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 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 EDUC- 
 PSYCH. 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Mrs. Harold Bruce 
 
 
cnarcti 1, j<ronii»i>i6cc 
 
 Charge of Cromwell's Horsemen. 
 
EDUC- 
 PSYCH. 
 LIBRARY 
 
 RTFT 
 

 
 J)Pr3r(. 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 His Childhood and Youth 
 
 PAQH 
 
 7 
 
 ^t 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Expedition into Spain . 
 
 . 25 
 
 f^^\^ ' 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Accession to the Throne 
 
 . 45 
 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Buckingham 
 
 . 65 
 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The King and his Prerogative . 
 
 . 89 
 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Archbishop Laud .... 
 
 . Ill 
 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 The Earl of Strafford . 
 
 . 132 
 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Downfall of Strafford and Laud 
 
 . 151 
 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Civil War 
 
 . 171 
 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Captivity 
 
 195 
 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 Trial and Death .... 
 
 . 215 
 
 
 w 
 
 053 
 
Charles I. vi 
 
 Charles I. passing through the streets of Loadon, 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Charge of Cromwell's Horsemen, 
 
 Frontispiece, 
 
 Charles I. Passing through London 
 
 page vi 
 
 Tailpiece 
 
 . 
 
 viii 
 
 King Charles I. of England . 
 
 I 
 
 X 
 
 Headpiece, Chapter I. . 
 
 i 
 
 7 
 
 Coronation of King James I. of England, facing ' 
 
 8 
 
 Rejoicings at Windsor Castle 
 
 a i 
 
 ;6 
 
 Windsor Castle .... 
 
 , ' 
 
 24 
 
 Headpiece, Chapter II. 
 
 . ' 
 
 25 
 
 Explaining the Plan to King James, 
 
 facing ' 
 
 ' 30 
 
 Prince Charles Surprising the Infanta, 
 
 i( i 
 
 40 
 
 Headpiece, Chapter III. 
 
 , . ' 
 
 45 
 
 The Palace of the Escurial . 
 
 facing ' 
 
 50 
 
 Landing of Henrietta Maria at Dover 
 
 a i 
 
 62 
 
 Headpiece, Chapter IV. 
 
 , , ' 
 
 65 
 
 Assassination of Buckingham 
 
 facing ' 
 
 86 
 
 Buckingham Execrated by the Populace, . ' 
 
 88 
 
 Headpiece, Chapter V. 
 
 , ' 
 
 89 
 
 Charles I. Leaving Parliament 
 
 , . ' 
 
 110 
 
 Headpiece, Chapter VI. 
 
 , . ' 
 
 111 
 
 Dr. Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, 
 
 facing ' 
 
 114 
 
 Charles I. and his Council 
 
 . ' 
 
 131 
 
 Headpiece, Chapter VII. 
 
 . < 
 
 132 
 
 Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, 
 
 facing * 
 
 134 
 
 Headpiece, Chapter VIII. . 
 
 (vii) 
 
 151 
 
VIU ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 
 TheEarl of Strafford Going to his Trial 
 
 facing page 156 
 
 The Tower of London 
 
 . " 165 
 
 The Earl of Strafford Led to Execution, facing " 168 
 
 Taking the Oath 
 
 . " 170 
 
 Headpiece, Chapter IX. 
 
 " 171 
 
 King Charles I. and the Commons, 
 
 facing "176 
 
 A Battle of the Civil War . 
 
 . " " 186 
 
 An Incident in the Civil War 
 
 facing " 192 
 
 Headpiece, Chapter X. 
 
 . " 195 
 
 Oliver Cromwell .... 
 
 facing " 202 
 
 Arrest of King Charles I. 
 
 u u 204 
 
 Headpiece, Chapter XL 
 
 . " 215 
 
 Painting the Children of Charles I., 
 
 facing " 228 
 
 Execution of King Charles I. 
 
 " " 232 
 
 Funeral of Charles I. . 
 
 . " 235 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Charles the First, of England, ascended 
 the throne with very high ideas of the heredi- 
 tary rights of his family, and the chief point 
 of interest in the history of his reign is the 
 contest in which he engaged with the English 
 people to maintain them. For twenty-four 
 years the struggle was maintained, and then 
 came the day when the king stepped through 
 a window of his banqueting hall in Whitehall 
 Palace to a scaffold especially erected outside. 
 When the head of the " Tyrant, traitor and 
 murderer, Charles Stuart" was held up to 
 general view amid a death-like stillness, men 
 said kingship had been killed, and the people 
 were to rule. 
 
 But the great landlord power had to be grap- 
 pled with, and that proved so strong that to 
 establish a dictatorship under the Common- 
 wealth's great general, Oliver Cromwell, seemed 
 the only way to cope with it. A dictatorship 
 could not endure, however, and with Cromwell's 
 death it fell, and the old conditions of privilege 
 were again set up. 
 
 <ix) 
 
King Charles.!, of England. 
 
KING CHARLES L 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 
 
 ,KiNG Charles the First was born in Scot- 
 land. It may perhaps surprise the reader that 
 an English king should be born in Scotland. 
 The explanation is this : 
 
 They who have read the history of Mary 
 Queen of Scots, will remember that it was the 
 great end and aim of her life to unite the 
 crowns of England and Scotland in her own 
 family. Queen Elizabeth was then Queen of 
 England. She lived and died unmarried.^ 
 Queen Mary and a young man named Lord 
 Darnley were the next heirs^. It was uncertain 
 which of the two had the strongest claim. 'To 
 prevent a dispute, by uniting these claims, 
 Mary made Darnley her husband. They had 
 a son, who, after the death of his father and 
 mother, was acknowledged to be the heir to 
 the English throne, whenever Elizabeth's life 
 
 7 
 
8 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 should end. In the mean time he remained 
 King of Scotland. His name was James. He 
 married a princess of Denmark ; and his child, 
 who afterward was King Charles the First of 
 England, was born before he left his native 
 realm 
 
 King Charles's mother was, as has been al- 
 ready said, a princess of Denmark. Her name 
 was Anne. The circumstances of her mar- 
 riage to King James were quite extraordinary, 
 and attracted great attention at the time. It 
 is, in some sense, a matter of principle among 
 kings and queens, that they must only marry 
 persons of royal rank, like themselves ; and as 
 they have very little opportunity of visiting 
 each other, residing as they do in such distant 
 capitals, they generally choose their consorts by 
 the reports which come to them of the person 
 and character of the different candidates. The 
 choice, too, is very much influenced by politi- 
 cal considerations, and is always more or less 
 embarrassed by the interference of other 
 courts, whose ministers make objections to 
 this or that alliance, on account of its supposed 
 interference with some of their own political 
 schemes. 
 
 As it is very inconvenient, moreover, for a 
 king to leave his dominions, the marriage cer- 
 emony is usually performed at the court where 
 the bride resides, without the presence of the 
 
VharlM J. /act p. 8 
 
 Coronation of King James I. 
 
His CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 9 
 
 bridegroom, he sending an ambassador to act 
 as his representative. This is called being 
 married by proxy. The brjde then comes to 
 her royal husband's dominions, accompanied 
 by a great escort. He meets her usually on 
 the frontiers ; and there she sees him for the 
 first time, after having been married to him 
 some weeks by proxy. It is true, indeed, that 
 she has generally seen his picture, that being 
 usually sent to her before the marriage con- 
 tract is made. This, however, is not a matter 
 of much consequence, as the personal predilec- 
 tions of a princess have generally very little to 
 do with the question of her marriage. 
 
 Xow King James had concluded to propose 
 for the oldest daughter of the King of Den- 
 mark, and he entered into negotiations for this 
 purpose. This plan, however, did not please 
 the government of England, and Elizabeth, 
 who was then the English queen, managed so 
 to embarrass and interfere with the scheme, 
 that the King of Denmark gave his daughter 
 to another claimant. James was a man of very 
 mild and quiet temperament, easily counter- 
 acted and thwarted in his plans ; but this dis- 
 appointment aroused his energies, and he sent 
 a splendid embassy into Denmark to demand 
 the king's second daughter, whose name was 
 Anne. He prosecuted this suit so vigorously 
 that the marriage articles were soon agreed to 
 
10 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 and signed. Anne embarked and set sail for 
 Scotland. The king remained there, waiting 
 for her arrival with great impatience. At 
 length, instead of his bride, the news came that 
 the fleet in which Anne had sailed had been 
 dispersed and driven back by a storm, and 
 that Anne herself had landed on the coast of 
 Norway. 
 
 James immediately conceived the design of 
 going himself in pursuit of her. But knowing 
 very well that all his ministers and the officers 
 of his government would make endless objec- 
 tions to his going out of the country on such 
 an errand, he kept his plan a profound secret 
 from them all. He ordered some shi]3S to be 
 got ready privately, and provided a suitable 
 train of attendants, and then embarked with- 
 out letting his people know where he was going. 
 He sailed across the German Ocean to the 
 town in Norway where his bride had landed. 
 He found her there, and they were married. 
 Her brother, who had just succeeded to the 
 throne, having received intelligence of this, in- 
 vited the young couple to come and spend the 
 winter at his capital of Copenhagen ; and as 
 the season was far advanced, and the sea 
 stormy. King James concluded to accept the 
 invitation. They were received in Copenha- 
 gen with great pomp and parade, and the 
 winter was spent in festivities and rejoicings^ 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 11 
 
 fn the spring he brought his bride to Scotland. 
 The whole world were astonished at the per- 
 formance of such an exploit by a king, espe- 
 cially one of so mild, quiet, and grave a char- 
 acter as that which James had the credit of 
 possessing. 
 
 Young Charles was very weak and feeble in 
 his infancy. It was feared that he would not 
 live many hours. The rite of baptism was im- 
 mediately performed, as it was, in those days, 
 considered essential to the salvation of a child 
 dying in infancy that it should be baptized be- 
 fore it died. Notwithstanding the fears that 
 were at first felt, Charles lingered along for 
 some days, and gradually began to acquire a 
 little strength. His feebleness was a cause of 
 great anxiety and concern to those around him ; 
 but the degree of interest felt in the little suf- 
 ferer's fate was very much less than it would 
 have been if he had been the oldest son. He 
 had a brother. Prince Henry, who was older 
 than he, and, consequently, heir to his father's 
 crown. It was not probable, therefore, that 
 Charles would ever be king ; and the import- 
 ance of everything connected with his birth 
 and his welfare was very much diminished on 
 that account. 
 
 It was only about two years after Charles's 
 birth that Queen Elizabeth died, and King 
 James succeeded to the English throne. A 
 
12 KING CHARLES E. 
 
 messenger came with all speed to Scotland tc 
 announce the fact. He rode night and day. 
 He arrived at the King's palace in the night. 
 He gained admission to the king's chamber, 
 and, kneeling at his bedside, proclaimed him 
 King of England. James immediately pre- 
 pared to bid his Scotch subjects farewell, and 
 to proceed to England to take possession of his 
 new realm. Queen Anne was to follow him 
 in a week or two, and the other children, 
 Henry and Elizabeth ; but Charles was too 
 feeble to go. 
 
 In those early days there was a prevailing be- 
 lief in Scotland, and, in fact, the opinion still 
 lingers there, that certain persons among the 
 old Highlanders had what they called the gift 
 of the second sight — that is, the power of fore- 
 seeing futurity in some mysterious and incom- 
 prehensible way. An incident is related in the 
 old histories connected with Charles's infancy, 
 which is a good illustration of this. While 
 King James was preparing to leave Scotland, 
 to take possession of the English throne, an old 
 Highland laird came to bid him farewell. He 
 gave the King many parting counsels and good 
 wishes, and then, overlooking the older brother. 
 Prince Henry, he went directly to Charles, who 
 was then about two years old, and bowed be- 
 fore him, and kissed his hand with the greatest 
 appearance of regard and veneration. King 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. l3 
 
 James undertook to correct his supposed mis- 
 take, by telling him that that was his second 
 son, and that the other boy was the heir to the 
 crown. ";N"o," said the old laird, ^*I am not 
 mistaken. I know to whom I am speaking. 
 This child, now in his nurse's arms, will be 
 greater than his brother. This is the one who 
 is to convey his father's name and titles to suc- 
 ceeding generations." This prediction was 
 fulfilled ; for the robust and healthy Henry 
 died, and the feeble and sickly-looking Charles 
 lived and grew, and succeeded, in due time, to 
 his father's throne. 
 
 Now inasmuch as, at the time when this pre- 
 diction was uttered, there seemed to be little 
 human probability of its fulfilment, it at- 
 tracted attention ; its unexpected and startling 
 character made every one notice and remem- 
 ber it ; and the old laird was at once an object 
 of interest and wonder. It is probable that 
 this desire to excite the admiration of the au- 
 ditors, mingled insensibly with a sort of poetic 
 enthusiasm, which a rude age and mountainous 
 scenery always inspires, was the origin of a 
 great many such predictions as these j and 
 then, in the end those only which turned out to 
 be true were remembered, while the rest were 
 forgotten ; and this was the way that the reality 
 of such prophetic powers came to be generally 
 believed in. 
 
14 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 Feeble and uncertain of life as the infant 
 Charles appeared to be, they conferred upon 
 him, as is customary in the case of young 
 princes, various titles of nobility. He was made 
 a duke, a marquis, an earl, and a baron, before 
 he had strength enough to lift up his head in 
 his nurse's arms. His title as duke was Duke 
 of Albany ; and as this was the highest of his 
 nominal honors, he was generally known under 
 that designation while he remained in Scotland. 
 
 When his father left him, in order to go to 
 England and take possession of his new throne, 
 he appointed a governess to take charge of the 
 health and education of the young duke. This 
 governess was Lady Gary. The reason why 
 she was appointed was, not because of her pos- 
 sessing any peculiar qualifications for such a 
 charge, but because her husband. Sir Eobert 
 Gary, had been the messenger employed by the 
 British Government to communicate to James 
 the death of Elizabeth, and to announce to him 
 his accession to the throne. The bearer of 
 good news to a monarch must always be re- 
 warded, and James recompensed Sir Robert for 
 his service by appointing his wife to the post of 
 governess of his infant son. The office un- 
 doubtedly had its honors and emoluments, 
 with very little of responsibility or care. 
 
 One of the chief residences of the English 
 monarchs is Windsor Castle. It is situated 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 15 
 
 above London, on the Thames, on the southern 
 shore. It is on an eminence overlooking the 
 river and the delightful valley through which 
 the river here meanders. In the rear is a very 
 extensive park or forest, which is penetrated in 
 every direction by rides and walks almost innu- 
 merable. It has been for a long time the chief 
 country residence of the British kings. It is 
 very spacious, containing within its walls many 
 courts and quadrangles, with various buildings 
 surrounding them, some ancient and some 
 modern. Here King James held his court 
 after his arrival in England, and in about a 
 year he sent for the little Charles to join him. 
 The child traveled very slowly, and by very 
 easy stages, his nurses and attendants watch- 
 ing over him with great solicitude all the way. 
 The journey was made in the month of October. 
 His mother watched his arrival with great 
 interest. Being so feeble and helpless, he was, 
 of course, her favorite child. By an instinct 
 which very strongly evinces the wisdom and 
 goodness which implanted it, a mother always 
 bestows a double portion of her love upon the 
 frail, the helpless, and the suffering. Instead 
 of being wearied out with protracted and in- 
 cessant calls for watchfulness and care, she 
 feels only a deeper sympathy and love, in pro- 
 portion to the infirmities which call for them, 
 and thus finds her highest happiness in what 
 
 2— cjj*r:e« I. 
 
16 XING CHARLES I. 
 
 we might expect would be a weariness and a 
 toil. 
 
 Little Charles was four years old when he 
 reached Windsor Castle. They celebrated his 
 arrival with great rejoicings, and a day or two 
 afterwards they invested him with the title of 
 Duke of York, a still higher distinction than he 
 had before attained. Soon after this, when he 
 was perhaps five or six years of age, a gentle- 
 man was appointed to take the charge of his 
 education. His health gradually improved, 
 though he still continued helpless and feeble. 
 It was a long time before he could walk, on ac- 
 count of some malformation of his limbs. He 
 learned to talk, too, very late and very slowly. 
 Besides the general feebleness of his constitu- 
 tion, which kept him back in all these things, 
 there was an impediment in his speech, which 
 affected him very much in childhood, and 
 which, in fact, never entirely disappeared. 
 
 As soon, however, as he commenced his 
 studies under his new tutor, he made much 
 greater progress than had been expected. It 
 was soon observed that the feebleness which 
 had attached to him pertained more to the 
 body than to the mind. He advanced with 
 considerable rapidity in his learning. His 
 progress was, in fact, in some degree, promoted 
 by his bodily infirmities, which kept him from 
 playing with the other boys of the court, and 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 17 
 
 led him to like to be still, and to retire from 
 scenes of sport and pleasure which he could 
 not share. 
 
 The same cause operated to make him not 
 agreeable as a companion, and he was not a 
 favorite among those around him. They 
 called him Bab\j Charley. His temper seemed 
 to be in some sense soured by -the feeling of 
 his inferiority, and by the jealousy he would 
 naturally experience in finding himself, the 
 son of a king, so outstripped in athletic sports 
 by those whom he regarded as his inferiors in 
 rank and station. 
 
 The lapse of a few years, however, after this 
 time, made a total change in Charles's position 
 and prospects. His health improved, and his 
 constitution began to be confirmed and estab- 
 lished. When he was about twelve years of 
 age, too, his brother Henry died. This cir- 
 cumstance made an entire change in all his 
 prospects of life. The eyes of the whole king- 
 dom, and, in fact, of all Europe, were now 
 upon him as the future sovereign of England. 
 His sister Elizabeth, who was a few years older 
 than himself, was, about this time, married to 
 a German prince, with great pomp and cere- 
 mony, young Charles acting the part of bride- 
 man. In consequence of his new position as 
 heir-apparent to the throne, he was advanced 
 to new honors, and had new titles conferred 
 
18 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 upon him, until at last, when he was sixteen 
 years of age, he was made Prince of Wales, and 
 certain revenues were appropriated to support 
 a court for him, that he might be surrounded 
 with external circumstances and insignia of 
 rank and power, corresponding with his pros- 
 pective greatness. 
 
 In the mean time his health and strength 
 rapidly improved, and with the improvement 
 came a taste for manly and athletic sports, and 
 the attainment of excellence in them. He 
 became very famous for his skill in all the 
 exploits and performances of the young men 
 of those days, such as shooting, riding, vault- 
 ing, and tilting at tournaments. From being 
 a weak, sickly, and almost helpless child, he 
 became, at twenty, an active, athletic young 
 man, full of life and spirit, and ready for any 
 romantic enterprise. In fact, when he was 
 twenty-three years old, he embarked in a 
 romantic enterprise which attracted the atten- 
 tion of all the world. This enterprise will 
 presently be described. 
 
 There was at this time, in the court of King 
 James, a man who became very famous after- 
 ward as a favorite and follower of Charles. He 
 is known in history under the name of the 
 Duke of Buckingham. His name was origin- 
 ally George Villiers. He was a very handsome 
 young man, and he seems to have attracted 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 19 
 
 King James's attention at first on this account. 
 James found him a convenient attendant, and 
 made him, at last, his principal favorite. He 
 raised him to a high rank, and conferred upon 
 him, among other titles, that of Duke of 
 Buckingham. The other persons about the 
 court were very envious and jealous of his 
 influence and power ; but they were obliged to 
 submit to it. He lived in great state and 
 splendor, and for many years was looked up to 
 by the whole kingdom as one of the greatest 
 personages in the realm. We shall learn here- 
 after how he came to his end. 
 
 If the reader imagines, from the accounts 
 which have been given thus far in this chapter 
 of the pomp and parade of royalty, of the cas- 
 tles and the ceremonies, the titles of nobility, 
 and the various insignia of rank and power, 
 which we have alluded to so often, that the 
 mode of life which royalty led in those days 
 was lofty, dignified, and truly great, he will be 
 very greatly deceived. All these things were 
 merely for show — things put on for public dis- 
 play, to gratify pride and impress the people, 
 who never looked behind the scenes, with high 
 ideas of the grandeur of those who, as they 
 were taught, ruled over them by a divine right. 
 It would be hard to find, in any class of society 
 except those reputed infamous, more low, gross, 
 and vulgar modes of life than have been ex- 
 
20 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 hibited generally in the royal palaces of Europe 
 for the last five hundred years. King James 
 the First has, among English sovereigns, rather 
 a high character for sobriety and gravity of 
 deportment, and purity of morals ; but the 
 glimpses we get of the real, everyday routine 
 of his domestic life, are such as to show that 
 the pomp and parade of royalty is mere glitter- 
 ing tinsel, after all. 
 
 The historians of the day tell such stories as 
 these. The king was at one time very dejected 
 and melancholy, when Buckingham contrived 
 this plan to amuse him. In the first place, 
 however, we ought to say, in order to illustrate 
 the terms on which he and Buckingham lived 
 together, that the king always called Buck- 
 ingham Steeny, which was a contraction of 
 Stephen. St. Stephen was always represented, 
 in the Catholic pictures of the Saints, as a very 
 handsome man, and Buckingham being hand- 
 some too, James called him Steeny by way of 
 compliment. Steeny called the king his dad, 
 and used to sign himself, in his letters, ''your 
 slave and dog Steeny." There are extant some 
 letters which passed between the king and his 
 favorite, written, on the part of the king, in 
 a style of grossness and indecency such that 
 the chroniclers of those days said that they 
 were not fit to be printed. They would not 
 ''blot their pages" with them, they said. 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 21 
 
 King Charles's letters were more properly ex- 
 pressed. 
 
 To return, then, to our story. The king 
 was . very much dejected and melancholy. 
 •Steeny, in order to divert him, had a pig 
 dressed up in the clothes of an infant child. 
 Buckingham's mother, who was a countess, 
 personated the nurse, dressed also carefully 
 for the occasion. Another person put on a 
 bishop's robes, satin gown, lawn sleeves, and 
 the other pontifical ornaments. They also 
 provided a baptismal font, a prayer-book, and 
 other things necessary for a religious cere- 
 mony, and then invited the king to come in to 
 attend a baptism. The king came, and the 
 pretended bishop began to read the service, 
 the assistants looking gravely on, until the 
 squealing of the pig brought all gravity to an 
 end. The king was not pleased ; but the his- 
 torian thinks the reason was, not any objection 
 which he had to such a profanation, but to his 
 not happening to be in a mood for it at that 
 time. 
 
 There was a negotiation going on for a long 
 time for a marriage between one of the king's 
 sons, first Henry, and afterward Charles, and 
 a princess of Spain. At one time the king lost 
 some of the papers, and was storming about 
 the palace in a great rage because he could not 
 find them. At last he chanced to meet a cer- 
 
^^ KING CHARLES I. 
 
 tain Scotchman, a servant of his, named Gib, 
 and, like a vexed and impatient child, who lays 
 the charge of a lost plaything upon anybody 
 who happens to be at hand to receive it, he 
 put the responsibility of the loss of the papers 
 upon Gib. ^^ I remember," said he, '*I gave 
 them to you to take care of. What have you 
 done with them ? " The faithful servant fell 
 upon his knees, and protested that he had not 
 received them. The king was only made the 
 more angry by this contradiction, and kicked 
 the Scotchman as he kneeled upon the floor. 
 The man rose and left the apartment, sayings 
 *^I have always been faithful to your majesty, 
 and have not deserved such treatment as this. 
 I cannot remain in your service under such a 
 degradation. I shall never see you again." 
 He left the palace, and went away. 
 
 A short time after this, the person to whose 
 custody the king had really committed the 
 papers came in, and, on learning that they 
 were wanted, produced them. The king was 
 ashamed of his conduct. He sent for his 
 Scotch servant again, and was not easy until 
 he was found and brought into his presence. 
 He then kneeled before him and asked his for- 
 giveness, and said he should not rise till he 
 had forgiven him. Gib was disposed to evade 
 the request, and urged the king to rise ; but 
 James would not do so until he had said he for- 
 
HIS CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH. 28 
 
 gave him, in so many words. The whole case 
 shows how little of di^^nity and noble bearing 
 there really was in the manners and conduct of 
 the king in his daily life, though we are almost 
 ready to overlook the ridiculous childishness 
 and folly of liis fault, on account of the truly 
 noble frankness and honesty with which he 
 acknowledged it. 
 
 Thus, though everything in which royalty 
 appeared before the public was conducted with 
 great pomp and parade, this external magnifi- 
 cence was then, and always has been, an out- 
 side show, witliout anything corresponding to 
 it within. The great mass of the people of 
 England saw only the outside. They gazed 
 with admiration at the spectacle of magnifi- 
 cence and splendor which royalty always pre- 
 sented to their eyes, whenever they beheld it 
 from tlie distant and humble points of view 
 which their position afforded them. Prince 
 Charles, on the other hand, was behind the cur- 
 tain. His childhood and youth were exposed 
 fully to all the real influences of these scenes. 
 The people of England submitted to be gov- 
 erned by such men, not because they thought 
 them qualified to govern, or that the circum- 
 stances under which their characters were 
 formed were such as were calculated to form, 
 in a proper manner, the minds of the rulers of 
 a Christian people. They did not know what 
 
24 
 
 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 those circumstances were. In their concep- 
 tions they had grand ideas of royal character 
 and life, and imagined the splendid palaces 
 which some saw, but more only heard of, at 
 Westminster, were filled with true greatness 
 and glory. They were really filled with vul- 
 garity, vice, and shame. James was to them 
 
 
 Windsor Castle. 
 King James the First, monarch of Great Brit- 
 ain, France, and Ireland, and Charles was 
 Charles, Prince of Wales, Duke of York, and 
 heir-apparent to the throne. Whereas, within 
 the palace, to all who saw them and knew them 
 there, and really, so far as their true moral posi- 
 tion was concerned, the father was ^' Old 
 Dad," and the son, what his father always 
 called him till he was twenty-four years old, 
 "Baby Charley/' 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN. 
 
 In order that the reader may understand 
 fully the nature of the romantic enterprise in 
 which, as we have already said, Prince Charles 
 embarked when he was a little over twenty 
 years of age, we must premise that Frederic, 
 the German prince who married Charles's sis- 
 ter Elizabeth some years before, was the ruler 
 of a country in Germany called the Palatinate, 
 It was on the banks of the Rhine. Frederic's 
 title, as a ruler of this country, was Elector 
 Palatine. There are a great many indepen- 
 dent states in Germany, whose sovereigns have 
 various titles, and are possessed of various pre- 
 rogatives and powers. 
 
 ^^ow it happened that, at this time, very 
 fierce civil wars were raging between the Cath- 
 olics and the Protestants in Germany. Fred- 
 eric got drawn into these wars on the Pretest- 
 ant side. His motive was not any desire to 
 promote the progress of what he considered the 
 true faith, but only a wish to extend his own 
 
 25 
 
26 KING CHARLES T. 
 
 dominions, and add to his own power ; for he 
 had been promised a kingdom, in addition to 
 his Palatinate, if he would assist the people of 
 the kingdom to gain the victory over their 
 Catholic foes. He embarked in this enterprise 
 without consulting with James, his father-in- 
 law, knowing that he would probably disapprove 
 of such dangerous ambition. James was, in 
 fact, very sorry afterward to hear of Frederic's 
 having engaged in such a contest. 
 
 The result was quite as disastrous as James 
 feared. Frederic not only failed of getting his 
 new kingdom, but he provoked the rage of the 
 Catholic powers against whom he had under- 
 taken to contend, and they poured a great army 
 into his own original territory, and made an 
 easy conquest of it. Frederic fled to Holland, 
 and remained there a fugitive and an exile, 
 hoping to obtain help in some way from 
 James, in his efforts to recover his lost 
 dominions. 
 
 The people of England felt a great interest 
 in Frederic's unhappy fate, and were very de- 
 sirous that James should raise an army and 
 give him some efficient assistance. One reason 
 for this was that they were Protestants, and 
 they were always ready to embark, on the 
 Protestant side, in the Continental quarrels. 
 Another reason was their interest in Elizabeth, 
 the wife of Frederic, who had so recently left 
 
THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN. 27 
 
 England a blooming bride, and whom they 
 still considered as in some sense pertaining to 
 the royal family of England, and as having a 
 right to look to all her father's subjects for 
 protection. 
 
 But King James himself had no inclination 
 to go to war in such a quarrel. He was inac- 
 tive in mind and childish, and he had little 
 taste for warlike enterprises. He undertook, 
 however, to accomplish the object in another 
 way. The King of Spain, being one of the 
 most powerful of the Catholic sovereigns, had 
 great influence in all their councils. He had 
 also a beautiful daughter. Donna Maria, called, 
 as Spanish princesses are styled, the Infanta. 
 Now James conceived the design of proposing 
 that his son Charles should marry Donna 
 Maria, and that, in the treaty of marriage, 
 there should be a stipulation providing that the 
 Palatinate should be restored to Frederic. 
 
 These negotiations were commenced, and 
 they went on two or three years without mak- 
 ing any sensible progress. Donna Maria was 
 a Catholic, and Charles a Protestant. Now a 
 Catholic could not marry a Protestant without 
 a special dispensation from the Pope. To get 
 this dispensation required new negotiations and 
 delays. In the midst of it all, the King of Spain, 
 Donna Maria's father, died, and his son, her 
 brother, named Philip, succeeded him. Then 
 
28 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 the negotiations had all to be commenced anew. 
 It was supposed that the King of Spain did not 
 wish to have the affair concluded, but liked to 
 have it in discussion, as it tended to keep the 
 King of England more or less under his con- 
 trol. So they kept sending ambassadors back 
 and forth, with drafts of treaties, articles, con- 
 ditions, and stipulations without number. 
 There were endless discussions about securing 
 to Donna Maria the full enjoyment of the 
 Catholic religion in England, and express 
 agreements were proposed and debated in re- 
 spect to her having a chapel, and priests, and 
 the right to celebrate mass, and to enjoy, in 
 fact, all the other privileges which she had 
 been accustomed to exercise in her own native 
 land. James did not object. He agreed to 
 everything ; but still, somehow or other, the 
 arrangement could not be closed. There was 
 always some pretext for delay. 
 
 At last Buckingham proposed to Charles 
 that they two should set off for Spain in per- 
 son, and see if they could not settle the affair. 
 Buckingham's motive was partly a sort of 
 reckless daring, which made him love any 
 sort of adventure, and partly a desire to cir- 
 cumvent and thwart a rival of his, the Earl of 
 Bristol, who had charge of the negotiations. 
 It may seem to the reader that a simple jour- 
 ney from London to Madrid, of a young man, 
 
THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN. 29 
 
 for tlip purpose of visiting a lady whom he was 
 wishing to espouse, was no such extraordi- 
 nary undertaking as to attract the attention 
 of the spirited young man to it from love of 
 adventure. The truth is, however, that, with 
 tlie ideas that then prevailed in respect to 
 royal etiquette, there was something very un- 
 usual in this plan. The prince and Bucking- 
 ham knew very well that the consent of the 
 statesmen and high officers of the realm could 
 never be obtained, and that their only alter- 
 native was, accordingly, to go off secretly and 
 in disguise. 
 
 It seemed, however, to be rather necessary 
 to get the king's consent. But Buckingham 
 did not anticipate much difficulty in this, as 
 he was accustomed to manage James almost 
 like a child. He had not, however, been on 
 very good terms with Charles, having been ac- 
 customed to treat him in the haughty and 
 imperious manner which James would usually 
 yield to, but which Charles was more inclined 
 to resist and resent. When Buckingham, at 
 length, conceived of this scheme of going into 
 Spain, he changed his deportment toward 
 Charles, and endeavored, by artful dissimula- 
 tion, to gain his kind regard. He soon suc- 
 ceed, and then he proposed his plan. 
 
 Ho roprosented to Charles that the sole 
 cair-^ of the delays in settling the question of 
 
 3-rharl«H r. . 
 
so KING CHARLKS 1. 
 
 his marriage was because it was left so entirely 
 in the hands of ambassadors, negotiators, and 
 statesmen, who involved everything in endless 
 mazes. '^ Take the affair into your own 
 hands," said he, *^ like a man. Set off with 
 me, and go at once into Spain. Astonish 
 them with your sudden and unexpected pres- 
 ence. The Infanta will be delighted at such 
 a proof of your ardor, courage, and devotion, 
 and will do all in her power to co-operate with 
 you in bringing the affair at once to a close. 
 Besides, the whole world will admire the orig- 
 inality and boldness of the achievement." 
 
 Charles was easily persuaded. - The next 
 thing was to get the king's consent. Charles 
 and Buckingham went to his palace one day, 
 and, watching their opportunity when he was 
 pretty merry with wine, Charles told him he 
 had a favor to ask, and wanted his father to 
 promise to grant it before he knew what it was. 
 James, after some hesitation, half in jest and 
 half in earnest, agreed to it. They made him 
 promise that he would not tell any one what 
 it was, and then explained their plan. The 
 king was thunderstruck ; his amazement so- 
 bered him at once. He retracted his promise. 
 He never could consent to any such scheme. 
 
 Buckingham liere interposed with his aid. 
 He told the kiui^ it was perfectly safe for tlie 
 prince to go, and that tliis measure was the 
 
Cliuilen J.jacei>. ■>■/ 
 
 Charles and Buckingham Explaining the Plan. 
 
THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN. 31 
 
 only plan which could bring the marriage 
 treaty to a close. Besides, he said, if he and 
 the prince were there, they could act far more 
 effectually than any ambassadors in securing 
 the restoration of the Palatinate to Frederic. 
 James could not withstand these entreaties and 
 arguments, and he finally gave a reluctant con- 
 sent to the plan. 
 
 He repented, however^ as soon as the con- 
 sent was given, and when Charles and Buck- 
 ingham came next to see him, he said it must 
 be given up. One great source of his anxiety 
 was a fear that his son might be taken and 
 kept a prisoner, either in France or Spain, and 
 detained a long time in captivity. Such a cap- 
 tive was always, in those days, a very tempt- 
 ing prize to a rival power. Personages of very 
 high rank may be detained as captives, while 
 all the time those who detain them may pre- 
 tend not to confine them at all, the guards and 
 sentinels being only marks of regal state, and 
 indications of the desire of the power into 
 whose hands they have fallen to treat them in 
 a manner comporting with their rank. Then 
 there were always, in those days, questions and 
 disputes pending between the rival courts of 
 England, France, and Spain, out of which it 
 was easy to get a pretext for detaining any 
 strolling prince who might cross the frontier, 
 as security for the fulfilment of some stipula- 
 
32 KING CHARLES T. 
 
 tion, or for doing some act of justice claimed. 
 James, knowing well how much faith and 
 honor were to be expected of kings and courts, 
 was afraid to trust his son in French or Span- 
 ish dominions. He said he certainly could not 
 consent to his going, without first sending to 
 France, at least, for a safe-conduct — that is, 
 a paper from the government, pledging the 
 honor of tlu king not to molest or interrupt 
 him in his journey through his dominions. 
 
 Buckingham, instead of attempting to reas- 
 sure the king by fresh arguments and persua- 
 sions, broke out into a passion, accused him of 
 violating his promise not to reveal their plan 
 to any one, as he knew, he said, that this new 
 opposition had been put into his head by some 
 of his counselors to whom he had made known 
 the design. The king denied this, and was 
 terrified, agitated, and distressed by Bucking- 
 fiam's violence. He wept like a child. His 
 opposition at length gave way a second time, 
 and he said they might go. They named two 
 attendants whom they wanted to go with 
 them. One was an officer of the king's liouse- 
 hold, named Collington, who was then in the 
 anteroom. They asked the king to call him 
 in to see if he would go. When Collington 
 came in, the king accosted him with, *^ Here's 
 Steeny and Baby Charley that want to go to 
 Spain and fetch the Infanta. What think you 
 
THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN. 33 
 
 of it ? " Collington did not think well of it at 
 all. There followed a new relapse on the part 
 of the king from his consent, a new storm of 
 anger from Buckingliam, more sullen obsti- 
 nacy on tlie part of Charles, with profane 
 criminations and recriminations one against 
 another. The whole scene was what, if it had 
 occurred anywliere else tlian in a palace, 
 would have beenj3alled a brawl. 
 
 It ended, as brawls usually do, in the tri- 
 umph of the most unreasonable and violent. 
 James threw himself upon a bed wiiich was in 
 the room, weeping bitterly, and saying that 
 they would go, and he should lose his Baby 
 Charley. Considering that Charles was now 
 the monarch's only child remaining at home, 
 and that, as heir to the crown, his life was of 
 great consequence to the realm, it is not sur- 
 prising that his father was distressed at the 
 idea of his exposing himself to danger on such 
 an expedition ; but one not accustomed to what 
 is behind the scenes in royal life would expect 
 a little more dignity and propriety in the mode 
 of expressing paternal solicitude from a king. 
 
 Charles and Buckingham set off secretly 
 from London ; their two attendants were to 
 join them in different places — the last at Do- 
 ver, where tliey were to embark. They laid 
 aside all marks of distinction in dress, such as 
 persons Qt high ^ '' used tQ wear in those 
 
34 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 days, and took the garb of the common people. 
 They put on wigs, also, the hair being very 
 long, so as to shade the face and alter the ex- 
 pression of their countenances. These exter- 
 nal disguises, however, were all that they could 
 command. They could not assume the modest 
 and quiet air and manner of persons in the or- 
 dinary walks of life, but made such displays, 
 and were so liberal in the use of their money, 
 and carried such an air and manner in all that 
 they did and said, that all who had any inter- 
 course with them perceived that they were in 
 disguise. They were supposed to be wild 
 blades, out on some frolic or other, but still 
 they were allowed to pass along without any 
 molestation. 
 
 They were, however, stopped at Dover, 
 where .in some way they attracted the atten- 
 tion of the mayor of the town. Dover is on 
 the Channel, opposite to Calais, at the narrow- 
 est point. It was, of course, especially in those 
 days, the point where the principal intercourse 
 between the two nations centered. The mag- 
 istrates of the two towns were obliged, conse- 
 quently, to be on the alert, to prevent the es- 
 cape of fugitives and criminals, as well as to 
 guard against the efforts of smugglers, or the 
 entrance of spies or other secret enemies. The 
 Mayor of Dover arrested our heroes. They 
 told him that their names were Toni Smith 
 
THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN. 35 
 
 and Jack Smith ; these, in fact, were the names 
 with wliich they had traveled through England 
 thus far. They said that they were traveling 
 for amusement. The mayor did not believe 
 tliem. He thought they were going across to 
 the French coast to fight a duel. This was 
 often done in those days. They then told him 
 that they were indeed persons of rank in dis- 
 guise, and that they were going to inspect the 
 English fleet. He finally allowed them to em- 
 bark. 
 
 On landing at Calais, they traveled post to 
 Paris, strictly preserving their incognito, but 
 assuming such an air and bearing as to create 
 the impression that they were not what they 
 pretended. When they reached Paris, Buck- 
 ingham could not resist the temptation of 
 showing Charles a little of life, and he con- 
 trived to get admitted to a party at court, 
 where Charles saw, among other ladies who 
 attracted his attention, the Princess Henrietta. 
 He was much struck with her beauty and 
 arace, but he little thought that it was this 
 princess, and not the Infanta whom he was 
 going in pursuit of, who was really to become 
 his wife, and the future Queen of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 The young travelers thought it not prudent 
 to remain long in Paris, and they accordingly 
 left that city, and pressed forward as rapidly 
 
B6 KIKG CHARLES t. 
 
 as possible toward the Spanish frontier. They 
 managed, however, to conduct always in such 
 a way as to attract attention. Although they 
 were probably sincerely desirous of not having 
 their true rank and character known, still they 
 could not resist the temptation to assume such 
 an air and bearing as to make people wonder 
 who they were, and thus increase the spirit and 
 adventure of their journey. At Bordeaux 
 they received invitations from some grandees 
 to be present at some great gala, but they de- 
 clined, saying that they were only poor gentle- 
 men traveling to inform their minds, and were 
 not fit to appear in such gay assemblies. 
 
 At last they approached Madrid. They had, 
 besides Collington, another attendant who 
 spoke the Spanish language, and served them 
 as an interpreter. They separated from these 
 two the day before they entered Madrid, so as 
 to attract the less atttention. Their attend- 
 ants were to be left behind for a day, and 
 afterward were to follow them into the city. 
 The name of the British ambassador at Madrid 
 was the Earl of Bristol. He had had charge 
 of all the negotiations in respect to the mar- 
 riage, and to tlie restoration of the Palatinate, 
 and believed that he had brought them almost 
 to a successful termination. He lived in a 
 palace in Madrid, and, as is customary with 
 the ambassadors of great powers at the courts 
 
THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN. 37 
 
 of great powers, in a style of the highest pomp 
 and splendor. 
 
 Buckingham took the prince directly to 
 Bristol's house. Bristol was utterly con- 
 founded at seeing them. Nothing could be 
 worse, he said, in respect to the completion 
 of the treaty, than the prince's presence in 
 Madrid. The introduction of so new and ex- 
 traordinary an element into the affair would 
 undo all that had been done, and lead the 
 King of Spain to begin anew, and go over all 
 the ground again. In speaking of this ocur- 
 rence to another, he said that just as he was 
 on the point of coming to a satisfactory con- 
 clusion of his long negotiations and toils, a 
 demon in the shape of Prince Charles came 
 suddenly upon the stage to thwart and defeat 
 them all. 
 
 The Spanish court was famous in those days 
 — in fact, it has always been famous — for its 
 punctilious attention to etiquette and parade ; 
 and as soon as the prince's arrival was known 
 to the king, he immediately began to make 
 preparations to welcome him with all possible 
 pomp and ceremony. A great procession was 
 made through the Prado, which is a street iu 
 Madrid famous for promenades, processions, 
 and public displays of all kinds. In moving 
 through the city on tliis occasion, the king and 
 Prince Charles walked together, the monarch 
 
38 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 thus treating the prince as his equal. There 
 was a great canopy of state borne over their 
 heads as they moved along. This canopy was 
 supported by a large number of persons oi' the 
 highest rank. The streets, and the windows 
 and balconies of the houses on each side, were 
 thronged with spectators, dressed in the gay 
 and splendid court dresses of those times. 
 When they reached the end of the route, and 
 were about to enter the gate of the palace, 
 there was a delay to decide which should enter 
 first, the king and the prince each insisting on 
 giving the precedence to the other. At last it 
 was settled by their both going in together. 
 
 If the prince thus, on the one hand, derived 
 some benefit in the gratification of his pride 
 by the Spanish etiquette and parade, he suf- 
 fered some inconvenience and disappointment 
 from it, on the other hand, by its excluding 
 him from all intercourse or acquaintance with 
 the Infanta. It was not proper for the young 
 man to see or to speak to the young lady, in such 
 a case as this, until the arrangements had 
 been more fully matured. The formalities of 
 the engagement must have proceeded beyond 
 the point which they had yet reached, before 
 the bridegroom could be admitted to a per- 
 sonal interview with the bride. It is true, he 
 could see her in public, where she was in a 
 crowd, with other ladies of the court, and. 
 
THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN. 39 
 
 where he could have no communication with 
 her ; but this was all. They arranged it, how- 
 ever, to give Charles as many opportunities of 
 this kind as possible. They got up shows in 
 which the prince could see the Infanta among 
 the spectators ; and they arranged tiltings and 
 ridings at the ring, and other athletic sports, 
 such a^. Charles excelled in, and let him per- 
 form ills exploits in her presence. His rivals 
 in these contests did not have the incivility to 
 conquer him, and his performances excited ex- 
 pressions, at least, of universal admiration. 
 
 But the prince and Buckingham did not 
 very willingly submit to the stiffness and for- 
 mality of the Spanish court. As soon as they 
 came to feel a little at home, they began to act 
 with great fi'eedom. At one time the prince 
 learned that the Infanta was going, early in the 
 morning, to take a walk in some private pleas- 
 ure grounds, at a country house in the neigh- 
 borhood of Madrid, and he conceived the de- 
 sign of gaining an interview with her there by 
 stealth. He accordingly repaired to the place, 
 got admitted in some way within the precincts 
 of the palace, and contrived to clamber over a 
 high wall which separated him from the grounds 
 in which the Infanta w^s walking, and so let 
 himself down into her presence. The accounts 
 do not state whetlier she herself was pleased or 
 alarmed, but the officer who had her in charge. 
 
40 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 an old nobleman, was very niucli alarmed, and 
 begged the prince to retire, as he himself would 
 be subject to a very severe punishment if it 
 were known that he had allowed such an inter- 
 view. Finally they opened the door, and the 
 prince went out. Many people were pleased 
 with this and similar adventures of the prince 
 and of Buckingham, but the leading persons 
 about the court were displeased with them. 
 Their precise and formal notions of propriety 
 were very much shocked by such freedoms. 
 
 Besides, it was soon found that the charac- 
 ters of these high-born visitors, especially that 
 of Buckingham, were corrupt, and their lives 
 very irregular. Buckingham was accustomed 
 to treat King James in a very bold, familiar, 
 and imperious manner, and he fell insensibly 
 into the same habits of intercourse with those 
 about him in Spain. The little reserve and 
 caution which he manifested at first sooii wore 
 otf, and he began to be very generally disliked. 
 In the mean time, the negotiation was, as Bris- 
 tol had expected, very much put back by the 
 prince's arrival. The King of Spain formed 
 new plans, and thought of new conditions to 
 impose. The Catholics, too, thought that 
 Charles's coming thus into a Catholic country, 
 indicated some leaning, on his part, toward 
 the Catholic faith. The Pope actually wrote 
 him a long letter, the object of which was to 
 
Charleii J./uce p. MJ 
 
 VviuQ^ Ciiarles burprieing the Infanta. 
 
THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN. 4l 
 
 draw him off from the ranks of Protestantism. 
 Charles wrote a civil, but rather an evasive 
 reply. 
 
 In the mean time* King James wrote childish 
 letters from time to time to his two dear boys, 
 as he called them, and he sent them a great 
 many presents of jewelry and splendid dresses, 
 some for them to wear themselves, and some 
 for the prince to offer as gifts to the Infanta. 
 Among these, he describes in one of his letters, a 
 little mirror, set in a case which was to be worn 
 hung at the girdle. He wrote to Charles that 
 when he gave this mirror to the Infanta, he 
 must tell her that it was a picture which he 
 had had imbued with magical virtue by means 
 of incantations and charms, so that whenever 
 she looked into it, she would see a portrait 
 of the most beautiful princess in England, 
 France, or Spain. 
 
 At last the great obstacle in the way of the 
 conclusion of the treaty of marriage, which 
 consisted in the delays and difficulties in getting 
 the Pope's dispensation, was removed. The 
 dispensation came. But then the King of 
 Spain wanted some new guarantees in respect 
 to the privileges of Catholics in England, under 
 pretense of securing more perfectly the rights 
 of the Infanta and of her attendants when they 
 should have arrived in that country. The 
 truth was, he probably wanted to avail himself 
 
 4— Cbarlen I. 
 
42 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 of tlie occasion to gain some foothold for the 
 Catliolic faith in England, which country had 
 become almost entirely Protestant. At length, 
 however, all obstacles seemgd to be removed, 
 and the treaty was signed. The news of it 
 was received with great joy in England, as it 
 seemed to secure a permanent alliance between 
 the two powerful countries of England and 
 Spain. Great celebrations took place in Lon- 
 don, to do honor to the occasion. A chapel 
 was built for the Infanta, to be ready for her 
 on her arrival ; and a fleet was fitted out to 
 convey her and her attendants to her new 
 home. 
 
 In the riean time^ however, although the 
 king had signed the treaty, there was a strong 
 party formed against the marriage in Spain. 
 Buckingham was hated and despised. Charles, 
 they saw, was almost entirely under his influ- 
 ence. They said they would rather see the 
 Infanta in her grave than in the hands of such 
 men. Buckingham became irritated by the 
 hostility he had awakened, and he determined 
 to break off the match entirely. He wrote 
 home to James that he had no idea that the 
 Spanish court had any intention of carrying 
 the arrangement really into effect ; that they 
 were procrastinating the affair on every possi- 
 ble pretext, and that he was really afraid that, 
 if the prince wer^ to attempt to lej^ve the qovlu- 
 
THE EXPEDITION INTO SPAIN. 43 
 
 try, they would interpose and detain him as a 
 prisoner. King James was very much ahirmed. 
 lie wrote in the greatest trepidation, urging 
 *^ the hids " to come away immediately, leaving 
 a proxy behind them, if necessary, for the 
 solemnization of the marriage. Tliis was what 
 Buckingham wanted, and lie and the prince 
 began to make preparations for their de- 
 parture. 
 
 The King of Spain, far from interposing any 
 obstacles in the way, only treated them with 
 greater and higher marks of respect as the 
 time of their separation from his court drew 
 nigh. lie arranged great and pompous cere- 
 monies to honor their departure, lie accom- 
 panied them, with all the grandees of the court, 
 HA far as to the Escurial, wliicli is a famous 
 royal palace not far from Madrid, built and 
 furnished in the most sumptuous style of mag- 
 nificence and sjilendor. Here they had part- 
 ing feasts and celebrations. Here the prince 
 took Ids leave of the Infanta, Bristol serving 
 as interpreter, to translate his parting speeches 
 into Spanish, so that she could understand 
 thom. From the Escurial the prince and Buck- 
 ingham, witli a great many English noblemen 
 who had followed them to Madrid, and a groat 
 train of attendants, traveled toward the sea- 
 coast, where a fleet of vessels were ready to 
 receive them. 
 
44 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 They embarked at a port called St. Andrew. 
 They came very near being lost in a storm of 
 mist and rain which came upon them while 
 going out to the ships, which were at a dis- 
 tance from the shore, in small boats provided 
 to convey them. Having escaped this danger 
 they arrived safely at Portsmouth, the gre^:? 
 landing point of the British navy on the south- 
 ern shores of England, and thence proceeded 
 to London. They sent back orders that 6he 
 proxy should not be used, and the match wa' 
 finally abandoned, each party accusing thtr 
 other of duplicity and bad faith. King James 
 was, however, very glad to get his son safe 
 back again, and the people made as mary 
 bonfires and illuminations to celebrate the 
 breaking up of this Catholic match, as they 
 had done before to do honor to its supposed 
 completion. As all hope of recovering the 
 Palatinate by negotiation was now past, the 
 king began to prepare for the attempt to re- 
 conquer it by force of arms. 
 
^•|;t;|i;|f;:i.;<«rep^ 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ACCESSION^ TO THE THRONE. 
 
 King James made slow progress in his mill 
 tary preparations. He could not raise the 
 funds without the action of Parliament, and 
 the houses were not in very good humor. The 
 expenses of the prince's visit to Spain had 
 been enormous, and other charges, arising out 
 of the pomp and splendor with which the ar- 
 rangements of the court were maintained, gave 
 tliem a little feeling of discontent. They had 
 other grievances of which they were disposed 
 to complain, and they began to look upon this 
 war, notwithstanding its Protestant character, 
 as one in which the king was only striving to 
 recover his son-in-law's dominions, and, con- 
 sequently, as one which pertained more to his 
 personal interests tlian to the public welfare of 
 the realm. 
 
 While things were in this state the king fell 
 sick. The mother of the Duke of Bucking- 
 ham undertook to prescribe for him. It was 
 
 understood that Buckingham himself, who 
 
 45 
 
46 KING CHARLES 1. 
 
 had, ill the course of the Spanish enterprise, 
 and since his return, acquired an entire ascend- 
 ency over Charles, was not unwilling that his 
 old master should leave the stage, and the 
 younger one reign in his stead ; and that his 
 mother shared in this feeling. At any rate, 
 her prescriptions made the king much worse. 
 He had the sacrament administered to him in 
 his sick chamber, and said that lie derived 
 great comfort from it. One morning, very 
 early, he sent for the prince to come and see 
 him. Charles rose, dressed himself, and came. 
 His father had something to say to him, and 
 tried to speak. He could not. His strength 
 was too far gone. He fell back upon his pil- 
 low, and died. 
 
 Cliarles was, of course, now king. The 
 theory in the English monarchy is, that the 
 king never dies. So soon as the person in 
 whom the royal sovereignty resides ceases to 
 breathe, the principle of supremacy vests im- 
 mediately in his successor, by a law of trans- 
 mission entirely independent of the will of 
 man. The son becomes king by a divine right. 
 His being proclaimed and crowned, as he usu- 
 ally is, at some convenient time early in his 
 reign, are not ceremonies wliich make him 
 king. They only acknowledge him to be so. 
 He does not, in any sense, derive his powers 
 and prerogatives from tliese acts. He only re- 
 
ACCESSION TO TJIE THltONE. 47 
 
 ceives from liis people, by meuns of them, a 
 recognition of his right to the high office to 
 which he has already been inducted by the fiat 
 of Heaven. 
 
 It will be observed, thus, that the ideas 
 which prevailed in respect to the nature and 
 province of government, were very different 
 in England at that time from those which are 
 entertained in America at the present day. 
 With us, the administration of government is 
 merely a business, transacted for the benefit 
 of the people by their agents — men who are 
 put in power for this purpose, and who, like 
 otiier agents, are responsible to their principals 
 for the manner in which they fulfil their trusts. 
 But government in England was, in the days 
 of the Stuarts — and it is so to a great extent at 
 the present day — a right which one family 
 possessed, and which entitled that family to 
 certain immunities, powers, and prerogatives, 
 which they held entirely independent of any 
 desire, on the part of the people, that they 
 should exercise them, or even their consent i\\ixi 
 they should do so. The right to govern the 
 realm of Great Britain was a sort of estate 
 which descended to Charles from his ancestors, 
 and with the possession and enjoyment of 
 which the community Iiad no right to inter- 
 fere. 
 
 This seems, at first view, very absurd to us, 
 
48 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 but it is not particularly absurd, Charles's 
 lawyers would say to any plain proprietor of a 
 piece of land, who might call in question his 
 right to govern the country, the king holds his 
 crown by precisely the same tenure tliat ycu 
 hold your farm. Why should you be the ex- 
 clusive possessor of that land, while so many 
 poor beggars are starving ? Because it has de- 
 scended to you from your ancestors, and noth- 
 ing has descended to them. And it is precisely 
 so that the right to manage the fleets and 
 armies, and to administer the laws of the realm, 
 has descended, under tlie name of sovereignty, 
 to him, and no such political power has de- 
 scended to you. 
 
 True, the farmer would reply ; but in mat- 
 ters of government we are to consider what 
 will promote the general good. The great ob- 
 ject to be attained is the welfare and happiness 
 of the community. Now, if this general wel- 
 fare comes into competition with tlie supposed 
 rights of individuals, arising from such a prin- 
 ciple as hereditary succession, the latter ought 
 certainly to yield. 
 
 But why, might the lawyer reply, should 
 rights founded on hereditary succession yield 
 any more readily in the case of governmeiti 
 than in the case of property f The distribution 
 of property influences the general welfare q n i te 
 as much as the management of power. Sup- 
 
ACCESSION TO THE THRONE. 49 
 
 pose it were proved that the general welfare of 
 your parish would be promoted by the divisiou 
 of your land among the destitute there. You 
 have nothing to oppose to such a proposition 
 but vour hereditary right. And the king has 
 that to oppose to any plan of a division of his 
 prerogatives and powers among the people who 
 would like to share them. 
 
 Whatever may be thought of this reasoning 
 on this side of the Atlantic, and at the present 
 day, it was considered very satisfactory in 
 England two or three centuries ago. The true 
 and proper jurisdiction of an English monarch, 
 as it had existed from ancient times, was con- 
 sidered as an absolute right, vesting in each 
 successive inheritor of the crown, and which 
 the community could not justly interfere with 
 or disturb for any reasons less imperious than 
 such as would authorize an interference with 
 the right of succession to private property. 
 Indeed, it is probable that, with most men at 
 that time, an inherited right to govern was re- 
 garded as the most sacred of the two. 
 
 The fact seems to be, that the right of a son 
 to come into the place of his father, whether in 
 respect to property, power, or social rank, is 
 not a natural, inherent, and indefeasible right, 
 but a privilege which society accords, as a mat- 
 ter of convenience and expediency. In Eng- 
 land, expediency is, on the whole, considered 
 
50 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 to require that all three of these things, viz., 
 pro^Derty, rank, and power, in certain cases, 
 should descend from father to son. In this 
 country, on the other hand, we confine the he- 
 reditament to property, abrogating it in the 
 case of rank and power. In neither case is 
 there probably any absolute natural right, but 
 a conventional right is allowed to take its place 
 in one, or another, or all of these particulars, 
 according to the opinion of the community in 
 respect to what its true interests and the gen- 
 eral welfare, on the whole, require. 
 
 The kings themselves of this Stuart race — 
 which race includes Mary Queen of Scots, the 
 mother of the line, and James I., Charles I., 
 Charles II., and James II. — entertained very 
 high ideas of these hereditary rights of theirs 
 to govern the realm of England. They felt a 
 determination to maintain these rights and 
 powers at all hazards. Charles ascended the 
 throne with these feelings, and the chief point 
 of interest in the history of his reign is the 
 contest in which he engaged with the English 
 people in his attempts to maintain them. 
 
 The body with which the king came most 
 immediately into conflict in this long struggle 
 were the two houses of Parliament. And here 
 American readers are very liable to fall into a 
 mistake by considering the houses of Parlia- 
 ineiit as analogous to the houses of legislatioii 
 
ACCESSION TO THE THRONE. 51 
 
 in the various governments of this country. 
 In our governments the chief magistrate has 
 only to execute definite and written laws and 
 ordinances, passed by the Legislature, and 
 which the Legislature may pass with or with- 
 out his consent ; and when enacted, he must 
 be governed by them. Thus the president or 
 the governor is, in a certain sense, the agent 
 and officer of the legislative power of the state, 
 to carry into effect its decisions, and this 
 legislative power has really the control. 
 
 By the ancient Constitution of England, 
 however, the Parliament was merely a body 
 of counselors, as it were, summoned by the 
 king to give him their advice, to frame for him 
 such laws as he wanted to have framed, and 
 to aid him in raising funds by taxing the peo- 
 ple. The king might call this council or not, 
 as he pleased. There was no necessity for call- 
 ing it unless he needed more funds than he 
 could raise by his own resources. When called, 
 they felt that they had come, in a great meas- 
 ure, to aid the king in doing his will. AVhen 
 they framed a law, they sent it to him, and if 
 he was satisfied with it, he made it law. It was 
 the king who really enacted it. If he did not 
 approve the law, he wrote upon the parchment 
 which contained it, '* The king will think of 
 it," and that was the end. The king would 
 call upon them to assess a tax and collect the 
 
52 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 money, and would talk to them about his plans, 
 and his government, and the aid which he 
 wanted from them to enable him to accomplish 
 what he had himself undertaken. In fact, 
 the king was the government, and the houses 
 of Parliament his instruments to aid him in 
 giving effect to his decrees. 
 
 The nobles, that is, the heads of the great 
 families, and also the bishops, who were the 
 heads of the various dioceses of the Church, 
 formed one branch of this great council. This 
 was called the House of Lords. Certain repre- 
 sentatives of the counties and of thf towns 
 formed another branch, called the House of 
 Commons. These delegates came to the coun- 
 cil, not from any right which the counties and 
 towns were supposed to possess to a share in 
 the government, but simply because they were 
 summoned by the king to come and give him 
 their aid. They were to serve without pay, as 
 a matter of duty which they owed to the sov- 
 ereign. Those that came from counties were 
 called knights, and those from the towns bur- 
 gesses. These last were held in very little es- 
 timation. The towns, in those days, were 
 considered as mere collections of shopkeepers 
 and tradesmen, who were looked down upon 
 with much disdain by the haughty nobles. 
 \Yhen the king called his Parliament together, 
 and went in to address them^ he entered the 
 
ACCESSION TO THE THRONE. 53 
 
 chamber of the House of Peers, and tlie com- 
 mons were called in, to stand where they could, 
 witli their heads uncovered, to hear what he 
 had to say. They were, in a thousand other 
 ways, treated as an inferior class ; but still 
 their counsels might, in some cases, be of serv- 
 ice, and so they were summoned to attend, 
 though they were to meet always, and deliber- 
 ate, in a separate chamber. 
 
 As the king could call the Parliament to- 
 gether at any time and place he pleased, so he 
 could suspend or terminatD their sittings at any 
 time. He could intermit the action of a Par- 
 liament for a time, sending the members to 
 their homes until he should summon tht^m 
 again. This was called npi'orogafion. Or he 
 could dissolve the body entirely at any time, 
 and then require new elections for a new Par- 
 liament whenever he wanted to avail himself 
 of the wisdom or aid of such a body again. 
 
 Thus everything went on the supposition 
 that the real responsibility for the government 
 was with the king. lie was the monarch, and 
 the real sovereignty vested in him. lie called 
 his nobles, and a delegation from the mass of 
 the people, together, whenever he wanted their 
 help, and not otherwise. Tie was responsible, 
 not to them nor to the peoi)le at large, but to 
 God only, for the r.cts of his administration. 
 The duty cf rarlianient was limited to that of 
 
54 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 aiding him in carrying out' his plans of gov- 
 ernment, and the people had nothing to do but 
 to be obedient, submissive, and loyal. These 
 were, at any rate, the ideas of the kings, and 
 all the forms of the English Constitution, and 
 the ancient phraseology in which the transac- 
 tions are expressed, correspond with them. 
 
 AVe cannot give a better proof and illustra- 
 tion of what has been said than by transcrib- 
 ing the substance of one of King James's mes- 
 sages to his Parliament, delivered about the 
 close of his life, and, of course, at the period 
 of which we are writing. It was as follows : 
 
 ** My Lords spiritual and temporal, and you the 
 Commons : In my last Parliament I made long dis- 
 courses, especially to them of the Lower House. I 
 did open the true thought of my heart. But I may 
 say with our Saviour, ' I have piped to you and ye 
 have not danced ; I have mourned to you and you 
 have not lamented ; ' so all my sayings turned to me 
 again without any success. And now, to tell the 
 reasons of your calling and of this meeting, apply it 
 to yourselves, and spend not the time in long 
 speeches. Consider that the Parliament is a thing 
 composed of a head and a body ; the monarch and 
 the two estates. It was, first, a monarchy ; then 
 after, a Parliament. There are no Parliaments but 
 in monarchical governments ; for in Venice, the 
 Netherlands, and other free governments there are 
 none. The head is to call the body together ; and 
 for the clergy the bishops are chief, for shires their 
 knights, for towns and cities their burgesses and 
 
ACCESSION TO THE THIIONE. bb 
 
 citizens. These are to treat of difficult matters, and 
 counsel their king with their best advice to make 
 laws* for the commonweal; and tl)e Lower House 
 is also to petition the king and acquaint him with 
 their grievances, and not to meddle with the king's 
 prerogative. They are to offer supply for his neces- 
 sity, and he to distribute, in recompense thereof, 
 justice and mercy. As in all Parliaments it is the 
 king's office to make good laws, whose fundamenta-1 
 cause is tlie people's ill manners, so at this time. 
 
 " For a supply to my necessities, I have reigned- 
 eighteen years, in which I liave had peace, and I 
 liave received far less supply than hath been given 
 to any king since the Conquest. The last queen 
 had, one year with another, above a hundred 
 thousand pounds })er annum in subsidies; and in all 
 my time 1 have had but four subsidies! and six fif- 
 teens, f It is ten years since I had a subsidy, in all 
 which time I have been sparing to trouble you. I 
 have turned myself as nearly to save expenses as I 
 may. 1 have abated much in my household ex- 
 })enses, in my navies, and the charge of my mu- 
 nition.'' 
 
 Aftor speaking about tlie affairs of the Pa- 
 latinate, and calling upon tlie Parliament to 
 furnish him with money to recover it for his 
 son-in-law, he adds : 
 
 •* Consider the trade for the making thereof better, 
 
 * Meaning advice to him how he shall make laws 
 i is evident from what is said below, 
 f Species of taxes granted by Parliament. 
 
66 KING CHAKLES I. 
 
 and show me the reason why my mint, these eight 
 or nine years, hath not gone. I confess I have been 
 liberal in my grants ; but if I be informed, I will 
 amend all hurtful grievances. But whoever shall 
 hasten after grievances, and desire to make himself 
 popular, he hath the spirit of Satan. I was, in my first 
 Parliament, a novice ; and in my last, there was a 
 kind of beasts, called vndertakers, a dozen of whom 
 undertook to govern the last Parliament, and they 
 led me. I shall thank you for your good office, and 
 desire that the wcvld may say well of our agree- 
 ment." 
 
 This kind of harangue from the king to his 
 Parliament seems not to have been considered, 
 at tlie time, at all extraordinary ; though, if 
 such a message were to be sent at the present 
 day, by a President of the United States to 
 the houses of Congress, we think it would 
 make a sensation. 
 
 Still, notwithstanding what we have said,, 
 the Parliament did contrive gradually to at- 
 tain to the possession of some privileges and 
 powers of its own. The English people liave 
 a great deal of independence and spirit, thougli 
 Americans traveling there, with ideas carried 
 from this country, are generally surprised at 
 finding so little instead of so much. Tlie 
 knights and burgesses of the House of Com- 
 mons, though they submitted patiently to the 
 forms of degradation which the lords and 
 kings imposed upon tliem, gradually got pos- 
 
ACCESSION TO THE THRONE. 57 
 
 session of certain powers wliich they claimed 
 as their own, and wliich they showed a strong 
 disposition to defend. They claimed the ex- 
 elusive right to lay taxes of every kind. This 
 had been the usage so long, that they luid tlie 
 same right to it that the king had to his 
 crown, They had a riglit, too, to petition tlie 
 king for a redress of any grievances wliicl: 
 they supposed -tho people were suffering under 
 his reign. These, and certain other powers 
 and immunities wliich they had possessed, were 
 called their 2^rivileffes. Tlie king's rights were, 
 on the other hand, called his j)rero(/atioes. 
 The Parliament were always endeavoring to 
 extend, define, and establish their privileges. 
 The king was equally bent on maintaining his 
 ancient prerogatives. King Charles's reign 
 derives its chief interest from the long and 
 insane contest which he waged with his Par- 
 liament on this question. The contest com- 
 menced at the king's accession to the throne, 
 and lasted a quarter of a century : it ended 
 with his losing all his prerogatives and his 
 head. 
 
 This circumstance, that the main interest 
 in King Charles's reign is derived from his 
 contest with his Parliament, has made it 
 necessary to explain somewhat fully, as we 
 have done, the nature of that body. We have 
 described it as it was in the days of the 
 
58 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 Stuarts ; but, in order not to leave any wrong 
 impression on the mind of the reader in re- 
 gard to its present condition, we must add, 
 that though all its external forms remain the 
 same, the powers and functions of the body 
 have greatly changed. The despised and con- 
 temned knights and burgesses, that were not 
 worthy to have seats provided for them when 
 the king was delivering them his speech, now 
 rule the world ; or, at least, come nearer to the 
 possession of that dominion than any other 
 power has ever done, in ancient or modern 
 times. They decide Avho shall administer the 
 government, and in what way. They make 
 the laws, settle questions of trade and com- 
 merce, decide really on peace and war, and, 
 in a word, hold the whole control, while the 
 nominal sovereign takes rides in the royal 
 parks, or holds drawing-rooms in the palaces, 
 in empty and powerless parade. There is no 
 question that the British House of Commons 
 has exerted a far wider influence on the desti- 
 nies of the human race than any other govern- 
 mental power that has ever exisited. It has 
 gone steadily on for five, and perhaps for ten 
 centuries, in the same direction and toward 
 the same ends ; and whatever revolutions may 
 threaten other elements of European power, the 
 British House of Commons, in some form or 
 other, is as sure as anything human can be of 
 
ACCESSION TO THE THRONE. 59 
 
 existence and power for five or ten centuries 
 to come. ' 
 
 And yet it is one of the most remarkable of 
 the strange plienomena of social life, that this 
 body, standing at the head, as it really does, 
 of all human power, submits patiently still to 
 all the marks and tokens of inferiority and 
 degradation wliich accompanied its origin. It 
 comestogetlier when the sovereign sends writs, 
 ordering the several constituencies to choose 
 their representatives, and the representatives 
 to assemble. It comes humbly into the House 
 of Peers to listen to the instructions of the 
 sovereign at the opening of the session, the 
 members in a standing position, and with heads 
 uncovered.* It debates these suggestions 
 with forms and in a phraseology which im- 
 ply that it is only considering what cotinsel to 
 give the king. It enacts nothing — it only 
 recommends ; and it holds its existence solely 
 at the discretion of the great imaginary power 
 which called it into being. These forms may, 
 very probably, soon be changed for others 
 more true to the facts ; and the principle of 
 election may be changed, so as to make the 
 
 *Even in the case of a committee of conference 
 between tlie two houses, the lords have seats in the 
 committee-room, and wear their hats. The mem- 
 bers from the commons must stand, and be uncov- 
 ered during the deliberations. 
 
60 KING CHARLES t. 
 
 body represent more fully the general popula- 
 tion of the empire ; but the body itself will 
 doubtless continue its action for a very long 
 period to come. 
 
 According to the view of the subject which 
 we have presented, it would of course follow, 
 as the real sovereignty was mainly in the 
 king's hands, that at the death of one 
 monarch and the accession of another, the 
 functions of all officers holding their places 
 under the authority of the former would ex- 
 pire. This was actually the case. And it 
 shows how entirely the Parliament was 
 considered as the instrument and creation of 
 the king, that on the death of a king, the 
 Parliament immediately expired. The new 
 monarch must make a new Parliament if 
 he wished one to help him carry out his 
 own plans. In the same manner almost all 
 other offices expired. As it would be ex- 
 tremly inconvenient or impossible to appoint 
 anew all the officers of such a realm on a sud- 
 den emergency, it is usual for the king to issue 
 a decree renewing the appointments of the ex- 
 isting incumbents of these offices. Thus King 
 Charles, two days after his father's death, 
 made it his first act to renew the appointments 
 of the members of his father's privy council, of 
 the foreign ambassadors, and of the judges of 
 the courts, in order that the affairs of the em- 
 
ACCESSION TO THE THRONE. 61 
 
 pire might go on witliout interruption. He 
 also issued summonses for calling a Parlia- 
 ment, and then made arrangements for the 
 solemnization of his father's funeral. 
 
 The scene of these transactions was what 
 was, in those days, called Westminster. Min- 
 ster means cathedral. A cathedral church had 
 been built, and an abbey founded, at a short 
 distance west from London, near the mouth of 
 the Thames. The church was called the West 
 minster, and the abbey, Westminster Abbey. 
 The town afterward took the same name. The 
 street leading to the city of London from West- 
 minster was called the Strand ; it lay along the 
 shore of the river. The gate by which the city 
 of London was entered on this side was called 
 Temple Bar, on account of a building just 
 within the walls, at that point, which was called 
 the Temple. In process of time, London ex- 
 panded beyond its bounds and spread westward. 
 The Strand became a magnificent street of 
 shops and stores, AVestminster was filled with 
 palaces and houses of tlie nobility, the whole 
 region being entirely covered with streets and 
 edifices of the greatest magnificence and splen- 
 dor. Westminster is now called the West End 
 of London, though the jurisdiction of the city 
 still ends at Temple Bar. 
 
 Parliament held its sessions in a building 
 near the shore, called St. Stephen's, The king's 
 
62 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 palace, called St. James's Palace, was near. 
 The old church became a place of sepulture foi 
 the English kings, where a long line of them 
 now repose. The palace of King James's wife, 
 Anne of Denmark, was on the bank of the river, 
 some distance down the Strand. She called it, 
 during her life, Denmark House, in honor of her 
 native land. Its name is now Somerset House. 
 
 King James's funeral was attended with 
 great pomp. The body was conveyed from 
 Somerset House to its place of repose in the 
 Abbey, and attended by a great procession. 
 King Charles walked as chief mourner. Two 
 earls attended him, one on each side, and the 
 train of his robes was borne by twelve peers 
 of the realm. The expenses of this funeral 
 amounted to a sum equal to two hundred thou- 
 sand dollars. 
 
 One thing more is to be stated before we 
 can consider Charles as fairly entered upon his 
 career, and that is the circumstance of his mar- 
 riage. His father, James, so soon as he found 
 the negotiations with Spain must be finally 
 abandoned, opened a new negotiation with the 
 King of France for his daughter Henrietta 
 Maria. After some delay, this arrangement 
 was concluded upon. The treaty of marriage 
 was made, and soon after the old king's death, 
 Charles began to think of bringing home hi? 
 bride. 
 
LiiuUing (ji llenric'tta Maria at Dover. 
 
ACCESSION TO THE THRONE. 63 
 
 He accordingly made out a commission for a 
 nobleman, appointed for the purpose, to act in 
 his name, in the performance of the ceremony at 
 Paris. The Pope's dispensation was obtained, 
 Henrietta Maria, as well as the Infanta, being a . 
 Catholic. The ceremony was performed, as 
 such ceremonies usually were in Paris, in the 
 famous church of Xotre Dame, where Charles's 
 grandmother, Mary Queen of Scots, had been 
 married to a prince of France about seventy 
 years before. 
 
 There was a great theater, or platform, 
 erected in front of the altar in the church, 
 which was thronged by the concourse of spec- 
 tators Avho rushed to witness the ceremony. 
 The beautiful princess was married by proxy to 
 a man in another kingdom, whom she had never 
 seen, or, at least, never known. It is not 
 probable that she observed him at the time 
 when he was, for one evening, in hsr presence, 
 on his journey through Paris. The Duke of 
 Buckingham had been sent over by Charles to 
 conduct home his bride. Ships were waiting 
 at Boulogne, a port nearly opposite to Dover, 
 to take her and her attendants on board. She 
 bade farewell to the palaces of Paris, and set 
 out on her journey. 
 
 The king, in the mean time, had gone to 
 Dover, where he awaited her arrival. She 
 .landed at Dover on the day 3fter sailing from 
 
64 HING CHARLES I. 
 
 Boulogne, sea-sick and sad. The king received 
 his bride, and with their attendants they went 
 by carriages to Canterbury, and on the follow- 
 ing day they entered London. Great prepara- 
 tions had been made for receiving the king and 
 his consort in a suitable manner ; but London 
 was, at this time, in a state of great distress 
 and fear on account of the plague which had 
 broken out there. The disease had increased 
 during the king's absence, and the alarm and 
 anxiety were so great, that the rejoicings on 
 account of the arrival of the queen were omit- 
 ted. She journeyed quietly, therefore, to 
 Westminster, and took up her abode at Somer- 
 set House, which had been the residence of 
 her predecessor. They had fitted it up for hor 
 reception, providing for it, among other con- 
 veniences, a Eoman Catholic chapel, where she 
 could enjoy the services of religion ir. thelirms 
 to which she had been accustomed. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 BUCKINGHAM. 
 
 Charles commenced his reign in 1625. 
 Tie continued to reign about twenty-four years, 
 Jt will assist the reader to receive and retain 
 in mind a clear idea of the course of events 
 during his reign, if we regard it as divided into 
 tliree periods. During the first, which con- 
 tinued about four years, Charles and the Par- 
 liament were both upon the stage, contending 
 with each other, but not at open war. Each 
 party managed, and maneuvered, and struggled 
 to gain its own ends, the disagreement widen- 
 ing and deepening continually, till it ended in 
 an open rupture, when Charles abandoned the 
 plan of having Parliaments at all, and at- 
 tempted to govern alone. This attempt to 
 manage the empire without a legislature lasted 
 for ten years, and is the second period. After 
 this a parliament was called, and it soon made 
 itself independent of the king, and became 
 hostile to him, tlie two powers being at open 
 war, which constitutes tlie third period. Thus 
 
 60 
 
66 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 we have four years spent in getting into the 
 quarrel between the king and Parliament, ten 
 years in an attempt by the king to govern 
 alono, and, finally, ten years of war, more or 
 less open, the king on one side, and the Parlia- 
 ment on the other. 
 
 The first four years — that is, the time spent 
 in getting really into the quarrel with Parlia- 
 ment, was Buckingham's work, for during that 
 time Buckingham's influence • with the king 
 was paramount and supreme ; and whatever 
 was done that was important or extraordinary, 
 though done in the king's name, really origi- 
 nated in him. The whole country knew this, 
 and were indignant that such a man, so un- 
 principled, so low in character, so reckless, 
 and so completely under the sway of his im- 
 pulses and passions, should have such an influ- 
 ence over the king, and, through him, such 
 power to interfere with and endanger the 
 mighty interests of so vast a realm. 
 
 It must not be supposed, however, in conse- 
 quence of what has been said about the extent 
 of the regal power in England, that the daily 
 care and responsibility of the affairs of govern- 
 ment, in its ordinary administration, rested 
 directly upon the king. It is not possible that 
 any one mind can even comprehend, far less 
 direct, such an enormous complication of inter- 
 ests and of action as is involved in the carrying 
 
BUCKINGHAM. 67 
 
 ing on, from day to day, the government of an 
 empire. Offices, authorities, and departments 
 of administration spring up gradually, and all 
 tlie ordinary routine of the affairs of the empire 
 are managed by them. Thus the navy was all 
 completely organized, with its gradations of 
 rank, its rules of action, its records, its account 
 books, its offices and arrangements for provi- 
 sionment and supply, the whole forming a vast 
 system which moved on of itself, whether tlie 
 king were present or absent, sick or well, living 
 or dead. It was so with the army ; it was so 
 with the courts ; it was so with the general 
 administration of the government at London. 
 The immense mass of business which consti- 
 tuted the work of government was all system- 
 atized and arranged, and it moved on regu- 
 larly, in the hands of more or less prudent and 
 careful men, who governed, themselves, by 
 ancient rules and usages, and in most cases 
 managed wisely. 
 
 Everything, however, was done in the king's 
 name. The ships were his majesty's ships, 
 the admirals were his majesty's servants, the 
 war was his majesty's war, the court was the 
 King's Bench. The idea was, that all these 
 thousands of officers, of all ranks and grades, 
 were only an enormous multiplication of his 
 majesty ; that they might do his will and carry 
 on his administration as he would himself carry 
 
68 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 it on were he personally capable of attending to 
 such a vast detail ; subject, of course, to cer- 
 tain limits and restrictions which the laws and 
 customs of the realm, and the promises and 
 contracts of his predecessors had imposed. But 
 although all this action was theoretically the 
 king's action, it came to be, in fact, almost 
 wholly independent of him. It went on of it- 
 self, in a regular and systematic way, pursuing 
 its own accustomed course, except so far as the 
 king directly interposed to modify its action. 
 
 It might be supposed that the king would 
 certainly take the general direction of affairs 
 into his own hands, and that this charge, at 
 least, would necessarily come upon him, as 
 king, day by day. Some monarchs have at- 
 tempted to do this, but it is obvious that there 
 must be some provision for having this general 
 charge, as well as all the subordinate functions 
 of government, attended to independently of 
 the king, as his being always in a condition to 
 fulfill this duty is not to be relied upon. 
 Sometimes the king is young and inexperienced ; 
 sometimes he is sick or absent ; and some- 
 times he is too feeble in mind, or too indolent, 
 or too devoted to his pleasures to exercise any 
 governmental care. There has gradually 
 grown up, therefore, in all monarchies, the 
 custom of having a central board of officers of 
 state, whom the king appoints, and who takes 
 
BUCKINGHAM. 69 
 
 the general direction of affairs off his mind, 
 except so far as he chooses to interfere. This 
 board, in England, is called the Privy Council. 
 The Privy Council in England is a body of 
 great importance. Its nature and its functions 
 are, of course, entirely different from those of 
 the two houses of Parliament. They repre- 
 sent, or are intended to represent, the nation. 
 The Parliament is, in theory, the nation, as- 
 sembled at the king's command, to give him 
 their advice. The Privy Council, on the other 
 hand, represents the king. It is tho king's 
 Privy Council. They act in his name. They 
 follow his directions when he ciioopes to give 
 any. Whatever they decide npon and decree, 
 the king signs — often, indeed; without any idea 
 of what it is ; but he 3t^ll "jigns it, and all such 
 decrees go forth t^ the world as the king's 
 orders in council. The Privy Council, of 
 course, would h«\Te its meetings, its officers, its 
 records,, its Ttiles of proceeding, and its various 
 nsagcR, ^nd these grew, in time, to be laws and 
 t\\r\\i'^ \ but still it was, in theory, only a sort 
 of t'xpansion of the king, as if to make a kind 
 Tvf artificial being, with one soul, but many 
 heads and hands, because no natural human 
 being could possibly have capacities and powers 
 extensive and multifarious enough for the exi- 
 gencies of reigning. Charles thus had a coun- 
 cil who went on with everything, except so far 
 
 t>— Obarle» I. 
 
70 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 as he chose to interpose. The members were 
 generally able and experienced men. And yet 
 Buckingham was among them. He had been 
 made Lord High Admiral of England, which 
 gave him supreme command of the navy, and 
 admitted him to the Privy Council. The^e 
 were very high honors. 
 
 This Privy Council now took the direction of 
 public affairs, attended to everything, provided 
 for all emergencies, and kept all the compli- 
 cated machinery of government in motion, 
 without the necessity of the king's having any 
 personal agency in the matter. The king 
 might interpose, more or less, as he was in- 
 clined ; and, when he did interpose, he some- 
 times found obstacles in the way of imme- 
 diately accomplishing his plans, in the forms 
 or usages which had gradually grown into laws. 
 
 For instance, when the king began his reign, 
 he was very eager to have the war for the re- 
 covery of the Palatinate go on at once ; and he 
 was, besides, very much embarrassed for want 
 of money. He wished, therefore, in order to 
 save time, that the old Parliament which King 
 James had called should continue to act under 
 his reign. But his Privy Council told him that 
 that could not be. That was James's Parlia- 
 ment. If he wanted one for his reign, he must 
 call upon the people to elect a new Parliament 
 for him. 
 
BtJCKINGHAM. ; 71 
 
 The new Parliament was called, and Charles 
 Bent them a very civil message, explaining the 
 emergency which had induced him to call them, 
 and the reason why he was so much in want of 
 money. His father had loi't the government a 
 great deal in debt. There had been heavy ex- 
 penses connected with the death of the former 
 king, and with his own accession and marriage. 
 Then there was the war. It had been engaged 
 in by his father, with the approbation of the 
 former Parliament ; and engagements had been 
 made with allies, which now they could not 
 honorably retract. He urged them, therefore, 
 to grant, without delay, the necessary sup- 
 plies. 
 
 The Parliament met in July, but the plague 
 was increasing in London, and they had to ad- 
 journ, early in August, to Oxford. This city 
 is situated upon the Thames, and was then, as 
 it is now, the seat of a great many colleges. 
 These colleges were independent of each other 
 in their internal management, though united 
 together in one general system. The name of 
 one of them, which is still very distinguished, 
 was Christ Church College. They had, among 
 the buildings of that college, a magnificent 
 hall, more than one hundred feet long, and 
 very lofty, built in a very imposing style. It is 
 fitill a great object of interest to all who visit 
 Oxford, This hall was fitted up for the use of 
 
72 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 Parliament, and the king met the two houses 
 tliere, and made a new speech himself, and had 
 others made by liis ministers, explaining tlio 
 state of public affairs, and gently urging the 
 houses to act with pi'omptness and decision. 
 
 The houses then separated, and each com- 
 menced its own deliberations. But, instead of 
 promptly complying with the king's proposals, 
 they sent him a petition for redress of a long 
 list of what they called grievances. These 
 grievances were, almost all of them, complaints 
 of the toleration and encouragement of the 
 Catholics, through the influence of the king's 
 Catholic bride. She had stipulated to have 3^ 
 Catholic chapel, and Catholic attendants, and, 
 after her arrival in England, she and Bucking- 
 ham had so much influence over the king that, 
 they were producing quite a change at court, 
 and gradually through all ranks of society, in 
 favor of the Catholics. The Commons com> 
 plained of a great many things, nearly all, how- 
 ever, originating in this cause. The king 
 answered these complaints, clause by clause, 
 promising redress more or less distinctly. 
 There is not room to give this petition and the 
 answers in full, but as all the subsequent 
 troubles between Charles and the people of 
 England arose out of this difficulty of his 
 young wife's bringing in so strong a Catholic 
 influoace with her to the realm, it may be well 
 
BUCKINGHAM. 78 
 
 to^'ve an abstract of some of the principal 
 petitions, with the king's answers. 
 
 The Commons said 
 
 That they had understood that popish 
 priests, and other Catholics, were gradually 
 f^reeping in as teachers of the youth of the 
 realm, in the various seminaries of learning, 
 and they wanted to , have decided measures 
 taken to examine all candidates for such sta- 
 tions, with a view to the careful exclusion of 
 nil who were not true Protestants. 
 
 Kinf/. — Allowed. And I will send to the 
 archbishops and all the authorities to see that 
 Uiis is done. 
 
 Commons. — That more efficient arrangements 
 •liould be made for appointing able and faithful 
 men in the Church — men that will really devote 
 themselves to preaching the Gospel to the peo- 
 ple, instead of conferring these places and 
 salaries on favorites ; sometimes, as has been 
 the case, several to the same man. 
 
 The king made some explanations in regard 
 to this subject, and promised hereafter to com- 
 ply with this requisition. 
 
 Commo7is. — That the laws against sending 
 children out of the country to foreign countries 
 to be educated in Catholic seminaries should 
 bo strictly enforced, and the practise be eu« 
 tirely broken up. 
 
74 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 King, — Agreed ; and he would send to the 
 lord admiral, and to all the naval officers on 
 the coast, to watch very carefully and stop all 
 children attempting to go abroad for such a 
 purpose ; and he would issue a proclamation 
 commanding all the noblemen's children now 
 on the Continent to return by a given day. 
 
 Commons. — That no Catholic (or, as they 
 called him, popish recusant, that is, a person 
 refusing to subscribe to the Protestant faith, 
 recusant meaning person refusmg') be admit- 
 ted into the king's service at court ; and that 
 no English Catholic be admitted into the 
 Queen's service. They could not refuse to al- 
 low her to employ her own French attendants, 
 but to appoint English Catholics to the honor- 
 able and lucrative offices at her disposal was 
 doing a great injury to the Protestant cause in 
 the realm. 
 
 The king agreed to this, with some conditions 
 and evasions. 
 
 Commons. — That all Jesuits and Catholic 
 priests, owing allegiance to the See of Eome, 
 
 'should be sent away from the country, accord- 
 ing to laws already existing, after fair notice 
 given ; and if they would not go, that they 
 
 'should be imprisoned in such a manner as to be 
 kept from all communication with other per- 
 
BUCKINGHAM, 75 
 
 sons, so as not to disseminate their false re- 
 ligion. 
 
 King, — The laws on this subject shall be 
 enforced. 
 
 • 
 
 The above are sufficient for a specimen of 
 these complaints and of the king's answers. 
 There were many more of them, but they have 
 all the same character and end, namely, to stop 
 the strong current of Catholic influence and 
 ascendancy which was setting in to the court, 
 and through the court into the realm, through 
 the influence of the young queen and the per- 
 sons connected with her. At the present day, 
 and in this country, the Commons will be 
 thought to be in the wrong, inasmuch as the 
 thing which they were contending against was, 
 in the main, merely the toleration of the Cath- 
 olic religion. But then the king was in the 
 wrong too, for, since the laws against this tol- 
 eration stood enacted by the consent and con- 
 currence of his predecessors, he should not 
 have allowed them to be infracted and virtually 
 annulled through the influence of a foreign 
 bride and an unworthy favorite. 
 
 Perhaps he felt that he waa wrong, or per- 
 haps his answers were all framed for him by 
 his Privy Council. At all events, they were 
 entirely favorable to the demands of the Com- 
 mons. He promised everything. In many 
 
76 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 tilings he went even beyond their demands. It 
 is admitted, however, on all hands, that, so far 
 as he himself had any agency in making these 
 replies, he was not really sincere. He himself, 
 and Buckingham, were vei^ eager to get sup- 
 plies. Buckingham was admiral of the fleet,, 
 and had a great desire to enlarge the force at 
 his command, with a view to the performing 
 of some great exploit in the war. It is under- 
 stood, therefore, that the king intended his 
 replies as promises merely. At any rate, the 
 promises were made. The Commons were 
 called into the great hall again, at Christ 
 Cliurch, where the Peerj assembled, and tlie 
 king's answers were read to them. Bucking- 
 bam joined in this policy of attempting to con- 
 ciliate the Commons. He went into their as- 
 sem])ly and made a long speech, explaining 
 and justifying his conduct, and apologizing, in 
 some sense, for what might seem to be wrong. 
 The Commons returned to their place of de- 
 liberation, but they were not satisfied. Thoy 
 wanted something besides promises. Some 
 were in favor of granting suj^plies -^in grati- 
 tude to his majesty for his gracious answer.'' 
 Others thought differently. They did not see 
 the necessity for raising money for this foreign 
 war. They had greater enemies at home 
 (meaning Buckingham and popery) than they 
 kad abroad. Besides, if tlie king would stop 
 
BUCKINGHAM. 77 
 
 his waste and oxtravagance in bestowing hon- 
 ors and rewards, there would be money enough 
 for all necessary uses. In a word, there was 
 much debate, but nothing done. The king, 
 after a short time, sent a message to them 
 urging them to come to a decision. They sent 
 him back a declaration which showed that they 
 did not intend to yield. Their language, how- 
 ever, was of the most humble character. They 
 called him ** their dread sovereign," and them- 
 selves **his poor commons." The king was 
 displeased with them, and dissolved the Parlia- 
 ment. They, of course, immediately became 
 private citizens, and dispersed to their homes. 
 After trying gome ineffectual attempts to 
 raise money by his own royal prerogatives and 
 powers, the king called a new Parliament, tak- 
 ing some curious precautions to keep out of it 
 such persons as he thought would oppose his 
 plans. The Earl of Bristol, whom Buckingham 
 had been so jealous of, considering him as his 
 rival, was an influential membor ci the House 
 of Peers. Charles and Buokirighan? agreed to 
 omit him in sending out the royal writs to 
 summon the peers. lie petiMoned Parliament, 
 claiming a right to his scat. Charles then sent 
 him his v/rit but; gave him a command, as his 
 sovereign, not to attend the session. He also 
 relected four of the prominent men in the 
 House of Commons, men ivhom he consi'le^-ad 
 
78 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 most influential in opposition to him and to 
 Buckingham, and appointed them to offices 
 which would call them away from London ; 
 and as it was the understanding in those days 
 that the sovereign had a right to command 
 the services of his subjects, they were obliged 
 to go. The king hoped, by these and similar 
 means, to diminish the influence against him 
 in Parliament, and to get a majority in his 
 favor. But his plans did not succeed. Such 
 measures only irritated the House and the 
 country. After another struggle, this Parlia- 
 ment was dissolved too. 
 
 Things went on so for four or five years, the 
 breach between the king and the people grow- 
 ing wider and wider. Within this time there 
 were four Parliaments called, and, after various 
 contentions with them, they were, one after 
 another, dissolved. The original subject of 
 disagreement, viz., the growing influence of 
 the Catholics, was not the only one. Other 
 points came up, growing out of the king's use 
 of his prerogative, and his irregular and, as 
 they thought, illegal attempts to interfere with 
 their freedom of action. The king, or, rather, 
 Buckingham, using the king's name, resorted 
 to all sorts of contrivances to accomplish this 
 object. For instance, it had long been the 
 custom, in case any member of the House of 
 peers was absent, for him to give authority to 
 
BUCKINGHAM. 79 
 
 any friend of his, who was also a member, to 
 vote for him. This authority was called a 
 l^roxy. This word is supposed to be derived 
 from procuracy, which means action in the 
 place of, and in behalf of, another. Bucking- 
 ham induced a great number of the peers to 
 give him their proxies. He did this by re- 
 wards, honors, and various other influences, 
 and he found so many willing to yield to these 
 inducements, that ^t one time he had thirty or 
 forty proxies in his hands. Thus, on a ques- 
 tion arising in the House of Lords, he could 
 give a very large majority of votes. The 
 House, after murmuring for some time, and 
 expressing much discontent and vexation at 
 this state of things, finally made a law that no 
 member of the House should ever have power 
 to use more than two proxies. 
 
 One of the Parliaments which King Charles 
 assembled at length brought articles of im- 
 peachment against Buckingham, and a long 
 contest arose on this subject. An impeach- 
 ment is a trial of a high officer of state for 
 maladministration of his office. All sorts of 
 charges were brought against Buckingham, 
 most of which were true. The king considered 
 their interfering to call one of his ministers to 
 account as wholly intolerable. He sent them 
 orders to dismiss that subject from their de- 
 liberations, and to proceed immediately with 
 
80 KING CHARLES I, 
 
 til oil' work of Uiying taxes to raise money, or 
 he would dissolve the Parliament as lie had 
 done before. He reminded them that the 
 Parliaments were entirely *Mn his power for 
 their calling, sitting, and dissolution, and as 
 he found their fruits were for good or evil, so 
 they were to continue, or not to be."' If they 
 would mend their errors and do their duty, 
 henceforward he would forgive the past; 
 otherwise they were to expect his irrecon- 
 cilable hostility. 
 
 This language irritated instead of alarming 
 them. The Commons persisted in their plan 
 of impeachment. The king arres't-ed the men 
 whom they appointed as managers of the im- 
 peachment, and imprisoned them. The Com- 
 mons remonstrated, and insisted that Buck- 
 ingham should be dismissed from the king's 
 service. The king, instead of dismissing him, 
 took measures cr> have him appointed, in addi- 
 tion to all his •other offices. Chancellor of the 
 University of Cambridge, a very exalted sta- 
 tion. Parliament remonstrated. The king, 
 in retaliation, dissolved the Parliament. 
 
 Thus things went on from bad to worse, and 
 from worse to worse again ; the chief cause of 
 che difficulties, in almost all cases, being trace- 
 able to Buckingham's reckless and arbitrary 
 <3onduct. He was continually doing something 
 m the pursuit of his own ends, by the rash and 
 
BUCKINGHAM. 81 
 
 heedless exercMsc of the vast powers eommitted 
 to him, to make extensive and irreparable mis- 
 chief. At one time he ordered a part of the 
 fleet over to tlie coast of France, to enter tlie 
 French service, the sailors expecting that they 
 were to be employed against the Spaniards. 
 'J'liey found, however, that, instead of going 
 against the Spaniards, they were to be sent to 
 Rochelle. Rochelle was a tow^n in France in 
 possession of the Protestants, and the King of 
 France wanted to subdue them. The sailors 
 sent a remonstrance to their commander, bej:- 
 ging not to be forced to fight against ineir 
 brother Protestants. This remonstrance was- 
 in form, what is called a Round liohin. 
 
 In a Round Robin a circle is drawn, the pe- 
 tition or remonstrance is written within it, and 
 the names are written all around it, to prevent 
 any one's having to take the responsibility of 
 being the first signer. When the commander 
 of the fleet received the Round Robin, instead 
 of being offended, he inquired into the facts, 
 and finding that the case was really as the 
 Round Robin represented it, he broke ar/ay 
 from the French command and returned to 
 England. He said he would rather be hanged 
 in England for disobeying orders than to fight 
 against the Protestants of France. 
 
 Buckingham might have known that such a 
 spirit as this in Englishmen ^as not +o be tri- 
 
82 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 fled with. But ho knew notliing, and thought 
 of nothing, except that he wanted to please 
 and gratify the French government. When the 
 fleet, therefore, arrived in England, he peremp- 
 torily ordered it back, and he resorted to all 
 sorts of pretexts and misrepresentations of tlie 
 facts to persuade the officers and men that they 
 were not to be employed against the Protes- 
 tants. The fleet accordingly went back, and 
 when they arrived, they found that Bucking- 
 ham had deceived them. They were ordered 
 to Kochelle. One of the ships broke away and 
 returned to England. The officers and men 
 deserted from the other ships and got home. 
 The whole armament was disorganized, and the 
 English people, who took sides with the sailors, 
 were extremely exasperated against Bucking- 
 ham for his blind and blundering recklessness, 
 and against the king for giving such a man the 
 power to do his mischief on such an extensive 
 scale. 
 
 At another time the duke and the king con- 
 trived to fit out a fleet of eighty sail to make a 
 descent upon the coast of Spain. It caused 
 them great trouble to get the funds for this ex- 
 pedition, as they had to collect them, in a great 
 measure, by various methods depending on the 
 king's prerogative, and not by authority of Par- 
 liament. Thus the whole country were dis- 
 satisfied and discontented in respect to the fleet 
 
BUCKINGHAM. 83 
 
 before it was ready to sail. Then, as if this 
 was not enough, Ikickingham overlooked all the 
 olficers in the navy in selecting a commander, 
 and put an officer of the army in charge of it ; 
 a man whose whole experience had been ac- 
 quired in wars on the land. The country 
 thought that Buckingham ought to have taken 
 the command himself, as lord high admiral ; 
 and if not, that he ought to have selected his 
 commiinder from the ranks of the service em- 
 ployed. Thus the fleet set off on the expedi- 
 tion, all on board burning with indignation 
 against the arbitrary and absurd management 
 of the favorite. The result of the expedition 
 was also extremely disastrous. They had an 
 excellent opportunity to attack a number of 
 ships, which would have made a very rich prize ; 
 but the soldier-commander either did not knoAv, 
 or did not dare to do, his duty. lie finally, 
 liowever, effected a landing, and took a castle, 
 but the sailors found a great store of wine 
 there, and went to drinking and carousing, 
 breaking through all discipline. The com- 
 mander had to get them on board again imme- 
 diately, and come away. Then he conceived 
 the plan of going to intercept what were called 
 the Spanish galleons, which were ships em- 
 ployed to bring home silver from the mines in 
 America, which the Spaniards then possessed. 
 dn further thoughts he concluded to give up 
 
84 KING CHAKLES I. 
 
 this idea, on account of the plague, which, it- 
 he said, broke out in his ships. So he came 
 back to England with his fleet disorganized, 
 demoralized, and crippled, and covered with 
 military disgrace. The people of England 
 charged all this to Buckingham. Still the 
 king persisted in retaining him. It was his 
 prerogative to do so. 
 
 After a while Buckingham got into a per- 
 sonal quarrel with Eichelieu, who was the lead- 
 ing manager of the French government, and 
 he resolved that England should make war 
 upon France. To alter the whole political 
 position of such an empire as that of Great 
 Britain, in respect to peace and war, and to 
 change such a nation as France from a friend 
 to an enemy, would seem to be quite an under- 
 taking for a single man to attempt, and that, 
 too, without having any reason whatever to 
 assign, except a personal quarrel with a minis- 
 ter about a love affair. But so it was. Buck- 
 ingham undertook it. It was the king's pre- 
 rogative to make peace or war, and Bucking- 
 ham ruled the king. 
 
 He contrived various ways of fomenting ill 
 will. One was, to alienate the mind of the 
 king from the queen. He represented, to him 
 tliat the queen's French servants were getting 
 to be very disrespectful and insolent in their 
 treatment of him, and finally persuaded him 
 
BUCKINGHAM. 85 
 
 to send them all home. So the king went one 
 day to Somerset House, which was the queen's 
 residence — for it is often the custom in high 
 life in Europe for tlie husband and wife to 
 have separate establishments — and requested 
 her to summon her French servants into his 
 presence, and when they were assembled, he 
 told them that he had concluded to send them 
 all home to France. Some of them, he said, 
 had acted properly enough, but others had been 
 rude and forward, and that he had concluded 
 it best to send them all home. The French 
 king, on hearing of this, seized a hundred and 
 twenty English ships lying in his harbors in re- 
 taliation of this act, which he said was a pal- 
 pable violation of the marriage contract, as it 
 certainly was. Upon this the king declared 
 war against France. He did not ask Parliament 
 to act in this case at all. There was no Parlia- 
 ment. Parliament had been dissolved in a fit 
 of displeasure. The whole affair was an exer- 
 cise of the royal prerogative. He did not dare 
 to call a Parliament to provide means for car- 
 rying on the war, but set his Privy Council to 
 devise modes of doing it, through this same 
 prerogative. 
 
 The attempts to raise money in these ways 
 made great trouble. The people resisted, and 
 interposed all possible difficulties. However, 
 some funds were raised, and a fleet of a hun- 
 
 7— C)i»rl«i I. 
 
»b KING CHATlLES I. 
 
 dred sail, and an army of seven thousand men, 
 were got together. Buckingham undertook 
 the command of this expedition himself, as 
 there had been so mucli dissatisfaction with his 
 appointment of a commander to the other. It 
 resulted just as was to be expected in the case 
 of seven thousand men, and a hundred ships, 
 afloat on the swelling surges of the English 
 Channel, under the command of vanity, reck- 
 lessness, and folly. The duke came back to 
 England in three months, bringing home one- 
 third of his force. The rest had been lost, 
 without accomplishing anything. The measure 
 of j)ublic indignation against Buckingham was 
 now full. 
 
 Buckingham himself walked as loftily and 
 proudly as ever. He got up another fleet, and 
 was preparing to set sail in it himself, as com- 
 mander again. He went to Portsmouth, ac- 
 cordingly, for this purpose, Portsmouth being 
 the great naval station then, as now, on the 
 southern coast of England. Here a man named 
 Eelton, who had been an officer under the duke 
 in the former expedition, and who had been ex- 
 tremely exasperated against him on account of 
 some of his management there, and who had 
 since found how universal was the detestation 
 of him in England, resolved to rid the country 
 of such a curse at once. He accordingly took 
 bis station in the passage-way of the house 
 
CharUt I. face j).8C 
 
 ^ AssaBsination of the Duke of Buckingham, 
 
BUCKINGHAM. 87 
 
 where Buckingham was, armed with a knife. 
 Buckingham came out, talking with some 
 Frenchmen in an angry manner, having had 
 some dispute with them, and Felton thrust the 
 knife into his side as he passed, and, leaving it 
 in the wound, walked away, no one having 
 noticed who did the deed. Buckingham pulled 
 out the knife, fell down, and died. The by- 
 standers were going to seize one of the French- 
 men, when Felton advanced and said, *'I am 
 the man who did the deed ; let no man suffer 
 that is innocent." He was taken. They found 
 a paper in his hat, saying that he was going to 
 destroy the duke, and that he could not sacri- 
 fice his life in a nobler cause than by delivering 
 his country from so great an enemy. 
 
 King Charles was four miles off at this time. 
 They carried him the news. He did not ap- 
 pear at all concerned or troubled, but only di- 
 rected that the murderer — he ought to have 
 said, perhaps, the executioner — should be 
 secured, and that the fleet should proceed to 
 sail. He also ordered the treasurer to make 
 arrangements for a splendid funeral. 
 
 The treasurer said, in reply, that a funeral 
 would only be a temporary show, and that he 
 could hereafter erect a monument at half tlie 
 cost, which would be a much more lasting me- 
 morial. Charles acceded. Afterward, when 
 Charles spoke to him about the monument, the 
 
88 KING CHARLES T. 
 
 treasurer replied, What would the world say if 
 your majesty were to build a monument to the 
 
 Buckingham Execrated by the Populace. 
 
 duke before you erect one for your father ? So 
 the plan was abandoned, and Buckingham had 
 no other monument than the universal detesta- 
 tion of his countrymeu. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE KIXG AND HIS PREROGATIVE. 
 
 The great difficulty in governing without a 
 Parliament was how to raise funds. By the 
 old customs and laws of the realm, a tax upon 
 the people could only be levied by the action 
 of the House of Commons ; and the great ob- 
 ject of tlie king and council during Bucking- 
 ham's life, in summoning Parliaments from time 
 to time was to get their aid in this point. 
 But as Charles found that one Parliament after 
 another withheld the grants, and spent their 
 time in complaining of his government, ho 
 would dissolve them, successively, after ex- 
 hausting all possible means of bringing them 
 to a compliance with his will. He would then 
 be thrown upon his own resources. 
 
 Tlie king had soine resources of his own. 
 These were certain estates, and lands, and 
 other property, in various parts of the country, 
 which belonged to the crown, the income of 
 which the king could appropriate. But the 
 umount which could bo derived from this 
 
 89 
 
90 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 source was very small. Then there were certain 
 other modes of raising money, which had been 
 resorted to by former monarchs, in emergen- 
 cies, at distant intervals, but still in instances 
 so numerous that the king considered prece- 
 dents enough had been established to make the 
 power to resort to these modes a part of the 
 prerogative of the crown. The people, how- 
 ever, considered these acts of former monarchs 
 as irregularities or usurpations. They denied 
 the king's right to resort to these methods, and 
 they threw so many difficulties in the way of 
 the execution of his plans, that finally he would 
 call another Parliament, and make new efforts 
 to lead them to conform to his will. The more 
 the experiment was tried, however, the worse 
 it succeeded ; and at last the king determined 
 to give up the idea of Parliaments altogether, 
 and to compel the people to submit to his plans 
 of raising money without them. 
 
 The final dissolution of Parliament, by which 
 Charles entered upon his new plan of govern- 
 ment, was attended with some resistance, and 
 the affair made great difficulty. It seems that 
 one of the members, a certain Mr. Rolls, had 
 had some of his goods seized for payment of 
 some of the king's irregular taxes, which he 
 had refused to pay willingly. ISTow it had al- 
 ways been considered the law of the land in 
 England, that the person and the property of a 
 
THE KING AND HIS PREROGATIVE. 91 
 
 member of Parliament were sacred during the 
 session, on the ground that while he was giving 
 liis attendance at a council meeting called by 
 his sovereign, he ought to be protected from 
 molestation on the part either of his fellow-sub- 
 jects or his sovereign, in his person and in his 
 property. The House of Commons considered, 
 therefore, the seizure of the goods of one of the 
 members of the body as a breach of their priv- 
 ilege, and took up the subject with a view to 
 punish the officers who acted. The king sent 
 a message immediately to the House, wlrile 
 tliey were debating the subject, saying that the 
 otticer acted, in seizing the goods, in obedience 
 to his own direct command. This produced 
 great excitement and long debates. The king, 
 by taking the responsibility of the seizure upon 
 himself, seemed to bid the House defiance. 
 They brought up this question : " AVhether the 
 seizing of Mr. Rolls's goods was not a breach 
 ot privilege ? " When the time came for a de- 
 cision, the speaker, that is, the presiding officer, 
 refused to put the question to vote. He said 
 lie Iiad been commanded hj the king not to do 
 it ! The House were indignant, and immedi- 
 ately adjourned for two days, probably for the 
 purpose of considering, and perhaps consulting 
 their constituents on what they were to do in 
 so extraordinary an emergency as the king's 
 coming into their own body and interfering 
 
92 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 with the functions of one of their own proper 
 officers. 
 
 They met on the day to which they had ad- 
 journed, prepared to insist on the speaker's 
 putting the question. But he, immediately on 
 the House coming to order, said that he had 
 received the king's command to adjourn the 
 House for a week, and to put no question what- 
 ever. He then was going to leave the chair, 
 but two of the members advanced to him and 
 held him in his place, while they read some 
 resolutions which had been prepared. There 
 was great confusion and clamor. Some insisted 
 that the House was adjourned, some were de- 
 termined to pass the resolutions. The resolu- 
 tions were very decided. They declared that 
 whoever should counsel or advise the laying of 
 taxes not granted by Parliament, or be an actor 
 or instrument in collecting them, should be ac- 
 counted an innovator, and a capital enemy to 
 the kingdom and Commonwealth. And also, 
 that if any person whatever should voluntarily 
 pay such taxes, he should be counted a capital 
 enemy also. These resolutions were read in 
 the midst of great uproar. The king was in- 
 formed of the facts, and sent for the sergeant 
 of the House — one of the highest officers — but 
 the members locked the door, and would not 
 let the sergeant go. Then the king sent one 
 of his owu oflScers to the House with a roes* 
 
THE KING AND HIS PREROGATIVE. 93 
 
 sage. The members kept the door locked, and 
 would not let him in until they had disposed of 
 the resolutions. Then the House adjourned 
 for a week. 
 
 The next day, several of the leading mem- 
 bers who were supposed to have been active in 
 these proceedings were summoned to appear 
 before the council. They refused to answer 
 out of Parliament for what was said and done 
 by them in Parliament. The council sent 
 them to prison in the Tower. 
 
 The week passed away, and the time for the 
 reassembling of the Houses arrived. It had 
 been known, during the week, that the king 
 had determined on dissolving Parliament. It 
 is usual, in dissolving a Parliament, for the 
 sovereign not to appear in person, but to send 
 his message of dissolution by some person 
 commissioned to deliver it. This is called dis- 
 solving the House by commission. The disso- 
 lution is always declared in tlie House of Lords, 
 the Commons being summoned to attend. In 
 this case, however, the king attended in person. 
 He was dressed magnificently in his royal 
 robes, and wore his crown. He would not 
 deign, however, to send for the Commons. He 
 entered the House of Peers, and took his seat 
 upon the throne. Several of the Commons, 
 however, came in of their own accord, and 
 stood below the bar, at the usual place assigned 
 
94 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 them. The king then rose and read the fol- 
 lowing speech. The antiquity of the language 
 gives it an air of quaintness now which it did 
 not possess then. 
 
 *' My Lords, — I never came here upon so un- 
 pleasant an occasion, it being the Dissolution 
 of a Parliament. Therefore Men may have 
 some cause to wonder why I should not rather 
 chuse to do this by Commission, it being a 
 general Maxim of Kings to leave harsh Com- 
 mands to their Ministers, Themselves only exe- 
 cuting pleasing things. Yet considering that 
 Justice as well consists in Eeward and Praise of 
 Virtue as Punishing of Vice, I thought it nec- 
 essary to come here to-day, and to declare to 
 you and all the World, that it was merely the 
 undutiful and seditious Carriage in the Lower 
 House that hath made the Dissolution of this 
 Parliament. And you, my Lords, are so far 
 from being any Causers of it, that I take as 
 much comfort in your dutiful Demeanour, as 
 I am justly distasted with their Proceedings. 
 Yet, to avoid their Mistakings, let me tell you, 
 that it is so far from me to adjudge all the 
 House alike guilty, that I know there are many 
 there as dutiful subjects as any in the World ; 
 it being but some few Vipers among them that 
 did cast this Mist of Undutifulness over most 
 of tbeir !Eyes. Yet to say Truth, there was a 
 
THE KING AND HIS PREROGATIVE. 95 
 
 good Number there that could not be infected 
 with this Contagion. 
 
 "To conclude, As those Vipers must look 
 for their Reward of Punishment, so you, my 
 Lords, may justly expect from me that Favor 
 and Protection tliat a good King oweth to his 
 loving and faithful Nobility. And now, my 
 Lord Keeper, do what I have commanded you." 
 
 Then the lord keeper pronounced the Par- 
 liament dissolved. The lord keeper was the 
 keeper of the great seal, one of the highest 
 officers of the crown. 
 
 Of course this affair produced a fever of ex- 
 citement against the king throughout the whole 
 realm. This excitement was kept up and in- 
 creased by the trials of the members of Parlia- 
 ment who had been imprisoned. The courts 
 decided against them, and they were sentenced 
 to long imprisonment and to heavy fines. The 
 king now determined to do without Parliaments 
 entirely ; and, of course, he had to raise money 
 by his royal prerogative altogether, as he had 
 done, in fact, before, a great deal, during the 
 intervals between the successive Parliaments. 
 It will not be very entertaining, but it will be 
 very useful to the reader to peruse carefully 
 some account of the principal methods resorted 
 to by the king. In order, however, to diminish 
 the necessity for money as much as possijble. 
 
96 KING CHARLES 1. 
 
 the king prepared to make peace with France 
 and Spain ; and as they, as well as England, 
 were exhausted with the wars, this was readily 
 effected. 
 
 One of the resorts adopted by the king was 
 to a system of Joans, as they were called, 
 though these loans differed from those made by 
 governments at the present day, in being appor- 
 tioned upon the whole community according to 
 their liability to taxation, and in being made, 
 in some respects, compulsory. The loan was 
 not to be absolutely collected by force, but all 
 were expected to lend, and if any refused, they 
 were to be required to make oath that they 
 would not tell anybody else that they had re- 
 fused, in order that the influence of their ex- 
 ample might not operate upon others. Those 
 who did refuse were to be reported to the gov- 
 ernment. The officers appointed to collect 
 these loans were charged not to make unneces- 
 sary difficulty, but to do all in their power to 
 induce the people to contribute freely and will- 
 ingly. This plan had been before adopted, in 
 the time of Buckingham, but it met with little 
 success. 
 
 Another plan which was resorted to was the 
 granting of what was called monopolies : that 
 is, the government would select some impor- 
 tant and necessary articles in general use, and 
 give the exclusive right of manufacturing 
 
THE KING AND HIS PREROGATIVE. 97 
 
 them to certain persons, on tlieir paying a 
 part of tlie profits to the government. Soap 
 was one of tlie articles thus chosen. The ex- 
 clusive right to manufacture it Avas given to a 
 company, on their paying for it. So with 
 leather, salt, and various other things. These 
 persons, when they once possessed the ex- 
 clusive right to manufacture an article which 
 the people must use, would ahuse their power 
 hy deteriorating the article, or charging 
 enormous prices. Xothing i)revented their 
 doing this, as they had no competition. The 
 effect was, that the people were injured much 
 more than tlie government was benefited. The 
 plan of granting such monopolies by govern- 
 ments is now universally odious. 
 
 Another method of taxation was what was 
 called tonnage and 2)ounda<je. This was an 
 ancient tax, assessed on merchandise brought 
 into the country in ships, like the duties now 
 collected at our custom-houses. It was called 
 tonnage and poundage because the merchan- 
 dise on which it was assessed was reckoned by 
 weight, viz., the ton and the pound. A 
 former king, Edward III. first assessed it to 
 raise money to suppress piracy on the seas. He 
 said it was reasonable that the merchandise 
 protected should pay the expense of the pro- 
 tection, and in proper proportion. The Parlia- 
 ment iu that day opposed this tax, They did 
 
98 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 not object to the tax itself, but to the king's 
 assessing it by his own authority. However, 
 they granted it themselves afterward, and it 
 was regularly collected. Subsequent Parlia- 
 ments had granted it, and generally made the 
 law, once for all, to continue in force during 
 the life of the monarch. When Charles com- 
 menced his reign, the Peers were for renewing 
 the law as usual, to continue throughout his 
 reign. The Commons wanted to enact the 
 law only for a year at a time, so as to keep the 
 power in their own hands. The two houses 
 thus disagreed, and nothing was done. The 
 king then went on to collect the tax without 
 any authority except his own prerogative. 
 
 Another mode of levying money adopted by 
 the king was what was called ship money. 
 This was a plan for raising a navy by making 
 every town contribute a certain number of 
 ships, or the money necessary to build them. 
 It originated in ancient times, and was at first 
 confined to seaport towns which had ships. 
 These towns were required to furnish them for 
 the king's service, sometimes to be paid for by 
 the king, at other times by the country, and 
 at other times not to be paid for at all. Charles 
 revived this plan, extending it to the whole 
 country ; a tax was assessed on all the towns, 
 each one being required to furnish money 
 enough for a certain number of ships. The 
 
THE KING AND HIS PREROGATIVE. 99 
 
 number at one time required of the city of 
 London was twenty. 
 
 There was one man who made his name 
 very celebrated then, and it has continued very 
 celebrated since, by his refusal to pay his ship 
 money, and by his long and determined con- 
 test with the government in regard to it, in 
 the courts. His name was John Hampden. 
 He was a man of fortune and high character. 
 His tax for ship money was only twenty shil- 
 lings, bat he declared that "he would not pay it 
 without a trial. The king had previously ob- 
 tained the opinion of the judges that he had a 
 right, in case of necessity, to assess and collect 
 the ship money, and Hampden knew, therefore, 
 that the decision would certainly, in the end, 
 be against him. He knew, however, that the 
 attention of the whole country would be at- 
 tracted to the trial, and that the arguments 
 which he should offer to prove that the act of 
 collecting such a tax on the part of the king's 
 government was illegal and tyrannical, would 
 be spread before the country, and would make 
 a great impression, although they certainly 
 would not alter the opinion of the judges, 
 who, holding their offices by the king's ap- 
 pointment, were strongly inclined to take his 
 side. 
 
 It resulted as Hampden had foreseen. The 
 trial attracted universal attention. It was a 
 
 8— Charlen 1. 
 
100 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 great spectacle to see a man of fortune and 
 standing like him, making all those prepara- 
 tions, and incurring so great expense, on ac- 
 count of a refusal to pay five dollars, knowing, 
 too, that he would have to pay it in the end. 
 The people of the realm were convinced that 
 Hampden was right, and they applauded and 
 honored him very greatly for his spirit and 
 courage. The trial lasted twelve days. The 
 illegality and injustice of the tax were fully 
 exposed. The people concurred entirely with 
 him, and even a part of the judges were con, 
 vinced. He was called the patriot Hampden, 
 and his name will always be celebrated in Eng- 
 lish history. The whole discussion, however, 
 though it produced a great effect at the time, 
 would be of no interest now, since it turned 
 mainly on the question what the king's rights 
 actually were, according to the ancient cus- 
 toms and usages of the realm. The question 
 before mankind now is a very different one ; 
 it is not what the powers and prerogatives of 
 government have been in times past, but 
 what they ought to be now and in time to 
 come. 
 
 The king's government gained the victory, 
 ostensibly, in this contest, and Hampden had 
 to pay hts money. Very large sums were coU 
 lected, also, from others by this tax, and a 
 great fleet was raised. The perfgrmauces and 
 
THE KING AND HIS PUEROGATIVE. 101 
 
 exploits of tlie fleet had some influence in 
 quieting the murmurs of the people. The 
 fleet was the greatest whicli England had ever 
 possessed. One of its exploits was to compel 
 the Dutch to pay a large sum for the privilege 
 of fishing in the narrow seas about Great Brit- 
 ain. The Dutch had always maintained that 
 these seas were public, and open to all the 
 world ; and they had a vast number of fishing 
 boats, called herring-busses, that used to resort 
 to them for the purpose of catching lierring, 
 which they made a business of preserving and 
 sending all over the world. The English ships 
 attacked these fleets of herring-])us3es, and 
 drove them off ; and as the Dutch were not 
 strong enough to defend them, tliey agreed to 
 pay a large sum annually for the riglit to fish 
 in the seas in question, protesting, however, 
 against it as an extortion, for tliey maintained 
 that the English had no control over any seas 
 beyond the bays and estuaries of their own 
 sliores. 
 
 One of the chief means which Charles de- 
 pended upon during tlie long period that he 
 governed without a Parliament, was a cer- 
 tain famous tribunal or court called the Star 
 Chamber. This court was a very ancient one, 
 having been established in some of the earliest 
 reigns ; but it never attracted any special at- 
 tention until the time of Charles. His govern- 
 
102 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 ment called it into action a great deal, and 
 extended its powers, and made it a means of 
 great injustice and oppression, as the people 
 thought, or, as Charles would have said, a very 
 efficient means of vindicating his prerogative, 
 and punishing the stubborn and rebellious. 
 
 There were three reasons why this court was 
 a more convenient and powerful instrument in 
 the hands of the king and his council than any 
 of the other courts in the kingdom. First, it 
 was, by its ancient constitution, composed of 
 members of the council, with the exception of 
 two persons, who where to be judges in the 
 other courts. This plan of having two judges 
 from the common law courts seems to have 
 been adopted for the purpose of securing some 
 sort of conformity of the Star Chamber deci- 
 sions with the ordinary principles of English 
 jurisprudence. But then, as those two law 
 judges would always be selected with reference 
 to their disposition to carry out the king's 
 plans, and as the other members of the court 
 were all members of the government itself, of 
 course the court was almost entirely under 
 governmental control. 
 
 The second reason was, that in this court 
 there was no jury. There had never been ju- 
 ries employed in it from its earliest constitu- 
 tion. The English had contrived the plan of 
 trial by jury as a defense against the severity 
 
THE KING AND HIS PREROGATIVE. 103 
 
 of government. If a man was accused of crime, 
 the judges appointed by tlie government that 
 he had offended were not to be allowed to de- 
 cide whether he was guilty or not. They 
 would be likely not to be impartial. The 
 question of his guilt or innocence was to be 
 left to twelve men, taken at hazard from the 
 ordinary walks of life, and who, consequently, 
 would be likely to sympathize with the accused, 
 if they saw any disposition to oppress him, 
 rather than to join against him with a tyran- 
 nical government. Thus the jury, as they 
 said, was a great safeguard. The English have 
 always attached great value to their system of 
 trial by jury. The plan is retained in this 
 country, though there is less necessity for it 
 under our institutions. Now, in the Star 
 Chamber, it had never been the custom to 
 employ a jury. The members of the court 
 decided the whole question ; and as they were 
 entirely in the interest of the government, the 
 government, of course, had the fate of every 
 person accused under their direct control. 
 
 The third reason consisted in the nature of 
 the crimes which it had always been customary 
 to try in this court. It had jurisdiction m a 
 great variety of cases in which men were 
 brought into collision with the government, 
 such as charges of riot, sedition, libel, opposi- 
 tion to the edicts of the council, and to proc- 
 
104 KING CHAKLES t. 
 
 lamations of the king. These and similar 
 cases had always been tried by the Star Cham- 
 ber ; and these were exactly the cases which 
 ought not to be tried by such a court ; for per- 
 sons accused of hostility to government ought 
 not to^be tried by government itself. 
 
 There has been a great deal of discussion 
 about the origin of the term Star Chamber. 
 The hall where the court was held was in a 
 palace at AVestminster, and there were a great 
 many windows in it. Some think that it was 
 from this that the court received its name. 
 Others suppose it was because the court had 
 cognizance of a certain crime, the Latin name 
 of which has a close affinity with the word star. 
 Another reason is, that certain documents 
 called starray used to be kept in the hall. The 
 prettiest idea is a sort of tradition that the 
 ceiling of the hall was formerly ornamented 
 with stars, and that this circumstance gave 
 name to the hall. This supposition, however, 
 unfortunately, has no better foundation than 
 the otliers ; for there were no stars on the 
 ceiling in Charles's time, and there had not 
 been any for a hundred years ; nor is there any 
 positive evidence Ihat there ever were. How- 
 ever, in the absence of any real reason for pre- 
 ferring one of these ideas over the other, 
 mankind seem to have wisely determined on 
 choosing the prettiest of tliem, so that it i» 
 
THE KING AND HIS PREROGATIVE. 105 
 
 generally agreed that the origin of the name 
 was the ancient decoration of the ceiling of the 
 hall with gilded stars. 
 
 However this may be, the court of the Star 
 Chamber was an engine of prodigious power in 
 the hands of Charles's government. It helped 
 them in two ways. They could punish their 
 enemies, and where these enemies were wealthy, 
 they could fill up the treasury of the govern- 
 ment by imposing enormous fines upon them. 
 Sometimes the offenses for which these fines 
 were imposed were not of a nature to deserve 
 such severe penalties. For instance, there was 
 a law against turning tillage land into pastur- 
 age. Land that is tilled supports men. Land 
 that is pastured supports cattle and shoop. 
 The former were a burden, sometimes, to land- 
 lords, the latter a means of wealth. Hence 
 there was then, as there is now, a tendency in 
 England, in certain parts of the country, for 
 the landed proprietors to change their tillage 
 land to pasture, and thus drive the peasants 
 away from their homes. There were laws 
 against this, but a great many persons haa 
 done it notwithstanding. One of these persons 
 was fined four thousand pounds : an enormous 
 sum. The rest were alarmed, and made rom- 
 poHitionSy as they were called ; that is, they 
 paid at once a certain sum on condition of not 
 being prosecuted. Thirty thousand pounds 
 
106 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 were collected in this way, which was then a 
 very large amount. 
 
 There were in those days, as there are now, 
 certain tracts of land in England called the 
 king's forests, though a large portion of them 
 are now without trees. The boundaries of 
 these lands had not been very well defined, but 
 the government now published decrees specify- 
 ing the boundaries, and extending them so far 
 as to include, in many cases, the buildings and 
 improvements of other proprietors. They then 
 prosecuted these proprietors for having en- 
 croached, as they called it, upon the crown 
 lands, and the Star Chamber assessed very 
 heavy fines upon them. The people said all 
 this was done merely to get pretext to extort 
 money from the nation, to make up for the 
 want of a Parliament to assess regular taxes ; 
 but the government said it was a just and 
 legal mode of protecting the ancient and legiti- 
 mate rights of the king. 
 
 In these and similar modes, large sums of 
 money were collected as fines and penalties for 
 offenses more or less real. In other cases very 
 severe punishments were inflicted for various 
 sorts of offenses committed against the personal 
 dignity of the king, or the great lords of his 
 government. It was considered highly impor- 
 tant to repress all appearance of disrespect or 
 hostility to the king. One man got into some 
 
THE KING AND HIS PREROGATIVE. 107 
 
 contention with one of the king's officers, and 
 finally struck him. He was fined ten tliousand 
 pounds. Another man said that a certain 
 archbishop had incurred the king's displeasure 
 !)y wanting some toleration for the Catholics. 
 This was considered a slander against the arch- 
 bishop, and the offender was sentenced to be 
 fined a thousand pounds, to be whipped, im- 
 prisoned, and to stand in the pillory at AVest- 
 minster, and at three other , places in various 
 parts of the kingdom. 
 
 A gentleman was following a chase as a 
 spectator, the hounds belonging to a noble- 
 man. The huntsman, who had charge of the 
 liounds, ordered him to keep back, and not 
 come so near the hounds ; and in giving him 
 this order, spoke, as the gentleman alleged, so 
 insolently, that he struck him with his riding- 
 whip. The huntsman threatened to complain 
 to his master, the nobleman. The gentleman 
 said that if his master should justify him in 
 such insulting language as he had used, he 
 would serve him in the same manner. The 
 Star Chamber fined him ten thousand pounds 
 for speaking so disrespectfully of a lord. 
 
 By these and similar proceedings, large sums 
 of money were collected by the Star Chamber 
 for the king's treasury, and all expression of 
 discontent and dissatisfaction on the part of 
 the people was suppressed. This last policy, 
 
108 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 however, the su23pression of expressions of dis- 
 satisfaction, is always a very dangerous one for 
 any government to undertake. Discontent, 
 silenced by force, is exasperated and extended. 
 The outward signs of its existence disappear, 
 but its inward workings become wide-spread 
 and dangerous, just in proportion to the 
 weight by which the safety-valve is kept down. 
 Charles and his court of the Star Chamber re- 
 joiced in the power and efficacy of their tre- 
 mendous tribunal. They issued proclamations 
 and decrees, and governed the country by 
 means of them. They silenced all murmurs. 
 But they were, all the time, disseminating 
 through the whole length and breadth of the 
 land a deep and inveterate enmity to royalty, 
 which ended in a revolution of the govern- 
 ment, and the decapitation of the king. They 
 stopped the hissing of the steam for the time, 
 but caused an explosion in the end. 
 
 Charles was King of Scotland as well as of 
 England. The two countries were, however, 
 as countries, distinct, each having its own laws, 
 its own administration, and its own separate 
 dominions. The sovereign, however, was the 
 same. A king could inherit two kingdoms, 
 just as a man can, in this country, inherit two 
 farms, which may, nevertheless, be at a dis- 
 tance from each other, and managed separately. 
 Kow, although Charles had, from th^ de^th of 
 
THE KING AND HIS PIIEROGATIV^E. 109 
 
 hlfl father, exercised sovereignty over the realm 
 of Scotland, he had not been crowned, nor had 
 even visited Scotland. The people of Scotland 
 felt somewhat neglected. They murmured 
 that their common monarch gave all his atten- 
 tion to the sister and rival kingdom. They 
 said that if the king did not consider the Scot- 
 tish crown worth coming after, they might, 
 perhaps, look out for some other way of dis- 
 posing of it. 
 
 The king, accordingly, in 1633, began to 
 make preparations for a royal progress into 
 Scotland. He first issued a proclamation re- 
 quiring a proper supply of provisions to be col- 
 lected at the several points of his proposed 
 route, and specified the route, and the length 
 of stay which he should make in each place, 
 lie set out on the 13th of May with a splendid 
 retinue. He stopped at the seats of several of 
 the nobility on the way, to enjoy the hospitali- 
 ties and entertainments which they had pre- 
 pared for him. He proceeded so slowly that it 
 was a month before he reached the frontier. 
 Here all his English servants and retinue retired 
 from their posts, and their places were supplied 
 by Scotchmen who had been previously appoint- 
 ed, and who were awaiting his arrival. He en- 
 tered Edinburgh with great pomp and parade, 
 all Scotland flocking to the capital to witness 
 the festivities. The coronation took place 
 
no 
 
 KING CHAKLES I. 
 
 three days afterwards. He met the Scotch 
 Parliament, and, for form's sake, took a part 
 in the proceedings so as actually to exercise 
 his royal authority as King of Scotland. This 
 being over, he was conducted in great state 
 back to Berwick, which is on the frontier, and 
 thence he returned by rapid journeys to 
 London. 
 
 The king dissolved his last Parliament in 
 1629. He had now been endeavoring for four 
 or five years to govern alone. He succeeded 
 tolerably well, so far as external appearances 
 indicated, up to this time. There was, how- 
 ever, beneath the surface, a deep-sea+ed discon- 
 tent, which was constantly widening and ex- 
 tending, and, soon after the return of the king 
 from Scotland, real difficulties gradually arose, 
 by which he was, in the end, compelled to call 
 a Parliament again. What these difficulties 
 were will be explained in the subsequent chap- 
 ters. 
 
|tili|iii'J:,m|i:||-i:liil;*lll:.;i!i;': 
 
 i-.h I Ml 
 
 H 1 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 
 
 In getting so deeply involved in difficulties 
 with his people, King Charles did not act alone. 
 He had, as we have already explained, a great 
 deal of help. There were many men of intel- 
 ligence and rank who entertained the same 
 opinions that he did or who were, at least, 
 willing to adopt them for the sake of office and 
 power. These men he drew around him. He 
 gave them office and power, and they joined 
 him in the efforts he made to defend and en- 
 large the royal prerogative, and to carry on the 
 government by the exercise of it. One of the 
 most prominent and distinguished of these 
 men was Laud. 
 
 The reader must understand that the Church 
 in England, is very different from anything 
 that exists under the same name in this coun- 
 try. Its bishops and clergy are supported by 
 revenues derived from a vast amount of prop- 
 erty which belongs to the Church itself. This 
 
 property is entirely independent of all control 
 
 111 
 
112 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 by the people of the parishes. The clergyman, 
 as soon as he is appointed, comes into posses- 
 sion of it in his own right ; and he is not ap- 
 pointed by the people, but by some nobleman 
 or high officer of state, who has inherited the 
 right to appoint the clergyman of that particu- 
 lar parish. There are bishops, also, who have 
 very large revenues, likewise independent ; and 
 over these bishops is one great dignitary, who 
 presides in lofty state over the whole system. 
 This officer is called the Archbishop of Canter- 
 bury. There is one other archbishop, called 
 the Archbishop of York ; but his realm is much 
 more limited and less important. The Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury is styled the Lord Pri- 
 mate of all England. His rank is above that 
 of all the peers of the realm. He crowns the 
 kings. He has two magnificent palaces, one 
 at Canterbury and one at London, for his resi- 
 dences, and has very large revenues to maintain 
 a style of living in accordance with his rank. 
 He has the superintendence of all the affairs of 
 the Church for the whole realm, except a small 
 portion pertaining to the archbishopric of York. 
 His palace in London is on the bank of the 
 Thames, opposite Westminster. It is called 
 Lambeth Palace. 
 
 The city of Canterbury, which is the chief 
 seat of his dominion, is southeast of London, not 
 very far from the sea. The Cathedral is there. 
 
AKCHBISHOP LAUD. 113 
 
 which is the archbishop's church. It is more 
 tlian five hundred feet in length, and the tower 
 is nearly two hundred and fifty feet high. Tlie 
 magnificence of the architecture and the dec- 
 orations of the building correspond with its 
 size. There is a large company of clergymen 
 and other officers attached to the service of 
 the Cathedral. They are more than a hundred in 
 number. The palace of the archbishop is near. 
 
 The Church was thus, in the days of Charles, 
 a complete realm of itself, with its own prop- 
 erty, its own laws, its own legislature, and 
 courts, and judges, its own capital, and its own 
 monarch. It was entirely independent of the 
 mass of the people in all these respects, as all 
 these things were entirely controlled by the 
 bishops and clergy, and the clergy were gener- 
 ally appointed by the noblemen, and the bish- 
 ops by the king. This made the system almost 
 entirely independent of the community at 
 large ; and as there was organized under it a vast 
 amount of wealth, and influence, and power, 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury, who presided 
 over the whole, was as great in authority as he 
 was in rank and honor. Xow Laud was Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury. 
 
 King Charles had made him so. He had ob- 
 served that Laud, who hud been advanced to 
 some high stations in the Church by his father. 
 King James, was desirous to enlarge and 
 3 
 
114 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 Strengthen the powers and prerogatives of the 
 Church, just as he himself was endeavoring to 
 do in respect to those of the throne. He ac- 
 cordingly promoted him from one post of influ- 
 ence and honor to another, until he made him 
 at last Archbishop of Canterbury. Thus he 
 was placed upon the summit of ecclesiastical 
 grandeur and power. 
 
 He commenced his work, however, of 
 strengthening and aggrandizing the Church, 
 before he was appointed to this high office. 
 He was Bishop of London for many years, which 
 is a post, in some respects, second only to that 
 of Archbishop of Canterbury. While in this 
 station, he was appointed by the king to many 
 high civil offices. He had great capacity for 
 the transaction of business, and for the fulfil- 
 ment of high trusts, whether of Church cr 
 state. He was a man of great integrity and 
 moral worth. He was stern and severe in 
 manners, but learned and accomplished. His 
 whole soul was bent on what he undoubtedly 
 considered the great duty of his life, support- 
 ing and confirming the authority of the king, 
 and the power and influence of English Epis- 
 copacy. Notwithstanding his high qualifica- 
 tions, however, many persons were jealous of 
 the Influence which he possessed with the king, 
 and murmured against the appointment of a 
 churchman to such high offices of state. 
 
CkarU$ I./aeef. it A 
 
 Dr. Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 
\ . ; 
 
 ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 115 
 
 There was another source of hostility to 
 Laud. There was a hirge part of the people of 
 Eugland who were against the Church of Eng- 
 land altogether. They did not like a system 
 in which all power and influence came, as it 
 were, from above downward. The king made 
 the noblemen, the noblemen made the bishops, 
 the bishops made the clergy, and the clergy 
 ruled their flocks ; the flocks themselves having 
 nothing to say or do but to submit. It is very 
 different with Episcopacy in this country. 
 The people here choose the clergy, and the 
 clergy choose the bishops, so that power in 
 the Church, as in everything else here, goes 
 from below upward. The two systems, when 
 at rest, look very similar in the two countries ; 
 but when in action, the current of life flows in 
 contrary directions, making the two diametri- 
 cally opposite to each other in spirit and power. 
 In England, Episcopacy is an engine by which 
 the people are ecclesiastically governed. Here, 
 it is the machinery by which they govern. 
 Whatever the forms are, the fact must be that 
 the people govern here. 
 
 Now in England there was a large and in-^ 
 creasing party who hated and opposed the 
 whole Episcopal system. Laud, to counteract 
 this tendency, attempted to define, and enlarge, 
 and extend that system as far as possible. He 
 made the most of all the ceremonies of wor- 
 
116 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 ship, and introduced others, which were, 
 indeed, not exactly new, hut rather ancient ones 
 revived. He did this conscientiously, no douh^. 
 thinking that these forms of devotion were 
 adapted to impress the soul of the worshiper, 
 and lead him to feel, in his heart, the reverence 
 v/hich his outward action expressed. Many of 
 the people, however, bitterly opposed these 
 things. They considered it a return to popery. 
 The more that Laud, and those who acted with 
 him, attempted to magnify the rites and the 
 powers of the Church,the more these persons 
 began to abhor everything of the kind. They 
 wanted Christianity itself, in its purity, un- 
 contaminated, as they said, by these popish 
 and idolatrous forms. They were called Puri- 
 tans. 
 
 There were a great many things which seem 
 to us at the present day of very little conse- 
 quence, which were then the subjects of end- 
 less disputes and of the most bitter animosity. 
 For instance, one point was whether the place 
 where the communion was to be administered 
 should be called the communion table or the 
 altar ; and in what part of the church it should 
 stand; and whether the person officiating 
 should be called a priest or a clergyman ; and 
 whether he should wear one kind of dress or 
 another. Great importance was attached to 
 these things ; but it was not on their own ac« 
 
ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 117 
 
 count, but on account of their bearing on the 
 question whether the Lord's Supper was to bo 
 considered only a ceremony commemorative of 
 Christ's deutli, or whether it was, whenever 
 celebrated by a regularly authorized priest, a 
 r< ul renewal of the sacrifice of Christ, as the 
 Cv tholics maintained. Calling the communion 
 table an altar, and the officiating minister a 
 priest, and clothing him in a sacerdotal garb, 
 countenanced the idea of a renewal of the sac- 
 rifice of Christ. Laud and his coadjutors urged 
 the adoption of all these and similar usages. 
 The Puritans detested them, because they de- 
 tested and abhorred the doctrine which they 
 seemed to imply. 
 
 Another great topic of controversy was the 
 subject of amusements. It is a very singular 
 circumstance, that in those branches of the 
 Christian Church where rites and forms are 
 most insisted upon, the greatest latitude is 
 allowed in respect to the gaieties and amuse- 
 ments of social life. Catholic Paris is filled 
 with theaters and dancing, and the Sabbath is 
 a lioliday. In London, on the other hand, the 
 number of theaters is small, dancing is con- 
 sidered as an amusement of a more or less 
 equivocal character, and the Sabbath is rigidly 
 observed ; and among all the simple Demo- 
 cratic churches of New England, to dance or 
 to attend the theater is considered almost 
 
118 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 morally wrong. It was just so in the days of 
 Laud. He wished to encourage amusements 
 among the people, particularly on Sunday, 
 after church. This was partly for the purpose 
 of counteracting the efforts of those who were 
 inclined to Puritan views. They attached 
 great importance to their sermons and lectures, 
 for in them they could address and influence 
 the people. But by means of these addresses, 
 as Laud thought, they put ideas of insubordi- 
 nation into the minds of the people, and en- 
 croached on the authority of the Churcli and 
 of the king. To prevent this, the High- 
 Church party wished to exalt the prayers in 
 the Churcli service, and to give as little place 
 and influence as possible to the sermon, and 
 to draw off the attention of the people from 
 the discussions and exhortations of the preach- 
 ers by encouraging games, dances, and amuse- 
 ments of all kinds. 
 
 The judges in one of the counties, at a regu- 
 lar court held by them, once passed an order 
 forbidding certain revels and carousals con- 
 nected with the Church service, on account of 
 the immoralities and disorders, as they alleged^ 
 to which they gave rise ; and they ordered that 
 public notice to this effect should be given by 
 the bishop. The archbishop (Laud) considered 
 this an interference on the part of the civil 
 magistrates with the powers and prerogatives 
 
ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 119 
 
 of the Church. lie had the judges brought 
 before the council, and censured there ; and 
 they were required by the council to revoke 
 their order at the next court. The judges did 
 so, but in such a way as to show that they did 
 it simply in obedience to the command of the 
 king's council. The people, or at least all of 
 them who were inclined to Puritan views, sided 
 with the judges, and were more strict in ab- 
 staining from all such amusements on Sunday 
 than ever. This, of course, made those who 
 were on the side of Laud more determined to 
 promote these gaieties. Thus, as neither party 
 pursued, in the least degree, a generous or 
 conciliatory course toward the other, the differ- 
 ence between them widened more and more. 
 The people of the country were fast becoming 
 either bigoted High-Churchmen or fanatical 
 Puritans. 
 
 Laud employed the power of the Star Cham- 
 ber a great deal in the accomplishment of his 
 purpose of enforcing entire submission to the 
 ecclesiastical authority of the Church. He 
 even had persons sometimes punished very 
 severely for words of disrespect, or for writings 
 in which they censured what they considered 
 the tyranny under which they suffered. This 
 severe punishment for the mere expression of 
 opinion only served to fix the opinion more 
 firmly, ^nd disseminate it more widely. Some- 
 
120 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 times men would glory in their sufferings for 
 this cause, and bid the authorities defiance. 
 
 One man, for instance, named Lilburne, was 
 brought before the Star Chamber, charged 
 with publishing seditious pamphlets. Kow, in 
 all ordinary courts of justice, no man is called 
 upon to say anything against himself. Unless 
 his crime can be proved by the testimony of 
 others, it cannot be proved at all. But in the 
 Star Chamber, whoever was brought to trial 
 had to take an oath at first that he would an- 
 swer all questions asked, even if they tended to 
 criminate himself. When they proposed this 
 oath to Lilburne, he refused to take it. They 
 decided that this was contempt of court, and 
 sentenced him to be whipped, put in the pil- 
 lory, and imprisoned. While they were whip- 
 ping him, he spent the time in making a 
 speech to the spectators against the tyranny of 
 bishops, referring to Laud, whom he considered 
 as the author of these proceedings. He con- 
 tinued to do the same while in the pillory. As 
 he passed along, too, he distributed copies of 
 the pamphlets which he was prosecuted for 
 writing. The Star Chamber, hearing that he 
 was haranguing the mob, ordered him to be 
 gagged. This did not subdue him. He began 
 to stamp with his foot and gesticulate ; thus 
 continuing to express his indomitable spirit of 
 hostility to the tyranny which he opposed. 
 
ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 121 
 
 Tliis single case would be of no great conse- 
 quence alone, but it was not alone. The at- 
 tempt to put Lilburne down was a symbol of 
 tlie experiment of coercion which Charles in 
 the state, and Laud in the Church, were trying 
 upon the whole nation ; it was a symbol both 
 in respect to the means employed, and to the 
 success attained by them. 
 
 One curious case is related, which turned 
 out more fortunately than usual for the parties 
 accused. Some young lawyers in London were 
 drinking at an evening entertainment, and 
 among other toasts they drank confusion to the 
 Arclibisliop of Canterbury. One of the wait- 
 ers, wlio heard them, mentioned the circum- 
 stance, and they were brought before the Star 
 Cliumber. Ik^fore their trial came on, tliey 
 applied to a certain noblenum to know what 
 they should do. ** AVhere was the Avaiter," 
 asked the nobleman, ''when you drank the 
 toast?" *^At the door." ''Oh! very well, 
 then," said he ; ** tell the court that he only 
 heard a part of the toast, as he was going out ; 
 and that the words really were, ' Confusion to 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury's enemies.'" 
 By this ingenious plea, and by means of a 
 great appearance of humility and deference in 
 the presence of the archbishop, the lawyers 
 escaped with a reprimand. 
 
 Laud was not content with establishing and 
 
122 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 confirming throughout all England the author- 
 ity of the Church, hut he wanted to extend the 
 same system to Scotland. When King Charles 
 went to Scotland to be crowned, he took Laud 
 with him. He was pleased with Laud's en- 
 deavors to enlarge and confirm the powers of 
 the Church, and wished to aid him in the work. 
 There were two reasons for this. One was, 
 that the same class of men, the Puritans, were 
 the natural enemies of both, so that the king 
 and the archbishop were drawn together by 
 having one common foe. Then, as the places 
 in the Church were not hereditary, but were 
 filled by appointments from the king and the 
 great nobles, whatever power the Church could 
 get into its hands could be employed by the 
 king to strengthen his own authority, and keep 
 his subjects in subjection. 
 
 We must not, however, censure the king and 
 his advisers too strongly for this plan. The;y 
 doubtless were ambitious ; they loved power ; 
 they wanted to bear sway, unresisted and un- 
 questioned, over the whole realm. But then 
 the king probably thought that the exercise of 
 such a government was necessary for the ordei 
 and prosperity of the realm, besides being his 
 inherent and indefeasible right. Good and bad 
 motives were doubtless mingled here, as in all 
 human action ; but then the king was, in the 
 main, doing what he supposed it was his du ty 
 
ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 123 
 
 to do. In proposing, therefore, to build up 
 the Church in Scotland, and to make it conform 
 to the English Church in its rites and cere- 
 monies, he and Laud doubtless supposed that 
 they were going greatly to improve the govern- 
 ment of the sister kingdom. 
 
 There was in those days, as now, in the Eng- 
 lish Church, a certain prescribed course of 
 prayers, and psalms, and Scripture readings, 
 for each day, to be read from a book by the 
 minister. This was called the Liturgy. The 
 Puritans did not like a liturgy. It tied men 
 up, and did not leave the individual mind of 
 the preacher at liberty to range freely, as they 
 wished it to do, in conducting the devotional 
 services. It was on this very account that the 
 friends of strong government did like it. They 
 wanted to curtail this liberty, which, however, 
 they called license, and which they thought 
 made mischief. In extemporaneous prayers, 
 it is often easy to see that the speaker is aim- 
 ing much more directly at producing a salutary 
 effect on the minds of his hearers than at sim- 
 ply presenting petitions to the Supreme Being. 
 But, notwithstanding this evil, the existence 
 of which no candid man can deny, the enemies 
 of forms, who are generally friends of the 
 largest liberty, think it best to leave the clergy 
 man free. The friends of forms, however, pre- 
 fer forms on this very account. They like 
 
124 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 what they consider the wholesome and salutary 
 restraints which tliey impose. 
 
 Now there has always been a great spirit of 
 freedom in the Scottish mind. That people 
 have ever been unwilling to submit to coercion 
 or restraints. There is probably no race of 
 men on earth that would make worse slaves 
 than the Scotch. Their sturdy independence 
 and determination to be free could never be 
 subdued. In the days of Charles they were 
 particularly fond of freely exercising their own 
 minds, and of speaking freely to others on the 
 subject of religion. They thought for them- 
 selves, sometimes right and sometimes wrong ; 
 but they would think, and they would express 
 thair thoughts ; and their being thus unaccus- 
 tomed, in one particular, to submit to restraints, 
 rendered them more difficult to be governed 
 in others. Laud thought, consequently, that 
 tliey, particularly, needed a Liturgy. He pre- 
 pared one for them. It was varied somewhat 
 from the English Liturgy, though it was sub- 
 stantially the same. The king proclaimed it, 
 and required the bishops to see that it was 
 employed in all the churches in Scotland. 
 
 The day for introducing the Liturgy w^as 
 the signal for riots all over the kingdom. In 
 the principal church in Edinburgh they called 
 out '^ A pope ! A pope ! " when the clergyman 
 came in witli his book and his pontifical robos. 
 
ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 125 
 
 Tlie bishop jisoended the pulpit to address the 
 people to appease them, and a stool came flying 
 through the air at his head. The police then 
 expelled the congregation, and the clergyman 
 went through with the service of the Liturgy 
 in the empty church, the congregation outside, 
 in great tumult, accompanying the exercises 
 with cries of disapprobation and resentment, 
 and with volleys of stones against the doors and 
 windows. 
 
 The Scotch sent a sort of ambassador to 
 London to represent to the king that the hos- 
 tility to the Liturgy was so universal and so 
 strong that it could not be enforced. But the 
 king and his council had the same conscien- 
 tious scruples about giving up in a contest with 
 subjects, that a teacher or a parent, in our day, 
 would feel in the case of resistance from chil- 
 dren or scholars. The king sent down a proc- 
 lamation that the observance of the Liturgy 
 must be insisted on. The Scotch i)reparcd to 
 resist. They sent delegates to Edinburgh, and 
 organized a sort of government. They raised 
 armies. They took possession of the king's 
 cjistles. They made a solemn covenant, bind- 
 ing themselves to insist on religious freedom. 
 In a word, all Scotland was in rebellion. 
 
 It was the custom in those days to have, con- 
 nected with the court, some half-witted per- 
 son, who used to be fantastically dressed, and 
 
126 KING CHAELES I. 
 
 to have groat liberty of speech, and whose prov- 
 ince was to amuse the courtiers. He was 
 called the king's jester, or, more commonly, 
 the fool. The name of King Charles's fool 
 was Arcliy. After this rebellion broke out, 
 and all England was aghast at the extent of 
 the mischief which Laud's Liturgy had done, 
 the fool, seeing the archbishop go by one day, 
 called out to him, *' My lord ! who is the fool 
 now ? " The archbishop, as if to leave no 
 possible doubt in respect to the proper answer 
 to the question, had poor iVrchy tried and 
 punished. His sentence was to have his coat 
 pulled up over his head, and to be dismissed 
 from the king's service. Had the arclibishop 
 let it pass, it would have ended with a laugh 
 in the street ; but by resenting it, he gave it 
 notoriety, caused it to be recorded, and has 
 perpetuated the memory of the Jest to all 
 future times. He ought to have joined in the 
 laugh, and rewarded Archy on the spot for so 
 good a witticism. 
 
 The Scotch, besides organizing a sort of civil 
 government, took measures for summoning a 
 general assembly of their Church. This as- 
 sembly met at Glasgow. The nobility and 
 gentry flocked to Glasgow at the time of the 
 meeting, to encourage and sustain the assem- 
 bly, and to manifest their interest in the pro- 
 ceedings. The assembly very deliberately went 
 
ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 127 
 
 to work, and, not content with taking a stand 
 against the Liturgy which Charles had im- 
 posed, they abolished the fabric of Episcoi)acy 
 - — that is, the government of bishops — alto- 
 gether. Thus Laud's attempt to perfect and 
 confirm the system resulted in expelling it 
 completely from the kingdom. It has never 
 lield up its head in Scotland since. They es- 
 tablished Presbyterianism in its place, which is 
 a sort of republican system, the pastors being 
 all officially equal to each other, though banded 
 together under a common government ad- 
 ministered by themselves. 
 
 The king was determined to put down this 
 rebellion at all hazards. lie had made such 
 good use of the various irregular modes of rais- 
 ing money which have been already described, 
 and had been so economical in the use of it, 
 that he had now quite a sum of money in his 
 treasury ; and had it not been for the attempt 
 to enforce the unfortunate Liturgy upon the 
 people of Scotland, he might, perhaps, have 
 gone on reigning without a Parliament to the 
 end of his days. He had now about two hun- 
 dred thousand pounds, by means of which, to- 
 getlier with what he could borrow, he hoped to 
 make one single demonstration of force which 
 would bring the rebellion to an end. He raised 
 an army and equipped a fleet. He issued a 
 proclamation summoning all the peers of tho 
 
128 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 realm to attend him. He moved with this 
 great concourse from London toward the north, 
 the whole country looking on as spectators to 
 behold the progress of this great expedition, 
 by which their monarch was going to attempt 
 to subdue again his other kingdom. 
 
 Charles advanced to the city of York, the 
 great city of the north of England. Here he 
 paused and established his court, with all pos- 
 sible pomp and parade. His design was to im- 
 press the Scots with such an idea of the great- 
 ness of the power which was going to over- 
 whelm them as to cause them to submit at 
 once. But all this show was very hollow and 
 delusive. The army felt a greater sympathy 
 with the Scots than they did with the king. 
 The complaints against Charles's government 
 were pretty much the same in both countries. 
 A great many Scotchmen came to York while 
 the king was there, and the people from all the 
 country round flocked thither too, drawn by the 
 gay spectacles connected with the presence of 
 such a court and army. The Scotchmen dis- 
 seminated their complaints thus among the 
 English people, and finally the king and his 
 council, finding indications of so extensive a 
 disaffection, had a form of an oath prepared, 
 which they required all the principal persons 
 to take, acknowledging allegiance to Charles, 
 and renouncing their having any intelligence 
 
ARCRBISHOP LAUD. 129 
 
 or correspondence with the enemy. The 
 Scotchmen all took the oath very readily, 
 though some of the English refused. 
 
 At any rate, the state of things was not such 
 as to intimidate the Scotch, and lead them, as 
 the king liad hoped, to sue for peace. So he 
 concluded to move on towards the borders. 
 He went to Newcastle, and thence to Berwick. 
 From Berwick he moved along the banks of the 
 Tweed, which here forms the boundary between 
 the two kingdoms, and, finding a suitable place 
 for such a purpose, the king had his royal tent 
 pitched, and liis army encamped, around him. 
 
 Xow, as King Charles had undertaken to 
 subdue the Scots by a show of force, it seems 
 tliey concluded to defend themselves by a 
 show too, though theirs was a cheajier and 
 more simple contrivance than his. Tliey ad- 
 vanced, with about three thousand men to a 
 place distant perhaps seven miles from the 
 English camp. The king sent an army of five 
 thousand men to attack them. The Scotch, 
 in the mean time, collected great herds of cat- 
 tle from all the country around, as the histori- 
 ans say, and arranged them behind their little 
 army in such a way as to make the whole appear 
 a vast body of soldiers. A troop of horsemen, 
 who were the advanced part of the English 
 army, came in sight of this formidable host 
 first, and, finding their numbers so much 
 
 LO— t'li»rle« r. 
 
130 KING CHARLES T. 
 
 greater than they had anticipated, they fell 
 back, and ordered the artillery and foot-soldiers 
 who were coming up to retreat, and all to- 
 gether came back to the encampment. There 
 were two or three military enterprises of similar 
 character, in which nothing was done but to 
 encourage the Scotch and dishearten the 
 English. In fact, neither officers, soldiers, 
 nor king wanted to proceed to extremities. 
 The officers and soldiers did not wish to fight 
 the Scotch, and the king, knowing the state 
 of his army, did not really dare to do it. 
 
 Finally, all the king's council advised him 
 to give up the pretended contest, and to settle 
 the difficulty by a compromise. Accordingly, 
 in June, negotiations were commenced, and 
 before the end of the month articles were 
 signed. The king probably made the best 
 terms he could, but it was universally con- 
 sidered that the Scots gained the victory. 
 The king disbanded his army, and returned to 
 London. The Scotch leaders went back to 
 Edinburgh. Soon after this the Parliament 
 and the General Assembly of the Church con- 
 vened, and these bodies took the whole 
 management of the realm into their own hands. 
 They sent commissioners to London to see and 
 confer with the king, and these commissioners 
 seemed almost to assume the character of am- 
 bassadors from a foreign state. These negoti- 
 
ARCHBISHOP LAUD. 
 
 131 
 
 fttions, and the course which affairs were tak- 
 ing in Scothmd, soon led to new difficulties. 
 Tlie king found that he was losing his kingdom 
 of Scotland altogether. It seemed, however, 
 as if there was nothing that he could do to re- 
 gain it. His reserved funds were gone, and 
 
 Charles I. and his Council. 
 his credit was exhausted. There was no 
 resource left but to call a Parliament and ask 
 for supplies. He might have known, however, 
 that this would be useless, for there was so strong 
 a fellow-feeling with the Scotch in their al- 
 leged grievances among the people of England, 
 that he could not reasonably expect any re- 
 sponse from the latter, in whatever way he 
 might appeal to them* 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 
 
 During the time that the king had been 
 engaged in the attempt to govern England 
 without Parliaments, he had, besides Laud, a 
 very efficient co-operator, known in English 
 history by the name of the Earl of Strafford. 
 This title of Earl of Strafford was conferred 
 upon him by the king as a reward for his ser- 
 vices. His father's name was Wentworth. 
 He was born in London, and the Cliristian 
 name given to him was Thomas. He was 
 educated at the University of Cambridge, and 
 was much distinguished for his talents and his 
 personal accomplishments. After finishing 
 his education, he traveled for some time on 
 the Continent, visiting foreign cities and courts, 
 and studying the languages, manners, and 
 customs of other nations. He returned at 
 length to England. He was made a knight. 
 His father died when he was about twenty-one, 
 and left him a large fortune. He was about 
 seven years older than King Charles, so that 
 
 all those circumstances took place before the 
 132 
 
THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 133 
 
 commencement of Charles's reign. For many 
 years after this he was very extensively known 
 in England as a gentleman of large fortune 
 and great abilities, by the name of Sir Thomas 
 Went worth. 
 
 Sir Thomas Wentworth was a member of 
 Parliament in those days, and in the contests 
 between the King and the Parliament he took 
 the side of Parliament. Charles used to main- 
 tain that hu power alone was hereditary and 
 sovereign ; that the Parliament was his coun- 
 cil ; and that they had no powers or privileges 
 except what he himself or his ancestors had 
 granted and allowed them. Wentworth took 
 rery strong ground against this. He urged 
 Parliament to maintain that their rights and 
 privileges were inherent and hereditary as well 
 as those of the king ; that such powers as they 
 possessed were their own, and were entirely 
 independent of royal grant or permission ; and 
 that the king could no more encroach upon 
 the privileges of Parliament, than Parliament 
 upon the prerogatives of the king. This was 
 in the beginning of the difficulties between the 
 king and tho Commons. 
 
 It will, perhaps, be recollected by the reader 
 that one of the plans which Charles adopted 
 to weaken the opposition to him in Parlia- 
 ment was by appointing six of tho leaders of 
 this opposition to the office of sheriff in their 
 
134 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 several counties. And as the general theory 
 of all monarchies is that the subjects are bound 
 to obey and serve the king, these men were 
 obliged to leave their seats in Parliament and 
 go home, to serve as sheriffs. Charges and his 
 council supposed that the rest would be more 
 quiet and submissive when the leaders of the 
 party opposed to him were taken away. But 
 the effect was the reverse. The Commons 
 were incensed at such a mode of interfering 
 with their action, and became more hostile to 
 the royal power than ever. 
 
 Wentworth himself, too, was made more de- 
 termined in his opposition by this treatment. 
 A short time after this, the king's plan of a 
 forced loan was adopted, which has already 
 been described ; that is, a sum of money was 
 assessed in the manner of a tax upon all the 
 people of the kingdom, and each man was re- 
 quired to lend his proportion to the govern- 
 ment. The king admitted that he had no 
 right to make the people give money without 
 the action of Parliament, but claimed the right 
 to require them to lend it. As Sir Thomas 
 Wentworth was a man of large fortune, his 
 share of the loan was considerable. He abso- 
 lutely refused to pay it. The king had him 
 brought before a court which was entirely under 
 his influence and he was condemned to be im- 
 prisoned. Knowing, however, that this claim 
 
Char iM I, /ace p. 134 
 
 Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. 
 
THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 135 
 
 on the part of the king was very doubtful, they 
 mitigated his confinement by allowing him 
 first a range of two miles around his place of 
 confinement, and afterward they released him 
 entirely. 
 
 He was chosen a member of Parliament 
 again, and he returned to his seat more pow- 
 erful and influential than ever. Buckingham, 
 who had been his greatest enemy, was now 
 dead, and the king, finding that he had great 
 abilities and a spirit that would not yield to in- 
 timidation or force, concluded to try kindness 
 and favors. 
 
 In fact there arc two different modes by 
 which sovereigns in all ages and countries en- 
 deavor to neutralize the opposition of popular 
 leaders. One is by intimidating them with 
 threats and punishments, and the other buy- 
 ing them off with appointments and honors. 
 Some of the king's high officers of state be- 
 gan to cultivate the acquaintance of AVent- 
 worth, and to pay him attentions and civil- 
 ities. He could not but feel gratified with 
 these indications of their regard. Tliey 
 complimented his talents and his powers, 
 and represented to him that such abilities 
 ought to be employed in the service of the 
 state. Finally, the king conferred upon him 
 the title of baron. Common gratitude for 
 these marks of distinction and honor held 
 
136 KING CHARLES L 
 
 him back from any violent opposition to the 
 king. His enemies said he was bought oflE 
 by honors and rewards. No doubt he was 
 ambitious, and, like all other politicians, his 
 supreme motive was love of consideration 
 and honor. This was doubtless his motive 
 in what he had done in behalf of the Par- 
 liament. But all that he could do as a popu- 
 lar leader in Parliament was to acquire a 
 general ascendency over men's minds, and 
 make himself a subject of fame and honor. 
 All places of real authority were exclusively 
 under the king's control, and he could only 
 rise to such stations through the sovereign's 
 favor. In a word, he could acquire only in- 
 ftuence as a leader in Parliament, while the 
 king could give him power. 
 
 Kings have always, accordingly, a great con- 
 trol over the minds of legislators by oifering 
 them office ; and King Charles, after finding 
 that his first advances to Wentworth were 
 favorably received, appointed him one of 
 his Privy Council. Wentworth accepted the 
 office. His former friends considered that in 
 doing this he was deserting them, and betray- 
 ing the cause which he had at first espoused 
 and defended. The country at large were 
 much displeased with him, finding that he had 
 forsaken their cause, and placed himself in a 
 position to act against them. 
 
THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 137 
 
 Persons who change sides in politics or in 
 religion are very apt to go from one extreme to 
 another. Their former friends revile them, and 
 they, in retaliation, act more and more ener- 
 getically against them. It was so with Straf- 
 ford. He gradually engaged more and more 
 fully and earnestly in upholding the king. 
 Finally, the king appointed him to a very high 
 station, called the Presidency of the North. 
 11 is office was to govern the whole north of Eng- 
 land — of course, under the direction of the 
 king and council. There were four countries 
 under his jurisdiction, and the king gave him 
 a commission which clothed him with enor- 
 mous powers — powers greater, as all the peo- 
 ple thought, than the king had any right to 
 bestow. 
 
 Strafford proceeded to the north, and entered 
 upon the government of his realm there, with 
 a determination to carry out all the king's 
 plans to the utmost. From being an ardent 
 advocate of the rights of the people, as he was 
 at the commencement of his career, he became 
 a most determined and uncompromising sup- 
 porter of the arbitrary power of the king. He 
 insisted on the collection of money from the 
 people in all the ways that the king claimed 
 the power to collect it by authority of his pre- 
 rogative ; and he was so strict and exacting in 
 doing this, that he raised the revenue to four 
 
138 KING CHAKLES I. 
 
 or five times what any of his predecessors had 
 been able to collect. This, of course, pleased 
 King Charles and his government extremely ; 
 for it was at a time during which the king was 
 attempting to govern without a Parliament, 
 and every accession to his funds was of ex- 
 treme importance. Laud, too, the archbishop, 
 was extremely pleased with his exertions and 
 his success, and the king looked upon Laud 
 and AVentworth as the two most efficient sup- 
 porters of his power. They were, in fact, the 
 two most efficient promoters of his destruction. 
 
 Of course, the people of the north hated him. 
 While he was earning the applause of the arch- 
 bisliop and the king, and entitling himself to 
 new honors and increased power, he was sow- 
 ing the seeds of the bitterest animosity in the 
 hearts of the people everywhere. Still he en- 
 joyed all the external marks of consideration 
 and honor. The President of the North was a 
 sort of king. He was clothed with great pow- 
 ers, and lived in great state and splendor. He 
 had many attendants, and the great nobles of 
 the land, who generally took Charles's side in 
 the contests of tlie day, envied Went worth's 
 greatness and power, and applauded the energy 
 and success of his administration. 
 
 Ireland was, at this time, in a disturbed and 
 disordered state, and Laud proposed that AVent- 
 worth should be appointed by the king to the 
 
THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 139 
 
 government of it. A great proportion of the 
 inhabitants were Catholics, and were very little 
 disposed to submit to Protestant rule. Went- 
 wortli was appointed lord deputy, and after- 
 ward lord lieutenant, which made him king of 
 Ireland in all but the name. Everything, of 
 course, was done in the name of Charles. He 
 carried the same energy into his government 
 here that he had exhibited in the north of 
 England. lie improved the condition of the 
 country astonishingly in respect to trade, to 
 revenue, and to public order. But he governed 
 in the most arbitrary manner, and he boasted 
 that he had rendered the king as absolute a 
 sovereign in Ireland as any prince in the world 
 could be. Such a boast from a man who had 
 once been a very prominent defender of the 
 rights of the people against this very kind of 
 sovereignty, was fitted to produce a feeling of 
 universal exasperation and desire of revenge. 
 The murmurs and muttered threats which 
 filled the land, though suppressed, were very 
 deep and very strong. 
 
 The king, however, and Laud, considered 
 "Wentworth as their most able and efficient co- 
 adjutor ; and when the difficulties in Scotland 
 began to grow serious, they recalled him from 
 Ireland, and put that country into the hands of 
 another ruler. The king then advanced him 
 to the rank of an earl. His title was the Earl 
 
140 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 of Strafford. As the subsequent parts of his 
 history attracted more attention than those 
 preceding his elevation to this earldom, he has 
 been far more widely known among mankind 
 by the name of Strafford than by his original 
 name of Wentworth, which was, from this 
 period, nearly forgotten. 
 
 To return now to the troubles in Scotland. 
 The king found that it would be impossible to 
 go on without supplies, and he accordingly con- 
 cluded, on the whole, to call a Parliament. 
 He was in serious trouble. Laud Avas in serious 
 trouble too. He had been indefatigably en- 
 gaged for many years in establishing Epis- 
 copacy all over England, and in putting down, 
 by force of law, all disposition to dissent from 
 it ; and in attempting to produce, throughout 
 the realm, one uniform system of Christian 
 faith and worship. This was his idea of the 
 perfection of religious order and right. He 
 used to make an annual visitation to all the 
 bishoprics in the realm ; inquire into the usages 
 which prevailed there ; put a stop, so far as he 
 could, to all irregularities ; and confirm and 
 establish, by the most decisive measures, the 
 Episcopal authority. He sent in his report to 
 the king of the results of his inquiries^ asking 
 the king's aid, where his own powers were in- 
 sufficient, for the more full accomplishment of 
 his plans. But, notwithstanding all this dili- 
 
THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 141 
 
 gence and zeal, he found that he met with very 
 partial success. The irregularities, as he called 
 them, which lie suppressed in one place, 
 would break out in anotlier ; the disposition to 
 throw off tlie dominion of bisliops was getting 
 more and more extensive and deeply seated ; 
 and now, the result of the religious revolution 
 in Scotland, and of the general excitement 
 which it produced in England, was to widen 
 and extend this feeling more than ever. 
 
 He did not, however, give up the contest. 
 He employed an able writer to draw up a de- 
 fense of Episcopacy, as the true and scrip- 
 tural form of Church government. The book, 
 when first prepared, was moderate in its tone, 
 and allowed that in some particular cases a 
 Presbyterian mode of government might be ad- 
 missible ; but Laud, in revising the book, struck 
 out these concessions as unnecessary and danger- 
 ous, and placed Episcopacy in full and exclu- 
 sive possession of the ground, as the divinely 
 instituted and only admissible form of Church 
 government and discipline. He caused this 
 book to be circulated ; but the attempt to rea- 
 son with the refractory, after having failed in 
 the attempt to coerce them, is not generally 
 very successful. The archbishop, in his re- 
 port to the king this year of the state of things 
 throughout his province, represents the spirit 
 of non-conformity to the Church of England as 
 
142 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 getting too strong for him to control without 
 more efficient help from the civil power ; but 
 whether it would be wise, he added, to under- 
 take any more effectual coercion in the present 
 distracted state of the kingdom, he left it for 
 the king to decide. 
 
 Laud proposed that the council should rec- 
 ommend to the king the calling of a Parlia- 
 ment. At the same time, they passed a resolu- 
 tion that, in case the Parliament '^should 
 prove peevish, and refuse to grant supplies, 
 they would sustain the king in the resort to 
 extraordinary measures.'' This was regarded 
 as a threat, and did not help to prepossess the 
 members favorably in regard to the feeling with 
 which the king was to meet them. The king 
 ordered tlie Parliament to be elected in De- 
 cember, but did not call them together until 
 April. In the mean time, he went on raising 
 an army, so as to have his miUtary preparations 
 in readiness. He, hov/ever, appointed a n:.v 
 set of officers to the command of this army, 
 neglecting those who were in command before, 
 as he had found them so little disposed to act 
 efficiently in his cause. He supplied the 
 leader's place with Strafford. This change pro- 
 duced very extensive murmurs of dissatisfac- 
 tion, which, added to all the other causes of 
 complaint, made the times look very dark and 
 stormy. 
 
THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 143 
 
 The Parliament assembled in April. The 
 king went into the House of Lords, the Com- 
 mons being, as usual, summoned to the bar. 
 He addressed them as follows : 
 
 " My Lords and gentlemen, — There was 
 never a King who had a more great and weighty 
 Cause to call his People together than myself. 
 I will not trouble you with the particulars. 
 I have informed my Lord keeper, and now 
 command him to speak, and I desire your At- 
 tention." 
 
 The keeper referred to was the keeper of the 
 king's seals, who was, of course, a great officer 
 of state. He made a speech, informing the 
 houses, in general terms, of the king's need of 
 money, but said that it was not necessary for 
 him to explain minutely the monarch's plans, 
 as they were exclusively his own concern. We 
 may as well quote his words, in order to show 
 in what light the position and province of a 
 British Parliament was considered in those 
 days. 
 
 *' His majesty's kingly resolutions," said the 
 lord keeper, ^' are seated in the ark of his sa- 
 cred breast, and it were a presumption of too 
 high a nature for any Uzziah uncalled to touch 
 it. Yet his Majesty is now pleased to lay by 
 
144 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 the shining Beams of Majesty, as Phoebus did 
 to Phaeton, that the distance between Sover- 
 eignty and Subjection should not bar you of 
 that filial freedom of Access to his Person and 
 Counsels ; only let us beware how, with the 
 Son of Clymene, we aim not at the guiding of 
 the Chariot, as if that were the only Testimony 
 of Fatherly Affection ; and let us remember, 
 that though the King sometimes lays by the 
 Beams and Eays of Majesty, he never lays by 
 Majesty itself." 
 
 When the keeper had finished his speech, the 
 king confirmed it by saying that he had exag- 
 gerated nothing, and the houses were left to 
 their deliberations. Instead of proceeding to 
 the business of raising money, they commenced 
 an inquiry into the grievances, as they called 
 them — that is, all the unjust acts and the mal- 
 administration of the government, of which 
 the country had been complaining for the ten 
 years during which there had been an inter- 
 mission of Parliaments. The king did all in 
 his power to arrest this course of procedure. 
 He sent them message after message, urging 
 them to leave these things, and take up first 
 the question of supplies. He then sent a mes- 
 sage to the House of Peers, requesting them 
 to interpose, and exert their influence to lead 
 the Commons to act. The Peers did so. The 
 
THE EARL OF STIlAFFORD. 145 
 
 Commons sent them back a reply that their in- 
 terference in the business of supply, which be- 
 longed to the Commons alone, was a breach of 
 their privileges. ** And," they added, *' there- 
 fore, the Commons desire their lordships in 
 their wisdom to find out some way for the rep- 
 aration of their privileges broken by that 
 act, and to prevent the like infringement in 
 future." 
 
 Thus repulsed on every hand, the king gave 
 up the hope of accomplishing anything through 
 the action of the House of Commons, and he 
 suddenly determined to dissolve Parliament. 
 The session had continued only about three 
 weeks. In dissolving the Parliament the king 
 took no notice of the Commons whatever, but 
 addressed the Lords alone. The Commons and 
 the whole country were incensed at such ca- 
 pricious treatment of the national Legislature. 
 
 The king and his council tried all summer 
 to get the army ready to be put in motion. 
 The great difficulty, of course, was want of 
 funds. The Convocation, which was the great 
 council of the Church, and which was accus- 
 tomed in those days to sit simultaneously with 
 Parliament, continued their session afterward 
 in this case, and raised some money for the 
 king. The nobles of the court subscribed a 
 considerable amount, also, which they lout him. 
 They wanted to sustain hini \i\ ii stoutest with 
 
146 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 the Gommons on their own account, and then, 
 besides, they felt a personal interest in him, 
 and a sympathy lor him in the troubles which 
 were thickening around him. 
 
 The summer months passed away in making 
 the preparations and getting the various bodies 
 of troops ready, and the military stores collect- 
 ed at the place of rendezvous in York and New- 
 castle. The Scots, in the mean time, had been 
 assembling their forces near the borders, and, 
 being somewhat imboldened by their success in 
 the previous campaign, crossed the frontier, and 
 advanced boldly to meet the forces of the king. 
 
 They published a manifesto, declaring that 
 they were not entering England with any hos- 
 tile intent toward their sovereign, but were 
 only coming to present to him their humble pe- 
 titions for a redress of their grievances, which 
 they said they were sure he would graciously 
 receive as soon as he had opportunity to learn 
 from them how great their grievances had been. 
 They respectfully requested that the people of 
 England would allow them to pass safely and 
 without molestation through the land, and 
 promised to conduct themselve3 with the ut- 
 most propriety and decorum. This promise 
 they kept. They avoided molesting the inhab- 
 itants in any way, and purchased fairly every- 
 thing they constimed. "When the English offi- 
 cers learned that the Scotch had crossed the 
 
THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 147 
 
 Tweed, they sent on immediately to London, 
 to the king, urging him to come north at once, 
 and join the army, with all the remaining forces 
 at his command. The king did so, but it 
 was too late. He arrived at York ; from York 
 he went northward fo reach the van of his 
 army, which had been posted at Newcastle, but 
 on his way he was met by messengers saying 
 tliat they were in full retreat, and that the 
 Scotch had got possession of Newcastle. 
 
 The circumstances of the battle were these. 
 Newcastle is upon the Tyne. The banks at 
 Newcastle are steep and high, but about four 
 miles above the town is a place called Newbum, 
 where was a meadow near the river, and a con- 
 venient place to cross. The Scotch advanced 
 in a very slow and orderly manner to Newburn, 
 and encamped there. The English sent a de- 
 tachment from Newcastle to arrest their prog- 
 ress. The Scotch begged them not to inter- 
 rupt their march, as they were only going to 
 present petitions to the king ! The English 
 general, of course, paid no attention to this pre- 
 text. The Scotch army then attacked them, 
 and soon put them to flight. The routed Eng- 
 lish soldiers fled to Newcastle, and Avere there 
 joined by all that portion of the army which 
 was in Newcastle in a rapid retreat. The 
 Scotch took possession of the town, but con- 
 ducted themselves in a vory orderly manner. 
 
148 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 and bought and paid for everything they 
 used. 
 
 The poor king was now in a situation of the 
 most imminent and terrible danger. Eebel 
 subjects had got full possession of one kingdom, 
 and were now advancing at the head of victo- 
 rious armies into the other. He himself had 
 entirely alienated the affections of a large por- 
 tion of Jiis subjects, and had openly quarreled 
 Avitli and dismissed the Legislature. He had 
 no funds, and had exhausted all possible means 
 of raising funds. He was half distracted with 
 the perplexities and dangers of his position. 
 
 His deciding on dissolving Parliament in the 
 spring was a hasty step, and he bitterly regret- 
 ted it the moment the deed was done. He 
 wanted to recall it. He deliberated several 
 days about the possibility of summoning the 
 same members to meet again, and constituting 
 them again a Parliament. But the lawyers 
 insisted that this could not be done. A disso- 
 lution was a dissolution. The Parliament, once 
 dissolved, was no more. It could not be brought 
 to life again. There must be new orders to 
 the country to proceed to new elections. To 
 do this at once would have been too humili- 
 ating for the king. He now found, however, 
 that the necessity for it could no longer be post- 
 poned. There was such a thing in the Eng- 
 lish history as a council of peers alone, called 
 
THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. 149 
 
 in a sudden emergency which did not allow of 
 time for the elections necessary to constitute 
 the House of Commons. Charles called such 
 a council of peers to meet at York, and they 
 immediately assembled. 
 
 In the mean time the Scotch sent ambassa- 
 iors to York, saying to the king that they 
 were advancing to lay their grievances before 
 him ! They expressed great sorrow and regret 
 at the victory which they had been compelled 
 to gain over some forces that had attempted to 
 prevent them from getting access to their sov- 
 ereign. The king laid this communication be- 
 fore the lords, and asked their advice what to 
 do ; and also asked them to counsel him liow 
 he should provide funds to keep his army to- 
 gether until a Parliament could be convened. 
 The lords advised him to appoint commission- 
 ers to meet the Scotch, and endeavor to com- 
 promise the difficulties ; and to send to the city 
 of London, asking that corporation to lend him 
 a small sum until Parliament could be assem- 
 bled. 
 
 This advice was followed. A temporary 
 treaty was made with the rebels, altliough 
 making a treaty with rebels is perhaps tlie 
 most humiliating thing that a hereditary sov- 
 ereign is ever compelled to do. The Earl of 
 Strafford was, however, entirely opposed to 
 this policy. He urged the king most earnestly 
 
150 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 not to give up the contest without a more de- 
 cisive struggle. He represented to him the 
 danger of beginning to yield to the torrent 
 which he now began to see would overwhelm 
 them all if it was allowed to have its way. He 
 tried to persuade the king that the Scots might 
 yet be driven back, and that it would be pos- 
 sible to get along without a Parliament. He 
 dreaded a Parliament. The king, however, 
 and his other advisers, thought that they must 
 yield a little to the storm. Strafford then 
 wanted to be allowed to return to his post in 
 Ireland, where he thought that he should prob- 
 ably be safe from the terrible enmity which he 
 must have known that he had awakened in 
 England, and which he thought a Parliament 
 would concentrate and bring upon his devoted 
 head. But the king would not consent to this. 
 He assured Strafford that if a Parliament 
 should assemble, he would take care that they 
 should not hurt a hair of his head. Unfortu- 
 nate monarch ! How little he foresaw that 
 that very Parliament, from whose violence he 
 thus promised to defend his favorite servant so 
 completely as to insure him from the slightest 
 injury, would begin by taking off his favorite's 
 head, and end with taking off his own I 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 DOWNFALL OF STRAFFORD AND LAUD. 
 
 The Parliament asgiembled in November, 
 1040. The king proceeded to London to meet 
 them. He left Strafford in command of the 
 army at York. Active hostilities had been 
 suspended, as a sort of temporary truce had 
 been concluded with the Scots, to prepare the 
 way for a final treaty. Strafford had been 
 entirely opposed to this, being still full of 
 energy and courage. The king, however, began 
 to feel alarmed. He went to London to meet 
 the Parliament which he had summoned, but 
 he was prepared to meet them in a very differ- 
 ent spirit from that which he had manifested 
 on former occasions. He even gave up all the 
 external circumstances of pomp and parade 
 with which the opening of Parliament had 
 usually been attended. He had been accus- 
 tomed to go to the House of Lords in state, 
 with a numerous retinue and great parade. 
 Now he was conveyed from his palace along the 
 
 river in a barge, in a quiet and unostentatious 
 
 161 
 
152 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 manner. His opening speech, too, was mod- 
 erate and conciliatory. In a word, it was pretty 
 evident to the Commons that the proud and 
 haughty spirit of their royal master was be- 
 ginning to be pretty effectually humbled. 
 
 Of course, now, in proportion as the king 
 should falter, the Commons would grow bold. 
 The House immediately began to attack Laud 
 and Strafford in their speeches. It is the the- 
 ory of the British Constitution that the king 
 can do no wrong ; whatever criminality at any 
 time attaches to the acts of his administration, 
 belongs to his advisers, not to himself. The 
 speakers condemned, in most decided terms, 
 the arbitrary and tyrannical course which the 
 government had pursued during the intermis- 
 sion of Parliaments, but charged it all, not to 
 the king, but to Strafford and Laud. Strafford 
 had been, as they considered, the responsible 
 person in civil and military affairs, and Laud 
 in those of the Church. These speeches were 
 made to try the temper of the House and of 
 the country, and see whether there was hostil- 
 ity enough to. Laud and Strafford in the House 
 and in the country, and boldness enough in 
 the expression of it, to warrant their impeach- 
 ment. ** 
 
 The attacks thus made in the House against 
 the two ministers were made very soon. AVith- 
 in a week after the opening of Parliament, one 
 
STRAFFORD AND LAUD*S END. 153 
 
 of the members, after declaiming a long time 
 against the encroachments and tyranny of 
 Archbishop Laud, whose title, according to 
 English usage, was **his Grace," said he 
 hoped that, before the year ran round, his 
 grace would either have more grace or no grace 
 at all ; " for," he added, '' our manifold griefs 
 do fill a mighty and vast circumference, yet in 
 such a manner that from every part our lines 
 of sorrow do meet in him, and point at him 
 the center, from whence our miseries in this 
 Church, and many of them in the Common- 
 wealth, do flow." He said, also, that if they 
 must submit to a pope, he would rather obey 
 one that was as far off as the Tiber, than to 
 have him come as near as the Thames. 
 
 Similar denunciations were made against 
 Strafford, and they awakened no opposition. 
 On the contrary, it was found that the feeling 
 of hostility against both the ministers was so 
 universal and so strong, that the leaders began 
 to think seriously of an impeachment on a 
 charge of high treason. High treason is the 
 greatest crime known to the English law, and 
 the punishment for it, especially in the case of 
 a peer of the realm, is very terrible. This pun- 
 ishment was generally inflicted by what was 
 called a bill of attainder, which brought with it 
 the worst of penalties. It implied the perfect 
 clestruction of the criminal iii every sense. Ho 
 
154 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 was to lose his life by having his head c-ut off 
 upon a block. His body, according to the 
 strict letter of the law, was to be mutiwited in 
 a manner too shocking to be here described. 
 His children were disinherited, and his property 
 all forfeited. This was considered as the conse- 
 quence of the attcdnting of the blood, which ren- 
 dered it corrupt, and incapable of transmitting 
 an inheritance. In fact, it was the intention 
 of the bill of attainder to brand the wretched 
 object of it with complete and perpetual in- 
 famy. 
 
 The proceedings, too, in the impeachment 
 and trial of a high minister of state, were always 
 very imposing and solemn. The impeachment 
 must be moved by the Commons, and tried by 
 the Peers. A peer of the realm could be tried 
 by no inferior tribunal. When, the Commons 
 proposed bringing articles of impeachment 
 against an officer of state, they sent first a 
 messenger to the House of Peers to ask them 
 to arrest the person whom they intended to 
 accuse, and to hold him for trial until they 
 should have their articles prepared. The House 
 of Peers would comply with this request, and a 
 time would be appointed for the trial. The 
 Commons would frame the charges, and appoint 
 a certain number of their members to manage 
 the prosecution. They would collect evidence, 
 and get everything ready for the trial, WheB 
 
STRAFFORD AND LAUD'S END. 155 
 
 the time arrived, the chamber of the Ilonse of 
 Peers would be arranged as a court room, or 
 they would assemble in some other hall more 
 suitable for the purpose, the prisoner would be 
 brought to the bar, the commissioners on the 
 part of the Commons would appear with their 
 documents and their evidence, persons of dis- 
 tinction would assemble to listen to the pro- 
 ceedings, and the trial would go on. 
 
 It was in accordance with this routine that 
 the Commons commenced proceedings against 
 the Earl of Strafford, very soon after the open- 
 ing of the session, by appointing a committee 
 to inquire whether there was any just cause to 
 accuse him of treason. The committee re- 
 ported to the House that there was just cause. 
 The House then appointed a messenger to go 
 to the House of Lords, saying that they had 
 found that there was just cause to accuse the 
 Eail of Strafford of high treason, and to ask 
 that they would sequester him from the House, 
 as the phrase was, and hold him in custody till 
 they could prepare the charges and the evidence 
 against him. All these proceedings were in 
 secret session, in order that Strafford might 
 not get warning and fly. The Commons then 
 nearly all accompanied their messenger to the 
 House of Lords, to show how much in earnest 
 they were. The Lords complied with the re- 
 quest. They caused the earl to be arresteij 
 
156 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 and committed to the charge of the tisJtei^ of 
 the Mack rod, and sent two officers to the Com- 
 mons to inform them that they had done so. 
 
 The usher of £he bhick rod is a very impor- 
 tant officer of tlie House of Lords. He is a sort 
 of siieriff, to execute the various behests of tlie. 
 House, having officers to serve under liim for 
 this purpose. The badge of his office has 
 been, for centuries, a black rod with a golden 
 lion at the upper end, which is borne before 
 him as the emblem of his authority. A peer 
 of the realm, when charged with treason, is 
 committed to the custody of this officer. In 
 this case he took the Earl of Strafford under 
 his charge, and kept him at liis house, properly 
 guarded. The Commons went on preparing 
 the articles of impeachment. 
 
 This was in November. During the winter 
 following the parties struggled one against 
 another. Laud doing all in his power to 
 strengthen the position of the king, and to 
 avert the dangers which threatened himself 
 and Strafford. The animosity, however, which 
 was felt against him was steadily increasing. 
 The House of Commons did many things to 
 discountenance the rites and usages of the 
 Episcopal Cliurch, and to make them odious. 
 The excitement among the populace increased, 
 and mobs began to interfere with the service 
 in some of the churches in Loudon and West* 
 
Vharte*M.jue»p, too 
 
 The Earl of Strafford Going to his Trial. 
 
STRAFFORD AND LAUD'S END. 157 
 
 minster. At last a mob of five hundred per- 
 sons assembled around the archbishop's palace 
 at Lambeth. This palace, as has been before 
 stated, is on the bank of the Thames, just 
 above London, opposite to Westminster. The 
 mob were there for two hours, beating at the 
 doors and windows in an attempt to force ad- 
 mission, but in vain. The palace was very 
 strongly guarded, and the mob were at length 
 repulsed. One of the ringleaders was taken 
 and hanged. 
 
 One would have thought that this sort of 
 persecution would have awakened some sym- 
 pathy in the archbishop's favor ; but it was too 
 late. He had been bearing down so mercilessly 
 himself upon the people of England for so 
 many years, suppressing, by the severest meas- 
 ures, all expressions of discontent, that the 
 hatred had become entirely uncontrollable. Its 
 breaking out at one point only promoted its 
 breaking out in another. The House of Com- 
 mons scxit a messenger to the House of Lords, 
 as they had done in the case of Strafford, say- 
 ing that they had found good cause to accuse 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury of treason, and 
 asked that he might be sequestered from the 
 House, and held in custody till they could 
 prepare their charges, and the evidence to 
 sustain them. 
 
 12— CharlPsI. 
 
158 KING CHARLES ^. 
 
 The archbishop was at that time in his seat. 
 He was directed to withdraw. Before leaving 
 the chamber he asked leave to say a few words. 
 Permission was granted, and he said in sub- 
 stance that he was truiy sorry to have awak- 
 ened in the hearts of his countrymen such a 
 degree of displeasure as was obviously excited 
 against him. He was most unhappy to have 
 lived to see the day in wliicli he was made 
 subject to a charge of treason. He begged 
 their lordships to look at the whole course of 
 his life, and he was sure that they would be 
 convinced that there was not a single member 
 of the House of Commons who could really 
 think him guilty of such a charge. 
 
 Here one of the lords interrupted him to say, 
 that by speaking in that manner he was utter- 
 ing slander against the House of Commons, 
 charging them with solemnly bringing accusa- 
 tions which they did not believe to be true. 
 The archbishop then said, that if the charge 
 must be entertained, he hoped that he should 
 have a fair trial, according to the ancient Par- 
 liamentary usages of the realm. Another of 
 the lords interrupted him again, saying that 
 such a remark was improper, as it was not for 
 him to prescribe the manner in which the pro- 
 ceedings should be conducted. He then witli- 
 drew, while the House should consider what 
 course to take. Presently he was summoned 
 
STRAFFORD AND LAUD'S END. 159 
 
 back to the bur of the House, and there com- 
 mitted to the charge of the usher of the black 
 rod. The usher conducted liim to his house, 
 and lie was kept there for ten weeks in close 
 confinement. 
 
 At lust the time for the trial of Strafford 
 came on, while Laud was in confinement. The 
 interest felt in the trial was deep and universal. 
 There were three kingdoms, as it were, com- 
 bined against one man. Various measures 
 were resorted to by the Commons to diminish 
 the possibility that the accused should escape 
 conviction. Some of them have since been 
 thought to be unjust and cruel. For example, 
 several persons who were strong friends of 
 Strafford, and who, as was supposed, might 
 offer testimony in his favor, were charged with 
 treason and confined in prison until the trial 
 was ov3r. The Commons appointed thirteen 
 person? to manage the prosecution. These 
 ]vrsons were many months preparing the 
 charges and the evidence, keeping their whole 
 proceedings profoundly secret during all the 
 time. At last the day approached, and West- 
 minster Hall was fitted up and prepared to be 
 tiie scene of the trial. 
 
 Westminster Hall has the name of being the 
 largest room whose roof is not supported by 
 pillars in Europe. It stands in the region of 
 the palaces and the Houses of Parliament at 
 
160 ^ KING CHARLES I. 
 
 Westminster, and has been for seven centuries 
 the scene of pageants and ceremonies without 
 number. It is said that ten thousand persons 
 have been accommodated in it at a banquet.* 
 This great room was fitted up for the trial. 
 Seats were provided for both houses of Parlia- 
 ment ; for the Commons were to be present as 
 accusers, and the Lords as the court. There 
 was, as usual, a chair of state, or throne, for 
 the king, as a matter of form. . There was also 
 a private gallery, screened from the observa- 
 tion of the spectators, where the king and 
 queen could sit and witness the proceedings. 
 They attended during the whole trial. 
 
 One would have supposed that the deliber- 
 ate solemnity of these preparations would have 
 calmed the animosity of Strafford's enemies, 
 and led them to be satisfied at last with some- 
 thing less than his utter destruction. But this 
 seems not to have been the effect. The terrible 
 hostilities which had been gathering strength 
 so long, seemed to rage all the more fiercely 
 now that there was a prospect of their gratifi- 
 cation. And yet it was very hard to find any- 
 thing sufficiently distinct and tangible against 
 the accused to warrant his conviction. The 
 commissioners who had been appointed to man- 
 age the case divided the charges among them. 
 
 * It is two hundred and seventy feet long, seventy- 
 five wide, and ninety high. 
 
STRAFFORD AND LAUD's END. 161 
 
 When the trial commenced, they stated and 
 urged these charges in succession. Strafford, 
 who had not known beforehand what they were 
 to be, replied to them, one by one, with calm- 
 ness and composure, and yet v/itli great elo- 
 quence and power. The extraordinary abili- 
 ties which he had shown through the whole 
 course of his life, seemed to shine out with in- 
 creased splendor amid the awful solemnities 
 which were now darkening its close. He was 
 firm and undaunted, and yet respectful and 
 submissive. The natural excitements of the 
 occasion ; the imposing assembly ; the breath- 
 less attention ; the magnificent hall ; the con- 
 sciousness that the opposition which he was 
 struggling to stem before that great tribunal 
 was the combined hostility of three kingdoms, 
 and that the torrent was flowing from a reser- 
 voir which had been accumulating for many 
 years ; and that the whole civilized world were 
 looking on with great interest to watch the re- 
 sult ; and perhaps, more than all, that he was 
 in the unseen presence of his sovereign, whom 
 he was accustomed to look upon as the great- 
 est personage on earth ; these, and the other 
 circumstances of the scene, filled his mind with 
 strong emotions, and gave animation, and en- 
 ergy, and a lofty eloquence to all that he said. 
 The truil histed eighteen days, the excite- 
 ment increasing constantly to the end. There 
 
162 KING CHAKLES I. 
 
 was notliing proved which could with .iny pro^ 
 priety be considered as treason. He had man^ 
 aged the government, it is true, witli one set 
 of views in respect to the absolute prerogatives 
 and powers of the king, while tliose who now 
 were in possession of power held opposite views, 
 and they considered it a matter of necessity 
 that he should die. The charge of treason was 
 a pretext to bring the case somewhat within 
 the reach of the formalities of law. It is one 
 of the necessary incidents of all governmental 
 systems founded on force, and not on the con- 
 sent of the governed, that when great and fun- 
 damental questions of policy arise, they often 
 bring the country to a crisis in which there can 
 be no real settlement of the dispute without 
 the absolute destruction of one party or the 
 other. It was so now, as the popular leaders 
 supposed. They had determined that stern 
 necessity required that Laud and Strafford 
 must die ; and the only object of going through 
 the formality of a trial was to soften the vio- 
 lence of the proceeding a little, by doing all 
 that could be done toward establishing a legal 
 justification of the deed. 
 
 The trial, as has been said, lasted eighteen 
 days. During all this time, the leaders were 
 not content with simply urging the proceedings 
 forward energetically in Westminster Hall. 
 They >yQrc Jiuineuyering and managing in every 
 
STPwAFFORD AND LAUD's END 163 
 
 possible way to secure the final vote. But, 
 notwithstanding this, Strafford's defense was 
 so able, and the failure to make out the charge 
 of treason against him was so clear, that it was 
 doubtful what the result would be. Accord- 
 ingly,without waiting for the decision of the 
 Peers on the impeachment, a bill of attainder 
 against the earl was brought forward in the 
 House of Commons. This bill of attainder was 
 passed by a large majority — yeas 204, nays 59. 
 It was tlien sent to the House of Lords. The 
 Lords were very unwilling to pass it. 
 
 Wliile they were debating it, the king sent 
 a message to them to say that in his opinion 
 tlie earl liad not been guilty of treason, or of 
 any attempt to subvert the laws ; and that 
 several tilings which had been alleged in the 
 trial, and on which the bill of attainder chiefly 
 rested, were not true. He was willing, how- 
 over, if it would satisfy the enemies of the earl, 
 to have him convicted of a misdemeanor, and 
 made incapable of holding any public office 
 from that time ; but he protested against his 
 being punished by a bill of attainder on a charge 
 of treason. 
 
 This interposition of the king in Strafford's 
 favor awakened loud expressions of displeas- 
 ure. Tliey called it an interference with the 
 action of one of tlie liouses of Parliament. The 
 enemies of Strafford created a great excitement 
 
164 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 against him out of doors. They raised clamor- 
 ous calls for his execution among the populace. 
 The people made black lists of the names of 
 persons who were in the earl's favor, and post- 
 ed them up in public places, calling such per- 
 sons Straffordians, and threatening them with 
 public vengeance. The Lords, who would 
 have been willing to have saved Strafford's life 
 if they had dared, began to find that they could 
 not do so without endangering their own. 
 When at last the vote came to be taken in the 
 House of Lords, out of eighty members who 
 had been present at the trial, only forty-six 
 were present to vote, and the bill was passed 
 by a vote of thirty-five to eleven. The thirty- 
 four who were absent were probably all against 
 the bill, but were afraid to appear. 
 
 The responsibility now devolved upon the 
 king. An act of Parliament must be signed by 
 the king. He really enacts it. The action of 
 the two houses is, in theory, only a recom- 
 mendation of the measure to him. The king 
 was determined on no account to give his con- 
 sent to Strafford's condemnation. He, how- 
 ever, laid the subject before his Privy Council. 
 They, after deliberating upon it, recommended 
 that he should sign the bill. Nothing else, 
 they said, could allay the terrible storm which 
 was raging, and the king ought to prefer the 
 peace and safety of the realm to the life of 
 
STRAFFORD AND LAUD S END. 
 
 165 
 
 any one man, however innocent he might be. 
 The populace, in the mean time, crowded 
 around the king's palace at Whitehall, calling 
 out ^* Justice ! Justice I '^ and filling the air 
 with threats and imprecations ; and preachers 
 in their pulpits urged the necessity of punish- 
 ing offenders, and descanted on the iniquity 
 
 
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 ^k 
 
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 The Tower of London. s 
 
 which those magistrates committed who al- 
 lowed great transgressors to escape the penalty 
 due for their crimes. 
 
 The queen, too, was alarmed. She begged 
 the king, with tears, not any longer to attempt 
 to withstand the torrent which threatened to 
 sweep them all away in its fury. While things 
 were in this state, Charles received a letter 
 from Strafford in the Tower, expressing his con- 
 sent, and even his request, that the king should 
 yield and sign the bill. 
 
 Strafford said, in his letter to the king. 
 
166 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 ^' To set your Majesty's conscience at Lib- 
 erty, I do most humbly beseech your Majesty 
 for Prevention of Evils, which may happen by 
 your Eefusal, to pass this Bill. Sir, My Con- 
 sent shall more acquit you herein to God, than 
 all the World can do besides ; To a willing Man 
 there is no Injury done ; and as by God's Grace, 
 I forgive all the World, with a calmness and 
 Meekness of infinite Contentment to my dis- 
 lodging Soul, so. Sir, to you I can give the Life 
 of this World with all the cheerfulness imag- 
 inable, in the just Acknowledgment of your ex- 
 ceeding Favors ; and only beg that in your 
 Goodness you would vouchsafe to cast your 
 gracious Eegard upon my poor Son and his 
 tliree sisters, less or more, and no otlierwise 
 than as their unfortunate Father may here- 
 after appear more or less guilty of this Death. 
 God long preserve your Majesty."' 
 
 On receiving this letter the king caused the 
 bill to be signed. He would not do it with his 
 own hands, but commissioned two of his coun- 
 cil to do it in his name. He then sent a mes- 
 senger to Strafford to announce the decision, 
 and to inform him that he must prepare to die. 
 The messenger observed that the earl seemed 
 surprised ; and after hearing that the king had 
 signed the bill, he quoted, in a tone of despair, 
 the words of Scripture, ^^Put not your trust in 
 
STRAFFORD AND LAUD's END. 167 
 
 princes, nor in tlie sons of men, for in tluni is 
 no salvation." Historians have thought it 
 strange that Stratford shouhl liave expressed 
 til is disappointment when he had himself re- 
 quested the king to resist the popular will no 
 longer ; and they infer from it that he was not 
 sinc(ire in the request, but supposed tliat the 
 king would regard it as an act of nobleness and 
 generosity on his part, that would render him 
 more unwilling than ever to consent to his 
 destruction, and that he was accordingly sur- 
 prised and disappointed when he found that the 
 king had taken him at his word. It is said, 
 liowever, by some historians, that this letter 
 was a forgery, and that it was written by some 
 of Strafford's enemies to lead the king to resist 
 no longer. The reader, by perusing the let- 
 ter again, can perhaps form some judgment 
 wliether such a document was more likely to 
 have been fabricated by enemies, or really writ- 
 ten by the unhappy prisoner himself. 
 
 The king did not entirely give up the hope 
 of saving his friend, even after the bill of at- 
 tainder was signed. He addressed the follow- 
 ing message to the House of Lords : 
 
 '^ My Lords, — I did yesterday satisfy the 
 Justice of this Kingdom by passing the Bill 
 of Attainder against the Earl of Strafford : 
 but Mercy being as inherent and inseparable 
 
168 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 to a King as Justice, I desire at tins time in 
 some measure to shew that likewise, by suffer- 
 ing that unfortunate Man to fulfil the natural 
 course of his Life in a close Imprisonment : 
 yet so, if ever he make the least Offer to 
 escape, or offer directly or indirectly to meddle 
 in any sort of public Business, especially with 
 Me either by Message or Letter, it shall cost 
 him liis Life without farther Process. This, 
 if it may be done without the Discontentment 
 of my People, will be an unspeakable Content- 
 ment to me. 
 
 *'I will not say that your complying with 
 me in this my intended Mercy, shall make me 
 more willing, but certainly 'twill make me 
 more cheerful in granting your Just Grievances : 
 But if no less than his Life can satisfie my 
 People, I must say Let justice be done. Thus 
 again recommending the consideration of my 
 Intention to you, I rest, 
 
 " Your Unalterable and Affectionate Friend, 
 
 " Charles R." 
 
 The Lords were inexorable. Three days 
 from the time of signing the bill, arrangements 
 were made for conducting the prisoner to the 
 scaffold. Laud, who had been his friend and 
 fellow-laborer in the king's service, was con- 
 fined also in the Tower, awaiting his turn to 
 come to trial. They were not allowed to visit 
 
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 C'/bur(ca i. yace ^. Jba 
 
 The Earl oi Strafford led to executioo. 
 
STRAFFORD AND LAUd's END. 169 
 
 each otlier, but Strafford sent word to Laud 
 requesting him to be at his window at the time 
 when he was to pass, to bid him farewell and 
 to give him his blessing. Laud accordingly 
 aj^peared at the window, and Strafford, as he 
 passed, asked for the prelate's prayers and for 
 liis blessing. The old man, for Laud was now 
 nearly seventy years of age, attempted to 
 speak, but he could not command himself suf- 
 ficiently to express what he wished to say, and 
 he fell back into the arms of his attendants. 
 *' God protect you," said Strafford, and walked 
 calmly on. 
 
 lie Avent to the place of execution with the 
 composure and courage of a hero. He spoke 
 freely to those around him, asserted his inno- 
 cence, sent messages to his absent friends, and 
 said he waS ready and willing to die. The 
 scaffold, in such executions as this, is a plat- 
 form slightly raised, with a block and chairs 
 upon it, all covered with black cloth. A part 
 of the dress has to be removed just before the 
 execution, in order that the neck of the suf- 
 ferer may be fully exposed to the impending 
 blow. Strafford made these preparations him- 
 self, and said, as he did so, that lie was in no 
 wise afraid of death, but that he should lay 
 his head upon that block as cheerfully as he 
 ever did upon his pillow. 
 
170 
 
 KING CKARLES T. 
 
 Charles found his position in no respect im- 
 proved by the execution of Strafford. Tlie 
 Commons, finding their influence and power 
 increasing, grew more and more bold, and were 
 from this time so absorbed in the events con- 
 nected with the progress of their quarrel with 
 the king, that they left Laud to pine in his 
 prison for about four years. They then found 
 time to act over again the solemn and awful 
 scene of a trial for treason before the House of 
 Peers, the passing of a bill of attainder, and 
 an execution on Tower Hill. Laud was over 
 seventy years of age when the ax fell upon him. 
 He submitted to his fate with a calmness and 
 heroism in keeping with his age and his char- 
 acter. He said, in fact, that none of his ene- 
 mies could be more desirous to send him out of 
 life than he was to go. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CIVIL WAR. 
 
 The way in which the king came at last to a 
 final rupture with Parliament was this. The 
 victory which the Commons gained in the case 
 of Strafford had greatly increased their con- 
 fidence and their power, and the king found, 
 for some months afterward, that instead of be- 
 ing satisfied witli tlie concessions he had made, 
 they were continually demanding more. The 
 more he yielded, the more they encroached. 
 They grew, in a word, bolder and bolder, in 
 proportion to their success. They considered 
 themselves doing the state a great and good 
 service by disarming tyranny of its power. 
 The king, on tlie other hand, considered them 
 as undermining all the foundations of good 
 government, and as depriving him of personal 
 rights, the most sacred and solemn that could 
 vest in any human being. 
 
 It will be recollected that on former occa- 
 sions, when tlie king had got into contention 
 with a Parliament, he had dissolved it, and 
 
 either attempted to govern without one, or else 
 i.;. Churl*. I 171 
 
17^ KING CHAKLES I. 
 
 had called for a new election, hoping that the 
 new members would be more compliant. But 
 he could not dissolve the Parliament now. 
 They had provided against this danger. At 
 the time of the trial of Strafford, they brought 
 in a bill into the Commons providing that 
 thenceforth the Houses could not be prorogued 
 or dissolved without their own consent. The 
 Commons, of course, passed the bill very read- 
 ily. The Peers were more reluctant, but they 
 did not dare to reject it. The king was ex- 
 tremely unwilling to sign the bill ; but, amid 
 the terrible excitements and dangers of that 
 trial, he was overborne by the influences of 
 danger and intimidation which surrounded 
 him. He signed the bill. Of course the Com- 
 mons were, thereafter, their own masters. 
 However dangerous or destructive the king 
 might consider their course of conduct to be, 
 he could now no longer arrest it, as heretofore, 
 by a dissolution. 
 
 He went on, therefore, till the close of 1641, 
 yielding slowly and reluctantly, and with many 
 struggles, but still all the time yielding, to the 
 resistless current which bore him along. At 
 last he resolved to yield no longer. After re- 
 treating so long, he determined suddenly and 
 desperately to face about and attack his ene- 
 mies. The whole world looked on with aston- 
 ishment at such a sudden change of hie policy. 
 
\ ; 
 
 CIVIL WAK. 173 
 
 The measure wliicli he resorted to Avas this. 
 lie determined to select a number of the most 
 efficient and prominent men in Parliament, 
 who liad been leaders in the proceedings against 
 him, and demand their arrest, imprisonment, 
 and trial, on a charge of high treason. The 
 king was influenced to do this partly by the ad- 
 vice of the queen, and of the ladies of the court, 
 and other persons who did not understand how 
 deep and strong the torrent was which they 
 tlms urged him to attempt to stem. They 
 tlioughtthat if he would show a little courage 
 nnd energy in facing these men, they would 
 yield in their turn, and that their boldness and 
 success was owing, in a great measure, to the 
 king's want of spirit in resisting them. 
 *' Strike boldly at them," said they; *' seize 
 the leaders ; have them tried, and condemned, 
 and executed. Threaten the rest with the 
 same fate ; and follow up these measures with 
 energetic and decisive action, and you will soon 
 make a change in the aspect of affairs." 
 
 The king adopted this policy, and he did 
 make a change in the aspect of affairs, but not 
 such a change as his advisers had anticipated. 
 The Commons were thrown suddenly into a 
 state of astonishment one day by the appear- 
 ance of a king's officer in the House, who rose 
 and read articles of a charge of treason against 
 five of the most influential and popular mem- 
 
174 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 bers. Tlie officer asked that a committee 
 should be appointed to hear the evidence 
 against them which the king was preparing. 
 The Commons, on hearing this, immediately 
 voted, that if any person should attempt even 
 to seize the papers of the persons accused, it 
 should be lawful for them to resist such an 
 attempt by every means in their power. 
 
 Tlie next day another officer appeared at the 
 bar of the House of Commons, and spoke as 
 follows : ^^ I am commanded by the king's 
 majesty, my master, upon my allegiance, that 
 I should come to the House of Commons, and 
 require of Mr. Speaker five gentlemen, mem- 
 bers of the House of Commons ; and those 
 gentlemen being delivered, I am commanded 
 to arrest them in his majesty's name, on a 
 charge of high treason." The Commons, on 
 hearing this demand, voted that they would 
 take it into consideration ! 
 
 The king's friends and advisers urged him 
 to follow the matter up vigorously. Every- 
 thing depended, they said, on firmness and de- 
 cision. The next da3^ accordingly, the king 
 determined to go himself to the House, and 
 make the demand in person. A lady of the 
 court, who was made acquainted with this 
 plan, sent notice of it to the House. In going, 
 the king took his guard with him, and several 
 personal attendants. The number of soldiers 
 
CIVIL WAR. 175 
 
 was said to be five hundred. He left this 
 great retinue at the door, and he himself en- 
 tered the House. The Commons, when they 
 heard tliat he was coming, had ordered the 
 five members who were accused to withdraw. 
 They went out just before the king came in. 
 The king advanced to the speaker's chair, took 
 his seat, and made the following address. 
 
 " Grentlemen, — I am sorry for this occasion 
 of coming unto you. Yesterday I sent a Ser- 
 geant at Arms upon a very important occasion 
 to apprehend some that by my Command were 
 accused of High Treason ; whereunto I did ex. 
 pect Obedience and not a message. And I 
 must declare unto you here, that albeit no king 
 that ever was in England shall be more careful 
 of your Privileges, to maintain them to the ut- 
 termost of his Power, than I shall be ; yet you 
 must know that in cases of Treason no Person 
 hath a Privilege ; and tlierefore I am come to 
 know if any of those Persons that were accused 
 are here. For I must tell you, Gentlemen, 
 that so long as these Persons that I have ac- 
 cused (for no slight Crime, but for Treason) 
 are here, I cannot expect that this House will 
 be in the right way that I do heartily wish it. 
 Therefore I am come to tell you that I must 
 have them wherever I find them." 
 
 After looking around, and finding that the 
 
1T6 i:i:40 chakles i. 
 
 members in question were not in the hall, hs 
 continued : 
 
 ''Weill since I see the Birds are flown, I 
 do expect from you that you sliall send them 
 unto me as soon as they return hither. But I 
 assure you, on the Word of a King, I never did 
 intend any Force, hut shall proceed against 
 til em in a legal and fair way, for I never meant 
 any otlier. 
 
 *' I will trouble you no more, but tell you I 
 do expect, as soon as they come to the House, 
 you will send tliem to me, otherwise I must 
 take my own course to find them." 
 
 The king's coming thus into the House of 
 Commons, and denuuidiiig in person that they 
 should act according to his instructions, was a 
 very extraordinary circumstance — perhaps un- 
 paralleled in Engiisli history. It produced the 
 greatest excitement. When he had finished 
 liis address, lie turned to the speaker and asked 
 liim where those men were. He had his guard 
 ready at the door to seize them. It is difficult 
 for us, in this country, to understand fully to 
 h(v,Y severe a test this sudden question put the 
 presence of miiid and courage of the speaker ; 
 for we cannot realize the profound and awful 
 deference which was felt in those days for the 
 command of a king. The speaker gained great 
 
Chart f J. J 
 
 King Charles I. and t-he Commone. 
 
CIVIL WAR. 177 
 
 applause for tlie manner in whieli he stood the 
 trial. He fell upon his knees before the great 
 potentate who had addressed him, and said, 
 '• I have, sir, neither eyes to see, nor tongue to 
 speak, in this place, but as the House is pleased 
 to direct me, whose servant I am. And I 
 luimbly ask pardon that I cannot give any 
 other answer to what your majesty is pleased 
 to demand of me." 
 
 The House was immediately in a state of 
 great excitement and confusion. They called 
 out '^Privilege! privilege!" meaning that 
 their privileges were violated. They immedi- 
 ately adjourned. News of the affair spread 
 everywhere with the greatest rapidity, and 
 ])roduced universal and intense excitement. 
 The king's friends were astonished at such an 
 act of rashness and folly, which, it is said, only 
 0)ie of the king's advisers knew anything about, 
 and he immediately fled. The five members 
 accused went that night into the city of Lon- 
 don, and called on the government and people 
 of London to protect them. The people armed 
 themselves. In a word, the king found at 
 night that he had raised a very threatening 
 and terrible storm. 
 
 The Commons met the next morning, but 
 did not attempt to transact business. They 
 simply voted that it was useless for them to 
 proceed with their deliberations, while exposed 
 
178 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 to such violations of their rights. They ap- 
 pointed a committee of twenty-four to inquire 
 into and report the circumstances of the king's 
 intrusion into their councils, and to consider 
 how this breach of their privileges could be re- 
 paired. They ordered this committee to sit in 
 the city of London, where they might hope to 
 be safe from such interruptions, and then the 
 House adjourned for a week, to await the re- 
 sult of the committee's deliberations. 
 
 The committee went to London. In the 
 mean time news went all over the kingdom 
 that the House of Commons had been com- 
 pelled to suspend its sittings on account of an 
 illegal and unwarrantable interference with 
 their proceedings on the part of the king. The 
 king was alarmed ; but those who had advised 
 him to adopt this measure told him that he 
 must not falter now. He must persevere and 
 carry his point, or all would be lost. 
 
 He accordingly did persevere. He brought 
 troops and arms to his palace at Whitehall, to 
 be ready to defend it in case of attack. He 
 sent in to London, and ordered the lord mayor 
 to assemble the city- authorities at the Guild- 
 hall, which is the great city hall of London ; 
 and then, with a retinue of noblemen, he 
 went in to meet them. The people shouted, 
 ** Privileges of Parliament ! privileges of Par- 
 liamenf!" as he passed along. Some called 
 
CIVIL WAR. 179 
 
 out, " To your tents, Israel! ^' which was the 
 ancient Hebrew cry of rebellion. The king, 
 however, persevered. Wlien he reached the 
 Guildhall, he addressed the city authorities 
 thus : 
 
 ^' Gentlemen, — I am come to demand such 
 Persons as I have already accused of High 
 Treason, and do believe are shrouded in the 
 City. I hope no good Man will keep them 
 from Me. Their Offenses are Treason and 
 Misdemeanors of a high Nature. I desire your 
 Assistance, that they may be brought to a 
 legal Trial. '^ Three days after this the king 
 issued a proclamation, addressed to all magis- 
 trates and officers of justice everywhere, to 
 arrest the accused members and carry them to 
 the Tower. 
 
 In the mean time the committee of twenty- 
 four continued their session in London, exam- 
 ining witnesses and preparing their report. 
 When the time arrived for the House of Com- 
 mons to meet again, which was on the 11th of 
 January, the city made preparations to have 
 the committee escorted in an imposing manner 
 from the Guildhall to Westminster. A vast 
 amount of the intercommunication and traffic 
 between different portions of the city then, as 
 now, took place upon the river, though in those 
 days it was managed by watermen, who rowed 
 email wherries to and fro.. Innumerable steam- 
 
180 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 boats take the place of the wherries at the 
 present day, and stokers and engineers have 
 superseded the watermen. The watermen 
 were then, however,, a large and formidable 
 body, banded together, like the other trades of 
 London, in one great organization. This great 
 company turned out on this occasion, and 
 attended the committee in barges on the 
 river, while the military companies of the city 
 marched along the streets upon the land. The 
 committee themselves went in barges on the 
 water, and all London flocked to see the spec- 
 tacle. The king, hearing of these arrange- 
 ments, was alarmed for his personal safety, 
 and left his palace at Whitehall to go to 
 Hampton Court, which was a little way out of 
 town. 
 
 The committee, after entering the House, 
 reported that the transactions which they had 
 been considering constituted a high breach of 
 the privileges of the House, and was a seditious 
 act, tending to a subversion of the peace of the 
 kingdom ; and that the privileges of Parlia- 
 ment, so violated and broken, could not be 
 sufficiently vindicated, unless his majesty 
 would be pleased to inform them who advised 
 him to do such a deed. 
 
 The king was more and more seriously 
 alarmed. He found that the storm of public 
 odium and indignation was too great for him 
 
CIVIL WAR. 181 
 
 to withstand. He began to fear for his own 
 safety more than ever. He removed from 
 Hampton Court to Windsor Castle, a stronger 
 place, and more remote from London than 
 Ilampton Court ; and he now determined to 
 give up the contest. He sent a message, there- 
 fore, to the House, saying that, on further re- 
 tlection, since so many persons had doubts 
 whether Iiis proceedings against the five mem- 
 bers were consistent with the privileges of 
 Parliament, he would waive them, and the 
 whole subject might rest until the minds of 
 men were more composed, and then, if he pro- 
 ceeded against tlie accused members at all, he 
 would do so in a manner to which no exception 
 could be taken. He said, also, he would hence- 
 forth be as careful of their privileges as he 
 sliould be of his own life or crown. 
 
 Thus he acknowledged himself vanquished 
 in tlie struggle, but the acknowledgment came 
 too late to save him. The excitement increased, 
 and spread in every direction. The party of 
 the king and that of the Parliament disputed 
 for a few months about these occurrences, and 
 others growing out of them, and then each 
 began to maneuver and struggle to get posses- 
 sion of the military power of the kingdom. 
 The king, finding himself not safe in the 
 vicinity of London, retreated to York, an(| 
 began to assemble and organize his followers. 
 
182 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 Parliament sent him a declaration that if he 
 did not disband the forces which he was assem- 
 bling, they should be compelled to provide 
 measures for securing the peace of the king- 
 dom. The king replied by proclamations call- 
 ing upon his subjects to join his standard. In 
 a word, before midsummer, the country was 
 plunged in the horrors of civil war. 
 
 A civil war, that is, a war between two 
 parties in the same country, is generally far 
 more savage and sanguinary than any other. 
 Tlie hatred and the animosities which it cre- 
 ates, ramify throughout the country, and pro- 
 duce universal conflict and misery. If there 
 were a war between France and England, 
 tliere might be one, or perhaps two invading 
 armies of Frenchmen attempting to penetrate 
 into the interior. All England would be united 
 against them. Husbands and wives, parents 
 and children, neighbors and friends, would be 
 drawn together more closely than ever ; while 
 tlie awful scenes of war and bloodshed, the 
 excitement, the passion, the terror, would be 
 confined to a few detached spots, or to a few 
 lines of march which the invading armies had 
 occupied. 
 
 In a civil war, however, it is very different. 
 Every distinct portion of the country, every 
 village and hamlet, and sometimes almost eve-ry 
 family, is divided against itself. The hostility 
 
CIVIL WAR. 183 
 
 fliul hatred, too, between the combatants, is 
 alw.'iys far more intense and bitter than that 
 which is felt against a foreign foe. AVe might 
 at first be surprised at this. We might imagine 
 that where men are contending witli their 
 neighbors and fellow-townsmen, the recollec- 
 tion of past friendships and good-will, and 
 various lingering ties of regard, would moder- 
 ate the fierceness of their anger, and make 
 tliem more considerate and forbearing. But 
 this is not found to be the case. Each party 
 considers the other as not only enemies, but 
 traitors, and accordingly they hate and abhor 
 L'ach other with a double intensity. If an 
 Englishman has a Frencliman to combat, he 
 meets him with a murderous impetuosity, it is 
 true, but without any special bitterness of 
 animosity. lie expects the Frencliman to be 
 his enemy. He even thinks he has a sort of 
 natural right to be so. He will kill him if he 
 can ; but then, if he takes him prisoner, there 
 is nothing in his feelings toward him to pre- 
 vent his treating him with generosity, and 
 even with kindness. He hates him, but there 
 is a sort of good-nature in his hatred, after nil. 
 On the other hand, when he fights against his 
 countrymen in a civil war, he abhors and hates 
 witli unmingled bitterness the traitorous ingrati- 
 tude which he thinks his neighbors and friends 
 evince in turning enemies to their country. 
 
184 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 He can see no honesty, no truth, no courage 
 in anything they do. They are infinitely Worse, 
 in his estimation, than the most ferocious 
 of foreign foes. Civil war is, consequently, al- 
 ways the means of far wider and more ter- 
 rible mischief than any other human calamity. 
 
 In the contention between Charles and the 
 Parliament, the various elements of the social 
 state adhered to one side or the other, according 
 to their natural predilections. The Episco- 
 palians generally joined the king, the Presby- 
 terians the Parliament. The gentry and the 
 nobility favored the king ; the mechanics, 
 artisans, merchants, and common people the 
 Parliament. The rural districts of country, 
 which were under the control of the great 
 landlords, the king ; the cities and towns, the 
 Parliament. The gay, and fashionable, and 
 worldly, the king; the serious-minded and 
 austere, the Parliament. Thus everything 
 was divided. The quarrel ramified to every 
 hamlet and to every fireside, and the peace and 
 happiness of the realm were effectually des- 
 troyed. 
 
 Both sides began to raise armies and to pre- 
 pare for war. Before commencing hostilities, 
 however, the king was persuaded by his coun- 
 selors to send a messenger to London and pro- 
 pose some terms of accommodation. He ac- 
 cordingly sent the Earl of Southampton to the 
 
CITIL WAR. 185 
 
 House of Peers, and two other persons to th»^ 
 House of Commons. He had no expectation, 
 probably, of making peace, but he wanted to 
 gain time to get his army together, and also to 
 strengthen his cause among the people by 
 showing a disposition to do all in his power to 
 avoid open war. The messengers of the king 
 went to London, and made their appearance in 
 the two houses of Parliament. 
 
 The House of Lords ordered the Earl of 
 Southampton to withdraw, and to send hi» 
 communication in in writing, and in the mean 
 time to retire out of London, and wait for 
 their answer. The House of Commons, in the 
 same spirit of hostility and defiance, ordered 
 the messengers which had been sent to them 
 to come to the bar, like humble petitioners or 
 criminals, and make their communication 
 there. 
 
 The propositions of the king to the houses 
 of Parliament were, that they should appoint 
 a certain number of commissioners, and he also 
 the same number, to meet and confer together, 
 in hope of agreeing upon some conditions of 
 peace. The houses passed a vote in reply, de- 
 claring that they had been doing ail in their 
 power to preserve the peace of the kingdom, 
 while the king had been interrupting and dis- 
 turbing it by his military gatherings, and by 
 proclamations, in which they were called trai- 
 
 14— Charles I. 
 
186 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 tors : and that they could enter into no treaty 
 with him until he disbanded the armies which 
 he had collected, and recalled his proclamations. 
 
 To this the king replied that he had never 
 intended to call them traitors ; and that when 
 they would recall their declarations and votes 
 stigmatizing those who adhered to him as trai- 
 tors, he would recall his proclamations. Thus 
 messages passed back and forth two or three 
 times, each party criminating the other, and 
 neither willing to make the concessions which 
 the other required. At last all hope of an ac- 
 commodation w^as abandoned, and both sides 
 prepared for war. 
 
 The nobility and gentry flocked to the king's 
 standard. They brought their plate, their jew- 
 els, and their money to provide funds. Some 
 of them brought their servants. There were 
 two companies in the king's guard, one of which 
 consisted of gentlemen, and the other of their 
 servants. These two companies were always 
 kept together. There was the greatest zeal 
 and enthusiasm among the upper classes to 
 serve the king, and equal zeal and enthusiasm 
 among the common people to serve the Parlia- 
 ment. The w^ar continued for four years. 
 During all this time the armies marched and 
 countermarched all over the kingdom, carrying 
 ruin and destruction wherever they went, and 
 plunging the wdiole country in misery. 
 

CIVIL WAR. 187 
 
 At one of tlio battles which was fought, the 
 celebrated John Hampden, the man who would 
 not pay his ship money, was slain. He had 
 been a very energetic and efficient officer on 
 tlie Tarliamentary side, and was much dreaded 
 by the forces of the king. At one of the battles 
 between Prince Rupert, Charles's nephew, and 
 the army of the Parliament, the prince brought 
 to the king's camp a large number of prisoners 
 which he had t-iken. One pi the prisoners said 
 he was confider.t that Hampden was hurt, for 
 he saw him riding off the field before the battle 
 was over, with his head hanging down, and his 
 hands clasping the neck of his horse. They 
 heard the next day that he had been wounded 
 in the shoulder. Inflammation and fever en- 
 sued, and he died a few days afterward in 
 great agony. 
 
 This Prince Rupert was a very famous char- 
 Acter in all these wars. He was young and ar-t 
 dent, and full of courage and enthusiasm. H* 
 was always foremost and ready to embark in 
 the most daring undertakings. He was tho 
 son of the king's sister Elizabeth, who married 
 the Elector Palatine, as narrated in a preceding 
 chapter. He was famous not only for his mil- 
 itary skill and attainments, but for his knowl- 
 edge of science, and for his ingenuity in man} 
 philosophical arts. There is a mode of engrav% 
 ing called mezzotinto, which is somewhat easier 
 
188 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 of execution than the common mode, and pro- 
 duces a peculiar effect. Prince Eupert is said 
 to have been the inventor of it, though, as is 
 the case with almost all other inventions, there 
 is a dispute about it. He discovered a mode 
 of dropping melted glass into water so as to 
 form little pear-shaped globules, with a long 
 slender tail. These globules have this remark- 
 able property, that if the tip of the tail is bro- 
 ken off ever so 'gently, the whole flies into 
 atoms with an explosion. These drops of glass 
 are often exhibited at the present day, and are 
 called Prince Eupert's drops. The prince also 
 discovered a very tenacious composition of met- 
 als for casting cannon. As artillery is neces- 
 sarily very heavy, and very difficult to be trans- 
 ported on marches and upon the field of battle, 
 it becomes very important to discover such me- 
 tallic compounds as have the greatest strength 
 and tenacity in resisting the force of an explo- 
 sion. Prince Eupert invented such a com- 
 pound, which is called by his name. 
 
 There were not only a great many battles 
 and fierce encounters between the two great 
 parties in this civil war, but there were also, 
 at times, temporary cessations of the hostilities, 
 and negotiations for peace. But it is very 
 hard to make peace between two powers en- 
 gaged in civil war. Each considers the other 
 as acting the part of rebels and traitors, an4 
 
CIVIL WAR. 189 
 
 there is a difficulty, almost insuperable, in the 
 way of even opening negotiations between 
 them. Still the people became tired of the war. 
 At one time, when the king had made some 
 propositions which the Parliament would not 
 accept, an immense assemblage of women col- 
 lected together, with white ribbons in their 
 hats, to go to the House of Commons with a 
 petition for peace. When they reached the 
 door of the hall their number was five thou- 
 sand. They called out, *' Peace ! peace !' 
 Give us those traitors that are against peace, 
 that we may tear them to pieces." The guards 
 who were stationed at the door were ordered to 
 fire at this crowd, loading their guns, however, 
 only with powder. This, it was thought, 
 would frighten them away; but the women 
 only laughed at the volley, and returned it 
 with si^^ones and brick-bats, and drove the 
 guards away. Other troops were then sent for, 
 who charged upon the women with their 
 swords, and cut them in their faces and hands, 
 and thus at length dispersed them. 
 
 During the progress of the war, the queen 
 returned from the Continent and joined the 
 king. She had some difficulty, hoAvever, and 
 encountered some personal danger, in her 
 efforts to return to her husband. The vice- 
 admiral, who had command of the English 
 ships off the coast, received orders to intercept 
 
190 KING CHARLES t. 
 
 her. He watched for her. She contrived, 
 however, to elude his vigilance, though there 
 were four ships in her convoy. She landed at 
 a town called Burlington, or Bridlington, in 
 Yorkshire. This town stands in a very pic- 
 turesque situation, a little south of the famous 
 promontory called Flamborough Head, of which 
 there is a beautiful view from the pier of the 
 town. 
 
 The queen succeeded in landing here. On 
 her arrival at the town, she found herself worn 
 down with the anxiety and fatigue of the voy- 
 age, and she wanted to stop a few days to rest. 
 She took up her residence in a house which was 
 on the quay, and, of course, near the water. 
 The quay, as it is called, in these towns, is a 
 street on the margin of the water, with a wall, 
 but no houses next the sea. The vice-admiral 
 arrived at the town the second night after the 
 queen had landed. He was vexed that his 
 expected prize had escaped him. He brought 
 his ships up near to the town, and began to 
 fire toward the house in which the queen was 
 lodging. 
 
 This was at five o'clock in the morning. 
 The queen and her attendants were in their 
 beds, asleep. The reports of the cannon from 
 the ships, the terrific whistling of the balls 
 through the air, and the crash of the houses 
 which the balls struck, aroused the whole vil- 
 
CIVIL WAR. 191 
 
 lage from their slumbers, and threw them into 
 consternation. The people soon came to the 
 house where the queen was lodging, and begged 
 her to fly. They said that the neighboring 
 houses were blown to pieces, and that her own 
 would soon be destroyed, and she herself would 
 be killed. They may, however, have been in- 
 fluenced more by a regard to their own safety 
 than to hers in these injunctions, as it must 
 have been a great object with the villagers to 
 effect the immediate removal of a visitor who 
 was the means of bringing upon them so terri- 
 ble a danger. 
 
 These urgent entreaties of the villagers were 
 soon enforced by two cannon-balls, which fell, 
 one after another, upon the roof of the house, 
 and, crashing their way through the roof and 
 the floors, went down, without seeming to re- 
 gard the resistance, from the top to the bottom. 
 The queen hastily put on her clothes, and went 
 forth with her attendants on foot, the balls 
 from the ships whistling after them all the 
 way. 
 
 One of her servants was killed. The rest of 
 the fugitives, finding their exposure so great, 
 stopped at a sort of trench which they came 
 to, at the end of a field, such as is dug com- 
 monly, in England, on one side of the hedge, 
 to make the barrier more impassable to the 
 animals which it is intended to confine. This 
 
192 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 trench, with the embankment formed by the 
 (iiivth thrown out of it, on which the hedge 
 is usually planted, afforded them protection. 
 They sought shelter in it, and remained there 
 for two hours, like besiegers in the approaches 
 to a town, the balls passing over their heads 
 harmlessly, though sometimes covering them 
 with the earth which they threw up as they 
 bounded by. At length the tide began to 
 ebb, and the vice-admiral was in danger oi 
 being left aground. He weighed his anchors 
 and withdrew, and the queen and her part;y 
 were relieved. Such a cannonading of a help- 
 less and defenseless woman is a barbarity whicli 
 could hardly take place except in a civil war. 
 
 The queen rejoined her husband, and sh( 
 rendered him essential service in many ways. 
 She had personal influence enough to raise botl 
 money and men for his armies, and so con» 
 tributed very essentially to the strength of hu 
 party. At last she returned to the Continent 
 again, and went to Paris, where she was still 
 actively employed in promoting his cause. At 
 one of the battles in which the king was de- 
 feated, the Parliamentary army seized his 
 baggage, and found among his papers his cor- 
 respondence with the queen. They very ungen- 
 erously ordered it to be published, as the letters 
 seemed to show a ^^igorous determination on 
 the part of the knig not to yield in the contest 
 
An Incident in the Civil War, 
 
CIVIL WAR. 193 
 
 witlioufc obtaining from the Parliament and its 
 adherents full and ample concessions to his 
 claims. 
 
 As time rolled on, the strength of the royal 
 party gradually wasted away, while that of 
 Parliament seemed to increase, until it became 
 evident that the latter would, in the end, ob- 
 tain the victory. The king retreated from 
 place to place, followed by his foes, and grow- 
 ing weaker and more discouraged after every 
 conflict. His son, the Prince of Wales, was 
 then about fifteen years of age. He sent him 
 to the western part of the island, Avith direc- 
 tions that, if affairs should still go against him, 
 the boy should be taken in time out of the 
 country, and join his mother in Paris. The 
 danger grew more and more imminent, and 
 they who had charge of the young prince sent 
 him first to Scilly, and then to Jersey — islands 
 in the Channel — whence he made his escape to 
 Paris, and joined his mother. Fifteen years 
 afterward he returned to London with great 
 pomp and parade, and was placed upon the 
 throne by universal acclamation. 
 
 At last the king himself, after being driven 
 from one place of refuge to another, retreated 
 to Oxford and intrenched himself there. Hero 
 he spent the winter of 1646 in extreme depres- 
 sion and distress. His friends deserted him ; 
 his resources were expended ; his hopes were 
 
194 KING CHARLES T. 
 
 extinguished. He sent proposals of peace to 
 the Parliament, and offered, himself, to come 
 to London, if they would grant him a safe-con- 
 duct. In reply, they forbade him to come. 
 They would listen to no propositions, and would 
 make no terms. The case, they saw, was in their 
 own hands, and they determined on uncondi- 
 tional submission. They hemmed the king in 
 on all sides at his retreat in Oxford, and re- 
 duced him to despair. 
 
 In the meantime, the Scots, a year or two 
 before this, had raised an army and crossed the 
 northern frontier, and entered England. They 
 were against monarchy and Episcopacy, but 
 they were, in some respects, a separate enemy 
 from those against whom the king had been 
 contending so long ; and he began to think that 
 he had perhaps better fall into their hands than 
 into those of his English foes, if he must sub- 
 mit to one or to the other. He hesitated for 
 some time what course to take ; but at last, 
 after receiving representations of the favorable 
 feeling which prevailed in regard to him in the 
 Scottish army, he concluded to make his escape 
 from Oxford and surrender himself to them. 
 He accordingly did so, and the civil war was 
 ended. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE CAPTIVITY. 
 
 The circumstances of King Charles's sur- 
 render to^ the Scots were these. He knew 
 that he was surrounded by his enemies in 
 Oxford, and that they woukl not allow him to 
 escape if they could prevent it. He and his 
 friends, therefore, formed the following plan to 
 elude them. 
 
 Tliey sent word to the commanders of each 
 of the several gates of the city, on a certain day, 
 that during the ensuing night three men would 
 have to pass out on business of the king's, and 
 that when the men should appear and give a 
 certain signal, they were to be allowed to pass. 
 The officer at each gate received this command 
 without knowing that a similar one had been 
 sent to the others. 
 
 Accordingly, about midnight, the parties of 
 
 men were despatched, and they went out at the 
 
 several gates. The king himself was in one of 
 
 these parties. There were two other persons 
 
 with him. One of these persons was a certain 
 
 195 
 
196 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 Mr. Ashburnham, and the king was disguised 
 as his servant. They were all on horseback, 
 and the king had a valise upon the horse be- 
 hind him, so as to complete his disguise. Thia 
 was on the 27th of April. The next day, or 
 very soon after, it was known at Oxford that 
 his majesty was gone, but no one could tell in 
 what direction, for there was no means even of 
 deciding by which of the gates he had left the 
 city. 
 
 The Scotch were, at this time, encamped be- 
 fore the town of Newark, which is on the Trent, 
 in the heart of England, and about one hun- 
 dred and twenty miles north of London* There 
 was a magnificent castle at Newark in those 
 days, which made the place very strong. The 
 town held out for the king ; for, though they 
 had been investing it for some time, they had 
 not yet succeeded in compelling the governor 
 to surrender. The king concluded to proceed 
 to Newark and enter the Scottish camp. He 
 considered it, or, rather, tried to have it con- 
 sidered, that he was coming to join them as 
 their monarch. They were going to consider 
 it surrendering to them as their prisoner. The 
 king himself must have known how it would 
 be, but it made his sense of humiliation a little 
 less poignant to carry this illusion with him as 
 long as it was possible to maintain it. 
 
 As soon as the Parliament found that the 
 
THET CAPTIVITY. 197 
 
 king had made his escape from Oxford, they 
 were alarmed, and on the 4th of May they is- 
 sued an order to tliis effect, '^ That what per- 
 son soever should harbor and conceal, or should 
 know of the harboring or concealing of the 
 king's person, and should not immediately re- 
 veal it to the speakers of both houses, should be 
 proceeded against as a traitor to the Common- 
 wealth, and die without mercy." The proc- 
 lamation of this opder, however, did not result 
 ill arresting the flight of the king. On the day 
 after it was issued, he arrived safely art Newark. 
 
 The Scottish general, whose name was Les- 
 ley, immediately represented to the king that 
 for his own safety it was necessary that they 
 should retire toward the northern frontier ; but 
 they could not so retire, he said, unless New- 
 ark should first surrender. They accordingly 
 induced the king to send in orders to the gov- 
 ernor of the castle to give up the place. TJie 
 Scots took possession of it, and, after having 
 garrisoned it, moved with their army toward 
 tlie north, the king and General Lesley being 
 hi the van. 
 
 They treated the king with great distinction, 
 but guarded him very closely, and sent word to 
 the Parliament that he was in their possession. 
 Tliere ensued long negotiations and much de- 
 bate. The question Avas, at first, whether the 
 Knglish or Scotch should have the disposal of 
 
198 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 the king's person. The English said that they^ 
 and not the Scots, were the party making war 
 upon him ; that they had conquered his armies, 
 and hemmed him in, and reduced him to the 
 necessity of submission ; and that he had been 
 taken captive on English soil, and ought, con- 
 sequently, to be delivered into the hands of the 
 English Parliament. The Scots replied that 
 though he had been taken in England, he ' was 
 their king as well as the king of England, and 
 had made himself their enemy ; and that, as he 
 had fallen, into their hands, he ought to remain 
 at their disposal. To this the English rejoined, 
 that the Scots, in taking him, had not acted on 
 their own account, but as the allies, and, as it 
 were, the agents of the English, and that they 
 ought to consider the king as a captive taken 
 for them, and hold him subject to their dis- 
 posal. / 
 
 They could not settle the question. In the 
 meantime the Scottish army drew back toward 
 the frontier, taking the king with them. About 
 this time a negotiation sprung up between the 
 Parliament and the Scots for the payment of 
 the expenses which the Scottish army liad in- 
 curred in their campaign. The Scots sent in 
 an account amounting to two millions of 
 pounds. The English objected to a great 
 many of the charges, and offered them two 
 hundred thousand pounds. Finally it was set- 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 199 
 
 tied that four hundred thousand pounds should 
 be paid. This arrangement was made early in 
 September. In January the Scots agreed to 
 give up the king into the hands of the English 
 Parliament. 
 
 The world accused the Scots of selling their 
 king to his enemies for four hundred thousand 
 pounds. The Scots denied that there was any 
 connection between the two transactions above 
 referred to. They received the money on ac- 
 count of their just claims ; and they afterward 
 agreed to deliver up the king, because they 
 tliought it right and proper so to do. The 
 friends of the king, however, were never satis- 
 fied that there was not a secret understanding 
 between the parties, that the money paid was 
 not the price of the king's delivery ; and as 
 this delivery resulted in his death, they called 
 it the price of blood. 
 
 Charles was at Newcastle when they came 
 to this decision. His mind had been more at 
 ease since his surrender to the Scots, and he 
 was accustomed to amuse himself and while 
 away the time of his captivity by various games. 
 He was playing chess when the intelligence 
 was brought to him that he was to be delivered 
 up to tlie English Parliament. It was com- 
 municated to him in a letter. He read it, and 
 then went on with his game, and none of those 
 around him could perceive by his air and man- 
 
200 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 ner that the intelligence which the letter con- 
 tained was anything extraordinary. Perhaps 
 he was not aware of the magnitude of the 
 change in his condition and prospects which 
 the communication announced. 
 
 There was at this time, at a town called 
 Holmby or Holdenby, in Northamptonshire, a 
 beautiful palace which was known by the name 
 of Holmby House. King Charles's mother had 
 purchased this palace for him when he was the 
 Duke of York, in the early part of his life, 
 while his father, King James, was on the 
 throne, and his older brother was the heir ap- 
 parent. It was a very stately and beautiful 
 edifice. The house was fitted up in a very 
 handsome manner, and all suitable accommo- • 
 dations provided for the king's reception. He 
 had many attendants, and every desirable con- 
 venience and luxury of living ; but, though the 
 war was over, there was still kept up between 
 the king and his enemies a petty contest about 
 forms and punctilios, which resulted from the 
 spirit of intolerance which characterized the 
 age. The king wanted his own Episcopal chap- 
 lains. The Parliament would not consent to 
 this, but sent him two Presbyterian chaplains. . 
 The king would not allow them to say grace at 
 the table, but performed this duty himself; 
 and on the Sabbath, when they preacljed in his 
 chapel, he never would attend. 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 201 
 
 One singular instance of this sort of bigotry, 
 and of the king's presence of mind under the 
 action of it, took place while the king was at 
 Newcastle. They took liim one day to the 
 chapel in the castle to he^ir a Scotch Presby- 
 terian who was preaching to the garrison. The 
 Scotcliman preached a long discourse pointed 
 expressly at tlie king. Tliose preachers prided 
 themselves on the fearlessness with which, 
 on such occasions, they discharged what they 
 called their duty. To cap the climax of his 
 faithfulness, tlie preacher gave out, at the 
 close of the sermon, the hymn, thus: "We 
 will sing the fifty-first Psalm : 
 
 *' * Why dost thou, tyrant, boast thyself, 
 Tliy wioked works to praise ? ' " 
 
 As the congregation were about to com- 
 mence the singing, the king cast his eye along 
 the page, and found in the fifty-sixth hymn 
 one which he tliought would be more appro- 
 priate, lie rose, and said, in a very audible 
 manner, " We will sing the Mty-sixth Psalm : 
 
 *' * Have mercy, Lord, on me I pray, 
 For men would me devour.' " 
 
 The congregation, moved by a sudden im- 
 pulse of religious generosity extremely unusual 
 in those days, immediately sang the psalm 
 which the king had chosen. 
 
202 KING CHARLES T. 
 
 While he was at ITolmby the king used 
 sometimes to go, escorted by a guard, to cer- 
 tain neighboring villages where there were 
 bowling-greens. One day, while he was going 
 on one of these excursions, a man, in the dress 
 of a laborer, appeared standing on a bridge as 
 he passed, and handed him a packet. The 
 commissioners who had charge of Charles — for 
 some of them always attended him on these 
 excursions — seized the man. The packet was 
 from the queen. The king told the commis- 
 sioners that the letter was only to ask him 
 some question about the disposal of his son, 
 the young prince, Tfho was then with her in 
 Paris. They seemed satisfied, but they sent 
 the disguised messenger to London, and the 
 Parliament committed him to prison, and sent 
 down word to dismiss all Charles's own attend- 
 ants, and to keep him thenceforth in more 
 strict confinement. 
 
 In the mean time, the Parliament, having 
 finished the war, were ready to disband the 
 army. But the army did not want to be dis- 
 banded. They would not be disbanded. The 
 officers knew very well th^at if their troops were 
 dismissed, and they were to return to their 
 homes as private citizens, all their importance 
 would be gone. There followed long debates 
 and negotiations between the army and the 
 Parliament, which ended, at last, in an open 
 
f'karle* I./ac«p. 302 
 
 Oliver Cromwell. 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 203 
 
 rupture. It is almost always so at the end of 
 a revolution. The military power is found to 
 have become too strong for the civil institu- 
 tions of the country to control it. 
 
 Oliver Cromwell, who afterward became so 
 distinguished in the days of the Common- 
 wealth, was at this time becoming the most influ- 
 ential leader of the army. He was not the com- 
 mander-in-chief in form, but he was the great 
 planner and manager in fact. He was a man 
 of great sternness and energy of character, and 
 was always ready for the most prompt and dar- 
 ing action. He conceived the design of seizing 
 the king's person at Holmby, so as to take him 
 away from the control of the Parliament, and 
 transfer him to that of the army. This plan 
 was executed on the 4th of June, about two 
 months after the king had been taken to 
 Holmby House. The abduction was effected 
 in the following manner. 
 
 Cromwell detached a strong party of choice 
 troops, under the command of an officer by the 
 name of Joyce, to carry the plan into effect. 
 These troops were all horsemen, so that their 
 movements could be made with the greatest 
 celerity. They arrived at Holmby House at 
 midnight. The cornet, for that w^as the mili- 
 tary title by which Joyce w^as designated, drew 
 up his horsemen about the palace, and de- 
 manded entrance Before his coftipany ar* 
 
204 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 rived, however, there had been an alarm thai 
 they were coming, and the guards liad been 
 doubled. The officers in command asked the 
 cornet what was his name and business. He 
 replied that he was Cornet Joyce, and that hi^ 
 business was to speak to the king. They asked 
 him by whom he was sent, and he replied thai 
 he was sent by himself, and that he must and 
 would see the king. They then commanded 
 their soldiers to stand by their arms, and be 
 ready to fire when the word should be given. 
 They, however, perceived that Joyce and hia 
 force were a detachment from the army to 
 which they themselves belonged, and conclud- 
 ing to receive them as brothers, they opened 
 the gates and let them in. 
 
 The cornet stationed sentinels at the doora 
 of those apartments of the castle which were 
 occupied by the Scotch commissioners who 
 had the king in charge, and then went himself 
 directly to the king's chamber. He had a 
 pistol loaded and cocked in liis hand. He 
 knocked at the door. There were four grooms 
 in waiting : they rebuked him for making such 
 a disturbance at that time of tlie night, and 
 told him that he should wait until the morn- 
 ing if he had any communication to make to 
 the king. 
 
 The cornet would not accede to this proposi- 
 tion, but knocked violently at the door, tlie 
 

 Arrest of King Charles 1. 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 205 
 
 servants being deterred from interfering by 
 dread of the loaded pistol, and by the air and 
 manner of their visitor, which told them very 
 plainly that he was not to be trifled with. 
 The king finally heard the disturbance, and, 
 on learning the cause, sent out word that Joyce 
 must go away and wait till morning, for ho 
 would not get up to see him at that hour. 
 The cornet, as one of the historians of the 
 time expresses it, *' huffed and retired." The 
 next morning he had an interview with the king. 
 AVhen he was introduced to the king's apart- 
 ment in the morning, the king said that he 
 wished to have the Scotch commissioners pres- 
 ent at the interview. Joyce replied that the 
 commissioners had notliing to do now but to 
 return to tlie Parliament at London. The 
 king then said that he wished to see his in- 
 structions. The cornet replied that he would 
 show them to him, and he sent out to order 
 his horsemen to parade in the inner court of 
 the palace, where the king could see them from 
 his windows ; and then, pointing them out to 
 the king, he said, "These, sir, are my instruc- 
 tions." The king, who in all the trials and 
 troubles of his life of excitement and danger, 
 took everything quietly and calmly, looked at 
 tlie men attentively. They were fine troops, 
 well mounted and armed. He then turned to 
 the cornet, and said, with a smile, that "his 
 
206 KING CHARLES t. 
 
 instructions were in fair characters, and could 
 be read without spelling." The cornet then 
 said that his orders were to take the king away 
 with him. The king declined going, unless 
 the commissioners went too. The cornet 
 made no objection, saying that the commis- 
 sioners might do as they pleased about accom- 
 panying him, but that he himself must go. 
 
 The party set off from Holmby and traveled 
 two days, stopping at night at the houses of 
 friends to their cause. They reached Cam- 
 bridge, where the leading officers of the army 
 received the king, rendering him every possible 
 mark of deference and respect. From Cam- 
 bridge he was conducted by the leadcts of the 
 army from town to town, remaining sometimes 
 several days at a place. He was attended by 
 a strong guard, and was treated everywhere 
 with the utmost consideration and honor. He 
 was allowed some little liberty, in riding out 
 and in amusements, but every precaution was 
 taken to prevent the possibility of an escape. 
 
 The people collected everywhere into the 
 places through which he had to pass, and his 
 presence-chamber was constantly thronged. 
 This was not altogether on account of their re- 
 spect and veneration for him as king, but it 
 arose partly from a very singular cause. There 
 is a certain disease called the scrofula, which 
 in former times had the name of the King's 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 20T 
 
 Evil. It is a very unmanageable and obstinate 
 disorder, resisting all ordinary modes of treat- 
 ment ; but in the days of King Charles, it was 
 universally believed by the common people of 
 England, that if a king touched a patient 
 afflicted with this disease, he would recover. 
 This was the reason why it was called the king's 
 evil. It was the evil that kings only could 
 cure. Now, as kings seldom traveled much 
 about their dominions, whenever one did make 
 such a journey, the people embraced the oppor- 
 tunity to bring all the cases which could pos- 
 sibly be considered as scrofula to the line of his 
 route, in order that he might touch the per- 
 sons afflicted and heal them. 
 
 In the course of the summer the king was 
 conducted to Hampton Court, a beautiful pal- 
 ace on the Thames, a short distance above Lon- 
 don. Here he remained for some time. He 
 had an interview here with two of his children. 
 The oldest son was still in France. The two 
 whom he saw here were the Duke of Glouces- 
 ter and the Princess Elizabeth. He found 
 that they were under the care of a nobleman 
 of high rank, and that they were treated with 
 great consideration. Charles was extremely 
 gratified and pleased with seeing these mem- 
 bers of his family again, after so long a separa- 
 tion. His feelings of domestic affection were 
 very strong. 
 
208 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 The king remained at Hampton Court two 
 or three months. During this time, London, 
 and all the region about it, was kept in a con- 
 tinual state of excitement by the contentions 
 of the army and Parliament, and the endless 
 negotiations which they attempted with each 
 other and with the king. During all this time 
 the king was in a sort of elegant and honorable 
 imprisonment in his palace at Hampton Court ; 
 but he found the restraints to which he was 
 subjected, and the harassing cares which the 
 contest between these two great powers brought 
 upon him, so great, that he determined to make 
 his escape from the thraldom which bound 
 him. He yery probably thought that he could 
 again raise his standard, and collect an army 
 to fight in his cause. Or perhaps he thought 
 of making his escape from the country alto- 
 gether. It is not improbable that he was not 
 decided himself which of these plans to pursue, 
 but left the question to be determined by the 
 circumstances in which he should find himself 
 when he had regained his freedom. 
 
 At any rate, he made his escape. One even- 
 ing, about ten o'clock, attendants came into 
 his room at Hampton Court, and found that he 
 had gone. There were some letters upon the 
 table which he had left, directed to the Parlia- 
 ment, to the general of the army, and to the 
 officer who had guarded him at Hanipton Co*^'n, 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 209 
 
 The king had left the palace an hour or two 
 before. He passed out at the private door, 
 which admitted him to a park connected with 
 the palace. lie went through the park by a 
 walk which led down to the water, where there 
 was a boat ready for him. He crossed the 
 river in the boat, and on the opposite shore he 
 found several officers and some horses ready to 
 receive him. He mounted one of the horses, 
 and the party rode rapidly away. 
 
 They traveled all night, and arrived, toward 
 morning, at the residence of a countess on 
 whose attachment to him and fidelity he placed 
 great reliance. The countess concealed him 
 in her house, though it was understood by all 
 concerned that this was only a temporary place 
 of refuge. He could not long be concealed 
 here, and her residence was not provided with 
 any means of defense ; so that, immediately on 
 their arrival at the countesses, the king and 
 the few friends who were with him began to 
 concert plans for a more secure retreat. 
 
 The house of the countess was on the south- 
 ern coast of England, near the Isle of Wight. 
 There was a famous castle in those days upon 
 this island, near the center of it, called Caris- 
 brooke Castle. The ruins of it, which are very 
 extensive, still remain. This castle was under 
 the charge of Colonel Hammond, who was at 
 that time governor of the island. Colonel 
 
 16-CI)»rlMl. 
 
210 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 Hammond was a near relative of one of King 
 Charles's chaplains, and the king thought it 
 probable that he would espouse his cause. He 
 accordingly sent two of the gentlemen who had 
 accompanied him to the Isle of Wight to see 
 Colonel Hammond, and inquire of lum whether 
 he would receive and protect the king if he 
 Vfould come to him. But he charged them 
 not to let Hammond know where he was, un- 
 less he would first solemnly promise to protect 
 him, and not to subject him to any restraint. 
 
 The messengers went, and, to the king's 
 surprise, brought back Hammond with them. 
 Tlie king asked them whether tliey had got his 
 written promise to protect him. They an- 
 swered no, but tliat they could depend upon 
 him as a man of honor. The king was alarmed. 
 **Then you have betrayed me," said he, ^^and 
 I am his prisoner." The messengers were then, 
 in their turn, alarmed at having thus disap- 
 pointed and displeased the king, and they 
 offered to kill Hammond on the spot, and to 
 provide some other means of securing the king's 
 safety. The king, however, would not sane- 
 tion any such proceeding, but put himself un- 
 der Hammond's charge, and was conveyed to 
 Carisbrooke Castle. He was received with 
 every mark of respect, but was very carefully 
 guarded. It was about the middle of Novem- 
 ber that these events took place. 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 211 
 
 Hammond notified the Parliament that 
 King Charles was in his hands, and sent for 
 directions from them as to what he should do. 
 Parliament required that he should be care- 
 fully guarded, and they appropriated £5000 
 for the expenses of his support. The king 
 remained in this confinment more than a year, 
 while the Parliament and the army were strug- 
 gling for the mastery of the kingdom. 
 
 He spent his time, during this long period, 
 in various pursuits calculated to beguile the 
 weary days, and he sometimes planned schemes 
 for escape. There were also a great many 
 messages and negotiations going between the 
 king and the Parliament, which resulted in 
 nothing but to make the broach between them 
 wider and wider. Sometimes the king was 
 silent and depressed. At other times he seemed 
 in his usual spirits. He read series books 
 a great deal, and wrote. There is a famous 
 book, which was found in manuscript after his 
 death among his papers, in his handwriting, 
 which it is supposed he wrote at this time. Ho 
 was allowed to take walks upon the castle wall, 
 which was very extensive, and he had some 
 other amusements which served to occupy his 
 leisure time. He found his confinement, how- 
 ever, in spite of all these mitigations, weari- 
 some and hard to boar. 
 
 There were some schemes attempted to en- 
 
212 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 able him to regain his liberty. There was one 
 very desperate attempt. It seems that Ham- 
 mond, suspecting that the king was plotting 
 an escape, dismissed the king's own servants 
 and put others in their places — persons in 
 whom he supposed he could more implicitly 
 rely. One of these men, whose name was 
 Burley, was exasperated at being thus dis- 
 missed. He went through the town of Caris- 
 brooke, beating a drum, and calling upon the 
 people to rise and rescue their sovereign from 
 his captivity. The governor of the castle, 
 hearing of this, sent out a small body of men, 
 arrested Burley, and hanged and quartered 
 him. The king was made a close prisoner im- 
 mediately after this attempt. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, another attempt was 
 soon made by the king himself, which came 
 much nearer succeeding. There was a man 
 by the name of Osborne, whom Hammond em- 
 ployed as a personal attendant upon the king. 
 He was what was called gentleman usher. 
 The king succeeded in gaining this person's 
 favor so much by his affability and his general 
 demeanor, that one day he put a little paper 
 into one of the king's gloves, which it was a 
 part of his office to hold on certain occasions, 
 and on this paper he had written that he was 
 at the king's service. At first Charles was 
 afraid that this offer was only a treacherous 
 
THE CAPTIVITY. 213 
 
 one ; but at length he confided in him. In the 
 meantime there was a certain man by the 
 name of Rolf in the garrison, wlio conceived 
 the design of enticing the king away from tlie 
 castle on the promise of promoting his escape, 
 and then murdering him. Rolf thought that 
 this plan would please the Parliament, and that 
 he himself, and those who should aid him in 
 the enterprise, would be rewarded. He pro- 
 posed this scheme to Osborne, and asked him 
 to join in the execution of it. 
 
 Osborne made the whole plan known to the 
 king. The king, on reflection, said to Osborne, 
 ** Very well ; continue in communication with 
 Rolf, and help him mature his plan. Let him 
 thus aid in getting me out of the castle, and 
 we will make such arrangements as to pre- 
 vent the assassination." Osborne did so. He 
 also gained over some other soldiers who were 
 employed as sentinels near the place of escape. 
 Osborne and Rolf furnished the king with a, 
 saw and a file, by means of which he sawed off 
 some iron bars which guarded one of his win- 
 dows. They were then, on a certain night, to 
 be ready with a few attendants on the outside 
 to receive the king as he descended, and con- 
 vey him away. 
 
 In the mean time Rolf and Osborne had each 
 obtained a number of confederates, those of 
 the former supposing that the plan waa to 
 
214 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 assassinate the king, while those of the latter 
 understood that the plan was to assist him in 
 escaping from captivity. Some expressions 
 which were dropped by one of this latter class 
 alarmed Rolf, and led him to suspect some 
 treachery. He accordingly took the precau- 
 tion to provide a number of armed men, and to 
 have them ready at the window, so that he 
 should be sure to be strong enough to secure 
 the king immediately on his descent from the 
 window. When the time came for the escape, 
 the king, before getting out, looked below, and, 
 seeing so many armed men, knew at once that 
 Rolf had discovered their designs, and refused 
 to descend. He quickly returned to his bed. 
 The next day the bars were found filed in two, 
 and the king was made a closer prisoner than 
 ever. 
 
 Some months after this, some commissioners 
 from Parliament went to see the king, and they 
 found liim in a most wretched condition. His 
 beard was grown, his dress was neglected, his 
 health was gone, his hair was gray, and, though 
 only forty-eight years of age, he appeared as 
 decrepit and infirm as a man of seventy. In 
 fact, he was in a state of misery and despair. 
 Even the enemies who came to visit him, 
 though usually stern and hard-hearted enough 
 to withstand any impressions, were extrem.ely 
 affected at the sight. 
 
iMlf 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 TRIAL AND DEATH. 
 
 As soon as tlie army party, with Oliver Crom- 
 well at their head, had obtained complete 
 ascendency, they took immediate measures for 
 proceeding vigorously against the king. They 
 seized him at Carisbrooke Castle, and took him 
 to Hurst Castle, which was a gloomy fortress 
 in the neighborhood of Carisbrooke. Hurst 
 Castle was in a very extraordinary situation. 
 There is a long point extending from the main 
 land toward the Isle of Wight, opposite to the 
 eastern end of it. Tliis point is very narrow, 
 but is nearly two miles long. The castle was 
 built at the extremity. It consisted of one 
 great round tower, defended by walls and bas- 
 tions. It stood lonely and desolate, surrounded 
 by the sea, except the long and narrow neck 
 which connected it with the distant shore. 
 Of course, though comfortless and solitary, it 
 was a place of much greater security than 
 Carisbrooke. 
 
 The circumstances of the king's removal to 
 
 215 
 
216 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 this new place of confinement were as follows : 
 In some of his many negotiations with the Par- 
 liament while at Carisbrooke he had bound 
 himself, on certain conditions, not to attempt 
 to escape from that place. His friends, how- 
 ever, when they heard that the army were com- 
 ing again to take him away, concluded that he 
 ought to lose no time in making his escape out 
 of the country. They proposed the plan to 
 the king. He made two objections to it. He 
 thought, in the first place, that the attempt 
 would be very likely to fail ; and that, if it did 
 fail, it would exasperate his enemies, and make 
 his confinement more rigorous, and his proba- 
 ble danger more imminent than ever. He said 
 that, in the second place, he had promised the 
 Parliament that he would not attempt to es- 
 cape, and that he could not break his word. 
 
 The three friends were silent when they 
 heard the king speak these words. After a 
 pause, the leader of them, Colonel Cook, said, 
 " Suppose I were to tell your majesty that the 
 army have a plan for seizing you immediately, 
 and that they will be upon you very soon 
 unless you escape. Suppose I tell you that we 
 have made all the preparations necessary — that 
 we have horses all ready here, concealed in a 
 pent-house — that we have a vessel at the Cows * 
 
 * There were two points or headlands, on opposite 
 sides of an inlet from the sea, on the northern side 
 
TRIAL AND DEATH. 217 
 
 waiting for us — that we are all prepared to 
 jittend you, and eager to engage in the enter- 
 prise — the darkness of the night favoring our 
 plan, and rendering it almost certain of success. 
 Now," added he, "these suppositions express 
 the real state of the case, and the only question 
 is what your majesty will resolve to do." 
 
 The king paused. He was distressed with 
 perplexity and doubt. At length he said, 
 •* They have promised me, and I have promised 
 them, and I will riot break the promise first." 
 '• Your majesty means by they ancl them, the 
 Parliament, I suppose ? " '' Yes, I do." " But 
 the scene is not changed. The Parliament 
 liave no longer any power to protect you. The 
 danger is imminent, and the circumstances 
 absolve your majesty from all obligation." 
 
 But the king could not be moved. lie said, 
 come what may, he would not do anything 
 that looked like a breaking of his word, lie 
 would dismiss the subject and go to bed, and 
 enjoy his rest as long as he could. His friends 
 told him that they feared it would not be long. 
 They seemed very much agitated and dis- 
 
 of the Isle of Wight, whicli in ancient times received 
 the name of Cows. They were called the East Cow 
 and the West Cow. The harbor between them 
 formed a safe and excellent harbor. The name is 
 now spelled Cowes, and the port is, at the present 
 day, of great commercial importance. 
 
218 KING CHARLES t. 
 
 tressed. The king asked them why they were so 
 much troubled. They said it was to think of 
 the extreme danger in which his majesty was 
 lying, and his unwillingness to do anything to 
 avert it. ^The king replied, that if the danger 
 were tenfold more than it was, he would not 
 break his word to avert it. 
 
 The fears of the king's friends were soon re- 
 alized. The next morning, at break of day, he 
 was awakened by a loud knocking at his door. 
 ,He sent one of his attendants to inquire what 
 it meant. Jt was a party of soldiers come to 
 take him away. They would give him no in- 
 formation in respect to their plans, but required 
 him to dress himself immediately and go with 
 tlicni. They mounted horses at the gate of the 
 castle. The king was very earnest to have his 
 friends accompany him. They allowed one of 
 them, the Duke of Richmond, to go with him 
 a little way, and then told him he must return. 
 The Duke bade his master a very sad and sor- 
 rowful farewell, and left him to g'o on alone. 
 
 The escort which were conducting him took 
 him to Hurst Castle. The Parliament passed 
 a vote condemning this proceeding, but it was 
 too late. The army concentrated their forces 
 about London, took possession of the avenues 
 to the house of Parliament, and excluded all 
 those members who were opposed to them. 
 The remnant of the Parliament which was left 
 
TRIAL AND DEATH. 219 
 
 immediately took measures for bringing the 
 king to trial. 
 
 The House of Commons did not dare to trust 
 the trial of the king to the Peers, according to 
 the provisions of tlie English Constitution, and 
 so they passed an ordinance for attainting him 
 of higli treason, and for appointing commission' 
 ers, themselves, to try him. Of course, in ap- 
 pointing these commissioners, they would name 
 such men as they were sure wouli be predis 
 posed to condemn him. The Peers rejected 
 tliis ordinance, and adjourned for nearly a fort- 
 night, hoping thus to arrest any further pro- 
 ceedings. The Commons immediately voted 
 hat the action of the Peers was not necessary, 
 and that they would go forwari] tliemselves. 
 They then appointed the commissioners, and 
 ordered the trial to proceed. 
 
 Everything connected with the trial was 
 conducted with great state and parade. The 
 number of commissioners constituting the court 
 was one hundred and thirty-three, though only 
 a little more than half that number attended 
 the trial. The king had been removed from 
 ITurst Castle to Windsor Castle, and he was 
 now brought into the city, and lodged in a 
 liouse near to Westminster Hall, so as to be at 
 hand. On the appointed day the court assem- 
 bled ; the vast hall and all the avenues to it 
 were thronged. The whole civilized world 
 
220 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 looked on, in fact, in astonishment at the al' 
 most unprecedented spectacle of a king tried 
 for his life by an assembly of his subjects. 
 
 The first Inisiness after the opening of the 
 court was to call the roll of the commissioners, 
 that each one might answer to his name. The 
 name of tlie general of the army, Fairfax, who 
 was one of the number, was the second upon 
 the list. When his name was called there was 
 no answer. It was called again. A voice from 
 one of the ga/'eries replied, '* Ile^ias too much 
 wit to be here. ' This produced some disorder, 
 and the officers called out to know who an- 
 swered in that manner, but there was no reply. 
 Afterwards, when the impeachment was read, 
 the phrase occurred, ^^ Of all the people of Eng- 
 land," when the same voice rejoined, "No, 
 not the half of them." The officers then or- 
 dered a soldier to fire into the seat from which 
 these interruptions came. This com.mand was 
 not obeyed, but they found, on investigating 
 the case, that the person who had answered 
 thus was Fairfax's wife, and they immediately 
 removed her from the hall. 
 
 When the court was fully organized, they 
 commanded the sergeant-at-arms to bring in the 
 prisoner. Tlie king was accordingly brouglit 
 in, and conducted to a chair covered with crim- 
 son velvet, which had been placed for him at 
 the bar. The judges remained in their seats. 
 
TRIAL AND DEATH. 221 
 
 with their heads covered, while he entered, and 
 the king took his seat, keeping his head cov- 
 ered too. lie took a calm and deliberate survey 
 ut' the scene, looking around upon the judges, 
 and upon the armed guards by which he was 
 fiivironed, with a stern and unchanging coun- 
 tenance. At length silence was proclaimed, 
 and the president rose to introduce the pro- 
 ceedings. 
 
 He addressed the king. He said that the 
 Commons of England, deeply sensible of the 
 calamities which had been brought upon Eng- 
 land by the civil war, and of the inno nt 
 blood which had been shed, and convinced that 
 he, the king, had been the guilty cause of it, 
 were now determined to make inquisition for 
 this blood, and to bring him to trial and judg- 
 ment ; that they had, for this purpose, organized 
 this court, and that he should now hear the 
 charge brought against him, which they would 
 proceed to try. 
 
 An officer then arose to read the charge. 
 The king made a gesture for him to be silent. 
 He, however, persisted in his reading, although 
 the king once or twice attempted to interrupt 
 him. The president, too, ordered him to pro- 
 ceed. The charge recited the evils and calam- 
 ities which had resulted from the war, and con- 
 ciuded by saying that *'' the said Charles Stu- 
 art is and has been the occasioner, autlior, and 
 
222- KING CHARLES I. 
 
 continuer of the said unnatural, cruel, and 
 bloody wars, and is therein guilty of all the 
 treasons, murders, rapines, burnings, spoils, 
 desolations, damages, and mischiefs to this 
 nation acted and committed in the said wars, 
 or occasioned thereby." 
 
 The president then sharply rebuked the king 
 for his interruptions to the proceedings, and 
 asked him what answer he had to make to the 
 impeachment. The king replied by demand- 
 ing by what authority they pretended to call 
 him to account for his conduct. He told them 
 that he was their king, and they his subjects ; 
 that they were not even the Parliament, and 
 that they had no authority from any true Par- 
 liament to sit as a court to try him ; that he 
 would not betray his own dignity and righto by 
 making any answer at all to any charges they 
 might bring against him, for that would be an 
 acknowledgment of their authority ; but he was 
 convinced that there was not one of them who 
 did not in his heart believe that he was wholly 
 innocent of the charges which they had brought 
 against him. 
 
 These proceedings occupied the first day. 
 The king was then sent back to his place of 
 confinement, and the court adjourned. The 
 next day, when called upon to plead to the im- 
 peachment, the king only insisted the more 
 strenuously in denying the authority of the 
 
TRIAL AND DEATH. 223 
 
 court, and in stating his reasons for so denying 
 it. The court were determined not to hear 
 what he had to say on this point, and the pres- 
 ident continually interrupted him ; while he, 
 in his turn, continually interrupted the presi- 
 dent too. It was a struggle and a dispute, not 
 a trial. At last, on the fourth day, something 
 like testimony was produced to prove that the 
 king had been in arms against the forces of the 
 Parliament. On the fifth and sixth days, the 
 judges sat in private to come to their decision ; 
 and on the day following, which was Saturday, 
 January 27th, they called the king again be- 
 fore them, and opened the doors to admit the 
 great assembly of spectators, that the decision 
 might be announced. 
 
 There followed another scene of mutual in- 
 terruptions and disorder. The king insisted 
 on longer delay. He had not said what he 
 wished to say in his defense. The president 
 told him it was now too late ; that he had con- 
 sumed the time allotted to him in making ob- 
 jections to the jurisdiction of the court, and 
 now it was too late for his defense. The clerk 
 then read the sentence, which ended thus : 
 *' For all which treasons and crimes this court 
 doth adjudge that he, the said Charles Stuart, 
 is a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public 
 enemy, and shall be put to deatli by the sever- 
 ing of his head from his body." When the 
 
224 KING CHAKLES I. 
 
 clerk had finished the reading, the presi ent 
 rose, and said deliberately and solemnly, 
 
 ** The sentence now read and published is 
 the act, sentence, judgment, and resolution of 
 the whole court." 
 
 And the whole court rose to express their 
 assent. 
 
 The king then said to the president, "Will 
 you hear me a word, sir ? " 
 
 President. *' Sir, you are not to be heard 
 after the sentence." 
 
 King. ^' Am I not, sir ? " 
 
 President. '' No, sir. Guards, withdraw 
 the prisoner ! " 
 
 King. "■ I may speak after sentence by your 
 favor, sir. Hold — I say, sir — by your favor, 
 
 sir — If I am not permitted to speak " The 
 
 other parts of his broken attempts to speak 
 were lost in the tumult, and noise. He was 
 taken out of the hall. 
 
 One would have supposed that all who wit- 
 nessed these dreadful proceedings, and who 
 now saw one who had been so lately the sover- 
 eign of a mighty empire standing friendless and 
 alone on the brink of destruction, would have 
 relented at last, and would have found their 
 hearts yieiding to emotions of pity. But it 
 seems not to have been so. The animosities 
 engendered by political strife are merciless, 
 ftud the crowd through which the king had to 
 
TRIAL AND DHATH. L'l'o 
 
 pass as he went from the hall scoffed and de- 
 rided liim. They blew the smoke of their 
 tobacco in his face, and threw their pipes at 
 him. Some proceeded to worse indignities 
 than these, but the king bore all with quiet- 
 ness and resignation. 
 
 The king was sentenced on Saturday. On 
 tlie evening of that day he sent a request that 
 the Bisliop of London might be allowed to as- 
 sist at his devotions, and that his children 
 might be permitted to see him before he was 
 to die. There were two of his children then 
 in England, his youngest son and a daughter. 
 The other two sons had escaped to the Conti- 
 nent. The government granted both these re- 
 quests. By asking for the services of an Epis- 
 copal clergyman, Charles signified his firm de- 
 termination to adhere to the very last hour of 
 Ills life to the religious principles which he had 
 been struggling for so long. It is somewhat 
 surprising tliat the government were willing to 
 conjply with the request. 
 
 It was, however, complied with, and Charles 
 u as taken from the palace of Whitehall, wliieli 
 is in Westminster, to the palace of St. James, 
 not very far distant. lie was escorted by a 
 guard through the streets. At St. James's 
 til ere was a small chapel where the king at- 
 tended divine service. The Bishop of London 
 preached a sermon on the future judgment, in 
 
 l7~rh»rUil. 
 
226 KIKG CHARLES I. 
 
 which he administered comfort to the mind of 
 the unhappy prisoner, so far as the sad case al- 
 lowed of any comfort, by the thought that all 
 human judgments would be reviewed, and all 
 wrong made right at the great day. After the 
 service the king spent the remainder of the 
 day in retirement and private devotion. 
 
 During the afternoon of the day several of 
 his most trusty friends among the nobility 
 called to see him, but he declined to grant 
 them admission. He said that his time was 
 short and precious, and that he wished to im- 
 prove it to the utmost in preparation for the 
 great change which awaited him. He hoped, 
 therefore, that his friends would not be dis- 
 pleased if he declined seeing any persons be- 
 sides his children. It would do no good for 
 them to be admitted. All that they could do 
 for him now was to pray for him. 
 
 The next day the children, were brought to 
 him in the room where he was confined. The 
 daughter, who was called the Lady Elizabeth, 
 was the oldest. He directed her to tell her 
 brother James, who was the second son, and 
 now absent with Charles on the Continent, 
 that he must now, from the time of his 
 father's death, no longer look upon Charles 
 as merely his older brother, but as his sov- 
 ereign, and obey him as such ; and he re- 
 quested her to charge them both, from him, 
 
] 
 TRIAL AND DEATH. 227 
 
 to lore each other, and to forgive their father's 
 enemies. 
 
 '* You will not forget this, my dear child, 
 will you ? " added the king. The Lady Eliza- 
 beth was still very young. 
 
 **No," said she, '*! will never forget it as 
 long as I live." 
 
 lie then charged her with a message to her 
 mother, the queen, who was also on the Conti- 
 nent. " Tell her," said he '' that I have loved 
 luT faithfully all my life, and that my tender 
 regard for her will not cease till I cease to 
 breathe." 
 
 Poor Elizabeth was sadly grieved at this 
 parting interview. The king tried to comfort 
 her. *' You must not be so afflicted for me," 
 he said. " It will be a very glorious death that 
 I shall die. I die for the laws and liberties of 
 this land, and for maintaining the Protest^.nt 
 religion. I have forgiven all my enemies, and 
 I hope that God will forgive them." 
 
 The little son was, by title, the Duke of 
 Gloucester. lie took him on his knees, and 
 said in substance, *^ My dear boy, they are 
 going to cut off your father's head." The 
 child looked up into his father's face very ear- 
 nestly, not comprehending so strange an as- 
 sertion. 
 
 "They are going to cut off my head," re- 
 peated the king, '*aud perhaps they will want 
 
228 KING CHARLES 1. 
 
 to make you a king ; but you must not "be 
 king as long as your brothers Charles and 
 James live ; for if you do, very likely they will, 
 some time or other, cut off your head." The 
 child said, with a very determined air, that 
 then they should never make him king as long 
 as he lived. The king then gave his children 
 some other parting messages for several of his 
 nearest relatives and friends, and they were 
 taken away. 
 
 In cases of capital punishment, in England 
 and America, there must be, after the sentence 
 is pronounced, written authority to the sheriff, 
 or other proper officer, to proceed to the execu- 
 tion of it. This is called the warrant, and is 
 usually to be signed by the chief magistrate of 
 the state. In England the sovereign always 
 signs the warrant of execution ; but in the case 
 of the execution of the sovereign himself, which 
 was a case entirely unprecedented, the authori- 
 tios were at first a little at a loss to know what 
 to do. The commissioners who had judged the 
 king concluded finally to sign it themselves. 
 It was expressed substantially as follows : 
 
 ** At the High Court of Justice for the try- 
 ing and judging of Charles Stuart, king of 
 England, January 29th, 1648 : 
 
 ** Whereas Charles Stuart, king of England, 
 ha? been convicted, attainted, and condemned 
 
TRIAL AND DEATH. 229 
 
 of high treason, and sentence was pronounced 
 igainst him by this court, to be put to death 
 by the severance of his head from his body, of 
 which sentence execution yet remainetli to be 
 done ; these are, therefore, now to will and re- 
 quire you to see the said sentence executed in 
 the open street before Whitehall, upon the 
 morrow, being the thirtieth day of this instant 
 month of January, between the hours of ten in 
 the morning and five in the afternoon of the 
 said day, with full effect ; and for so doing this 
 shall be your sufficient warrant." 
 
 Fifty-nine of the judges signed this warrant, 
 and then it was sent to the persons appointed 
 to carry the sentence into execution. 
 
 That night the kii.g slept pretty well for 
 about four hours, though during th evening 
 before he could hear in his p«, tment the noiso 
 of tlie workmen building the pla fori or scaf- 
 fold as it was commonly c lied, n which the 
 execution was to take place. He awoke, how- 
 ever, long before day. He called to an attend- 
 ant who lay by his bedside, and requested him 
 to get up. ** I will rise myself," said he, *' for 
 I have a great work to do to-day." He then 
 requested that they would furnish him with 
 the best dress, and an extra supply of under 
 clotliing, because it was a cold morning. He 
 particularly wished to be well guarded from 
 
230 KING CHARLES I. 
 
 the cold, lest it should cause him to shiver, and 
 they would suppose that he was trembling from 
 fear. 
 
 ^^I have no fear," said he. *^ Death is not 
 terrible to me. I bless God that I am prepared." 
 
 The king had made arrangements for divine 
 service in his room early in the morning, to be 
 conducted by the Bishop of London. The 
 b shop cama in at the time appointed and read 
 the prayers. He albO read, in the course of the 
 service, the t went; -ninth chapter of Matthew, 
 which narrates the closing scenes of our Sav- 
 iour's life. This was, in fact, the regular 
 lesson for the day, according to the Episcopal 
 ritual, which assigns certain portions of Scrip- 
 ture to every day of the year. The king sup- 
 posed that the bishop had purposely selected this 
 passage, and he thanked him for it, as he said 
 it seemed to him very appropriate to the occa- 
 sion. " May it please your majesty," said the 
 bishop, *' it is the proper lesson for the day." 
 The king was much affected at learning this 
 fact, as he considered it a special providence, 
 indicating that he was prepared to die, and 
 that he should be sustained in the final agony. 
 
 About ten o'clock. Colonel Hacker, who was 
 the first one named in the warrant of execu- 
 tion of the three persons to whom the warrant 
 was addressed, knocked gently at the king's 
 chamber door. No answer was returned. Pres- 
 
TRIAL AND DEAtFL 231 
 
 ently he knocked again. Tlie king asked his 
 attendant to go to the door. He went, and 
 asked Colonel Hacker why he knocked. He 
 replied thq,t he wished to see the king. 
 
 ''Let him come in," said the king. 
 
 The officer entered, hnt with great embar- 
 rassment and trepidation. He felt that he had 
 a most awful duty to perform. He informed 
 the king that it was time to proceed to White- 
 hall, though he could have some time there for 
 rest. *' Very well," said the king ; *' go on ; I 
 will follow." The king then took the bishop's 
 arm, and they went along together. 
 
 They found, as they issued from the palace 
 of St. James into the park through which their 
 way led to Whitehall, that lines of soldiers had 
 been drawn up. The king, with the bishop on 
 one side, and the attendant before referred to, 
 whose name was Herbert, on the other, both 
 uncovered, walked between these lines of 
 guards. The king walked on very fast, so that 
 the others scarcely kept pace with him. When 
 he arrived at Whitehall he spent some further 
 time in devotion with the bishop, and then, at 
 noon, he ate a little bread and drank some 
 light wine. Soon after this, Colonel Hacker, 
 the officer, came to the door and let them know 
 that the hour had arrived. 
 
 The bishop and Hacker melted into tears as 
 they bade their master farewell. The king 
 
232 KING CHARLES T. 
 
 directed the door to be opened, and requested, 
 the officer to go on, saying that he would follow. 
 They went through a large hall, called the 
 banqueting hall, to a window in front, through 
 which a passage had been made for the king to 
 his scaffold, which was built up in the street 
 before the palace. As the king passed out 
 through the window, he perceived that a vast 
 throng of spectators had assembled in the 
 streets to witness the spectacle. He had ex- 
 pected this, and had intended to address them. 
 But he found that this was impossible, as the 
 space all around the scaffold was occupied with 
 troops of horse and bodies of soldiers, so as to 
 keep the populace at so great a distance that 
 they could not hear his voice. He, however, 
 made his speech, addressing it particularly to 
 one or two persons who were near, knowing 
 that they would put the substance of it on 
 record, and thus make it known to all mankind. 
 There was then some further conversation 
 about the preparations for the final blow, the' 
 adjustment of the dress, the hair, etc., in 
 which the king took an active part with great 
 composure. He then kneeled down and laid 
 his head upon the block. 
 
 The executioner, who wore a mask that he 
 might not be known, began to adjust the hair 
 of the prisoner by putting it up under his cap, 
 when the king, supposing that he was going to 
 
CA^rtM I./IK6P. :ui 
 
 B:^©^!!^©© of King Ch^riea i« 
 
TRIAL AND DEATH. 238 
 
 strike, hastily told liim to wait for tlie sign. 
 Tlie executioner said that he would. The king 
 spent a few minutes in prayer, and then 
 stretched out his liands, which was the sign 
 which he had arranged to give. The ax de- 
 scended. The dissevered liead, with the blood 
 streaming from it, was held wp by the assistant 
 executioner, for the gratification of tlie vast 
 crowd which was gazing on the sceiie. He 
 said, as he raised it, " Behold the head of a 
 traitor ! '' 
 
 The body was placed in a coffin covered with 
 black velvet, and taken back through the 
 window into the room from which the monarch 
 luid walked out, in life and health, but a few 
 moments before. A day of two afterward it 
 wa3 taken to Windsor Castle upon a hearse 
 drawn by six horses, and covered with black 
 \tlvet. It was there interred in a vault in the 
 chapel, with an inscription upon lead over the 
 coffin : 
 
 KIXO CHARLES. 
 
 1648. 
 
 After the death of Charles, a sort of republic 
 was established in England, called tlie Com- 
 monwealth, over which, instead of a king, Oli- 
 ver Cromwell presided, under the title of Pro- 
 tector. The country was, however, in a very 
 anomalous and unsettled state. It became 
 
234 KINO CHARLES I. 
 
 more distracted still after the death of the Pro- 
 tector, and it was only twelve years after be- 
 heading the father that the people of England, 
 by common consent, called back the son to the 
 throne. It seems as if there could be no stable 
 government in a country where any very large 
 portion of the inhabitants are destitute of prop- 
 erty, without the aid of that mysterious but 
 all-controlling principle of the human breast, a 
 spirit of reverence for the rights, and dread of 
 the power of an hereditary crown. In the 
 United States almost every man is the pos- 
 sessor of property. He has his house, his little 
 farm, his shop and implements of labor, or 
 something which is his own, and which he feels 
 would be jeopardized by revolution and an- 
 archy. He dreads a general scramble, knowing 
 that he would probably get less than he would 
 lose by it. He is willing, therefore, to be gov- 
 erned by abstract law. There is no need of 
 holding up before him a scepter or a crown to 
 induce obedience. He submits without them. 
 He votes with the rest, and then abides by the 
 decision of the ballot-box. In other countries, 
 however, the case is different. If not an actual 
 majority, there is at least a very large propor- 
 tion of the community who possess nothing. 
 They get scanty daily food for hard and long- 
 continued daily labor; and as change, no 
 matter what, is always a blessing to sufferers. 
 
236 KING CHARLES T. 
 
 or at least is always looked forward to as such, 
 they are ready to welcome, at all times, any- 
 thing that promises commotion. A war, a con- 
 flagration, a riot, or a rebellion, is always wel- 
 come. They do not know but that they shall 
 gain some advantage by it, and in the mean 
 time the excitement of it is some relief to the 
 dead and eternal monotony of toil and suf- 
 fering. 
 
 It is true that the revolutions by which mon- 
 archies are overturned are not generally ef- 
 fected, in the first instance, by this portion of 
 the community. The throne is usually over- 
 turned at first by a higher class of men ; but 
 the deed being done, the inroad upon the es- 
 tablished course and order of the social state 
 being once made, this lower mass is aroused 
 and excited by it, and soon becomes unman- 
 ageable. When property is so distributed 
 among the population of a state that all have 
 an interest in the preservation of order, then, 
 and not till then, will it be safe to give to all a 
 share in the ^yoiver necessary for preserving it ; 
 and, in the mean time, revolutions produced 
 by insurrections and violence will probably 
 only result in establishing governments un- 
 steady and transient just in proportion to the 
 suddenness of their origin. 
 
 THE END. 
 
ALTEN^US' 
 
 Young People's Library. 
 
 Price, 50 Cents Each. 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. Ar- 
 ranged for young readers. With 70 illustrations. 
 
 ALICE^S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND. With 
 42 illustrations. 
 
 THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS AND WHAT 
 ALICE FOUND THERE. (A companion to Alice in 
 Wonderland.) With 50 illustrations. 
 
 BUNYAN'S PILGRIM'S PROGRESS. Arranged for 
 young readers. With 46 full-page illustrations. 
 
 A CHILD'S STORY OF THE BIBLE. With 72 full-page 
 illustrations. 
 
 A CHILD'S LIFE OF CHRIST. With 49 illustrations. 
 
 THE FABLES OF ^ESOP. C^ompiled from the best ac- 
 cepted sources. With 62 illustrations. 
 
 THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, or the Adventures 
 of a Shipwrecked Family on an Uninhabited Island. 
 Arranged for young readers. With 50 iliustrations. 
 
ALTEMUS' YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY. 
 
 CimiSTOPHEE, COLUMBUS AND THE DISCOVERY 
 OF AMERICA. Arranged for young readers. With 
 70 illustrations. 
 
 THE STORY OF EXPLORATION AND DISCOVERY 
 IN AFRICA. With 80 illustrations. 
 
 GULLIVER'S TRAVELS INTO SOME REMOTE RE- 
 GIONS OF THE WORLD. Aj-ranged for young 
 readers. With 50 illustrations. 
 
 MOTHER GOOSE'S RHYMES, JINGLES AND FAIRY 
 TALES. With 234 illustrations. 
 
 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED 
 STATES. With 79 illustrations. 
 
 THE STORY OF ADVENTURE IN THE FROZEN 
 SEAS. With 70 illustrations. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED NATURAL HISTORY. ]^y the Rev. 
 J. G. Wood. With 80 illustrations. 
 
 A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. By Charles 
 Dickens. With 50 illustrations. 
 
 BLACK BEAUTY; The Autobiography of a Ilo^se. By 
 Anna Sewell. With 50 illustrations. 
 
 THE ARABIAN NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS. 
 Arranged for young readers. With 50 illustrations. 
 Contains the most favorably known of the stories. 
 
 ANDERSEN'S FAIRY TALES. Arranged fo? young 
 readers. With 75 illustrations. 
 
 GRIMM'S FAIRY TALES, Arranged for young readers 
 With 50 Ulustratioiia. 
 
AiiTEMUS* YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY. S 
 
 GRANDFATHER^S CHAIR. By Nathaniel Hawthorne. 
 With 60 illustrations. 
 
 FLOWER FABLES. By Louisa May Alcott. With 60 
 illustrations. 
 
 AUNT MARTHA'S CORNER CUPBOARD. By Mary 
 and Elizabeth Kirby. With 60 illustrations. 
 
 WATER-BABIES; A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby. By 
 Charles Kinsgley. With 84 illustrations. 
 
 BATTLES OF THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE. 
 By Prescott Holmes. With 70 illustrations. 
 
 BATTLES OF THE WAR FOR THE UNION. By 
 Prescott Holmes. With 80 illustrations. 
 
 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE WAR WITH 
 SPAIN. By Prescott Holmes. With 89 illustrations. 
 
 HEROES OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY. By 
 Hartwell James. With 60 illustrations. 
 
 MILITARY HEROES OF THE UNITED STATES. 
 By Hartwell James. With 60 illustrations. 
 
 UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. By Mrs. Harriet Beecher 
 Stowe. Arranged for young readers. With 90 illus- 
 trations. 
 
 JOSEPHINE, Empress of France. By Jacob Abbott. 
 With 40 illustrations, 
 
 TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE. By Charles and Mary 
 Lamb. With 65 illustrations. 
 
4 ALTEMUS' YOUNCJ PEOPLE'S LIBRARY. 
 
 ADVENTURES IN TOYI.AND. By Edith King PIull 
 With 70 illustrations. 
 
 THE ADVENTURES OF A BROWNIE. By Miss 
 Mulock. With 18 illustrations. 
 
 MIXED PICKLES. By Mrs. E. M. Field. With 81 
 illustrations. 
 
 THE LITTLE LAME PRINCE. By Miss Mulock 
 W^ith 24 illustrations. 
 
 THE SLEEPY KING. By Aubrey Hopwood and Sey 
 mour Hicks. With 77 illustrations. 
 
 RIP VAN WINKLE. A LEGEND OF THE HUD 
 SON. Bj/ Washington Irving. With 46 illustrations. 
 
 A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES. B^' Robert Louis 
 Stevenson. With 120 illustrations. 
 
 ANIMAL STORIES FOR LITTLE PEOPLr . With 50 
 illustrations. 
 
 BO:VIULUS, the Founder of Rome. By Jaco> AbbeU. 
 With 49 illustrations. 
 
 CYRUS THE GREAT, the Founder of the Persian 
 Empire. By Jacob Abbott. With 40 illustrations. 
 
 DARIUS THE GREAT, King of the Medes and Persians. 
 By Jacob Abbott. With 34 illustrations. 
 
 XERXES THE GREAT, King of Persia. By Jacob 
 Abbott. With 39 illustrations. 
 
 ALEXANDER THE GREAT, King of Macedou. B; 
 Jacob Abbott. With 61 illustrations. 
 
ALTriM^S' YOUNG PEOPLE'S LIBRARY. 8 
 
 PYIITIIIUS, King of Epirus. By Jacob Abbott. With 
 45 illustrations. 
 
 HANNIBAL, the Carthaginian. By Jacob Abbott. 
 With 37 illustrations. 
 
 JULIUS CAESAR, the Boman Conqueror. By Jiicob 
 Abbott. With 44 illustrations. 
 
 ALFRED THE GREAT, of England. By Jacob Abbott. 
 With 40 illustrations. 
 
 WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR, of England. I5y Jacob 
 Abbott. With 43 illustrations. 
 
 HERNANDO CORTEZ, the Conqueror of Mexico. By 
 Jacob Abbott. With 30 illustrations. 
 
 MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. By Jacob Abbott. With 
 45 illustrations. 
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH, of England. By Jacob Abbott. 
 With 4{) illustrations. 
 
 KING CHARLES THE FIRST, of England. By Jacob 
 Abbott. With 41 illustrations. 
 
 KING CHARLES THE SECOND, of England. l\y 
 Jacob Abbott. With 08 illustratioiLs. 
 
 MARIA ANTOINETTE, Queen of France. By John S. 
 C. Abbott. With 42 iUustrations. 
 
 MADAME ROLAND, A Heroine of the French Revolu* 
 tion. By Jacob Abbott. With 42 illustrations. 
 
6 HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S PXIBMCATIONS. 
 
 ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED 
 
 Young People's Histories. 
 
 By Edward S. Ellis. A.M. 
 
 Cloth, ornamental. .60 cents each. 
 
 YOUNG PEOPLEVS HISTORY OF THE UNITED 
 STATES. 164 illustrations. Strange adventures and 
 marvelous achievement crowd its pages ; and the at- 
 tainments shown in the fields of education, of dis- 
 covery, of invention, of literature, of art and science 
 are wonderful and unprecedented. 
 
 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND. 160 
 illustrations. The aim of this volume is to enable the 
 reader to easily acquire a knowledge of the leading 
 facts concerning the stupendous British Empire, whose 
 full history, teeming with mighty events and spanning 
 twenty centuries, requires volumes for the telling. 
 
 TOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF FRANCE. 115 illus- 
 trations. France is a wonderful nation, and her history 
 is instructive, for it includes every system of govern- 
 ment that the ingenuity of man has devised. It is full 
 of warnings, too, and of instructive lessons for American 
 youths. 
 
 YOUNG PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF GERMANY. 112 
 
 illustrations. The record of Germany, now among the 
 foremost Powers of the globe, is one of valiant achieve- 
 ment on the battlefield, of patient suffering under grind- 
 ing tyranny, of grim resolution and heroic endeavor, 
 and of grand triimiphs in art, science, literature^ diplo- 
 macy. 
 
HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED 
 
 Miscellaneous Works, 
 
 GEORGE WASHINGTON JONES, A Christmas Gift 
 That Went A-Begging. By Ruth" McEnery Stuart. 
 Pictures by E. Potthast. Cloth $1 .00. " George Wash- 
 ington Jones is as endearing a small specimen of * cul- 
 lud* humanity as one has met in fiction for many a 
 year, and tlie history of his touching attempt to give 
 himself away is told with a mingling of humor and 
 pathos that is feirly disarming." — New York Evening 
 Post. 
 
 GALOPOFF, THE TALKING PONY. By Tudor Jenks. 
 Pictures by Howard R. Cort. Cloth, 60c. <'The 
 talking pony is a character with whom children and 
 other people, too, would certainly do well to have a 
 listening acquaintance." — The Criterion j New York, 
 N. F. 
 
 GYPSY, THE TALKING DOG. By Tudor Jenks. 'Pic- 
 tures by Reginald B. Birch. Cloth, 60c. " It is welJ 
 to read all that Mr. Jenks tells us about animals that 
 talk . " — Pittsburg Ijeader, 
 
 *' After reading this very clever story children will wait 
 for remarks from their own pet dogs." — Chicago Post, 
 
 CAPS AND CAPERS. By Gabrielle E. Jackson. Pic- 
 tures by C. M. Relyea. Cloth, 60c. *'It is, in a 
 modest w^ay, a girl's 'Tom Brown,' written by one 
 who knows the heart of a girl, and thoroughly appreci- 
 ates it." — The Advance^ Chicago, 
 
8 HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 FOLLY IN FAIRYLAND. By Carolyn Wells. Pic- 
 tures by Wallace Morgan. Cloth, 60c. " It recounts 
 the adventures of a little girl who went to the realm of 
 the fairies, but, unlike the immortal Alice, her experi- 
 ences were all pleasant. ' ' — Chronicle, San Francisco, CaL 
 
 FOLLY IN THE FOREST. By Carolyn Wells. Pic- 
 tures by Beginald B. Birch. Cloth, 60c. ^'In Miss 
 Wells' books there is always something going on from 
 start to finish, and for this reason they are as interesting 
 to young people as any that could be written." — JVdsfif- 
 ville American, 
 
 TOMIVIY FOSTER'S ADVENTURES. By Fred A. Ober. 
 Pictures by Stanley M. Arthurs. Cloth, 60c. ^' Tommy 
 is an every-day, honest, wide-awake little fellow, who 
 w^ent out into the world by himself and really saw 
 things." — Christian Register, Boston, Mass, 
 
 FOR PREY AND SPOILS; OR THE BOY BUCCA- 
 NEER. By Fred A. Ober. Pictures by Reginald B. 
 Birch. Cloth, 60c. *' A story comparable in interest 
 to Stevenson's * Treasure Island.' "^ — Nashville American. 
 
 THE WANDERINGS OF JOE AND LITTLE EM. By 
 Albert Bigelow Paine. Pictures by J. Connacher. 
 Cloth, 60 cents. "A pretty, pathetic story of a ^boy 
 prodigy of song,' who, left an orphan with his little 
 sister, decides to walk to New York and begin his 
 studies there. Joe and Little Em are sure to make as 
 many warm friends in the telling of this story as they 
 made * on the road,' where Joe's wonderful voice won 
 all hearts." — Pittsburg Bulletin, 
 
 THE ARKANSAW BEAR. By Albert Bigelow Paine, 
 With 35 illustrations by Frank Ver Beck. Cloth, $1.00. 
 In this witty and ingenious book a little boy and a big 
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 always diverting, sometimes pathetic, but never tragic 
 
HENKY ALTEMUS COMPANY^S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 MARY AUGUSTA'S PRICE. By Sophie Swett. Ooth, 
 illustrated, 60 cents. Of course Mary Augusta is tho 
 heroine — her name in full was Mary Augusta Wing— 
 and her aspirations, struggles, and development into a 
 successful business woman are told as only Miss Swett 
 can tell them. 
 
 HOW BESSIE KEPT HOUSE. By Amanda M. Doug- 
 las. Cloth, illustrated, 50 cents. liessie kept house for 
 her father and brothers and sistent while her mother 
 went on a visit. She had pleaded liard to be allowed to 
 do this ; but somehow many things went wrong. What 
 those things were and how her experiences became ol 
 the greatest value to her, one mus*> read to find out. 
 
 POLLY PERKINS' ADVENTUKF^. By E. Louise Lid- 
 dell. Cloth, illustrated, 60c. '^A mere mention of 
 the names of its principal characters should be sufficient 
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 many of the grown-ups ^ho still preserve tender recol- 
 lections of mamma's stories at sleepy-time." — Ledger 
 Monthly, New Yo^k^ 
 
 HALF-A-DO^TE^ST HOUSEKEEPERS. By Kate Doug- 
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 Cloth, 75 cents. **An animated record of girlish fun 
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 The heroine is an energetic piece of femininity and 
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 Eventually she makes doughnuts in the Adirondacks 
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 Michigan, 
 
HENRY AliTEMUS COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 DON'TS FOR BOYS. Errors of Conduct Corrected. By 
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 POOR BOYS' CHANCES. By John Habberton, author 
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 "We tried it on the office boy, who is ambitious and 
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 SEA KINGS AND NAVAL HEROES. By HartweU 
 Jam.es. Cloth, 137 illustrations, 6o cents. "These 
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 THE STORY OP THE GOLDEN FLEECE. By And- 
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 cents. It happened long ago, this adventure of the 
 Golden Fleece, but the fame of the heroes who sailed 
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 ever has lived, having been told many times in story 
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 his poet's passion for beauty, his artist's eye for color 
 and detail? 
 
 THE LITTLE BOY AND THE ELEPHANT. By Gus- 
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 Cloth, 50 cents. 
 
 BUMPER AND BABY JOHN. By Anna Chapin Bay. 
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 A GOURD FIDDLE. By Grace MacGowan Cooke. lUus- 
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HENRY ALTEMITS COMPANY»S PUBLICATIONS. 11 
 
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 DON'TS FOR GIRLS. A Manual of Mistakes. By 
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12 HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED 
 
 . Good Time Series, 
 
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 UNDER THE STARS. By Florence Morse Kingsley. 
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 JACKANAPES. By Juliana H. Ewing. In the story of 
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HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS. 13 
 
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 MAKING A START. By Tudor Jenks. The story of a 
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 TIIE STORY OF A SHORT LIFE. By Juliaua H. 
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 THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN. 
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HENRY ALTEMUS COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATEL 
 
 HOLLY-TREE SERIES. 
 
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 THE HOLLY-TREE. By Charles Dickens. 
 
 THEN MABCHED THE BRAVE. By Harriet T. 
 Comstock. 
 
 A MODERN CINDERELLA. By Louisa M. Alcott. 
 
 THE LITTLE MISSIONARY. By Amanda ]M. Douglas. 
 
 THE RULE OF THREE. By Susan Coolidge, 
 
 CHUGGINS. By H. Irving Hancock. 
 
 WHEN THE BRITISH CAME. By Harriet T. Comstock. 
 
 LITTLE FOXES. By Rose Terry Cooke. 
 
 \N UNRECORDED MIRACLE. By Florence Morse 
 Kingsley. 
 
 THE STORY WITHOUT AN END. By Sarah Austin. 
 
 CSLOVER'S PRINCESS. By Amanda M. Douglas. 
 
 THE SWEET STORY OF OLD. By L. HaskelL 
 
HENRY ALTEMtrS COMPANY'S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
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 Mother Goose Series. 
 
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 ALADDIN; OR, THE WONDERFUL. LAMP. 
 
 OUR ANIMAL FRIENDS. 
 
 BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. 
 
 BIRD STORIES FOR LITTLE PEOPLE. 
 
 CINDERELLA; Oil, THE LITTLE GLASS SLIPPER, 
 
 THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT. 
 
 JACK AND THE BEAN-STALK. 
 
 JACK THE GIANT-KILLER. 
 
 LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD. 
 
 PUSS IN BOOTS. 
 
 THE SLEEPING BEAUTY. 
 
 WHO KJLIiED COCK ROBINt 
 
te HENRY ALTEMTTS COMPANY'S PUBLICATIOKS. 
 
 ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED 
 
 Wee Books for Wee Folks. 
 
 Filled with charming stories, beautifully illustrated with 
 pictures in colors and black and white. Daintily, yet 
 durably bound. 50 cents each. 
 
 NURSERY TALES. 
 
 NURSERY RHYMES. 
 
 THE STORY OF PETER RABBIT. 
 
 THE FOOLISH FOX. 
 
 THREE LITTLE PIGS. 
 
 THE ROBBER KITTEN. 
 
 ALTEMUS' ILLUSTRATED 
 
 Banbury Cross Series. 
 
 This is a series of old favorites, printed on plate paper ; each 
 volume containing about forty beautiful illustrations, 
 including a frontispiece in colors. Half vellum, wito 
 illuminated sides. Square 16mo. Price, 50 certs eacir. 
 
 OLD MOTHER HUBBARD. 
 
 CHICKEN-LITTLE. 
 
 BLUE BEARD. 
 
 TOM THUMB. 
 
 THE THREE BEARS. 
 
 THE WHITE CAT. 
 
 THE FAIRY GIFTS. 
 
 SNOW-WHITE AND ROSE-RED. 
 
 ALADDIN, OR THE WONDERFUL LAMP. 
 
 ALI BAJBA AND THE FORTY THIEVES. 
 
ONE MONTH USE 
 
 PLEASE RETURN TO DESK 
 FROM WHICH BORROWED 
 
 EDUCATION-PSYCHOLOGY 
 LIBRARY 
 
 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or 
 
 on the date to which renewed. 
 
 1 -month loans may be renewed by calling 642-4209 
 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior 
 
 to due date. 
 
 ALL BOOKS ARE SUBJECT TO RECALL 7 DAYS 
 
 AFTER DATE CHECKED OUT. 
 
 DEC 27 1977 
 
 
 REC. CI8.0EC 11 77 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 LD 2lA-30m-5,'75 
 (S5877L) 
 
 General Library 
 
 University of California 
 
 Berkeley 
 
. VB 36423 
 
 p 
 
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 :% 
 
 £