DEATH OF JAMES, AND ACCESSION OF CHARLES I. 128 clerk to bring him the journals, erased the protestation with Ch.11 his own hand, in presence of the judges and the council, and then dissolved the Parliament. A. D. 1625. The prosecution and the Spanish match became at length so odious to the nation, that Buckingham, to preserve his popularity, broke off the negotiations, by a system of treachery and duplicity as hateful as were his original efforts to promote it. War with Spain was the result of the insult offered to the War Infanta and the Court. An alliance was now made with with France, and Charles ultimately married Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. Shortly before this (March 27, 1625), King James died, from a disease produced by anxiety and gluttony, after a reign in England of twenty-two years. His son Charles I. was immediately proclaimed King. Charles was twenty-five years of age when he began to reign. In many respects he was wiser and better than his father, but he had the same extravagant notions of the royal prerogative, the same contempt for the people, the same dislike of constitutional liberty, and the same resolution to maintain the absolute power of the Crown, at any cost. Spain. Charles. With his reign commences unquestionably the most excit- Reign of ing period of English history; a period to which historians have given more attention than to any other great historical era, the French Revolution alone excepted. Any attempt to detail the events of this exciting age and reign would be, in this brief history, absurd; yet some notice of its more important transactions cannot be avoided. The House of Commons, which had gradually acquired strength, spirit, and popularity during the reign of James, fully perceived the difficulties and necessities of Charles, but made no adequate or generous effort to relieve him from them. The King ascended the throne burdened by the debts of his father, and by an expensive war, which the Commons had excited, but were not willing to pay for. They granted him, to 124 A. D. DIFFICULTIES OF THE KING. Ch. 11 meet his difficulties and to maintain his honor, the paltry sum of one hundred and forty thousand pounds, and the duties of 1625 tonnage and poundage-not, as was customary, for life, but for to a year. Of course the money was soon spent, and the King 1628. wanted more. The Commons now resolved not to grant necessary supplies to carry on the Government, unless the Conten- King would part with the prerogatives of an absolute prince, with the and give up privileges which had now become hateful in the eyes of the people. Charles was not the man to make such a bargain. Civil war became therefore inevitable, provided both parties were resolved on maintaining their ground. tion Com mons. Charles fancied that the Commons could be intimidated into submission; and even on the supposition that he should be brought into collision with his subjects, he still imagined that he could put down the spirit of resistance. In both of these suppositions he erred. The Commons were firm and strong, because they had the sympathy of the people, who believed conscientiously (especially the Puritans) that they were entitled, alike by the principles of justice, and by the spirit of the constitution, to civil and religious liberty, in the highest sense of that term. They believed that these rights were inalienable and absolute; that, in consistency with them, they could not be taxed without their own consent; and that under all circumstances their constitutional guardians, the Commons, should be unrestricted in debate. Charles was The contest soon ended in an appeal to arms. not without friends, and some of his advisers were men of sagacity and talent. It is true they did not fully appreciate the weakness of the King, or the strength of his enemies; but they saw his distress, and they tried to remove it. They recommended violent courses; they urged him to grant new monopolies; to extort fines; to exercise all his feudal privileges; to pawn the crown jewels, if necessary, in order to raise money— King. for money, at all events, he must have. They advised him to arrest turbulent and incendiary members of the Commons; to prorogue and dissolve parliaments; to raise forced loans; to im Embarass ment of the DEATH OF BUCKINGHAM. 125 pose new duties; to shut up ports; to levy fresh taxes, and to Ch. 11 raise armies friendly to his cause. In short, they recom- A. D. mended measures which both they and the King knew to be 1625 unconstitutional, but which they justified on the ground of to necessity. The King, in his perplexity, did what his ministers 1628. advised. But every person who was sent to the Tower, every new tax, every sentence of the Star Chamber, every seizure of property, every arbitrary command, every violation of the liberties of the people, only raised up new enemies, and inflamed the people with new discontents. Buck At first the Commons supposed that they could obtain what Death of they wanted—a redress of grievances, if the King's favorite ingham. adviser and minister were removed. For they all hated Buckingham, and all sought his downfall. So they violently attacked his administration, and impeached him. But he was shielded by the King, and appointed to command an expedition to relieve La Rochelle, then besieged by Richelieu. As he was about to embark at Portsmouth he was stabbed by Felton, a religious fanatic, and afterwards buried with great state in Westminster Abbey. This event took place in 1628, about three years after the accession of the King. Meanwhile the indignant Commons persevered with their work, and passed what is called the "Petition of Right,”—a Petitio string of resolutions which asserted that no freeman ought to of Right. be detained in prison, without being brought to trial, and that no taxes could be lawfully levied, without consent of the Commons- the two great pillars of the English Constitution. To this petition the King's assent was unwillingly if not insincerely given; and the Commons, for once gratified, voted supplies. But Charles had no notion of keeping his word, and soon resorted to unconstitutional measures, as before. A fitting agent for the accomplishment of his purposes was soon found in the person of Thomas Wentworth, a man of wealth, talents, energy, and indomitable courage; who had, in the early part of his career, defended the cause of liberty, and even suffered 126 A. D. THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. Ch. 11 imprisonment rather than contribute to an unlawful loan But his patriotism was not equal to his ambition. Seduced by 1628 a peerage, and by the love of power, he went over to the side to of the King, and defended his arbitrary rule as zealously as he 1637. had before advocated the cause of constitutional liberty. He was created Viscount Wentworth, and afterwards Earl of Earl of Strafford, and soon became the most prominent man 01 the royalist party. Straf ford. Under the rule of this minister, whom all feared, the Puritans everywhere fled-preferring the deserts of America, with freedom, to the fair lands of England, with liberty trodden under foot. Pym, Cromwell, Hazelrig, and even Hampden, are said to have actually embarked, but were prevented from sailing by the Government. The reigns of both James and Charles are memorable for the struggles of this intrepid religious party, in which were enrolled some of the finest minds and most intelligent patriots of the country. While the King and his minister were raising forced loans and contributions, sending members of the House of Commons to the Tower, fining, imprisoning, and mutilating the Puritans, a new imposition called ship money brought matters to a crisis. Ship This tax, devised by Chief Justice Finch and Attorneymoney General Noy, two subordinate, but unscrupulous tools of despotism, was designed to extort money from the inland counties, as well as from the cities, for furnishing ships-a demand that Elizabeth, in all her power, did not make, even when threatened by the Spanish Armada. Clarendon admits that this tax was not for the support of the navy, "but for a spring and magazine which should have no bottom, and for an everlasting supply on all occasions." This the nation completely understood, and resolved desperately to resist. John len. John Hampden, though a wealthy man, refused to pay the Hamp- share assessed on him, which was only twenty shillings, deeming it an illegal tax. He was proceeded against by the Crown lawyers, and appealed to a decision of the judges in regard to INSURRECTION IN SCOTLAND, 127 the legality of the tax. The King permitted the question to Ch.11 be settled by the lawyers. The trial lasted thirteen days, but A. D. ended in the condemnation of Hampden, who had shown great 1637 moderation as well as courage, and had won the favor of the to people. It was shortly after this, that Hampden and his 1640. cousin Oliver Cromwell resolved to leave England; but the King prevented the ships from sailing land. About a month after Hampden's condemnation (July, 1637), Insuran insurrection broke out in Scotland, which again hastened rection revolution. It was produced by the attempt of Archbishop in Scot Laud to impose the English liturgy on the Scottish nation, and to supplant Presbyterianism by Episcopacy. The instant Episcopal worship was introduced, by authority, in the cathedral of Edinburgh, an insurrection broke out, which rapidly spread through all parts of the country. An immense multitude came to Edinburgh to protest against the innovation, and crowded all the houses, streets, and halls of the city. The King ordered the petitioners home, without answering their complaints. They obeyed the injunction, but soon returned in greater numbers. All classes joined the insurgents, who at last bound themselves, by solemn league and covenant, not to separate until their rights and liberties were secured. Force, of course, was necessary to reduce the rebels, and civil war commenced in Scotland. But war increased the necessities of the King, and he was compelled to make peace with the insurgent army. misrule Eleven years had now elapsed since the dissolution of the Royal last parliament, during which the King had attempted to rule without one, and had resorted to all the expedients that the ingenuity of the Crown lawyers could suggest, in order to extort money. Imposts fallen into desuetude, monopolies abandoned by Elizabeth, royal forests extended beyond the limits they had in feudal times, fines past all endurance, confiscations without end, imprisonments, tortures, and executions, — all marked these eleven years. At last the King's necessities compelled him to summon K |