Page images
PDF
EPUB

Enraged at such obstinacy, Charles dissolved the parliament, and attempted to raise money by other means. He had recourse to the old expedient of forcing a loan from the subject. For this purpose privy seals were issued: and, by sums so raised, he was enabled, though with difficulty, to equip his fleet. It consisted of eighty sail, including transports, and carried an army of ten thousand men, destined to act as occasion might require. The chief command was intrusted to lord viscount Wimbledon, lately sir Edward Cecil, one of Buckingham's creatures. He sailed directly for Cadiz, and found the bay full of Spanish ships of great value; yet these, through misconduct, were suffered to escape. The troops were landed, and a fort was taken. But that being found of small consequence, and an epidemical distemper having broke out among the soldiers and sailors, occasioned by the immoderate use of new wine, Wimbledon re-embarked his forces; and after cruising a while off cape St. Vincent, but without success, in hopes of intercepting the Spanish plate-fleet, he returned to England with his sickly crew, to the great dissatisfaction of the nation. (1)

The failure of an enterprise from which he expected so much treasure obliged Charles again to call a parliament, and lay his necessities before the commons. They immediately voted him three subsidies and three fifteenths, and afterward added one subsidy more; yet the sum was still very inadequate to the exigencies of the state, and little fitted to promote the ambitious views of the young king. But the scantiness of this supply was not the most mortifying circumstance attending it. The commons, in the first instance, only voted it, and reserved, until the end of the session, the power of giving that vote the sanction of a law. In the mean time, under colour of redressing grievances, they proceeded in regulating and controlling every part of government; and it required no deep penetration to perceive, that if the king obstructed their measures, or refused compliance with their demands, that he must expect no aid from parliament. Though Charles expressed great displeasure at this conditional mode of supply, as well as at the political inquiries of the commons, his pressing wants obliged him to submit, and wait with patience the issue of their deliberations. (2)

In order to strike at the root of all their grievances, the commons took a step little expected by the king or his minister. They proceeded to impeach the duke of Buckingham, who had long been odious to the nation, and became more so every day by his arrogant behaviour, the uncontrolled ascendant which he maintained over his master, and the pernicious counsels which he was supposed to have dictated. The uniting of many offices in his person, accepting extensive grants from the crown, and procuring many titles of honour for his kindred-the chief articles of accusation exhibited against him-might perhaps be considered as grievances, and justly inspired with resentment such as thought they had a right to share in the honours and employments of the state, but could not, in the eye of the law, be considered as sufficient grounds for an impeachment. Charles, therefore, thinking the duke's whole guilt consisted in being his friend and favourite, rashly resolved to support him at all hazards, regardless of the fate of the conditional supply, or the clamour of the public.(3)

The lord-keeper, in the king's name, accordingly commanded the commons not to meddle with his minister and servant, Buckingham. A message was also sent them, that, if they did not speedily furnish his majesty with supplies, he would be obliged to try NEW COUNSELS. They went on, however, with their impeachment of the duke; though sir John Elliot and sir Dudley Digges, two of the members who had been employed to conduct it, were sent to the tower. And the majority of the house, after this insult, declared they would proceed no farther upon business until they were righted in their privileges; and Charles, ever ready to adopt violent counsels, but wanting firmness to persevere in them, finding he had acted with too much precipitancy, ordered the members to be set at liberty.(4) Thus irritated, but not intimidated, by (1) Rushworth, vol. i. Franklin, p. 113. (3) Franklin, p. 198. Rushworth, vol. i.

(2) Parl. Hist. vol. vi.
(4) Rushworth, vol. i.

a prince who had discovered his weakness or imprudence, or both, the commons, regardless of the public necessities, continued their inquiries into the conduct of Buckingham; but not being able to fix any crime upon him, that could be legally brought under the article of high-treason, they drew up a petition for removing him from his majesty's person and councils, as an unwise and dangerous minister.(1)

The affectionate and respectful style of that petition leave great room to believe, that if Charles had complied with the request of the commons, by renouncing all future connexions with Buckingham, a good understanding might yet have been established between the king and parliament, and all the horrors of civil war prevented; for, if the pretensions of the commons afterward exceeded the line of the constitution, these extravagant pretensions were first roused by the arbitrary proceedings of the crown, which excited a hatred against royal authority, and a desire of recrimination, which at last proved fatal to the monarchy. It may indeed be urged, on the other side, that the arbitrary proceedings of the crown were occasioned by the obstinacy of the parliament; that Charles had no desire of oppressing his subjects, how high soever his ideas of prerogative might be; and would never have attempted any unconstitutional measure, if the commons had furnished him with the necessary and reasonable supplies. Both parties were therefore to blame, and perhaps equally; yet I cannot help believing the commons were sincere, when they made this solemn declaration to the king, in the close of a remonstrance that followed their petition.

"We profess, in the presence of Almighty God, the searcher of all hearts, that you are as highly esteemed and beloved as ever any of your predecessors were!" And, after entreating him to dismiss Buckingham from his presence, they thus apologize for their parsimony :-" We protest to your majesty and to the whole world, that, until this great person be removed from intermeddling with the great affairs of state, we are out of hope of any good success; and do fear that any money we shall or can give, will, through his misemployment, be turned rather to the prejudice of this your kingdom than otherwise, as, by lamentable experience, we have found in those large supplies formerly and lately given. But no sooner shall we receive redress and relief in this, which of all others is our most insupportable grievance, but we shall forthwith proceed to accomplish your majesty's own desire for supply; and likewise, with all cheerfulness, apply ourselves to the perfecting of divers other great things, such as we think no one parliament in one age can parallel, tending to the stability, wealth, strength, and honour of this your kingdom, and the support of your friends and allies abroad."(2)

Enraged at this second attempt to deprive him of his minister and favourite, Charles paid no regard to the prayer of the commons, or to his loss of supply, the necessary consequence of denying it, but immediately prepared to dissolve the parliament, in order to avoid any farther importunity on a subject so ungrateful to his ear. "What idea," said he, "must all mankind entertain of my honour, should I sacrifice my innocent friend to pecuniary considerations ?"-But allowing this friend and servant to have been more innocent, and even more able, than we find him, it was the king's duty, as well as his interest, to dismiss his minister from all public employments, at the request of the representative body of his subjects. For, as the commons very justly observed in their remonstrance, "the relations between a sovereign and his people do far transcend, and are more prevalent and binding, than any relation of a master towards his servant; and consequently, to hear and satisfy the just and necessary desires of his people is more honourable to a prince than any expressions of grace to a servant."(3)

Instead of listening to such respectful arguments, Charles, by persevering in his support of Buckingham, involved himself, in the opinion of the nation, in all his favourite's crimes, whether real or imputed. Among these was a charge of having applied a plaster to the late king's side, without the know

(1) Parl. Hist. vol. vii.

(2) Id. ibid.

(3) Id. ibid.

ledge of his physicians, and which was supposed to have been the cause of his death; an accusation which, if Charles had believed to be just, would have loosened all the ties of affection to Buckingham, and which he would have prosecuted to the utmost. Yet were there people wicked enough to suppose, from the king's blind attachment to the duke, that he had been privy to such an atrocious crime. His adherence to this worthless man was indeed so strong as to exceed all belief. When the house of peers, whose compliant behaviour surely entitled them to some influence with him, requested that he would let the parliament sit a little longer, he hastily replied: "Not a moment longer!"(1) and instantly ended the session by a dissolution. In this alarming crisis of his affairs, as he did not choose to resign his minister, the only rational counsel which Charles could pursue was immediately to conclude a peace with Spain; and, by that prudent measure, to render himself as independent as possible of the parliament, which seemed determined to take advantage of his necessities, in order to abridge his authority. Nothing could be more easy, more consistent with national interest, or more agreeable to his own wish; but the violent and impetuous Buckingham, inflamed with a desire of revenge for injuries which he himself had committed, and animated with a love of glory which he wanted talents to acquire, persuaded his too facile master to continue the war, though he had not been able to procure him the constitutional means of supporting it. Those new counsels, which Charles had mentioned to the parliament, were therefore now to be tried, in order to supply his exigencies; and so high an idea had he conceived of kingly power, and so contemptible an opinion of the rights of national assemblies, that, if he had possessed a military force on which he could have depended, there is reason to believe he would at once have laid aside all reserve, and attempted to govern without any regard to parliamentary privileges.(2) But, being destitute of such a force, he was obliged to cover his violences under the sanction of ancient precedents, collected from all the tyrannical reigns since the Norman conquest.

The people, however, were too keen-sighted not to perceive that examples can never alter the nature of injustice. They therefore complained loudly of the benevolences and loans which were extorted from them under various forms; and these complaints were increased by a commission, which was openly issued, for compounding with popish recusants, and dispensing, for a sum of money, with the penal laws enacted against them.(3) While the nation was in this dissatisfied humour, intelligence arrived of the defeat of the Protestants in Germany by the imperial forces. A general loan from the subject was now exacted, equal to the four subsidies and three-fifteenths voted last parliament; and many respectable persons were thrown into prison for refusing to pay their assessments. Most of them patiently submitted to confinement, or applied by petition to the king, who generally released them. Five gentlemen alone, namely, sir Thomas Darnel, sir John Corbet, sir Walter Earl, sir John Evingham, and sir Edmund Hambden, had resolution enough to demand their release, not as a favour from the prince, but as their right by the laws of their country.(4)

On examination, it was found that these gentlemen had been arbitrarily committed, at the special command alone of the king and council, without any cause being assigned for such commitment. This, they asserted, was not a sufficient ground for detaining them in custody. The question was brought to a solemn trial before the court of King's Bench; and in the course of the debates, it appeared incontestibly to the nation that our ancestors had been so jealous of personal liberty, as to secure it against absolute power in the prince, not only by an article in the GREAT CHARTER itself, the sacred basis of the laws and constitution, but by six several statutes besides.(5)

(1) Sanderson's Life of Charles I.

(2) This is the opinion of Mr. Hume, who will not be suspected of traducing the character of Charles, (3) Rushworth, vol. i. (4) Id. ibid.

(5) 25 Edw. III. cap. iv. 28 Edw. III. cap. iii. 37 Edw. III. cap. xviii. 38 Edw. III. cap. ix. 42 Edw. III. cap. iii. 1 Richard II. cap. xii.

Precedents, however, were numerous of the violation of those statutes: so that the judges, obsequious to the court, refused to release the prisoners, or to admit them to bail.(1)

The cry was now loud that the nation was reduced to slavery. The liberty of the subject was violated for refusing to submit to an illegal imposition! Nor was this the only arbitrary measure of which the people had reason to complain. The troops that had returned from the fruitless expedition against Cadiz were dispersed over the kingdom, and billeted upon private families, contrary to established custom, which required that they should be quartered at inns and public houses; and all persons of substance, who had refused or delayed the loan, were sure to be loaded with a disproportionate number of those disorderly guests; while people of inferior condition, who had shown a refractory disposition, were pressed into the sea or land service.(2) Every one, in a word, seemed to feel the public grievances, and to execrate the oppressive spirit of administration, though passive obedience was strongly recommended from the pulpit; and the crimes and outrages committed by the soldiers, who had never been habituated to the restraints of discipline, contributed not a little to increase the general discontent.

In the midst of these alarming dissatisfactions and increasing difficulties, when baffled in every attempt against the dominions of the two branches of the house of Austria, and embroiled with his own subjects, what was the surprise of mankind to see Charles, as if he had not yet had enough enemies, engage in a war against France! Unable to account for so extraordinary a measure, historians have generally ascribed it to an amorous quarrel between cardinal Richelieu and the duke of Buckingham, on account of a rival passion for the queen of France, and the encouragement which the duke had received, when employed to bring over the princess Henrietta, which induced him to project a new embassy to that court, as I have formerly had occasion to relate.(3) But however that might be, Buckingham had other reasons for involving his master in a war with France.

One of the articles of impeachment against the duke, and that which had excited the greatest odium, was the sending of some English ships to assist the French king in subduing his Protestant subjects, who were in arms in defence of their religious liberties. To this impolitic, as well as inhuman measure, Buckingham had been seduced by a promise, that as soon as the Hugonots were reduced, Lewis XIII. would take an active part in the war against the house of Austria. But afterward, finding himself deceived by cardinal Richelieu, who had nothing in view but the aggrandizement of the French monarchy, he procured a peace for the Hugonots, and became security to them for its performance. That peace, however, was not observed; Richelieu still meditated the utter destruction of the Protestant party in France. They were deprived of many of their cautionary towns, and forts were erecting to bridle Rochelle, their most considerable bulwark. (4) The subjection of the Hugonots, it was readily foreseen, would render France more formidable to England than the whole house of Austria. Besides, if Charles and Buckingham should supinely behold their ruin accomplished, such a conduct would increase the popular discontents, and render the breach between the king and parliament irreparable. It was therefore resolved, as the only means of recovering any degree of credit with the people, as well as of curbing the power of an ambitious rival, to undertake the defence of the Hugonots.

A negotiation was accordingly entered into with Soubise, brother to the duke of Rohan, the head of the Protestant party in France, who was at that time in London; and a fleet of a hundred sail, with an army of seven thousand men on board, was fitted out for the assistance of the Hugonots, under the command of the duke of Buckingham, the most unpopular man in the kingdom, and utterly unacquainted with naval or military service. The fate of the expedition, as we have seen,(5) was such as might be expected from (1) Rushworth, vol. i. (3) Part I. Let. LXXIV, (4) See Part I. Let. LXXIV. of this work, and the authors there cited. (5) Part I ubi sup.

[ocr errors]

(2) Id. ibid.

his management. When the fleet appeared before Rochelle, the inhabitants of that city shut their gates, and refused to admit allies of whose arrival they were not apprized. Buckingham made a descent on the isle of Rhé; but took his measures so unskilfully, that he was able to make no impression on the principal fort; and the sea was so negligently guarded, that a French army stole over in small divisions, and obliged him to re-embark, after losing nearly two-thirds of the land forces.(1) With the wretched remnant he returned to England, totally discredited both as an admiral and general, and universally despised and detested as a minister.

The public grievances were now so great, that an insurrection was to be apprehended. The people were not only loaded with illegal taxes, but their commerce, which had been hurt by the Spanish, was ruined by the French war; while the glory of the nation was tarnished by unsuccessful enterprises, and its safety threatened by the forces of two powerful monarchies. At such a season, Charles and Buckingham must have dreaded, above all things, the calling of a parliament; yet the improvidence of the ministry, the necessity of supply, and the danger of forcing another loan, obliged them to have recourse to that expedient. In order to wipe off, if possible, the popular odium from the duke, it was represented as his motion; and still farther to dispose the commons to co-operate with the minister, warrants were issued previous to their meeting, and sent to all parts of the kingdom, for the relief of those gentlemen who had been confined on account of refusing to contribute towards the late loan. Their number amounted to seventy-eight, and many of them were elected members of the new parliament.(2)

When the commons assembled, the court perceived that they were men of the same independent spirit with their predecessors, and so opulent, that their property was computed to surpass three times that of the house of peers.(3) But although enraged at the late violations of public liberty, by personal injuries, and by the extreme folly with which public measures were conducted, to the disgrace, and even danger, of the nation, they entered upon business with no less temper and decorum than vigour and ability. From a knowledge of the king's political opinions, as well as from his speech at their meeting, in which he told them," that if they did not do their duty, in contributing to the necessities of the state, he must use those other means, which God had put into his hands!" they foresaw, that if any handle was afforded, he would immediately dissolve the parliament, and think himself thenceforth justified in violating, in a manner still more open, all the ancient forms of the constitution. But the decency which the popular leaders have prescribed to themselves, in order to avoid the calamities of civil war, which must have been the immediate consequence of a new breach between the king and parliament, did not prevent them from taking into consideration the grievances under which the nation had lately laboured-the billeting of soldiers, the imposing of arbitrary taxes, the imprisoning of those who refused to comply, and the refusal of bail, on a Habeas Corpus, to certain gentlemen who demanded it. Nor did they fail to express themselves with a proper degree of indignation on these subjects.

"This is the great council of the kingdom," said sir Francis Seymour, who opened the debate," and here, if not here alone, his majesty may see, as in a true glass, the state of the kingdom. We are called hither by his majesty's writs, in order to give him faithful counsel; such as may stand with his honour and this we must do without flattery. We are also sent hither by the people, in order to deliver their just grievances; and this we must do without fear. Let us not like Cambyses' judges, who, when questioned by their prince concerning some illegal measures, replied, though there is a written law, the Persian kings may do what they list! This was a base flattery, fitter for our own reproof than imitation; and, as fear, so flattery taketh away the judgment. For my part, I shall shun both; and speak my mind with as much

(1) Rushworth, vol. i. Whitlocke, p. 8.
(3) Parl. Hist. vol. iii. Rushworth, vol. i.

(2) Rushworth, vol. i,

« PreviousContinue »