118 Ch.10 A. D. Tri umph of Ma zarin. DEATH OF MAZARIN. The return of Cardinal Mazarin to power, as the minister of Louis XIV., was the commencement of his triumphs. 1654 His first care was to restore the public finances; his second, to to secure his personal aggrandizement. He obtained all the 1661. power which Richelieu had possessed; and reproved the King as he would a schoolboy. He enriched and elevated his relatives; married them into the first families of France; and amassed a fortune of two hundred millions of livres, the largest perhaps that any subject has secured in modern times. He even aspired to the popedom; but this greatest of all human dignities he was not permitted to attain. A fatal malady seize 1 him; and the physicians told him he had not two months to live. Some days after he was seen in his dressing gown, among his pictures, of which he was extravagantly fond, and heard to exclaim, "Must I quit all these? Look at that Correggio; this Venus of Titian; this incomparable Deluge of Carracci. Farewell, dear pictures, that I have loved so dearly, and that have cost me so much." His death. The Cardinal lingered awhile, and amused his last hours with cards. He expired in 1661; and no minister after him was ever entrusted with such great power. He died unlamented, even by the sovereign whose throne he had preserved, and whose fortune he had repaired. He had great talents in conversation; was witty, artful, and polite. He completed the work which Richelieu began; and at his death left his master the most absolute monarch that ever reigned in France. REFERENCES.-The numerous Memoirs of this period contain the best history of the reign of Louis XIII.; among which may be mentioned those of Sully, Richelieu, Bassompierre, D'Estrées, Capefique, Montrésor, La Rochefoucauld, D'Epernon, Mazarin, Saint Simon, De Retz, Madame De Motteville, and Mademoiselle De Montpensier. Sir James Stephens' "Lectures" are highly valuable; and Lord Mahon's "Life of the Prince of Condé" is very interesting. JAMES L OF ENGLAND. 119 CHAPTER XI. ENGLAND DURING THE REIGNS OF JAMES I. AND CHARLES I A. D. WITH the accession of James I. a new era commences in Ch. 11 English history, marked by the growing importance of the House of Commons, and by struggles for civil and religious 1603. liberty. new era Since the accession of Elizabeth, a great stride had been James I. made by the people, not merely in civilization, but also in and a their ideas of freedom. The Reformation, especially, had taught rights and duties which before were but imperfectly understood, and the diffusion of knowledge had strengthened the popular convictions. Differences soon arose between the House of Commons and the monarch on many points, but especially as to the imposition of taxes. And if these did not give much cause of alarm, still discontents were secretly fomented, such as did not exist under the Tudor princes,—not because they were less arbitrary or tyrannical, but because a new power had arisen in England. The middle classes, during the reign of Elizabeth, had been growing in wealth and knowledge. The time came, under the Stuart princes, when this influence began to be felt politically. mence ment of The grand peculiarity of this reign, then, was the com- Commencement of those discontents which led gradually to the contest between Royal prerogative and popular freedom. popular Moreover the Puritan difficulties increased; and the Puritans, harassed by religious persecutions, sided with the enemies of the King. Before, however, the grand struggle between prerogative discon ter ts. 120 LEADING EVENTS OF THE REIGN. Ch. 11 and liberty arrested the attention of Europe, several events occurred worthy of historical notice. A. D. 1603 The most memorable was the Gunpowder Plot, planned by to desperate Roman Catholics, for the murder of the King, the 1615. destruction of both Houses of Parliament, and the restoration of ancient superstitions. The plot was seasonably and provipowder dentially discovered, just as Guy Fawkes was preparing to Plot. execute his diabolical purpose. It was supposed that the Jesuits were at the bottom of the conspiracy, and many of them were arrested and executed. Gun Penal against tholics The discovery of the plot was the greatest blow which Romanism ever received in England: unhappily it led to a bitter persecution of the Catholic population. Penal statutes were fearfully Acts multiplied; no Catholic was permitted to live in London; to the Ca- practise surgery, physic, or law; to act as judge, clerk, or officer of any court; or to perform the office of administrator, executor, or guardian. Catholics were compelled, under heavy penalties, to have their children baptized by Protestants, and were prohibited to serve in Protestant families. They were outlawed; their houses might be broken open, and their furniture destroyed with impunity. In short, they were subjected to the same cruelties and penalties that the Protestants were in France before the edict of Nantes, but with less excuse, since the Protestants in England professed more enlightened principles of toleration than did their Catholic adversaries. Reign of favorites. Another feature of this reign was the great power entrusted to unworthy favorites. Carr and Villiers enjoyed an ascendency equal to that possessed by Wolsey, or Essex. Robert Carr, a Scotch adventurer, became Viscount Rochester, and Earl of Somerset, and, virtually, prime minister. He married the Countess of Essex, and his only daughter became the wife of the first Duke of Bedford. He owed his whole success to his personal beauty and lively manners. But in 1615 he was supplanted in the royal favor by George Villiers, who became Duke of Buckingham, a man who trampled on the laws, taught the King to subvert the constitution, and pan ARBITRARY GOVERNMENT. 121 dered to all his weaknesses and follies. After having gained Ch.11 an elevation which rendered him odious to the English people he was, in the next reign, assassinated. A. D. 1615 But James not only permitted himself to be guided by to favorites, he neglected the higher interests of the nation. 1621 He granted patents for odious monopolies, made grievous Abuse exactions, sold justice, and carried on ignominious war. In of royal 1618 he allowed Sir Walter Raleigh to be executed, because authority. he was unfortunate in an expedition to the coasts of South America. His whole conduct was stained by treachery and meanness. Every form of tyranny was in turn practised. People were dragged to the Star Chamber on frivolous accusations, and subjected to heavy penalties; while the King, in order to supply his necessities, freely resorted to illegal means of raising money, and intimated his determination to tax the people himself, if such supplies as he demanded were not granted by the Commons. men The Parliament, however, was composed of a different class Parliaof persons from those who had yielded to the Tudors. Many tary of the leading members were Puritans, who were inimical opposi to the King both on religious and political grounds. These tion. men insisted on their privileges with great tenacity, and ridiculed the idea of a "divine right" to do wrong. They instituted inquiries into monopolies, and attacked the monstrous abuses of purveyance, and other feudal usages, by which the King became guardian towards, and received the profits of estates during minority. In addition to this they refused to grant even necessary supplies, unless certain grievances were redressed; among which the High Commission Court was the most odious. But neither monopolies, nor feudal prerogatives, nor arbitrary taxation inflamed the Commons so much as the projected marriage between the Prince of Wales and the Infanta of Spain. James flattered himself that this Spanish match, to Spanish arrange which he had sert Buckingham to the Court of match. Madrid, would procure the restitution of the Palatinate to the 122 A. D. PARLIAMENTARY OPPOSITION. Ch. 11 Elector, who had been driven from his throne. But the Commons thought differently. They, as well as the people 1622 generally, were indignant at the inactivity of the Govern.nent to in not sending aid to the distressed Protestants of Germany; 1625. and the loss of the Palatinate was regarded as a national Conten tions with ment. calamity. They saw that no good could accrue from an alliance with the enemies and persecutors of these Protestants; but, on the other hand, much evil. As the constitutional guardians, therefore, of the public welfare and liberty, they framed a remonstrance to the King, representing the overgrown power of Austria as dangerous to the liberties of Europe, and entreated His Majesty to take up arms against Spain, then allied with Austria, and by whose wealth Austrian armies were supported. James was inflamed with indignation at this remonstrance, and forthwith wrote a letter to the Speaker of the House of Parlia Commons, commanding him to admonish the members "not to presume to meddle with matters of State, which were beyond their capacity, and especially not to touch on his son's marriage." The Commons, not dismayed, and conscious of strength, sent up a new remonstrance, in which they affirmed that they were entitled to interpose with their counsel in all matters of State, and that entire freedom of speech was their ancient and undoubted right, transmitted from their ancestors. The King, in reply, told the Commons that "their remonstrance was more like a denunciation of war, than an address of dutiful subjects, and that their pretension to inquire into State affairs was a plenipotence to which none of their ancestors, even during the weakest reigns, had ever dared to aspire." He further insinuated that their privileges were derived from royal favor. On this, the Commons framed another protest,—that the liberties, franchises, privileges, and jurisdictions of Parliament are the ancient and undoubted birthright of Englishmen, and that every member has the right of freedom of speech. This protest they entered upon their journals, upon which James lost all temper, ordered the |