place. 
 Settlement Charlcs had, on his arrival in Scotland, proposed at 
 of Scottish Qj-^^g ^Q ratify aU the acts which had been formerly passed 
 
 airan-s, and •' , . 
 
 departure by tlic parliament and sti])ulated for in tlie treaty ; but 
 ^ ^"^' thoudi some at first imaoined that this auirured favour- 
 ably of his disposition towards his native country, the 
 quicker-sighted, who perceived that a ratification implied 
 their previous invahdity, insisted that they should be 
 published only in the royal name, and not ratified.* 
 Those acts, with others now passed, were great conces- 
 sions to public liberty. The institution of lords of the 
 articles was abolished : the creation of Englishmen peers 
 of Scotland, wdio had not a foot of land in that country, 
 and were therefore ever ready to grant their proxies to 
 the crown, was restrained to such only as had landed 
 property in that kingdom of a certain yearly value ; 
 officers of state (with the exception of the chancellor), 
 
 * Baillie, vol. i. p. 325 ; see Scots Acts, vol. v.
 
 GREAT CONCESSIONS TO PUBLIC LIBERTY IN SCOTLAND. 401 
 
 and younger branches of the nobihty, were prevented chap. 
 from intruding themselves as members of the parhament, . '^7' ■ 
 unless they had a right of seat there, either as peers or 
 representatives of shires or boroughs ; and the represen- 
 tatives of shires made now a vindication of their rights, 
 which counterpoised the peerage : for though every shire 
 sent two members, both had only voted as one ; but they 
 insisted at this juncture, and carried their point, that each 
 should vote. It is impossible, however, to satisfy all 
 interests : the younger branches of the nobility were 
 offended at their exclusion,* and the augmentation of 
 votes by the barons or representatives of shires alarmed 
 the boroughs for their own influence, since it was not 
 improbable that landowners, both of the Peerage and the 
 Commons, should feel it to be their interest to unite 
 against the independence and interests of the other parts 
 of the community. 
 
 The Presbyterian church government was also fully 
 confirmed. But the grand struggle regarded 'the election 
 of officers : the Scots had proposed it in the treaty ; but 
 Charles had then evaded it on the principle of his intend- 
 ing to visit his native country when he hoped to give 
 satisfaction. How he had tried to defeat all their objects 
 we have already seen ; but, as his designs failed, they 
 recoiled upon himself, and he found it necessary to yield 
 at last. It was provided that all the principal officers of 
 state, the privy councillors, the judges, &c., should be 
 elected by the king, with the approbation of the parlia- 
 ment — an act Avhich really vested all the power in the 
 last ; or, in the intervals of parliaments, by the king and 
 council, subject to the approbation of the next parliament ; 
 and that they should hold their places during life or 
 good behaviour.f This at once struck deeply at the 
 regal power ; and it must be confessed, that the scramble 
 
 * Baillie, vol. i. p. 328. elections of a recent date may be 
 
 t Balfour's Diurnall ; Scots Act% found there. Printed Copy, vol. i. 
 
 vol. V. ; Baillie's MS. Letters, vol. ii. p. 138. 
 
 p. 1288: many instances of similar 
 
 VOL. II. D D
 
 402 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIEE. 
 
 CHAP, for office which ensued did not augur favourably of the 
 ^^' measure. But as Charles had not yielded to this and the 
 other Scottish demands, except as a matter of necessity, 
 so even at the last he was with difficulty prevented from 
 a trick by which he conceived he might render his con- 
 cessions nugatory — going to the parliament, and protesting 
 that what he had granted should be without prejudice of 
 his prerogative.* Nor did he even leave Scotland with- 
 out secret assurances that the present measures should be 
 annulled. 
 
 By the late treaty there were certain provisions adopted 
 for the benefit, tranquillity, and safety of both king- 
 doms : that in the event of invasion, each should assist the 
 other ; that neither should declare war against the other 
 without the consent of their respective parliaments and due 
 premonition ; and that if any portion of the subjects in 
 one kingdom, without the consent and authority of their 
 parliament, invaded the other, they should be reputed 
 and treated as rebels to the state which they belonged to, 
 while both parliaments should be bound to concur for 
 their suppression ;f and that both parliaments should be 
 consulted in all treaties and matters of peace or war with 
 foreign states. Commissioners were to be chosen to 
 preserve the articles of treaty during the intervals of 
 parliament ; and the Scottish estates now elected theirs, 
 when a commission, with the approbation of the parlia- 
 ment, was granted to them by the king. The integrity 
 of part of the late commissioners in resisting tempting 
 offers from the crown, had been doubted, and others were 
 chosen in their place. These conservators were, as we 
 have said, also authorised by the states to treat about a 
 supply of forces to Ireland. J The parliament, before its 
 
 * Baillic's ie^. vol. i. p. .''viO. 'This anotlier Wtas attempted to be put 
 dtiiigcrous novelty,' says this autlior, upon it in order to engage the Scots. 
 ' of casting all loose, his majesty at I believe that it was purposely ex- 
 last was moved to give over, most by pressed inaccurately, that it might 
 Morton's persuasion.' be capable of dillereut constructions. 
 
 t This appears to me to be the J Balfour's Diurnall, 
 
 fair construction of the article ; but
 
 CHARLES ON LEAVING SCOTLAND DISTEIBUTES HONOURS. 403 
 
 dissolution, appointed another to meet within three chap. 
 years. ._ ^7" . 
 
 Charles, at his departure, seemed disposed to concihate 
 a country which he had so lately determined to reduce 
 by fire and sword to the most deplorable subjection. Of 
 the church lands which had lately reverted to the crown 
 on the dissolution of bishoprics, &c., he bestowed a small 
 portion on the universities, but the greater part he dis- 
 tributed amongst the nobility ; a proceeding which, how- 
 ever pleasing to that class, was resented by the clergy, 
 who had anticipated the property as part of the patri- 
 mony of the kirk. But that body discovered that their 
 power, however great in the late contest with the crown, 
 was nerveless in a selfish struggle with the aristocracy. 
 Yet Charles did not altogether neglect them ; the hvings 
 of Henderson and others were considerably improved. 
 To gain the aristocracy farther, he distributed honours with 
 a liberal hand. Lord Loudon, who was appointed chan- 
 cellor, was created an earl ; Argyle was made a marquis ; 
 Leslie, the general, earl of Leven ; and the lieutenant- 
 general, earl of Callander, &c. The premature death of 
 Eothes only prevented his promotion ; and Balmerino, 
 who had sat as president of the parUament, was the only 
 nobleman who was passed over without any mark of the 
 royal favour, on the principle that he had been ungrateful 
 for his former pardon. Many knights were created ; and 
 as some of the judges were removed for malversation, 
 Johnston of Warristoune was raised to the bench.* 
 
 Li return for these acts of bounty, the states virtually 
 passed from the trial of the incendiaries and of Montrose 
 (an individual whose safety Charles was so deeply con- 
 cerned for, that he had resolved not to quit Scotland 
 without securing it) ; for while they appointed com- 
 missioners to inquire into the guilt of those men, they 
 limited the powers of the commissioners to inquiry, and 
 
 * Balfour's Dim-nail; Scots Acts, vol. v. pp. 428, 453, &c. ; Eailiie's Ld. 
 vol. i. pp. 333; 334.
 
 404 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CH.VP. transferred the power of acquitting or condemning to the 
 ._ -^y- . king. Tiiey also proposed to raise ten thousand men for 
 the recovery of the pahatiuate ; an object wliich the king 
 declared he had much at heart.* 
 
 We are informed by Clarendon, that the old general, 
 on receiving this high honour from his prince, assured his 
 majesty, that, far from ever bearing arms against him 
 more, he should always be ready to fight in his service 
 without inquiring into the cause ; and that many others 
 also whispered, that as soon as the present storm was 
 past, they would reverse whatever had been unreasonably 
 extorted from him.f This affords a clue to the royal 
 policy. However Leslie, a soldier of fortune, may have 
 acted, it is evident that Ai^gyle and the rest of the party 
 in power were not amongst the number who whispered 
 in that manner into the king's ear, since their only 
 security depended upon a continuance of the present state 
 of things ; and the choice of conservators of the treaty 
 proved the cautious prudence "with which they acted ; 
 but that there was a party (of whom we may presume 
 Montrose the chief) to whom Charles eagerly hstened, 
 who made these magnificent promises, cannot be doubted ; 
 and, therefore, we must conclude that the monarch had 
 only yielded to the desires of the Scots for a season, to 
 lull them into a false security. 
 Enphsh It is uow high time to return to our narrative of Eng- 
 
 iSiia'- ^'^^^^ affairs. Parliament had scarcely met on the 20th of 
 mcntre- Qctobcr, after the adjournment, when a new bill, the 
 orfoct'ober othcrs haviug been dropped, was introduced into the 
 2()tii. Its Lower House, and passed with the utmost expedition, for 
 taking from the bishops all temporal jurisdiction, with the 
 vote in |)arliament. It was expected to encounter as little 
 opposition in the Upper House, except from the spiritual 
 peers ; and that these might not frustrate the bill, tlie 
 Commons solicited a conference with the Lords, at which 
 
 * Balfour; Scots Act.iyXo]. v. pp. 428-453, &c. ; App. to Evelyn's 3Ie»i. 
 t Clarendon^ \o\. ii. p. .309. 
 
 measures.
 
 PEETEXT FOR THE FAETIIER ADJOURN-MEXT OF PARLIAMENT. 405 
 
 they conteuded that the prelates were not entitled to vote chap. 
 
 upon a question which so immediately concerned them ; — __,J - 
 
 and particularly that the thirteen who were impeached, 
 should not be permitted to act as legislators, while they 
 lay under a heavy charge of having violated the funda- 
 mental laws of the land. There were at this time five 
 vacancies ; and as these, with the thirteen impeached, 
 formed so great a proportion of the whole, all the popular 
 party laboured to prevent the places being filled in time 
 to oppose a bill which, in a manner, annihilated the office. 
 The court party argued vehemently that it was against 
 tlie usage of parliament to receive a second bill in the 
 same session, when one for the same purpose had been 
 already rejected ; but the objection, thougli encouraged 
 from the throne, does not appear to have been very suc- 
 cessful in either house.* A motion was likewise made 
 in the first days of their meeting, about the nomination 
 of counsellors, and public officers of all descriptions, ^\dth 
 the consent of parliament ; and, in spite of all the elo- 
 quence of Hyde and his party, a committee was appointed 
 to prepare the heads of a bill to that effect. Nothing 
 can more fully evince the crisis at which, since Charles 
 was resolved to resist both points, matters had arrived. 
 His conduct it is now necessary to narrate. 
 
 The king had previously suggested a way of sowing The king's 
 dissension between the two Houses ;f and, in spite of his 
 pecuniary situation, he had been most sohcitous for a 
 pretext to procure a prolongation of the adjournment. 
 The plague, which appears to have been in those days 
 never altogether extinct in the metropolis, had broken 
 out furiously during the recess ; and some members of the 
 parliament, apprehensive for their own safety, had ex- 
 
 * Append, to Evelyn's Memoirs, vol. iv. p. 393 et seq. ; Xalson, vol. ii. 
 
 ' Correspondence between the King p. 493 et neq. ; Clarendon, vol. ii. 
 
 and Nicholas,' pp. 43, 45, 47, 50, G8 ; p. 302 et seq. 
 
 Jbw«rt/.5 for 22nd October; Old Purl. f Appendix to Evelyn's 3Iemoirs, 
 
 Hist. vol. X. p. 8 et seq. ; Cobbett's ' Correspondence between the King 
 
 Pari. Hist, vol. ii. p. 916 et seq.; Rush. and Nicholas,' pp. 18, 43.
 
 406 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, pressed a wisli for a farther adjournment. Eut as the 
 ._ , • _^ act for tonnage and poundage expired on the first of 
 December, and tlie duties were absolutely requisite for 
 public exigencies, unless unconstitutional ways of raising 
 money were again resorted to, the ministers were anxious 
 for the meeting of the legislature at the appointed time. 
 Yet Charles no sooner heard of the wish expressed by 
 some members, than, unmindful of his pecuniary neces- 
 sities, though these alone had been the cause of a par- 
 liament, he instructed his servants ' to furtlier the adjourn- 
 ment by anie means.' There were some who wished an 
 adjournment to some other place ; and the king proposed 
 tliat it should be Cambridge, in the event of a change of 
 place being only agreed to.* His instructions were sent 
 about the middle of October. But the popular members 
 were not to be deterred from their duty, and tlie royal 
 hopes were frustrated. The king, however, gave orders 
 to fill up tlie vacant bishoprics, and to draw a general 
 pardon for the thirteen prelates who were impeached, that 
 they might be at once freed even from a trial ; while he 
 also desired a full attendance of all the Upper House, and 
 was anxious to defeat the Commons in their scheme for 
 excluding the Popish lords.f His correspondence also 
 not only evinces the utmost solicitude to screen the con- 
 spirators in the army-plots from inquiry, but breathes a 
 spirit of vengeance against the Commons for continuing 
 the investigation into the second plot, and refusing to 
 allow tlie conspirators the benefit of the act of oblivion. J 
 Farther The committec that had been appointed to act during 
 
 procood- ^Yic recess, rei:)orted the occurrences of tlie intervenins; 
 
 ings of par- ... '-' 
 
 liament. pcriod, and the Scottish Incident was generally regarded 
 
 * Append, to Evelyn's 3Iemoirs, you to send in my name to all tliose 
 
 pp. 37, ■'iO. lords tliat my wyfe shall tell you 
 
 t Appendix to Evclj-n's Memoirs, of, that the;^ faile not to attend at 
 
 ' Correspondence between the Kinj^ the downe sitting of the parliament ' 
 and Nicholas,' pp. 21, 22, 24, 20, 31, _ (p. 44). 
 
 32, 37, 44-47, 57, GO, 07. In one f Append, to Evelyn's Ilemoirs, 
 
 of his apostilcs he says, * I command pp. 7 ct seq., 25-27, 45, 75,
 
 GUAED UNDER ESSEX FOR THE PEOTECTION" OF BOTH HOUSES. 407 
 
 as a serious ground for alarm. Besides that it had pro- chap. 
 
 ceeded from tlie same monarch who had for so long a ._ ^ — . 
 
 time endeavoured to subvert the fundamental laws of 
 three kingdoms, and whose disposition it proved, as much 
 as the army-plots, to be unchanged, it was believed with 
 reason that the designs in the North were immediately 
 connected with similar projects against the freedom of his 
 southern subjects; and the common fears were augmented 
 by the number of disorderly people wlio, in consequence 
 of the late disbaudment, flocked to the capital, where they 
 broke out into riot and committed other outrages. It 
 was therefore deemed necessary to have a guard appointed 
 for the protection of both Houses, and Essex was com- 
 manded to provide one, while the examination into the 
 second army-plot Avas continued, and daily brouglit the 
 enormity of the case more fully to light. The Irish 
 rebelhon, which so soon followed, struck still greater 
 dismay ; and, as was to have been expected, in this state 
 of agitation, silly rumours of imaginary plots engaged the 
 public attention.* 
 
 The news of the Irish rebellion were communicated by . 
 the privy council to the parliament on the 1st of No- 
 vember ; and both Houses, while they voted a rewjird 
 to O'Conally, passed ordinances, without waiting for his 
 majesty's approbation, to raise troops, borrow money from 
 the City, and send arms from the Tower to the Irish go- 
 vernment, in order to quell the insurrection. The message 
 from Charles, recommending the Irish business to their 
 care, arrived Avithin a few days, and a bill was introduced 
 into the Lower House for pressing troops ; while orders 
 were transmitted to the lord lieutenant for Ireland, to 
 lose no time in raising volunteers.f He, however, doubted 
 
 * App. to Evelyn's ikr«»o?r5, 'Cor- f Joiirnnls, 1st Nov. et seq.; Old 
 
 respondence betAveen tlae King and Pca-l. Hist. vol. x. p. 24 et seq. ; CoL- 
 
 Nicholas/ p. 40 ; Old I'arl. Hist. vol. bett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 925 et 
 
 X. p. 1 et seq. ; Cobbett's Pari. Hist. seq. ; App. to Evelyn's Metn. p. 54 ; 
 
 vol. ii. p. 912 et seq. ; Journals, 22ud Rush. vol. iv. p. 398 ; Nalson^ vol. ii. 
 
 Oct. ct seq. ; Rush. vol. iv. p. 391. p. 513 et seq.
 
 408 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, whether the mere authority of both Houses was sufficient 
 .__^.:_. to justify the measure ; * and nothing was farther from 
 the intention of the king tlian to devolve such powers 
 upon them. ' I send you,' writes the queen to Nicholas, 
 on the 12th of November, ' a lettre for milord keeper, 
 that the king ded send to me, to deliuer it if I thought 
 fit. The subject of it is to make a declaration against 
 the ordres of parhament, which ar made without the king. 
 If you beleue a fit time, give it him ; if not, you may 
 keepet till I see you.'f The Houses, deeming their joint 
 ordinance a sufficient warrant, ordered the lord lieu- 
 tenant to proceed in the levy. Almost at the outset the 
 popular party ascribed the Irish rebellion to the effects 
 of evil counsel. J 
 The But the grand question which occuiDied the attention of 
 
 Kemon- in ir- ii-. 
 
 strauce. tlic Oommous, beiorc the kmg s return, was the famous 
 Remonstrance, or Declaration, of the state of the nation. 
 This state paper contained a full recapitulation of all the 
 grievances and acts of misgovernment that had been com- 
 mitted from the first of the reign ; and, in fact, presented 
 the most frightful picture of despotism ever exhibited in 
 any country where law or liberty was respected. All the 
 grievances were imputed to the effects of evil counsels, 
 which his majesty evinced no disposition to discard, as, 
 instead of nominating his ministers by the advice of his 
 grand council the parhament, he stiU affectionately clang 
 to those from whom so many waters of bitterness had 
 flowed. The popular party had hitherto been so suc- 
 cessful, that they had not anticipated much opposition 
 here ; and liad it passed easily, they could have pressed 
 their bill about the appointment of public officers with 
 almost irresistible effect ; but the result proved that they 
 had over-calculated their own strength. Such was the 
 opposition, that the debate continued from three in the 
 afternoon till three next morning, while there were two 
 
 Journals, 9th Nov. epondence subsisted between tlio 
 
 t App. to Evelyn's Mem. p. 72. king and queen. 
 Page 61 shows what anxiuus corre- J Id. p. 62.
 
 THE REMOXSTRAXCE. MR, HYDE PROPOSES A PROTESTATION. 409 
 
 several divisions of the House on particular clauses ; and chap. 
 the Declaration, as amended, was ultimately carried by . ^^' . 
 only 159 to 148. Even then another serious question 
 arose. It was moved that the Declaration should not be 
 'printed without the particular order of the House ; and 
 as this evidently implied an intention to print it, should 
 the measure not be averted by timely concession from the 
 throne, the court party, who dreaded the consequences, 
 proposed that the word '■published'' should be substituted 
 for ' printed.' But the amendment was lost by 101 to 
 124 ; a diminution in numbers which evinces the justness 
 of Clarendon's remark, that the old members, exhausted 
 with the length of the debate, had left the house ; but 
 then it applies to the one side as well as to the other, 
 which he would have restricted it to. When this last 
 point was carried, Mr. Hyde, according to a previous 
 resolution which had been formed by him and his friends, 
 and intimated to the ministers of the crown, proposed a 
 protestation,* and many joined him. The proceeding, 
 however, was deemed an infringement of the rules of the 
 House, and occasioned such an uproar, that, we are told, 
 horrid bloodshed was only prevented by a hasty adjourn- 
 ment, which was accomplished, says Warwick, ' by the 
 sagacity and great calmness of Mr. Hampden. 'f A motion 
 was next day made for the committal of the protesters to 
 the Tower ; but the measure was dropt on their sub- 
 mission. | 
 
 The reasoning of the court party on this occasion 
 appears to have been to this purpose : That it was offer- 
 ing an uncalled insult to the king to enumerate grievances 
 
 * App. to Evel}Ti's 3Iem. p. 80. against it.' Hence Clarendon's is not 
 Nicliolas writes that it was then quite candid, 
 midnight ; the Commons had been f Warwick, p. 202. 
 engaged ' since 12 at noone ; ' that % Clarendon, vol. ii. p. .301 et seq. ; 
 his indisposition prevents him from Whitelocke, p. 51 ; Append, to Eve- 
 watching longer to see the result, hut lyn's 3Iem. p. 65, 77, 80 ; Old Farl. 
 that there are ' diverse in y= com'ons Ilid. vol. x. p. 44 et seq. ; Cohbett, 
 house that are resolved to stand stiff vol. ii. p. 937 et seq. ; Journals, 22nd 
 for reiecting that declarac'on, and if Nov. 
 they p'^vayle not then to protest
 
 IV, 
 
 410 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, and miscarriages wliicli liad already been redressed : That 
 much was said about the illegal acts of the courts of Star 
 Chamber, High Commission, and other tribunals ; but 
 that his majesty had afforded the most signal proof of a 
 purpose to govern constitutionally in future, by consenting 
 to statutes abolishing entirely the arbitrary courts whose 
 proceedings had been complained of; and that to enu- 
 merate matters of this kind could only serve to inflict a 
 wanton wound upon the sovereign, and inflame the popu- 
 lace against him : That, in like manner, the people had 
 justly complained of arbitrary taxes, but, as a legislative 
 remedy had already been provided against the recurrence 
 of such evils, it was the mere wantonness of insolence to 
 dwell on them now : That the grand cause of the public 
 calamities had been the disuse of parhaments ; but that, 
 in the triennial bill, the noblest remedy iiad been devised 
 for the evil, and his majesty had testified the goodness of 
 his nature, by readily passing an act Avhich secured the 
 national privileges in future : That to demand more would 
 be in reality to dethrone the sovereign — to rob liim of 
 his birthright, and to subvert that monarchical constitution 
 which the popular party laboured so assiduously to prove 
 had been invaded on the king's side : That the royal 
 consent to so unjust a sacrifice could not be expected, 
 and the attempt to extort it would, in all probability, be 
 accompanied with the most deplorable mischief, Avhile 
 even if the concession were made, it would be so far from 
 promoting the public good, that it would unhinge all 
 those legal principles on which mankind had hitherto 
 depended, and thus lead to general anarchy. 
 
 The view taken by the otlier side appears to have been 
 this, That tlie enumeration of miscarriages and grievances 
 was necessary to satisfy both the king and people, tiiat 
 parliament was neitlier insensible of the national rights, 
 nor yet iniprepared to vindicate tlie common privileges : 
 That, from past misgovernment, it was easy to foresee 
 that tlie future administration from the same source.
 
 EEASONING OF THE POPULAR PAETY. 411 
 
 would, if unrestrained, be no less unconstitutional : That chap. 
 it was an absurdity to talk of security from the late laws, - _ . ' ^ 
 which declared the various proceedings complained of to 
 be illegal ; since he, whom no former law, nor all the 
 fundamental principles that had been estabhshed for so 
 many ages, and fortified by the petition of right, could 
 restrain, could not be expected, when he perceived him- 
 self liberated from his present difficulties, to deem himself 
 bound by later enactments to which his consent had been 
 evidently extorted : That he fully evinced his disposition, 
 not only by retaining the counsel from Avhence so many 
 oppressions and calamities had sprung, but by the army- 
 plots and the Incident, which were calculated at once to 
 destroy the freedom of parliament, nay, possibly, the per- 
 sons of its members, and to substitute a naked despotism 
 in the very face of those provisions for pubhc liberty 
 that had been so mascnified : That it was true that the 
 Star Chamber, High Commission, and other unconstitu- 
 tional courts were put down ; but that it might fairly be 
 inferred, from tlie reluctance with which the monarch 
 had consented to their dissolution, coupled with his de- 
 signs against the parliament, that, under the pretext of 
 his will having been forced, he would embrace the first 
 opportunity to restore them : That, however, it was a 
 matter of indifference whether they were restored or 
 tyranny appeared in a new form, since nothing was more 
 certain than that an arbitrary government must employ 
 arbitrary means to compel obedience : That the act for 
 triennial parliaments would necessarily fail of any bene- 
 ficial effect, because if a parhament were permitted to 
 assemble, it would find itself bereft of parhamentary 
 powers : That it was a contradiction in terms to say that 
 parliament possessed the legislative power, and yet could 
 not adopt measures for the due execution of its enact- 
 ments : That it was alone entitled to impose taxes, and 
 yet had no right to interfere with the application of the 
 money : That as a good prince would never employ
 
 412 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OP THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, servants wlio Jiacl lost the confidence of his grand council, 
 
 ^ — ' or take any important step without its concurrence ; so 
 
 such a monarcli miglit well be left to the choice of his 
 ministers and other servants, since, in effect, the national 
 council tacitly approved of his choice, and his whole 
 government proved a disposition to uphold, not destroy 
 the public privileges : But that, when the khigdom had 
 already suffered so severely, and attempts of the most 
 atrocious kind had been made to frustrate the late con- 
 cessions, and restore the will of the prince for the law of 
 the kind, parliament was bound to interfere directly for 
 the general security : That, in short, matters had arrived 
 at such a posture, that the grand council had reason to 
 believe that the very money granted for the exigencies of 
 state would be used to raise an army in order to reduce 
 the kingdom to slavery, when terrible vengeance would 
 be visited upon those who had stood forward in defence 
 of the pubhc rights ; and the question was, whether they 
 would be discharging their duty, either to themselves or 
 the community, by standing upon small distinctions in 
 such an hour of danger ? That the complaint by the king 
 that his prerogative was invaded, ought to be disregarded, 
 since his power was given for the public good, and by his 
 violation of the principles on which he was entitled to 
 govern, he had really forfeited any plea founded on the 
 right of inheritance — had in fact compelled the people 
 to resort to new regulations in their own defence. 
 
 Such appear to have been the leading views and argu- 
 ments on both sides, and those used by the court party 
 gained many on wliom the popular party had rehed. 
 Others, who began to apprehend that there was a faction 
 bent on something more than a redress of grievances, and 
 tliat their measures might subvert exclusive privileges 
 elsewhere, also joined the court party; some dreaded to 
 irritate the monarch farther, and others again were 
 actuated by more impure motives. That, of the popular 
 party, there were not a few who themselves coveted that
 
 THE king's arrival. MAGXIFICENC:i; OF HIS RECEPTION. 413 
 
 power wliicli tliey disliked in the monarch, subsequent chap. 
 events too amply verified : That all were alarmed for the ■ '*'.• - 
 concessions which had been extorted in favour of public 
 liberty, and even for their own safety, unless the power 
 of the crown were much farther abridged, is perfectly 
 evident, and indeed was a necessary consequence of the 
 long course of misgovernment, the late plots, and, in 
 short, of the numerous instances of perfidy by the 
 monarch. Of this we have a sufficient proof in the de- 
 claration which Oliver Cromwell — a man who cannot be 
 justly accused of timidity — made to Lord Falkland, on 
 the day after the Eemonstrance was voted, ' That had it 
 not been carried, he w^ould have instantly sold all he had, 
 and gone to America, and that he knew there were many 
 other honest men of the same resolution.* 
 
 The Eemonstrance was voted on the 22nd of November, King's 
 and Charles arrived from Scotland on the 25th. On his ^^■^^^'^^• 
 journey he was, according to previous assurances, received 
 at York and other towns with every demonstration of 
 joy, and matters had been arranged for a magnificent 
 reception in the metropolis.^ Court influence, owing to 
 the dexterity of one of the sheriffs, J had procured the 
 election of one Gourney or Gurney, a keen royalist, who 
 longed for an opportunity to testify his extreme attach- 
 ment to the king, and, according to a previous under- 
 standing, the royal reception was the most marked ima- 
 
 * Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 312. Oliver and good afFecc'on of one of }•*■ new 
 
 imagined that it could scarcely pro- sheriffs (called Clerck) who, while y® 
 
 voke a debate, so unanimous did he factious persons were maldng a uoyse, 
 
 expect 'that the House would he would not proceede to y= elecc'on, 
 
 (p. 311). proposed Ald'man Gourney (who, I 
 
 t Nicholas's Correspondence with hear, is very well affected, and 
 
 the King, in the Appendix to Evelyn's stout), and carry'd it, and y^ Schis- 
 
 Memoirs, affords some curious in- maticks (who cryed noe elecc'on), 
 
 formation on this subject. were silenced with hisses, and there- 
 
 % Appendix to Evelyn's 3Iemoirs, upon y* sheriff dismist y^ court.' 
 
 p. 31. 'Alderman Gourney,' writes S"* 8'""'^ (See about the choice of 
 
 Xicholas, ' (according to his right the sheriffs, p. 6 ; Rush. vol. v. 
 
 and place,) is elected Lo. Mayor p. 429 et seq.; Clar. vol. ii. p. 322; 
 
 notw"'standing y^ opposic"on of y* Xalsou, vol. ii. p. G7-i ct seq.) 
 factious party, throughe y' stoutnes
 
 414 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BKITISH EMPIEE. 
 
 CHAP, ginable. His lordship and the recorder were knighted 
 V — ^ — ' for their loyalty. 
 
 The commission to Essex expired on the king's return, 
 and his majesty instantly ordered the dismissal of the 
 guard, which both Houses had ordered under that noble- 
 man's command for their own security ; but Charles at 
 the same time intimated, that, for their satisfaction, he 
 had ordered Earl Dorset to attend upon them for a few 
 days with some of the trained bands of ]\iiddlesex. This 
 was warmly taken up in the Lower House, Avhere it was 
 alleged, that, after the detection of former plots and the 
 Scottish Incident, the number of suspicious persons about 
 the capital, advertisements of danger from abroad, but 
 above all the Irish rebellion, which burst out so un- 
 expectedly, they could not be safe without a guard ; and 
 that it was neither consistent with the dignity nor security 
 of parliament to be guarded by any that were not under 
 their own control. They therefore refused to be guarded 
 by any body of men under the command of Dorset, and 
 petitioned for liberty to appoint a guard themselves under 
 the command of Essex ; but the Upper House in this, as 
 in other respects, refused their concurrence. Tumults 
 about the parliament ensued, and the lord keeper in- 
 formed them that it became necessary for them to sup- 
 press those disturbances, lest their proceedings should 
 lose the character of unconstrained deliberations in after 
 times ; yet, on the day following, Charles himself, on 
 passing the bill for tonnage and poundage, informed them 
 that he did not expect fears and jealousies as the result 
 of his concessions ; that these might have been excusable 
 in his absence, but were unbecoming now that he was 
 present to defend them.* 
 
 The Eeraonstrance was presented by a committee of 
 the Commons on the 1st of December, and along with it 
 
 * Rush. vol. iv. p. 434 et seq. ; seq. ; Cobbett's Pa)-l. Hist. vol. ii. 
 Nalsou, vol. ii. p. (584 et acq. ; Jour- p. 941. 
 mils; Old Purl. Jlist. vol. x. p. 51 <■<
 
 KEMONSTEANCE AND PETITION PRESENTED TO THE KING. 415 
 
 a petition, in which they prayed that the prelates should chap. 
 be deprived of their vote in parliament; that his majesty , ' - 
 should entrust the public affairs to such only as the par- 
 liament approved of, and that he would not alienate any 
 of the lands in Ireland wliich might be forfeited by the 
 rebellion, but reserve them as a fund for the support of 
 the crown, and the indemnification of the kingdom for 
 the expense of the war. Charles received the committee 
 graciously ; but, while he threw out an observation 
 against the propriety of driving the Irish insurgents to 
 despair by any resolutions relative to their property, and 
 expressed his abhorrence against any design to subvert 
 the Protestant faith — a ground of complaint in the Ee- 
 monstrance — he required time to answer both papers. 
 He eagerly, however, inquired whether the Commons 
 meant to publish the Eemonstrance ; but the committee 
 dechned to answer a question beyond the power of their 
 commission. In the answer which he afterwards formally 
 made to the petition, he expressed his aversion to utter 
 any resolution regarding the property of the Irish rebels, 
 from the motive stated above ; and it had the unhappy 
 effect of augmenting the belief that he encouraged the 
 rebellion.* It formed not only a contrast with his former 
 measures relative to Scotland, but seemed to accord with 
 the new law lately promulgated in the neighboiu:ing isle 
 on the very subject of forfeitures. 
 
 The affairs of Ireland daily became more desperate, and 
 men's passions in Britain more inflamed with the events in 
 that king-dom. Charles therefore recommended to both 
 Houses to hasten their preparations, and informed them 
 that the Scottish commissioners were ready to treat with 
 them relative to assistance from Scotland. Commissioners 
 were appointed to negotiate with the Scottish ;f but, in 
 
 * Nalson, vol. ii. p. 689 et scq. ; f Old Pari. Hist. vol. x. p. 92 et 
 
 Unsk. \ ol.ix.^.'ioi; Old Pari. Hid. seq. ; Cobbett's Pari. Hist. xo\. ii. 
 
 vol. X. p. 54 ft seq. ; Cobbett's l-'arl. p. 906 et seq. ; Rush. vol. iv. p. 4-54 
 
 Hist. vol. ii. p. 942 et seq, et seq. ; Nalson^ vol. ii. p. 719 et seq.
 
 416 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BPvITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, the meantime, the Enghsh preparations were stopped by 
 the delay of the Upper House in determining the fate of the 
 pressing bill. The Commons, who had previously resolved 
 that the officers should be nominated by the lord lieu- 
 tenant, with the approbation of both Houses, appointed a 
 council of war, and had even entered into a resolution to 
 make Essex captain general of all the trained bands to the 
 south of the Trent, and Lord Holland to the north, with 
 power to appoint officers, the two commanders being 
 removable only at the discretion of parliament. Other 
 resolutions, as about the Isle of Wight, tended to the same 
 object.* And on the 7th December, a bill was introduced 
 into the Lower House by Mr. Sohcitor-General St. John, 
 for vesting the whole power of the militia, by sea and land, 
 in commissioners to be appointed by parliament. This 
 bill, in spite of a violent opposition from the court party, 
 was once read. This was just transferring the command 
 of the military from the king to the parliament ; but as 
 the result of their investigation of the army-plots had been 
 so black, the measures seemed to be demanded by the ne- 
 cessity of the case. In the UjDper House, however, Charles 
 had always had a strong party. The prelates clang to 
 the throne in self-defence, as well as from the feeling that 
 all the patronage and promotion of their class flowed from 
 it. There were lords popishly affected, whom, as we have 
 seen, Charles was anxious to prevent being excluded, and 
 they naturally adhered to the crown, while the number 
 attached to the court by offices, &c., was not inconsider- 
 able. In this way the motions of the Lower House were 
 checked, and matters had proceeded so far, that, on the 3rd 
 of December, the following clause appears in the Jour- 
 nals of the Commons : — ' This committee is appointed to 
 prepare heads for a conference with the Lords, and to ac- 
 quaint them what bills this House hath passed, and sent up 
 to their Lordships, which much concern the safety of the 
 
 * Jnurnah of the Commons, \o\.n. ct seq. ; Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 330 ^-^ 
 p. 304 vt scq. ; Nulson, pp. 008, 524 seq.
 
 BILL FOR PEESSING SOLDIERS. 417 
 
 kingdom, but have no consent of tlieir Lordships to them ; chap. 
 and that the House being the representative body of the . "^y* . 
 whole kingdom, and their Lordships being but as parti- 
 cular persons, and coming to parhament in a particular 
 capacity, that if they shall not be pleased to consent to the 
 passing of those acts and others, necessary for the preser- 
 vation and safety of the kingdom, that then this House, 
 together with such of the Lords as are more sensible of 
 the safety of the kingdom, may join together, and repre- 
 sent the same to his majesty/ &c.* While, too, they de- 
 layed the bill for pressing soldiers, by which the rebellion 
 was permitted to rage without the prospect of immediate 
 check by military power from England, they, at a con- 
 ference with the Commons about the supply of troops from 
 Scotland, proposed to stipulate that Scottish assistance, to 
 the extent of 10,000, which the Scots undertook to ship 
 free of expense, should not be accepted unless an equal 
 quota of troops were sent from England. The Commons 
 insisted that such a stipulation was contrary to the usage 
 of parliament ; but that their Lordships were already ap- 
 prised of their vote for 10,000 English. The Lords, how- 
 ever, only concurred provisionally — that an equal army 
 should be sent from England. f 
 
 The bill for pressing contained a clause against the ille- 
 gal usurped power which had been so calamitously exer- 
 cised by this prince — of pressing the free-born subject at 
 his pleasure, by which the vengeance of the crown could 
 be let loose upon the highest in the kingdom ; and Charles, 
 who knew the valiie of the power, was determined not to 
 renounce it ; though it is not improbable that he was in 
 this actuated by other motives, and particularly by the 
 consideration that it had been resolved that the army thus 
 raised was to be commanded by officers virtually appointed 
 by both Houses. One concession leads to another. While 
 
 * Journals. 
 t Old Pari Hist. vol. x. p. 119 ; Cobbett's Pari Hist. vol. ii, p. 981. 
 
 VOL. II. E E
 
 418 CONSTITUTIO:s^AL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, the bill, tlierefore, depended in the Upper House, he came 
 ._ ^^- . thither, and having summoned the Commons, informed 
 Charles them, that he understood such a bill depended before par- 
 breaXo/ liamcnt. That it involved a question of importance — for 
 pariia- which hc was little beholden to the person who had begun 
 priYiSin the dispute — whether by virtue of his prerogative he might 
 thf Lm*for pi^ess men into his service ? That this was an ancient right 
 pressing Qf ^hc crowu, and he was determined not to renounce 
 December it : That if the bill came to him without any infringement 
 14, 1641. ^^ diminution of his prerogative he will pass it, but not 
 otherwise ; and that, tlierefore, it would be necessary to 
 insert a salvo jure or preservation of his right. This 
 usurped power had already been pronounced illegal ; and 
 as it was inconsistent with every idea of liberty in the 
 subject, so it really rendered every other provision in fa- 
 vour of it nugatory. But had the Commons halted now, 
 they must have been held to have recognised it, and would 
 consequently have exposed the first in the kingdom to the 
 vengeance of the crown, under the form of what they had 
 admitted to be law. They had, therefore, no alternative 
 now. But the conduct of the king was so contrary to all 
 parliamentary privileges, that, considering what had oc- 
 curred on former occasions, it is scarcely to be imagined 
 that this prince had profited so little by experience, as not 
 to anticipate, in part at least, the result of this illegal in- 
 terference with a bill depending before both Houses ; and 
 we may, therefore, conclude that he was actuated by deeper 
 motives than a mere desire to have his assumed light pre- 
 served. He afterwards proposed, as a compromise, that 
 10,000 volunteers should be raised by him, provided the 
 Houses would engage to support them ; and as that would 
 have evaded what the Commons were chiefly anxious for, 
 and in fact had resolved upon — the appointment of the 
 officers — it is likely to have been one view which influ- 
 enced liim and his secret advisers from the beginning. 
 The proposal to raise tlie volunteers was made to the 
 Lords, who zealously communicated it to the Commons ;
 
 MATTERS TEND TO HASTEN A BREACH. 419 
 
 and the latter resented it as an improper interference by chap. 
 the Upper House.* ^^' 
 
 This rash measure inflamed both Houses, and they im- Remon- 
 mediately prepared a Eemonstrance against such an inva- both '^ 
 sion of their privilesfes ; demandins:, at the same time, the s:oiises 
 
 r. 1 . ■ nA P . against the 
 
 names of his advisers. Charles, in his answer, declared breach of 
 that he had no wish to infringe their privileges ; that he and\hf^' 
 was ffuided only by an ardent desire to ftirther measures Commons 
 
 . . . print their 
 
 for the reduction of the Irish rebels ; but that it would be grand Re- 
 unbecoming to name the individuals by whose counsels he g^rance 
 had acted. The most moderate men were confounded at 
 this ill-advised step ; and the Commons instantly deter- 
 mined to print the Eemonstrance, with the petition which 
 had been presented along with it. 
 
 Other matters tended to hasten a breach. Charles pub- i^i^g gives 
 lished a proclamation for conformity to the estabhshed of disgust 
 church and worship ; and it was justly concluded that this ^^^ ^^^^' 
 announced a purpose, not only to refuse the general de- 
 mand for the abolition of episcopacy, but a determination 
 to enforce the ceremonies which were so much abhorred.*!* 
 Sir Henry Vane had been dismissed from his office,^ from 
 no other apparent motive than the evidence he gave against 
 Strafford ; and Lord Newport, another material witness 
 against that grand dehnquent, was with some others ac- 
 cused by the king of having expressed a purpose of seizing 
 upon the queen and her children, as pledges for their own 
 security, should any attempt similar to the Incident be 
 made against them. The Houses remonstrated against 
 this, and Charles equivocated as to what had been uttered 
 
 * Old Pari. Hist. vol. x. p. 99 et seq. \ nately declined to disclose the name 
 
 Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 968 et of his adviser. Indeed, we learn 
 
 scq. ; Clar. vol. ii. p. .325 et seq. ; Eush. from tbis very "wi-iter, that St. John 
 
 vol. iv. p. 457 et seq. ; Nalson, vol. ii. bad already declared that the power 
 
 p. 738 et seq. ; Whitelocke, p. 50 ; of the militia was not in the king, 
 
 Journals of the Commons, vol. ii. and had introduced the bill for vest- 
 
 p. 361. Clarendon imputes this ing it in commissioners (p. 331). 
 
 measure to the treacherous advice of f Whitelocke, p. 50. 
 
 St. John ; but if it had been tbe j Clar. vol. ii. p. 323. 
 fact, Charles would not liave obsti- 
 
 E E 2
 
 420 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 IV. 
 
 CHAP, by liim ; but Newport,* wliile he rose in the popular esti- 
 mation, sank in that of the prince. In the meantime, Sir 
 Wilham Balfour was dismissed from the lieutenancy of the 
 Tower, and one Colonel Lunsford was appointed to the 
 place. The change produced general consternation. The 
 only objection to Balfour was, that he had refused to be- 
 tray the duty of his office, in conniving at the escape of 
 Strafford, and was not less unfit for other unworthy pur- 
 poses ; but his successor was not only suspected, on fair 
 grounds, of unsoundness in religion, but had been engaged 
 in the first army-plot, was an individual of broken for- 
 tunes, as well as of the most desperately wicked character, 
 having been formerly censured by the Star Chamber, un- 
 der whose sentence he was still outlawed for the most de- 
 hberate attempt at assassination. This change too followed 
 closely the resolutions by the Commons, that there had 
 been a second attempt to debauch the army — that the royal 
 favourite Daniel O'Neale was guilty ; and that he, with 
 other favourites, Percy, Jermyn, Pollard, Ashburnham, 
 Berkley, Suckling, Davenant, &c., had been guilty in rela- 
 tion to the army of misprision of treason, and should be 
 prosecuted for it accordingly. The latter, too, were ex- 
 pelled the Lower House, by which new writs for elections 
 were issued.f Tlie city took up the matter zealously : 
 even the bulhon in the Mint was not conceived to be safe 
 under the command of such a character as Lunsford ; and 
 it was justly inferred that, since it was impossible to pre- 
 dict what additional strength he might secretly introduce 
 into the Tower, the metropohs might be brought under his 
 command. Petitions against his appointment were there- 
 fore presented to the Commons, who applied to the Lords 
 to concur with them in moving the throne for the ap- 
 pointment of Sir John Conyers, should any heutenant, 
 
 * Rush. vol. iv. p. 4G4 et seq. ; were ordered, letters were sent to tlie 
 
 Nalson, vol, ii. p. 781. difterent boroup-hs by peers, in favour 
 
 f Nalson, vol. ii. p. 754 ct scq. ; of certain candidates ; but the Com- 
 
 Jonniah of the Cumnio)is, vol. ii. mous entered into a spirited resolu- 
 
 pp. 333, 337. When these elections tiou agamst it.
 
 SIR JOHN CYEON ArPOINTED LIEUTENANT OF THE TOWER. 421 
 
 while Lord Newport was constable of the Tower, be deemed chap. 
 necessary ; but the Upper House, alleging that it belonged ,_ -^^' . . 
 to the sovereicrn alone to command the forts, refused to 
 interfere, and the Commons of themselves entered into 
 very spirited resolutions upon the subject. Orders were 
 given by them to Lord Newport, ' to lodge and reside 
 within the Tower, and take the custody and guard of that 
 place,' but he was immediately discharged from his office. 
 The apprentices, in the meantime, threatened to attack the 
 Tower, in order to drive out Lunsford, and Charles saw the 
 propriety of dismissing him ; but Sir John Byron, the per- 
 son appointed his successor, was little more acceptable.* 
 The Commons were likewise offended, and we may pre- 
 sume alarmed, at the appearance of a guard upon them- 
 selves. They, however, took effectual measures for its 
 removal. 
 
 Immediately after the dismissal of Lunsford, but before 
 it was publicly known, the citizens flocked down tumul- 
 tuously to Westminster Hall, crying out no bishops, and 
 Williams, who was on his way to the House of Lords, 
 seized one of the mob whom he observed to cry against 
 the hierarchy. But the yoiuig man's comrades so hemmed 
 in the prelate, that he was obliged to let him go, and 
 they all bawled out against bishops. At this time one 
 David Hyde, ' a reformado in the late army against the 
 Scots,' began to bustle, declaring he would cut the throats 
 of those round-headed dogs (the origin of the term Eound- 
 heads, afterwards given so hberally to the parliamentary 
 party), and drawing his sword, called upon some military 
 friends to back him ; but they declining, he was appre- 
 hended by the populace and complained of to the Com- 
 mons, by whom he was committed, and deprived of the 
 employment to which he had been appointed in L^eland. 
 
 * Eusli. vol. iv. p. 459 et seq. ; of the Earl of Strafford ; but is not 
 
 Nalson, vol. ii. p. 773 ; Clarendon this an admission that there was a 
 
 vol. ii. pp. 332^ 3.5G. This writer plot for his rescue ? {Old rarl. Hkt. 
 
 tells that Balfour was very gracious vol. x. p. 120; Cobhett's Purl. Hid. 
 
 to the Commons for the safe keeping vol. ii. p. 982).
 
 4'22 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. That very day Liinsford afforded a striking proof of his 
 . • • aptitude for mischief ; having, at the head of about thirty 
 or forty friends, sword in hand, attacked the citizens and 
 apprentices who were near the parhament, and wounded 
 many. The apprentices, hearing of this, came down to 
 Westminster armed with swords, staves, and other wea- 
 pons, and alarming tumuhs ensued. Lunsford, Hyde, 
 and their party, now formed themselves into a sort of 
 regular body against those whom they called tJie mob, 
 and having been joined by a great number of soldiers of 
 fortune, who had served in the late army, they not only 
 violently assaulted the populace, wounding many, but 
 began also to use menaces against the parliament itself.* 
 Answer to To appcasc the public mind, to lessen the influence of 
 stranc^of' parliament and gain a party, an answer was pubhshed to 
 the Com- \\-^q Eemonstrancc. This answer was the secret production 
 
 mons on . ^ 
 
 the state of 01 Hydc, and certamly does credit to his talents. He 
 t e nation, gj^gggg^ ^y]^];^ wliat sincerity may be questioned, that he 
 had merely drawn it for his private amusement, but that 
 having shown it to Lord Digby, the latter requested and 
 obtained liberty to have it read to the king, and it having 
 gained his majesty's approbation, was printed accordingly.! 
 In this answer the king is made to dechne any argument 
 regarding the evils enumerated in the Eemonstrance, 
 or the laws enacted for redress of them, but to declare 
 that he would preserve the great concessions which he 
 had made, from a sincere purpose of meliorating the 
 condition of his subjects to the utmost of his ability ; and 
 that, perhaps, the people might have a pious sense of the 
 many blessings which they had enjoyed under his govern- 
 ment for the last sixteen years, not only in comparison 
 of other countries, but even of those periods of their 
 own history that were accounted most fortunate : That 
 
 ♦ Itusli. vol. iv. p. 403. Claron- ance of some friends ; but the state- 
 don (vol. ii. p. 338 ct scq.) says that meiit derives no support from Rush. 
 AVilliituis would have been murdered, | Clar. Zj/e, pp. 44-85. 
 had it not been for the timely assist-
 
 AXSWEE TO THE GRXNJ) REMONSTRANCE WRITTEN BY HYDE. 42 
 
 with reo-ard to the popular fears and jealousies about chap. 
 their rehgion and civil rights, they were altogether un- , — i^ 
 founded ; for that, as he was neither a favourer of 
 Papists, nor unacquainted with the grounds of difference 
 between the Eomish and the English Church, so he would 
 seal his faith with his blood : That he was resolved to 
 maintain the present estabhshment ; but that, as for some 
 ceremonies, in themselves indifferent, he would not object 
 to a law for the exemption of tender consciences, provided 
 the measure were proposed with modesty and submission, 
 and without discountenancing the decency and comehness 
 of God's worship : That he had, on the other hand, to com- 
 plain of seditious and scandalous pamphlets and sermons, 
 which, as they were a fit prologue to nothing but confu- 
 sion, he was amazed to find had so many readers and 
 hearers ; and which it was, therefore, his province con- 
 dignly to punish : That again, as to their civil rights and 
 interests, he had, in those many excellent laws which had 
 been passed in the present parliament, erected many 
 monuments of his princely and fatherly care of his people : 
 That with regard to his ministers, he neither had pro- 
 tected them, nor would in future ; but that the right of 
 choosing them which fell under his prerogative he would 
 never renounce. ' If,' he is made to say, ' notwitlistanding 
 this, any malignant party shall take heart, and be wilhng 
 to sacrifice the peace and happiness of their country to 
 their o^vn sinister ends and ambition, under whatever pre- 
 tence of religion and conscience — if they shall endeavour 
 to lessen my reputation and interest, and to weaken my 
 lawful power and authority — if they shall attempt, by 
 discountenancing the present laws, to loosen the bonds of 
 government, that all disorder and confusion may break in 
 upon us — I doubt not but God in his good time will dis- 
 cover them to me, and that the wisdom and courage of 
 ray high court of parhament will join with me in their 
 suppression and punishment.' He concludes with declar- 
 ino- his abhorrence of the Irish rebellion, and his invari- 
 
 o
 
 424 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, able desire to suppress it, wliich he had lately evinced by 
 - ^]' - a message to the Lords, by which he proposed to raise 
 10,000 volunteers — a fact which he published to contra- 
 dict the malicious whispers of some, that the preparations 
 had hitherto been prevented by him. 
 
 This pubhcation was calculated to make a great impres- 
 sion. The aristocracy began to be alarmed at the popular 
 spirit which daily arose ; the salutary laws that had been 
 passed were obvious to all, while the perpetual source of 
 jealousy in the Commons might be overlooked. The 
 jirince who stands convicted of attempts to overturn the 
 fundamental laws of his country, by means of the power 
 which has been entrusted to him for the public good, and 
 has repeatedly deceived his subjects after the most solemn 
 engagements, justly forfeits their confidence for ever ; and 
 even the late measures of Charles had inspired incurable 
 jealousy in every reflecting breast. Nor could it be un- 
 known to the parliamentary leaders, that, during his resi- 
 dence in Scotland, he had been hunting for the means of 
 their destruction. No change of government could be 
 expected from a prince that obstinately adhered to those 
 counsels wdiich had already proved so pernicious ; and 
 his conduct in regard to the bill for pressing still evinced 
 that he yet conceived it to be within the scope of his pre- 
 rogative to force into his service whomsoever he pleased, 
 which implied that the greatest patriots might in that 
 form be objects of persecution. Add to this, that he was 
 widely suspected of having been accessory to the Irish 
 rebellion. 
 
 The impression which the answer to the Eemonstrance 
 might have made, however, was destroyed by other 
 events. The cry against episcopacy daily increased ; and 
 the prelates began to apprehend that the bill which 
 depended in the ITjoper House for its abolition might be 
 passed by the Loi'ds Avhen the royal assent could with 
 difficulty be witliheld. To maintain their ground, there- 
 fore, a most extraordinary course was adopted. It has 
 been seen that Williams, on his passage to the Lords had
 
 PROTESTATION OF THE BISHOPS AGAIXST THE PARLIAJ^IENT. 425 
 
 been prevented from apprehending one of tlie populace chap. 
 whom he observed to cry out against the bishops, and he, __,J_ 
 with eleven more, alleging that their access to the house 
 was obstructed, took a protestation against all acts which 
 might be passed in their absence. This protestation was Protesta- 
 approved of by the king before it was presented by the So°ps^^^ 
 lord keeper to the Upper House, to be by it communi- that this 
 
 ■'■ -'■■'■ . "^ was not a 
 
 cated to the Lower ; and, as it was consentaneous to free pariia- 
 the royal proceedings in Scotland, it ought rather to be S^i^"^ 
 ascribed to the continuance of the counsels that directed acts passed 
 matters relative to that country, than, as the mahce absence 
 against Wihiams has dictated, to his individual violence. ^^"^*^ "^^ 
 Even the lord keeper was equally culpable, in not oppos- 
 ing, as Williams in recommending it ; nay, as the keeper's 
 passion must be supposed cool, while the other's was 
 inflamed, he was in that view infinitely the most criminal 
 of the two. But tlie measure was intended to be of 
 deeper consequence than Eoyalist writers admit ; and they 
 do the object of their admiration little credit by making 
 him the senseless dupe of every interested or passionate 
 adviser. He was bent upon a pretext for being freed 
 from the parliament, and in that state of feehng was not 
 scrupulous about the means. But surely, when it is con- 
 sidered on the one hand, that he obstinately refused the 
 parliament liberty to appoint a guard, though he had 
 ordered one for himself at WhitehaU, and, on the other, 
 that he permitted Lunsford and his followers to appear 
 armed at Westminster Hall, we cannot readily admit an 
 apology for his concurrence in a measure which was cal- 
 culated to annihilate a parliament that was indissoluble 
 without its own consent ; for, if any body of men, by 
 absenting themselves, could make all the proceedings of 
 the legislature nugatory, it was absolutely extinct.* 
 
 * Rush. vol. iv. p. 466 et seq. ; Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 993. Compare 
 
 Nalson, vol. ii. p. 794 et seq. ; Wliite- tlie protestation -with that concocted 
 
 locke, p. 53, but he is not correct in by the royal desire, and signed by 
 
 date ; Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 350 ; Old the Scottish bishops. 
 Pari Hist. vol. x. p. 137 ; Cobbett's
 
 426 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 IV. 
 
 *^ . — -' 
 
 Bishops 
 impeached 
 of high 
 treason. 
 
 The result of this protestation probably disappointed 
 both those who took and those who approved of it. Such 
 were the indignation and outcry against the prelates, that 
 it was immediately resolved upon to impeach them of 
 high treason ; and even those attached to the function, 
 were so offended at the men for such a mark of indiscre- 
 tion and criminality, that they would not interfere to stive 
 their persons. One gentleman alone feebly raised his 
 voice against the impeachment, observing that, in his 
 opinion, they were not guilty of high treason, but that 
 they were stark mad, and should be sent to bedlam.* 
 The impeachment was immediately voted ; and tlie 
 enemies of episcopacy were secretly pleased at an event 
 that so fairly opened the way for the removal of the 
 establishment. The bishops were accordingly impeached 
 of high treason by the Commons at the bar of the Peers, 
 and committed till the charge was prepared. 
 
 The Commons, at the same time, again requested the 
 concurrence of the Lords, in an application to the king 
 for a guard, and they supported their request with new 
 reasons : that the prelates would not have ventured on 
 so insolent and traitorous a measure, had they not been 
 sensible that they would be well abetted in their de- 
 sign ; and that the king had himself conceived it neces- 
 sary at this juncture to appoint a guard for himself; and 
 since the king's enemies were likewise the enemies of 
 ]iarliament, the guard on the one part implied its necessity 
 on the other. But the Lords adhered to their former 
 resolution, and tlie Commons petitioned the king sepa- 
 rately. They stated that there had already been several 
 attempts to bring destruction upon their whole body, 
 wlnle threats had been vented against particular indi- 
 viduals ; that there was now a mahgnant party which 
 daily gathered strength and confidence, and had arrived 
 at such a heiglit of insolent atrocity, that they liad im- 
 
 * Clarendou, vol. ii. p. 353 et seq.
 
 ANSWER TO THE PETITION FOK A GUARD DELAYED. 427 
 
 bruecl their hands in the blood of their fellow subjects, in chap. 
 
 the face, and at the very doors of, the parliament, and at v_ ^ ' 
 
 his majesty's own gates, while they used the most violent 
 and menacing language against the parhament itself. 
 An answer to this petition was delayed.* 
 
 While men, having lost all confidence in the sovereign, 
 justly apprehended new conspiracies of his fomenting 
 against the parliament, it is not wonderful that they 
 should have listened with trembhng anxiety to groundless 
 rumours. Such is the natural course of events, and to 
 expect that, in the hour of real danger, people should 
 calmly and scrupulously weigh evidence and balance pro- 
 babilities, before they give ear to any report, would be to 
 demand a philosophical coolness beyond the compass of 
 humanity, and which would be found incompatible with 
 the alertness that is necessary for the public safety. 
 Were no precaution taken till the danger were proved, 
 the mortal blow might be struck before the shghtest pro- 
 vision was made against it. The late tremendous ex- 
 plosion in Ireland, under which so many thousands still 
 suffered, afforded an awful warning to a people against 
 whose own legislative assembly such plots had been 
 devised. That unmanly terror which would lead a party 
 to seek its security in the unjust prosecution of supposed 
 adversaries, cannot indeed be too much condemned (and 
 the disposition against the Catholic party, which, however, 
 was dangerous at this junctm^e, rather savoured of this) ; 
 but the prince, who had been already fully detected in 
 conspiracies against the grand national council itself, had 
 no right to complain of being suspected of similar designs ; 
 and the calm investigation of the armj^-plots was every way 
 worthy of an English parliament. It is easy, however, to 
 perceive the advantage which false alarms were calculated 
 to afford the court party in extending the ridicule against 
 them to those which were well-grounded ; and authors, 
 
 * Piush. vol. iv. p. 471 ; Old. Pari. Hist. vol. x. p. 149 et seq. ; Cobbett's 
 Pari Hist. vol. ii. p. 1001.
 
 428 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOKY OF THE BKITISH EMPIEE. 
 
 CHAP, wliose object has certainly not been truth, have made a 
 V ■ ^J' -' dexterous use of it in their relation of events. By them the 
 groundless rumours, as well as the genuine plots, have 
 been imputed to the fabrication of the popular members, 
 as part of their system for keeping alive that feverish 
 anxiety on vs^hich their influence was built ; but, though 
 it be not impossible that some of those members might 
 not be averse to the existence of reports that augmented 
 their power, there is no authority to justify the imputation 
 afjainst them. 
 
 We have already said that the answer to the petition 
 for a guard was delayed ; and it is remarkable that it was 
 returned on the very day on which Lord Kimbolton, 
 eldest son of the Earl of Manchester, and the five members 
 of the Commons, Pym, Hampden, Hollis, Hazlerig, and 
 Strode, were impeached of high treason. The answer, 
 too, was tantamount to a direct denial, as Charles, while 
 he affected to be ignorant of the cause of their fears, then 
 agreed to give them a guard, only conditionally — provided 
 it were under the command of an officer appointed by his 
 majesty, instead of Essex, whom the Commons recom- 
 mended. They ' ordered that the lord mayor, the alder- 
 men, the sheriffs, and common council be forthwith ad- 
 vised from that House, to direct that the trained bands of 
 the city of London may be put in readiness for the safety 
 of the king's person, the city, and the commonwealth ; 
 and that, in the meantime, there may be strong guards 
 and watches set at all places convenient about the city.' * 
 The im- On that day, the 3rd of January, the attorney-general 
 
 of Lord Herbert went to the House of Lords, and, in his majesty's 
 anci"tiTi'°'' name, impeached Lord Kimbolton, a member of that 
 five mem- body, togcthcr with the five members of the Commons, 
 Commons,'' of high trcasou on the following grounds : That they had 
 January 3, traitorously endeavoured to subvert the fundamental laws, 
 
 * TLis appears by the Journals (Eiish. vol. iv. p. 471; Old Pari. 
 (vol. ii. p. 800) to hare passed be- Hid. pp. L55, L'lO; Cobbett's Farl. 
 fore the members wf-re impeached i/«/. vol. ii. p. 1062).
 
 IMPEACHMENT OF LORD KIMBOLTOX AXD FIVE MEMBERS. 429 
 
 and the government of the kingdom ; to deprive the chap. 
 
 king of his regal power; and to place his subjects under . ,_: — » 
 
 an arbitrary and tyrannical power : That they had en- 
 deavoured, by many foul aspersions upon his majesty and 
 his government, to alienate the affections of his people, 
 and to make him odious to them : That they had en- 
 deavoured to draw his majesty's late army to disobedience 
 to his command, and to join them in their traitorous 
 design : That they had invited and encouraged a foreign 
 power to invade the kingdom : That they had endeavoured 
 to subvert the very rights and being of parhament : That, 
 for the completing of their traitorous designs, they had 
 endeavoured, as far as in them lay, by force and terror, to 
 compel the parliament to concur with them in their 
 designs ; and, to that end, had actually raised and counte- 
 nanced tumults against the king and parliament : And, 
 that they had traitorously conspired to levy, and actually 
 had levied, war against the king. Having read these 
 articles, the attorney-general moved that a select com- 
 mittee, under a command of secresy, might be appomted 
 to take the examination of witnesses according to the 
 practice in similar cases ; that his majesty might have 
 liberty to add to, or alter, the articles as he saw cause ; 
 and that their lordships would adopt the requisite mea- 
 sures for securing the persons of the accused. The whole 
 House looked aghast at this proceeding, and no one was 
 hardy enough to move for Kimbolton's commitment. 
 His lordship himself, standing up, professed his innocence, 
 but offered readily to obey any order of his peers ; yet 
 prayed that, as he had been publicly impeached, so he 
 should also have a public opportunity to vindicate his 
 innocence. In the meantime, a party, consisting of Sir 
 William Fleming, Sir William Killigrew, and others, had 
 been sent to the chambers of the impeached members, to 
 seal up their trunks, doors, &c. ; and the Commons, 
 having received notice of this, together with the proceed- 
 ings in the Upper House, resolved that, if any person
 
 430 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE, 
 
 CHAP, whatever should come to the lodgings of any member of 
 > — .J — ' that House, either to seal up his repositories, or to seize 
 his person, it was lawful for him, according to the late 
 protestation, to defend the privileges of parhament, to call 
 a constable and others to his assistance, and stand upon 
 the defensive. They also desired a conference upon this 
 breach of privilege, and tliey again expressed their wish 
 that their lordships would concur in asking a guard 
 which should be approved of by both Houses, or else that 
 they would consent to adjourn to a place of greater safety. 
 The Lords ordered that the seals should be removed from 
 the repositories of the members, and at last agreed to 
 petition for a guard. The Commons Hkemse issued an 
 order to apprehend Fleming, and the other gentlemen 
 who acted with him, and to brmg them before the House 
 as dehnquents. But, while matters were proceeding thus, a 
 serjeant-at-arms came to the Lower House, and demanded 
 the five members. The Commons, having ordered the 
 Serjeant to withckaw, appointed a committee to acquaint 
 his majesty, that as the message was a matter of such 
 consequence as to concern the privileges of all the 
 Commons of England, it was necessary for them to take 
 it into tlieir serious consideration ; but that they would 
 return an answer with as much speed as possible ; and, 
 in the meantime, they would take care that the gen- 
 tlemen mentioned in the message should be ready to 
 answer any legal charge against tliem. The accused 
 members were ordered by the House to give regular 
 attendance. 
 
 Such were the proceedings in parliament on the third ; 
 but Charles, determined to carry through his designs, 
 was not idle that evening. He had abeady congregated 
 a considerable body of desperate characters in the better 
 walks of life, men whose fortunes were inadequate to 
 their desires, and Avho, having an open table kept for 
 them, were, in the form of a guard, prepared for any un- 
 lawful measures : yet, not satisfied with their number, he
 
 CHARLES DETERMINES TO SEIZE THE IMPEACHED MEMBERS, 431 
 
 had used all liis influence to enlist also under his banners chap. 
 the gentlemen of the four Inns of Court, and had been so > ^^' - 
 successful, that they proffered their services as a guard, 
 and one of them said pubhcly, in the hearing of Ludlow 
 (who took up the matter so sharply that the young man 
 pretended to apologise for his hasty expression), ' What ! 
 shall we suffer these fellows at Westminster to domineer 
 thus? Let us go into the country, and bring up our 
 tenants, and pull them out.' To this body, Charles, on 
 the evening of the third, sent a copy of the charge against 
 the members of parliament, with a message, by Fleming 
 and Killigrew, to keep within doors next day, and be 
 ready at an hour's warning. 
 
 The king had promised to return an answer to the King's -do- 
 message of the Commons on the next day, the fourth ; trancT'mto 
 yet, that very day, having put himself at the head of his ^^ ^^y®"^ 
 courtiers and band of armed followers, he marched to the the five 
 Lower House, for the purpose of seizing the five mem- jlf^ary '4, 
 bers in the very discharge of their duty. Mr. Pym had i^^^. 
 received notice of the king's intention from the Countess 
 of Carlisle, the Earl of Northumberland's sister ; and as 
 his majesty marched at the head of his troop, a Captain 
 Langrish, who had lately returned from the French ser- 
 vice, and, from his military habits, was on terms of 
 intimacy with some of the royal followers, learned from 
 them the object of this cavalcade, and, passing them 
 quickly, reported the intelligence to the House. As force 
 was evidently intended, and the feelings of the Commons 
 were such, that the members would have been defended, 
 had an attempt to seize them been made, it was deemed 
 advisable that they should leave the house, rather than 
 incur the hazard of such bloodshed as in that event must 
 have ensued. One of them, however, Mr. Strode, deter- 
 mined to meet the occasion, till his old friend, Sir Walter 
 Earle, pulled him out by force. The band which accom- 
 panied his majesty, and amounted to upwards of three 
 hundred, armed with swords, pistols, halberts, &c., made
 
 432 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, a lane tlirongli which he passed into the house. He, 
 . ^^- . walking up to the chair, commanded the speaker to resign 
 it, and, having occupied it, cast his eyes round for the 
 objects of his pursuit ; then remarked, that he was sorry 
 for the occasion, but that he had already sent a message 
 for those members who were, by his command, accused 
 of high treason, and liad only received a message in 
 return, instead of the obedience which he had expected : 
 that no king would ever be more careful of their privi- 
 leges tlian he ; but that as no place afforded a protection 
 against a charge of treason, so he was resolved to have 
 them wherever they were ; and that so long as they con- 
 tinued in that House, it could not proceed in the right 
 way. Having looked round in vain for the impeached 
 members, he demanded of the speaker whether they were 
 in the House, who, falling on his knees, answered, with 
 admirable presence of mind on such an unprecedented 
 and critical occasion, ' May it please your majesty, I have 
 neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak, in this place, but 
 as the House, whose servant I am, is pleased to direct me; 
 and I humbly beg your majesty's pardon, that I cannot 
 give any other answer than this to what your majesty is 
 pleased to demand of me.' Satisfied that the accused 
 members were absent, Charles said, ' Well, since I see 
 that all the birds are flown, I do expect that you will 
 send them to me as soon as they return ; but I assure you, 
 on the word of a king, I never did intend any force, but 
 shall prosecute them in a fair and legal way, for I never 
 meant any other. And now, since I see I cannot do 
 what I came for, I think this no unfit occasion to repeat 
 what I have said formerly, that wliatsoever I have done 
 in favour, and to the good of my subjects, I mean to 
 maintain it. I will trouble you no more, but tell you I 
 do expect that, as soon as they come to the house, you 
 will send them to me ; otherwise I must take my own 
 course to fmd them.' With this he retired in some con- 
 fusion, amid a cry from many members of 'Privilege,
 
 THE IMPEACHED MEMBERS REMOVE FOR PROTECTION. 
 
 433 
 
 privilege.' The House instantly adjourned till the follow- 
 ing day at one o'clock.* 
 
 The impeached members removed that afternoon into 
 the city for protection, and during the whole evening the 
 citizens were in arms. Such was the general perturbation, 
 that a cry was repeatedly raised, that the Cavaliers, -with 
 the king at their head, were coming, some said, to fire the 
 city. Charles, on his part, issued a proclamation to stop 
 all the ports, lest the accused should escape from the 
 kingdom, and to prohibit all from entertaining or harbour- 
 ing them.f 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV, 
 
 * Journals of the Commons^ vol. ii. 
 p. 366 et seq. ; Rusli. vol. iv. p. 473 
 et seq. liushwortli bad taken the 
 king's speech in characters, and his 
 majesty having observed him writing, 
 sent for him, and demanded the 
 copy, which he himself immediately 
 pnhlished for the satisfaction of his 
 subjects (Nalson, vol. ii. p. 810 et 
 seq. ; ^^^litelocke, p. 523 ; Claren- 
 don, vol. ii. p. 356 et seq. ; Ludlow, 
 vol. i. p. 21 et seq. ; Hutcliinson's 
 Mem. vol. i. p. 144 ; Old Purl. Hist. 
 vol. X. p. 157 et seq.; Cobbett's Pari. 
 Hist. vol. ii. p. 1005 et seq.; 3Iem. par 
 Mad. de Motte^-ille, torn. i. pp. 264-67. 
 
 t Clar. vol. ii. p. 360. This wiiter 
 pretends that people were deputed 
 to raise the alarm ; but whence did 
 he learn that ? He tells us that the 
 members had nothing to apprehend, 
 and merely feigned terror out of 
 policy; yet, in the same breath, he 
 informs us, that Lord Digby, whom 
 he alleges, with what truth Ave .shall 
 examine by and bye, to have been 
 the sole adviser of this breach of all 
 faith and privilege, himself proposed 
 to go into the city, ' with a select 
 company of gentlemen, tvhereof Sir 
 Thomas Lunsford uxis one, to seize 
 upon them and bring them away 
 alive, or leave tliem dead in the 
 place ; but the king liked not such 
 enterprises.' W^hen the king liad 
 gone so far by this person's coimsel, 
 would it have been strange had he 
 gone a little farther ? Am^l will it 
 then be said that there was no ground 
 
 VOL. II. P 
 
 for apprehension ? The same wiiter 
 says elsewhere (Supplement to thu-d 
 volmue of State Papers, p. 66, 'Cha- 
 racter of Digby '), that when Digby 
 perceived the consecpiences of his 
 advice, ' his great spirit was so far 
 from failing, that when he saw the 
 whole city upon the matter in arms 
 to defend them, knowing in what 
 house they were together, he offered 
 the king, 7oith a select number of a 
 dozen gentlemen,'' (What! Encounter 
 the whole city, whose trained bands 
 were commanded by a very able and 
 experienced officer, with only a 
 dozen ?) ' who he presmned would 
 stick to him, to seize upon their per- 
 sons, dead or alive, and without 
 doubt he would have done it, ivhich 
 must likeivise have had a wonderful 
 effect.'' What he means by these last 
 words may be surmised from an ob- 
 servation which he elsewhere makes, 
 at the very moment that he pretends 
 to condemn the proceeding — that 
 they should have been secretly 
 seized, and sent to distinct and close 
 custody, which would have broken 
 the spirit of the Houses {Hist. vol. ii. 
 p. 391). Yet lie admits that all their 
 offences had been committed in the 
 parliament. Misstatement ever in- 
 volves itself in inconsistency. To 
 condemn the popular proceedings 
 and exculpate the king, Clarendon 
 pretends that there was no purpose 
 to seize them while they were in the 
 city ; but then he forgets that, in 
 that case, Charles's motive for going 
 
 F
 
 434 
 
 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTOEY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 On the following morning lie resolved to go in person 
 to the city, under the pretext of demanding the persecuted 
 The king members, but in reality to gain, if possible, the support 
 theVity^ of a party there. Orders were therefore sent to the 
 January 5, Yqy(\ mayor to Call a common council ; and Charles went 
 to Guildhall with only four attendants, to show the 
 citizens how much he relied on their affections. But the 
 temper manifested by the people in his progress through 
 the city might have convinced him that the task he 
 had undertaken would be fruitless. They thronged round 
 his carriage, ' and humbly entreated that he would be 
 pleased to agree with his parliament, and not infringe its 
 privileges.' Tlie becoming reverence with which they 
 thus sent up their petition, did not render their language 
 the less impressive. One alone, of all their number, 
 Henry Walker, an ironmonger and pamphleteer, offered 
 an insult to their misguided prince, by casting into the 
 coach window a paper, in which were written the words, 
 ' To your tents, Israel !' the language of the ten tribes 
 who forsook the foolish and wantonly tyrannical Eeho- 
 boam. For this seditious insolence, which does not ap- 
 pear to have received any countenance from the general 
 demeanour of the citizens. Walker was committed, and 
 prosecuted at the next sessions.* At Guildhall, Charles 
 
 to the House of Commons must have 
 been very difterent from that of seiz- 
 ing: them whom he believed guilty 
 of high treason. But it is only neces- 
 sary to consult the noble historian's 
 stiitements relative to the Scottish 
 Incident, contrasting wliat formerly 
 appeared (vol. ii. p. 17) with that 
 ■which has latterly come to light in 
 A])pcnd. I> to vol. ii., in order to be 
 satisfied tliat the proceedings ag'ainst 
 the six mcnnbers were just a counter- 
 j)art of the other, and involved the 
 most desp(>rate projects. How, in- 
 deed, can it be doubted that nothing 
 was too black for this monarch, 
 when he could continue the most 
 confidential correspondence with 
 Montrose and Digby, after they had 
 
 proposed — the first, direct assassin- 
 ation, the last, something near it. 
 Here I must, in reference to this 
 prince's character, observe, that I 
 formerly, not haraig the benefit of 
 Ashburnham's narrative since pub- 
 lished, was led to a more favourable 
 opinion of him in one case than is 
 now justified by the fact. I have 
 stated, on my authorities as they then 
 stood, that Charles prevented the 
 assassination of Hammond on account 
 of his character, whereas it now ap- 
 pears, that he took time to consider 
 of the matter, and then only objected 
 to it as useless and dangerous. This 
 will be shown in its proper place. 
 
 * Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 301. This 
 author has the eftrontery to say, that
 
 Walker cried witli ayery loud voice, wherein was written, " To your tents, 
 
 ' To your tents, O Israel ! ' and is of O Israel ! " for which he was com- 
 
 course followed by Hume, who has mitted, and afterwards proceeded 
 
 yet the confidence to quote Rush- against at the sessions ' (vol. iv. 
 
 worth for it. Rushworth's state- p. 479). See also May, lib. ii. pp. 26, 
 
 ment is in these words : ' The same 27, who describes the conduct of 
 
 day his majesty was also pleased to the mob as very humble. See 
 
 go into London with his usual atten- also Husband's collection of State 
 
 clants, and in his passage some people Papers, p. 120, whence Clarendon, 
 
 did cry aloud, " Pri^dleges of parlia- the author of that very State Paper 
 
 ment ! privileges of parliament ! " there referred to, could not be mis- 
 
 and one Heniy Walker, an iron- taken. 
 
 monger and pamphlet writer, threw * Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 361 ; Rush, 
 
 into his majesty's coach a paper, vol. iv. pp. 471), 480. 
 
 r F 2 
 
 CHARLES GOES TO GUILDHALL TO DEMAND THE MEMBERS. 435 
 
 told the council that he had come to demand such persons chap. 
 as he had already accused of high treason, and whom he . _ "^^^ ^ 
 believed to be concealed in the city ; that as their offences 
 were treason and misdemeanours of a high nature, he 
 trusted no good man would detain them, and he desired 
 their assistance that the accused micrht be brouaiit to a 
 legal trial. That there were divers suspicions raised that 
 he was a favourer of the Popish rehgion ; but he professed, 
 in the name of a king, that he ever had been, and would 
 be to the utmost of his power, a prosecutor of all such 
 as any ways opposed the laws and statutes of this king- 
 dom, either Papists or Separatists, and would ever defend 
 the true Protestant faith, which his father professed. 
 After this address he departed from the assembly with- 
 out any of that applause and cheerfulness which he had 
 anticipated from his condescension — a result which must 
 have been the more poignantly mortifying, considering 
 the well-known extreme loyalty of the lord mayor, and 
 his majesty's late splendid reception through his lordship's 
 activity. To conciliate the city farther, he proposed to 
 dine with one of the sheriffs, who, of the two, was least 
 inclined to promote his views ; but, though he was nobly 
 entertained, and returned in the evening; to Whitehall 
 without receiving the slightest mark of disrespect in his 
 passage, the whole occurrences of the day only taught 
 him that the confidence of the city was irrecoverable.* 
 Both Houses of parliament assembled on the same day.
 
 436 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OP THE BRITISH EMriRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 Both 
 
 Hoiisfs nd- 
 journ till 
 the 11th. 
 The Com- 
 mons ap- 
 point a 
 committee 
 to sit in 
 the interim 
 in Guild- 
 haU. 
 
 Eviclenoe 
 laid before 
 the com- 
 mittee re- 
 garding 
 the broach 
 of priri- 
 lege. 
 
 and tlie Commons voted a declaration upon tlie gross 
 violation of parliamentary privileges, and stated that, till 
 their privileges were vindicated, and a guard allowed, it 
 would be impossible for them to discharge their duty as 
 a branch of the legislature. They therefore resolved to 
 adjomn for a few days, till the 11th, that the king might 
 have an opportunity to afford proofs of a change of 
 conduct. But they appointed a committee of certain 
 individuals, witli whom, however, all who chose to attend 
 might vote, to sit at Guildliall in the meantime, for the 
 purpose of investigating the facts relative to the breach 
 of privilege, and consulting with the citizens both on it 
 and on the affaii's of Ireland. The Lords adjourned to 
 the same day.* 
 
 The evidence laid before the committee reo;ardinn; the 
 king's forcible entrance into the House of Commons was 
 soon published, and must have satisfied all unprejudiced 
 men of the desperate feelings with which his followers 
 were then actuated. It was to this effect : That the nimi- 
 ber which accompanied him on that occasion was about 
 500 (the lately enlisted guards out-numbered his gentle- 
 men pensioners or ordinary attendants), and that they 
 were armed with swords, pistols, and other weapons ; 
 that the new guard having pressed forward to tlie door of 
 the house, placed themselves between it and the king's 
 ordinary attendants, and there brandished their swords, 
 while individuals of them, holding up their pistols, openly 
 used such language as this : ' I am a good marksman, I 
 can hit right I warrant you;' and that they would not 
 allow the door to be shut according to custom, declaring 
 that they were resolved to support their party : that, when 
 several of the members approached, and their servants 
 called out to make room for tliem, ' some of this new 
 species of soldiery answered, "A pox, Gad confound 
 them !" while others exclaimed, "A pox take the House 
 
 * Juiirnals of the Commonx, vol. ii. et set/. ; Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. 
 p. 3G8 ; Old Pari, mst.volx. p. 100 p. 1002 ; Rush. vol. iv. pp. 478, 47'.).
 
 LANGUAGE OP THE XIXG'S FOLLOWERS. 437 
 
 of Commons, let them come and be liancjecl ; Avhat ado is chap. 
 
 here with the House of Commons ! " ' That, besides this, 
 they assaiihed the servants of the members, and, with 
 many oaths, expressed their regret at the absence of the 
 accused members ; nay, that some of them cried, ' When 
 comes the word ! ' and that when asked tlie meanino" of 
 that expression, they answered, that ' questionless, in the 
 posture they were set, if the word had been given, they 
 should have ftdlen upon the House of Commons, and have 
 cut all theu- throats.' The reader will bear in mind that 
 these were not common soldiers, whose language might 
 be partly the offspring of ignorance ; but individuals who 
 had been officers of the late army, — who had entered 
 into this service out of alleged principle, and who were 
 feasted and caressed in an extraordinary manner at White- 
 hall ! Can it then be doubted that they would not have 
 uttered such sentiments unless they had known them to 
 be congenial to those of their master? Had it been 
 otherwise, he w^ould have been eager himself for the 
 punishment, at least by dismissal from his service, of a set 
 of men against whom such daringly profligate conduct was 
 established ; yet they appear to have recommended them- 
 selves by it, and he was anxious to promote them.* 
 
 * Journals of the Comynons, voL ii. bating the king's advice to Papists 
 p. .374 ; Rusli". voL iv. p. 484 et seq. (which they did uot in the papers 
 The number that accompanied the alhide to) ; a way by which he 
 king is generally called about 300, really appeals to the prejudices of 
 though the e\-idence makes it 500. his readers, and yet the same author 
 I conclude that the 300 already men- makes this altogether a war of reli- 
 tioned were exclusive of the ordinary gion ! Were the Papists the only 
 attendants, whom they outnumbered. party in the state who were quite 
 Mr. Hume, as a matter of course, indiiierent to religion ? or wa,s the 
 derides this examination into the existence of such a party like witch- 
 language and menacing gestures of craft — altogether ideal ? Had the 
 the "king's followers, as if it had been learned author forgotten the various 
 unworthy of notice. — That these men conspiracies, &c. during Elizabeth's 
 Avere officers, we have the king's ad- reign — the Gunpowder Plot during 
 mission (Husband's CW. p. 108). As the preceding reign — the late in- 
 to their having been thanked, &c. trigues of foreign states on this sub- 
 afterwards, see even Digby's admis- ject— the innovations by the court 
 sion (Xalson, vol. ii. p. 865). Mr. faction — the Irish insurrection, and 
 Hume here, as elsewhere, affects to the encouragement of the Papists 
 sneer at the popular paity for attri- there by the pope and foreign princes? 
 
 IV.
 
 438 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OP THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 Besides all this, their threatening language against the 
 parhament had already been complained of by the Com- 
 mons in a petition to the throne. But there was another 
 important fact fully established by evidence before the 
 committee : that, on the very day on which the outrage was 
 committed, a hundred stand of arms, and two barrels of 
 gunpowder, with match and shot in proportion, were sent 
 from the Tower to Whitehall, with the lieutenant's know- 
 ledge.* It will also be remembered that the gentlemen 
 of the Inns of Court, who had previously been gained 
 over, were told to be in readiness at an hour's warning. 
 The city's On the 7th, two days after the adjournment, the lord 
 tiirkb ^^ mayor, aldermen, and common council presented to the 
 throne a petition, in which, after adverting to the dangers, 
 fears, and distractions, into which the city had been 
 plunged by the progress of the bloody rebels in Ireland, 
 (who were countenanced by Papists and their adherents 
 in England), and the want of forces to suppress that rebel- 
 lion, together with the intimations, foreign and domestic, 
 which they had received, of designs to extirpate the Pro- 
 testant religion with the liberties of the subject ; to the 
 removal of persons of honour and trust from the offices of 
 constable and lieutenant of the Tower, and the late war- 
 like preparations there ; to the fortifying of Whitehall, 
 and the provoking language and violence used by his new 
 guard to the citizens ; and to the conduct of the gentle- 
 men of the Inns of Court ; and his majesty's late entrance 
 into the House of Commons, with such a band of armed 
 attendants, besides his ordinary guard ; they prayed that 
 he would relieve the Protestants of Ireland by the advice 
 of his grand council ; remove suspicious persons from the 
 Tower, and put it into the custody of trustworthy charac- 
 ters ; appoint a known and approved guard for himself 
 
 We may well disapprove of the par- and it is not requisite to suppose 
 
 liament's intolerance ; but assurcMlly more, pai-ticularly considering their 
 
 it is not too much to presume tliat political tenets. 
 
 tlie Catliolics were actuated with as * lUish. vol. iv. p. 480. 
 
 much /cul as tlie Protestant parties,
 
 PETITION PRESENTED TO CHAELES. HIS ANSWER. 439 
 
 and tlie parliament ; and, lastly, remove all restraint from chap. 
 
 Lord Mandeville or Lord Kimbolton, and the five mem- . ^^/ . 
 bers of the Lower House, and only proceed against them 
 
 according to the privileges of parliament. The royal King's an- 
 
 ,.!• ,•,• 1 J.- I? J. swer to the 
 
 answer to this petition Avas by no means satisractory : eity's peti- 
 that he imagined he had been sufficiently exphcit at ^"^"• 
 Guildhall ; but that he now added some particulars for 
 their information : 1st. That it was impossible for them to 
 feel more than he had expressed on the business of L^e- 
 land, yet that his zeal would be farther manifested by a 
 declaration that he meant to set forth, and he hoped that 
 great and necessary work would soon be advanced by the 
 advice and assistance of parliament : 2dly. That, with 
 regard to the Tower, as he had already removed one ser- 
 vant of trust and reputation (this was Lunsford !) to satisfy 
 the city, and had substituted another of known ability and 
 unquestionable character, he wondered at their groundless 
 fears ; and as to the preparations for farther fortifying the 
 Tower, he deemed them as necessary for the city as for 
 his own safety, and should ever employ them for the pro- 
 tection of both : odly. That the fortification of Whitehall, 
 and the guard he had lately enlisted, were rendered neces- 
 sary by the seditious language and tumultuary conduct of 
 the populace : 4thly. Tliat as for the gentlemen of the Inns 
 of Court, there was nothing censurable in regard to them ; 
 for that they, conceiving that his safety might be endan- 
 gered, had merely expressed their good intention, and ' he 
 had received the tender of their loyal and dutiful affections 
 with very good approbation and acceptance ; ' that, ' for 
 his going to the House of Commons, when his attendants 
 were no otherwise armed than as gentlemen with swords,' 
 he is persuaded, that if the petitioners knew the clear 
 grounds on which the five members stand accused of hio;h 
 treason, they would believe that his going thither in so 
 gentle a way was an act of grace and favour, since he is 
 well assured that no privilege of parliament can extend to 
 treason, felony, or breach of the peace : and, lastly. That he
 
 440 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, ever intended to proceed against the accused with all jus- 
 
 «^__,_: . tice and favour, according to the laws and statutes of the 
 
 realm, to which the innocent would cheerfully submit ; 
 ' and,' says he, in conclusion, ' this extraordinary way of 
 satisfying a petition of so unusual a nature, his majesty is 
 confidently persuaded will be thought the greatest instance 
 tliat can be given of his clear intentions to his subjects, 
 and of the singular estimation he hath of the good affec- 
 tions of this city, which he believes in gratitude will never 
 be wanting to his just commands and service.'* 
 King Far from abandoning the prosecution of the Lord 
 
 London, Mandcville and the five members of the Lower House, 
 irTs^ Charles on the 8th issued out a proclamation to appre- 
 hend them ; but on the 10th he left London, to which he 
 never returned till he was brought tliither as a prisouer.f 
 The views with which he took this important step, and 
 with which he had acted in all his late measures, it is now 
 our province to develop. 
 The royal JSTcccssity alouc had prevailed with Charles to summon 
 ^'^^'''•^" a parhament ; but that assembly had not sat long, as we 
 have seen, before he entered into plots for its destruction. 
 The views with which he undertook the journey to Scot- 
 land were partly defeated by the failure of the Licident ; 
 but the disappointment in tliat plot did not divert liim 
 from his mischievous designs. We have already seen that, 
 as the act for tonnage and poundage, which had been 
 passed before his departure for the North, expired on the 
 30 til of November, and the duties were absolutely requi- 
 site for the exigencies of state, his ministers were alarmed 
 by a wish expressed by some timid members of parliament 
 for a fresh adjournment, on account of the ]:)lague which 
 then raged in the metropolis ; but that Charles, regardless 
 of pecuniary embarrassments, though these alone had 
 moved him to convene the legislature, instantly com- 
 manded his servants ' to have the ajurnemcnt furthered by 
 
 * Clarendon, vol. ii. pp. 36, 369-371 ; Rush. vol. iv. pp. 480-82. 
 t Hush. ^ol. iv. pp. 482-84.
 
 POLICY OP THE XING. 
 
 441 
 
 anie means ; ' or, as the next best plan, to obtain an chap 
 adjournment to Cambridge — a place doubtless better cal- - — ^ 
 culated for his projects. We have also seen that he was 
 at the same time attempting to raise money upon his large 
 collar of rubies, which had for that purpose been .sent 
 into Holland ; while his correspondence breathes revenge 
 against the popular party in parliament, and bespeaks a 
 strange confidence in his own resources to frustrate their 
 expectations. His whole subsequent conduct evinced that 
 he was fully resolved to destroy the legislative assembly, 
 which he could not overrule ; and as, not to mention the 
 act which he had passed to prevent their dissolution, pro- 
 rogation, or adjournment without their own consent, it is 
 evident that, in the event of his dissolving this parliament, 
 another would have just been composed of the same ma- 
 terials, and have come with a still more resolute spirit 
 from the breach of law and faith with the preceding, he 
 must have been determined to set up a government of the 
 sword. The parhament (whether their fears were well 
 founded or not, or even feigned, would in this view be a 
 question of no importance) had deemed it proper to have 
 a guard for its own security, and, in ordering one, arro- 
 gated no more than what is allowed to every court and 
 every petty borough ; yet Charles immediately dismissed 
 it ; and, as if he had been wiser than his grand council, 
 derided their fears, while he himself proposed to give 
 them a guard under the command of one of his own 
 creatures. Had the two Houses consented to this, it is 
 easy to perceive what an opportunity it might have 
 afforded of surrounding them with mihtary, and over- 
 awing their dehberations ; and it does not appear upon 
 what principle the arrangement which they had formed 
 could be challenged. It is vain to argue that it interfered 
 with the king's right to command the mihtary ; and it is 
 equally so that it insulted the sovereign by implying that 
 danger was apprehended from him, since, if lie truly 
 repented of his former conspiracies against the legislature,
 
 442 CO^^STITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BSITISH EMI'IRE. 
 
 he would not have resented their suspicions of him till he 
 had evinced, by his subsequent measures, that he had 
 become an altered man ; and the true way to disarm their 
 groundless fears was by yielding to tlieu' plans of security. 
 If, on the other hand, he did not repent of his past mea- 
 sures — wliich his increasing favour towards the very indi- 
 viduals who had even confessed the plots, nay, who had 
 implicated him, fully proved that he did not — it is per- 
 fectly evident that he was prepared to repeat them. But, 
 if this applied to his conduct in the first instance, it did 
 infinitely more so afterwards, when he had himself col- 
 lected such a band of desperate characters in the form of 
 a guard, and fortified Whitehall, under the pretext of 
 apprehending danger from the tumults at Westminster ; 
 and first encouraged Digby to allege that this was not a 
 free parliament, and then ordered the lord keeper, who 
 had also in his own person thrown out a hint to the same 
 effect, to present the protestation of the bishops. The 
 Upper House had refused to concur with the Lower in a 
 petition for a guard. But it should be borne in mind that 
 it was the court party, including the bishops, who had 
 outvoted the popular portion of the House ; and therefore 
 it does appear extraordinary indeed that the very same 
 individuals who refused their assent to a measure which 
 would have afforded them ample protection, should have 
 protested against all acts passed in their absence, because 
 they had been prevented from free access to the house by 
 the factious multitude. The grand assumption of Eoyalist 
 writers is, tliat a minority in parliament, by combining 
 with the turbulent citizens, drove away the well-disposed 
 members, and thus left themselves to carry measures which 
 would otherwise have been indignantly rejected. But 
 these apologists of Charles forget that, liad the wish of the 
 popular party for a guard been acceded to, nothing of the 
 kind could possibly have happened. It is self-evident 
 that, as a guard nominated by both Houses could never, 
 unless pcrhnj'JS in conjunction with the king, have been
 
 POLICY OF THE KING. 443 
 
 able to master them, it must have been mider their con- chap. 
 trol, and could at once have been dismissed or new- , ^^' , 
 modelled by them, if it showed any disposition to promote 
 the views of the minority, who could have had no official 
 voice in commanding it ; for the orders issued to the 
 guard must have been according to the votes or resolu- 
 tions of both Houses, and have thence necessarily con- 
 veyed the will of the majority. Hence it is quite obvious 
 that Charles, in obstinately refusing a guard, while he 
 congregated so strange a one for himself, and encouraged 
 the prelates to offer their protestation, had no other object 
 than the annihilation of the parliament. That the bishops, 
 to save themselves, eagerly grasped at the suggestion, and 
 adopted the views of the court in respect to a guard, is 
 without question ; but the most satisfactory proof of the 
 origin of the device is, that it was just the counterpart of 
 the treacherous plan recommended by Charles, in the 
 3'ear 1G39, to the Scottish prelates, in order to afford a 
 pretext for annulling the proceedings of the assembly in 
 parliament, whose acts he had solemnly engaged to ratify. 
 The result of this device strengthened the popular party, 
 and then followed the impeachment of the six members, 
 with the extraordinary entrance into the Lower House ; a 
 proceeding which was again an approximation to the Inci- 
 dent, and founded upon the erroneous notion that deceived 
 Charles and his advisers throughout his reign, and has 
 been ever adopted by historians — that the individuals who, 
 by merely acting as the organs of the public will, were 
 enabled to take the lead in affairs, created the gene- 
 ral sentiments which they only expressed. The articles 
 against the members had been furnished by the king him- 
 self to the attorney-general, who declared to the parlia,ment 
 that he had neither ground nor information of any kind to 
 proceed upon but the command of his master ; and in so 
 far as they regarded the invitation to the Scots to invade 
 the kino-dom were a breach of all law and faith, since the 
 act of oblivion by the treaty with Scotland was expressly
 
 4-i4 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOllY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, provided to preclude for ever any question on that 
 ■ ^^/ . ground.* The measure was, besides, absurd, considering 
 the large sum which had been given to the Scots for their 
 brotherly assistance. Hence it is evident that men, far 
 from having any security in the royal engagements, de- 
 rived none from the solemn enactments of the legislature, 
 since even this article showed that he did not conceive 
 himself bound by the statutes which he had passed. 
 This, however, was farther evinced by other articles, 
 whereby the six members were arraigned of high treason 
 for having procured the passing of bills in the respective 
 Houses. If they were guilty of the highest offence known 
 to the law for their conduct in parliament, it is incontes- 
 table that those who joined them were also criminal ; and 
 as these composed the majority, it is doubtless that when 
 the Houses were, as was anticipated, quelled by the ruhi 
 of their leaders, the majority would have been exposed 
 to the royal vengeance, which would only have been, in 
 some measure, averted by their undoing whatever had 
 been done, or, at least, by the popular party's desertion of 
 the parliament, so that the court faction might act with- 
 out control ; and that, whether they were proceeded 
 against as thus guilty, or were allowed to escape as having 
 been forced into measures hurtful to the prerogative, all 
 
 * It was agreed unto by the sued thereupon, whether treuchinp,- 
 
 treaty with the Scots, ' that an act upon the laws and liberties of the 
 
 of oblivion be made in the parlia- church and kingdom, or upon his 
 
 mods of all the three kiii(jdo)ns, for majesty's honour and authority, in 
 
 bnrving in forgetfulness acts of hos- no time hereafter may be called in 
 
 tility, wlietlicr between the king and question, nor recited as a WTong, 
 
 liis subjects, or between subject and national or personal, whatsoever be 
 
 subject, or whicli may be conceived the quality of tlie person or persons, 
 
 to arise upon the coming of any or of whatever kind or degree, civil 
 
 English army against Scotland, or or criminal, the injury is supposed to 
 
 coming of the Scottish army into be ; and that no mention be made 
 
 I'higland ; or upon any action, at- thereof in time coming, neither in 
 
 tempt, assistance, counsel, or advice judgment nor out of judgment, but 
 
 h.aving relation thereunto, and falling that it shall beheld and reputed 
 
 out by the occasion of the late as though never any such thing had 
 
 troubles preceding the conclusion of b»'en tlionglit or wrouglit,' &c. By 
 
 the treaty, and the return of the the act of pacification this and other 
 
 Scottish army into Scothuid : Tliat articles were ratilied in the strongest 
 
 the same, and wliatsoever hatli en- manner.
 
 CHARACTEE OF DIGBY. 445 
 
 tlie late statutes, which were so magnified by the royal chap. 
 adherents as mighty concessions to liberty, fell, as a matter _^]' ■ 
 of course, to the ground. The king's professions, there- 
 fore, of extreme regard for the privileges' of parliament, 
 and of a purpose to preserve inviolate the late laws, were 
 so belied by this proceeding, as to be productive of nothing 
 but utter distrust, not to say more, of a prince capable of 
 such gross hypocrisy. 
 
 Lord Clarendon informs us, that Lord Falkland, Sir 
 John Colepepper and himself had, through the recom- 
 mendation of Lord Digby, lately become the official 
 advisers of the king, (Falkland having been made 
 secretary of state, Colepepper chancellor of the ex- 
 chequer, and himself having been offered the place of 
 solicitor-general, which, from prudential motives, he then 
 declined,) and that Charles had assured them that he would 
 take no step whatever without their knowledge and appro- 
 bation ; but that, in this prosecution of the six members, 
 lie had been induced by Digby, whose advice alone he 
 followed on the occasion, to violate his engagement, and 
 proceed to such extremities without their knowledge ; 
 and that the same Digby, Avho had promised to support 
 the impeachment in the Upper House, having perceived its 
 effect upon that assembly, ' never spoke the least word, 
 but, on the contrary, seemed the most surprised and 
 perplexed mtli the attorney's impeachment ; and sitting 
 at that time next the Lord Kimbolton, with whom he pre- 
 tended to live ivith much friendshij), he whispered him in 
 the ear with some commotion, (as he had a rare talent in 
 dissimulation,) that the king was very mischievously 
 advised ; and tliat it should go very hard, but he would 
 know whence the counsel proceeded ; in order to which, 
 and to prevent farther mischief, he would go immediately 
 to his majesty, and so went out of the house. Whereas 
 he was the only person who gave the counsel, named the 
 persons, and particularly the Lord Kimbolton,'* &c. Such 
 
 * Clar. Hist. vol. ii. p. 340 et seq., et seq. ; Appeud. to vol. iii. of State 
 pp. 359, 360 ; Life, p. 45 et spq., p. 88 Pajyers, ' Character of Digby.'
 
 440 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BKITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 was the character of Clarendon's own friend, and the 
 adviser of his master. 
 
 Even according to this statement, the most apparently 
 confidential advisers of this king could not depend upon 
 him, since he might at any time the most unexpected, 
 unknown to them, be carried by secret counsels into the 
 most indefensible and irretrievable measures. But Charles 
 could not have been always surrounded by individuals 
 who persuaded him into the adoption of pernicious pro- 
 jects ; and the inference is, not that he was unfortunate 
 in his selection of advisers, but that he selected them for 
 the very qualities which led to his ruin ; and that they 
 advised what they perceived to be agreeable to their 
 master. Of Palkland, Clarendon says, ' ^Ubeit he had 
 the greatest compliance Avith the weakness and even 
 humours of other men, when there could be no suspicion 
 of flattery, and the greatest address to inform and reform 
 them ; yet, towards the king, wdio many times obstinately 
 adhered to many conclusions which clid not naturally 
 result from good premises^ and did love to argue many 
 things to which he did not so positively adhere ; he did 
 not practise that condescension, but contradicted him 
 with more bluntness, and by sharp sentences ; and in 
 some particulars, as of the church, to which his majesty 
 was in conscience most devoted,' (Clarendon had too 
 many documents in his possession disproving that idea 
 to state this in good faith.) ' And of this his majesty often 
 complained ; and cared less to confer with him in private, 
 and was less persuaded by him, than his affairs and 
 the other's great parts and wisdom would have required, 
 though he had not a better opinion of any man's sincerity 
 and fidelity towards him.'* 
 
 The proceedings against the six members, however, 
 resolved upon before the king left Scotland, are with no 
 justice ascribed to Digby ; and the utmost that could 
 with propriety be imputed to that nobleman is, that 
 
 * Life, vol. i. pp. 48-93. Does not this fully establi^li our yiew of the 
 king's character ?
 
 INCOKSTSTENCIES OF CLAKENDON S STATEMENTS. 
 
 447 
 
 having dived into the purpose, he tried to ingratiate him- 
 self by recommending what he saw had been previously 
 determined upon.* But Clarendon's veracity is not re- 
 markable, and it is inconceivable, first, that the charge 
 could have been given to the attorney-general, and also 
 orders to Sir William Fleming, Sir William Killigrew, and 
 other gentlemen ; secondly, that arms and ammunition 
 should have been brouQ-ht from the Tower to Wliitehall ; 
 the o-entlemen of the Inns of Court commanded to be 
 in readiness, and the king's followers prepared to act so 
 desperate a part, all without even the suspicion of Hyde 
 and his coadjutors ; while nothing can be more evident 
 than that, in the proclamations afterwards issued, they at 
 least adopted the measure they disclaimed. f The truth 
 is, however, that Clarendon, even in his History, does not 
 in reality object to the baseness of the measure. He 
 quarrels a httle with the expediency, in consequence of 
 the king's want of resources to carry the matter fully 
 through with a higli hand ; but he chiefly quarrels with 
 the execution, and with the selection of some of the 
 individuals, for that ' Lord Kimbolton was a civil and 
 well-natured man, and had rather kept ill company, than 
 drank deep of that infection and poison that had wrought 
 upon many others ; and that Sir Arthur Haslerig and Mr. 
 Strode were persons of too low an account and esteem ; 
 and though their virulence and malice was as conspicuous 
 and transcendent as any man's, yet their reputation and 
 interest to do mischief, otherwise than in concurring in it, 
 was so small that they gained credit and authority by 
 being joined with the rest, who had indeed a great 
 influence. 'J ' I am sure,' says he in another place, ' they 
 
 CH.4P. 
 IV. 
 
 * See Correspondence between 
 the King and Nicliolas, in Append, 
 to Evelyn's Mem. 
 
 t Some of the contradictions and 
 inconsistencies of Clarendon's state- 
 ments have been already exposed; 
 and I think it impossible that he 
 shonld be ignorant of a measure 
 
 which so many were acquainted 
 with, though it is very likely that 
 Charles and Digby wished to con- 
 ceal it ; and that he and the others, 
 having winked at what was going- 
 onward, condemned it when they 
 saw the result. 
 
 X Clar. vol. ii. p. 377 c. 8.
 
 448 COXSTITUTIOK\L HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 I\ 
 
 CHAP, who out of conscience and loyalty to their king and 
 , country, diligently attended the public service, were 
 strangely surprised at the matter and manner of that 
 accusation, and foresaw from the minute the infinite 
 disadvantages it would bring to the king's affairs. Not 
 that they thought the gentlemen accused less guilty ; for 
 their extreme dishonest acts in the house were so visible^ 
 that nothing could have been laid to their charge incredible ; 
 but the going through with it, was a matter of so great 
 difficulty and concernment, that every circumstance ought 
 to have been fully deliberated, and the several parts dis- 
 tributed into such hands as would not have shaken in the 
 execution. And the saying that the king had not com- 
 petent persons enough, whom he might trust in so impor- 
 tant a secret (which I beheve was true), is rather an 
 argument that the thmg was not to be attempted at all, 
 than that it was to be attempted in that mamier ; for 
 whoever would have betrayed the trust, would be sure 
 to find fault witli it, when it was endeavoured without 
 him, especially if it miscarried. The truth is, there was 
 little reason to believe that the House of Peers would 
 commit the Lord Eambolton, upon the accusation of Mr. 
 Attorney in that conjuncture of time, and less that the 
 House of Commons would deliver up the members to the 
 sergeant-at-arms when they should be demanded, which 
 was an irregular thing, and implied unreasonably that 
 they had some power to keep them who were desired to 
 deliver them. Yet if the choice had been better made, 
 and the several persons first apprehended and put into 
 distinct close custodies, that iieitJier any body else should 
 have heard from them, nor they from one another, all 
 which had not been very difficult, the high spirit of both 
 Houses might p)ossibly have been so dejected, that they might 
 have been treated withal.' With notable inconsistency, he 
 says in the next sentence, that ' that attempt,' which he 
 thus informs us, ' had not been very difficult ; ' that is, if it 
 mean any thing, might have been easily accom[)lished
 
 IV. 
 
 THE king's EETIKEMENT TO HAMPTON COURT. 449 
 
 ^vitli the kino-'s resources, ' had been too great for the chap. 
 sohtary state the king was in at this time, which was 
 most naturally to be improved by standing upon his 
 guard, and denying all that was in his power to deny, 
 and in compelling his ministers to execute the law in those 
 cases that demonstrably concerned the public peace.' * Such 
 were the principles of the good Lord Clarendon — of the 
 most moderate of the royal confidential advisers ; but, 
 indeed, he even, if possible, developes worse principles 
 elsewhere, when he says, that if the proposal of Digby to 
 go with a select party (of whom Lunsford was to be one) 
 into the city to seize the persons of the six members, 
 ' dead or alive,' had been acceded to, ' without doubt he 
 would have done it, ichich must likewise have had a 
 wonderful effect'' f 
 
 ' The king,' says Mr. Hume, ' apprehensive of danger 
 from the enraged multitude, had retired to Hampton 
 Court, deserted by all the world, and overwhelmed with 
 grief, shame, and remorse, for the fatal measures into 
 which he had been hurried. His distressed situation he 
 could no longer ascribe to the rigours of destiny, or the 
 malignity of enemies : his own precipitancy and indis- 
 cretion must bear the blame of whatever disasters should 
 henceforth befal him. The most faithful of his adherents, 
 between sorrow and indignation, were confounded with 
 reflections on what had happened, and what was likely to 
 follow. Seeing every prospect blasted, faction triumph- 
 ant, the discontented populace inflamed to a degree of 
 fury, they utterly despaired of success, in a cause to 
 whose ruin friends and enemies seemed equally to con- 
 spire.' The picture is pathetic; but, unfortunately for 
 that prince's subjects, it is not true. The monarch, whose 
 breast was open to such generous grief, shame, and 
 remorse for his misconduct, would have endeavoured to 
 
 * Clar. vol. ii. pp. 390, 391. 
 
 t Append, to vol. iii. of State Papers, p. 56. 
 
 VOL. II. G G
 
 450 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, retrieve liis error, and have thus spared his people all the 
 ^^- misery that ensued. Nor has this author an apology for 
 his statement, which, with the denial of the army-plots, 
 against the clearest evidence, and the Incident, not to 
 speak of Irish affairs, is the basis of all his subsequent 
 charges against the parliament, for forcing Charles into a 
 war, since the inadvertent admissions of Clarendon, ad- 
 missions at direct variance with his general apology for 
 his master, consequently the more valuable (for, as the 
 confidential adviser of the king, he could not possibly be 
 deceived), are of so contrary a description.* The mon- 
 arch, who is represented as having retired from Whitehall, 
 so overwhelmed with a sense of his fatal rashness, left 
 it with a determination to resort immediately to military 
 operations against his grand council. 
 
 We have already seen how the artillery, arms, and am- 
 munition of the disbanded troops had been deposited in 
 Hull, and had been allowed to he there in spite of a pre- 
 vious intention by the parhament to remove them to the 
 Tower. Now, in the neighbourhood of that town, the 
 Earl of Newcastle, who, in the language of the times, was 
 an inveterate malignant, had vast influence ; and a great 
 portion of the inhabitants, who appear to have mchned to 
 
 * The whole complexion of this aid his erroneous representations of 
 
 part of Mr. Hume's history tiu-us things : therefore, I have been par- 
 
 upon this — that the parliament af- ticularly careful to follow the real 
 
 fected fear, and raised false rumours course of events. To me the tone 
 
 of danger, in order to iniiame the of this portion of jNIr. Hume's work 
 
 populace, and afford a pretext for particularly appears unnatural, since 
 
 virtually dethroning the sovereign. the parliament, by his account, does 
 
 Admit, therefore, that real plots of not seem to have acted with ordinary 
 
 the most atrocious kind had been rationality ; but I suspect it is this 
 
 formed against the parliament, and which has rendered his writing so 
 
 that Avar, or rather military force, for successful. He proceeds upon the 
 
 Cliarles expected to be able to crush assumption, that the majority of 
 
 the national council before it could both Houses and of the age were very 
 
 be prepared for defence, had been silly fanatics, and the mass of readers 
 
 resolved upon, and the character of feel tlieir vanity gratified by a sense 
 
 the historian's statement is com- of intellectual superiority to former 
 
 pletely destroyed. He dwells too in times, 
 generalities, and confounds dates to
 
 THE KOYAL PURPOSE. 
 
 451 
 
 the Catholic faith, were disaffected to the parhament. 
 Thither therefore Charles, before Ids departure from White- 
 hall, secretly despatched that nobleman, with a commission 
 to take possession of the town and magazine, and draw in 
 as many of the trained bands as the earl deemed necessary 
 and could rely upon, the king intending liimself to follow 
 as soon as matters were ready for his reception ; while the 
 queen, to whom Goring, in spite of his pledges to the par- 
 hament, had even in the preceding month of May engaged 
 to surrender Portsmouth, and had received from her a 
 considerable sum, to enable him to strengthen the place, 
 and secretly enlist men, was to proceed directly to that 
 strongly fortified town, in order to take possession of it, 
 as the most important in the South, as well as the magazine 
 for arms in that district.* The Tower was already in the 
 custody of a man who could be depended on, and a vessel 
 with additional arms had just arrived from Berwick, where, 
 as we have seen, they had been detained by the royal 
 dexterity. 
 
 It is true, that the same Lord Clarendon to whom we 
 are indebted for tliis important, but inadvertent, develop- 
 ment of the royal purpose, tells us, that Charles intended, 
 ' that being secured in those strong places, whither they 
 who wished him well might resort and be protected,' ' he 
 would sit stiU, tin they who were over-active would come 
 to reason ; 'f but no one can believe, that since he con- 
 ceived military force necessary against a parliament, he 
 would have failed to make an active use of it; and the idea 
 
 CH.4P. 
 IV. 
 
 * Clar. vol. ii. pp. 388, 389, 417, 
 418 ; Journals of the Commons for 
 January 11 et seq., 1642; Old Pari 
 Hid. vol. ix. p. 1027 ; Eush. vol. iv. 
 p. 504. William Legg, one of those 
 deeply concerned in the army-plot, 
 "was also employed to secure Hull. 
 This individual, by his evidence, im- 
 plicated Charles ; yet so gTeat afavour- 
 ite was he, that he even went by the 
 
 name of Honest Will Legg. He 
 was ancestor of the Earls of Dart- 
 mouth. The Earl of Newcastle was 
 suspected, on good gi-ounds, of having 
 been also engaged in the army-plots. 
 The queen would appear to have 
 gained a promise of Goring {3Iem. 
 par Mad. de MottevillC; tome i. p. 
 263). 
 
 t Clar. Ihid. 
 
 G G 2
 
 452 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIEE. 
 
 CHAP is inconsistent with liis whole conduct, the principles of 
 - ^^' - his most moderate advisers, and the very nature of things. 
 The conduct of an assembly which justified his retiring to 
 a place of strength, justified him also in dissolving it ; and 
 as conservator of the public peace, he was bound to quell 
 the disorders which arose from the factious spirit engen- 
 dered by the parliament, and, consequently, to march di- 
 rectly to the capital. In that event, too, the prosecution of 
 the six members would not have been dropped ; and it is 
 easy to perceive the application of the principle laid down 
 by Clarendon, that the king, while he stood on the defen- 
 sive, should have compelled his ministers to execute the 
 law in those cases that concerned tlie public peace. As 
 the majority in both Houses, too, had been equally guilty 
 with the six impeached members, it is not to be imagined 
 that Charles would have allowed them to triumpli in secu- 
 rity. A parliament without power is no parliament ; and 
 as the general affairs of the kingdom could not have stood 
 still, matters must soon have terminated in a direct use of 
 the military. Taxes were necessary for the public exi- 
 gencies; and even the last act of tonnage and poundage, 
 duties which could not be dispensed with, was about to 
 expire. But as, under such circumstances, the parliament 
 never would have voluntarily imposed taxes, Charles 
 must either have overawed them, or levied impositions 
 in his former despotical manner — thus letting in a flood 
 of arbitrary power, which swept before it all constitu- 
 tional principles. There remained after this no alter- 
 native for the monarcli, even had he desired it, whicli 
 no one who reviews his measures can beheve. If doubt 
 remained, it would be removed by tlie promise which 
 Clarendon, directly against the tenor of those statements 
 by whicli he would throw the odium of beginning the 
 war upon the parhament, admits that the queen, who 
 distrusted her husband's firmness, exacted of Charles, 
 before she left England, not to make peace with the.
 
 PROMPT MEASURES OF THE TWO HOUSES. 453 
 
 parliament without liaviue^ first obtained her consent, chap. 
 
 TTT 
 
 War did not commence for months afterwards ; yet it is ._ , ' . 
 evident from this that war, of so implacable a nature as 
 to preclude the idea of accommodation, was then fully- 
 resolved upon. 
 
 The prompt measures of the two Houses, particularly 
 of the Commons, who procured intelligence of the most 
 secret plots of the council — for which both they and their 
 informers are reviled by Clarendon, a further proof that 
 he regretted the failure, not the conception, of such designs 
 — frustrated the royal purpose, and obhged him to tem- 
 porise for months. But to such extremity had matters 
 proceeded, that immediately after the removal from 
 Whitehall, his desperate band of discarded officers, at 
 least two hundred, with Lunsford at their head, having 
 retired to Kingston-upon-Thames, where lay the magazine 
 of the county, appeared in a warlike manner ; while 
 Digby, having gone to them by the royal command, 
 thanked them for their offer of, and accepted of, their 
 services in the king's name, assurmg them that his majesty 
 had brought them thither to prevent their being trampled 
 in the dirt in London, and that he would amply reward 
 their loyal attachment.* Ammunition, large saddles, with 
 
 * See Journals of Commons, vol. ii. majesties, and, leaving them at 
 pp. Jj7o, .'570, .379 et seq. ; Husband's Hampton Court, provided tlieir 
 Collect, of State Papers,]). 202 et seq.; own accommodation at Kingston, 
 Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 1036 the next place of receipt, and still 
 et seq. ; Wbitelocke, p. 54 ; Nalson, so used for the overplus of company 
 vol. ii. p. 845 et seq. Uigby's own which the court itself could not en- 
 apologetical defence of himself after tertain. To these gentlemen, of 
 his flight — a defence intended to aid whom few or none were of my ac- 
 the Royal cause — is well worthy of quaintance, and to this place was I 
 notice ; that after the rudeness and sent by his majesty, with some ex- 
 violence of the rabble drove their pressions of hismajesty'sgoodaccept- 
 majesties to Hampton Court, he, by ance of their service, and returning 
 command, attended them. ' In this the same niglit to Hampton Court, 
 short journey,' says he, 'many sol- continued my attendance to Windsor, 
 di'ers and commandeis (who had as- whither their majesties then re- 
 sembled themselves jointly to solicit paired. I had not been there one 
 payment of their arrears for the late day, when I heard that both Houses 
 northern expedition from the txoo of Parliament were infomied, that I 
 Houses of Parliament)^&\ie(\. on theiv and Coll. Lunsford, a person with
 
 454 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 arms, were likewise arrested in their passage tliitlier ; and 
 it may be inferi'ed that tlie failure of the design upon 
 Hull and Portsmouth, with measures that prevented dan- 
 ger from the Tower, the raising of the adjoining counties 
 to disperse the forces at Kingston, and stopping of all 
 levies under the pretext of intending them for the service 
 of Ireland, alone changed the current of affairs at this 
 juncture, by preventing a levy of troops, and obliged 
 Digby, who was thence accused of high treason, to 
 abscond. 
 
 As, without supplies from the English parliament, 
 Charles was destitute of the means to raise a force capable 
 of quelling the Irish rebelhon, the settled plan to destroy 
 
 whom I never exchanged twenty 
 words in ray life/ (indeed ! when, ac- 
 cording to Clarendon, he was one of 
 the very men — the only one named, 
 with whom yon proposed to go into the 
 city to take the six members, dead or 
 alive, on the evening of the 4th ! ) 
 ' had appeared in a warlike manner at 
 Kingston, to the terror of the king's 
 lieges, &c. When first this news 
 was bronght me, I could not but 
 slight it as a ridiculous rumour ; for, 
 being most certain that I had never 
 been at Kingston, but only upon that 
 message of the king's to forty or fifty 
 gentlemen totally strangers to me, 
 with whom I stayed not the space of 
 half an hour at most, in no other 
 equipage than a coach and six hired 
 horses, with one single man in the 
 coach with me, and one servant riding 
 by, I thought it utterly impossible 
 for the most romancy itself, at so 
 near a distance, to raise out of that 
 any serious matter of scandal or pre- 
 judice upon me ' {Id. p. 8(55^. Now, 
 the want of veracity in Digby has 
 already been fully established, and 
 therefore his relation is of small 
 value in his own favour, or that of 
 the cause he espouses, but it is of 
 much against both. Why this con- 
 cours(> to Kingston of inanif soldiers 
 and officers, whose business was witli 
 both Houses of Parliament ? Whv 
 
 the message by Digby to them? The 
 evidence led by parliament, then, 
 comes to us without suspicion, and 
 it was of a very black aspect. In- 
 deed, Digby had no time to do more 
 than see these men once, because 
 on the very day after Charles left 
 Whitehall, parliament interposed to 
 frustrate the design on Hull and 
 Portsmouth, without which any at- 
 tempt at Kingston could never suc- 
 ceed ; and it was only on the 12th, 
 the day on which Charles removed to 
 AViiulsor, that Digby's attempt Avas 
 directly defeated by the measures of 
 both Plouses. Clarendon's statement 
 (vol. ii. pp. 383, 384 ) is very uncandid, 
 and is at direct variance with dates. 
 But what shall we say to Mr. Hume's, 
 who, in the face of Digby's own ad- 
 mission — an admission calculated to 
 malce a favourable impression for the 
 cause in which he had embarked, as 
 well as to screen himself — says, 'Lord 
 Jiii/hi/ havhii/ entered Kinc/ston hi a 
 coach (Did sir, attended by nfew livery 
 servants, the intelligence was con- 
 veyed to London ; and it was imme- 
 diately voted that he had appeared 
 in a liostile manner, to the terror and 
 affright of his majesty's subjects, and 
 had levied war against the king and 
 kingdom.' I cannot guess what that 
 author's feelings were when he sat 
 down gravely to write so.
 
 THE PRESSIXG-BILL. 455 
 
 tlie constitutional assembly is altogether inconsistent with chap. 
 
 his professions on the Irish affairs. His language on that • .J - 
 
 subject, however, did not exceed the expressions of the 
 Lords of the Pale, before they openly joined the in- 
 surgents ; and it was the misfortune of this prince to have 
 justly forfeited all confidence in his word.* His religious 
 predilections have already been amply developed, and he 
 was now under the pernicious influence of the queen. It 
 is not, therefore, very wonderful that he should not have 
 been over-much disposed to j^rotect the Irish Pimtaus, at 
 the expense of a body who affected to rise in defence of 
 his prerogative, at the same time that he had resolved on 
 measures pregnant with the ruin of whatever was deemed 
 most valuable — of aU their political and civil franchises — 
 of the people of England. True it is that his conduct in 
 regard to Ireland had the extraordinary and unhappy, yet 
 necessary effect of retarding, or frustrating rather, the 
 relief of that wretched country. We have seen that the 
 lord lieutenant was ordered by the parliament to raise 
 volunteers or recrmts by beat of drum ; but that the 
 Commons, at the same time, proposed a biU for pressing 
 soldiers, into which they inserted a clause against the 
 legality of pressing, without the intervention of the legis- 
 lature, unless the kingdom were invaded by a foreign 
 power. Now, it has been alleged that the design of the 
 Commons was merely to wrest from the crown a power 
 inherent in it, since, considering the late disbandment of 
 the army against the Scots, there could be no want of 
 volunteers. But the power arrogated by the sovereign 
 was a usurpation incompatible with law ; and if Charles 
 had been sincere in his other concessions, he would not 
 have hesitated, especially at such a juncture — when delay 
 was pregnant with so many calamities — to have yielded 
 
 * Immediately after the Licident, grieiFe ' (Balfour's Diurnull, p. 104). 
 
 Charles addressed the Scottish par- It thus appears that he could weep 
 
 liament, to which he professed his upon occasion, tliouo-h he heard of 
 
 innocence, ' with teares in his eyies, his dear friend Buckingham's assas- 
 
 (and as it seemed) in a very grate sination with perfect composure.
 
 456 "CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, this point also, without which all the late provisions in 
 V ^]' ., favour of public liberty were nugatory. Matters, how- 
 ever, on both sides, were of far deeper concernment. 
 After such a long course of misgovernment, and what the 
 Commons had lately experienced, they could not trust 
 Charles with an army ; and a resolution had already been 
 formed by them, to vest the power over the militia in 
 commissioners nominated with the approbation of parlia- 
 ment, while they had even issued orders about the appoint- 
 ment of officers to the Irish army. By means of the 
 pressing bill, the troops could be ready to be instantly 
 embodied without being drawn together, so as to afford 
 an opportunity to the king to gain them, and set officers 
 over them, before the important matter regarding the 
 commanders were fully determined ; but if the ordinary 
 way of levy were adopted, the late disbanded soldiers, 
 whose affections had been so corrupted, would be the 
 first to enlist ; when commissions, hastily issued by the 
 king to the very officers who had entered into such con- 
 s])iracies against the parliament — nay, had lately acted at 
 Wiiitehall and elsewhere — would at once 2;ive him the 
 command of an army which, from all circumstances, it 
 may safely be inferred, would be employed to perform a 
 notable service in England before it crossed the Irish 
 Channel. He could not but know that the interference 
 with the bill in its passage through the Houses, with the 
 displeasure expressed towards the members who had 
 stirred the question about his right, would lead to the 
 result which it occasioned ; and that then the Commons 
 could not retreat from their point without recognising a 
 power which had been already so fully pronounced 
 illegal, and consequently exposing the franchises of all 
 ranks. 
 
 The advocates of this prince have alleged, that the 
 Scots might have at once sent upwards of 5000 men to 
 Ireland, and thus have crushed the rebellion at its com- 
 mencement ; but that, though urged to it by him, they,
 
 TEESSING-BILL DELAYED. 457 
 
 in spite of tlieir professions of eagerness to save that chap. 
 
 country from the insurgents, declined to adopt so sahitary 
 a course.* Now, we have already seen, that, as Ireland 
 Avas a dependency of England alone, they could not, 
 without involving the two kingdoms in a quarrel — an 
 event which Charles would probably have hailed as aus- 
 picious — have attempted to send an army there before 
 they obtained the authority of the English parhament ; 
 and that, as they had neither resources themselves to 
 maintain such an army, nor, if they had, could have been 
 expected to use them for the defence of the dependency 
 of a foreign state— it was necessary to have not only 
 authority from England to transport tlie troops, but an 
 assurance that they should be maintained at the expense 
 of that country : that the Enghsh Commons voted for 
 the acceptance of troops — first of smaller nmnbers, but 
 latterly of 10,000 ; but that the obstruction to an agree- 
 ment with the Scottish commissioners arose from the 
 Upper House, who would only yield to the measure con- 
 ditionally — that 10,000 English should also be sent ; 
 while they delayed the pressing bill, which was not passed 
 
 * Carle's Ormonde, vol. i. p. 197. London. But he quotes no autliority 
 
 This writer, after stating that the for such a statement, and it is at 
 
 Scots had 5000 still on foot (which direct variance with the whole ac- 
 
 is not coiTect), and might easily have counts of the proceedings on that 
 
 collected more, which would at once head ; while it may give some idea 
 
 have put an eifectual stop to these of this writer's accuracy to mention 
 
 commotions, says, with shameless that, in the royal addresses, there is 
 
 effrontery, ' But neither their pre- not even an insinuation of such a 
 
 tended zeal for religion, nor the thing. Is it not strange, therefore, 
 
 bleeding condition of that kingdom, that Mr, Laing should, amongst 
 
 nor the danger of their countrymen in others, have adopted this story ? But 
 
 it, nor the entreaties of their natural misstatements or errors once made, 
 
 sovereign, nor the shame of failing in descend from one writer to another, 
 
 their own promises the very moment like the heir-loom in a family. The 
 
 they were making them, could pre- 1500 that Carte referred to were not 
 
 vail with the Scots to afford any sent till long afterwards, and went 
 
 succours in this general calamity.' under a commission by both Houses 
 
 lam sorry indeed to say that Mr. to the Marquis of Argyle (see 
 
 Hume's statement is, if possible, still Journals of tlie Commons, 7th and 
 
 worse. Carte says that the king saw 22nd February, 1641-2). Laing's 
 
 1500 men sent off to Ulster to protect account of these matters is very in- 
 
 the Scottish colony there, and that he accurate, 
 told the Houses this on liis return to
 
 458 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BKITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, till after the king had left Whitehall, and thus prevented 
 V ^^' - the raising of 10,000 English already voted by the 
 Commons. The principle advanced by the Lords was, 
 that it gave the Scots too much power in a dependency of 
 England — a position in which there is, unquestionably, 
 much appearance of reason. But it completely disproves 
 the allegations about the backwardness of the Scots ; and 
 it is not unworthy of remark, that this objection came 
 from the king himself: for the majority in the Upper 
 House, who frustrated the agreement with the northern 
 Idngdom, were the prelates and lay lords attached to the 
 court ; and their language was, consequently, just as sure 
 an indication of the royal purpose, as if he had himself 
 openly proclaimed it. He, however, directly spoke the 
 same language afterwards in regard to 2500 only, which 
 both Houses had accepted of ; for, posterior to the time 
 now alluded to, he objected to that number's passing into 
 Ireland, with authority to take possession of a certain 
 town, because it would give them a power in that island 
 inconsistent with the pretensions of England.* It is un- 
 necessary to add, that the proposal by Charles to raise 
 10,000 volunteers, provided parliament would engage to 
 support them, could not, with any regard to the national 
 secLurity, have been accepted of. 
 
 The instant that Charles heard of the rebellion, he sent 
 a commission to Ormond to take the command of the 
 army ; but, if we may credit Antrim, whose statement 
 derives much support from other circumstances, Ormond 
 had himself been engaged in the design against Dublin 
 
 * This will bo fully stated in its the care of it to both the English and 
 
 proper place ; and I just beg that the Scottish parliaments; but he could 
 
 reader will compare it with the pre- not do otherwise, without virtually 
 
 ceding passage from Carte, and acknowledging himself a party to it, 
 
 Hume's observations on the same and thus ruining all his affairs. Yet, 
 
 subject — the conduct of the Scots on though he recommeuded the Irish 
 
 hearing of the rebellion. The latter business to the care of the English 
 
 writer conceives it to be evident that parliament, he never, as we have 
 
 Cliarles was not accessory to the re- seen, intended that the Houses should 
 
 bellion, that he at once recommended have tlie management of it.
 
 THE SHERIFFS CALLED TO EAISE THE POSSE COMITATUS. 459 
 
 Castle, ill order to re-organise the late disbancled army chap. 
 out of the stores there ; and therefore a commission to .,.. — ^ — ' 
 him was apparently of all things the most calculated to 
 promote the cause it was professedly intended to ruin. 
 The unexpected and detestably cruel course, however, 
 which the rebellion took, seems to have filled Ormond 
 with genuine abhorrence at the insurrection ; and it has 
 been alleged by the advocates of the insurgents, that, 
 through personal hatred of the Irish Cathohcs, he, in pur- 
 suing them so rigorously, contravened his master's orders. 
 To this, however, the disposition of the army, and of all 
 around him, as well as of the executive there, must have, 
 in no small degree, contributed. Yet his conduct was, in 
 several respects, equivocal ; and there is proof of his hav- 
 ing been, almost at the beginning of the insurrection, em- 
 ployed by Charles to negotiate a peace secretly with the 
 rebels, while he was not deemed worthy of being trusted 
 in some of the most important transactions with them. 
 The Irish insurgents were not proclaimed rebels till Ja- 
 nuary, and orders were given to print only forty copies of 
 • the proclamation.* 
 
 As both Houses of Parhament were to meet on the Re-assem- 
 11th, the committee of the Commons called upon the p^rifa" 
 sheriffs of London and Middlesex to raise the vosse nient,Ja- 
 
 J- niiary 11, 
 
 comitatus as a guard to the king and parliament. On 1612, and 
 this occasion many captains of vessels and mariners ten- ce'edkgs. 
 dered their services ; and these having been accepted of, 
 they carried the guns, great and small, from their ships to 
 Westminster. The apprentices also proffered their ser- 
 vices ; but the committee, with a suitable acknoAvledg- * 
 ment of the obligation, declined them. While they made 
 these dispositions for the security of both Houses, they also 
 
 * Append, to Clar. Hist, of the Notes by us.) See liow Antrim re- 
 
 Irish Rebellion ; State Papers, voL ii. sented the cruelties of the insurgents, 
 
 p. 178 ; Carte's Ormonde, vol. i. p. though, doubtless, engaged at the 
 
 280 et seq., Let. in Append, and in outset (p. 178). Deposition of Dr. 
 
 vol. iii. ; Vlowden's Ireland, vol. i. p. Maxwell, Append, to Borlase's Ire- 
 
 142 et seq. ; Rush. vol. iv. p. 472 ; land. 
 May, lib. ii. p. 31 et seq. (See former
 
 4G0 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 defeated an attempt to reinforce the Tower ; having 
 ordered a vessel, which had arrived with arms and am- 
 mmiition, to fall down the river, and issued strict injunc- 
 tions aofainst landins; the stores.* 
 
 The impeached members on the 11th proceeded from 
 the city to Westminster by water, and the procession was 
 an affecting one. About from thirty to forty long boats, 
 armed with guns, and carrying flags, accompanied them, 
 besides a great number of smaller vessels, filled with citi- 
 zens and mariners. The city had appointed Skippon, ' a 
 faithful and able soldier,' the commander of the trained 
 bands, under the title of serjeant-major-general; and he 
 marched at the head of part of his forces, at the same 
 time with the procession by water, as a protection to the 
 members by land.f 
 
 On the same day another affecting spectacle was exhi- 
 bited. Hampden was the genuine representative of Buck- 
 inghamshire, for he truly expressed the sentiments of his 
 constituents, and many knights, gentlemen, and freeholders, 
 from that county, (to the number, it is said, of about 
 4000,) alarmed for their own privileges, and deeply inter- 
 ested in the fate of the individual who had so resolutely 
 stood forth the vindicator of them, came to the parliament 
 with a petition from the county to the Lords, and another 
 to the Commons, each bearing in his hat a printed copy 
 of the protestation for defence of the king, and parliament. 
 
 • Rush. vol. iv. p 483. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 4.S4; Wliitelocke, p. 54. 
 Clarendon says, * that there was 
 a conflux of many thousands of 
 people, besides the puard, making 
 a great clamour against bishops 
 and popish lords, and for the pri- 
 vileges of parliament ; simic of them, 
 as they passed Whitehall, asking 
 with much contempt, wliat was 
 become of the king and his ca- 
 valiers, and whither he was gone. 
 The questions were natural ; but it 
 would require better authority than 
 Clarendon to satisfy us of the con- 
 
 tempt with which they were put. 
 Now, mark the use whicli Mr. Hume 
 makes of this. ' They still asked, with 
 insulting shotds, what has become,' 
 &c. Neither Whitelocke nor Dug- 
 dale, who are likewise referred to by 
 Hume, even insinuates that such 
 questions were asked ! By the bye, 
 1 forgot in a former note to say, that 
 one of the State Papers in which an 
 allusion is made to the pajier thrown 
 into his majesty's coach, with the 
 words written on it, ' To your tents, 
 O Israel,' is embodied in Clarendon's 
 own History, vol. ii. p. 470.
 
 BOTH HOUSES KESOLVE TO APPOINT A GUARD. 461 
 
 In these petitions they set forth that they had suffered chap. 
 under the various acts of misgovernment and oppression 
 detailed in the Eemonstrance ; that, however, they were 
 fully sensible of the unwearied exertions of the Commons 
 to redress their grievances ; but that their endeavours 
 had been rendered abortive by a Malignant faction, con- 
 sisting of popish lords and prelates, in the Upper House, 
 and, therefore, prayed that the evil councillors — Achans 
 of the Commonwealth — might be delivered up to jus- 
 tice ; that the privileges of parliament might be secured, 
 Ireland relieved, &c. They had also prepared a petition 
 to the king, which a select number were deputed to pre- 
 sent. He returned a similar answer to that which he 
 made to the city's petition.* It is unnecessary to observe, 
 that these petitions gave additional life and vigour to the 
 popular party. 
 
 Both Houses immediately resolved to appoint a guard 
 under Skippon ; and it is not unworthy of notice, that an 
 answer was delivered, on the reassembling of parhament, 
 to the late petition, on that subject, in which the Lords 
 had concurred, offering a guard under the command of 
 the Earl of Lindsay,f the very individual who was nomi- 
 nated the royal commander on the breaking out of the 
 civil war. The Commons, who had received secret in- 
 telligence of Charles's designs, J moved that Sir John 
 Hotham and his son should be instantly sent down to 
 HuU, where lay the magazine of the North, to take pos- 
 session of that important place in the name of the king, 
 but to obey no orders except those from the king, signified 
 by both Houses of Parliament ; and, for the sake of secu- 
 rity, to call in part of the trained bands that could be 
 
 * Clar. vol. ii. p. 381 ; Rushwortli, both Houses in the very next page 
 vol. iv. p. 486 et seq. ; Whitelocke, for having usurped the sovereignty 
 p. 54. in sending down Hotham (vol. ii. 
 f Old Pari Hist. x. p. 197. pp. 180, 181. See further as to 
 X Clarendon, while he discloses the kino's intentions, p. 230 et ficq.). 
 the important fact of the royal inten- In short, the parliament ought to 
 tion, and of the parliament's having have sat still and coolly allowed it- 
 obtained secret notice of it, denoimces self to be destroyed.
 
 462 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAR depended on from the adjacent country. With some 
 difficulty the parhament succeeded in saving this town ; 
 and the Earl of Newcastle, having failed in his object of 
 surprising the place for the king, was privately allowed 
 by his master to obey an order of the Upper House for 
 his attendance as a member ; while Legg, who was also 
 employed by the king in that business, was brought up 
 by applying to his bail for his appearance.* Injunctions 
 were likewise transmitted to Goring, as governor of 
 Portsmouth, to obey no order but such as came from the 
 king through both Houses of Parliament, and ammunition 
 intended for that place was stopped. The Tower was too 
 important a fort to escape their attention. Though the 
 Lords refused to join the Commons in a petition for the 
 removal of Sir John Byron as lieutenant, tliey concurred 
 in ordering him to attend the parliament, to give an 
 explanation of his late conduct, and particularly of the 
 cause of such quantities of ammunition, &c. having lately 
 been carried to and from that fort. He refused to obey 
 the summons, and was voted a delinquent, while Skippon 
 was commanded to place a guard by sea and water round 
 the Tower ; and the Lords ae^reed with the Commons in 
 affording the city an opportunity of showing the cause of 
 their apprehensions from such an individual as Byron. 
 Litehigence having been received on the 12th, that Lord 
 Digby had appeared at Kingston-upon-Thames, with a 
 large party of the officers and soldiers who had lately 
 acted such a part at Whitehall, and even now used very 
 threatening language towards the parliament, orders were 
 issued to the civil authorities to raise the power of the 
 four neighbouring shires for the purpose of dispersing 
 them. The military band retreated to Windsor that 
 evening with tlie king. The Commons likewise voted 
 
 * The earl, stispocting that the but he Tvas soon recognised, and then 
 
 king's commission would not procure the trick recoiled upon himself 
 
 him access, attempted to pass under (Rush. vol. iv. p. 5G4; Journah of 
 
 the feigned name of Sir John Savage j the Commons).
 
 CABIM^IT COUNCIL HELD AT WIXDSOE. ITS DETEKMIXATIOXS. 
 
 463 
 
 that tlie kingdom should be put in a posture of defence, 
 but the Lords refused to join them.* 
 
 In this manner were defeated all the immediate desions 
 upon Portsmouth, Hull, and Kingston, while the Tower 
 was almost in a state of blockade ; and hence it was quite 
 evident that new counsels were necessary. Accordingly, 
 a cabinet council was held at Windsor, at which it was 
 determined that the queen should, under pretence of 
 carrying her daughter, Avho was only eleven years old, to 
 her liusband in Holland, leave England for the purpose 
 of soliciting supplies of men and money from foreign 
 states, and also of raising as much as possible upon the 
 crown jewels, the part of which still in England she should 
 take with her ; and that, till supplies were received, 
 Charles should amuse both Houses with negotiations, and 
 gradually retreat northwards, where the people were 
 better affected towards him, and where he still hoped to 
 be able, by seizing Hull, with all the magazines, to organise 
 an army. He was to begin his levy under tlie pretext of 
 raising a guard. It was no longer necessary or prac- 
 ticable to think of immediate operations in regard to the 
 Tower, and Byron obeyed the summons from both Houses, 
 when he excused his former refusal by alleging that he 
 was in a dilemma betwixt his duty to the king and to 
 the parliament. f 
 
 Still the petition of the Commons for his removal was 
 indignantly rejected. When, however, both Houses at 
 last agreed in a petition for that purpose, Charles per- 
 ceived that, guarded as the place was, so as to be no 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 * Old Pari Hist. \o\. x. p. 198 et 
 seq. ; CoLbett's Pari. Hist. voL ii. 
 p. 1029 et seq. 
 
 t As Father Orleans showed his 
 history to James II. who approved 
 of the statements, it is valuable (see 
 Hiit. des Rev. d'Ang. liv. ix. p. 87, 
 ed. 1694). But we learn the same 
 thing from Clarendon, whose state- 
 ments on this head — the one in his 
 
 history, the other in his life — where 
 the truth is more nearly developed, 
 may be contrasted. His first reso- 
 lution before leaving London was to 
 get possession of Hull and Ports- 
 mouth ; and the same historian lets 
 out, iu passages which had been sup- 
 pressed, that hostilities had been re- 
 solved on early in the preceding 
 season.
 
 464 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIEE. 
 
 CHAP, longer useful to tlie Eoyal cause, it would be imprudent to 
 . •'^) • - deny their request. In another respect, the Upper House 
 evinced spirit. Charles had ordered the Earls of Essex 
 and Holland, as holding offices, to accompany him to 
 Hampton Court ; and it is said by Clarendon that the first 
 was inclined to go, till the last assured him that they 
 would both be murdered if they went — a melancholy 
 proof of the opinion entertained of this prince, though 
 warranted by the secret order to behead Lord Loudon in 
 the Tower, witliout the slightest attempt at a legal pro- 
 ceeding, and by the Incident, &c. These lords, therefore, 
 referred the matter to the body of which they were mem- 
 bers, and by them were conmianded to attend their duty 
 in parliament.* 
 
 The Commons published the result of the evidence 
 taken before the committee regarding the king's violent 
 intrusion into the Lower House, and entered into resolu- 
 tions that it was illegal to arrest any member of parlia- 
 ment on any charge without the consent of the House to 
 which he belonged. This has been greatly censured as 
 against law, and there does not certainly appear to be a 
 legal ground for assuming that a member of parliament 
 should be so protected against arrestment, upon a charge 
 of treason or felony, as not to be liable to seizure without 
 the consent of that assembly ; but matters were now 
 thrown out of their usual course, and new rules were 
 necessary. As the laws are provided for the general secu- 
 rity, it is against every principle of common sense to 
 maintain that the law might be used as a colour for 
 destroying the very fountain of all law ; and it was well 
 observed by Hampden to Hyde — who, as having secretly 
 engaged to support the royal measures in the Lower 
 House, argued strenuously against the legality of the 
 resolutions, aflecting to the popular party to be actuated 
 by a pure regard to right — that ' he well knew he (Hyde) 
 
 • Old Pari. Hist. vol. x. p. im et p. 1029 ct seq. ; Clarendon, vol. ii. 
 seq. ; Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 379 ; Journals.
 
 THE ATTOENEY-GENEKAL IMPEACHED. 465 
 
 liad a niincl they slioiild all be in prison '* — a remark of chap. 
 which none can doubt the truth who attends to the senti- - ^^' ■ 
 ments promulgated by him in his History, and quoted in 
 our preceding pages. 
 
 The king now sent a message to both Houses, that as 
 some conceived it disputable whether the proceedings 
 against Lord Kimbolton and the five members of the 
 Commons were legal and agreeable to the privileges of 
 parliament, and as he was desirous to give satisfaction to 
 all men on all matters that might appear to have relation 
 to their privileges, he waived his former proceedings ; 
 that, since this must remove all doubts as to his inten- 
 tions, so he would proceed against them in an unquestion- 
 able way, for he protested that he would on all occasions 
 be as careful of their privileges as of his hfe and crown. 
 This, how^ever, as it could not relieve the just fears of the 
 two Houses, so it did not divert them from their duty ; 
 and their apprehensions must have been the greater, as, 
 in spite of their secret knowledge of the royal purpose, 
 they were told, in answer to a petition regarding Hull 
 (for they communicated their resolutions on that head, 
 under the pretext of dreading the machinations of Papists), 
 that he had already considered the cause of their fears, 
 and had taken special care for the security of the place 
 against the adjoining Cathohcs.f The attorney-general 
 was interrogated regarding the impeachment of the six 
 members, and he confessed that he had no grounds for 
 the measure — no information or the like — except the 
 command of the king, who furnished the articles. He 
 was, therefore, himself impeached, and afterwards, by a 
 sentence of the Lords, disabled from ever being a mem- 
 ber of, or assistant, or pleader in, either house of par- 
 liament, and from holding any office except his present 
 one of attorney-general. J 
 
 * Life, pp. 47, 91. J Old Pari. Hist. vol. x. pp. 205, 
 
 t Old I'arl. Hist. vol. x. p. 202 et 215, 297, 310, 347, 348 et seq. ; Cob- 
 
 seq. ; Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. bett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 1033, 
 
 p. 103 et seq. ; Journals. 1039, 1010, 1089, 1090, 1098 et 
 
 VOL. II. H H
 
 466 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOKY OF TEE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAr. 
 IV. 
 
 Fftitions 
 to parlia- 
 ment. 
 
 against 
 
 Petitions from all quarters now poured in 
 episcopacy, and for putting the kingdom in a posture of 
 defence ; and the spirit of the Commons was invigorated 
 by such marks of the pubhc confidence.* There was at 
 
 seq., 1121 et seq., 1179, Cliarles 
 maintained tliat tlie attorney-general 
 was bound by his oath, as the first 
 law officer of the crown, to present 
 the articles which his majesty had 
 furnished ; and this is the ground 
 assumed by Clarendon. But surely 
 it never can be pretended that a 
 public officer is justified in a scheme 
 evidentlj' calculated for the destruc- 
 tion of parliament, under the colour 
 of a legal proceeding, and the duty 
 of his office : That he might charge 
 and subject to all the consequences 
 of such an accusation, members of 
 the parliament, in order to destroy 
 the parliament, without any infor- 
 mation or proof of any hind before 
 him. The king was bound himself 
 to disclose the names of the sugges- 
 tors, according to the statute, 37 
 Edw. III. c. 18, and 38 c. 9 (see 
 Rush. vol. iv. p. 492). 
 
 * The Journals of the Conwums 
 show, that petitions were presented 
 from most of the principal counties 
 and towns in England ; and Mr. 
 Hume's account of the petitions is 
 unworthy of him. The petition from 
 the apprentices had been presented 
 before the impeachment of the mem- 
 bers, and one to the same purpose 
 was presented to the throne, as well 
 as another to the Lords. The appren- 
 tices were, as we have formerly re- 
 marked, a powerful body. The one 
 from the porters, whose number is 
 said to amount to 1500, and who are 
 made to add, that, ' if such remedies' 
 (as they had named) ' were any 
 longer suspended, they should be 
 forced to extremities not fit to be 
 named, and make good the saying, 
 " necessity h as no law " ' — is nowhere 
 to be found or alluded to, so far as I 
 recollect, e.xcept in Clarendon's 7/i'.s- 
 tori/; and I have no hesitation in 
 pronouncing it a forgery by that 
 author, to disgrace the petitions 
 which so galled him and his party. 
 
 The Journals of the Commons give an 
 account of eveiy petition ; and I have 
 gone over them with the utmost care, 
 in order to ascertain whether such a 
 petition ever was presented, and yet 
 cannot discover a trace of it. The 
 dexterity of Clarendon as a forger of 
 such things is triumphantly told us 
 by himself. Told us — nay, the work 
 in which he discloses this important 
 fact was intended for his children ; 
 yet he gives a long character of him- 
 self, wherein he takes great credit 
 for his candour. ' Another petition ' 
 was presented,' says Mr. Hume, ' by 
 several poor people, or herjgars. This 
 is an odd statement, because the 
 petition bears, in gramio, to be from 
 poor artificers and tradesmen, who 
 attributed a decay of trade to the 
 impolicy of the government (Jour- 
 nals, vol. ii. p. 404). See it in Cla- 
 rendon, even. Dugdale (p. 87), and 
 he is quoted by Mr. Hume, says that 
 the petition ' was from many thou- 
 sands of poor tradesmen in London, 
 as they styled themselves.' It is 
 singular, too, that the words ' OR 
 BEGGARS ' do not appear either in 
 the first or second edition ; the words 
 there are ' by several poor people, in 
 the name of many thousands more.' 
 The author says justly in his Life, 
 that all his alterations were to the 
 Tory side. It is really amusing to 
 note them, particularly in expres- 
 sions, by comparing the different 
 editions. Each recedes farther than 
 its predecessor from his authorities. 
 
 I find another petition from ' an 
 infinite number of poor tradesmen 
 and artificers in and about London 
 and Westminster,' complaining of so 
 many foreigners trading there, and 
 the incnnveniences likely to ensue 
 (Journals of the Commons, vol. ii. 
 p. 404). This was, however, the 
 old complaint revived, and was un- 
 connected with the present posture 
 of affairs. But the grand subject of
 
 PETITIONS. 
 
 467 
 
 last, too, a prospect that they should obtain what they chap. 
 
 had long aimed at — command of the forts and the - 
 
 IV. 
 
 ridicule is one from the females, 
 presented ' by a brewer's wife.' Now, 
 had the learned author looked into 
 the Journals, he would have seen 
 this matter in a ditlerent light from 
 the ludicrous one in which he pre- 
 sents it. On Tuesday, tlie 1st of 
 February, Serjeant-major Skippon, 
 who commanded the guard, requested 
 to offer something to the House, and, 
 being called in, desired ' that he 
 might have directions what he should 
 do in this case, there being gTeat 
 multitudes of women at the houses, 
 pressing to present a petition to the 
 parliament, and their language is, 
 that where there is one woman now 
 here, there would be 500 to-morrow ; 
 and that it was as good to die here 
 as at home. Serjeant-major Skippon 
 was again called in, and Mr. Speaker 
 told him that the House took notice 
 of his discreet carriage in this busi- 
 ness, and gave him hearty thanks for 
 it. They desu-e you would use your 
 endeavours to pacify the multitude, 
 and send them home in quietness; 
 and that the House is now in consi- 
 deration of matters of great con- 
 sequence, and will hereafter give 
 such directions as the occasion shall 
 require' (Journals, vol. ii. p. 407). 
 The House sat next day, and there is 
 no mention of the petition. It ad- 
 journed from that day (Wednesday) 
 to Friday, and then there is this en- 
 try : ' A petition delivered from 
 certain gentlewomen, and other 
 tradesmen's wives, of London and 
 the suburbs thereof, was this day 
 read ; and the burgesses that serve 
 for tlie borough of Southwark, Mr. 
 Pym, Mr. Strode, and Alderman 
 Pennington, are to go out to them, 
 and to tell them, that this House has 
 read their petition, and is very ap- 
 prehensive of the calamities they 
 suffer, and will use all the best care 
 they can for the preventing and re- 
 medying of them ; and desire they 
 would continue their prayers for a 
 good success upon their endeavours ' 
 
 (Id. p. 413). Pym addressed them, 
 accordingly, when he desired them 
 to return home, and convert their 
 petitions to the ITouse into prayers to 
 God ( Old Pari. Hist. vol. x. p. 272 ; 
 Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 1072). 
 Now, if this petition were from the 
 same women whom Skippon required 
 directions about, it is evident that 
 the petitioners were by no means 
 encouraged ; if it was from a differ- 
 ent set, then they must have been 
 of a higher class. However Mr. 
 Hume might despise a brewer's wife, 
 everybody knows of what rank they 
 now are ; and in former times many 
 citizens, and their wives of course, 
 were also high. Besides, let them 
 have been of a humble station, the 
 result is, that the parliament pro- 
 perly conceived it to be its tluty to 
 attend to the cries of all. With re- 
 gard to the petition itself, it is 
 admirably drawn ; and it certainly 
 was not too much in the English 
 matrons, on the eve of a civil war, 
 to apprehend similar evils to those 
 which had been suffered in the 
 neighbour isle, when the same in- 
 struments were supposed to be at 
 work in England. As to the Scrip- 
 tural allusions, they were according 
 to the feelings of a religious age, 
 when religion was threatened. A 
 pious man naturally, on great occa- 
 sions, fortifies himself fi'om the foun- 
 tain of his faith : yet nothing is 
 easier than to give such a turn to 
 the most pathetic and sublime allu- 
 sions, as to make them appear ridi- 
 culous. But then INIr. Hume could 
 say of the notice taken of this peti- 
 tion, which he burlesques, ' Such 
 low acts of popularity were affected, 
 and by such illiberal cant Avere the 
 imhappy people incited to civil dis- 
 cord and convulsions ! ' Had he not 
 been culpably remiss in examining au- 
 thorities, nay, in perusing Clarendon, 
 he must have known that Charles 
 had long since resolved on war. 
 
 H H 2
 
 468 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, militia, by the principle that all the officers should be 
 . ^^- , nominated with the approbation of both Houses of Par- 
 liament. They had voted a petition on that subject, and 
 applied for the concurrence of the Lords ; but as that 
 body, though the minority was strong, refused their con- 
 currence, the petition was presented from the Lower 
 House alone. The answer was a direct negative ; and as 
 the Commons had secret inteUigence of the royal designs, 
 Avhich were farther developed by a motion in the Upper 
 House by the Duke of Eichmond, a creature of the 
 court, to adjourn for six months (the bloody condition of 
 L-eland was surely not considered in this), they again 
 applied for the concurrence of the Lords to a fresh 
 petition. But the message which they sent up on that 
 occasion is remarkable. After stating the urgency of the 
 case, they desired that, if the Lords would not join with 
 them when the country was at the last gasp, those, at 
 least, who were of the same opinion with the Commons 
 should declare themselves; and they protested that if 
 this message were to meet with the fate of the former, it 
 should be the last they ever troubled them with on that 
 business ; but that they should hold themselves innocent 
 of all the mischief which might succeed. This had the 
 desired effect. The Lords concurred in a petition, while 
 they passed the bill for depriving the prelates of their 
 votes in parliament, and also that for pressing soldiers for 
 the service of Ireland.* 
 The It was now the object of Charles to gain time, and to 
 
 pnrtureto" amusc thc parhament with the appearance of granting 
 ii(.iiimd— ^y]-^a|- ]^Q ]^r^^ determined to resist, till he had set himself 
 
 the passing 
 
 Clarendon's statements regardin-j flammatory kind against the mea- 
 counter petition-s, whicli Mi\ Iliinio sines wliich had already been em- 
 refers to, are not ingenuous. Tliat braced by the legislature, and were 
 the parliament were disponed to dis- secretly set on foot to promote the 
 courage petitions which, if followed, mischievous projec-ts of the king, 
 would have led to the general ruin * Old Pari. Ilist. vol. x. p. 229 et 
 (for thev knew that the king was ro- seq. ; Cobbett's rati. Hid. vol. ii. 
 solved on force), may be inferred ; pp. 3020, 1038, I04I, 1048, lOGl et 
 but those which were discouraged, seq. ; Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 409 et seq. ; 
 appear to have been of the most in- Journals.
 
 THE QUEEN PEOCEEDS TO DOVER. 
 
 469 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 at the head of a military force with which he could 
 crush his grand council, and with it annul all its acts. 
 The queen prepares, therefore, to set off with the Lady of the bin 
 Mary for Holland, to raise supplies ; and the leading men epscopacy 
 were secretly apprised that there was an intention to —motions, 
 
 ~ •*■ ^ . cce. about 
 
 carry the prince thither also, that he might be no obstruc- the miutia. 
 tion to the mihtary proceedings which were meditated. 
 As the queen, therefore, accompanied by Charles, pro- 
 ceeded to Dover to take shipping, the two Houses, lest the 
 prince should be carried abroad, issued orders to the 
 Marquis of Hertford, to whom the custody of the prince 
 was committed, not to allow him to visit his mother on 
 her passage.* It was while the queen was just on the 
 
 * The Commons seem to have 
 very early got intimation of the 
 queen's purpose, and of a design to 
 cany the prince abroad (see Jour- 
 nals, vol. ii. p. 379), for an order 
 on the 14th of January was issued 
 about him. ^Ir. Plume says, ' The 
 rage of the people was on accoimt of 
 her religion, as well as her spirit and 
 activHy ' (he might have added, in 
 conspiring the general ruin— as the 
 army -plots, itc, not to say the Irish 
 rebellion — fully proved), ' univer- 
 sally levelled against her. Usage 
 the most contumelious she had 
 hitherto borne with silent indigna- 
 tion.' ("Wliat ! were her spirit and 
 activity in exciting the blackest con- 
 spiracies proofs of this ?) The Com- 
 mons, in their fury against priests, 
 had seized her very confessor ; nor 
 would they release him upon her re- 
 
 peated applications.' This confessor 
 had been too long with her for the 
 peace of England. He was removed 
 in consequence of letters having been 
 intercepted from him, and another 
 priest of his name, if not himself, to 
 
 Mr. Walter Montague, 
 
 who, having" 
 
 turned Papist, had considerable in- 
 terest in foreign courts. Thus does 
 the Jesuit write, at the very time of 
 the lirst army-plot, and before tlie 
 death of Strafford : ' The good king 
 and queen are left very naked : the 
 Puritans, if they durst, would pull the 
 good queen to pieces. Can the good king 
 of France siijfci- a daughter of France, 
 his sister, and her children, to he thus 
 affronted? Can the wise cardinal en- 
 dure England and Scotland to unite, and 
 not he able to discern f In the end it is 
 likely they will join together, and turn 
 head against France. A stirring atnbas- 
 
 * This Mr. W. IMoutague was the 
 second son of the Earl of Manchester. 
 He is represented to have been a 
 man of gTeat talent and address. 
 After much levity and dissipation, 
 he changed his religion, and became 
 a most mortified but bigoted devo- 
 tee. He lived long in the French 
 court, where he was highly esteemed, 
 as he likewise was by Charles and 
 his consort. He afterwards took 
 
 orders, and was created abbot of 
 Pontoise. He was also appointed 
 the English queen's confessor on the 
 death of Father Philips, whom he 
 far exceeded in bigoted violence 
 (Whitelocke, pp. 32, 75 ; Franklyn, 
 p. 768 ; Clarendon's Hist. vol. iii. 
 p. 401 ; vi. pp. 391, 392, 546, 547 ; 
 Life, vol. i. pp. 120, 121,238-40; 
 Sidney Papers, vol. ii. pp. 676, 677 ; 
 App. to Evelyn's Mem. p. 142). 
 
 r
 
 470 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, eve of her departure, and Charles was afraid that the 
 ^J . parhament, having discovered his projects, should detain 
 
 sador mujlit do good here.'' Some have 
 braved little less than to unthrone 
 his majesty, tvho, if he had hut an 
 ordinary spirit, might easily quash and 
 mqypress these people. Our g-ood 
 queen is much afflicted ; and, in my 
 conscience, the Puritans, if they 
 durst, would tear lier in pieces. 
 This cannot he for the honour of 
 France, to endure a daughter of that 
 nation, and her children, should he 
 thus oppressed and affronted. Balfour 
 hath proved an arrant traitor to the 
 king, 2cho commanded him to receive 
 an hundred men into the Tour, ivhich 
 he most traitorously refused.^ The 
 other letter is to this effect : ' You 
 may expect some company with you 
 ere long : Crofts, Sucklin, Piercy, 
 JermjTi are gone ; all things are in 
 great uncertainties ; a protestation is 
 made and taken by both Houses, 
 much like, but much worse, than the 
 Scottish Covenant. I sent you some 
 money by Mr. Jermyn ; but now he 
 is gone, I make some doubts whe- 
 ther lie might be mindful of you to 
 take it with him. / have sjwken to 
 the queen ahotd your occasions, and 1 
 wish to do what I can,' &c. (Hush, 
 vol. iv. pp. 257, 258; Journals of 
 Commons and Lords, 24th June). The 
 Jesuit confessed the hrst letter to be 
 his, but not the second. The queen 
 had another priest of this name. 
 Now, can it be denied that this was 
 a most dangerous character ; that he 
 was clearly of a temper to infuse the 
 most violent counsels into tlie queen, 
 and used his endeavours to stir up a 
 foreign state against the people of 
 England ? He was impeached on 
 various articles, which served as a 
 pretext for his removal from the 
 queen. Ought not I\lr. Hume, in 
 fairness, to hiive stated this, and not 
 put the matter on the score of reli- 
 gion ; though the people had suffi- 
 cient cause to complain even there, 
 considering what they had sulfered 
 from innovations ? ' Even,' con- 
 tinues this author, ' a visit of the 
 prince to his mother had been openly 
 
 complained of, and remonstrances 
 against it had been presented to her.' 
 From this we might infer tliat the 
 parliament had acted either from 
 bigotry, in consequence of her reli- 
 gion, or from an imfeeling desire to 
 insult her ; whereas Clarendon, to 
 whom he refers, informs us that they 
 were influenced by apprehensions 
 alone of a design to carry the prince 
 abroad ; and he says, that though 
 their fears were unfoimded, which I 
 don't believe, yet that they had re- 
 ceived secret intelligence of such a 
 design from a person who had en- 
 joyed confidence about the court 
 (Hist. \o\. ii. p. 436 ; Life, pp. 53, 
 103j. Mr. Hume is not more in- 
 genuous than Clarendon about her 
 motives for going abroad ; that she 
 was secretly threatened with an im- 
 peachment, &c., and that there was 
 no intention to resort to hostilities : 
 for the first alludes afterwards to the 
 money raised upon the crown jewels, 
 which she had carried abroad, with 
 a view to war ; and the last inad- 
 vertently tells us that, at her depar- 
 ture, Charles promised he would 
 never make peace, except througli 
 her mediation. She had pretended 
 to be afraid of an impeachment ; but 
 when the parliament took up the 
 matter, she would not disclose the 
 names of the informers, &c. The 
 truth is, she wished a pretext for 
 quitting the Idngdom, and affected 
 fears, to conceal her plans with the 
 crown jewels (see Pari. Hist. vol. x. 
 pp.229, 253; Cobbett, vol.ii.pp.l047, 
 1061; Rush. vol. iv. p. 554; Journals; 
 Clarendon's Hist. vol. ii. pp. 417 et 
 seq.,632, 672 ; vol. iii. p. 143; Life, 
 vol. i. pp. 50, 79, 98 et seq., 154 et seq. 
 Lord Digby having fled, after liis 
 failure at Kingston, and escaped with 
 difHculty by the royal assistance, 
 Avrote a letter to his brother-in-law, 
 Sir Lewis Dives, in which he calls 
 the parliament traitors, and expresses 
 liimsclf strongly against accommo- 
 dation, recommending that the king 
 should retire to a strong place, where
 
 EEGARDIXG THE MILITIA. 471 
 
 lier, that tlie bill for impressment, and that for removing chap. 
 the bishops from the Upper House, were passed. Nay, ^^^' 
 even in regard to the militia, he gave an answer 
 which was conceived to be equivalent to granting the 
 desire of the parHament ; that when he should know 
 the extent of the power intended to be established in 
 the persons whom they wished to be appointed com- 
 manders in the several counties, and to what time the 
 authority should be limited, so that no power should be 
 executed by him alone, without the advice of both 
 Houses, he declared that, for their satisfaction, he would 
 then place the militia and forts under the command of 
 individuals whom they recommended, provided he had 
 no just exception to the particular persons. As an 
 apparent earnest of this, he displaced Byron, and substi- 
 tuted Sir John Conyers, whom they recommended, as 
 lieutenant of the Tower ; though he had formerly irri- 
 tated them by a refusal on this head. But the motive 
 for the refusal was now removed by the measures adopted 
 to guard that important place. In consequence of his 
 majesty's answer regarding the militia, an ordinance was 
 prepared by both Houses, which, Avitli a list of the indi- 
 viduals to be filled up, was transmitted to him ; and as 
 the queen was still in England, he, to gain time, answered 
 that he had not at present leisure to consider of so 
 important a matter. This being deemed equivalent to a 
 denial, excited dissatisfaction ; and a second answer was 
 sent, which, while it seemed in a measure to grant their 
 
 he miglit protect his servants : lie to attach to this — except that the 
 also aslis for a cj-pher, that they parliament had no right to inquire 
 might correspond in safety, &c. This into and defeat conspiracies in whicli 
 was intercepted, and ahjng with it she was engaged against the legisla- 
 one to the queen to the same effect, ture, and the security of the whole 
 and in which he also asks for a cypher people — I know not. This is gallantry 
 from her. The hrst having been vrith a vengeance ! Clarendon de- 
 opened, and found to he of so per- nounces the act of opening letters as 
 nicious a description, the other was ' barbarous curiosity ' (vol. ii. App. 
 likewise opened ; and Mr. Hume p. 589), yet censures his friend. Lord 
 says, ' they affronted the queen, by Falkland, as having absurd and false 
 opetu'nff some intercepted letters ivrit- delicacy to restrain him from such a 
 ten to her by Dujby.^ What meaning piece of duty.
 
 472 COXSTITUTIOXAL HISTOEY OF THE BKITISH EMPIEE. 
 
 CHAP, request, was only calculated to evade it. The purport 
 
 « .J — . was, that he admitted their rio-ht to the nomination 
 
 of officers, except in corporate towns — an exception as 
 extraordinary in itself, as it was objectionable in regard 
 to the security of parliament. Many counties had 
 already entered upon measures relative to the militia ; 
 and the Commons had fully e\dnced their moderation, 
 and the real jealousy entertained of the monarch with 
 which they were actuated, by nominating peers in almost 
 every case to the command of the military in the re- 
 spective shires, whence Charles might easily have anti- 
 cipated that a denial now would only inflame them with 
 indignation and inspire additional fear. Both Houses 
 immediately voted that those who advised his majesty to 
 return such an answer were enemies to the state, and 
 mischievous projectors against the defence of the king- 
 dom ; that the denial was of such dangerous consequence, 
 that if his majesty persisted in it, it would hazard the 
 peace and safety of all his kingdoms, unless some speedy 
 remedy were applied by the wisdom and authority of 
 both Houses of parliament ; and that such parts of the 
 kingdom as had already put themselves into a posture of 
 defence against the common danger had done nothing 
 but what was justifiable, and approved of by both 
 Houses. These resolutions were ordered to be printed, 
 and another petition of a far stronger nature was sent to 
 the king. In this they intimate their purpose of dis- 
 posing of the militia of their own accord, if their request 
 were denied ; pray that he will himself return to tlie 
 neighbourhood of London, and allow the prince also to 
 remain in the vicinity ; and declare that they never 
 could conceive themselves safe till he cast off the wicked 
 counsellors who interposed their corrupt and malicious 
 designs betwixt his goodness and his own and the 
 people's prosperity.* 
 
 * Eush. vol. iv. p. 517 et seq. ; Pari. Hid. vol. ii, pp. 1083, 1097, 
 Old Pari. Hist. vol. x. pp. 285-89, 1106; Ilusbaiicrs Col. pp. 78, 74. 
 299, 308-9, 321 et seq. j Cobbett's
 
 Charles's tromise to the queen. 47c 
 
 To understand the spirit of the answers, it is necessary chap. 
 to relate what had happened in the course of the events .-___,l_ 
 which have just been detailed. Both Charles and his 
 consort were most anxious that slie, and, there is 
 reason to believe, their children too, should be removed 
 from England, lest they should be in a manner retained 
 by the parliament as hostages for its security.* And it 
 was just on the eve of her departure that he, by com- 
 mission, passed the bill for pressing soldiers, and that for 
 depriving the prelates of their seats in the Upper House. 
 But though he passed the bills, he never intended, as we 
 learn from Clarendon himself, that they should be obli- 
 gatory upon him. He yielded to these and other acts, 
 according to the noble historian, on the principle that, in 
 their passage through tlie Houses, there had been some- 
 thing like constraint ; and that therefore they contained an 
 original defect, which no confirmation by him could cure, 
 since a ratification can never validate what is positively 
 null.'l' Whether this casuistry were suggested by others, 
 or invented by himself, it is evident that, with a monarch 
 who acted on such principles, there could be no safety in 
 any agreement. When Henrietta left England, she was 
 exceedingly apprehensive ' that the king would, at some 
 time, be prevailed with to yield to some unreasonable 
 conditions ; ' and, ' to make all things therefore as sure 
 as might be, that her absence should not be attended with 
 any such inconvenience, his majesty made a solemn pro- 
 mise to her at parting, that he would receive no person 
 into any favour or trust who had disserved him without 
 her privity and consent ; and that, as she had undergone 
 so many reproaches and calumnies at the entrance into the 
 wai\ so he would never make any peace hut by her inter- 
 2?osition and mediation^ that the kingdom might receive 
 that blessing from her' % Secret as were the royal piir- 
 
 * 3Iem. par Mad. cle Motteville, t Clar. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 429, 430. 
 
 tome i. p. 2G8. See former refer- t Clarendon, Life, vol. i. pp. 80, 
 
 ences. 156. The general statements of
 
 474 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, poses, they did not escape tlie vigilance of both Houses ; 
 ^^' and as in the subsequent messages Charles acted sub- 
 tilely, with a view to his main design, so, in all their 
 measures, the Houses had reference to this object. For, 
 long after this, lie not only continued to negotiate, but 
 solemnly denied — calling God Almighty to witness his 
 sincerity — that he had any intention of war, though war 
 that precluded accommodation had then been resolved 
 upon ; and the same apologetical historian, whose office 
 as councillor, and peculiar opportunities of knowledge, 
 prevented the possibility of mistake, informs us, that ' the 
 concert with the queen shut out all opposite consulta- 
 tions.' * 
 
 Clarendon gives it as his opinion, that, as the prejudice 
 was principally against the queen, had Charles, after her 
 departure, returned to Whitehall, he might have accom- 
 modated matters ' by very moderate condescensions ; ' 
 and though we may, in opposition to this historian, ob- 
 serve, that considerable sacrifices of power would have 
 been requisite, still he might have restored tranquillity on 
 terms not incompatible with his dignity as a monarch. 
 As he had, however, resolved upon hostilities, so, now 
 that the queen was gone, he determined to act with 
 greater decision ; but he, at the same time, conducted 
 himself with greater policy, though not with more honesty, 
 than formerly. Hyde had often, as a secret counsellor, 
 clandestinely visited him in the dark ; f and, now that 
 Charles meant to go north, an arrangement was made 
 between the monarch and him, of a nature so extraor- 
 dinary, that we cannot forbear from transcribing Claren- 
 don's own account of it, particularly as it affords a clue to 
 that character for talent which Charles unjustly acquired. 
 
 Clarendon are directly opposite to were unceasing, that could put into 
 this, because no otherwise could he the mouth of Charles so many pro- 
 defend his master. His candour, testations and appeals to heaven that 
 then, is no longer a subject of doubt ; he entertained no such designs ? 
 and wliat shall we think of the * Clar. Life, vol. i. pp. 57, 112. 
 minister whose professions of piety t Ibid pp. 46, 50, 90, 98.
 
 HIS majesty's secret correspondence with HYDE. 475 
 
 At a secret interview, the king, previous to going north, chap. 
 told Hyde ' that he should not see him any more before / . ^ 
 he took that journey ; and therefore he required him 
 upon all occasions to write to him, and advertise him of 
 such matters as were fit for him to know ; and to prepare 
 and send him answers to such declarations or messages as 
 the parHament should send to him. He said he knew well 
 the danger he underwent, if he were discovered. But 
 his majesty assured him, and bade him be confident of it, 
 that no person alive but himself and his two friends should 
 know that he corresponded with his majesty ; and that he 
 would himself transcribe every paper in his own hand 
 before he would show it to any man, and before his 
 secretary should write it out. Mr. Hyde told him, that he 
 writ a very ill hand, which would give his majesty too 
 much trouble to transcribe himself, and that he had so 
 much friendship with Secretary Nicholas, that he was well 
 content that he should be trusted. To which the king 
 said, Nicholas was a very honest man, and he would trust 
 him in anything that concerned himself; but in this par- 
 ticular, which would be so penal to the other, if it should 
 be known, it was not necessary, for he would quickly 
 learn to read the hand, if it were writ at first with a little 
 more care, and nobody should see it but himself. And 
 his majesty continued so firm to this resolution, that 
 though the declarations from the Houses shortly after 
 grew so voluminous that the answers frequently contained 
 five or six sheets of paper very closely writ, his majesty 
 always transcribed them with his own hand, which some- 
 times took him up two or three days and a good part of 
 a night before he produced them to the council, where 
 they were first read, and then he burned the originals.' * 
 
 * Clarendon's Life, vol. i. pp. 54, that occurs in any English cona- 
 
 55, lOG-8. Mr. Hume says, in a position, at least any published by 
 
 note, E. E., that these declarations authority ; ' and after what we have 
 
 by the king ' contained the first re- proved on this subject, it is unne- 
 
 gular definition of the constitution, cessary to make any remark on such 
 
 according to our present ideas of it, a statement. But what can one
 
 476 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 Sucli were the \dews of Charles, and such the arrange- 
 ments formed. When the petition, to which we last 
 alluded, was voted, Hyde, having slyly left the house, 
 quickly sent a messenger to apprise the king that such a 
 petition would be speedily presented, and to furnish him 
 with the short answer which might be necessary at the 
 presenting, while he (Hyde) would prepare a full one.* 
 When, therefore, the petition was read to him, Charles, 
 who was perfectly prepared, answered to the individuals 
 deputed to present it, ' That he was so much amazed at 
 their message, that he knew not what to answer ; that 
 they spoke of jealousies and fears ; but he desired them 
 to lay their hands to their hearts, and ask themselves 
 whether he might not be disturbed with fears and jea- 
 lousies ; and, if so, this message had not lessened them ; 
 that his former answer in regard to the militia was agree- 
 
 thinli of his appealing to the lan- 
 guage of the attorney-general, and of 
 other crown counsel, during the de- 
 bate in Hampden's case about ship- 
 money and arms, 1G37, in ' insisting 
 plainly, and that openly, on the 
 king's absolute power, and to the 
 opposite lawyers not denying it ! ' 
 It was this assumption of absolute 
 power, and the profligacy of lawyers 
 and judges in some things, which 
 led to the subsequent convulsions ; 
 and had Mr. Hume never heard or 
 seen in his researches, particularly 
 in the Eemonstrauce, that the counsel 
 for tlie popular rij^lits were not 
 allowed to proceed Y for instance, 
 that Holborn was most infamously 
 treated P Had lie forgotten all the 
 proceedings of this and former par- 
 liaments against divines, judges, and 
 ministers of state, for maintaining 
 and acting upon arbitrary principles, 
 wliicli were arraigned as repugnant 
 to the genius of the English laws and 
 constitution? Had he forgotten the 
 petition of right which he pronounces 
 equivfilent to a revolution in the 
 government ? Had lie forgotten 
 that it was his grand object to prove 
 
 that the people complained without 
 cause, and that the measures of par- 
 liament were hostile to monarchical 
 principles ? The result, then, is just 
 this, that the nieasm-es and language 
 of the court and its creatures, had 
 excited the deepest indignation 
 throughout the empire ; and yet 
 that Mr. Hume, while he unquali- 
 fiedly condemns the parliamentary 
 vindication of the public rights, and 
 the general spirit afloat, assumes 
 that it was the universal opinion of 
 England that the king was absolute 
 — because his prostituted judges and 
 lawyers, in support of his despotical 
 measures, used the very language 
 which was so deeply and generally 
 resented ! Jefferies, at a much later 
 period, used tlie same language with 
 that appealed to by the historian, 
 and the same inference might be 
 drawn from it. We may add, that 
 the liberal j^rinciples which breathe 
 in the State I'apers came from the 
 parliament, and that Charles never 
 littered such, but as a cloak to de- 
 signs against tliat assembly and the 
 general freedom. 
 
 * Clar. Life, vol. i. pp. 56, 57.
 
 A DECLARATION TRANSMITTED TO THE KING. 477 
 
 able in justice to what tliey should ask, or he in honour chap. 
 
 grant ; that he would bid them ask themselves whether s, ,. > 
 
 he had not cause to leave Whitehall? and as for his son, 
 he would justify himself to God, as a father, and to his 
 dominions, as a king, in his care of him ; that he assured 
 them upon his honour he had no thought but of peace and 
 justice to his people, lohicli he looidd, by all fair means, 
 seek to maintain, relying upon the goodness and providence 
 of God for the p>reservation of himself and his rights.' * 
 
 When this answer was reported, the Houses imme- 
 diately resolved that the kingdom should, according to 
 the former determination, be forthwith, by their autho- 
 rity, put in a posture of defence ; that a declaration on 
 the grounds of their fears and jealousies should be drawn 
 up, and presented to his majesty ; and that all the lords 
 lieutenants of England, constituted by the king, should 
 immediately bring in their commissions, to be cancelled 
 as illegal. They also sent a message to the Earl of Nor- 
 thumberland, lord high admiral, that, as they had received 
 intelligence of extraordinary preparations by foreign 
 princes, both by sea and land, and dreaded their machi- 
 nations, they desired that he would put the whole fleet 
 in immediate readiness, and engage as many owners and 
 masters of merchantmen as possible to promise their 
 vessels in case of necessity. The order was immediately 
 obeyed, f 
 
 In the Declaration, which was prepared in consequence 
 of this vote, and transmitted to the king, then at New- 
 market, the Houses stated, as part of the grounds on 
 which their fears were founded, that the design for alter- 
 ing religion had been principally contrived and carried 
 on by those in authority at court : That the Scottish war 
 had flowed from the same source : That it appeared, by 
 many concurrent testimonies, that the Irish rebellion was 
 
 * Clar. Life and Hist. vol. ii. Pari. Hist. vol. x. p. 329 ; Cobbett's 
 
 pp. 440-41; Rush. vol. iv. p. 525; Pari. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 1110-11; 
 
 Husband's Col. p. 92 et seq. Whitelocke, p. 56. 
 
 t Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 442; Old
 
 478 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, contrived in England, and the principal rebels themselves 
 >■_ , • ■■■> declared that their object was the recovery of the pre- 
 rogative from the encroachments of the Puritan faction, 
 and the preservation of episcopacy ; while they called 
 themselves the queen's army, and affirmed that they did 
 nothing but by authority ; that the manifold attempts to 
 bring up the late army against the parliament, to raise a 
 faction in the city, &c., had all been encouraged from 
 the court, and the actors particularly countenanced there, 
 as the warrant to transport Jermyn, one of the conspi- 
 rators, out of the kingdom, after an order to stop the 
 ports, and the petition signed C. E. too distinctly proved : 
 That the late breach of the privileges of parliament 
 bespoke the same purpose ; and that they had received 
 many advertisements from Eome, Paris, and other parts, 
 of a great design for altering religion, and breaking the 
 neck of parliament ; and of the pope's nuncio liaving 
 sohcited the kings of France and Spain for 4000 men 
 each to assist the English king in his projects. They 
 concluded with beseeching him to consider how easy 
 and fair a way he had to happiness, honour, and great- 
 ness, by uniting with his parliament and subjects in 
 defence of religion, and for the public good. ' This,' 
 said they, ' is all we expect from you ; and for this we 
 shall return to you our lives, fortunes, and uttermost 
 endeavours to support your majesty, your just sove- 
 reignty and power over us ; but it is not words that can 
 secure us in these our humble desires. We cannot 
 but too well and sorrowfully remember what gracious 
 messages we had from your majesty this summer, when, 
 with your privity, the bringing up the army was in 
 agitation ; we cannot but, with the like affections, recal 
 to our minds liow, not two days before you gave direc- 
 tions for the accusation against the six members, and 
 your own coming to the Commons House, that House 
 received a gracious message that you would always 
 have a care of their privileges as of your own preroga-
 
 HIS majesty's answer to the declaration. 479 
 
 tive ; of the safety of their persons as of your own chap. 
 children.'* >_ , ' _^ 
 
 Tlie Declaration was read to his majesty by the Earl 
 of Holland, one of those deputed to present it ; and 
 when he came to that part which related to Jermyn, 
 Charles interrupted him with — ' that's false,' — again — 
 ' 'tis a he.' f The earl pohtely smoothed the matter 
 over ; and the parliament, with great politeness, after- 
 wards proved, most satisfactorily, that it was perfectly 
 correct. On the following day Charles, in the language 
 which had been furnished to him, gave this answer : ' I 
 am confident that you expect not I should give you a 
 speedy answer to this strange and unexpected declara- 
 tion ; and I am sorry, in the distraction of the kingdom, 
 you should think this way of address to be more conve- 
 nient than was proposed by my message of the 20th 
 January last, to both Houses. 
 
 'As concerning the grounds of your fears and jea- 
 lousies, I will take time to answer particularly, and 
 doubt not but I shall do it to the satisfaction of all the 
 world. God, in his good time, will, I hope, discover the 
 secrets and bottoms of all plots and treasons, and then 
 I shall stand right in the eyes of my people. 
 
 ' For my fears and doubts, I did not think they should 
 have been thought so groundless and trivial, while so 
 many seditious pamphlets and sermons are looked upon, 
 and so great tumults are remembered, unpunished, un- 
 inquired into. I still confess my fears, and call God to 
 witness, that they are greater for the true Protestant pro- 
 fession, my people, and laws, than for my own rights or 
 
 * Husband's Col. p. 97 et seq. ; it behoved him (Nicholas) to be 
 
 Rush. vol. iv. p. 528 et seq. ; Old cautious in writing to his majesty, 
 
 Pari. Hist. vol. x. p. 337 et seq. ; as some of his friends had assured 
 
 Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. p. 1114 ; him that letters sent to the king 
 
 Clarendon, Hist. vol. ii. p. 443 et miscarried afterwards, and were 
 
 seq. ; Wbitelocke, p. 57. seen ; the other makes this apostile, 
 
 f This seems to have been a favour- ' It is a ley ' (Append, to Evelyn's 
 
 ite phrase with C!harles. Secretary Mem. p. 51. 
 Nicholas having written to him that
 
 480 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OP THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, safety ; tliough I must tell you I conceive tliat none of 
 . ^ . these are free from danger. 
 
 ' What would you have ? Have I violated your laws ? 
 Have I denied to pass any bill for the ease and security 
 of my subjects? I do not ask you what you have done 
 for me. 
 
 ' Have any of my people been transported with fears 
 and apprehensions ? I have offered as free and general 
 a pardon as you yourselves can devise. All this con- 
 sidered, there is a judgment from heaven upon the nation, 
 . if these distractions continue. 
 
 ' God so deal with me and mine, as all my thoughts 
 and intentions are upright for the maintenance of the 
 true Protestant religion, and for the observation and 
 preservation of the laws of this land ; and I hope God 
 will bless and assist those laws for my preservation.'* 
 
 In order to understand that part of the king's speech 
 which regarded the general pardon, it may here be 
 stated that, in answer to urgent petitions that he would 
 proceed in the impeachment of the six members, he had 
 intimated his resolution to renounce all proceedings 
 against them, and to issue a general pardon, as ample as 
 the two Houses shoidd desire. This, however, did not 
 satisfy them. A pardon implied guilt on the part of 
 those who obtained the remission ; and therefore a bill 
 in their vindication was immediately prepared ; but 
 Charles, alleging that it reflected on him, which it cer- 
 tainly did, refused to pass it.f 
 
 On the day following the delivery of the Declaration, 
 when Charles returned the answer given above, the Earl 
 of Holland, who read it, endeavoured to persuade him to 
 reside near his parliament ; and the king answered, ' I 
 would you had given me cause ; but I am sure this 
 Declaration is not the way to it ; and in all Aristotle's 
 
 * Eusli. vol. iv. p. 532 ; Husband's t Old Pari. Hid. vol. x. p. 388 ; 
 
 Col. p. 103 et scq. ; Old rarl. Hist. Cobbett's Pari. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 
 
 vol. X. p. 328 et seq. ; Clarendon, 1134-46 et seq. 
 vol. ii. pp. 450-51.
 
 THE KIXG DENIES THE STATEMENTS OF THE TWO HOUSES. 481 
 
 rhetoric there is no such argument of persuasion.' The chap. 
 
 Earl of Pembroke, upon this, reminded him tliat the ^ — - 
 
 parhament had humbly besought him to come near 
 them. But his majesty rephed, ' he had learned by their 
 Declaration that words were not sufficient.' The earl 
 then moved him to express what he would have. To 
 which he rephed that ' he would whip a boy in West- 
 minster School, if he could not tell that by his answer ; ' 
 and farther said that ' they were much mistaken if they 
 thought his answer to that a denial.' The earl having 
 then asked whether the militia might not be granted, 
 according to the desire of parliament, for a limited time, 
 Charles ' swore by God, not for an hour ; you have asked 
 that of me in this which was never asked of any king, 
 and ^\'ith which I wUl not trust my wife and children.' 
 
 Of the business of Ireland, he said, that ' it never 
 could be done in the way they proceeded. Four hundred 
 will never do that work ; it must be put into the hands 
 of one. If I were trusted with it, I would pawn my 
 head to end that work ; and though I am a beggar 
 myself, yet (speaking with a strong asseveration) / can 
 find money for that'^ 
 
 In a large answer, and other papers, the king, of 
 course, denied the statements of the two Houses ; but a 
 publication by them of the evidence in relation to the 
 army-plots must have satisfied all men on that head ; and 
 as, though the queen had pawned or sold the jewels with 
 all possible secresy, and prepared arms and ammunition, 
 her whole proceedings and negotiations had not deceived 
 the vigilance of the opposite party, — 'whose informa- 
 tions,' says Clarendon, ' were wonderful particular from 
 all parts beyond sea, of whatever was agitated in the 
 king's behalf, as well as from his court, of whatsoever 
 was designed, or almost but thought of, to himself,' — 
 
 * Journals of the Commons ; Old Hush. vol. iv. pp. 532, 533 ; Claren- 
 Parl. Hid. vol. x. pp. 356, 357 ; Cob- don, vol. ii, pp. 450, 451. 
 bett'sP«/-/. IIist.\o\:\i. pp. 1125, 1120 ; 
 
 VOL. II. I I
 
 482 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, tlie Houses were not to be imposed upon by his most 
 solemn appeals to heaven against the thought of war, or 
 of introducing foreign troops into the kingdom.* After 
 this he pretended, in regard to the mihtia, that an ordi- 
 nance was a mode of proceeding with which he was 
 unacquainted ; but that if a bill were presented with 
 proper limitations, he would pass it. A bill was pre- 
 sented, and instantly rejected. f 
 
 Charles, having fully resolved on war, was only pre- 
 vented from beginning operations by want of the means ; 
 and the Irish rebellion appeared most calculated to afford 
 them, till the arms, &c. arrived from the Continent. 
 While he declared that he would never allow a toleration 
 in that island, he was secretly endeavouring to negotiate 
 a peace with the insurgents,;|; and yet proposed to go 
 in person at the head of an army, to reduce them. He 
 therefore intimated to parliament that he intended forth- 
 with to raise, from the counties near West Chester, a 
 guard to himself in Ireland of 2000 foot and 200 
 horse, which he proposed to arm out of his magazine 
 at Hull. The two Houses, who were apprised of all 
 his secret purposes, were not to be deceived by this 
 plausible pretext ; and they had themselves already de- 
 vised measures relative to that unhappy country. They 
 had granted a commission to the Marquis of Argyle to 
 transport 1500 men, and had agreed with the Scottish 
 commissioners to accept 2500 men from them, and for 
 their security to give them possession of the town and 
 castle of Carrickfergus, &c. ; while they brought a bill 
 into parliament to grant tracts of the rebels' lands, accord- 
 ing to a certain proportion, to adventurers who chose to 
 advance money for the reduction of the insurgents. None 
 of these measures were agreeable to Charles. The Scots 
 had just evinced a disposition hostile to his views, by 
 
 * Clarendon, vol. ii. p. 640, Hist, of the Irish Rchellion, with for- 
 
 t Rush. vol. iv. p. 540 et seq. mer notes. 
 
 X See Appendix to Clarendon's
 
 CHAELES LOUDLY COMPLAIXS OF MISEEPEESEXTATION. 483 
 
 offering to mediate between him and the parliament, and chap. 
 
 proposing uniformity of rehgion in the respective nations ; . ^ — - 
 
 and the monarch, while he attempted to soothe the lead- 
 ing men in the sister kingdom, recommenced, or con- 
 tinued rather, his intrigues with Montrose. It was not, 
 therefore, on this ground, as well as on others, to be 
 expected that he should wish the Scots to be invested 
 with military power in Ireland ; and he objected to the 
 arrangement with that people, that it gave them too much 
 authority in a kingdom dependent on England. But it 
 was not in his power to withstand the measure. The 
 suspicion against him in regard to the Irisli rebellion w^as 
 widely spread ; and the Commons liad just charged him 
 with having granted passes to Irish Catholics, who, after 
 an order to restrain them, had gone from England to that 
 country, and appeared in the ranks of the rebel forces. 
 But so deeply was the rebellion abhorred m England, that 
 he well knew, if he did not remove the charge, he would 
 be deserted by all ranks ; and, while he passed the act in 
 favour of the Scots, he loudly complained of misrepresen- 
 tation, and called upon the Commons to produce an 
 instance of his having given such passes. They referred 
 to several, and alleged that, under general passes, many 
 individuals had been included. He gave explanations ; 
 but, though these have been deemed satisfactory by his 
 advocates, they neither appeared so to the Commons, 
 nor probably would to the unprejudiced reader. On the 
 same principle he assented to the other act ; but he after- 
 wards interposed to prevent its execution, nay, seized 
 upon articles provided against the Irish rebels, and turned 
 them against the parliament ; while, by withholding the 
 Earl of Leicester's instructions as lord lieutenant, he pre- 
 vented his going thither to discharge his duty. 
 
 Under such circumstances, and in such an unsettled 
 state of England, the Commons voted some very sharp 
 resolutions against his going to Ireland, declaring the 
 advisers of such an expedition enemies to the common- 
 
 I T 2
 
 484 
 
 CONSTITUTIOXAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 The king 
 demands 
 admission 
 into Hull, 
 and is re- 
 fused, 
 April 23, 
 1642. 
 
 wealth. But he nevertheless persisted m his resolution of 
 raising a large guard, and politicly devolved power upon 
 Ormond, whom he created a marquis, to nominate his 
 own officers, that the army might be prepared for the 
 cessation of hostilities in Ireland, and a different service 
 in England.* 
 
 The two Houses of Parliament, after they had, by the 
 appointment of the Hothams governors of Hull, and other 
 measures, defeated the scheme which had been undertaken 
 by the Earl of Newcastle and Captain Legg, ordered the 
 magazine to be removed to the Tower ; but, as this had 
 not yet been effected, Cliarles, whose designs, clothed 
 under the pretext of an expedition against the Irish 
 rebels, had been frustrated, determined by a different 
 course to obtain possession of those military stores. Sir 
 John Hotham was supposed by the Eoyalist party to be 
 favourably inclined towards them, nay, was likewise sus- 
 pected of such a disposition by the opposite side ; and the 
 two Houses, while from his influence in the neighbour- 
 hood they had deemed it advisable to trust him, prudently 
 joined with him in the same commission his son, in whom 
 they had greater confidence, f It was not, therefore, with- 
 out reason that Charles expected to gain him over ; and 
 he advanced towards Hull v/ith three hundred horse, 
 partly those individuals who had accompanied him to the 
 House of Commons. As he approached, he sent a message 
 that he meant to dine with the governor, and commanded 
 that provision should be instantly made for him and his 
 train. On this critical emergency, Hotham immediately 
 summoned the magistrates and officers to consultation ; 
 and it was resolved upon to decline the visit. A respect- 
 
 • Journals of the Commons, vol. ii. 
 p. 393 it scq. ;"RiisLi. vol. iv. pp. 501 
 et seq., 560 ct scq. ; vol. v. pp. 4, 13, 
 14 ; Husband's Col. ; Clarendon, 
 vol. ii. p. 491 et scq. ; vol. iii. p. 16 j 
 Whitelocke, p. 55 et seq. ; Ilutchin- 
 sou, vol. i. p. 146 j ludlow, vol. i. 
 
 p. 19 et seq. ; May, lib. ii. p. 38 ; 
 Carte's Ormonde, vol. iii. p. 76 ; 
 Whitelocke, p. 56 ; Nos. II. and III. 
 of Append, to the Translation of 
 Wishart'a Me7noirs of Motitrose, edit. 
 1819. 
 t Clar. vol. ii. p. 389.
 
 CHAELES REFUSED ADMISSION INTO HULL. 485 
 
 fill message to that effect was returned to his majesty ; chap. 
 but he contimied nevertheless to advance, and it became « — ^ — - 
 necessary to act with decision. The gates were shut ; the 
 drawbridge was drawn up ; and the garrison, which had 
 been lately much augmented, was ordered to act upon the 
 defensive. Hotham, however, proposed to admit the king, 
 with the prince and twelve followers ; * but as that did 
 not correspond with the royal view, it was indignantly 
 rejected. Menaces and flattery were used by turns ; but 
 when all proved fruitless, Charles, who had not strength 
 to force an entrance, contented himself with denouncing 
 the governor a traitor. The refusal, which Hotham de- 
 fended by the peremptory orders of parliament, was loudly 
 complained of as the deepest insult to authority. The 
 king demanded of the parhament the exemplary punish- 
 ment of Hotham, and the immediate delivery of the town 
 and magazine as his own property ; declaring that, till 
 this were done, he could attend to no other business, as 
 the conduct of that individual reduced him to a worse 
 condition than the meanest of his subjects, who were 
 permitted to enjoy their own goods, while he was thus 
 deprived of his ; and that he woidd try by all possible 
 ways, through the assistance of God, the law, and his good 
 subjects, to obtain the restitution of what he had been 
 thus illegally despoiled. To this declaration the parha- 
 ment published an elaborate answer, in which they justify 
 their own act as exercised in the person of Hotham ; and 
 refute the absurd position that the town and magazine 
 were the royal property in the same sense as a man's 
 goods or jewels are his own. They argue that, though 
 the king may be entrusted for the common good, the 
 powers delegated to him by the community must be 
 regulated by circumstances ; that the erroneous maxim 
 
 • Clarendon says that tlie king believed ; but though Whitelocke 
 
 proposed to enter ^vith twenty fol- adopts it, it appears to have been 
 
 lowers; and Charles complained that quite unfounded. Rush. toL iv. 
 
 such a statement by him was not p. 567.
 
 486 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 infused into princes, that their kingdoms are their pro- 
 perty, and that they may do with them what they mil 
 (as if their kingdoms were made for them, and not they 
 for their kingdoms), is the root of all their subjects' 
 misery, and of all the invasions of their just rights and 
 liberties ; that the king is merely entrusted with the 
 forts, &c. for the general good ; and that even the crown 
 jewels compose a part of this trust, being only put under 
 his command for pubhc uses ; that as the trust is for the 
 common good, so ought it to be exercised by the advice 
 of both Houses of Parliament, whom the nation has autho- 
 rised to see it properly discharged ; that were it, how- 
 ever, even to be admitted that his majesty had a property 
 in the town and magazine of Hull, yet the parliament 
 was entitled to dispose of his property, as well as that of 
 his subjects, in such a manner as to secure the kingdom 
 from danger ; that it was in vain to urge precedents, 
 since the present parliament might, upon better reasons, 
 make precedents for posterity than their ancestors had 
 done for them, and no precedents could set hmits to their 
 authority, which must vary according to the conditions of 
 the times ; that if there had been no precedents, it was 
 merely because there had not hitherto been counsellors 
 who attempted to alienate the people from parliament, or 
 harboured a thought that it could be accomplished. 
 ' Were there ever,' say they, ' such practices to j^oison the 
 people with an ill apprehension of parliament? Were 
 there ever such imputations and scandals laid upon the 
 proceedings of both Houses ? Were there ever so many 
 and so great breaches of privilege ? Were there ever so 
 many and desperate designs against parliament and the 
 members thereof? If we have done more than our an- 
 cestors have done, we have suffered more than ever they 
 suffered ; and yet, in point of modesty and duty, we shall 
 not yield to the best of former times ; and we shall put 
 this in issue, whether the highest and most unwarrantable 
 precedents of any of his majesty's predecessors do not fall
 
 DECLARATION OF CHARLES'S INTENTION. 487 
 
 sliort and mucli below what has been done to us this par- chap. 
 Hament ? and, on the other side, whether, if we should ■ _ ^]' - 
 make the highest precedents of other parliaments our 
 patterns, there would be cause to complain of want of 
 modesty and duty in us, when we have not so much as 
 suffered such things to enter into our thoughts, which all 
 the world knows they have put into act ? ' 
 
 In other dispatclies, Ciiarles professes the utmost regard 
 for the liberties of the people and the Protestant religion ; 
 declaring that he never will allow a toleration, and appeals 
 to Almighty God for his sincerity in these matters, and in 
 his abhorrence at the idea of reducing the kingdom by 
 force, or introducing foreign troops. But he argues, that 
 the militia, with all the forts, had been entrusted to him 
 and his heirs for ever ; and that it cannot be believed that 
 a body called at his pleasure, and appointed by the people 
 for a season, should ever be intended as guardians or 
 controllers in manasfing that trust which God and the law 
 had committed to him and his posterity for ever.* 
 
 The parliament prayed that the king would dismiss his 
 guards, and return to the neighbourhood of London ; and 
 when they perceived that accommodation was hopeless, 
 and understood how busy the queen was in raising money 
 upon the crown jewels, they entered into a resolution, 
 which they pubhshed, that the king intended to make 
 war upon them ; and passed an ordinance, that whoever 
 lent money upon the crown jcAvels, or assisted in pawning 
 them, should be deemed an enemy to the state, and be 
 liable, out of his own property, for any damage which 
 might ensue. Charles complained much of the vote in 
 regard to his intention of making war, declaring that God 
 knew his heart abhorred it ; f and to such a height did he 
 
 * Husband's Col. p. 138 et seq. ; pp. 630, C40. ' It may seem strange/ 
 
 Rush. YoL iv. p. 5G5 et acq. ; Clar. says this author, ' that these men 
 
 vol. ii. p. 506 et seq. ; Whitelocke, could entertain the hope and coufi- 
 
 p. 57 e^ seq. dence to obtrude such a declaration 
 
 t Husband's Col. p. 259 et seq. ; and vote iipon the people, " that the 
 
 Rush. vol. iv. p. 024 ; Clar. vol. ii. king did intend to make Tvar against
 
 488 CONSTITUTIONAL IIISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, and liis councillors carry their hypocrisy, that, even on 
 - ^^' . the 15th of June, when the arms had been purchased and 
 sent from Holland, and the warlike preparations were far 
 advanced, in council he took ' notice of the rumours spread 
 and informations given, which might induce many to 
 believe that his majesty intended to make war against his 
 j)arliament ; professed before God, and said, he declared 
 to all the Avorld, that he always had and did abhor all 
 such designs, and desired his nobility and council, who 
 Avere there upon the place, to declare whether they had 
 not been witnesses of his frequent and earnest professions 
 to that purpose. Whetlier they saw any colour of pre- 
 parations, or counsels that might reasonably beget a belief 
 of any such design; and whether they were not fully 
 persuaded that his majesty had no such intention : But 
 that all his endeavours, according to his many professions, 
 tended to the firm and constant settlement of the true 
 Protestant religion, the just privileges of parliament, the 
 liberty of the subject, the law, peace, and prosperity of 
 the kingdom.' ' Whereupon all the lords and councillors 
 
 the parliament," wlien they were so caused, by the sale or pawning of her 
 far from apprehending that he would own and some of the crowu jewels, 
 he able to get an army to disturb a good quantity of powder and arms 
 them, that they were most assured to be in readiness in Holland against 
 he would not be able to get bread to the time that it should be _ found 
 sustain himself three months, with- necessary to transport it to his ma- 
 out submitting all his counsels to jesty ; so that both sides, while they 
 their conduct and control.' — Claren- entertained each other with discovirses 
 don says this, who yet informs us of peace (which always carried a 
 that war of the most rancorous kind sharpness with them that whetted 
 lu\d been determined on before the their appetite to war), provided for 
 queen left England ; and who, only that war which they saw would not 
 on the seventh page preceding the be prevented.' He elsewhere in- 
 one just quoted, writes thus, 'Be- fonns us, that the parliament was 
 yond the seas the queen was as in- apprised of all the royal motions, 
 tent to do her part, and to provide, and particularly of the queen's sell- 
 that so good company as she heard ing and pawning the jewels to pur- 
 was daily gathered together about cluise arms (p. 532). Such is ths 
 the kiuLTj^sliould not be dissolved for veracity of Lord Clarendon, the 
 want of weapons to defend one individual panegyrised and followed 
 another; and, therefore, vnth as by ^Mr. Hume, who says that 'he 
 much secresy as could be used in was too lionest a man to falsify 
 those cas(!S, and in those phices where facts ! ' (p. G40). 
 she had so many spies upon her, she
 
 DECLARATION IN CHARLES'S FAVOUR. 
 
 489 
 
 present unanimously agreed, and did sign a paper in these 
 words : " We whose names are underwritten, in obedience 
 to his majesty's desire, and out of the duty which we owe 
 to his majesty's honour and to truth, being here upon the 
 place, and witnesses of his majesty's frequent and earnest 
 declarations and professions of his abhorring all designs 
 of making war upon his parliament, and not seeing any 
 colour of preparations or counsels that might reasonably 
 beget the belief of any such designs, do profess before 
 God, and testify to all the world, that we are fully per- 
 suaded that his majesty hath no such intention ; but that 
 all his endeavours tend to the firm and constant settlement 
 of the true Protestant religion, the just privileges of par- 
 liament, the liberty of the subject, the law, peace, and 
 prosperity of this kingdom." '* This declaration was sub- 
 
 CHAR 
 IV, 
 
 * Clar. vol. ii. p. 654 et seq. It is 
 impossible to conceive a more mel- 
 ancholy picture of insincerity, nay, 
 downright perfidy, than Charles and 
 his advisers exhibited on this occa- 
 sion. Nothing- need be said of Cla- 
 rendon wlio drew the papers ; but 
 what shall we say of Lord Falkland, 
 whose memory has been so revered ? 
 
 Mr. Laing, in endeavouring to show 
 that Charles had meditated war be- 
 fore the queen's departure, quotes 
 Neal's Hktory of the Puritans ; where 
 that writer informs us, that a few 
 days after the king's removal from 
 Whitehall, it was resolved, in a cabi- 
 net council at Windsor, that the 
 queen, who was about to depart with 
 her daughter for Holland, should 
 carry the crown jewels tliither to 
 pledge for money, ammimition and 
 arms, and to procure, by the inter- 
 vention of the pope's nuncio, 4000 
 soldiers from France and Spain, &c. 
 Laing says, that he could not discover 
 Neal's authority, but justly remai'ks, 
 that his statement coincides Avith the 
 inadvertent discoveries of Clarendon. 
 I should be surprised at this had I 
 not early perceived that Laing, while 
 he had looked through a number of 
 manuscripts, had not sifted the nu- 
 
 merous publications — including Neal 
 himself — to which he refers, and on 
 which the truth must chiefly depend. 
 — The fact of the jew^els appears from 
 all authorities (Whitelocke, p. 55 ; 
 May, lib. ii. p. 42 ; Hutchinson, vol. i. 
 p. 146 ; Ludlow, vol. i. p. 27 ; Mystery 
 uf Iniquity, p. 28. Clarendon, who 
 quotes the very State I'apers which 
 passed between the king and par- 
 liament relative to this subject. See 
 the papers in Husband's Col. Rush, 
 vol. iv. p. 7.')6 et seq., and Parliamen- 
 tary Histories.) With regard to the 
 expectations of 4000 troops from each 
 of the powers — of France and Spain 
 — that seemed to have been derived 
 from the State Papers, in which the 
 charge is made by the parliament, in 
 alleged reports from foreign parts, 
 and denied by the king. As to the 
 resolution formed in the cabinet 
 council at Windsor, had Laing looked 
 through Neal he would have found 
 his authority within a few pages of 
 that quoted by him (p. 605}. It is 
 Father Orleans who not only tells us 
 this, but develops the truth as to 
 the resolutions formed by Charles 
 before he went to Scotland (tome 
 iii. p. 72 et seq.). See Clar. vol. ii. p. 
 712 ; see suppressed passages in Cla-
 
 490 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 Anns ar- 
 rive to the 
 king from 
 Holland. 
 
 scribed by thirty-five peers, and also by Lord Falkland 
 and other commoners. Grounded upon it too was a 
 long proclamation, containing statements equally discredit- 
 able to tlie veracity of Charles and of his advisers and 
 supporters : amongst other things, in the most solemn 
 language, and with affected indignation, denied as a mea- 
 sure fraught with the ruin of the commonwealth, all 
 intention of introducing foreign troops into the kingdom : 
 yet he had, as we have seen, attempted such a thing in 
 the first years of his reign, as well as at the commence- 
 ment of the Scottish troubles, and was even at this moment 
 endeavouring to overwhelm the parHament by assistance 
 from every potentate who would render it, and by even 
 bartering the crown jewels.* 
 
 On the 2nd of June, a vessel with the long-expected 
 supply of arms arrived. The ship had been captured in 
 the Humber ; but having escaped as the parliament-vessel 
 was carrying her into Hull, ran ashore upon Kenningham 
 Creek. The ordnance, consisting of sixteen large guns, 
 with a great store of small arms and ammunition, was 
 immediately landed, and the countrymen were armed to 
 besiege Hull. That town had, however, been by this 
 time well-prepared for defence, while the motives for 
 besieging it were greatly withdj-awn. To try the loyalty 
 of the inhabitants a protestation to maintain the place for 
 the king and parliament had been proposed ; and as the 
 majority readily took it, their integrity was both ascer- 
 tained and secured, while those who refused it were ex- 
 
 pelled the town. The 
 
 great 
 
 ordnance, with a 
 
 large 
 
 rendon, both Hid. and Life, for a 
 passage not hitlierto referred to ; see 
 a curious letter from the ambassador 
 at the court of France to one of the 
 secretaries of state ; Clarendon's State 
 Papers, vol. ii. p. 1.37. 
 
 * Seethe State Papers on this sub- 
 ject in Husband, Clar.,Kush. &c. ; see 
 also in the kini^'s cabinet opened, the 
 instructions to be pursued by Colonel 
 Cochrane, in his negotiation with 
 
 the King of Denmark for assistance. 
 Charles proposed to give as a security 
 the great collar of rubies, which had 
 been already so much spoken of. 
 The publication referred to presents 
 a deplorable proof of perfidy on the 
 part of Charles ; and it is truly mel- 
 ancholy to find Hume and others, in 
 the face of suc-li irrefragal)le evidence, 
 contend for that monarch's sincerity. 
 See also Ludlow, vol. i. p. 38.
 
 EARL OF AVARWICK OBTAINS COMMAND OF THE FLEET. 491 
 
 proportion of the small arms and ammunition, had been chap. 
 sent to the Tower, as well with a view to remove the - ^^' - 
 motives for besieging the town, as to prevent their falling 
 into the enemy's hands. New officers, as the old could 
 not be depended upon, had likewise been appointed.* 
 
 Charles, having formed his resolution, marched from 
 York to Beverley, which is situated at the distance of a 
 few miles from Hull. His army is reported to have Anat- 
 consisted of 3000 foot and 1000 horse. But he relied huu'°'' 
 confidently on the co-operation of the fleet under Sir John 
 Pennington, whom he had just appointed to the command. 
 The commission of the Earl of Northumberland had been 
 withdrawn by him, and a fresh commission was proferred 
 to that nobleman by the parliament ; but as he had owed 
 his office to Charles, he refused by such a course to turn 
 the fleet against his employer ; and the Earl of Warwick 
 was nominated in his stead. Charles at the same time 
 nominated Sir John Pennington, who had already incurred 
 the resentment of both Houses by assisting in the escape 
 of Digby, when, under the royal warrant, that young- 
 nobleman fled from justice; but the affections of the 
 sailors were all devoted to the parliament, and when their 
 officers endeavoured to preserve authority over them for 
 the king, they immediately seized these officers as enemies 
 to the state, and sent them to London. In this way the 
 earl obtained the command ; and Charles, disappointed in 
 his hopes from that quarter, and perceiving that the town 
 was well-prepared for a vigorous defence, was obliged to 
 abandon his design, f 
 
 * Rusli. vol. iv. p. 565 et seq. ; tions arise. He, and after him Hume, 
 
 Clar. vol. ii. p. 506 et seq. ; Old accuses the Commons of a purpose to 
 
 Pa7-l, Hist. vol. X. p. 533 ct seq. ; xi. insult the king, &c., by insisting upon 
 
 p. 62 et seq. ; Cobbett's Pari. Hist. the removal of Byron from the com- 
 
 vol. ii. p. 1235 et seq. ; May, lib. ii. mand of the Tower, because he was 
 
 p. 90 et seq. a man of unblemished reputation. 
 
 t Clar. vol. ii. p. 674 et seq. ; Rush. But the instance before us shows 
 
 vol. iv. pp. 502-3, 530-37, 572 ; May, what they deemed' necessary to a 
 
 lib. ii. p. 94. Clarendon abuses the good reputation ; and no one will 
 
 sailors as corrupted in their affections seriously deny, that a good character 
 
 to the monarch ; whence two reflec- with them was the worst recommen-
 
 492 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 IV. 
 
 Littleton 
 carries the 
 great seal 
 to the king. 
 
 As war was unavoidable, the two Houses vigorously 
 prepared for it as well as the king. The miHtia ordinance 
 was enforced by the first ; the array was resorted to by 
 the last. In some counties, by the influence of the great 
 aristocracy, the king was successful. In most, however, 
 the parliament prevailed ; and in almost all the towns 
 they encountered small opposition. Both parties, in the 
 meantime, by proclaiming the uprightness of their inten- 
 tions, endeavoured to gain the people ; and the State 
 Papers which passed on the occasion unquestionably do 
 credit to the talents of the writers on either side ; but it 
 would be difficult to convince an impartial peruser of 
 them that the display of talent and argument was, as Mr. 
 Hume asserts, chiefly on that of the king. 
 
 Forgetting that those rules which apply to the ordi- 
 nary administration of aflairs must yield to unprecedented 
 conjunctures, Charles and his advisers enticed Littleton, 
 the lord keeper, to join the Eoyal party at York, and 
 carry with him the great seal ; and also determined to 
 remove the courts of justice from "Westminster, flattering 
 themselves that, as it was high treason to counterfeit the 
 great seal, the two Houses would either not venture to 
 violate a law which, though salutary as a general prin- 
 ciple, was inapplicable to the present case, when a pre- 
 text of law was employed to overturn every legal secu- 
 rity, or that the people would refuse to follow them in so 
 unusual a course, while the removal of the courts would 
 frighten the metropoHs, if not the parliament, into sub- 
 But these devices were not calculated for the 
 
 n 
 
 mission 
 
 dation to the parliament. After 
 Byron's conduct, indeed, it is extra- 
 ordinary that such statements should 
 have been made. But even Luns- 
 ford, the convicted assassin, is not 
 condemned by Hume ! The next re- 
 flection relates to Carte, who, in de- 
 fence of Strafford and Charles's con- 
 duct in raisin}^ the Catholic army, 
 alleges that tlie officers vrere all 
 I'rotestanta, and that it was a matter 
 
 of indifference what the soldiers were 
 — thonyh they joined the insurgents — 
 and he appeals to all the officers in 
 Europe in support of his opinion. 
 Now the case before us, as well as 
 that which occurred in regard to the 
 English army raised against the 
 Scots, completely refutes the idea. 
 Officers are the worst judges of such 
 matters : they are lost in extraordi- 
 nary conjunctures.
 
 ALLEGATIOXS EEGAEDIXG THE TARLIAMEXT. 493 
 
 era. A new seal was ordered ; and measures were chap. 
 
 adopted to frustrate the royal hopes on the other - ,. .: ^ 
 
 ground.* 
 
 With the same success, too, did the king allege that 
 the majority of the peers had joined him, or at least 
 deserted the parliament, and therefore that the parlia- 
 ment had lost the character of a free assembly. Tlie 
 two Houses denied the fact, and prosecuted absentees for 
 abandoning their places, while they refuted the idea that, 
 because a part of their number deserted their duty, they 
 should resimi the manao"ement of affairs to the will of an 
 individual. It must, indeed, be confessed that the alle- 
 gations of the Eoyalist party on this head, though they 
 have obtained the assent of the um^eflecting, do not bear 
 scrutiny. The natural effect of a guard, which Charles 
 so keenly refused, has already been explained ; and now 
 it may be necessary to advert to another bill, which the 
 Commons in particular were anxious for, after the irrup- 
 tion of the king and his followers into the Lower House, 
 but which Charles indignantly rejected — to enable the 
 two Houses to adjourn to whatever place they chose. f 
 It was alleged that the factious minority of both Houses, 
 in conjunction with the London citizens, chased away the 
 majority ; and that, had the parliament been assembled 
 
 * Cob. Pari. Hist. vol. ii. pp. 1234-70 ; inquire about the Stuart Paper.?, but 
 Old Purl. Hist. vol. x. p. 5o0 ; vol. xi. finding that none related to the 
 p. 4G ; Clar. Life, vol. i. pp. 59, 116, period I have chosen, I tlid not eu- 
 568 et seq. ; Hist. vol. ii. pp. 666 deavour to see them, which perhaps 
 et scq.; Whitelocke, pp. 59, 60 ; Rush. would have been a difficult matter, 
 vol. iv. pp. 655 et seq., 718. Claren- particularly at that time ; but I was 
 don says that there seldom met above informed that it appears by them 
 twenty-five peers at Westminster, that a vast proportion — a great ma- 
 while there were at this time above jority — of the British nobility cor- 
 a liimdred altogether, including mi- responded with the Pretender. The 
 nors, &c. Hume, not content with conclusion is obvious. But the ma- 
 Clarendon's statement, asserts that jority of the peers still attended the 
 there were rarely above sixteen : and parliament. (See List in Okl Pari. 
 he states this to show that the oppo- Hist. vol. xi. p. 87 ; Cobbett's Pari. 
 sition to the king being unsupported Hist. vol. ii. p. 1296.) 
 by the peerage was indefensible. Let t Old Pari. Hist. vol. x. p. 198 
 us see how this applies to the revo- et seq. ; Cobbett's Pai'l. Hist. vol. ii. 
 lution of 1688. I was at pains to p. 1029 et seq.
 
 494 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP, elsewhere, very different measures would have been 
 adopted. But, as we have seen, a guard appointed by 
 
 both Houses must have been completely under the control 
 of the majority in both ; and had the other bill passed, it 
 would only have been necessary for the majority of both 
 Houses to have assembled once, in order to have removed 
 the session from the local influence of the metropolis. 
 The assertions of the monarch and his advisers, parti- 
 cularly of Clarendon, about a few individuals governing 
 the parliament, the city, the country, and the army, all 
 against their wills, are so ridiculous, that every one would 
 be astonished at the effrontery that could make them, 
 were not his feelings at that swallowed up in still greater 
 astonishment at the credulity which could listen to such 
 monstrous absurdities.* The real fact seems to have 
 been that many, afraid that the king would ultimately 
 prevail (and in so unprecedented a crisis it is not wonder- 
 ful), were willing, out of a selfish fear, not to interfere 
 w4th politics which they were pleased with ; and that 
 many resorted to him on the same principle. 
 Stat? of Charles had the zealous co-operation of the whole 
 
 Catholic body, who were very numerous, and naturally 
 joined a prince who favoured them, and who, by courting 
 their support, promised to raise them from degradation 
 to pre-eminence in the state. He had also the keen 
 support of the high church party, whose principles were 
 not far removed from Popery. A considerable portion 
 of the great aristocracy, too, alarmed for their own 
 exclusive privileges, joined him. But, though of those 
 many were courtiers who, in order to obtain the rewards 
 which they anticipated and were promised, for serving 
 the prince against his people, adhered to the crown, with 
 a resolution to carry matters to any extremity, a great 
 proportion were actuated by better motives. Clinging to 
 their own privileges, which they imagined the popular 
 
 * There was an excellent pamphlet published on this subject. 
 
 parties.
 
 A GEEAT PORTION OF THE AEISTOCEACY JOIN CHAELES. 
 
 495 
 
 spirit now afloat might subvert, tliey arrayed themselves chap. 
 on tlie side of tlie crown, but not with the view of 
 giving it the ascendancy for which the monarch panted. 
 His success in the struggle they dreaded, as fraught with 
 the ruin of the general freedom — as calculated to restore 
 power to the Papistical party, who they justly concluded 
 would, forgetting the last benefit in the sense of former 
 opposition and insult, wreak vengeance on those most 
 immediately obnoxious to their complete advancement. 
 Their object, which is apparent in many of the loyal 
 addresses, was to give such a temporary support to the 
 throne as might enable it to meet the parliament on 
 equal terms, when a reconcilement upon constitutional 
 principles might be accomplished. Aware of their 
 motives, yet confident of being soon, through their 
 assistance, in a condition to command all parties and 
 break through every restraint, Charles, to gain them, 
 came under the most -solemn engagements to preserve 
 the laws.* 
 
 * This abimdantly appears from 
 the various authorities. The follow- 
 ing passages from Letters by Kohert 
 Lord Spencer to his wife, a daughter 
 of the Earl of Leicester, throw much 
 light upon the subject. The first is 
 dated from Shrewsbury, Sept. 21, 
 1G42. He had joined the royal stan- 
 dard and he fell lighting under it. 
 ' The king's condition is much im- 
 proved of late ; his force increaseth 
 daily, which increaseth the insolency 
 of the Papists. How much I am 
 unsatisfied with the proceedings here, 
 I have at large expressed in several 
 letters. Neither is there wanting 
 daily handsome occasion to retire, 
 were it not for grinning honour. For 
 let occasion be never so handsome, 
 ujiless a man were resolved to fight 
 on the parliament side, which, for 
 my part, I had rather be hanged, it 
 will be said without doubt, that a 
 man is afraid to fight. If there could 
 he an expedient found to salve the 
 ptmctilio of honour, I loould not con- 
 Unue here an hour. The discontent 
 
 that T, and many other honest men 
 receiA'e daily, is beyond expression. 
 People are much divided ; the king 
 is of late very much averse to peace 
 by the persuasions of 202 and 111. 
 It is likewise well conceived that the 
 king has taken a resolution not to do 
 anything in that way before the 
 queen comes ; for people ad-vising 
 the king to agree with the parliament 
 was the occasion of the queen's re- 
 turn. Till that time no advice will 
 be received. Nevertheless the honest 
 men will take all occasions to pro- 
 cure an accommodation, which the 
 king, when he sent those messages, 
 did heartily desire ' (in this his lord- 
 ship was, with many others, de- 
 ceived), ' and would still make offers 
 in that way, but for 220, 111, and 
 the expectations of the queen, and 
 the fear of the Papists, who threaten 
 people of 342. I feare 243 (Papists) 
 threats have a much greater influence 
 upon 83 (king) than upon 343.' In the 
 next letter, undated, but shortly after 
 the preceding, he says, * If the king.
 
 496 
 
 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTOEY OF THE BRITISH EMPIKE. 
 
 CHAP. 
 IV. 
 
 The parliament, on tlie other hand, had the support 
 of the towns, of a considerable portion of the highest 
 
 or rather 243, prevail, we are in sad 
 coudition, for they will be insup- 
 portable to all, but most to us who 
 have opposed them, so that if the 
 king prevails by force, I must not 
 live at home, which is grievous to 
 me, but more to you ; but if, I ap- 
 prehend, I shall not be suflered to 
 live in England ; and yet I cannot 
 fancy any way to avoid both ; for 
 the king is so awed by 243, that he 
 dares not propose peace, or accept ; 
 I fear by his last message he is engaged. 
 Ijut if that be offered by the par- 
 liament, I and otliers will speak their 
 opinions, though by that concerning 
 the treaty were threatened by 243, 
 who caused 99 to be commanded by 
 the king, upon his allegiance to re- 
 tm-ne against his will, he being too 
 powerful for 102, 111, and by whom 
 England is now likely to be governed.' 
 {Sidney Papers, vol. ii. pp. 667, 668.) 
 The reader will observe that 243 are 
 the Papists, and yet Mr. Hume 
 makes the idea of danger from that 
 body the unceasing subject of deri- 
 sion. One would almost imagine 
 that tuivards one side he carried into 
 his historical researches a portion of 
 that scepticism wliich, in his meta- 
 physical disquisitions, led him to 
 doubt tlie existence of the universe. 
 It is so singular that an author of 
 Mr. Hume's acuteness should have 
 fallen into such an error, or rather 
 that his statements should have been 
 so successful, that it may not be im- 
 proper, in this place, to present a 
 rapid view of the progress of the 
 Reformation, and of public opinion 
 on that subject. The first motion 
 by Henry VIII. to throw off the 
 papal yoke occurred in the year 1530, 
 and Charles ascended the throne in 
 1625, or ninety-five years afterwards. 
 The progress that it made, with all 
 the circuni.stanc(>s wliich attended it 
 imder Henry VIII. and his son, it is 
 unnecessary to recapitulate. In 1553 
 the Catholic worship was restored, 
 and continued to bo the established 
 
 religion till 1658, or till only sixty- 
 seven years of the reign of Charles. 
 Nor can the spirit with which it was 
 restored and enforced be without 
 horror remembered. The plots, con- 
 spiracies, and rebellious, in conjimc- 
 tion with foreign princes, for the 
 restoration of the Pope's power in 
 Elizabeth's time, and the state of 
 affairs on the Continent, must be 
 fresh in the reader's memory. But 
 he may be reminded that the mas- 
 sacre in Paris on St. Bartholomew's 
 Eve occurred in 1572, or within the 
 memory of many who must have 
 been in the fidl possession of their 
 faculties in 1625, or fifty-seven years 
 afterwards; and that the Spanish 
 Armada appeared on the English 
 coast in 1588, or within thirty-seven 
 years. The next fearful event was 
 the Gunpowder Plot, to blow up the 
 king and parliament, and thus de- 
 stroy the constitution, when the con- 
 spirators imagined they should be 
 able to take the government into 
 their own hands, and force the na- 
 tion to return into the bosom of the 
 Catholic church. This, however, 
 happened not only in the reign of 
 Charles's father, but within twenty- 
 one years of his own accession. To 
 maintain, therefore, that the Papists 
 were not a numerous and most for- 
 midable body at the accession of 
 Charles, is to set all probability, as 
 it does all authority, at defiance ; and 
 we may remark, tliat the very laws 
 against them, which had partly 
 sprung from their own atrocities, 
 necessarily nurtured rancour in the 
 breasts of all who still adhered to 
 that faith. It will now be recol- 
 lected that Charles had himself pro- 
 posed to his father to acknowledge 
 the Papal supremacy ; that foreigners 
 treated with him on the Catholics' 
 account ; that he had not only ever 
 favoured that body, but that a nego- 
 tiation for reconcilement with the 
 court of Rome in his reign had pro- 
 ceeded far, while the Papists, both
 
 PARLIAMENT IS SUPPORTED BY THE TOWNS, ETC. 
 
 497 
 
 aristocracy, and generally of the gentry, and the lower 
 independent country ranks, particularly the yeomen ; of 
 all, in short, who had an mdependent stake in the com- 
 munity. These perceived that their own liberties and 
 the success of the king were irreconcilable, and they 
 zealously co-operated with the parliament.* 
 
 at home and abroad, expected it ; 
 and, lastly, that the Irish rebellion, 
 which, iu spite of all its iinheard-of 
 enormities, the pope hallowed with 
 his fatherly benedictions, &c., and 
 France and Spain and other Catholic 
 states promoted, or, at least, en- 
 couraged, had just made Ireland a 
 place of desolation. "\Mieu these 
 things are called to mind, it will 
 naturally be asked how Mr. Hume 
 could adopt the style he has used ? 
 but the solution is easy. The con- 
 cealed, yet suspected religion of 
 Charles II. and the avowed creed 
 of his brother, inspired just ap- 
 prehensions for religion, though the 
 progress of time and events had 
 vastly lessened the number of Pa- 
 pists. Out of this panic grew that 
 phenomenon called the Popish Plot. 
 James II. confirmed the national 
 fears, by attempting against all rea- 
 son to carry the people back to the 
 llomish persuasion; and, as every 
 body knows, the Revolution of 1688 
 flowed as much from religious as 
 from civil causes. So long as the 
 Pretender threatened British tran- 
 quillity, by those in power a cry was 
 zealously maintained against Papists, 
 who by this time had become al- 
 together contemptible as a party in 
 the state. The necessary conse- 
 quence of protracting the alarm when 
 the cause had ceased, while it af- 
 forded a deii.<ive triumph to the 
 whole Jacobite or Tory party, was 
 a feeling of shame at the trick in 
 the well-informed, conscientious por- 
 tion of the Whigs. But men never 
 stop at the exact line. Having dis- 
 covered the delusion, the better in- 
 formed extended to ages when mat- 
 ters were in a very different posture, 
 their contempt of the popular feeling 
 Avhich had outlived the cause. Of 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 IV. 
 
 this Mr. Hume Iniew well how to 
 take the advantage. He informs us 
 in his Life, that ' he thought himself 
 the only historian that had at once 
 neglected present power, interest, and 
 authority and the cry of popular pre- 
 judice.' But the reception of Carte's 
 works, in spite of all their violence, 
 might have taught him, considering 
 how imsparingly he borrowed from 
 them, to expect success; and have 
 convinced him that the tide was 
 turned. After the year 1745, the 
 hopes of the Pretender were blasted ; 
 his party soon abandoned his cause 
 as desperate, and then, far from being 
 excluded from power, they soon got 
 to the helm. The high-church party 
 had been hitherto opposed to the 
 administration, while the dissenters 
 had been favoured ; but the aspect 
 of affairs was now changed. The 
 high-church party were in power, 
 and heightened the contempt at the 
 dissenters, by the ridicule of their 
 affected terror of Popery. Now, it 
 is remarkable, that though Hume's 
 history, by having a little preceded 
 the current, was not at first very 
 successful, it soon became so when 
 the tide tiowed fast in its new direc- 
 tion. 
 
 Roger Coke is a weak writer, but 
 his authority as to the fears of the 
 high Royalists, regarding the king's 
 ascendancy, which, he tells us, he 
 learned from themselves, is in unison 
 with the above, and also with the 
 correspondence in Clarendon's State 
 Papers (Coke, p. 279). Even some 
 Popish lords were alarmed for the 
 general franchises, and only sup- 
 ported Charles upon a solemn assur- 
 ance that he would not violate them 
 (Clar. Papers, vol. ii. p. 147). 
 
 * This abimdantly appears from 
 various authorities. 
 
 VOL. II. 
 
 K K
 
 498 CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF THE BEITISH EMPIRE. 
 
 CHAP. Before actually resorting to arms, the parliament, as a 
 
 > .,_: . last effort to accommodate matters without the effusion of 
 
 human blood in an unnatural quarrel, sent nineteen pro- 
 positions to the king, which were of the same nature with 
 what had been resolved upon while Charles was in Scotland, 
 if not even prior to that period, and which were similar 
 to the regulations in the sister kingdom. They Avere to 
 this purpose : That the privy councillors and the great 
 officers of state should only be appointed with the appro- 
 bation of both Houses, and that the councillors, and also 
 the judges, should take an oath (such as should be devised 
 by both Houses), for the due execution of their offices, 
 and be responsible to parliament : That the privy council 
 should not exceed twenty-five, nor be under fifteen, and 
 that every act passed by them should be agreed to by the 
 majority : That if any places in the council should become 
 vacant during the intervals of parliament, they should be 
 supplied by the approbation of the majority of that body, 
 and the choice afterwards be submitted to the parliament : 
 That all matters proper for the cognisance of both Houses 
 should be debated there only : That the high offices of 
 constable, treasurer, privy seal, marshal, admiral, warden 
 of the cinque ports, chief governor of Ireland, chancellor 
 of the exchequer, master of the wards, the secretaries of 
 state, the two chief-justices, and the chief-baron, should 
 always be chosen with the approbation of both Houses, 
 or, in the interval of parliament, by the coimcil, in the 
 same manner as privy-councillors, and that the patents to 
 the judges should be quaindiu se bene gesserint : That no 
 marriage should be contracted by any of the royal family 
 without the consent of parliament, and that their governors 
 should be appointed with the approbation of both Houses : 
 That such a reformation of the ecclesiastical government 
 as both Houses recommended should be adopted : That 
 the forts and the militia should be under the command 
 and custody of persons approved of by both Houses : That 
 the peers who should be created afterwards should not
 
 CHARLES'S ANSWER TO PROPOSITIONS SENT BY PARLIAMENT. 499 
 
 be admitted to vote in parliament without the approbation chap. 
 of both Houses : That a bill should be passed to clear >_i^_^ 
 Lord Kimbolton and the others : That delinquents should 
 be given up to justice, &c. 
 
 ' Should I grant these demands,' said the king, ' I may 
 be waited on bareheaded ; I may have my hand kissed ; 
 the title of majesty may be continued to me ; and the 
 king's authority signified by both Houses, may still be the 
 style of your commands ; I may have swords and maces 
 carried before me, and please myself with the sight of a 
 crown and a sceptre (though even these would not long 
 flourish where the stock upon which they grew was dead). 
 But as to true and real power, I should remain but the 
 outside, but the picture, but the sign of a king.' Yet he 
 for long after professed his abhorrence of reducing his 
 people by force.* 
 
 * Rusli. vol. iv. p. 722 et seq. ; p. G03 ; of Lords, vol. ii. p. 97 et seq. ; 
 
 Cob. rarl. Hist. vol. ii. p. 1324 et Clar. voL ii. p. 38 et seq. ; Husb. Col. 
 
 seq. ; Old Pari. Hist. vol. ix. p. 116 p. 306 et seq. ; Ludlow, vol, i. p. 31 
 
 et seq. ; Journals of Commons, May, et seq. 
 vol. ii. p. 74 et seq. ; far as June, id. 
 
 K Ii 2
 
 NOTES 
 
 TO 
 
 THE SECOND VOLUME, 
 
 Note A. 
 Regarding the Scottish Canons and Liturgy. 
 
 Mr. Laing says, tliat the order of tlie Assembly held at Aberdeen 
 to frame canons and a liturgy, was suspended in consecjuence of the 
 opposition to the articles of Perth ; that ' It was resumed on the late 
 expedition to Scotland ; but that the prelates, considering the English 
 service as a badge of dependence, represented that a j)ecidiar and 
 distinct liturgy Avas due to the dignity of a jealous nation : that their 
 pride was inflexible on this point alone : that Charles, or rather Lavid, 
 was obliged to acquiesce without obtaining an immediate or the pro- 
 mise of an absolute conformity with England ; biit that the latter was 
 assured that no heresy, and the former that no sedition, should hence- 
 forth transpire in prayer ; and if there be a choice between superstition 
 and enthusiasm, they were gratified with the preference of a pre- 
 composed liturgy to extemporary worship.' — Vol. i. p. IIG. For this 
 statement he quotes Clarendon's History, Guthry's Memoirs, and Laud's 
 I'rotihles ; but he does not appear to have made a judicious use of any 
 of them. 
 
 Clarendon tells us that both Charles and Laud wished the English 
 liturgy to be introduced entire : that the bishops and the party in 
 Scotland who were most concerned to promote the business used ajl 
 their influence to divert the king from attempting it at that time : that 
 the whole design was never consulted but privately, and only some few 
 of the great men of tliat nation and some of the bishops advised with 
 by the king and the bishop of London (Laud); that these A'ery men 
 offered two ]>rudential reasons against the English liturgy : the first 
 regarded the reading of the Psalms and the Apocrypha, which might 
 cause dissatisfaction, and the other was founded upon an idea that, if 
 the English Service-book were obtruded, the people, who were jealous 
 of being considered as a province, to receive laws from England, would 
 resent it. — Hist. vol. i. p. 82 et seq. Now, siu-ely, the last was the most 
 absurd reason, since the principle assumed by Charles in the whole
 
 502 NOTES. 
 
 lousiness was, that lie miglit dictate what lie pleased, and the inno- 
 vations were all made without the sanction either of the legislature 
 or church : And as to the first, it is inconceivable how he should 
 have listened to such an objection, when, in spite of the general abhor- 
 rence, he was ready to force the canons and liturgy, by tire and sword, 
 upon that nation. In another place Clarendon says that, in 1G33, Charles 
 ' had left it to the care of some of the bishops in Scotland to provide 
 such a litm-gy and such a book of canons as might best suit the nature 
 and humour of the better sort of that people, to which the rest would 
 easily submit.' {So some of the bishops were to judge for the better 
 sort of the whole nation, as to what might best suit their nature and 
 humour, and what they deemed calculated for that people's nature and 
 humour must be forced upon them by every species of violence. 
 This was indeed a new way of coiisidting the general inclination). 
 ' And that as tiist as they ' (some of the bishops) ' made them ready, 
 they should transmit them to the Archbishop of Canterbmy, to Avhose 
 assistance the king joined the Bishop of London and Dr. Wren, Avho 
 by that time was become Ijishop of Norwich, a man of a severe, sour 
 nature, but very learned, and particularly versed in the old litm-gies of 
 the Greek and Latin churches. And after his majesty should be this 
 way certified of what was to be sent, he Avoiild recommend and enjoin 
 the practice and use of .both to that his native kingdom.' — p. 103. Li 
 a third place he says : ' The canons now published (besides as hath 
 been touched before), that they had passed no approbation of the 
 clergy, or been communicated to the council, appeared to be so many 
 new'^laws imposed upon the whole kingdom by the king's sole autho- 
 rity, and contrived by a few private men, of Avhom they had no good 
 opinion, and who were strangers to the nation : so that it was thought 
 no other than a subjection to England, by receiving laws from thence, 
 of which they were most jealous, and which they most passionately 
 abhorred. Then they Avere so far from being confined to the church 
 and the matters of religion, that they believed there was no part of the 
 civil government uninvaded by them, and no persons of what quality 
 soever unconcerned, and, as they thought, unhurt in them.' — p. 105-6. 
 In regard to the liturgy, he says : ' There was the same affected and 
 premeditated omission, as had been in the preparation and publication 
 of the canons, the clergy not at all consulted in it, atid what was most 
 strange^ not all the bisliops icere acquainted with it ; which was less 
 censured afterwards, when some of them renounced their function, and 
 became ordinaiy presbyters, so soon as they saw the current of the 
 times.' — p. 10b.' Here is nothing of the inflexible obstinacy of the 
 Scottish bishops, some of whom onty were consulted ; and, considering 
 the manner in which the whole business was carried through, the 
 motive assigned for new canons and a new liturgy implies an ab- 
 surdity. 
 
 Gvithry, who was an actor in those scenes, and afterw^ards bishop 
 of Dunkekl, informs us that the l)ishops appointed by Charles wei-e 
 nominated, not like those by his father at the recommendation of their 
 seniors, but merely from their interest at court; that the young, or 
 lately nominated, kept a fellowship among themselves, and persuaded
 
 THE BISHOPS COMMANDED TO SET ABOUT A LITURGY. 503 
 
 Laud to procure from the king authority for himself to prescribe 
 many things to the older bishops which Avere disagreeable to them ; 
 that of those latterly appointed, the only one qualified for the office 
 Avas Maxwell, bishop of Ross, who to great talents added imbounded 
 ambition, having been a lord of the secret council, exchequer, and 
 of the session extraordinary, while he intrigued likewise for the office 
 of lord high treasurer ; that, during the king's visit to Scotland, ' Dr. 
 Laud, then bishop of London, shortly after archbishop of Canterbury 
 (one who had much power with his majesty, but was generally hated 
 by the people), beholding our form of worship, did, in conference with 
 our bishops and others of the clergy, tax the nakedness thereof in 
 divers respects, but chiefly for our want of a litiu'gy, whereby he thought 
 it might be helped. The old bishops replied, that in King James's 
 time there had been a motion made for it, but that the presenting 
 thereof Avas deferred, in regard the articles of Perth then introduced 
 proved so unwelcome to the people, that they thought it not fit nor 
 safe at that time to venture upon any further innovations ; and they 
 were not yet without fear that if it should be gone about, the conse- 
 quence thereof might be very sad ; but Bishop Maxwell, and with 
 him ]\Ir. Thomas Sydserf, n'ho ivas then hut a candidate, and Mr. 
 Mitchell and others, pressed hard that it might be, assuring that there 
 Avas no kind of danger in it ; Avhereupon Bishop Laud, Avho spake as 
 he Avould ha\'e it, moA^ing the king to declare that there should be a 
 liturgy in this chiu'ch, his majesty commanded the bishops to set 
 about it.' Tlie author proceeds to inform us, that Avhile the bishops 
 Avere engaged in the Avork, ' a clamour arose, which, upon the svidden 
 spread throughout the land, that religion Avas undermined by a con- 
 spiracy betAvixt the Bishop of Canterbury and other bishops, and that 
 they being suborned by him, Avere bringing in the mass-book ; ' that ' the 
 Archl)ishop of St. Andrew's, Avith the Avisest of his brethren ' (the 
 author does that primate more than justice), ' laid it to heart, and Avrote 
 to the Archbishop of Canterbury to deal Avith the king that the book 
 might be kept back till the nation were better prepared to receive it ; ' 
 but that the lately preferred bishops, ' being hot blood and Avanting 
 somcAvhat of the experience Avhich the elder sort had,' supported the 
 treasurer (Traquair) in his opinion that the Avork shoidd be carried 
 through. That Traquair, Avho, according to Guthry, acted treacherously 
 in the business, having got lines under these junior prelates' hands, 
 posted to court, and suggested to Canterbury that there was no danger 
 to be apprehended, the old bishops being merely timorous men, Avho 
 were afraid Avithout cause, ' and that if his grace Avould move the king 
 to lay his commands iipou him, he should upon his life carry through 
 the business Avithout any stir.' That Laud was so moA^ed Avith Tra- 
 quair's representations, particularly as he brought letters from those 
 Scottish prelates Avith Avhom he (Laud) con-esponded most, 'that, 
 albeit, he thought not fit that a Avork of that nature should be com- 
 mitted to a laic, yet procui^cd to himself a ivarrant from the hing, to 
 command the bishops, upo?i all hazards, to go foricard in it, threatoiing 
 them withal, that if they liiigered in it longer the king would turn them 
 out of their places, and fill the same ivith vigorous and resolute men,
 
 504 NOTES. 
 
 ivlio would not he afraid to do Mm service.'' Surely he who proceeded in 
 tliis ahitraiy manner was little to be moved by the obstinacy of the 
 Scottish bishops. He who could rely upon his ability in guidino- 
 his master to appoint prelates who would not be afraid to do him 
 • service, must have been able previously to nominate such as he could 
 fully trust ; and the younger bishops Avere all of his recommendation. 
 ' The younger bishops,' continues our author, ' were overjoyed at the 
 warrant, but the wise old bishops were of another mind, and thought 
 more than they spake ; however, now they had nothing left them but 
 eidier to do or die. Whereupon (and being mightily encouraged hy 
 the treasurer's ample promises of asdstance, and sharing in their lot), 
 they did cast away their fear and went to work. And indeed it is 
 remarkable that thereafter they acted so far contrary to those rules of 
 prudence and policy whereby they had been accustomed to manage 
 their affairs, that all men began to espy a fatality in it. For they 
 laboured not (as formerly they had done in lesser matters) to have 
 their book brought in by an ecclesiastical sanction ; but having o-otten 
 it authorised by an act of coimcil, proceeded Avithout more ado to uro-e 
 the practice thereof. Whereby they provoked against themselves the 
 most part even of those ministers that were episcopal in their jud"-- 
 ment, who thought it a very sad matter that a liturgy should be 
 imposed upon the church without the knowledge and consent of the 
 church ; and judged it such a dangerous preparative, that thereby the 
 civil power might, in after times, introduce anything (though never 
 
 so hurtful to religion), and the church never get one voice in it.' 
 
 pp. 14 — 18. The reader will judge how far this authorises Mr. Laing's 
 
 statement. 
 
 . The other authority referred to by Mr. Laing is Laud's oAvn account 
 
 in Avhat are called his Troubles, Avhich are evidently nothing else than 
 
 notes of his defence, and consequently the worst authority imaginable. 
 
 But it does not support IMr. Laing's statement. 
 
 ' When I was first bishop of London, his majesty expressed a great 
 desire which he had, to settle a liturgy in the chmxh of Scotland, and 
 this continued in agitation many years.' ' In the year 1633, his 
 majesty Avent into Scotland, and Avas croAvned there ; I attended his 
 majesty in that service. The parliament then sitting in Scotland ivas 
 very quick about seme church affairs, and the king Avas very unsatis- 
 fied with some men and their proceedings. At his majesty's return in 
 the same year, I Avas, by his special grace and favour, made archbishop 
 of Canterbury 19 Setembris, The debate about the Scottish liturgy 
 was piu-sucd afresh, and at last it Avas resolved by the king, that some 
 Scottish bishops should draAv up a liturgy as near that of England as 
 might be ; and that then his majesty Avould have that confirmed and 
 settled for the use of that kingdom. The liturgy Avas carefully con- 
 sidered of, and at last printed and imblished, an. 1637. It seems the 
 bishops ivhich were trusted tvitli this biisiness Avent not the right way, 
 by a general assembly and other legal courses of that kingdom,' &c. 
 ^p. 75. In another place he says, ' that the Scottish bishops, some of 
 them, did often say that the people would be better satisfied by much, to 
 have a liturgy composed by their oAvn bishops, as this Avas, than' to
 
 LAUD THE PRIME MOVER IX THE BUSINESS. 505 
 
 have the sei-vice-book of England put npon them.' — pp. 113, 114. In 
 what he called a true nan-ative concerning the Scottish service-book, 
 of his own handwriting, boimd in the Tower by Prjniue, he says that 
 the bishop of Ross, Maxwell, called upon him in 1629, and informed 
 him that he had received instructions from the king about a liturgy ; 
 that he. Laud, urged strenuously that if liis majesty would have a 
 liturgy, it should be the English entire, but that the other insisted 
 that a neAV liturgy, differing in some things from the English, woidd 
 be more agreeable to his countrymen, and that his brethx-en were of the 
 same opinion ; that the king was for the English without alteration ; 
 that the matter was allowed to rest for two or three years, but that the 
 Scottish bishops, still pressing for a separate liturgy, as more likely to 
 be acceptable to their countrymen, it was agreed to; and that his 
 majesty commanded him (Laud) to render them all the assistance he 
 could. — Prynne's Necessarij Introd. to Lauds Trial, p. 155. 
 
 The Scottish commissioners founded upon fourteen letters written 
 by Laud to Scotland upon this business, and other documents which 
 fidly establish that, from the very beginning, he interfered with the 
 Scottish church in every particular ; that the canons and liturgy were 
 sent to him, Avi-itten on one side only ; that he made many alterations 
 (and by a document under his own hand, discovered by Prynne, it appears 
 that these included all the points chiefly objected to as extracted 
 from the mass-book. — Necess. Introd. p. 156 et seq.). That he encou- 
 raged the few Scottish j^relates who were trusted Avith the subject, to 
 prosecute the business ; and that one in particidar, Bellenden, bishop 
 of Dunblane, fell imder the royal displeasure, and missed preferment, 
 for not pursuing the prescribed innovations in worship in the chapel 
 royal, &c. Now Laud neither does nor coidd deny all this ; but lie 
 makes a defence to this purpose ; that he was ordered by his majesty 
 to render all the assistance in his power to the Scottish prelates ; that 
 he could not refuse obedience to his majesty's commands, but that he 
 impressed upon the Scottish prelacy to do nothing except according to 
 law ; and that he ever recommended quiet measures instead of rigorous 
 proceedings. — .See his Troubles, Ansicer to Scottish Charge. Now, 
 it appears incontestably by his own statements, letters, &c., and otlier 
 authorities, that some only of the Scottish bishops were trusted in the 
 business, and these some, by other authorities, appear to have been 
 only three or four (BaiUie, vol. i. p. 4) of his own nomination too, 
 and in high ci\al appointments, &c., the chief of them being the 
 Bishop of lioss, his tool ; that because the wisest among the Scottish 
 prelates, who were the majority also, w^ere averse to an undertaking 
 so repugnant to the feelings of their countrymen, they were threat- 
 ened with being turned out of their places, &c. ; and that every 
 suggestion of Laud was attended to, and his alterations can-ied by him 
 authoritatively : the question then is, Whether he must not be esteemed 
 the prime mover ? He selected the few Scottish bishops whom he 
 chose to entrust with the business, and he could only select them 
 because they were fitted for the occasion. On the same principle 
 that he threatened the majority, he would have changed the few. "With 
 regard to his advice to do nothing against the laws, and his pretended
 
 506 NOTES. 
 
 regret that matters were not submitted to an assembly, it implies a 
 degree of effrontery which could not have been expected even from 
 Laud. The principle ever advanced by him was, that the ro^'al power 
 was unconti'ollable ; and if in England he claimed a divine right (inde- 
 pendently of the civil) for the church, in other words, the prelates, 
 he, to accomphsh his own object, took a different ground in Scotland, 
 and made canons, attribiiting a divine, indefeasible power to the king, 
 while he always denied that the ecclesiastical establishment of Scot- 
 land, of which general assemblies were fundamental parts, was recon- 
 cilaljle with the constitution of a Christian chiu'ch. He knew the 
 opposition which the articles of Perth, and likewise those regarding the 
 Scottish chiirch in the year 1633, had met in Scotland, and the unjust 
 proceedings that then, and afterwards, took place in regard to them ; 
 and it required small logic to conclude that, if the sanction of the 
 legislature were necessary for minor points, it must have been for 
 greater ; and that if these lesser points excited such a ferment, the 
 greater miist rouse something more terrible. Indeed, his friend and 
 creature Juxon Avrote, that the canons which he sent down woidd make 
 a greater noise than all the cannons of Edinburgh Castle. — See these 
 letters in Prynne's Necess. Introd. ; The Scottish Charge in Nalson and 
 EusliAvorth ; Laud's Troubles; and some of the originals in Advocate's 
 Library. They are also published by Hailes, who appears to have 
 fallen into a mistake in supposing that the letters were not produced. 
 They were not produced with the charge, according to the Scottish 
 practice ; and Laud calls for them in his answers ; but the commis- 
 sioners declare they would produce the autographs in evidence. Laud's 
 allegation that he advised to do nothing against the laws, is absurd on 
 another ground : the canons and liturgy, as the greatest innovations, 
 were necessarily against the existing law ; for they were in fact new 
 laws, imposing the severest 2:)enalties, &c., and if the king coidd impose 
 them without the legislature, &c., then he necessarily centered in his 
 own person the whole legislative power ; and nothing can be against 
 law which the svipreme power of the state, whence all law emanates, 
 wills by a new promidgation. In one of his letters, too, he advises 
 Traquair, in one case, to find out some expedient * hoiv the law may be 
 by some just exposition helped till the state shall see cause to abolish it.'' 
 In that very letter he condemns the bishops ' for disclaiming the book 
 as any act of theirs, but as it was his majesty's command.' ' 'Tis most 
 ti'ue, the king commanded a liturgy, and it was time they had one.' 
 (Then the king had the power, and nothing could be done against law.) 
 ' They did not like to admit of ours, but thoTight it more reputation 
 for them {as indeed it was) to compile one of their own, yet as near as 
 might be, and they have done it well. Will they now cast doA^ai the 
 milk they have given, because a few milkmaids have scolded at 
 them ? I hope they will be better advised : certainly they were very 
 ill-advised when they spake thus at the council-hoard.'' — Prynne's Necess. 
 Introd. pp. 16.5, 16G; Eush. vol. ii. p. 390. His pretence of having ever 
 inclined to pacific measures is equally uncandid. For it appears in- 
 contestably, that he always urged on violent measures, was intimate 
 with all those perfidious counsels in which Marquis Hamilton acted
 
 LETTEE FROM WEXTAYORTH TO LAUD. LAUD's ANSWEE. 507 
 
 (Burnet's Mem. p. 507), and afterwards was instrumental in furnishing 
 pretexts for annulling the acts of the Assembly and Parliament, after 
 the pacification of Berwick, thus involving the island in the calamity of 
 a new war. The two follomng extracts — the first fi-om a letter by "Went- 
 worth to him, and the other by Laud to Wentworth — set matters in a 
 strong light. 'It was ever clear in my judgment,' says Wentworth, 
 ' that the business of Scotland, so well laid, so j)leasing to God and 
 man, had it been effected, was miserably lost in the execution, yet could 
 never have so fatally miscarried, if there had not been a failure like- 
 wise in the direction, occasioned either by over-great desires to do 
 all quietly without noise ; by the state of the business misrepresented ; 
 by opportunities and seasons slipt, or by some such like, &c.' ' Never- 
 theless, in my opinion, that error would not be seconded with a far 
 greater, which would be, indeed, more grievous, more terrible; for 
 should these rude spirits carry it thus /ro?M the king's honour to their 
 ovm churhsh wills, it woidd have a most fearful operation, I fear, as 
 well upon England as themselves, therefore God Almighty guide his 
 majesty's council and strengthen his courage. For if he master not 
 them, and this affiiir tending so much and visibly to the tranqviillity and 
 peace of his kingdoms, to the honour of Almighty God, I shall be to 
 seek for any probable judgment wliat is next like to befall us at after.' 
 — Straff. Let. and Disp. vol. ii. p. 250 : Letter, dated 27th November, 
 1638. Laud answers: 'Indeed, my lord, the business of Scotland, 
 / can be bold to say without vanity, was well laid, and was a great 
 service to the croAvn as well as God himself. And that it should so 
 fatally fail in the execution is a great blow as well to the power as 
 honoiu- of the king. And your lordship is most right in saying there 
 was a failure in the direction. For the truth is, there was too great 
 a desire there to do all without noise, and there was undoubtedly a 
 great misrepresentation of the business itself there ; and some seasons 
 and opportimities slipt, and that more than once, and the easy suffering 
 of oppositions too common in a hundred men and more. But these 
 three last, by your lordship's leave, were all errors about the execution, 
 not the direction ; but the first of these mentioned by you was indeed 
 an error in the direction, and a great one ; but I could not help it. 
 For such of the bishops of Scotland as were trusted ivith it were all 
 for the quiet way, and that fitting his majesty's disposition, I teas not 
 able to ivithstand it, and indeed must have been thought very bold, had 
 I taken upon me to understand the course of that church and kingdom 
 better than they. But the main failure in the direction, if I mistake 
 not, Avas that the lords of that coimcil were not thoroughly dealt with 
 by the king, and their judgments more thoroughly sifted, before any- 
 thing had been put in execution. And, I am confident, all had gone 
 well enough, if Traqiiair had done his diity. But he thought he had 
 all in a string ; and out of a desire to disgrace some bishops, did not 
 only suffer, but certainly underhand do, some things, which let all 
 loose, and quite out of their imagined power to recall. And this was 
 the greatest bane of the business which I have been able to observe, 
 next'to the over-much confidence which the king would still put in 
 him, not^Adthstanding some bishops still informed how false and un-
 
 508 NOTES. 
 
 worthy his carriage was. And that ichich foUoics, I wliolly agree with 
 you, that since it is come to this height, if his majesty do not master them 
 and bring them under obedience, the first error icill be so far seconded 
 tvith a greater, as that the conseqxience may be, God knoivs lohat ; such I 
 am sure as I hold not fit to prognosticate.'' In a preceding paragraph 
 he complains of the want of vigour in the military preparations. — 
 Straff. Let. and Disj). vol. ii. pp. 2Ci, 265: 29th December, 1G38. 
 The part which the Scottish bishops acted is clear; but just let it be 
 considered that this is the language of the man who, forsooth, always 
 recommended pacific measiu-es, and advised to do nothing against 
 law; submission, indeed, Avould have brought peace. As to law, 
 had he mistaken it at first, he must have known it now ; or, at least, 
 ought not to have interfered in recommending bloody measures against 
 the complaints of the Scots, that their laws were violated. 
 
 It is singular that an alteration was also made by him on the Irish 
 canons, in regard to auricular confession, and that Wentworth ap- 
 jjroved of it. — Id. -p. 195. Laud himself writes to Wentworth, 'the 
 Irish canon, in that particular, is much better than oiirs.' — p. 212. The 
 quibbling of Laud and his followers on this head was remarkable. 
 They maintained that private confession was a proper duty, and that 
 the priest could grant absolution from all sins ; but this was not the 
 Popish confession ; for it was not imposed as a necessary duty ixpon 
 the conscience, to reveal every sin, as the sinner miglit himself sus- 
 tain any particular one he chose. Really the difference is trifling, and 
 the Popish the best. For, if a confession obtain absolution, Avhy should 
 it not be of all sins, and complete ? The priest, as the servant of God, 
 is imposed upon otherwise ; and his absolution, as fraudulently obtained, 
 should not be valid. See Heylin's Introduction to Laud's Life ; Laud's 
 Trial by Prynne ; His Troubles ; Dow's Linovations unjustly charged 
 upon the p)resent Clmrch and State, p. 55, ed. 1637. With regard to 
 the real presence, he maintained that the body and blood were really 
 and truly substantially present, yet he pretended to deny the corporeal 
 presence ; which is as much as this — that there is the presence of the 
 body, but not the body's presence. ' We believe, indeed,' said the 
 Scottish clergy, ' that my Lord Canterbury doth but juggle with the 
 world in his fair and ambiguous generalities, being content to inveigh 
 as much against Popery and innovation as we could wish, upon hopes, 
 ever when it comes to any particular of the grossest Popery we can 
 name, by his subtile distinctions and disputations to slide out of our 
 hands.' — Tlie Canterhnnan's Self-Conviction, written in March, and 
 printed in April, 1640, p. 6. 
 
 It may easily be conceived that a very few only of the letters Avrit- 
 ten by Laud to Scotland fell into the hands of the Covenanters, (in- 
 deed, it is wonderful that there were so many,) and the following extract 
 fi'om one by him to Wentworth, dated 3rd July, 1634, fully proves it. 
 ' I was fain to Avrite nine letters yesterday into Scotland. I tliink you 
 have a plot to see whether I will be Universalis Episcopus, that you 
 and your brethren may take occasion to call me Anti-Christ.' — Straff. 
 Let. and Disp. vol. i. p. 271. 
 
 After the first j^assage from Mr. Laing's history, the reader will be 
 sui-priscd at the following from the same source : — ' They,' (the Scots)
 
 EXAMINATIOX OF COLONEL GORIXG. 509 
 
 says he, 'had some foundation for their accusation against Laud, who 
 had usurped a patriarchal authority over the church, and from whom 
 the liturgy and canons had originated ; the source of their discontent, 
 and the sole cause of their recourse to arms.' — p. 193. Surely this 
 author had composed in great haste, when he is so inconsistent on such 
 a subject. 
 
 The reader will recollect, that Laud lost the confidence of James by 
 urging him to impose a liturgy in 1617. 
 
 Laud showed warrants fi'om Charles, authorising his interference 
 with Scottish affairs ; but he was accused of having only procured 
 them to screen himself, when he perceived that he would be called to 
 account. — Prynue's Necess. Introd. p. 156. Yet, however this may 
 be, there can be no doubt that Charles was, all along, acquainted with 
 every movement ; and that, therefore, as Laud could, at any time, have 
 got warrants of the tenor of those produced, the act of antedating 
 them afterwards was the most innocent of all frauds. The truth is, 
 that Charles chose him as a fit instrument, and that he again stirred 
 \v[> the king to proceed to extremities. We are told by Mad. de Motte- 
 ville, and that, at least, shows the understanding of foreigners, that the 
 object was to introduce Popery by degrees ; that Scotland was begun 
 with as most likely to be quiescent, and that Charles showed the liturgy 
 to the queen before he sent it off, to satisfy her how near it approached 
 to the Catholic faith. — Mem. par Mad. de Motteville, tom. i. pp. 242, 
 243, ed. Amsterdam, 1750. Wentworth's doctrine of the divine un- 
 controllable right of kings may be farther seen in his letters to the 
 Earl of Argyle in relation to this subject. — Straff. Let. and Disjy. 
 pp. 210, 246, 299. 
 
 Note B. 
 The Examination of Colonel Goring, taken June 19, 1641. 
 
 To the first Interrogatory. — Hesaith, that in Lent last, (as he remem- 
 bers,) about the middle of it, Sir John Suckling came to him on Sundai/ 
 morning, as he was in his bed ; and this examinate conceiving he had 
 come to him about some businesse of money that was betAveene them ; 
 and thereupon falling upon that discourse, Sir John Suckling told him 
 he was then come aliout another ]:)UBinesse, which was to acquaint him, 
 that there was a piurpose of bringing the army to London, and that my 
 Lord of Newcastle was to be generalc, and hee, this examinate, lieu- 
 tenant-generale, if he would accept of it. And further said, that hee 
 should hear more of this businesse at court : to which this examinate 
 ansAvered only this, Well then I will goe to the court ; which was all 
 that passed between them at that time, to the best of this examinate's 
 remembrance. 
 
 To the second. — He cannot depose. 
 
 To the third. — He saith, that as he was coming in his coach in the 
 street, out of the Covent Garden into Saint Martin s Lane, he met there
 
 510 NOTES. 
 
 Master Henry Jermyn, Avho was likewise in a coacli ; and seeing this 
 examinate sent his footman to him, desiring him to follow him, because 
 he would speake with him ; which this examinate did : and Master 
 Jermyn going a little further alighted, and went into a house, (to which 
 house, as this examinate was but yesterday informed. Sir John Suckling 
 did then usually resort,) and thither this examinate followed him, and 
 coming after him to the top of the stayres, M. Jermyn said to him, He 
 had somewhat to say to him concerning the army, but that this was no 
 fit place to speak of it, and desired him to meet him that evening at the 
 court, on the queen's side, Avhich this examinate accordingly did ; and 
 meeting Master Jermyn in the queen's drawing chamber, he was there 
 told by him. That the queen would speak with him, and thereupon 
 Master Jermyn brought him into the queen's bed-chamber. But before 
 this examinate could enter into any discourse with the queen, the king 
 came in, and then this examinate did withdraw, and went away for that 
 time ;* but returned again the same night, and met Master Jermyn again 
 on the queen's side, who told him that he must necessarily meet with 
 some officers of the army, to heare some propositions concerning the 
 army. The next day, being Monday, tins examinate came again to tlie 
 court in the afternoon, and Avent into the queen's drawing- chamber, 
 where her majesty then was, who was pleased to tell him that the king 
 Avould speak with him, and bade him repaire to the room within the 
 gallery, into which room the king soon after came ; and his majesty 
 asked him if he was engaged in any cabals concerning the army : to 
 which he answered. That hee was not : Whereupon his majestie replyed, 
 I command you then to joyne yoiu'selfe with Percy, (here his ma- 
 jesty is directly implicated) and some others whom you Avill find 
 Avith him. And his majestie likcAvise said, I have a desire to put 
 my army into a good posture, and am advised unto it by my Lord 
 of Bristol : Avhich Avas the effect of AA'hat passed between the king 
 and this examinate at that time.f This examinate meeting afterwards 
 Avitli Master Jermyn, Master Jermyn told him that they Avere to 
 meet that evening at nine of the clock e Avith Master Percy, and some 
 others at INIaster Percies chambers ; and accordingly Master Jermyn 
 and he Avent thither together, and there foimd Master Percy himselfe. 
 Master Wilmot, Master Asburnham, Master Pollard, Master Oneal, and 
 Sir John Bartley ; Master Percy then, in the first place, tendered an 
 oath to this examinate and Master Jermyn, the rest saying they had 
 taken that oath already. This oath was prepared in Avriting, and Avas 
 to this effect, That they should neither directly nor indirectly disclose 
 anything of that lohich shoidd be then said unto them, nor think them- 
 selves absolved from the secrecy enjoyned by this oath, by any other oath 
 u'hich should be afterivards taken by them. They having taken the 
 oath, INIaster Percy declared. That they Avere resolA^ed not to admit of 
 any body else into their councils : and Master Jermyn and this exam- 
 inate moved, that Sir John Suckling might be received amongst them ; 
 
 * Compare this Avith what is giA^en f That seems to have been Sunday, 
 
 by Percy as the substance of the first the 4th of April — Mid-Lent Sunday. 
 petition.
 
 PERCIES LETTER TO THE EARL OF XORTHUMBERLAXD. 511 
 
 which being opposed by the rest, after some debate, it was laid aside : 
 and some speach there was of Sir John Suckling his being employed 
 in the armie ; but how it Avas agreed upon this examinate doth not 
 remember. 
 
 After this, Master Percy made his propositions, which he read out of 
 a paper, which were to this effect, — That the army should presently be 
 put into a posture to serve the king, and then should send up a declara- 
 tion to the parliament of these particulars, viz. That nothing should be 
 done in parliament contrary to any former act of parliament, which was 
 explained ; That bishops should be mayntained in their votes and fiuic- 
 tions, and the king's revenue be established. From these propositions, 
 none of Master Percies company did declare themselves to dissent. 
 Then came into consideration, if the army should not immediately be 
 brought to London^ which, as this examinate remembers, was first pro- 
 poiuided by Master Jermyn ; and also the making sure of the Tower. 
 These things this examinate did urge, to show the vanity and danger of 
 the other propositions, without undertaking this. In the conclusion, 
 this examinate did protest against his having any thing to do in either 
 designe ; for the proof of which he appeals to the consciences of them 
 that were present, and so parted with them. About this businesse, this 
 examinate saith, that they had two meetings, and cannot distingixish 
 what passed at the one, and what at the other : but the resiilt of all was 
 as he formerly declared ; further than which he cannot depose. 
 
 To the fourth. — He can say no more than he hath already said. 
 
 To the fifth. — He saith, that the very day that Sir John Suclding 
 first moved this unto him, he gave some touch of it to my Lord 
 Dungaruan, and the day after the second meeting at INIaster Percies 
 chamber, he discovered it to my Lord of Newport, and desired him to 
 bring him to some other lords, such as might be likeliest to pre- 
 vent all mischief; and, accordingly, the next day my Lord of Newport 
 brought him to my Lord of Bedfoixl^ my lord »S'ay, and my Lord 
 Mandevil, to whom he imparted the mayn of the businesse, but not 
 the particulars in regard of his oath, and desired them to make use of 
 it as they should see cause, for the safety of the commonwealth, but 
 not to produce him, nor name any person, except there were a neces- 
 sity for it. He ftirther saith, that he did, at the same time, make a pro- 
 testation unto those lords of his fidelity imto the commonwealth, and 
 of his readinesse to run all hazards for it. 
 
 George Goring. 
 
 Master Percies Letter written to the Earl of Korthumberland, 
 
 June 14, 1641. 
 
 What with my own innocency, and the violence I hear is against me, 
 I find myself much distracted. I will not ask your coimsell, because 
 it may bring prejudice uj)on you, but I will, with all faithfidnesse and 
 truth, tell you what my part hath bin, that at least I may be cleared 
 by you, whatsoever becomes of me.
 
 512 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 When there was 50,000 pound designed by the parliament for the 
 English army,* there was, as I take it, a sudden demand made by the 
 Scots, at the same time, of 25,000 pound, of which there was but 15,000 
 pound ready. This they pressed with so much necessity, as the par- 
 liament, after an order made, did think it fit for them to deduct 10,000 
 pound out of the fifty formerly granted, f upon which the soldiers in 
 our house were more scandalized, amongst which I was one ; and sitting 
 by Wilmot and Ashburnham, Wilmot stood up and told them, if sucli 
 papers as that of the Scots would procure moneys, he doiibted not but 
 the officers of the English army might easily do the like ; but the first 
 order was reversed, notwithstanding, and the 10,000 given to the Scots. 
 This was the caiise of many discourses of dislike amongst lis, and came 
 to this purpose, that they were disobliged by the parliament, and not 
 by the king. This being said often one to another, Ave did resolve, 
 that is Wilmot, Ashburnham, Pollard, Oneale, and myself, to make 
 some expression of serving the king in all things he Avould command 
 us, that Avere honourable for him and us, being likeAvise agreeable to 
 the fundamental! lawes of the kingdome, that so farre Ave should live 
 and die Avith him. This Avas agreed upon by us, not having any com- 
 munication Avith others, that I am coupled noAV Avithall ; and further, by 
 their joynt consent I Avas to tell his majesty tlnis much from them ; 
 but Avithall I aa\is to order the matter so, as that the king might 
 apprehend this as a great serA'ice done unto him at this time, when 
 his affairs Avere in so ill a condition ; and tliey Avere most confident 
 that they coidd engage the Avhole army thus far ; but farther, 
 they Avould undertake nothing, because they Avould neither infringe 
 the liberties of the subject nor destroy the laws, to Avhich I and 
 every one consented ; and, having their sence, I drew the heads up 
 in a paper, to Avhich they all approved when I read it ; and then 
 Ave did by an oath promise to one another to be constant and secret in 
 all this, and did all of us take that oath together. Well, sirs, I must 
 noAv be informed Avhat your particular desires are, that so I may be the 
 belter able to serve you, Avhich they Avere pleased to do ; and I did very 
 liiithfully serve them therein, as far as I could. This is the truth, and 
 all the truth, upon my soul. In particular discourses after that, Ave did 
 fall upon the petitioning the king and parliament for money, there being 
 so great arrears due to us, and so much delayes made in the prociiring 
 oi' tliem ; biit that was never done. 
 
 The preserving of bishops' functions and votes. 
 
 Tlie not- disbanding of the Irish army until the Scots Avere disbanded 
 too. 
 
 * The Journals prove, beyond all 
 question, that that sum was voted on 
 the loth of Fehruary. 
 
 t The same iinquestionable autho- 
 rity establislies that the Memorial from 
 the Scots was dated the 3rd of Mareh, 
 and submitted to the two Houses on 
 the oth and GUi. The noAV orders Avere 
 made on the last of these days; that is, 
 just tlu'co days less than two months 
 
 from the promulgation of the plot. — 
 viz. the 3rd of May ; yet the transcript 
 from tlie letter AA'as laid before the 
 Commons on the 14th. But the sub- 
 stance of it was communicated to tliat 
 House on the 12th, so that the 14th is 
 not the date of the document itself, but 
 denotes that on which it was received 
 as evidence.
 
 pekcie's letter to loed northumbeeland. 513 
 
 The endeavouring to settle his revenue to that proportion it was for- 
 merly ; and it Avas resolved by us all, if the king should require our 
 assistance in these things, that, as far as we cordd, we might contribute 
 thereunto without breaking the laws of the kingdom ; and, in case the 
 king should deny these things being put to them, we would not fly from 
 him.* 
 
 All these persons did act and concurre in this as well as I. This 
 being all imj^arted to the king by me from them, I perceived he had bin 
 treated with Ijy others concerning some thing of our army, Avhich did 
 not agree with what we proposed, but enclined a way more high and 
 sharp, not having limits either of honour or law. I told the king he 
 might be pleased to consider Avith himself which Avay it Avas fit for him 
 to hearken unto. For us, we were resolved not to depart from our 
 grounds, and if he employed others we should not be displeased whoso- 
 ever they Avere ; but the jmrticulars of their designe, or the persons, we 
 desired not to knoAv, though it Avas no hard matter to guesse at them ; 
 in the end, I believe, the dangers of the one, and the jtistice of the other 
 made the king tell me he Avould leave all thoughts of other propositions 
 but ours, as things not practicable, but desired notAvithstandiug that 
 Goring and Jermyn, ivho ive/-e acquainted icith the other proceedings, 
 should be admitted amongst us. I told him I thought the other gen- 
 tlemen Avould never consent to it, but I Avould propose it ; Avhich I did, 
 and Ave were all much against it; hut the Ling did presse it so much, as 
 at the last it was consented unto, and Goring and Jermyn came to my 
 chamber ; there I Avas appointed to tell them, after they had sAvome to 
 secrecy Avhat we had proposed, Avhich I did ; but beibre I go on to the 
 debait of the Avays I must tell you, ]Mr. Jermyn and Goring Avere very 
 earnest Suckling should be admitted, Avhich Ave did all decline ; and I 
 was desired by all oiu* men to be resokite in it, Avhich I Avas, and gave 
 many reasons ; Avhereupon I remember Master Goring made answer he 
 was so engaged Avith Suckling he could not go or do any thing without 
 him. Yet in the end, so that Ave Avould not oppose Suckling his being 
 employed in the army, that for his meeting Avitli us they Avere contented 
 to passe it by. Then we took up again, the ways were proposed which 
 took a gi-eat debait, and theirs, (I Avill say,) differed from ours in violence 
 and height, Avhich we all protested against and parted, disagreeing 
 totally ; yet remitting it to be spoken of by me and Jermyn to the 
 king, Avhich Ave both did. And the king, constant to his former resolu- 
 tion, told him that all those Avays Avere vain and foolish, and Avould think 
 of them no more. I omitted one thing of Master Goring, he desired to 
 know hoAv the chief commanders were to be disposed of, for if he had 
 not a condition worthy of him, hee Avould not go along Avith us;"j" Ave 
 made answer that nobody had thought of that, we intending, if Ave 
 were sent down, to go all in the same capacity wee were in ; he did 
 not like that by no means, and u])on that did Avork so by M. Chid- 
 ley that there was a letter sent by some of the commanders to make 
 
 * Compare this with the pretended f Here is a clue to the disclosiire by 
 
 copy of the petition published long Goring, corroborating Madame de Mot- 
 
 afterwards by Charles; the text does tevUle's account, 
 not contain a particle of this matter. 
 
 VOL. II. L L
 
 514 NOTES. 
 
 him lientenant-general, and when he had ordered this matter at Lon- 
 don, and M. Chidley had his instructions, then did he go to Portsmouth 
 pretending to be absent when this was a working ; we all desired my 
 Lord of "Essex, or my Lord of Holland, and they (if there were a 
 generall) Newcastle. They were pleased to give out a report I should 
 be general of the horse ; but I protest neither to the king or any one 
 else did I ever so miich as think of it ; my Lord of Holland was made 
 generall, and so all things were laid aside ; and this is the truth, and 
 all the truth I know of all these proceedings ; and -this I do and will 
 protest upon my faith ; and Wihnot, Asburnham, and Oneal have, at 
 several times, confessed and sworn, I never said any thing in this bisi- 
 nesse, they did not every one agree unto and would justifie. This re- 
 lation I send you rather to inform you of the truth of the matter, that 
 you may knoAV the better how to do me good ; but I should think my- 
 self very mihappy to be made a betrayer of any body ; what concerned 
 the Tower or any thing else I never meddled withall, nor never spoke 
 with Goring but that night before them all ; and I said nothing but 
 what was consented unto by all my party. I never spoke one word to 
 Suckling, Carnarvon, Davenant, or other creature ; race thinks if my 
 friends and kindred knew the truth and justice of this matter, it were 
 no hard matter to serve me in some measure.* 
 
 Die Maetis, 10 Maii, 1641. 
 
 The Examination of Captain James Chudleigh. 
 
 To the first Interrogatory and to the second. — This deponent saith, 
 that about March and April lastf hee was at Burrowbridge, where divers 
 officers and commanders of the army met, to whom he itsed some 
 speeches concerning the parliament ; that hee saw no probability that the 
 army would be suddenly paid by the pari, because they had promised so 
 much to the king and to the Scots, as well as to the army ; but that 
 the king did commiserate their case and said, that if they would be 
 faithful to him, he would pawn his jewels rather than they should be 
 unpaid ; and saith further, that he knows of such a letter sent by the 
 army to my Lord of Northumberland, | to be shewed to the parliament, 
 and that he told them at tliat meeting, that the parliament was much 
 displeased with that letter ; and that those who subscribed it should be 
 sent for up, particularly that my Lord of Essex and my Lord of New- 
 port had expressed much dislike of that letter, and of them who had 
 sent it, and said that they had forfeited their necks. § Which he had 
 
 * Does not this letter clearly impli- lord general— exhibited to the House of 
 
 ciito tho king ? Yet see the impudent Lords on the 22nd of March {Journals 
 
 strictures in his name. — Clar. vol. i. of Lordf<, \o\. ix. p. 194) — here spoken 
 
 p. iOC)-6. of, was the cause of much excitement in 
 
 t If language is to be relied upon, the House, 
 surely this is a contradiction to Claren- § As the letter was laid before the 
 
 don. Upper House on the 22nd of March, it 
 
 J The letter from the army to the follows that the interval between that
 
 EXAMINATIOX OP CAPTAIN JAMES CHUDLEIGH. 515 
 
 from Sir John Stickling, Master Davenant, and (as he conceives) from 
 Sergeant-major Willis ; and this he declared to those officers, as giving 
 them an account of his journey, and the service in which they had 
 employed him. 
 
 To the third. — He saith he hath answered before. 
 
 To the fourth. — That Sergeant-major Willis told him upon the way, 
 as they were in their journey down into the North, that Colonell Goring 
 was a brave gentleman, and fit to command the army, and that the 
 king had a good inclination to him, that he should be lieutenant-general ; 
 and saith further, that before he came out of London, Sir John Suck- 
 ling had likewise highly commended him, and said he was fitter to 
 command in chiefe, than any man hee knew, and that the army was 
 not now considerable, being without a head, and indeed was but a 
 party (Colonell Goring being away) who commanded a brigado, and 
 that they did undiscreetly to shew their teeth except they could bite ; 
 which the said Sir John Suckling wished him to declare unto the army, 
 sapng he could not do a better service to the officers who had employed 
 him, than to let them know it ; whereupon he did acquaint them with 
 it accordingly. 
 
 To the fifth. — That Sir John Suckling brought him into some roome 
 of the queen's side at Whitehall, where Master JermjTi and he had 
 private conference together, and often times looked towards this de- 
 ponent. Sir John Suckling afterwards told him, that the king would 
 be pleased if the army would receive Colonell Goring to be their 
 lieutenant-generall, and said that M. Henry Jermyn said so. 
 
 To the sixth. — That Master Davenant told him, that things were not 
 here as they Avere apprehended in the army, for that the parliament was 
 so well afi"ected to the Scots, as that there was no likeliliood the army 
 should have satisfaction so soon as they expected it. 
 
 To the seventh. — That when hee brought the letter from the army, 
 hee met with Master Davenant, who told him it was a matter of greater 
 consequence than he imagined, and thereupon brought him to Master 
 Henry Jermyn, and Master Jermyn told him hee heard hee brought 
 such a letter, and asked to see a copy of it, which the deponent did 
 shew unto him, and INIaster Jermyn asked if he might not shew it to 
 the queen, and offered to brinj^ this deponent to her, Avhich hee excused 
 himselfe of, lest hee should have anticipated my lord generall from 
 shewing the letter first himselfe. 
 
 To the eighth. — That after he had brought up that letter, he staid 
 some eight or nine days in London, before he returned doAATi to the 
 army. 
 
 To the ninth. — That Sergeant-major Willis told him most of the noble 
 gentlemen of England woidd shew themselves for the army ; and that 
 the French that were about London would receive commanders from 
 them, to join with them ; and, besides, that there would a thousand 
 horse likewise be raised to come to their assistance, which horse at last 
 he confessed were to be found by the clergy. 
 
 day and the day of promulgation of cealed by the popular party for three 
 the plot — the 3rd of May — was just months, 
 forty-one days. Yet the plot was con- 
 
 r, L 2
 
 516 NOTES. 
 
 To the tenth. — That Sergeant-major Willis said moreover, that the 
 army would be very well kept together, for that the prince was to be 
 brought thither, which would confirm their affections ; which this de- 
 ponent did declare at Burrowliridge mito the officers, and doth believe 
 Willis did the like ; and WilUs told them also, that if my Lord of New- 
 castle was their generall, he would feast them in Nottinghamshire, and 
 would not use them roughly, but they should be governed by a council 
 of war. 
 
 To the eleventh. — That both Sergeant-major Willis and this deponent 
 did persuade the officers at that meeting to write a letter to Colonell 
 Goring, which was to let him know that they would heartily embrace 
 him to be their lieutenant-general, if it was his majestie's pleasure to 
 send him down, which letter was subscribed by Colonell Fielding 
 and Colonell Vavasour, and divers others ; and was by him brought to 
 London upon Monday, where, not finding Colonell Goring, he delivered 
 it to Sir John Suckling, who carried it to the king, and afterwards 
 brought him to kiss the king and queen's hands ; and within a day or 
 two returned the letter to him againe, which letter this deponent, the 
 Saturday after, carried down himselfe to Colonell Goring to Ports- 
 mouth. 
 
 To the ticelfth. — That there was likewise a letter written to Master 
 Endpnion Porter, assigned by Colonell William Vavasour and Colonell 
 Fielding, Avhich was to this effect, to desire him to inform his majestic, 
 that the army was very faithfuU to him, and no doubt need be made by 
 his majestic concerning their proceedings. This letter Sir John Suck- 
 ling would not have to be delivered, but took it himself, for that he said 
 Master Porter knew nothing of the king's intentions. 
 
 To the fourteenth. — That when he came to Portsmoiith, Colonell 
 Goring shewed him the strength of that place, and told him that if 
 there should be any mutiny in London, the queen meant to come down 
 thither for her safety, and that she had sent him down money to for- 
 tify it. 
 
 To the fifteenth. — That what he learned from Sergeant-major Willis, 
 hee got from him by degi'ces, as he urged it from him by way of dis- 
 course ; and that Willis, Sir John Suckling, and Mr. Davenant, did all 
 of them give him great charge to keep things secret, and to be very 
 carefull to whom he communicated anything, which he accordingly 
 observed ; for he dealt with the officers there severally. 
 
 James Chudleigh. 
 
 This examination taken in the presence of us, Essex, Warwicke, 
 P. Howard, W. Howard. 
 
 Die Maktis, 18 Mali. 
 
 The Second Examination of Captaine Chudleigh, 164L 
 
 To the thirty-first. — That at the meeting at Burro wbridge, he de- 
 clared vmto the officers something out of a paper which he read, and
 
 EXAJMINATION OF LIEUTENANT-COLOXELL BALLARD. 517 
 
 told them that he had received it from INIr. Jermyn, and that INIr. 
 Jermyn had received it from the king. And hee said likewise, that 
 some others about the king were acquainted with it, named Mr. Endy- 
 mion Porter, to whom he thought the king had declared in this 
 business. 
 
 To the thirty -fourth. — That Mr. Jermyn asked him if hee thought the 
 army would stick to their officers, in case the king and parliament 
 should not agree, or words to that effect. 
 
 He saith further, that he had set downe all those things in writing, 
 which hee declared to the officers at Burrowbridge, and thought to 
 have sent it down to them ; but iipon better consideration he Avent him- 
 selfe, and read it to them out of that paper, but severally, and not to 
 them all together : And particularly, that he had read it to Lieutenant- 
 colonell Ballard, and to Lieutenant-colonell Liuisford : that he did not 
 acquaint them all with it, and the reason why he did not, was because 
 he conceived some were of more judgment than others, and fitter to be 
 trusted with matters of secrecie. 
 
 James Ciiudleigii. 
 
 Essex, Warwicke, W. Say and Seal, Howakd. 
 
 The Examination of Thomas Ballard, Lientenant-colonell to 
 the Lord Grayidison, taken May 18, 1641. 
 
 7o the nineteenth. — That he did meet at BurroAvbridge, being sent to 
 by Captain Chidley, and none other ; but he found there Sergeant- 
 major Willis, and divers other officers of the army. This was some 
 time in April last, as he remembereth. 
 
 2'o the twentieth. — That Mr. Chidley did proi^ound to him certaine 
 propositions, which, as he affirmed, hee did receive from Mr. Henry 
 Jermyn, and from another great man which hee might not name. Cap- 
 taine Chidley further said, that Mr. Jermyn told him that hee received 
 those propositions from the king ; but Chidley told him further, that 
 Avhen hee kissed the king's hand, his majestic said nothing to him of any 
 such propositions. The first proposition was, that he should not ac- 
 quaint either Sir Jacob Ashley, or Sir John Conyers, with any thing of 
 this designe. The second, that if there were occasion, the army should 
 remove their quarters into Nottinghamshire, where the Prince and the 
 Earl of Newcastle should meet them with a thousand horse, and all 
 the French that were in London should bee mounted, and likewise meet 
 them. These propositions were read by Captain Chidley out of a paper 
 which he said hee had written himself, thinking to have sent them 
 downe ; but upon better consideration, he brought them down himselfe : 
 That they likewise should desire that Colonell Goring should be the 
 lieutenaut-generall to the army. There was likewise offered a paper to 
 this effect, as he was then told, that if the king would send Colonell 
 Goring to be lieutenant-generall, they would accept of him ; which 
 paper he, this examinat, refused to read, or set his hand to it, but heard
 
 518 NOTES. 
 
 that clivers others signed it. He fta-ther saith, that there was no other 
 paper propounded to him to be signed, nor to any other to his know- 
 ledge. He fiirther saith, that this was not delivered to the officers in 
 publique, but severally. 
 
 He likewise saith, that presently after, Colonell Vavasour said pub- 
 licly, that hee never consented to these propositions in his heart, and 
 desired that there might be a meeting immediately, Avhereupon they 
 agreed upon a meeting at York the Wednesday following ; at which 
 meeting they generally concluded not to interesse themselves in any of 
 those designes that had been propounded to them by Captaine Chidley; 
 and they presently writ by the post to Captaine Chidley to London, 
 that if hee had not delivered the paper, he should prepare to deliver it. 
 
 Thomas Ballakd. 
 
 The Examination of Captain Legg, taken May 18, 1641. 
 
 To the nineteenth Tnterrogator)j. — He saith, that hee heard of a 
 meeting at Burrowbridge, but was not there present, but was present 
 at another meeting at York, not long after, where he was told that the 
 kintj was not well satisfied with the affections of the officers to his 
 service ; and therefore it was thought fit to make a declaration of their 
 readinesse to serve his majestie ; which declaration was accordingly 
 drawn, but not finding any great cause for it, it was after torne. He 
 fiu'ther saith, that the night before the meeting at BiuTOwbridge, he 
 sj)oke with Captain Chidley at York, who perswaded him to go to 
 Burrowbridge, where he had propositions to impart to the army ; but 
 this examinat, refusing to goe, he would not acquaint him with them 
 at that time, but told them that divers lords and officers of the army 
 were fallen off from the king, namely, the Earle of Essex, the Earle 
 of Newport, Commissary Willmott, Colonell Ashburton, and others, 
 which this examinate so much disliked, that they forbore any further 
 discourse. 
 
 Will. Legg. 
 
 N.B. — This was Legg's second examination (see Journals of Commons 
 for 10th May, 1642, vol. ii. p. 577). 
 
 The Examination of Colonell Vavasor, taken May 29, 1641. 
 
 That at the meeting at Biurowbridge, Serjeant-major Willis and 
 Captaine Chidley, or one of them, told the officers there that the parlia- 
 ment had taken great offence at the letter which they had written u]) to 
 my Lord of Northumberland ; and that those who had subscribed it 
 should be questioned, and that there was small hopes of money from 
 the parliament for the present.
 
 EXMIINATIOX OF COLONELL VAVASOR. 519 
 
 That the king would take it very well if he might receive assurance 
 from them that they would accept of Colonell Goring for their lieutenant- 
 generall, and wished that the army were united. 
 
 When the king had this assurance from them, there shoiild come a 
 generall that would bring them money : this they said they had good 
 commission to deliver iinto them, having received it from Mr. Henry 
 Jermyn and Sir John Suckling. He likewise saith, Captaine Chidley 
 spake it with more confidence, and Serjeant-major Wilhs rather as 
 having heard it from others. He further saith, there was a letter written 
 to Colonell Goring, for to let him know if the kinge would send him 
 downe with a commission to be heutenant-generall, they would willingly 
 receive him, and this letter was proposed unto them by Captaine 
 Chidley and Serjeant-major Willis. There was another letter written 
 to Master Endimion Porter, which, as he remembers, Avas to let him 
 know, that though the army was now commanded by Sir Jacob Ashley, 
 yet if that it were his majestie's pleasiu-e to appoint Colonell Goring to be 
 Heutenant-generall, they were confident the army would receive him 
 the better, being only subscribed by Colonell Fielding and himselfe. 
 And ftirther saith, that he heares this letter was never delivered, for 
 that Sir John SuckUng told Master Chidley that Master Porter was a 
 stranger to the businesse. 
 
 Colonell Vavasor. 
 
 This examination taken before us, 
 
 Mandeville, Howard, Ph. Wharton. 
 
 N.B. — This colonel is, I think, the same whom, amongst others, 
 Hollis on the 12th of January, 1641-2, reports for a committee in arms 
 at Kingston-uj)on-Hull (Journals of Commons, vol. ii. p. 373). 
 
 CHAPLES R. 
 
 Colonell Goring — These are to command you to proWde with all 
 speed a ship for this bearer, to carry him to Diepe or Calais, or any 
 other port of France, that the winde may be good for ; and if there be 
 any of my sliips or pinnances ready to goe forth, you shall command 
 the captain or master of such ship or pinnance to receive him and his 
 servants, and carry him into France, for which this shall be a warrant 
 to the captain or master you may employ, and hereof you nor they are 
 not to faile, as you or they will answer the contrary, at your perills. 
 
 Given at Whitehall, this 14th of May, 1641. To our trusty 
 and well beloved servant, George Goring, governour of 
 Portsmouth.
 
 520 NOTES. 
 
 The Examination of Captain William Legg, tal^en upon oath 
 before the Lords' Committees, wpon Saturday, October 30, 
 1641. 
 
 To the first Interroriatory. — Saitli, that hee dotli know Master 
 Daniel Oneale, wlio was serjeant-major to Sir John Coniers; but doth 
 not certainly remember the precise time of his going from the army to 
 London, nor of his return back, but beleeves he returned about June 
 and July. 
 
 To the ninth. — That he was at Yorke when the said Master Oneale 
 returned thither from London, and can say no more to this ninth 
 interrogatory. 
 
 To the tenth. — That there was a petition prepared to be delivered to 
 the parliament from the army, which consisted of many particulars, as 
 to show how much they suffered for want of martiall law, and for want 
 of pay, and because their principal officers were not amongst them ; 
 and they did likewise set forth in it that, as the wisdome of the king 
 did cooperate "vvith the parliament, so they did hope the parliament 
 would doe something concerning the king's revenue ; but saith, hee 
 doth not remember what the particular was which was desired ; and 
 further, that they heard of great tumults about London, and therefore 
 offered themselves to serve the king and parliament with the last drop 
 of their bloods. Hee saith that this petition Avas aj^proved of by all 
 the officers that saw it, but was laid aside till further consideration 
 should be had of the manner of the delivery ; that himself was after- 
 wards sent for to London, by order of the House of Commons, and was 
 examined ; and, after his examination, when he saw there was no 
 furtlier use to bee made of that petition, he burnt it. 
 
 He further saith, that he staid in this town some five or six days, and 
 was with the king, and had some speech with his majesty about a 
 petition to come from the army, and gave him an accompt of the petition 
 that was formerly burnt, and there he received another petition to the 
 same effect with the other, but handsomelier Amtten, upon which there 
 Avas a direction indorsed to this pru-pose : This petition will net offend ; 
 yet let it not be shown to any but Sir Jacob Ashley. 
 
 He fiu'ther saith, there was no name to this direction, but only two 
 letters; but what those letters were he Avill not say, nor cannot sweare 
 who writ those two letters, because he did not see them written. 
 
 He saith that he did deliver the same paper with a direction to Sir 
 Jacob Ashley, and told him withall, here is a paper with a direction, 
 you know the hand, keepe it secret, I have shewed it to nobody ; if 
 there be no occasion to use it, you may biu-ne it ; and saith he spake no 
 more of it to him till after my Lord of Holland's coming down to be 
 generall, and then he sj)ake to him to burne it. 
 
 "William Legg. 
 
 N.B. — Journals for May 10, 1642. This was Legg's third examina- 
 tion.
 
 EXAMINATION OF SIR JACOB ASHLEY. 521 
 
 The Examination of Sir Jacob Ashley, taken before the Lords' 
 Committees^ October 29, 1641. 
 
 To the first Interrogator!/. — He saith that he hath kno^vne Serjeant- 
 major Daniel Oneale very long, and that he was long absent from the 
 army the last summer, but knowes not at what time he did returne, nor 
 knowes not how long it was that he stayed in the army before his going 
 to the Low Coimtries, but thinks it to be about three Aveekes. 
 
 2'o the second. — He saith, that Mr. Oneale told him, after his coming 
 downe last, that things being not so well betwixt the king and parlia- 
 ment, hee thought a petition from the army might doe very much good, 
 and asked him, if a draught of such a petition were brought unto him, 
 whether he would set his hand unto it : the particulars which he desired 
 to have the army received in, were the want of martial law, want of 
 pay, and for words spoken in the House of Parliament against the army, 
 as that the city was disaffected to the king's army, and would rather 
 pay the Scots than them. 
 
 I'o the third. — He cannot answer. 
 
 To the fourth. — He cannot answer. 
 
 To the fifth. — He saith that he received a letter by the hands of 
 Captain Legg, the tenour whereof, as farre as he remembers, was to this 
 effect, the letter being written in two sides of paper, and somewhat 
 more : First, that divers things were joressed by parties to infuse into 
 the parliament things to the king's disadvantage, and that divers tumults 
 and disorders were neere the parliament, to the disservice of the king. 
 Divers other particulars were contained in this letter ; and, in the close 
 of this letter, it was recommended to this examinate that he should get 
 the hands of the officers of the army to such a declaration, to be sent to 
 the parliament, and that this would be acceptable to the king. Hee 
 further saith, he knowes not of whose hand\vTiting it was, nor Avho 
 delivered it to Captain Legg. 
 
 To the seventh. — He saith, that Mr. Oneale telling him of the dislikes 
 which were l)etweene the king and the parliament, and of those things 
 which were done to the disadvantage of the king, they must fight with 
 the Scots first, and beat them, l^efore they could move southward ; and 
 that done, they must spoyle the country all along as they goe ; and 
 when they doe come to London, they would find resistance by the par- 
 liament, and the Scots might rally and follow them ; to which Oneale 
 replyed, what if the Scots would be made neutrall ? This examinate 
 then said, that the Scots would lay him by the heeles, if he should 
 come to move such a thing ; for that they would never break with the 
 parliament. 
 
 Presently replyed, I wondred that coimsells should be so laid as had 
 been spoken of, of the marching of the army to the south. 
 
 To the eir/hth Tnterrogatorn. — He fiu-ther sayes, that there was, at 
 the end of the letter, a direction to this effect : Captain William Legg, 
 I command you that you shew this letter to none but Jacob Ashley. 
 Above this dii-ection were set these two letters, C. R. 
 
 Jacob Ashley.
 
 522 . NOTES. 
 
 The Examination of Sir John Coniers, taken upon oath before 
 the Lords' Committees, upon Friday, October 29, 1641. 
 
 To the first Interrogatory. — He saith, that he knowes very well 
 Master Daiiiel Oneale, who was serjeant-major to his regiment ; that 
 the said Oneale came up to London about November last, and returned 
 to the army about Midsummer.* 
 
 To the second. — That Oneale, after his return to the army in summer, 
 spake twice unto this examinate of a petition to be sent from the army 
 to the parliament, and told him tlaat, because they did not know it 
 himselfe would consent unto it, they would first petition him that he 
 would approve of it, but that as yet there were but few hands to that 
 petition, which was to be preferred to him, and therefore would not 
 show it him. 
 
 To the fourth. — That the said Oneale used persuasions to this exa- 
 minate that he would serve the king ; that, if he did not, he should be 
 left alone, and would but mine himself; for that all the troops under 
 him were that way enclined : Tliat, therefore, he should adhere to the 
 king, and goe those ways that the king would have him, or words to 
 that effect. 
 
 To the fifth. — That he saw a paper containing some directions for a 
 declaration to be subscribed unto by the officers of the army, which 
 paper was in Sir Jacob Ashley's hand : he saith it was long, containing 
 tAvo sides of a sheet of paper, or thereabout ; the effect whereof was 
 something concerning martiall law and better payment for the anny, 
 together with some other particulars ; that it was to be directed to the 
 parliament ; and that there were two letters, viz. C. R., at the end : 
 That he doth not know who brought it imto Sir Jacob Ashley, but that 
 both of them were very much troubled at it. He saith farther, that 
 there was a direction at the end of the writing that nobody should see 
 it but Sir Jacob Ashley ; and the two letters C, R. were, as he remem- 
 bers, to that direction, but whether before or after that direction he 
 cannot affirme.f 
 
 To the seventh. — That he never heard Master Oneale himself speak 
 of his going to Newcastle, but that he heard it from others ; and, as 
 he takes it, from his wife, the Lady Coniers ; and that, whosoever it 
 was told him so, told him Avithall that Oneale himselfe said so. 
 
 The Second Examination of Sir John Comers, taken before the 
 Lords' Committees, upon Saturday, October 30. 
 
 To the fourth Interrogatory. — That Master Oneale said to him, that 
 if he, this examinant, had been well known to the king, the king would 
 have written to him, and therefore he conceived this examinant should 
 
 * Here the time of Onealc's absence f Compare this with the pretended 
 
 and return are distinctly marked. copy published by Charles.
 
 EXAMINATIONS OF SIR JOHN CONIEKS, ETC. 523 
 
 doe well to Avrite unto the king; to which he replyed, that lie could 
 not serve the king in that point ; and therefore he thought it would be 
 of no use to trouble the king with his letters. 
 
 To the fifth. — That the paper mentioned in his former examination 
 to have been seen by him in Sir Jacob Ashley's hand, contained direc- 
 tions for a petition to be presented to the king and parliament, in which 
 was a clause to this effect : That whereas all men ought to give God 
 thankes for putting it into the king's heart to condescend to the desires 
 of the parliament, not only to deliver up imto them many of his ser- 
 vants and others, who were neere unto him, to be at their disposing, 
 but also to doe many things, which none of his ancestors would haA^e 
 consented imto, as giving way to the trienniall parliament, and granting 
 many other things for the good of his subjects ; yet, notwithstanding 
 some turbulent spirits, backt by rude and tumultuous mechanick 
 persons, seemed not to be satisfied, but would have the totall sub- 
 version of the government of the state ; that therefore the army, which 
 Avas so orderly governed, notAvithstanding they had no martiall laAV, 
 and iU payment, and but fcAV officers, being of so good comportment, 
 might be called i;p to attend the person of the king and parliament, for 
 their secxmty.* This examinant further saith, that there Avere many- 
 other passages in this petition, Avhich hee doth not noAV remember, only 
 that there Avas some expression of a desire that both armies should be 
 disbanded for the ease of the kingdome ; and likeAvise a direction to 
 procure as many of the officers hands as could be gotten. 
 
 To the seventh. — That he remembers well that it was not his Avife, 
 but Sir Jacob Ashley, that said to liim those Avords : Oneale goes, or 
 else Oneale, saith he, Avill goe to Newcastle ; but Avhich of the sayings 
 it Avas, he doth not Avell remember, but saith he replyed to it that 
 Oneale said nothing to him of that. 
 
 This examinant further saith, that hee took occasion upon these 
 passages from O'JSfeat, to command him and Sir John Baillet, and all 
 other officers, to repair to their quarters, to be ready to perfect their 
 accounts with the coimtry against the time they should be called for. 
 
 Jo. CONIERS. 
 
 The Examination of Sir Foulke Hunks, taken before the Lords' 
 Committees, upon Friday, October 29, 1641.t 
 
 To the first Interrogatory. — He saith. That he doth AveU knoAV Mas- 
 ter Daniel O'Neale, who AA'as serjeant-major to Sir John Coniers : that 
 he Avent from the army to London about the time that the king came 
 out of the North to the parliament ; and that he returned againe to 
 the army, about that time, when Commissarie Wilmot and other soul- 
 diers Avere committed by the parliament. | 
 
 * Compare this withi the pretended copy ment of these persons to have been the 
 
 of the petition published by Charles. 1 Ith of June. Thus aifording the best 
 
 t See Journals, June 14. of all evidence as to the time. 
 \ The Journals prove the commit-
 
 524 NOTES. 
 
 To the second. — That the said O'Neale perswaded him, this exami- 
 nant, to take part with the king, or something to that purpose ; and 
 that thereupon this examinant acquainted the lieutenant-general with 
 it, and presently repaired to his own quarter, to keep his souldiers in 
 order, Avhere he staid not above two or three dayes, till he heard that 
 O'Neale was fled. Hee further saith, that O'Neale dealt with him to 
 have the troopes move ; to which he replyed, that he had received no 
 such direction from his superioui-s, nor from the king. And that then 
 he offered him a paper, and pressed him to sign it ; whereupon hee, 
 this examinant, asked if the generall, or lieutenant-generall, had signed 
 it ; to which O'Neale answering they had not, hee said that he would 
 not be so unmannerly as to sign any thing before them, and refused to 
 reade it. He saith likewise, that Captaine Armstrong was present at 
 the same time, and that O'Neale offered it to him, who looking upon 
 the examinant, this examinant did shake his head at him, to make a 
 sign that he should not doe it, and withall Avent out of the roome ; 
 and Armstrong afterwards refused it, giving this reason, that he would 
 not signe it when his colonell had refused it, which he told this ex- 
 aminant. 
 
 To the third. — Hee saith, that O'Neale told him he had very good 
 authority for what he did ; but did not tell him from whom. 
 
 To the seventh. — That Mr. O'Neale told him he was to goe to tlie 
 Scottish army, luit saith he doth not know for what end and purpose 
 he woidd goe thither ; for that this examinant shunned to have any 
 thing more to doe with him. 
 
 FouLK Hunks. 
 
 The Examination of Sir William Balfour, Lieutenant of the 
 
 Tower, taken June 2. 
 
 J 
 
 To the first Interrogatory. — He saith, he was commanded to receive 
 Captaine Billingsley into the Tower with 100 men, for securing of the 
 place, and that he was told they should be under his command. 
 
 To the second Interrorjatorij. — He saith, the Earl of Strafford told 
 him it wotdd be dangerous in case he should refuse to let them in. 
 
 To the third. — He referreth himselfe to the former depositions of the 
 three women taken before the constable and himselfe : and further 
 SMith, that the Earl of Strafford himselfe, after he had expostulated 
 with him for holding Mr. Slingsby at the Tower gate ; and after telling 
 the said earle he had reason so to doe, in regard of what the women 
 liad deposed, by which it appeared there was an escape intended by his 
 lordship; himselfe acknowledged he had named the word escf/;)e twice 
 or thrice in his discourse with IVIr. Slingsby, but that hee meant it 
 shoidd be by the king's authority, to remove him out of the Tower 
 to some other castle : and he did aske Mr. Slingsby where his brother 
 was and the ship. 
 
 To the fovrtli Intcrrogatorn. — This examinant saith, the Earl of 
 Straflbrd sent for him some three or foure dayes before his death, and
 
 EXAMINATIONS OF SIR AV. BALFOUR, ETC. 525 
 
 did strive to perswade him that he might make an escape, and said, 
 for without your connivance I know it cannot bee ; and if you will 
 consent thereunto, I will make you to have 20,000 pounds paid you, 
 besides a good marriage for your sonne. To which this exauiinant 
 replyed, he was so farr from concurring with his lordship, as that his 
 honour would not suifer him to connive at his escape ; and withall 
 told him, he was not be moved to hearken thereunto. 
 
 W. Balfour. 
 
 Ex. in presence of us, Essex, Warwicke, L. Wharton, Mandeville. 
 
 James Wadsivorth lies at the Half Moone in Queen Street ; at 
 CockeVs House, a Joyner, divers Officers lie, ivhich is the 
 next door. 
 
 Die Mart is, 4 Mail, 1611. 
 Coll. LiNDSEY, 
 
 Capt. Kirk. 
 
 James Wadsworth, 
 
 He saith that one ancient Knot told him several! times the last 
 week, that Sir John Suckling was raising of officers for three regiments 
 for Portugall ; and saith, that he, this examinant, was at the Portugall 
 ambassadoiu-'s on Sunday last, and then the ambassadour told him that 
 he knew not Sir John Suckling, nor any thing at all of Sir John 
 Suckling's raising of men for Portugall ; aiid the ambassadour him- 
 selfe had no commission to treat for any men till he heard out of 
 Portugall. 
 
 Tuesday, Maij 11, 1641. 
 
 The Examination of John Lanyon. 
 
 Hee was upon Easter eve last, and severall times since, troubled by 
 Captain Billiugslei/ to enter into an expedition for Portugall with Sir 
 John Suckling. And when this examinant told him that he was his 
 majesty's servant, and could not goe without leave, Captaine Billing- 
 sley bid him take no care, for that he should have leave procured ; and 
 further desired him to get as many canoneers as he could. 
 
 This examinant doubting whether they were reall in that designe, 
 repaired to the Portugal! ambassadoiur's, and there understood from his 
 secretary that hee was Avilling to have men, but they knew neither Sir 
 John Suchling nor Captaine Billingsley ; neither had they from them 
 any commission to raise men. 
 
 Hee likewise saith, that Captain Billingsley did after sollicite this 
 examinant to come to Sir John Suckling ; and that upon Sunday was 
 se'ennight last Sir John Suckling and Captaine Billingsley, with many 
 other officers, repaired unto his house in the afternoone, and there staid
 
 526 NOTES. 
 
 two hours at least ; the examinant not coming in, they left a note hee 
 should be with them that night at Sparagus Garden at supper ; whereof 
 this examinant failing, Captaine BiEingsley comes again to his house on 
 Monday morning, and not finding him there, left word that he miist 
 needs come to the Covent Garden, to Sir John SiicJdings lodging, which 
 accordingly he did ; but not finding him there, the same day he was 
 Avith Cajitaine Billingsley at the Dog Tarem in Westminster, at which 
 time he did farther appoint this examinant upon Wednesday, to pro- 
 mise Sir John Suckling a meeting at the Dolphin, in Gray's-Inn Lane, 
 about nine of the clock in the forenoone, where, the same day, came 
 some thirty more, which were appointed by Sir John Sii deling and Cap- 
 taine Billingsleg ; but neither Sir John Suckling or Billingslei/ came, 
 only there came one and gave them money, and so dismist them for the 
 present. 
 
 This examinant further saith, That Captaine Billingslei/ having notice 
 that he had some store of arms of his OT\Tie, told him. Sir John Suckling 
 Avoidd buy them all if he pleased to sell them. 
 
 Captaine BiUingsh'?/ likewise told this examinant that Six John Suck- 
 ling had furnished himselfe for money, and all the company. 
 
 John Lanyon. 
 
 Quarto die Maii, 1641. 
 
 Elizaheth A'utt, wife of William Niitt of Tower Street, London, 
 merchant, and Anne Bardsey of Tower Street, aforesaid, A\'idow, say, 
 that they being desirous to see the Earl of Strafford, came to Anne 
 Vyner, wife of Thomas Vyner, clerk to the lieutenant of the Tower, 
 whose lodging being near to the king's gallery, where the said earle 
 useth to walke, carried them to a back doore of the said gallery, the 
 said earle Avith one other being then walking. And they three being 
 then there, and peeping through the key-hole, and other places of the 
 doore, to see the said earle, did heare him and the said other party con- 
 ferring about an escape as they conceived, saying, that it must be done 
 when all was still, and asked the said party where his brother's ship 
 was, who said she was gone below in the river ; and heard them say, 
 that they three might be there in twelve houres, and doubted not to 
 escape, if something which was said concerning the lieutenant of the 
 Tower were done ; but what that was, as also Avhere they might be in 
 twelve houres they could not heare, by reason that when they 
 walked further off they could not perfectly heare. And the said Mrs, 
 Nutt and INIrs. Bardsey say, that tliey heard the said earle then say, 
 that if this fort could be safely guarded or secured for three or foure 
 moneths, there would come ayde enough ; and divers other words tend- 
 ing to the purposes aforesaid, which they cannot now remember. 
 
 And further, all of them say, that they heard the said earle three 
 times mention an escape, saying, that if any thing had been done, his 
 majestic might safely have sent for him ; but now there was nothing to 
 be thouglit on but an escape ; and heard the said other partie telling 
 his lordship, that the outward gates were now as surely guarded as
 
 DANGEKOUS NATURE OP THE CONSPIRACY PROVED. 527 
 
 tliose within. To whom the said earle said, the easier our escape that 
 way, ^^ointing to the east, if the said party and some others should obey 
 the directions of the said earle : But what those were they know not ; 
 but heard the said party answer, they would do any thing his lordship 
 should command. 
 
 Anne Vyner. 
 
 Anne Bardsey. 
 
 Signum^ 
 Eliz. E. N. Nutt. 
 
 These depositions are presented as they were published by the par- 
 liament, along with 'the Declaration or Kemonstrance of the Lords and 
 Commons in parliament assembled. May 19, 1642.' I have taken them 
 from Husband's Collection, 1643. 
 
 In a previous declaration presented to Charles at Newmarket, the 
 Lords and Commons, in stating their causes of jealousy, use this lan- 
 guage : ' The manifold attempts to provoke your majestie's late army, 
 and the army of the Scots, and to raise a faction in the city of London, 
 and other jiarts of the kingdom : That those who have been actors in 
 those businesses have had their dependence and encouragement from 
 the court ; witnesse the treason Avhereof Master Jermyn and others 
 stand accused, who was transported beyond sea by warrant under your 
 majestie's hand, after your majestie had laid a strict command upon all 
 your servants that none of them shorild depart the court.' — lb. p. 98. 
 
 To this Charles answers thus : ' For Master Jermyn, it is well known 
 that he was gone from Whitehall before we received the desire of both 
 Houses for the restraint of our servants, neither returned hee thither, 
 or passed over by any warrant granted by us after that time.'' — 
 Ih. p. 108. The warrant the reader will find amongst the depositions 
 above, in p. 594-5. 
 
 The Lords and Commons reply thus : ' We doe not affirme that his 
 majestie's warrant was granted for the passage of Master Jermyn, after 
 the desire of both Houses for restraint of his servants, but only that he 
 did jxisse over after that restraint by virtue of stich a warrant. We 
 know the warrant beares date the day before our desire, yet it seemes 
 strange to those who know how great respect and power Mr. Jermyn had 
 in court, that hee should begin his journey in such haste, and in apparell 
 so unfit for travaiUc as a black sattin suit and tvhite boots, if going away 
 were designed the day before.'' — lb. p. 200. 
 
 These depositions, &c. sufficiently prove the dangerous nature of the 
 conspiracy ; and yet it is evident that the witnesses did not, in their 
 anxiety to save their credit at court, give quite an accurate account of 
 the particulars. Had their depositions been liable to question by the king, 
 he, as having been grossly slandered, had a direct interest in the punish- 
 ment of his defamers, and ought never to have trusted the witnesses 
 more ; yet most of them were all along treated by him as his most con- 
 fidential servants. Legg was designated honest Will Legg. The object 
 of the king was to screen them all from punishment ; and when he 
 found his expectations of accomplishing his purpose so fixr frustrated
 
 528 NOTES. 
 
 by parliament, he vowed vengeance against that assembly. ' I hope,' 
 says he, in an apostile to a letter from Nicholas, informing him of the 
 a2i2:)rehension, &c. of Sir John Berkeley and Capt. O'Neale, ' I hope 
 some day they may repent their severities.' Note. The letters were 
 returned with these apostiles or directions. — Append, to Evelyn's Mem., 
 ' Correspondence between K. Charles I. and Sir Edward Nicholas,' 
 p. 2G. See also p. 7, 8, 9, 10, in proof of his extreme desire to screen 
 the individuals implicated. 
 
 Clarendon, who pretends that there was only one petition ever pre- 
 pared, and gives what he is pleased to call a copy of the original, in 
 another place informs us, that Chudleigh ' being then a very young man, 
 and of a stirring spirit, and desirous of a name, had expressed much zeal 
 to the king's service, and been busy in inclining the army to engage in 
 such petitions and undei-taJdngs as zcere not gracious to the parliament. 
 But, when that discovery was made by Mr. Goring, as is before re- 
 membered, and a committee appointed to examine the combination, 
 this gentleman, ivronght upon by holies or fears, in his examination, said 
 much that was disadvantageous to the coiu-t, and therefore bringing no 
 other testimony with him to Oxford but of his oion conscience, he re- 
 ceived nothing like coimtenance there.' — Ibid. vol. iii. p. 272. What 
 Charles and his advisers expected of this witness, may be inferred from 
 his treatment of Northumberland, because he would not perjure himself 
 to save Strafford. Clarendon eulogises the generosity of Chudleigh's 
 temper. — lb. The noble historian, too, in afterwards giving an accoimt 
 of Daniel O'Neil, who had been a courtier very early, had received the 
 best education, to which he joined the most insinuating address, and 
 liad a competent fortune, says, in relation to the army-plot, ' that when 
 the parliament grew too imperious, he entered very frankly into those 
 new designs which were contrived at court, with less circumspection 
 than both the season and the weight of the affair required. And in this 
 combination, in which men were most concerned for themselves, and to 
 receive good recompense for the adventures they made, he had either 
 been promised, or at least encouraged by the queen to hope to be made 
 groom of the bedchamber, when a vacancy should happen.' — Vol. iv. 
 p. GlO-11. Is not this a full admission of what he elsewhere so con- 
 fidently denies ? See also Supplement to State Papers, ' Character of 
 Sir John Berkeley ' (called Bartley in the depositions), vol. iii. p. 74. 
 
 The following passage from Clarendon's Life by himself, which is 
 referred to by us, may properly be given here. * After the king came 
 to Oxford with his army, his majesty one day speaking with the Lord 
 Falkland very graciously concerning Mr. Hyde, said he had such a 
 peculiar style, that he could know anything written by him if it were 
 brought to him by a stranger, amongst a multitude of writings by otlicr 
 men. The Lord Falkland answered, he doubted his majesty could 
 hardly do that, because he himself, Avho had so long conversation and 
 friendship with him, was often deceived, and often met with things 
 written by him, of which he could never have suspected him, u^ion the 
 variety of arguments. To whicli the king replied, he would lay liim 
 an angel, that, let the argument be Avhat it would, he should never 
 bring him a sheet of paper (for he would not undertake to judge of less)
 
 CLARENDON'S VEKACITY AS AN HISTOEIAN. 529 
 
 of his -writing, but he would discover it to be his. The Lord Falkland 
 told him it should be a wager ; but neither the one nor the other ever 
 mentioned it to Mi*. Hyde. Some days aftei', the Lord Falkland brought 
 several packets, which he had then received from London, to the king, 
 before he had opened them, as he used to do ; and after he had read 
 his several letters of intelligence, he took out the prints of diurnals, 
 and speeches, and the like, which were every day printed at London, 
 and as constantly sent to Oxford. And amongst the rest, there were 
 two speeches, the one made by the Lord Pembroke for an accommoda- 
 tion, and the other by the Lord Brooke against it, and for the carrying- 
 on the war with more vigour, and utterly to root out the courtiers, 
 which were the king's party. — The king was very much pleased with 
 reading the sjseeches, and said he did not think that Pembroke could 
 speak so long together, though every word he said was so much his own, 
 that nobody else could make it. And so, after he had pleased himself 
 with reading the speeches over again, and then passed to other papers, 
 the Lord Falkland whispered in his ear (for there were other persons 
 by) desiring him he would pay him the anr/el, which his majesty in the 
 instant apprehending, blushed, and put his hand in his pocket, and gave 
 him an angel, saying, he had never paid a wager more willingly ; and 
 was very merry upon it, and would often call upon Mr. Hyde for a 
 speech or a letter, Avhich he very often prepared upon several occasions ; 
 and the king always commanded them to be printed. And he was 
 often wont to say, many years after, that he would be very glad he 
 could make a collection of all those paj^ers which he had written occa- 
 sionally at that time, which he could never do, though he got many of 
 them:— Life, vol. i. pp. 69, 70, 136, 137. 
 
 Surely such an individual ought to be regarded as a very suspicious 
 authority for statements in a history which he undertook, as himself 
 informs us, at the express desire of the king, ' and for his vindication.'' 
 —Hist. vol. iv. p. 627 ; see also Life, vol. i. pp. 103—202. But his 
 nmnerous contradictions, and palpable misstatements, which we expose 
 throughout our work, set his veracity as an historian at rest. 
 
 Madame de Motteville, who informs us that she had her information 
 from the queen herself (tome i. p. 251), gives an account of the army- 
 plot as having been carried on at tlie desire of the king and queen, and 
 been meritorious in itself. — Id. p. 2.52 et seq. She justly ascribes the 
 disclosure by Goring to his disappointment in the command. 
 
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