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THE     DEBATES 


ON   THE 


GRAND     REMONSTRANCE, 


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THE    DEBATES 


ON    THE 


GRAND  REMONSTRANCE, 

NOVEMBER  AND  DECEMBER, 
1 64 1. 


AN    INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY 
On  Englijlo  Freedom  under  Plantagenet  &  Tudor  Sovereigns. 


FC 


BY   JOHN  TORSTER,    LL.D. 


LONDON : 
JOHN   MURRAY,   ALBEMARLE   STREET. 

i860. 

[The  right  ofTranJlation  is  referred.] 


LONDON: 
BRADBURY    AND    EVANS,    PRINTERS,    WHITEFRIARS. 


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OLOGIG^I 

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CONTENTS. 


INTRODUCTORY  ESSAY  ON  ENGLISH  FREEDOM 
UNDER  PLANTAGENET  AND  TUDOR  SOVEREIGNS, 
pp.  i — 109. 

PAGE 

§  I.  The  Plantagenets 1 — 64 

Purpofe  of  this  EfTay.  Pofition  taken  up  by  Charles  the  Firft's 
opponents.  Records  and  Titles  of  Englifh  freedom,  1.  Burke 
on  our  hiftory.  Precedents  in  older  time.  Charter  of  Henry  the 
Firft  (1100).  Difficulty  of  fuppreffing  a  charter,  2.  Henry 
the  First.  Royal  conceffions  not  refumable.  Imperfect  judg- 
ments in  hiftory.  Strength  and  weaknefs  of  Norman  kings,  3. 
Bafis  of  Saxon  conftitution.  Adopted  by  the  Conqueror  and  his 
Ions.  Origin  of  Feudality.  Its  burdens  and  modes  of  tenure,  4. 
Natural  confequences  of  Feudal  System.  Its  development.  He- 
reditary Succeffion.  Extinction  of  Vaftalage.  The  Crufades,  5. 
Feudal  Inftitutions  improved.  Influences  of  Chriftianity.  Seeds 
of  Commerce  and  Literature.  Henry  II,  6.  Firft  Plantagenet 
King  (11 54).  Gains  to  civil  freedom.  Difpute  of  Henry  II 
and  his  Primate.  Becket's  fcheme,  7.  Henry's  oppofition. 
What  the  ftruggle  involved.  Character  of  Henry.  Complete 
victory  to  either  not  defirable,  8.  What  was  due  to  the  Church. 
What  Henry  II  gained.  Ranulf  de  Glanville,  Traflatus  de  Le- 
gibus  et  Consuetudinibus  Regni  Anglia.  Appointment  of  circuits 
for  judges  (1176),  9.  Richard  I  (1189).  New  relations 
between  throne  and  barons.  Independent  oppofition  to  Crown. 
Beginning  of  ftruggles  of  party,  10.  Arthur's  claim  to  the 
iuccefTion :  fought  only  in  French  provinces.  The  Englifh 
Crown  not  heritable  property.  Sovereignty  elective.  Nor- 
mans defer  to  Saxon  principle,  11.  Coronation  oi  John  (1 199). 
Trealbns  the  feed-plot  of  Liberty.  Legitimacy  or  Election  ? 
Why  John  preferred  to  Arthur,  12.  Henry  II's  policy  unfettled 
by  his  Ions.  Monarchy  and  ariftocracy  in  conflict.  People 
choole  their  fide  alternately,  13.  Character  of  John.  Hisdefer- 
tion  of  both  fides.  Ufes  of  a  bad  king.  What  the  triumph  of 
the  Barons  involved,  14.  Party  fpirit  and  its  refults.  Englifh 
King  ftripped   of  French  conquefts.     Conduct  of  the  Barons. 


Contents. 

PAGE 

Growth  of  national  feeling,  1 5.  Common  caufe  againft  foreign- 
ers. Alliance  of  lords  and  citizens.  King's  furrender  to  Pope 
(1213).  Freedom's  debt  to  John,  16.  Confederacy  againft 
King.  Character  of  Langton.  His  fervices  to  Engliih  freedom. 
Firft  day  at  Runnymede  (Tuefday  16th  of  June,  1215),  17. 
Faith  in  Langton.  Fourth  day  :  Charter  figned.  Its  general 
character.  Confirmation  of  exifting  liberties.  Principles  latent 
in  it,  18.  Remedial  provifions.  Guarantees  of  franchifes.  Re- 
drefs  of  perfonal  wrongs,  19.  Central  courts  of  law.  Levies  of 
aid  limited.  Conftitution  of  Great  Council.  Forms  of  fum- 
mons  thereto :  hateful  to  fucceeding  princes,  20.  Minor  pro- 
vifions. Securities  for  liberty  and  property.  Juftice  not  to  be 
denied  or  fold.  "  Nullus  liber  /wmo,"  21.  All  freemen  to  be 
tried  by  their  peers,  21,  22.  Extenfion  of  relief  to  fub-vaffals. 
Effect  of  Charter  in  later  times.  Its  power  of  expanfion,  22. 
Subftance  fhaping  Forms.  Violations  and  reaffertions  of  Char- 
ter. Henry  III  (1216),  23.  Earliest  Council  named  as 
a  Parliament.  Supply  conditional  on  redrefs.  Control  of 
money  by  Parliament.  Appeal  of  Henry  III  to  People.  Similar 
appeal  from  Barons,  24.  Jealoufy  of  French  favourites.  Struggle 
for  power  transformed  to  war  of  principles.  Rife  of  merchants 
and  tradefmen.  Guilds  and  Charters,  25.  Privileges  and  rights 
ceded  to  middle  clafs.  King's  fummons  for  parliament  not 
obeyed  (1233).  Political  ballads.  Attack  upon  the  Favourite, 
26.  General  difcontent.  Grievances  reported  and  Redrefs  de- 
manded (February,  1234).  Parliament  affembled  and  Favourite 
difmiffed  (April,  1234).  Ministerial  refponfibility  and  Parlia- 
mentary control,  27.  Diftrefs,  Redrefs,  and  Supply.  Securities 
for  public  faith.  Law  fyftematifed  (Brafion,  1250).  Curia 
Regis,  28.  Cabinet  of  the  King.  A  memorable  affembly  (2nd 
of  May,  1258).  The  Great  Council  under  Normans:  not  a 
Houfe  of  Lords:  not  hereditary,  but  reprefentative,  29.  Germs 
therein  of  larger  fyftem.  Break-up  of  elements  of  Council. 
Diftinctions  and  grades  of  rank.  Varieties  in  writs  of  fummons, 
30.  Peculiarities  of  feudal  reprefentation.  Aid  for  Protection. 
Leffer  tenants  reprefented  by  larger,  31.  Tranfition  from  feudal 
to  real  rights,  31,  32.  Languageof  writs  of  fummons.  Fictions 
foreshadowing  truths.  Forms  conveying  Subftance,  32.  Com- 
miffions  of  inquiry  in  fhires.  Old  inftitution  adapted  to  new 
ufes(i223).  County  reprefentation  begins.  Collection  of  taxes 
(in  1207  and  1220),  33.  Beginning  of  the  end.  Vague  for- 
mation of  authority  of  Commons.  Gradual  fteps  thereto  (1214). 
Scheme  to  obtain  money  from  ihires  (1254),  34.  Knights  to 
anlwer  for  their  counties.  Reprefentatives  to  impofe  taxes.  One 
chamber  at  Weftminfter  :  feparate  fittings  elfewhere,  35.  Ad- 
miffion  of  third  eftate,  35,  36.  Knights  fit  with  Lords.  Lords 
pay,  fitting  in  their  own  right.  Knights  are  paid,  fitting  for 
others.  County  rates,  36.  Wages  of  knights  levied  on  entire 
county.     Election  by  full  County  Court.     All  freeholders  com- 


Contents. 


prifed  :  and  reprefented  by  knights  of  (hire,  37.  Refults  of 
iuch  reprefentation.  Ages  prepare  what  the  hour  produces. 
Six  eventful  years.  Writs  for  First  House  of  Commons 
(14th  of  December,  1264),  38.  Rights  gained  once,  gained 
always.  Power  of  Commons  ever  growing.  Edward  I  (1271). 
Election  of  Sheriffs,  39.  Great  Statute  of  Winchefter  (1284), 
39,  40.  Edward  II  (1307).  Creation  of  Royal  Boroughs. 
Equal  power  claimed  for  Commons.  Provifion  for  affembling  of 
Parliaments,  40.  Confirmations  of  Great  Charter.  Attempts 
to  impofe  taxes  without  Parliament.  Money  fupplies  made  con- 
ditional. Edward  III  (1327).  Statute  of  Treafons.  Acts 
againfl  Confcription,  41.  No  forced  p  retting  of  Soldiers.  Cha- 
racter of  Edward  III.  Victorious  in  peace  as  well  as  war. 
Firft  man  in  the  realm.  Intellectual  influences  of  his  reign,  42. 
Chaucer  (1328).  Improvement  of  the  language.  Englifh 
adopted  in  Parliament  rolls.  Richard  II  (1377).  Refults  of 
Richard's  depofition,  43.  People's  power  to  alter  the  fucceffion: 
sole  claim  of  Houfe  of  Lancafter.  Terms  of  Richard's  fubmif- 
fion.  His  abdication  made  compulfory,  44.  Popular  principle 
accepted.  Adhefion  of  the  people.  Soliciting  the  Throne. 
Shakefpeare's  Bolingbroke.  Henry  IV  [(1399),  45.  King  Bo- 
lingbroke.  Elevation  of  the  people.  Parliamentary  aflump- 
tions.  Precedent  for  Hanoverian  succeffion  (1406),  46.  No 
judge  to  plead  King's  orders.  Claim  to  make  supplies  condi- 
tional on  redrefs  (1401).  Officers  of  Houfehold  removed  (1404). 
Law  for  regulating  County  Elections,  47.  All  Freeholders  to 
vote.  The  lack-learning  Parliament  (1406).  Accumulation  of 
Church  property.  Its  unequal  diftribution,  48.  Propofal  to 
feize  it  for  better  appropriation.  Failure  of  attempt.  Thirty 
articles  for  regulation  of  King's  affairs.  Minifterial  refponfibi- 
lity  eftablifhed  (1410),  49.  Interference  with  Taxation  by  the 
Lords  refifted.  Changes  fince  the  Conqueft.  Petitions  and 
Bills.  Royal  evalion  of  Parliamentary  control,  50.  Bills  fubfti- 
tuted  for  Petitions.  Henry  V  (141 3).  Good  out  of  evil. 
Advantage  to  Commons  from  Henry  V's  wars.  Further  re- 
ftraints  on  the  prerogative,  51.  Admiffion  of  rights  of  legis- 
lature. Law  againfl;  tampering  with  petitions.  Exemptions 
claimed  for  members  of  the  Commons,  52.  Privilege  of 
Parliament.  Thorpe's  cafe.  Eftablifhed  againfl:  the  courts. 
Right  of  Impeachment  won.  Liberal  gains  intercepted,  53. 
Freedom  outraged  but  not  loft,  53,  54.  Conceffions  to  force. 
Henry  VI  (1422).  Differences  in  quarter  of  a  century,  54. 
Voting  of  all  freeholders  in  counties:  limited  to  forty-fhilling 
freeholders,  54,  55.  Greater  importance  of  the  people.  Feud- 
ality declining.  Villenage  paffed  away.  Changes  in  Society, 
55.  Higher  developments  of  feudal  principle.  A  contraft. 
Tyler's  Rebellion:  Popular  demands  (1381).  Cadets  Rebellion; 
Popular  demands  (1450),  56.  Rapid  fall  of  Feudal  Syftem  :  as 
the  People  rofe.     Levelling  of  diftinctiohs.     Comforts  of  labour- 


Contents. 


ing  clafles,  57.  Refpective  condition  of  England  and  of  France, 
57,  58.  Contrails  of  the  two  Nations.  Teftimony  of  Sir  John 
Fortefcue  :  and  of  Philip  de  Comines,  58.  De  Laudibus  Legum 
Anglits  (1465).  Reftraints  on  prerogative.  Conftitution  of  Par- 
liament. Rights  of  the  fubject.  Refponfibility  of  the  Crown, 
59.  Encroachments  of  Executive.  Checks  of  Parliament. 
Control  of  the  purfe.  Loans  and  Benevolences,  60.  Source  of 
ftrength  to  Commons :  derived  from  other  powers.  Aflifted 
from  above  and  from  below.  The  People  the  fupreme  force. 
Expedients  to  keep  it  down,  61.  Wars  of  the  Rofes.  Ed- 
ward IV:  Edward  V:  Richard  III  (1461 — 1483).  Le- 
gislation during  Civil  Wars.  Richard  Ill's  ftatute  againft 
forced  loans,  62.  Advances  in  commerce,  learning,  and  the  arts. 
Lofs  of  the  French  provinces.  War  on  furface  of  the  land, 
Peace  beneath.  Commercial  guilds  replacing  great  families,  63. 
Break-up  of  fyftem  of  Middle  Ages.  Kingcraft  fucceeds.  Its 
chief  profefTors.  French,  Spanifli,  and  Englifh  kings.  Refults 
in  England,  64. 

II.  The  Tudors 65 — 92 

Henry  VII  (1485).  Uneafinefs  as  to  fuccefTion.  Parliamen- 
tary fettlement,  65.  Pope's  refcript  on  Henry's  title  :  tranflated 
for  the  people  :  and  firft  printed  in  broadfide  by  Caxton,  65,  66. 
Lord  Bolingbroke's  view  of  the  reign.  Lories  to  public  liberty. 
Defection  of  parliament,  66.  Maintenance  of  legal  forms. 
Peculiarity  of  Tudor  defpotifm.  Indications  of  focial  change. 
Power  changing  hands,  67.  NecefTity  for  a  Poor  Law.  Houfe 
of  Lords  :  29  in  number.  Commons  weakened  by  weaknefs  in 
Lords.  Influences  unfeen,  68.  Unconfcious  law-making.  Star 
Chamber  created.  A  keen  but  narrow  virion.  Lord  Bacon's 
character  of  Henry  VII,  69.  Leading  acts  of  his  fovereignty. 
What  was  intended  by  his  legislation.  What  was  effected 
beyond  his  intention,  70.  Interval  between  feudal  and  popular 
agencies.  Firft  Expedition  to  America  (1496).  Vifit  of  Eraf- 
mus  to  England.  Sebaftian  Cabot  in  the  New  World,  71. 
Erafmus  in  Oxford.  Revival  of  ftudy  of  Homer.  Greek  Pro- 
feffbrfhip  at  Oxford  (1497).  Diflike  of  the  new  learning,  72. 
A  good  old  Englifh  complaint :  againft  Letters  and  Poverty. 
Part  taken  by  Erafmus.  Dilciples  of  Aquinas,  73.  Syftem  of 
the  Schoolmen  doomed.  Language  an  enflaver  as  well  as  libe- 
rator. Connection  of  words  and  things.  Erafmus's  great 
weapon.  "  A  Second  Lucian,"  74.  Firft  pure  text  of  the 
Teftament.  The  way  prepared  for  Luther.  Complaint  againft 
Erafmus.  Harbinger  of  the  Reformation.  Titles  of  Erafmus 
to  refpect,  75.  His  example.  His  achievements.  His  connec- 
tion with  Oxford.  Henry's  Statutes.  Commerce  and  learning 
indirectly  aflifted,  76.  Ufes  of  the  Printing  Prefs.  Legiflating 
for  the  future.  Disfavour  to  nobles.  Favour  to  Churchmen 
and  Lawyers,  77.     Throne  guarded  from  Treafon  :  and  enriched 


Contents. 


by  Forfeitures,  77,  78.  New  methods  of  extortion.  Empfon 
and  Dudley.  Ufes  to  which  they  were  put,  78.  Plunder  under 
forms  of  law.  Henry  VIII  (1509).  Execution  of  Empfon  and 
Dudley.  Tudor  characleriftics,  79.  Caufes  of  fuccefs  :  yielding 
to  people,  repreffing  nobles.  Talk  of  each  fovereign,  80.  Henry's 
(1509).  Edward's  (1547).  Mary's  (1553).  Elizabeth's 
(1558),  80,  81.  Tudor  deipotifm  exceptional.  Its  checks  and 
limits,  81.  Elizabeth's  conceffions.  Mary's  weaknefs.  Pofition 
of  Houfe  of  Commons.  A6ls  of  parliament  edged  tools. 
Parliamentary  refiftance  to  Mary,  82.  Three  diffolutions  in  two 
years.  Privileges  won  from  Henrv  VIII.  Thirty  members 
added  to  Commons.  Safeguards  of  an  armed  people,  83.  Obli- 
gation for  martial  exercife.  Power  beyond  the  Sovereign.  All 
legiflation  in  name  of  Commons.  Subftance  as  well  as  form 
claimed  by  them,  84.  Elizabeth's  reign.  Character  of  the 
Queen  :  a  fovereign  demagogue.  Advantages  of  the  people. 
Remits  of  the  Reformation.  Oxford  leffons  complete,  85. 
Change  impending.  Rife  of  religious  difcontent.  The  newly 
eftablifhed  Church.  Impulfes  of  Reformation  reftrained.  A 
danger  overlooked,  86.  Cartwright's  Leclures  at  Cambridge 
(1570).  Puritan  Party  formed.  Its  leaders  in  Houfe  of 
Commons.  Vain  attempts  to  fubdue  them,  87.  Laft  aft  of  the 
greateft  Tudor.  Elizabeth's  antipathy  to  Puritans  :  Puritan 
fympathy  with  Elizabeth,  88.  Champion  and  leader  of  the 
Reformation.  Puritanifm  in  a  new  form  :  joined  with  political 
difcontent.  A  Queen's  Serjeant  coughed  down,  89.  Cecil's 
warning  to  Commons.  Elizabeth's  laft  appearance  in  Parlia- 
ment. James  I  (1603).  Two  kingdoms  united  under  the 
Stuarts,  90.  Opportunity  loft  by  Cecil.  No  conditions  made  at 
Acceffion.  No  check  on  overftrained  prerogative.  Provocation 
to  Rebellion,  91.     Penalties  to  be  paid,  92. 

§  III.  First  Stuart  King 92 — 109 

Character  of  James.  His  learning.  His  cunning  and  fhrewd- 
nefs,  92.  Wifeft  fool  in  Chriftendom.  What  he  did  with 
learning.  Ufes  of  his  knowledge.  Too  confident  an  affump- 
tion,  93.  Early  career  in  Scotland.  His  excufes.  A  fchool  for 
king-craft.  His  pofition  between  Puritan  and  Papift,  94.  For- 
mation of  his  character.  His  attachments.  Family  of  James. 
Princefs  Elizabeth  born  (1596).  Prince  Charles  born  (1600),  95. 
The  Gowrie  Confpiracy.  Prince  Charles's  boyhood.  Phyfical 
defecls,  96.  Profpe6l  of  Englifh  throne.  Joy  of  laity  in  Scot- 
land. Indignation  of  clergy.  Elizabeth's  death  announced, 
97.  Journey  fouthward  begun  (April,  1603),  97,  98.  Novelty 
of  a  King  after  half  a  century  of  a  Queen.  Perfonal  charac- 
terises of  the  new  monarch.  Face  and  figure.  Slobbering 
fpeech,  98.  Shuffling  gait.  Abfence  of  felf-fupport.  A  fence 
to  monarchy  thrown  down.  Courtiers  confounded.  Royal  pro- 
grefs   to   London,    99.      Entertainments.      At   Hinchinbrook : 


Contents. 

PAGE 

Oliver  Cromwell  (set.  4)  firft  fees  a  king.  Interview  with 
Francis  Bacon.  Arrival  in  land  of  promiie,  100.  Interview 
with  Cecil:  at  Theobald's  (3rd  May),  100,  101.  Unfavourable 
imprefiion  on  the  minifter.  Foreign  policy.  Death  of  Cecil 
(1612).  Rife  of  Somerfet,  101.  King's  manner  to  favourites. 
Somerfet's  fall.  Rife  of  Villiers,  102.  A  prime  minifter  at  a 
mafque.  Scenes  and  a<5f.ors  in  the  Court.  Unreftrained  indul- 
gences. Bribes  taken  by  women,  103.  Sports  of  the  Cockpit. 
Profligate  expenditure.  Debts  of  the  King.  Shameful  necef- 
fities,  104..  Buckingham's  extravagance.  Expedients  for  money. 
Benevolences  and  fines.  Patents  and  monopolies.  Knighthood 
exhaufted.  Baronetcies  invented.  Peerages  put  up  to  fale,  105. 
Tariff  of  titles.  James's  theological  difplays.  Hampton  Court 
Conference.  King's  conduct  to  Puritans,  106.  Delight  of  the 
Bifhops.  Chancellor  Ellefmere's  ideal.  James's  religious  per- 
fecutions,  107.  Retribution  in  ftore.  A  parallel  to  James's 
creed.  Alleged  darker  traits :  not  eftablifhed.  Lambeth  MSS. 
(930,/!  91),  108.  Innocent  as  to  Overbury  and  Prince  Henry. 
Opinions  of  the  people.  Contempt  of  the  perfon  of  the  fove- 
reign.     Legacy  to  Charles  I,  109. 


THE    DEBATES     ON    THE    GRAND     REMONSTRANCE, 
NOVEMBER  AND  DECEMBER,  1641.     pp.  no— 421. 

Facsimile  ofT-ivo  Pages  of  Si)-  Simonds  VExvess  Journal  of  the 
Parliament,  begun  November  i,rd,  1640.  From  the  Original  MS. 
in  the  Britifli  Mufeum  ....     To  face  the  Title-page 

§  I.  Prefatory     .         .......     no — 114 

Moft  exciting  incident  before  the  war.  Moft  neglected  by  hif- 
torians,  no.  Remonftrance  printed  in  RuJJiuuorth.  Mifleading 
of  Clarendon.  Faliification  of  Debates.  Misftatements  followed 
by  all,  in.  Sir  Philip  Warwick's  account.  Extraordinary 
fcene.  Hampden's  influence,  112.  Various  references  to  Great 
Remonftrance.  Clarendon  generally  followed.  Purpofe  of  the 
prefent  work.      Written  from  MS.  records,  113. 

§  II.  What  the  Great  Remonstrance  was    .        .     114 — 117 

Cafe  of  the  Parliament  againll  the  King.  Moft  complete  jufti- 
fication  of  Great  Rebellion.  Religion  and  Politics  in  union, 
1 14.  Hume's  falfe  diftinftions  :  refuted  by  the  Remonftrance, 
114,  115.  Character  of  its  contents.  Warnings  againft  Court. 
Appeal  to  the  country,  1x5.  No  difiefpe£t  to  King  or  Church. 
States  what  the  war  put  in  iffue.  Occupies  15  folio  pages  in 
Rufliworth.  Difficulty  of  reproducing  it,  116.  Its  various  and 
minute  detail.  Purpofed  illuftration  by  MS.  records.  Teft  for 
Clarendon's  honefty,  117. 


Contents. 


§  III.  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes  and  his  Manuscript  Journal 

of  the  Long  Parliament      ....     117 — 125 

Text.  Authority  for  new  fa&s  in  this  work,  117.  Journal  by 
D'Ewes  in  Harleian  MSS.  Writers  acquainted  with  it,  118. 
Neceflity  of  ftudying  the  original  MS.  Account  of  D'Ewes. 
Born  (1602).  At  Cambridge  (1618),  119.  Leaves  Cam- 
bridge, 1620-1.  Quits  Weftminfter  Hall.  Delight  in  old 
records.  Marriage  (1626).  Buys  his  rank,  120.  Projects 
aHiftory.  High  Sheriff  of  Suffolk  (1639).  Sympathy  with 
Puritans.  Returned  to  Long  Parliament  for  Sudbury,  121. 
Lodgings  at  Weihninfter.  Firlt  fpeech  in  Houfe.  Affiduous 
attendance.  Takes  Notes  of  debates,  122.  Fruit  thereof: 
in  five  volumes  of  Journal,  122,  123.  Condition  ot  the 
original  MS.  Pages  fac-fimilied.  Component  Parts  of 
MS.,  123.  Confufcd  prefent  ftate,  124.  Example  of  im- 
portance of  their  contents.  Why  not  earlier  made  ufe 
of,  125. 
Notes.  Notes  by  D'Ewes  charatterifed.  Edinburgh  Review 
(July,  1846),  118.  Self-painted  portrait.  Jealoufy  of 
Note-taking.     Old  Vane  objects,  and  D'Ewes  replies,  1 24. 

§  IV.  Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford  .  126 — 152 
Text.  The  Attainder  made  a  teft  of  opinions.  A  fallacious 
one.  Unwife  companions  and  contrails,  126.  The  "  Pro- 
teftation"  to  defend  Parliament  and  Religion,  127.  Royalift 
fuppotters  of  Attainder.  Falkland,  Culpeper,  Capel?  and 
Hyde,  128.  Danger  of  believing  in  Clarendon.  Conduct  of 
Hyde.  Why  he  declined  office.  Strange  felf-expofure,  129. 
Hyde  chairman  of  a  committee.  Encounters  a  "  tempeft- 
uous"  perfon.  Mr.  Cromwell  "in  a  fury."  Sir  Ralph 
Verney's  Notes,  130.  Reports  debate  on  Strafford.  Speech 
by  Hampden:  on  queftion  not  material  to  the  Bill,  131. 
Attainder  not  in  difpute.  Hampden  fuppofed  favourable  to 
it,  132.  Corre£ter  judgment  by  Macaulay  :  EJfays  (i.  467), 
132,  133.  Line  really  taken  by  Hampden.  Evidence  of 
D'Ewes.  Doubts  fet  at  reft.  Procedure  by  Bill  originally 
propofed.  Pym  and  Hampden  forlmpeachment,  133.  Dii- 
pute  of  the  10th  April.  Diffatisfaclion  with  the  Lords.  Bill 
of  Attainder  revived.  Oppofed  by  Pym  and  Hampden,  134. 
Elder  Vane's  Notes  of  Council,  134,  13  5.  Objection  to  their 
production.  Excitement  thereon.  Conference  with  Lords  pro- 
pofed, 135.  Pym  and  Hampden  outvoted.  Sittingot  the  12th 
April,  1 641.  Reported  in  D'Ewes's  MS.  Two  pages  in 
fac-iimile,  136.  Pym  and  Hampden  acling  together.  Why 
they  oppofed  Attainder.  Pym  iuggefts  conference.  Maynard 
recites  points  for  fettlement,  137.  Houfe  will  make  facrifices 
to  prevent  delay.  Others  guilty  with  Strafford.  Their  guilt 
not  to  be   infilled  on.     The  Notes  of  Council,  138.     Laud 


Contents. 


and  Cottington  involved.  Hotham  for  Attainder.  Pym 
againft.     Maynard  for.     Rudyard  doubtful.     Tomkins  for, 

139.  Culpeper  for.  D'Ewes  againft.  Urges  judgment  on 
Impeachment.     Explanation  afked  from  old  Vane.     Refufed, 

140.  Glyn  explains.  Marten  for  Attainder.  Hampden 
againft.  Vane  and  his  Son.  Subfequent  courfe  of  fupporters 
of  Attainder.  Conduit,  of  Glyn  and  Maynard,  141.  Line 
taken  by  Falkland:  excufed  by  Clarendon.  What  excufe 
for  Mr.  Hyde?  142.  Takes  fame  line  as  Falkland.  Too 
much  faith  in  fhort  memories.  Pym  and  Hampden  confiftent 
throughout,  143.  Their  belief  in  Strafford's  guilt.  Quef- 
tion  raifed  whether  to  hear  his  counfel  t  Refifted  by  Falk- 
land and  Culpeper.  Supported  by  Hampden  and  Pym,  144. 
Speech  of  Maynard  againft.  Pym  in  reply.  Advocates 
Strafford's  claim  to  hearing.  His  appeal  fuccefsful,  145. 
His  fuggeftions  as  to  Attainder.  Englifti  compared  to 
French  Revolution.  Folly  and  falfehood  of  companion,  146. 
Obfolete  views.  Opinions  of  the  better  informed.  Agree- 
ment up  to  Arreft  of  Five  Members.  Parliament's  juftifica- 
tion,  147.  General  character  of  the  ftruggle.  More  wealth 
with  the    Commons   than  with   the    King.     No    terrorifm, 

148.  Origin  of  the   intereft  ftill   infpired  by  the  war,  148, 

149.  A  war  without  an  enemy.  D'Ewes  as  to  acts  and 
motives,  149.  Strafford.  Greateft  man  on  the  King's  fide, 
149,  150.  Where  his  ftatefmanfhip  fucceeded.  Where  it 
failed.  His  fyftem  in  Ireland,  151.  The  good  implied  in 
it.  The  danger  that  proved  fatal.  Bad  faith  of  the  King, 
151^.     Moral  of  Strafford's  government,  152. 

Notes.  "Story  of  Corfe  Caftle,"  126.  D'Ewes  to  Lady 
D'Ewes.  King's  ill-fated  ftep.  Agitation  in  the  Houfe 
and  in  the  City,  127.  "Proteftation"drawn  up.  Takenby 
all,  128.  Verney's  Notes,  130.  As  to  fac-fimile,  140. 
Strafford's  contempt  for  old  Falkland,  142.  Hyde  and  Falk- 
land's agreement.     Sitting  as  well  as  voting  together,  143. 

§  V.  Reaction  after  Strafford's  Death     .         .         152 — 163 

Text.  Parties  altered  after  Strafford's  death.  Remonftrance  a 
freih  ftarting-point,  152.  What  Cromwell  faid  to  Falkland, 
152,  153.  Alleged  narrow  efcape  for  Charles.  Hyde's  new 
policy.  Reaction  for  the  King,  153.  Chances  of  fuccefs. 
Old  pofitions  reverfed.  Daily  defections  from  Popular  ranks, 
154.  Character  of  the  King.  His  view  as  to  invalidity  of 
ftatutes.  Affenting  with  purpofe  to  revoke.  Hyde's  com- 
plaint. Sources  of  danger  to  Parliament,  155.  Signs  of 
wavering.  Abatement  of  Popular  enthufiaim,  156.  Charles's 
advantages.  A  warning  needed.  Threatenings  of  force, 
157.  Freedom  or  Defpotifm  ?  Refolution  to  appeal  to  the 
People.  Origin  of  the  "  Remonftrance."  Firft  moved  by 
Lord  Digby,  158.     The  King  receives  Warning:  on  Eve  of 


Contents.  x;n 

PAGE 

journey  to  Scotland,  158,  159.  Bifhop  Williams  advifes 
conciliation.  King  confents.  Scheme  baffled.  Intended 
diftribution  of  offices,  159.  'Friday,  30th  July,  1641.  :  New 
Miniftry  expected.  Saturday,  7th  Auguft  :  Remonftrance 
formally  brought  forward,  160.  Bifhop  Williams's  labour 
loft.  Remonftrance  openly  difcufled.  King  quits  London  : 
9th  Auguft.  Hyde's  previous  interview,  161.  Why  Charles 
was  grateful  to  him.  His  fervice  againft  Epifcopacy  Bill. 
Engagement  to  defeat  it,  162.  Hopes  from  the  Scottifh 
journey.     Hyde's  promife,  163. 

Notes.  Miftake  of  Richard  Baxter,  153.  Only  lawyers  fe- 
ceded  on  the  Attainder,  154.  The  Clergy  and  Univer- 
fities.  Ficklenefs  of  the  people,  156.  Impatience  of 
waiting.  Cure  more  painful  than  difeafe,  157.  Excite- 
ment as  to  Scotch  journey,  160. 

<§  VI.  Reassembling  of  Parliament,  October,  1641  .    163 — 168 

Text.  20th  of  October,  1641.  Houfes  meet.  Defaulters  from  the 
Commons,  163.  Strode' s  proposition  againft  the  abfent  with- 
out leave,  163,  164.  Liberal  party  weakened.  Forebodings 
coming  true.  Report  from  the  Recefs  Committee,  164. 
Another  plot.  Letters  produced  from  Hampden.  The 
"  Incident,"  165.  Hyde  and  Falkland  outvoted.  Pym's 
refolutions  carried,  166.  Alarm  of  Secretary  Nicholas. 
'King's  friends  difheartened.  Arrival  of  Hampden,  167. 
Bifhops'  Bill  under  difcuffion.  Speakers  for  and  againft. 
Hampden's  furprife.     Falkland's  avowal,  168. 

Notes.  Charge  againft  Montrofe.  30th  October.  Pym's 
fpeech  on  Army  defigns,  165.  Confpiracy  tracked  out, 
166.  Character  of  Edward  Nicholas,  166,  167.  In- 
direct ways  of  the  Court,  167. 

§  VII.  Lord  Falkland 169 — 181 

Text.  Beliefs  as  to  Falkland's  character.  Suppofed  type  of 
moderation.  Errors  and  misjudgment,  169.  Never  zealous 
for  the  King,  170.  Clarendon's  delcription,  171,  Opinions 
held  by  Falkland :  as  to  Court  and  Parliament.  Influ- 
ence of  Hyde.  Faith  of  the  old  Cavalier,  172.  Sentiment 
not  judgment.  Eafy  prey  to  Hyde's  perluaiion.  Falk- 
land's ftronghold,  173.  View  taken  by  Macaulay,  174. 
Objections  thereto.  Excitability  of  temper.  Anecdote  by 
Clarendon.  Emphafis  overdone,  175.  Similar  trait  of 
Danton.  Strange  reiemblances.  Stranger  contrafts,  176. 
Diflike  of  the  war.  Laft  appearance  in  Houfe  of  Com- 
mons. More  like  delinquent  than  Minifter.  Regret  or  felf- 
reproach  ?  177.  Falkland's  nobler  qualities.  Services  to 
men  of  wit,  178.  Open  houfe  at  Oxford  :  to  men  of  all 
opinions,  179.     A  college  in  purer  air,  180.     Three  fpecial 


xiv  Contents. 

PAGE 
characteriftics  :    love  of  truth  ;  hatred  offpies  ;  reverence  for 
private  letters,  180,  181. 

Notes.  Tribute  by  Hyde.  Gratitude  of  the  Poets  to  Falk- 
land. His  Eclogue  on  Jonfon's  death,  170.  On  Jon- 
fon's  learning.  His  vogue  in  theatres.  His  felf-raifed 
fortune,  171.  As  to  lawfulnefs  of  refiftance,  172.  Mac- 
aulay's  EJfays  (i.  160).  A  public  man  unfit  for  public 
life.  What  if  he  had  lived  to  Revolution,  174.  Hyde's 
happy  eulogy,  178.  Exquifite  delicacy.  Picture  of  Falk- 
land's houfe.  Intolerant  only  of  intolerance.  Difcourfes 
againft  Popery,  179. 

§  VIII.  The  Secession  and  its  Dangers       .        .         181 — 190 

Text.  Falkland's  new  leader:  not  Hampden  but  Hyde,  181. 
Liberal  phalanx  broken  up.  Its  achievements,  182.  Defer- 
tion  by  ieceders  :  never  accounted  for,  182,  183.  The  King 
unaltered.  Old  caufe  ftill  hateful  to  him.  Danger  of  lofing 
all,  183.  Reappearance  of  plague,  183,  184.  King's  defire 
for  adjournment  of  Houfes.  Pym's  refinance.  Attempt  on 
Pym's  life,  184.  Letter  delivered  by  the  Serjeant,  184,  185. 
Handed  to  Mr.  Rufhworth.  Its  contents.  Mr.  Ruftiworth's 
alarm.  Further  attempts  againft  Pym,  185.  His  afiailants 
in  the  Houfe,  186.  Refolution  moved:  againft  King's 
appointments  to  office,  186,  187.  Strode's  violence,  189. 
Hyde's  opportunity.  Irifti  Rebellion.  Pym's  opportunity, 
190. 

Notes.  A  Judge  arrefted  on  the  bench,  182.  Allufions  to 
Pym  in  Queen's  letters.  Attempts  to  bring  him  into  fuf- 
picion.  Caules  of  his  popularity.  Tribute  by  Covenanter 
Baillie,  186.  Clarendon's  attack  on  Strode:  not  applic- 
able to  Strode  of  James's  reign,  187.  Probable  confu- 
fion  between  two  Strodes,  187,  188.  The  later  Strode  a 
young  man.  Evidence  of  D'Ewes's  Journal.  Scene  at 
Arreft  of  Five  Members,  188.  Counter  teftimony  in 
favour  of  identity,  188,  189.  The  other  view  ftrength- 
ened :  in  letter  to  Lady  D'Ewes.  Another  Hyde: 
more  decidedly  royalift  than  Edward,  189. 

§  IX.  The  New  Party  and  the  Old    .         .         .         190 — 200 

Text.  5th  November,  I641.  Pym's  fpeech  on  Evil  Counfellors, 
190.  Excitement  in  Houfe.  Edmund  Waller's  reply. 
Compares  Pym  to  Strafford,  191.  Pym  rifes  to  order.  Cries 
for  Waller.  Reparation  made,  192.  Dramatic  changes: 
reported  to  the  King :  Royal  thanks  to  managers.  Hyde 
fent  for  by  Nicholas,  193.  Is  ftiown  a  letter  from  the  King. 
Old  leaders  unmoved.  Majority  ftill  fufficient,  194.  Mea- 
fures  againft  Biftiops :  propofal  to  make  five  new  ones,  194, 
195.       Cromwell's     counter     motion.        Bifliops'    demurrer. 


Contents.  xv 

PAGE 

Holborne  fupports  Bifhops,  195.  D'Evves  replies  to  Hol- 
borne  :  raifing  laugh  againft  him.  Beginning  of  the  end, 
196.  Moves  and  counter  moves.  Prudence  and  fagacity 
of  Pym.  Gives  effect  to  fuggeftion  of  St.  John,  197.  Pofi- 
tion  of  Houfe  as  to  Irifh  Rebellion,  197,  198.  Hope  of  the 
King  thereon.  Baffled  by  Pym.  Speech  to  the  Lords  againft 
Evil  Counfels,  198.  Refolution  parted.  A  Motion  by 
Oliver  Cromwell.  Germ  of  the  Parliamentary  Army. 
Ominous  claim  put  forth,  199.  Ordinances  minus  the 
King.     Alarm  thereat.     Preparations  for  conflict,  200. 

Notes.  Value  of  preparation  in  Oratory,  191.  Commons' 
Journals,  5th  November.     Waller's  apology,  192. 

§  X.  Confljj£t  Begun 200—202 

Text.  8th  November  (164.1).  Rough  Draught  of  Remon- 
ftrance  fubmitted,  200,  201.  Nicholas  writes  to  the  King. 
Mr.  Secretary's  trouble,  201.  Urges  King's  inftant  return, 
201,202.  King's  anfwer  :  Stop  the  Remonftrance  !  Forces 
organized  for  the  ftruggle,  202. 

§    XI.    The    Opening   Debates:    9TH,    ioth,    12TH,    15TH, 

and  i6th  November         ....         202 — 210 

Text.  Firft  Debate :  Tuefday,  9th  November,  202.  Pro- 
cedure fettled.  Movers  of  amendments.  Report  of  Nicholas 
to  King.  King's  order  thereon,  203.  Second  Debate  :  ioth 
November.  No  copies  to  be  given  out.  nth  November, 
Speech  by  Strode.  Deftination  of  Remonftrance  avowed:  to 
go  to  the  people,  204.  To  be  printed  and  circulated.  Third 
Debate:  12th  November,  Motion  for  Candles,  205.  D'Ewes 
in  favour  of  Candles.  Private  reports  to  the  King,  206. 
Tenacity  of  his  Majefty's  oppofition.  Fourth  Debate : 
15th  November.  As  to  Bifhops  favouring  idolatry.  Speech 
by  Dering,  207.  Falkland's  former  attack  on  Bifhops. 
Prefent  vehement  defence.  Fifth  Debate:  16th  November, 
208.  Claufe  againft  Bifhops  carried.  Compromife  as  to 
Liturgy.  Concefhons  to  Oppofition.  Unauthorifed  reports. 
SupprefTion  of  printed  and  MS.  diurnals,  209.  Refolutions 
to  Second  Army  Plot,  210. 

Notes.  Strode's  manner  of  fpeech.  Avowal  as  to  Scotch 
Army,  205.  Shilling  fines.  Orders  as  to  bufinefs  :  as 
to  reading  of  Bills,  206.  Dering  fneered  at  by  Clarendon, 
207. 

§  XII.  Preparations   for  the  Final  Vote,  19TH  Novem- 
ber and  20TH  November         .         .         .         210 — 215 
Text.     Nicholas's    fear    for   the    King.       Progrefs   of  Remon- 
ftrance reported,  210.     Nicholas  as  to  printing:  the  defign 
avowed.      Sixth  Debate:    19th  November,    211.      Amend- 


Contents. 

PAGE 

merits  and  verbal  changes,  211,  212.  Hyde's  urgent  appeal. 
Pym's  reply  :  and  vindication.  A  home  thruft,  212.  Order 
for  engroflment.  Complaint  of  Mr.  Speaker.  Lenthal 
relieved.  Seventh  Debate :  20th  November.  Final  Debate 
fixed.  Cromwell  and  Falkland,  213.  Preparations  for  laft 
Debate.  Remonftrance  lying  on  table,  214..  Propofed  hil- 
torical  illuftrations.     Dering  on  the  Remonftrance,  215. 

Notes.     A  bold  Mechanick,   211.     Statement  by  Clarendon  : 
charge  againft  Pym  :  a  mifreprefentation,  214. 


ABSTRACT  OF  THE  GRAND  REMONSTRANCE     .         215     273 

1 .  The  Preamble  :  Purpofe  aimed  at     .         .         .         A.       2 1 5 — 2 1 8 

Text.  Struggle  of  paft  twelve  months,  215.  Why  Remon- 
ftrance introduced.  NecelTary  to  completion  of  Reforms, 
216.  Court  Confpiracy :  to  iubvert  laws;  to  degrade  Pro- 
teftantifm  ;  to  difcredit  Parliament,  216,  217.  Upholders 
of  right  nick-named  Puritans,  217.  Popery  the  chief  Con- 
fpirator,  218. 
Notes.  Falkland  againft  Laud.  Propofed  Pope  at  Lambeth, 
217.     Englifh  livings  and  Romifh  opinions,  218. 

2.  Firft,  Second,  and  Third  Parliaments  of  Charles       .  218 — 223 

Text.  Claufes  1 — 6.  Incidents  of  Firft  Parliament,  218.  Claufes 
7 — 10.  Incidents  of  Second  Parliament,  219.  Claufes 
11 — 16.  Incidents  of  Third  Parliament,  220.  Violation 
of  Petition  of  Right.  Imprifonment  of  Members,  222. 
Heavy  Fines.  Sufferings  and  death  of  Eliot.  His  blood 
crying  for  vengeance,  223. 

Notes.  Billeting  grievances.  Lifts  of  recufants.  Yonge's 
Diary,  219.  Proceedings  to  get  money.  How  fpent. 
Amendments  by  J.  C,  220.  Addition  by  Strode. 
Moundiford  MSS.  Billeting  foldiers.  Sheriffs  and  fhip- 
money.  Projects  for  plunder  of  fubjecl,  221.  Atro- 
cities of  the  Court.  Authors  of  Amendments,  222. 
Eliot's  ufage  in  Tower,  223. 

3 .  Go<vernme?2t  by  Prerogative  :  from  Third  Parliament  to  Pacifi- 

cation of  Berwick         .....         224 — 244 

Text.  Claufes  17 — 60.  Government  by  Prerogative.  Claufes 
17,  21,  22,  31,44,45,  and  49.  Revival  of  feudal  ftatutes,  224. 
Ancient  Charters  broken,  225.  Packed  juries  and  robberies 
bylaw.  Claufes  18,  19,  20,  and  24.  Monftrous  taxation  of 
commerce.  Pretence  of  guarding  feas,  226.  Ship-money, 
227.  Seas  wholly  unguarded,  228.  No  laws  to  appeal  to. 
Cafe  of  Richard  Chambers,  229.  Claufes  27,  28,  29,  30, 
33,  34,  and  35.  Monopolies  revived  :  allneceftaries  of  life  pro- 


Contents, 


tested  and  debafed.  Reftraints  on  enterprife,  230.  Debale- 
ment  of  currency.  Courts  of  law  become  courts  of  Royal 
revenue,  231.  Claufes  23,  24,  25,  26,  and  32.  Gunpowder 
monopoly:  Trained  Bands  dificouraged  thereby,  232. 
Favours  to  Papift  projectors.  Seizures  under  Crown  Com- 
miffions.  Commons  taken  from  people,  233.  Claufes  3S, 
39,  40,  41,  42,  43,  46,  and  47.  Patents  of  the  Judges 
altered.  Juftice  intercepted,  234.  Law  and  lawyers  degraded. 
Old  jurildiclions  abufed,  235.  New  courts  created.  Rules 
of  law  unfet tied,  236.  Claufes  37,  51,  52,  53,  54,  and  55. 
Ecclefiaftical  tyranny,  236,  237.  Star  Chamber.  High 
Commifnon  and  Council  Table.  Bifhops'  Courts.  People 
driven  beyond  feas.  Extent  of  the  Emigration,  238.  Claufes 
48,  50,  56,  57,  58,  59,  and  60.  Church  preferments. 
Pulpit  doctrines.  Ufe  and  abufe  of  fheriffs,  239.  Treat- 
ment of  Patriots:  excluded  from  offices  and  honours,  240, 
241.  Terrorifm  and  corruption,  241.  Strafford's  and  Laud's 
predominance  at  Council,  241,  242.  Claufes  61 — 67.  De- 
fign  of  the  Court.  Puritans  the  partition  againft  Rome  :  to 
be  flung  down,  242.  Scotch  Rebellion.  Claufes  68 — 75. 
Strafford  at  the  Council  Board.  His  reafons  for  a  Parlia- 
ment, 243.     His  Irifih  levies  againft  the  Scots,  244. 

Notes.  Proclamation  againft  talking  of  a  Parliament,  224. 
Wardfhip  extortions.  Coat  and  conduct  money.  Schedule 
of  grievances  (April  1640),  225.  The  tax  leaft  fupporta- 
ble,  226.  Hardfliips  of  Ship-money  affeffment.  Piifons 
filled.  Hampden  one  of  many  recufants.  Lord  Saye's 
refiftance :  decifion  in  his  cafe,  227.  Pym  on  Ship- 
money.  Not  a  light  tax.  Piracies  in  the  Channel.  In- 
fults  to  Englifh  flag,  228.  Captures  by  Turks.  Popular 
fympathy  for  Judge  Hutton.  Hyde's  fpeech  againft  the 
Judges,  229.  Bulftiode  Whitelocke,  230.  Project  for 
brafs  money,  1638.  Falkland's  reference  thereto.  Grim- 
ifton  on  denials  of  juftice,  231.  Culpeper  on  protection 
of  gunpowder,  232.  Wilde  and  Clotworthy.  Plunder 
of  the  poor,  233.  Commiffions.  Alleged  defects  in 
title  deeds.  Anecdote  of  a  Judge,  234.  Council  Board 
tyranny.  Policy  of  Keeper  Finch.  Courts  of  the 
houfehold.  Verney  Papers,  235,  Death  for  ftealing 
.  Royal  difh.  Notices  for  infertions  in  Remonftrance,  236. 
Tragedies  of  Baftwick,  Burton,  and  Prynne,  236,  237. 
Mutilations  for  confidence'  fake.  Rous's  Diary.  Cafe 
•of  a  hat,  237.  Wentworth  ou  political  fermons.  Royalift 
preachers,  239.  Hyde  on  the  Council  of  the  North,  239, 
240.  Anecdote  of  Hyde  at  York.  Trouble  at  his 
lodgings.  Landlady  curfes  and  abufies  him.  The  myfi- 
tery  explained,  240.  Travelling  between  London  and 
York,  241.  Who  were  called  Puritans,  242.  Diary  of 
J8.ous  (March  1639).     Prayers  for  a  Parliament,  243. 

i 


cviii  Contents. 

PAGE 

4.  The  Short  Parliament  and  the  Scottifli  In'vafion         .         244 — 253 

Text.  Claufes  76 — 78.  Claufes  79 — 84.  Strafford's  fatal 
Counfel,  244.  Its  refults.  Diffolution  of  Short  Parliament, 
245.  Claufes  85 — 87.  Laud  (till  moving  to  Rome,  246. 
Crown  above  the  laws:  Mitre  above  Crown,  246,  247.  Church 
oppreffion,  247.  Claufes  88 — 94.  Defigns  and  power  of 
Papilts,  247,  248.  Secret  meetings,  248.  Agencies  at  Court 
and  in  Council.  Imperium  in  imperio,  249.  Claufes  95,  104. 
Prifons  full.  Non-parliamentary  fupply  exhaufted,  250.  Dif- 
content  of  Lords:  petitions  for  Parliament,  250,  251.  The 
Scotch  invafion.  Parliament  fummoned  (3rd  November, 
1640),  253. 

Notes.  Strafford's  advice  (5th  May,  1640),  244.  Arrefts  of 
Parliament  men.  Riots  at  Southwark  and  Lambeth. 
Allufions  by  Clarendon,  245.  An  honeft  Judge.  Sir 
Benjamin  Rudyard,  21.6.  Grimiton.  Falkland,  247. 
Mafs  connived  at :  conventicles  made  criminal,  247,  248. 
Favour  to  Papifts.  Matters  fubjecl:  to  monopoly,  248. 
Speech  by  Rudyard.  State  and  Church  grievances  infepa- 
rable,  249.     Ruin  of  Old    Monarchy.     Yonge's  Diary, 

250.  The  York  Declaration.  Dangers  to  State  and 
Church.    Grievances  of  fubjecl:.     Innovations  in  religion, 

251.  Taxation  without  reprefentation.  Parliament  the 
only  remedy.  Story  by  Shafteibury,  252.  Firft  refolve 
of  the  Court  :  fecond  thoughts.    Shafteibury  Papers,  253. 

5.  Ails  of  the  Long  Parliament   .....         253 — 258 

Text.  Claufes  105  and  no.  Heroes  of  .the  Long  Parliament, 
253,254.  Their  talk.  Claufes  106 — 9  and  in — 124.  Two 
armies  paid.  Twelve  fublidies  railed.  Grievances  redreffed, 
254.  Monopolies  abolifhed,  255.  Taxation  reftored  to 
Commons.  Delinquents  punifhed,  256.  Claufes  127 — 136, 
125  and  126,  and  137 — 142.  Overthrow  of  tyranny:  eccle- 
liaftical  and  civil,  256,  257.  How  accomplilhed,  257.  Two 
famous  ftatutes.  Other  acls  prepared :  titles  and  objects 
thereof,  258. 

Notes.  Culpeper  againft  projectors.  Swarm  of  monopolift 
vermin.  Speech  by  Pym  :  fmall  gain  to  King  from 
large  lofs  to  fubject,  255.  Ralph  Verney  to  James  Dillon 
(1634),  256.  Prynne's  punifliment  defcribed.  Court  of 
Requefts  divifion,  257.      Horror  of  impreffment,  258. 

6.  PraBices  of  the  Court  Party 259 — 265 

Text.  Claufes  143  — 153.  Obftru&ions  expecled.  Preferment 
of  evil  Counfellors.  Reproach  againft  Houfe :  of  refufingto 
fupport  the  Crown,  259.  A  million  and  a  half  voted  for  the 
King.     Claufes  154 — 161.     Popular   Bills  paffed   by  King. 


Contents.  x;x 

PAGE 

Four  great  Acls  recited,  260.  No  intention  to  weaken 
Crown  by  them.  Reftraints  neceflary  to  fafety,  261.  Claufes 
162 — 168.  Slanders  againft  the  Parliament,  261,  262.  Dan- 
ger of  hafty  judgments.  Comparifon  with  former  Parlia- 
ments. Alleged  excefs  of  privilege,  262.  Claufes  169 — 1S0. 
The  party  hoftile  to  Parliaments.  Intriguers  with  army. 
Promoters  of  Rebellion,  263.  The  Irifh  tragedy,  264.  In- 
tended prologue  to  tragedy  in  England,  265. 

Notes.  Privileges  from  fuits  at  law,  262.  MafTacres  of  Irifh 
Proteftants.  Narrative  by  May,  264.  Narrative  by 
Rufhworth.      Clarendon's  account,  265. 

7.  Defence  of  the  Popular  Leaders       .         .         .         .         265 — 269 

Text.  Claufes  181 — 191.  Hopes  of  Leaders  of  Commons, 
265,  266.  Reply  to  their  aflailants,  266.  Champions  of 
Epifcopacy  :  their  flanders,  266,  267.  Defign  of  the  Eifhops' 
Bill.  No  intention  to  relax  juft  difcipline,  267.  Conformity 
defired,  268.  Suggeftion  for  a  Synod:  to  fettle  Church 
Government,  269  Defire  to  advance  Learning  :  by  reforming 
Univerfities,  269. 

Notes.  Idolatry  in  the  Church,  267.  Authorfhip  of  Remon- 
ftrance.  Afcribed  to  Pym.  Parallel  paffages  from 
Pym's  Vindication,  268. 

8.  Remedial  Meafures  demanded  ....         269 — 273, 

Text.  Claufes  192 — 206.  Demands  made,  269,  270.  Settle- 
ment of  Monarchy  with  limitations,  (i.)  Safeguards  againft 
Roman  Catholic  Religion,  270.  Suggefted  Commiffion,  271. 
(ii.)  Securities  for  adminiftration  of  laws,  (iii-)  Protection 
againft  evil  Counfellors.  Parliament  to  be  coniulted  in 
choice  of  minifters,  272.  Minifters  to  be  made  fubjecT:  to 
laws.      Clofing  prayer  of  Remonftrance,  273. 

Notes.  Pym's  view  as  to  Popery  :  diflike  of  the  Statefman, 
not  the  Bigot,  270.  The  King's  tendencies  to  Rome. 
Compact  for  reftoration  of  Epifcopacy.  Propofed  invi- 
tation to  the  French,  271.  Englifh  Statelmen :  and 
foreign  penfions,  273,  274. 


§  XIII.  The  House  and  its  Members  :  22ND    November, 

1641 273—285 

Text.  Monday,  22nd  November.  King  approaching  London, 
273,  274.  Ten  o'clock  a.m.  Speaker  late.  Petition  from 
Moniers,  274.  Diftin&ion  between  Commonwealth  and 
King.  Pym  on  Ireland.  Twelve  o'clock  a.m.  Dinner- 
hour.  Cries  for  Order  of  the  Day,  275.  Hyde's  motion 
to  gain  time.     The  Old  Houfe  of  Commons.     Weftminfter 

b  2 


k  Contents. 

PAGE 

Hall.  Famous  Aflociations,  276.  Pym  and  Hyde.  Shops 
in  the  Hall.  Place  of  re  fort:  for  M.P.'s,  lawyers  and  clients, 
277.  St.  Stephen's  Chapel.  Its  old  interior.  Officers  of 
Houfe.  Honourable  Members,  278.  Pofition  of  Mr.  Speaker. 
Richard  King's  attack  on  Lenthal,  279.  Hon.  Mr.  John 
Digby  :  his  difrefpect  to  Houfe :  rebuked  by  Lenthal,  279, 
280.  Mr.  Speaker's  powers,  280.  Lenthal's  weaknefs,  281. 
Magifler  Venter.  Houfe  emptied  by  dinner-bell,  282.  Where 
leading  Members  fit.  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes :  taking  his 
notes,  283.  Marten  and  Pym,  Culpeper,  Hyde,  Falkland 
and  Palmer.  Vane  and  King's  Minifters,  284.  Independent 
Members.  Hampden,  Waller,  Cromwell,  Hollis,  and  Selden. 
The  lawyers,  285. 

Notes.  Efcape  of  Weftminfter  Hall  from  fire,  277.  Selden 
and  the  Digbys.  Digby  on  his  ladder  and  the  ape  on 
houfe-top.  D'Ewes  and  Lenthal,  280.  A  quarrel  on 
point  of  order.  D'Ewes  lectures  Mr.  Speaker.  Len- 
thal's fubmiffion,  281.  Pym's  dinner  parties.  An  even- 
ing ride,  282.  Places  of  Members  in  Houfe,  283. 
Mode  of  referring  to  Members,  284,  285. 

XIV.  Speeches  of  Hyde,  Falkland,  Dering,  Rudyard, 

and  Bagshaw  ......         286 — 299 

Text.  Eighth  Debate:  Monday,  22nd  November.  Hyde 
fpeaks.  Doubts  Houfe's  right  to  remonftrate,  286.  Objec- 
tions to  form  and  language:  unjuft  to  King,  286,  287.  Lord 
Falkland  fpeaks.  King's  right  to  name  his  own  Minifters, 
287.  Defends  Laud,  Dangers  of  Remonltrance,  288. 
Apology  for  Bifhops :  and  Popifh  Lords,  288,  289.  Sir 
Edward  Dering  fpeaks:  not  difcreetly,  289,290,  291.  Urges 
importance  of  Remonftrance..  But  why  carry  it  to  the  peo- 
ple ?  People  want  only  good  laws,  291.  Remonftrate  to 
King :  but  not  downward  to  people.  Agrees  with  Falk- 
land. Church  regulation  no  fubjecl  for  Parliament,  292. 
Advocates  Prizes  in  Church.  Would  not  fplit  moons  into 
ftars.  Final  reafons  for  adverfe  vote,  293.  Rudyard  fpeaks. 
His  Character  by  May.  Favourable  to  a  Declaration,  294. 
Great  acts  of  the  Parliament.  Neceftity  to  defend  it  againft 
libels.  States  one  objection  to  Remonltrance,  295.  Would 
only  mention  Acls  pafted  :  not  Bills  in  progrefs  or  intended. 
Subfequent  attacks  on  Rudyard.  A  poet  and  friend  of  poets, 
296.  Joins  the  Parliament.  Unfit  for  all  its  duties,  297. 
Sayings  and  doings.  Conduct  in  old  age.  No  apoftate,  298. 
Acting  in  Houfe  till  his  death  (set.  87).  Mr.  Baglhaw  fpeaks: 
againlt  the  Remonftrance,  299. 

Jfotes.  Hyde's  wordinefs  in  fpeaking,  286.  Allufion  to  Eliot 
in  Remonftrance  :  incorrectly  quoted  by  Hyde,  287. 
Dering's    publication   of   his    fpeeches.     Ordered    to    be 


Contents.  xx; 

PAGE 
burnt.  Origin  of  penny-a-lining,  289.  Reported  fpeeches 
never  fpoken  :  Royalift  petitions  forged  :  work  of  poor 
fcholars  in  ale-houfes.  Verney's  Notes,  290.  Sydney 
Smith  anticipated,  293.  Poem  to  Rudyard  by  Ben 
Jonfon,  296.      Epigrams  addreffed  by  Jonfon,  297. 

XV.  Speeches    of  Culpeper,  Pym,  Bridgman,  Waller, 

and  Hampden 300 — 308 

Text.  Sir  John  Culpeper  fpeaks.  Manner  of  fpeaking,  300. 
Objects  to  Remonftrance  :  not  necefTary:  and  dangerous  in 
form.  People  not  to  be  addrelTed  alone.  Pym  fpeaks,  301. 
Anfwers  preceding  fpeakers,  301,  302.  Replies  (o  Hyde: 
replies  to  Falkland.  Claim  of  Parliament  to  advife  King, 
302.  Right  to  control  Minifters.  Replies  to  Culpeper. 
Replies  to  Dering.  Slanders  againft  Parliament,  303.  As 
to  Church  Prizes.  Remarks  on  Rudyard.  Replies  to  Bag- 
fhaw.  Oppofes  Lords'  claim  to  (hare  in  Remonftrance,  304. 
An  act  of  Commons,  not  of  Lords  or  King.  Appeal  to 
people  from  reprelentatives.  Orlando  Bridgman  fpeaks. 
Replies  to  Pym,  305.  Edmund  Waller  fpeaks.  Laws  not  to 
yield  to  Orders.  Why  control  the  King  ?  John  Hampden 
fpeaks,  307.  Why  object to  declaration?  Replies  to  Dering. 
Quotes  and  applies  Revelations,  307. 

Notes.     Character  of  Culpeper.     Remark  by  Hyde  :   more  ap- 
plicable to  Pym,  300.     Hampden's  quotation,  307. 

§  XVI.  The  Speeches  up  to  Midnight    .        .        .     30S — 313 

Text.  Hampden  refumes  feat  (9  o'clock  p.m.).  Why  D'Ewes 
had  left  at  4  o'clock.  Attempts  at  compromife  refilled,  308. 
Two  divifions,  309.  (i.)  187  to  123.  (ii.)  161  to  T47. 
Denzil  Hollis  fpeaks.  People  to  be  influenced.  Power  of 
Houfe  to  declare  lingly,  310.  Right  to  control  King's  advi- 
fers.  Glyn  fpeaks.  Precedents  for  Remonftrance.  Reafons 
in  its  favour,  3  11.  Mr.  Coventry  fpeaks.  Geoffrey  Palmer 
fpeaks.  Maynard  fpeaks,  312.  Midnight  approaching. 
Secretary  Nicholas  retires.  Writes  to  the  King.  Reveals 
Hyde's  purpofe,  313. 

Notes.  Subject  of  firft  divifion.  Remark  by  D'Ewes.  Tel- 
lers, 309.  Second  divifion,  310.  Speaker's  eye,  rule  of  pre- 
cedence, 311. 

§  XVII.  Question  put,  and  Palmer's  Protest       .     314 — 322 

Text.  Refiftance  to  putting  queftion.  Which  fide  gained  by 
delay,  314.  Hyde's  ftatement :  Whitelocke's  :  reafons  to 
the  contrary,  315.  Truth  of  the  cafe.  Numbers  on 
fit/ft  divifion  (310)  :  on  fecond  divifion  (308),  316.  Numbers 
on  third  divifion  (307).     New  queftion  railed.     Clarendon's 


xx;j  Contents. 

PAGE 

Narrative,   317.     As  to  Hyde's  proteft  :    as  to  Palmer's :  as 
to  others :  as  to  clofe  of  debate :  as  to  incidents  in  its  pro- 
grefs,     A  tiffiie  of  misftatements,  318,   319.     Real  mover  of 
printing,  319.    Mr.  Peard,  320.    True  object  of  "  Protefters." 
To   divide  and   deftroy  authority  of  Houfe,  321.     Why  fo 
refolutely    refifted.      Exiftence   of    Houfe    involved.      Unex- 
ampled icene,  322. 
Notes.     Whitelocke's  Memorials:  not  reliable,  315.     Numbers 
commonly  prefent  in  Houfe,  316.     Change  by  Claren- 
don's firft  editors,  317.     Hyde  and  Hampden.     D'Ewes 
on  Hampden.     Art  of  making  ufe   of  others  :  open   to 
misjudgment,  320.     Clarendon's  character  of  Hampden. 
A  governor  of  men,  321. 

§  XVIII.  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death   .  322 — 327 

Text.  Remonflrance  carried  (by  159  to  148),  322.  Denzil 
Hollis  aclingr  with  Pym.  Peard  moves  printing.  Hyde  op- 
pofes.  Con fufed  debate.  Members  protefting,  323.  Palmer 
moves  to  take  down  names  :  of  all  claiming  to  proteft,  323, 
324.  Cries  of  "All,  all."  Palmer  protefts  for  "All." 
Sudden  fury  of  excitement.  "  I  thought  we  had  all  fat  in 
"  the  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death  "  (Philip  Warwick), 
324.  Swords  ready  for  mifchief.  Parallel  from  Saul's  Wars. 
Calmnefs  of  Hampden.  Shows  Palmer's  prefumption,  325. 
How  fhould  he  anfwer  for  "all."  The  Houfe  calmed. 
Printing  to  be  left  unfettled,  326.  Fourth  divifion :  124  to 
101.  Houfe  rifes  (2  a.m.),  326,  327.  What  Cromwell  laid 
of  the  Vote.     Turning-point  of  freedom  or  defpotifm,  327. 

§  XIX.  Sitting  of  Tuesday,  the  23RD  November  .     327 — 331 

Text.  Tuefday,  23  rd  November.  Houfe  meets  at  10  o'clock, 
327,  328.  Bufinefs  in  hand.  Four,  p.m.  Pym  refers  to 
laft  night's  fcene,  328.  Mifchievous  claim  put  forward  :  to 
be  difcuffed  next  day,  328,  329.  The  truth,  and  Clarendon's 
verfion  of  it.  As  to  party  counfels.  Impoffible  as  ftated, 
329.  As  to  a  purpofe  againft  himfelf :  rejected  by  Northern 
men.  As  to  difputes  among  the  leaders.  Not  confirmed  by 
D'Ewes  or  Verney,  330.  Why  not  credible.  Refuted  by 
MS.  of  D'Ewes,  331. 
Notes.  D'Ewes  corrects  Clarendon,  329.  Clarendon's  dif- 
tinction  between  himfelf  and  Palmer,  330,  331. 

§  XX.  Debate  on  Palmer's  Protest        .         .         .     331 — 343 

Text.  Ninth  Debate  :  Wednefday,  24th  November.  Pym  de- 
nounces fcandalous  prints,  331.  Complaints  of  Pamphleteers. 
Referred  to  Committee  for  abufes  of  printing.  Pym  fpeaks 
againft  "  Proteft,"  332.     Shows  its  danger.     Hyde  defends  it: 


Contents. 


amid  clamour.  Why  not  Commons  as  well  as  Lords  ?  333. 
Repeats  proteft  againft  printing.  Suggeftion  by  Strode  :  dif- 
regarded.  Mr.  Hotham  fpeaks,  334.  Attacks  Palmer:  as 
leader  of  a  mutiny,  334,  335.  Moves  to  have  him  lent  for. 
Palmer  enters.  Conflict  of  friends  and  foes,  335.  Hyde 
fupports  Palmer.  Too  late  to  require  him  to  anfwer.  Cul- 
peper  on  fame  fide.  Members  to  be  queftioned  only  at 
fpeaking,  336.  Denzil  Hollis  makes  new  charge.  D'Ewes 
fpeaks.  Replies  to  Hyde.  Exhibits  precedents,  337.  Mem- 
bers not  questionable  elfewhere :  but  by  the  Houfe  at  any 
time.  Judgment  of  Houfe  never  avoidable.  Error  in  Cul- 
peper's  argument,  338.  Future  parliament  may  queftion 
part.  Houfe  unchanged  by  abfence  of  members.  D'Ewes's 
own  abfence  at  midnight  of  Monday,  339.  Would  have 
Palmer  fpeak.  D'Ewes  proud  of  his  logic.  Palmer's 
friends  prevent  his  riling.  A  divifion  called  for,  340. 
Hyde  moves  addition  to  queftion,  340,  341.  Defeated  by 
192  to  146.  Original  queftion  carried  by  190  to  142. 
Palmer  required  to  fpeak,  341.  His  defence.  Hampden's 
queftion.  Apology.  Whitelocke  fuppoits  Palmer.  Mr. 
Speaker  cannot  fee  hon.  members.  Subjecl  to  be  relumed  to- 
morrow.    Adjournment  at  dark  (4*30),  343. 

Notes.  Clarendon's  account  of  opening  of  debate,  332. 
Hyde  and  Palmer,  333.  Hyde  reported  by  himfelf,  336. 
A  correction  not  legible,  337.     Pym's  vigilance,  343. 

§  XXI.  Palmer's   Punishment  and  Submission        .       343 — 355 

Text.  Tenth  Debate  :  Thurfday,  25th  November,  343.  Petition 
to  accompany  Remonftrance,  343,  344.  Referred  to  Com- 
mittee. Tonnage  and  Poundage  Bill.  Palmer's  Debate 
called  for,  344.  Speeches  on  either  fide.  In  aggravation  of 
offence.  Scene  it  had  occafioned.  In  extenuation  of  offence, 
345.  Interference  of  Hampden.  Palmer's  previous  fervice. 
Delays  reforted  to.  Refolution  of  majority  to  punifh,  346. 
Gravity  of  the  a<St  attempted  :  to  place  minority  above 
majority,  346,  347.  Puniihment  demanded.  Hotham  and 
others  for  expullion,  347.  Speeches  by  friends  of  Palmer: 
Strangways  and  Bagfhaw,  Crew  comes  to  refcue,  348. 
Suggefts  reprimand  by  Mr.  Speaker.  Reminds  Houfe  of 
Palmer's  fervices.  Waller  on  fame  fide  :  lefs  difcreet,  349. 
Too  many  penalties  for  fmall  offences.  Do  not  punifh  tem- 
perance. Anger  of  Hotham.  Suggeftion  by  Sir  Ralph 
Hopton,  350.  Replied  to  by  D'Ewes.  Ufages  of  the  Houfe. 
Q^ueftions  put,  351.  Shall  Palmer  be  fent  to  Tower?  Yes: 
by  169  to  128.  Shall  he  be  expelled?  No:  by  163  to 
131.  Houfe  adjourns,  351,  352.  Friday  26th  Nov.  Palmer 
appears  at  Bar,  352.  Is  committed.  8th  December  fends  in 
petition    and  is  releafed.     Refults  of  Palmer's  puniihment. 


xxiv  .  Contents. 

PAGE 

Clarendon's  Htftory  (ii.  61-2).     Series  of  misftatements,  353. 
Alleged  ground   of  hoftility  to    Palmer.     No  truth  therein, 
354.      Fall'e  averment  as  to  printing,  354,  355. 
Notes.     Clarendon   "  letting  himfelf  loofe,"   347.      Pembroke 

Lord  Steward.      Crew  at    Uxbridge,    348.      Clarendon's 

account  of  Palmer's  committal,  354. 

§  XXII.  Petition  to  accompany  Remonstrance     .    355 — 366 
Text.       Eleventh    Debate:    27th    November.       King's   arrival. 
Impolitic   acls.      Order  as  to  religion,  355.      Guard  to  Par- 
liament difmiiTed.     Excitement  in  Houle.      Hampden  fpeak- 
ingj    3  56-       Oliver   Cromwell.      Suggeftion   for    defence    of 
kingdom.       Referred   to    Committee,    357.       Remonftrance 
Petition  brought  in.      Abftracl  of  its  contents.     Why  King's 
prefence  defired.     Zeal  of  evil   Counfellors,  359.     Declara- 
tion  prepared  :     to    point  out  dangers  to   State    and   King. 
Whyfuch  warnings  neeeffary,  360.     Three  clofing  requefts  : 
(i.)  To  abridge  Bifhops'  power,      (ii.)  To  remove  ill   Coun- 
fellors.   (iii.)  To  apply  Iriih  forfeitures  to  public  needs,  360, 
361.      Pym  anfwers  objections.     A  point  of  order.     Hamp- 
den reftores  quiet.     D'Ewes  explains  ufage  of  Houfe,   362. 
Culpeper  in  fault,  not  Pym.      "Well  moved."    Pym  anfwers 
Culpeper.     Petition  read  again:  and  debated  in  detail,  364. 
D'Ewes  attacks  Biihops.      Houfe  adopt  his  views.     Further 
objections  by  Hyde:  and  Mr.  Coventry,  364.     Replied  to  by 
D'Ewes.       Urges  ltudy  of  Rolls.     Pym's  moderation,  365. 
Notes.     Queftion  as  to  Guard.     King's  meffage,  356.     Tuef- 
day,  20th  November.      King's  defign  as  to  Guard,  357. 
Perfonal  reafons.     Pym's  counter  reafons.     Plots  in  pro- 
grefs.       Attack  on    Parliament    expected,    358.     Unfafe 
without  their  own  Guard,  358,  359.      Changes  propofed 
in  Petition,  361.     Unaltered  Petition  fent  to  Courc,  365. 
Secret  communication  with  the  King,  366. 

§  XXIII.    The    King    Receives    Remonstrance   and    Pe- 
tition   .......         366 — 372 

Text.  Tuefday,  30th  November.  Petition  engrofled.  Com- 
mittee named  to  wait  on  King,  366.  Its  members.  Seve- 
ral King's  friends.  Pym  withdraws  his  name.  Dering 
to  read  Petition  to  King,  367.  Declines,  and  Hopton 
chofen.  Thurfday,  2nd  December.  Hopton's  report. 
Reception  by  Charles.  Hopton  reading  Petition,  368. 
Interruptions  by  King.  The  Bear  and  the  Bear's  ikin.  Com- 
mittee queltioned  :  "  Do  you  mean  to publijli  ?  "  King  s  anfwer 
to  Petition,  369.  Clofe  of  interview.  Meflage  before  de- 
parture. No  pledge  not  to  publifh.  Incitements  to  publica- 
tion, 370.  Hoftile  acts  againft  Houfe.  King's  purpofe 
unmalkcd.  Hyde  and  friends  invited  to  office,  371. 
Notes.     D'Ewes's  remark  on  deputation,  368. 


Contents.  xxv 

PAGE 

§  XXIV.  Retaliation  and  Revenge      .         .         .         372 — 375 

Text.     Tamperings  with  command  of  Tower.     Popular  com- 
motion, 372.    New  King's  Guard.    People  fired  upon.    30th 
November,  a.m.     Houfes  difmifs  King's  Guard,  373.     Omi- 
nous precaution.     The  end  approaching.     Witty  remark  by 
Selden,  374.     Doctor  Chillingworth's  difclofure,  375. 
Notes.     Preparing   for  acl  of    violence,    372.     Lord    Dorfet, 
373.      Commons'1    'Journals   (30th    November).     Selden's 
Table  Talk,  374.. 

§  XXV.  Alleged  Intimidation  of  Parliament      .      375 — 384. 

Text.  Hyde's  plot.  Parliament  "  not  free."  King's  plea  of 
coercion,  375.  Minority  againft  majority.  30th  November, 
P.M.  Charge  againft  Citizens.  Charge  againft  Members. 
Shall  we  not  give  votes  freely?  376.  Strangways  aflcs  for 
committee.  Is  required  to  ftate  complaint.  Story  of  an 
apprentice,  377.  Some  members  to  be  overawed  by 
others.  "Name!  Name!"  Kirton  names  Ven.  Houfe 
prevents  Ven's  anfwer,  378.  Pym's  queftion  to  the  Speaker. 
2nd  and  3rd  December.  Debates  on  popular  gatherings. 
Waller,  Strode,  and  Culpeper.  D'Evves  defends  the 
citizens.  Culpeper  interrupts,  379.  Earle  and  D'Ewes  to 
order.  Culpeper  explains.  D'Ewes  replies.  Houfe  fup- 
ports  D'Ewes,  380.  Culpeper  fdenced.  Pym's  motion 
againft  Upper  Houfe.  Stoppage  of  ufeful  bills,  381.  Will 
minority  of  Lords  join  majority  of  Commons  in  a  proteft  ? 
Counter  propofition  by  Godolphin,  382.  Hopes  of  Court 
party.  Views  of  Mr.  Speaker,  383.  Monday,  6th  Decem- 
ber. Cromwell  on  breach  of  Privilege,  383,  384.  Peers' 
interference  with  elections.  Tuefday,  7th  December.  A 
ftartling  propofal,  384..  Dangers  from  army  intrigues.  Dii- 
truft  of  the  King,  385. 
Notes.     D'Ewes's  MS.     A  fcene  in  "  Gracious  "  Street,  377. 

Obftruclions    in    Upper    Houfe,    381.     Pym's    appeal   to 

Lords:     Do  not  leave  us  to  fave  the   country  alone,  382. 

Commons'1  Journals  (3rd    December   and  7th  December), 

383- 
§  XXVI.  An  Ominous  Proposal    ....         385 — 393 

Text.  Tuefday,  7th  December.  Bill  prefented  by  Hafelrig : 
for  fettling  the  Militia,  385.  Account  in  the  D'Ewes  MS. 
Bill  angrily  received.  Culpeper  moves  its  rejection.  Bar- 
rington  againft.  Strode  and  D'Ewes  for.  Cook  cites  pre- 
cedent againft,  386.  Mallory  would  have  bill  burnt.  Cook 
called  up  :  ordered  to  withdraw.  Had  miiquoted  precedent, 
387.  D'Ewes  expofes  and  laughs  at  him,  387,  388.  Cook 
admonifhed.      Bill  read  a  firft  time  (158  to  125),  388.     Same 


xxvi  Contents. 

PAGE 
incident  told  with  ftrange  variations,  388,  389.  Clarendon's 
Hijlory  (ii.  76,  80).  Motion  made  as  to  Militia:  how  treated, 
389.  Hyde  replied  to  by  Solicitor  General.  St.  John  brings 
in  a  bill,  390.  Clarendon's  Hijlory  (i.  4.86):  fame  incident 
again  told,  390,  391.  Quke  different  account  of  fame  facls, 
391.  Bill  brought  in  by  Hazelrig :  drawn  by  St.  John: 
who  defends  and  explains  it,  391,  392.  Never  read  fecond 
time.  Alleged  rejection.  Error  as  to  firft  reading.  Carried 
(by  158  to  125),  392-  Miftakes  and  confuiion.  Hiftorians 
milled.     Nalfon  no  authority,  393. 

Notes.  Commons'"  Journals  (ii.  334.).  Verney's  Notes  (p. 
132),  388. 

§  XXVII.  The  City  Petition 393—401 

Text.  Wednefday,  8th  Dec.  Friday,  10th.  New  Guard  on 
Houfes,  393,  394.  Agitation  thereat.  By  whom  placed. 
Writ  from  Lord  Keeper,  394.  Voted  breach  of  privilege. 
Halberdiers  removed.  Lords  ftartled  as  well  as  Commons, 
395.  "Shut  the  door!"  Member  quits  Houfe  without 
leave,  395,  396.  Rebuked  by  Pym.  nth  Dec:  Sheriff 
and  Magift rates  reprimanded.  The  City  petition,  396.  Its 
arrival  announced.  Brought  by  twelve  citizens,  397.  Re- 
ceived by  Clerk.  Its  dimenfions.  Addrefs  to  the  Chief  of 
Deputation.  Reply  of  Mr.  Speaker,  398.  Debate  as  to 
Ireland.  Queftion  of  printing  Remonftrance  revived.  Re- 
folve  thereon,  399.  Tuefday,  14th  Dec,  Meffage  from 
King:  refpecling  bill  under  difcuffion,  399,  400.  Voted 
breach  of  privilege.  Proteft  carried  to  King,  400.  Refolve 
taken,  401. 

Notes.  Points  of  form  and  order,  393,  394.  Commons'1 
"Journals  (ii.  338),  395.  The  City  220  years  ago,  396. 
Source  of  its  power.  Its  fupport  of  popular  caufe,  397. 
Charge  againft  St.  John.  Not  credible,  400.  Curious 
notices  from  the  D'Ewes  MS.,  400,  401.  Deputation 
prefent  proteft.  Archbifhop  Williams  reads  it,  401. 
Kind's  anfwer :  read  by  Nicholas,  401,  402.  Anger  of 
the  King,  402. 

XXVIII.  The  Last  Debate 402—408 

Text.  Twelfth  and  laft  Debate:  15th  Dec.  Purefoy  moves 
printing.  A  great  filence,  402.  Argument  for  printing: 
will  recover  People  to  Houfe,  402,  403.  Surprife  of  D'Ewes 
and  others.  Peard  feconds  Purefoy.  Waller  oppofes,  403. 
Debate  prolonged  to  evening.  Candles  called  for.  Sir 
Nicholas  Slanning  oppofes.  An  eager  royalift,  404.  Forces 
divifion :  on  queftion  for  candles,  405,  406.  Candles 
brought  (152  to  53).  Divifion  for  printing.  Carried  (135 
to  83"),  406.     Printing  ordered.     Slanning  revives  claim  to 


Contents.  xxvu 

PAGE 

proteft.  Storm  allayed  by  Pym,  407.  Monday,  20th  Dec. 
Debate  on  right  to  proteft,  407,  408.  Ominous  remark  by 
Holborne.     Resolution  againft  Hyde's  party,  408. 

Notes.  Great  men  of  little  fize.  Hales  of  Eton.  Chilling- 
worth.  Sidney  Godolphin.  Falkland,  405.  Picture 
by  Clarendon  {Life,  i.  43,  44),  405,  406.  Right  to  pro- 
teft rejected,  408. 

§  XXIX.  Impossibility  of  Compromise    .         .         .     408 — 414 

Text.  Refult  of  Remonftrance  Debates.  Popular  leaders  averfe 
to  war.  Indecifion  of  Charles.  Bankes  (C.J.)  attempts  to 
mediate  with  King,  409.  Like  attempts  of  leaders  in  both 
Houfes.  Lord  Wharton.  Denzil  Hollis.  Lord  Say  and 
Seale,  410.  Lord  Effex.  Lord  Northumberland.  Objects 
of  Court  party.  To  weaken  and  degrade  Parliaments,  411. 
Small  part  in  a  great  fcene  :  creditably  played.  Character 
of  Bankes  (C.J.)  unwiiely  compared  with  Coke  (C.J.),  412. 
Coke's  claims.  The  Inititutes  and  the  Petition  of  Right. 
Party  views  for  and  againft  Charles.  A  plain  cafe  up  to  the 
war,  413.     A  cafe  more  perplexing,  414. 

§  XXX.  Conclusion 414 — 421 

Text.  Limited  fcope  of  prefent  work  :  to  reftore  an  effaced  page 
in  Hiltory,  414.  Object  of  Notes  appended.  Clarendon's 
Kijlory.  Its  beauties.  Its  demerits,  415.  Its  author  con- 
fronted with  contemporaries.  Refult  decifive  againft  him. 
Miftatements  no  longer  pofllble.  Ludicrous  errors,  416. 
D'lfraeli's  Commentaries  (ii.  294).  Effect  of  Remonftrance 
on  the  people :  its  vindication :  and  meafure  of  its  import- 
ance, 417.  Its  fubfequent  influence.  Confefled  by  Hyde. 
Recruiting-ferjeant  for  Civil  War.  Motives  of  its  authors : 
in  lb  appealing  to  the  people.  To  fave  the  ancient  monarchy, 
418,419.  Civil  and  religious  freedom  not  Separable.  Rights 
demanded  by'  Remonftrance.  Leaders  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment, 419.  Their  genius  and  greatnefs.  Their  patience 
and  enduiance.  Their  refpect  for  old  precedents  and  laws, 
420.      Reverence  due  to  them,  421. 

Index     ...........     423 


THE     DEBATES 

ON     THE 

GRAND     REMONSTRANCE. 


INTRODUCTORY    ESSAY. 

§  i.  The  Plantagenets. 

I  propose  to  introduce  an  attempt  to  re-  ^rP°^of 
defcribe,  with  greater  fullnefs  and  accuracy,  fome 
leading  events  in  the  political  ftruggle  of  the 
Seventeenth  Century,  by  a  fketch  of  the  earlier 
efforts  for  freedom  in  the  Plantagenet  andTudor 
reigns.  From  the  circumftances  that  attended 
the  gradual  growth  of  our  liberties,  were  drawn 
ever  the  moft  powerful  arguments  for  their 
maintenance  and  defence :  and  it  is  impoffible  p°htlon 

J.  t3.fCCn    UD 

clearly  to  underfland  thepofition  in  this  refpect  byCharles 
taken  up   by  Charles   the   Firft's  opponents, the  Fhft's 
without  fome  knowledge  of  the  grounds  on  °pp01 
which  they  refted  their  claim  to  connect  with 
the  old    laws   and    ufages  of   England,    their 
refiftance  to  the  tyranny  of  the  Stuarts. 

One  of  the  nobleft  images   in  the  writings  ^°[deS 
of  Burke,  is  that  in  which  he  fays  of  the  fpirit  of-Englifh 
of  Englifh  Freedom  that,  always  acting  as  if  in  Freedom- 
the  prefence  of  canonifed  forefathers,  it  carries 


2  IntroduElory  EJfay. 

Burke  on  an  impofing  and  majeftic  afpect.  "It  has 
to*  '  cc  a  pedigree  and  illustrating  anceftors.  It  has 
cc  its  bearings  and  its  enfigns  armorial.  It  has 
li  its  gallery  of  portraits,  its  monumental  in- 
cc  fcriptions,  its  records,  evidences,  and  titles." 
For  collecting  and  producing  them,  Selden  was 
thrice  imprifoned  by  James  the  Firft  and  his 
Son ;  and  the  part  which  they  played  in  that 
ftruggle  with  the  Stuarts,  was  but  the  revival, 
in  more  powerful  form,  of  an  influence  they 
had  exerted  over  the  Plantagenets  and  the 
Tudors.  As  in  later,  fo  it  had  been  in  the 
Precedents  earl}er  time.     The  Petition  of  Right,  enacted 

in  older 

Time.       m  Charles  the  FirfVs  reign,  was  but  the  affir- 
mation and  re-enactment  of  the  precedents  of 
three  foregoing  centuries  ;   and  in  the  reign  of 
John,  when  the  Barons  were  in  treaty  for  the 
Great  Charter,    Langton  put   forward,  as  the 
bafis  and  title  of  their  claims,  a  charter  of  a 
hundred  years'  earlier  date. 
Charter  of      That  was  the  enactment  of  the  firft  year  of 
woo7"1'    Henry  Beauclerc,  the  firft    of  the  name,  and 
the  third  of  our  Norman  kings.     It  was  fup- 
pofed  to  be  the  only  copy  then  in  exiftence  ; 
fo  affiduous  Henry's  officers  had  been,  in   the 
more  fecure  years  of  his   reign,  to  deftroy  the 
evidence  of  his  recognition  of  popular  rights  at 
Difficulty  the  outfet  of  his  ufurpation.     But  he  could  not 
preffin^  a  deprefs  the  people  for  his  pleafure,  when  already 
Charter,    he  had   raifed  them  for  his  gain.     They  are 
edged  tools,  thefe  popular  compacts  and  con- 
ceffions ;  and  not  fo  fafe  to  play  the  game  of 
diflimulation  with,  as  a  friendly  nod  or  greet- 
ing   to    the    friend    you    purpofe    to    betray. 
(c  Does  he  fmile  and  fpeak  well  of  me  ?"  faid 


§  I.      The  Tlantagenets :  Henry  I.  3 

one  of  the  chief  jufticiaries  of  this  King.  Henry  I. 
<c  Then  I  am  undone.  I  never  knew  him 
ic  praife  a  man  whom  he  did  not  intend  to 
cc  ruin."  It  was  truly  faid,  as  the  fpeaker 
foon  had  occafion  to  know  ;  but  it  is  more 
difficult  fo  to  deal  with  a  people.  A  charter  Royal 
of  relief  from  onerous  and  unreafonable  bur-  <;oncef- 

.  ,    .  1  r  j  'ions  not 

dens,  once  granted,  is  never  more  to  be  relumed  refUmable. 
as  a  mere  wafte  piece  of  parchment.    The  pro- 
vifions   of  which  men  have  loft  the  memory, 
and  are  thought  to  have  loft  the  proof,  reappear 
at  the  time  of  vital  need ;  and  the  prince  into 
whofe  violent  keeping  a  people's  liberties  have 
fallen,  is  made  fubject  to  a  fharp  refponfibility. 
For  the  moft  part,  unhappily,  hiftory  is  read  imperfea 
as   imperfectly  as  it  is  written.      Beneath  the  judgments 
furface  to  which  the  obfcurity  of  diftant  records  in  Hlitoi7- 
too  commonly  reftricts  us,  there  lies  material 
to  be  yet  brought  to  light,  lefs  by  laborious 
refearch  than  by  patient  thought  and  careful 
induction.      Conceding   to    the   early  chroni- 
clers their  particular  cafes  of  oppreflion,  fub- 
jection,   and  acquiefcence,  let   us  well  affure 
ourfelves  that  thefe  will  not  prevail  for  any 
length  of  time  againft  an  entire  and  numerous 
people.     If  ever  rulers   might  have- hoped  to  strength 
meafure  their    immunities  and  rights  by   theandweak- 
temper  and  ftrength  of  their  fwords,  it  mould  Norman 
have  been  thefe  early  Norman  princes  ;  yet  at  Kings. 
every  turn  in  their   ftory,  at  every  cafualty  in 
their  chequered  fortunes,  they  owe  their  fafety 
to  the  fact  of  flinging   down  their   fpoil.      A 
fomething  which,  under  various  names,  repre- 
fents  the    People,   is    ftill    upon  their  track ; 
and  thus,  over  our  rudeft  hiftory,  there  lies  at 

E  2 


4  Introductory  EJfay. 

leaSt  a  Shadow  of  the  fubftance  which  fills  our 

later  and  nobler  annals. 
Bafisof  The  ban's  of  the  Saxon  Constitution  refted 

Saxon        wholly  on  the  mutual  correction,  and  relative  fuf- 

Conihtu-  J  .   -  ~  r 

tion.         tainment  and  lupport,  or  two  oppolite  powers  ; 
that  of  the  King  exerted  through  a  prerogative 
jurisdiction,  and  that  of  the  People  expreSTed 
through  their  various  courts  and  guilds.     Nor 
does  it   admit  of  queStion  that,  Substantially, 
Adopted    the  Conqueror  and  his  fons  adopted  the  Saxon 
Conqueror  jurifprudence ,   and  that  it  continued  to  be  the 
and  his      baSis  of  the  common  law.     Every  fubfequent 
ons*         alteration  operated  upon  it ;   and   though  the 
action    of  time  and  circumStance  made  thofe 
alterations  considerable,  there  was  little  direct 
change  by    pofitive  enactment.     The  notion 
which  long  prevailed  that  the  Feudal  SyStem 
was  firSt  introduced  into  England  at  the  Con- 
queSt  has  been  difproved  by  modern  inquiry. 
Origin  of  ^11  tne  rudiments  and  germs   of  the  feudal 
fervices  existed  in  the  Germanic  nations  ;   and 
whether  thefe  were  grown  in  their  foreSts,  or 
had  been    derived  in    any  degree  from  what 
they  faw  of  the  fyStem  of  the  Empire,  is  not 
very    material.     As  early  as    Tacitus,    every 
chieftain  had  his  band  of  retainers,  who  ho- 
noured  him  in  peace,   and  followed    him  in 
war  ;   and  that  an  artificial  connection   Should 
gradually  have  arifen,  reciprocally  binding  the 
lord  to  his  vaSTal,  and  the  vaiTal  to  his  lord, 
renders   it  eafy  to   understand  the  growth  of 
Its  bur-    the  entire  fyStem  of  feudality.     In  what  way 
dens  and    jts  more   onerous   incidents    and    obligations 
tenure.      arofe  opens  up  wider  considerations.   But  there 
is  reafon  to  believe  that  even  thefe  had  made 


§  i.      The  Plantagenets :  Henry  I.  5 

confiderable  advance  under  the  Saxons,  though 
not  to  the  exclufion  of  other  modes  of  tenure, 
before  the  fubtle  and  elaborate  Norman  devices 
were  grafted  on  them.     The  Saxon  king  cer-  Natural 
tainly  claimed  the  right  of  wardfhip,   though  confe- 
lefs  often,   and  in  fimpler  and  lefs  oppreffive  the  Feudal 
form,  than    in    the   Norman   time ;    and   the  Syftem. 
acknowledgment,  by  oath,   of  the  obligation 
in  a  feud  as   reciprocal  and  binding  on  both 
parties,   is  known  as  early  as  Alfred's  reign. 
As    that  obligation  took  more  fettled  fhape, 
the  fyftem  developed  itfelf  in  largely  civilifing  r 
and  humanifing  forms.     The  compact  implied  develop- 
on  both  fides  fixed  rights  and  fettled  duties,  ment" 
and  made  Protection  as  facred  as  Service.     It 
led  gradually,  in  fhort,  to  the  feud  becoming 
a  life-eftate  ;  from  which,  as  an  almoft  natural 
confequence,  the  principle  of  hereditary  fuc- 
cefTion    arofe ;     every    new   occupant    making  Heredi- 
ftill   his    acknowledgment    of  vafTalage,    and  Ceff10nuc" 
binding  himfelf  as  fully  as  the  firft  grantee. 
Nor  did  it  require  much  forethought  to  dif- 
cern,  that  the  perfect  development  of  this  fyftem 
would  end  in  a  mutual  arrangement  of  legally 
binding  obligations    and    legally  maintainable 
rights,   in  the  courfe  and  action  of  which  the  Extin&ion 
very   life  of  the  relation   of  vafTalage  would  oi  Vaffal* 

J.  °  age. 

expire. 

Contemporaneous  with  Henry  the  Firft's  The  Cru- 
charter  were  the  firft  great  victories  of  the lades* 
Crufades,  which  led  to  the  facrifice  of  many 
millions  of  lives,  and  had  the  effect  not  only 
greatly  to  increafe  the  temporal  power  and 
ecclefiaftical  domination  of  the  Popedom,  but 
to  begin  the  terrible  fhory  of  religious  wars.  Yet 


Introductory  EJfay. 


Feudal 
Inftitu- 
tions  im- 
proved. 


Influences 
of  Chrift- 
ianity. 


Seeds  of 
Commerce 
and  Lite- 
rature. 


Henry  II. 


they  had  alfo  good  refults,  to  which  the  exifting 
condition  of  the  world  gave  a  preponderating 
influence.  What  there  was  of  merit  in  the 
feudal  inftitutions  had  here  taken  a  higher  and 
more  fpiritual  character,  largely  abating  their 
ferocity  and  fomewhat  leiTening  their  injustice. 
A  troubadour  of  the  century  now  begun  called 
Jerufalem  a  fief  of  Jefus  Chrift ;  and  in  the 
exprefTion  may  be  traced  the  origin  of  the 
Crufader's  fenfe  of  his  bond  and  vaflalage  to 
the  Son  of  God.  To  his  fancy,  he  was  now 
firmly  eftabliihing  a  reciprocity  of  obedience 
and  protection  between  himfelf  and  heaven. 
The  union  alfo,  which  the  Crufades  effected, 
of  different  countries  in  a  common  object,  had 
a  tendency  to  diffipate  many  narrow  hindrances 
to  a  common  civilifation  ;  and  the  intercourfe 
of  eaftern  and  weftern  nations  by  degrees  intro- 
duced into  religion,  as  well  as  into  government, 
larger  and  more  humane  views.  The  pecu- 
niary obligations  incurred  by  the  feudal  chiefs, 
led  at  the  fame  time  to  a  wider  circulation  of 
money,  and  made  further  gradual  but  fure 
encroachment  on  the  ftricter  domains  of  feudal- 
ifm.  Finally,  we  owe  it  mainly  to  the  Cru- 
fades, that  the  enrichment  of  the  ports  of  Italy, 
by  fuch  fudden  avenues  to  trade,  became  an 
important  element  in  the  advance  to  a  higher 
and  more  refined  fyitem  of  fociety  ;  and  that, 
fcattered  through  the  wandering  paths  of 
Troubadour  or  Dominican,  the  feeds  of  elo- 
quence and  fong  fprang  up  in  later  days,  and 
in  many  countries,  into  harvefts  of  national 
literature.     jW  + 

Some  of  thefe  advantages  began  to  be  felt 


§  i.    The  Plant agenets:  Henry  II.  j 

even  fo  early  as  under  the  fir  ft  and  greater!  of  Filft  Plan- 
the  PJantagenet  kings.     It  was  in  Henry  the  ^™ 
Second's  reign  that  perfonalfer  vices  of  the  feudal  1154.. 
vaffals  were    exchanged    for    pecuniary    aids ; 
that,  by  the  iflue  of  a  new  coinage  of  ftandard 
weight  and  purity,   confidence  was  given  to 
towns  and  cities,  then  flruggling  into  import- 
ance by  the  help  of  charters  and  fifcal  exemp- 
tions ;     that   it   was   made  the   duty   of  the 
itinerant  judges   to  fee  that  all  free  men  were 
provided  with  competent  arms  and  means  of 
defence  ;    that  the    moft    oppreflive   baronial  Gains  to 
tyrannies  received  a  check  from  the  Crown ;  ^^ 
and  that  further  fettled  guarantees  for  internal 
tranquillity  v/ere   given    by  a  more  orderly, 
equal,  and  certain  adminiftration  of  the  laws. 
Yet  even  fuch  fervices  to  civilifation  yield  in 
importance  to  that  which  was  rendered  by  this 
great  prince  in  refifting  the  ufurpations  of  the 
Church.     His  difpute  with   his   Primate  in-  DU'puteof 
volved  effentially  little  lefs  than  the  ultimate  Hen'T  IL 

n .  r     .       J      .  c   ,  and  his 

queltion  or  the  entire  arrangement  or  human  primate. 
fociety.      Not  feventy  years  had  paffed  fince 
the  voice  of  Hildebrand  had  declared  the  papal 
throne  to   be   but  the  temporal  emblem  of  a 
univerfal  fpiritual  authority,  holding  abfolute 
feudal  jurifdiclion  over  the  lelTer  authority  of 
kings  and  nobles  ;  and  Becket  flood  upon  the 
claim  fo  put  forth  by  Hildebrand.     Like  him,  Becket's 
he  would  have  turned  human  government  into  lcheme- 
a  theocracy,    placing  the  Church  at  its  head, 
unqueftioned   and  fupreme.      He  would  have 
drawn  together  the  whole  of  Chriftian  Europe 
under  one  fole  Suzerain  authority,  and,  through 
all  the   wide  and  various  extent    of  civilifed 


8  Introductory  EJj'ay. 

nations,  would  have  made  thefpiritual  tyranny 
of  Rome  the  centre  and  metropolis  of  dominion. 
To  Henry  Plantagenet,  on  the  other  hand,  it 
feemed  that  any  fuch  centralifation  of  ecclesias- 
tical power  would  be  fatal  to  the  peace,  the 
Henry's     happinefs,  and  the  liberty  of  the  world.     He 
oppofi-      hacl  laboured  hard,  with  his  Chancellor  Becket, 
to  reduce  all  autocracies  and  tyrannies  within 
his  kingdom  ;  and  againft  his  Primafe  Becket, 
he  now  refolutely  declared  that  this  work  mould 
ftill  go  on.     Whether  fpiritual  interefts  were, 
or  were  not,  of  higher  importance  than  temporal 
interefts,  was  not  necefTarily  the  queftion  im- 
plied ;  any  more  than  whether  a  firm  belief  in 
Chriftianity  mould  involve  a  total  Subjection 
of  the  understanding,   of  the    heart   and  the 
will,  of  the  active  and  the  intellectual  powers, 
what  the  to  eccleSiaftical  domination.     Not  fo,  happily 
ftruggle     for    the    pe0ple    whom    he    governed,     was 

involved  • 

this    refolute    prince    difpofed    to    renounce 

his  focial    and    civil    duties.     In    events  that 

arofe  as   the  conteft  went  on,   he  was  rude, 

paffionate,  and  overbearing ;  and  perhaps  much 

of  the  work  he  was  called   to  do,  by  more 

Chara&er  delicate  ways  could  hardly  have  been  done : 

of  Henry.  Dut^  ^^g^  what  he  had  nobly  gained  was 

thus  at  times  in  danger  of  being  ignobly  loft, 

there  feldom  fails  to  be  visible,  throughout  all 

the  recklefs  impulfes  of  that  really  majeftic 

though  ill-regulated  nature,  a  ftrong  compre- 

henfion  of  the  vital  truth  which  was  afterwards 

wrought  out  with  fuch  breadth  and  potency 

Complete  }n  England.     And  on  the  whole  it  was  cer- 

either^not  tam^Y  we^  tnat  Henry  the   Second's  triumph 

defirable.    fhould  not  have  been  on  all  points  complete. 


§  i.    The  "Plant agenets :  Henry  II.  9 

Notwithstanding  the  fpiritual  defpotifm  which  What  was 
the  Church  would  fain  have  eftablifhed,  we  can-  4^e  to,the 
not  forget  what  the  Church  in  thofe  rude  times 
reprefented  and  embodied  ;    and  for  the  utter 
difcomfiture  and   overthrow    of    which,    any 
abfolute  fupremacy  of  the  State  and  the  fword 
would  have  been    but  a  poor  compenfation. 
What  it  was  well  that  the  King  mould  retain,  what 
he    did    not    lofe  ;    and    though    neither  did  Ht;nry  II. 
Becket  entirely  forfeit  what  his  arrogance  too  & 
ramly    put  in   peril,  fubftantially  the  victory 
remained  with  Henry.  Aflerting  the  neceflary 
rights  of  temporal  princes,  and  upholding  the 
independent  vigour    of  civil  government,  he 
defended  and  maintained,  in  effect,  religious 
liberty  and  equal  laws  ;  and  the  foil  was  not. 
unprepared  to  receive  that  wholefome  feed,  even 
fo  early  as  the  reign  of  the  firft  Plantagenet. 

The  moft  diftinguifhed  afTociate  of  Henry  Ranuif  de 
in  his  civil  labours  was  the  famous  Ranulf  de  Glanvile, 
Glanvile,  in  whofe   name  is  written  the  moft  ^^JL^, 
ancient  and  memorable  treatife  of  the  laws  and  et  Confuc- 
cuftoms  of  England;   and  the  greateft  act  they  t"dim.bus 
jointly  performed  was  to  give  authority,  uni-  Anglia. 
verfality,  and  fettled  form  and  circumftance, 
to  a  practice  which  was  only  very  imperfectly 
introduced  in  the  time   of  Henry  Beauclerc, 
and  had  been,  fince  then,  carried  out  (till  lefs 
perfectly.   In  a  Great  Council  at  Northampton,       6 
Henry  formally  divided  the  kingdom  into  fix  Appoint- 
diftricts,  to  each  of  which  he  arligned  three  itine-  n?ent  of 

,  ^  circuits 

rant  judges,  and  from  that  time  circuits  have  forjudges. 
never  ceafed  in  England  :    carrying  gradually 
with  them  (in  confequence  of  other  improve- 
ments introduced  by  this  great  and   fagacious 


io  Introductory  EJfay. 

prince)  the   general    adoption    of  juries,    an 
elevation  of  the  character  of  the  judges,  and 
other  fettled  advantages  in  jurifprudence   as 
well  as  in  legal  adminiftration,  felt  to  this  hour. 
Richard  I.      The  reign  of  the  fecond  of  the  Piantagenet 
Il89-        family  fupplies  to  our  conftitutional  hiftorian, 
in  the  fentence  paffed  on  the  Chancellor  of  the 
abfent  King  by  the  convention  of  barons,  the 
earlieft  authority  on   record  for  the  refponfi- 
bility  of  Minifters  to  Parliament.   The  incident, 
however,  important  as  it  is,   feems  rather  to 
take  its  place  with  others  in  the  fame  reign, 
New  rela-  which  mark  the  fpringing  up  of  a  new  condi- 
tions be-    tjon   0f    relations  between  the  baronage  and 

twccn  ^ 

throne  and  the  throne.    In  the  obftinate  ab fence  of  Cceur- 

barons.      de-Lion  on  his  hair-brained  enterprifes,    the 

inaptitude  and  imbecility    of  his  brother  had 

thrown  all  the  real  duties  of  government  into 

the  hands  of  a  council  of  barons  ;   thefe  again 

independ-  were  oppofed  by  men  of  their  own  clafs,  as  well 

ent  oppo-  for  felf-intereft  as  on  general  and  independent 

lition  to     grounds  ;  and  the  refult  of  a  feries  of  quarrels 

Crown.        &  >  i 

thus  conducted  between  equals,  as  it  were,  in 
ftation,  between  forces  to  a  great  degree  inde- 
pendent of  each  other — the  Crown  ftriving  to 
maintain  itfelf  on  the  one  hand,  but  no  longer 
with  the  preftige  of  power  it  had  received  from 
the  ftronger  kings  ;  the  Ariftocracy  advancing 
claims  on  the  other,  no  longer  overborne  or 
overawed  by  the  prefent  prefTure  of  the  throne 
Beginning — jecj  t0   what,  in  modern  phrafe,  might  be 
°les'of     called  a  fyftem  of  unfcrupulous  party  ftruggle, 
party.        in  which  royalty  loft  the  exclufive  pofition  it 
had  been  the  great  aim  of  the    Conqueror's 
family  to  fecure  to  it,  and  became  an  unguarded 


§  i.      The  Plantagenets  :  Arthur.  1 1 

object  of  attack,  thereafter,  to  whatever  hoftile 
confederacy  might  be  formed  againft  it. 

What  there  was  of  evil  as  well  as  of  good 
in  the  conteft  became  ftrongly  manifeft  in  the 
two  fucceeding  reigns. 

In  the  ftri£t  order  of  hereditary  fucceffion  Arthur's 
the  crown,  which  on  Richard's  death  was  con-  ^^cto 
ferred  on  John,  would  have  fallen  to  Arthur,  cefllon : 
the    orphan   of   John's    elder    brother.      But 
though  the  fubfequent  misfortunes  and  forrow- 
ful  death  of  this  young  prince  largely  excited 
fympathy  in  England,   there  was  never    any 
formidable  ftand  attempted,  here,  on  the  ground 
of  his  right  to  the  throne.     The  battle  was  fought 
fought  in  the  foreign  provinces.     In  England,  p"e„^ 
while  fome  might  have  thought  his  hereditary  provinces. 
claim  fuperior  to  his  uncle's,  there  was  hardly  a 
man  of  influence  who  would  at  this  period  have 
drawn  the  fword  for  him,  on  any   fuch  prin- 
ciple as  that  the  crown  of  England  was  heritable 
property.   The  genius  of  the  country  had  been  The 
repugnant  to  any  fuch  notion.     The  Anglo-  Qrownnot 
Saxon  fovereignty  was  elective  ;    that  people  heritable 
never  fanctioning  a  cuftom  by  which  the  then  P1'°Perty- 
perfonal  and  moft  arduous  dutiesof  fovereignty, 
both  in  peace  and  war,  might  pafs  of  right  to 
an  infant  or  imbecile  prince;  and  to  the  ftrength  Sove- 
of  this  feeling  in  the  country  of  their  conqueft,  r?,f£ty 
the  Normans  heretofore  had  been  obliged  to 
yield.     At  each  fucceffive  coronation  following 
the  defeat  of  Harold,  including   that   of  the 
Conqueror,  the  form  of  deferring  to  the  peo-  Normans 
pie's  choice  had  been  religioufly  adhered  to  ;  defer  to 
nay,  of  the  five  Norman  kings  on  whom  the  principle. 
Englifh  crown   had  now  defcended,  four  had 


1 2  Introductory  EJfay. 

been  constrained  to  reft  their  ftrongeft  title  on 
that  popular  choice  or  recognition  :    but   its 
mod  decifive  confirmation   was  referved    for 
the  coronation  of  John.     Till  after  the  cere- 
mony, his  right  was  in  no  particular  admitted. 
Corona-     He  was  earl,  until  he  afTumed  the  ducal  coro- 
tion  of      net;  and  he  was  duke,  until  the  Great  Council, 
1 199.        fpeaking  through  the  primate,  invefted  him  at 
Weftminfler  with  the  Englifh  crown,  accom- 
panying it  with  the  emphatic  declaration  that 
it  was  the  nation's  gift,  and  not  the  property 
of  any  particular   perfon.      Speed,    with    his 
patient  induftry  and  narrow  virion,  calls  this 
latter  condition,    cc  a  fecond  feed-plot  of  trea- 
<c  fons  ;  "  but  for  the  moft  part  it  has  happened, 
Treafons    throughout  our  Englifh  hiStory,  that  treafons 
the  feed-    nave  been    tne    fecont[   feed-plot   of  liberty. 

plot  or         r\  \-        T-n-i         ••        •  •        t   1 

Liberty.     <Jtner  niitorical  critics  imagine  Johns  corona- 
tion to  have  been  a  mere  arrangement  of  con- 
ditional fealty  Specially  restricted  to  him  ;  the 
fole  temptation  to  elect  him,  in  preference  to 
his  nephew,  being  the  confideration  that  lefs 
was  to  be  looked  for  in  the  way  of  civil  reffci- 
tution  from  a  legitimate  monarch,  than  from 
L    ;ti_      one  who  held  by  elective  tenure.     But  thefe 
macy  or    reafoners  overlook,  not  only  the  fact  that  the 
on?  law  of  fuccefTion  as  between  a  living  brother 
and  a  dead  brother's  child  was  by  no  means 
fettled  at  this  time,  but  that,  as  has  juft  been 
pointed   out,   the    choice   of  a    monarch   on 
grounds  exclusively  hereditary  would  have  been 
Whyjohn  t^ie  excepti°n  and  not  the  rule.     If  anything 
preferred    beyond  the  objection  to  entrusting  fovereignty 
to  Arthur.  to  R  cnjicl  and  a  woman,  induced  the  preference 
of  John,  it  very  probably  was  fome  anticipation 


§  I.     The  Plant agenets :  John.  13 

of  a  poffible  and  not  diflant  flruggle  between 
the  throne  and  its  feudal  dependencies,  and 
the  fenfe  of  how  much  the  latter  would  be 
flrengthened  by  an  incompetent  and  feeble 
King.  For,  how  flood  the  government  of 
England,  when  placed  in  John's  keeping  ? 

The  balance  of  power  between  the  various  Henry 
grades  of  feudal  fociety,   as  in  a  great  degree     ,.s 

o  j  j  o  d  _       policy  un- 

eflablifhed  by  the  difcreet  and  powerful  policy  fettled  by 
of  Henry  the  Second,  had  been  wholly  relaxed  k's  loifs- 
and  unfettled  by  the  lawlefs  adminiflration  in 
Cceur- de-Lion's  abfence.     The  powers  which 
Henry  centered  in  the  throne  for  good  pur- 
pofes,  were  proftituted  to  evil  by  both  his  fons. 
The  weaknefs  which  an  able  king,   for  wife 
and  prudent  purpofes,  had  fought  to  introduce 
into  the  ariftocratic  element  of  the  kingdom, 
had  fince  been  ufed  for  the  fuppreflion  of  all 
restraint  upon  monarchical  tyranny.     If  fuch  a  Monarchy 
fovereign  as  Henry  could  have  continued  to  and  *    . 

•1        r  1  rr  r     1        1  -1  -ocracy  in 

reign,  until  a  rorced  reprefiion  or  the  baronial  conflict, 
feuds  might  have  permitted  a  gradual  and  free 
reaction  of  the  popular  on  the  kingly  power,  the 
eflablifhment  of  rational  liberty  would  have  been 
haftened  by  at  leaft  two  centuries.  But  even  as 
it  was,  there  flood  the  People  between  the  two 
oppofing  forces  ;  alternately  recognifed  in  the 
neceffities  of  each,  and  by  both  made  confcious 
of  their  power.  In  the  Church  queflions,  and  People 
that  of  refiflance  to   invafion,  which  arofe  in  ^oo1^, 

r     1  •  1  their  lide 

the  earlier  portion  of  the  reign,  they  took  part  alter- 
with  John  ;  in   the  queflions  of  civil  freedom  nately- 
which  immortalifed  its  clofe,   they  joined  the 
grand  confederacy  of    his   enemies.      Of  the 
character  of  this  prince  it  is  needlefs  to  fp'eak. 


14  Introductory  EJfay. 

Character  It  belongs  to  the  few  in  hiftory  or  in  human 
JO  "'    nature  of  which  the  infamy  is  altogether  black 
and    unredeemed.      The  qualities   which    de- 
graded his  youth  grew  with  his  years  ;  com- 
bined with  them,  he  had  jufl  enough  of  the 
ambition   of    his    race   to    bring    forth    more 
flrongly  the  pufillanimity  of  his  fpirit ;    and 
thus  he  was  infolent  and  mean,  at  once   the 
moft  abject   and  the  mod  arrogant  of  men. 
The  pitilefs  cruelties  recorded  of  him  furpafs 
belief;  and  the  recklefs  madnefs  with  which  he 
rufhed  into  his  quarrels,  was  only  exceeded  by 
his  impotent  cowardice  when  refinance  fhowed 
His  defer-  its  front.     He  deferted  the  people  when  the 
both  fid     people  joined  him  againfl  the  church,  and  he 
deferted  the  church    when    the  church  joined 
him    againfl   the  people.     Yet,  what   refulted 
from  the  very  vice  and  falfehood  of  fo  des- 
picable a  nature  was  in  itfelf  the  reverfe  of 
evil.      A   man    more    able,    though    with   an 
equal  love  of  tyranny,  would  have  hufbanded, 
Ufesofa    ancj  kept,  his  power  ;   this  man  could  only  feel 
&'  that    he    exifled  when  he  knew  that  he  was 
trampling  on  his  fellow-men,  and,  making  his 
power  intolerable,  he  Hiked  and  loft  it.      The 
conclufion  which  would    infer    that  with  the 
barons,  and  not  with  the  people,  the  fubftantial 
benefit    remained,   is    far   too  haftily   formed. 
What  the  What,  in  its  beginning,  was  the  claim  of  one 
oftheP1     powerful  faction    in  the  realm  as   againfl  its 
Barons      feudal  lord,  became  in  the  end  a  demand  for 
involved,   rights  to  be  guaranteed  to  the  general  com- 

D        ^  ID  iD 

munity.  It  was  but  a  month  before  the 
gathering  at  Runnymede  that  an  unavailing 
attempt  was  made  to  detach  the  greater  barons 


§  I.    The  Tlantagenets  :  John.  1 5 

from  the  national  confederacy,  by  offering  to 
themfelves  and  their  immediate  followers  what 
the  Great  Charter  was  to  fecure  to  every  free- 
man. 

I  have  fhown  that  party  fpirit  had  now  arifen  party 
in   England.   From  it  have  fprung  fcenes  andfPintand 
compromifes  often  neither  juft  nor  honourable ; 
but  with  it  have  been  afTociated,  in  very  memor- 
able periods  of  hiftory,  the  liberties  and  poli- 
tical  advances   of  the   Englifh   people.     The 
determined  wifh  of  a  large  fection  of  the  nobles 
to  degrade  the  pofition  and  humble  the  pride  of 
their  fovereign,  became  obvious  at  the  outfet  of 
John's  reign.     When  he  began  his  continental  Englifh 
wars,  he  was  mafter  of  the  whole  French  coaft,  japped  Gf 
from  the  borders  of  Flanders  to  the  foot  of  the  French 
Pyrenees ;  when  three  years  had  pafTed,    the  conclue 
beft  portion  of  that  territory  was  irrevocably 
loft  to  him,  and,   after  a  feparation  of   three 
hundred  years,  Normandy,  Anjou,  Maine,  and 
Touraine,  were  reannexed  to  the  French  crown. 
Nor  were  any  of  his  complaints  fo  loud  and 
bitter,  during  the  progrefs  of  thefe  events,  as 
that  which  was  implied  in  his  reproach  that  the 
Englifh  nobles  had  forfaken  him.      They  cer-  Conduft 
tainly  faw  pafs  into  fubjection  to  France  thofe  °f  the 
large  and  opulent  provinces  fo  long  won  and 
guarded   by  the  fwords  of  their  fathers,   and 
they  made   no    fign   of   refiftance.     But    this 
had  alfo  a  deeper  fignifkance  than  mere  difguft 
with  John.      They  had  elected  their  country. 
They  were  no  longer  foreign  proprietors  on  a  Growth 
foil  which  was  not  their  own  ;  they  were  Eng-  f^"^'0"* 
lifhmen,  refolved  to  caft  their   fortunes   and 
their  fate  with    England.      Soon   after   this, 


1 6  Introductory  EJJay. 

indeed,  they  raifed  a  counter-cry  to    that  of 

their  recreant  King,  accufing  him  of  foreign 

favouritifm.     With    the    name,    opprobrious 

now,  of  foreigner,  they  branded  the  Angevin, 

the  Norman,   and  the  Poitevin  nobles  whom 

he  had  brought  into  England  at  the  clofe  of 

Common   his  French  wars  ;  and  whom  he  now  delighted 

caufe         f-0    para(ie    about    his    perfon,   to    load   with 

foreigners,  dignities  and  wealth,  and  to  encourage  in  their 

vigorous  efforts   to  plunder  and  opprefs  the 

native  population.   Even  the  French  hiftorian  of 

the  Norman  Conqueft  is  here  fain  to  admit  that 

the  conquering  lord  and  the  conquered  peafant 

had  found  a  point  of  contact  and  a  common 

fympathy.     He  can  no  longer  refift  the  con- 

clufion,  that  in  the  foil  of  England  there  was 

at  length  germinating  a  national  fpirit  common 

to   all   who  traverfed   it.     Without  doubt  it 

Alliance    was  fo.     Nor  was  there  a  new  fine  now  levied 

0  ,or- ?     on  one  of  the  old  domains,  or  a  new  toll  on 

and  citi-  i     ■  j  i  • 

zens.         one  of  the  old  bridges  or  highways,  that  did 
not  bring  the  Engliih  baron  and  lord  of  the 
manor  nearer  in  his  interests  and  rights  to  the 
Englifh  farmer  and  citizen. 
King's  The  next  ftep  in  John's  degradation  com- 

fun-ender  pleted  the  rupture  with  his  barons  and  carried 
i2i3°pe"    over    tne   people   to  their   fide.      From    the 
attempted  overthrow   of  all  government,   by 
the  furrender  of  England  to  the  Pope,  dates 
the  firft  fenfible  advance  in  our  annals  to  any- 
thing  like  a  government  under  general   and 
equitable   forms    of  law.       There   is    not    an 
Englifh  freeman  living  in  this  nineteenth  cen- 
Freedom  s  tury,  who  may  not  trace  in  fome  degree  a  por- 
john.        tion  of  the  liberty  he  enjoys  to  the  day  when 


§  i.     The  Plantagenets  :  The  Great  Charter.  i  7 

King  John  did  his  beft  to  lay  his  country  at 
the  feet  of  a  foreign  prieft,  and  make  every 
one  of  her  children  as  much  a  ftave  as  himfelf. 
From  that  day  the  grand  confederacy  againft  Confede- 
the   King  took  its    really  formidable,  becaufe  racX  „ 
now  unwavering  lhape  ;   and  what  was  belt  in  King. 
England   joined    and    ftrengthened  it.      The 
concentration  of  its  purpofes  was   mainly  the 
work  of  Stephen  de  Langton,  and  forms  his 
claim  to  eternal  memory.     Rome  never  clad  Chara&er 
in  her  purple  a  man  of  nobler  nature,  or  one  °on  ang" 
who  more  refolutely,  when  he  left  the  councils 
of  the  Vatican,  feemed  to  have  left  behind  him 
alfo  whatever  might  impinge  upon  his  obliga- 
tions as   an    Englishman.     No    name    (lands 
upon  our  records  worthier  of  national  honour. 
In  an  unlettered  age,  he  had  cultivated  with 
fuccefs  not  alone  the  higher!  learning,  but  the 
accomplifhments  and  graces  of  literature  ;   and 
at  a  time  apparently  the  moft  unfavourable  to  His  fer- 
tile growth  of  freedom,  he  impelled  exifting  dif-  ^^ 
contents,  which  but  for  him  might  have  wafted  freedom, 
themfelves  in  cafual  conflict,  to  the  eftablifh- 
ment  of  that  deep  and  broad  diftinction  between 
a  free  and  a  defpotic  monarchy,  of  which  our 
hiftory,  through  all  the  varying  fortunes  and 
difafters  that  awaited  it,  never  afterwards  loft 
the  trace.     Even  while  he  perfonally  controlled 
the  treacherous  violence  of  the  King,  he  gave 
fteady  direction  to  the  ftill  wavering  defigns  of 
the  Barons  ;  and  among  the  fecurities  obtained  ^ufldry 
on  the  firft  day  at  Runnymede  for  due  obfer-  junCj 
vance  of  the  bond  or  deed  which  the  King  j^s- 
was  to  be  called  upon  to  fign,  probably  none  atRunny- 
infpired   greater  confidence   than    that   which  mede. 


1 8  Introductory  EJfay. 

Faith  in     configned  for  a  certain  fpecified  time  to  Lang- 
angton*  ton's  cuftody   the   Tower    and    the    defences 
of    London.      This    and    other    guarantees 
conceded,    the    various    heads    of    grievance 
and  propofed  means  of  redrefs  were  one  by 
one    difcuffed ;    and,  the  document  in  which 
they    were    reduced    to    legal    fhape    having 
Fourth      been  formally  admitted  by  the  Sovereign,  on 
*&:  _     the   fourth   day   from    the    opening    of    the 
figned.      conference,   Friday  the    19th  of  June,  1215, 
there    was    unrolled,    read    out    aloud,    and 
fubfcribed    by    John,    the    instrument    which 
at  laft  embodied,  in   fifty -feven  chapters,  the 
completed     demands     of     the     confederacy, 
and    is  immortalifed  in  hiftory   as   the  Great 
Charter. 
Its  general      The  Great  Charter,  it  is  hardly  neceffary  to 
character.  ^   ^ad  nothjng  to  &Q  wjth  the  creation  of 
our  liberties.     Its  inexprefTible  value  was,  that 
Confirma-  it  corrected,  confirmed,  and  re-eftablifhed    an- 
eSi         c*ent    an^    indifputable,    though    continually 
liberties,     violated,  public  rights  ;   that   it  abolifhed  the 
.  worft  of  the  abufes  which  had  crept  into  exifVing 
laws  ;   that  it  gave  an  improved  tone,  by  giving 
a  definite  and  fubftantial  form,  to  future  po- 
pular defires   and    afpirations  ;    that,  without 
attempting  to  frame  a  new  code,  or  even  to 
inculcate  any  grand  or  general  principles    of 
legiflation,  it  did   in   effect  accomplifh   both, 
becaufe,  in  infifting  upon  the  juft  difcharge  of 
Principles  fpecial  feudal  relations,  it  affirmed  a  principle 
latent  in  it.  Q^  eqUjty  which  was  found  generally  applicable 
far  beyond  them  ;  that  it  turned  into  a  tangi- 
ble pofTeiTion   what   before    was    fleeting    and 
undetermined  ;  and  that,  throughout  the  cen- 


§  i .     The  Plantagenets :  The  Great  Charter.  1 9 

turies  which  fucceeded,  it  was  violated  by  all 
our  kings  and  appealed  to  by  every  ftruggling 
fection  of  our  countrymen.  *Jr%. 

To  very  many  of  its  provifions  no  reference 
needs  to  be  made,  beyond  the  mention  that 
they  redreffed  grievances  of  the  military 
tenants,  hardly  intelligible  fince  the  downfall 
of  the  fyftem  -of  feuds,  but  then  very  feverely 
felt.  Reliefs  were  limited  to  a  certain  fum,  Remedial 
as  fixed  by  ancient  precedent ;  the  wafte  com-  provifions. 
mitted,  and  the  unreafonable  fervices  exacted, 
by  guardians  in  chivalry,  were  reftrained  ;  the 
difparagement  in  matrimony  of  female  wards 
was  forbidden  ;  and  widows  were  fecured  from 
compulfory  marriage  and  other  wrongs.  Its 
remedies  on  thefe  points  were  extended  not  to 
the  vaffals  only,  but  to  the  fub-vaflals  of  the 
Crown.  At  the  fame  time  the  franchifes,  the  Guaran- 
ancient  liberties  and  free  cuftoms,  of  the  City  tees  of 

4-'  1  'C 

of  London,  and  of  all  towns  and  boroughs,  ranc'n  es- 
were  declared  to  be  inviolable.     Freedom  of 
commerce  was  alfo  guaranteed  to  foreign  mer- 
chants, with  a  provifo  to  the  King  to  arrefU 
them  for  fecurity   in  time  of  war,  and  keep 
them  until  the  treatment  of  our  own  merchants 
in    the   enemy's   country   mould    be  known. 
The  tyranny  exercifed  in  connection  with  the 
Royal  Forefts  was  effectively  controlled  ;  and 
a  remedy  was  applied  to  that  double  grievance 
of  expenfe  and   delay,  long    bitterly    felt,  to  Redrefs  of 
which  private  individuals  were  fubjected  when  Perfonal 

r  ■  r  ••  i       T7--       1  1  i       wrongs. 

proiecuting  iuits  in  the  King  s  court,  by  the 
neceffity  of  following  the  King  in  his  perpe- 
tual progreffes.  <c  Common  Pleas  mall  not 
cc  follow  our  court,"  faid  this  memorable  pro- 


20 


Introductory  EJJay. 


Central 
Courts  of 
Law. 


Levies 
of  aid 
limited. 


Conftitu- 
tion  of 
Great 
Council. 


Forms  of 
fummons 
thereto  : 

hateful  to 
fucceed- 
ing 
princes. 


virion  of  Magna  Charta,  "  but  mall  be  held 
"  in  fome  certain  place." 

As  Striking  a  provifion  had  relation  to  the 
levy  of  aids  and  fcutages,  and  this,  which  was 
not  in  the  articles  firft  Submitted  to  the  King, 
appears  to  have   originated   during  the  four 
days'  conference    at  Runnymede.      The   fre- 
quency of  foreign  expeditions  •  had   given   a 
very  onerous  character  to  thefe  aids  ;  always 
liable  to  be  farmed  out  with  peculiar  circum- 
stances   of    hardfhip,    and    lately    become    of 
nearly  annual  recurrence.     But  the  provifion  in 
queStion  now  limited  the  exaction  of  them  to  the 
three  acknowledged  legal  occafions — the  King's 
perfonal    captivity,    the    knighthood    of    his 
eldeSt    fon,    and   the    marriage    of    his   eldeft 
daughter  ;  and  in  cafe  aid  or  fcutage  mould  be 
required  on   any  other  grounds,  it   rendered 
neceSTary    the   previous  confent  of  the  Great 
Council  of  the  tenants  of  the  crown.     It  pro- 
ceeded then  to  enumerate  the  constituent  parts 
of  this  Council,  as  to  confift  of  archbifhops, 
#bifhops,  abbots,  earls,  and  greater  barons,  who 
mould  be  fummoned  perfonally  by  writ ;  and 
of  all  other  tenants  in  chief  of  the  crown,  who 
mould  be  fummoned  generally  by  the  IherifF: 
and  it    ordered    the  iSTue    of  fummons  forty 
days    beforehand,    with  fpecification  of  time 
and  place,  and  intended  Subject  of  difcufTion. 
Nor   did    anything  in  the   Charter,  notwith- 
standing the  careful  limitation  of  the  article  to 
royal  tenants  and  to  purpofes  of  fupply,  prove 
fo  hateful   to  fucceeding  princes  as  this  latter 
Stipulation.      It  was  foon  formally  expunged, 
and  was  never  formally  reStored  ;   yet  in  its 


§  i.   The  Plantagenets :  The  Great  Charter.  21 

place  arofe  filently  other  and  larger  privileges, 
fuch  as  no  one  was  found  daring  enough  in 
later  years  to  violate  openly. 

Upon  many  fmaller  though  very  falutary  Minor 
provisions  which,  relating  to  the  better  admi-  Provifions- 
niftration  of  juftice,  to  the  ftricter  regulation 
of  affize,  to  mitigation  of  the  rights  of  pre- 
emption po/TefTed  by  the  Crown,  and  to  the 
allowance  of  liberty  of  travel  to  every  free- 
man excepting  in  time  of  war,  took  a  com- 
paratively narrow  and  local  range,  it  is  not 
neceffary  to  dwell.  I  proceed  to  name  thofe 
grander  provifions  which  proved  applicable  to 
all  places  and  times,  and  were  found  to  hold 
within  them  the  germ  of  our  greateft  confti- 
tutional  liberties. 

Thefe  were  the  claufes  which  protected  the  Securities 
perfonal  liberty  and  property  of  all  freemen,  a°d  'rolt} 
by  founding  acceffible   fecurities  againft  arbi-  perty. 
trary  imprifonment   and    arbitrary  fpoliation. 
"We  will  not  fell,  we  will  not  refufe,  we  will  Juftice  not 
"not  defer,  right  or  juftice  to  any  one,"  was  ^°edeore~ 
the  fimple  and  noble  proteft  againft  a  cuftom  fold. 
never  thenceforward  to  be  practifed  without 
fecret    crime  or    open    fhame.     In   the   fame 
great  fpirit,  the  thirty-ninth  claufe,  beginning 
with  that  rude  latinity  of  nullus  liber  homo  which 
Lord  Chatham  thought  worth  all  the  daffies,  «  N  ,lu 
ftipulated  that  no  freeman  fhould  be  arrefted  liber 
or  imprifoned,  or  diffeifed  of  his  land,  or  out-  homo- 
lawed,  or  deftroyed  in  any  manner ;  nor  mould 
the  King  go  upon  him,  nor  fend  upon  him, 
but  by  the  lawful  judgment  of  his  peers,  or  by 
the  law  of  the  land.     And  a  fupplementary  A11  free- 
claufe,  not  lefs  worthy,  provided  that  earls  and 


22  Introductory  EJJay. 

tried  by     barons  mould  be  amerced  by  their  peers  only, 
their         and  according  to  the  nature  of  their  offence  ; 
that  freemen  mould  not  be  amerced  heavily 
for  a  fmall  fault,  but  after  the  manner  of  the 
default,  nor  above  meafure  for  a  great  tranf- 
greffion  ;  and  that  fuch  amerciaments — faving 
always  to  the  freeholder  his  freehold,  to  the 
merchant  his  merchandife,  and  to  a  villein  his 
implements  of  hufbandry— mould  be  impofed 
by  the  oath  of  the  good  men  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood.    It  was  at  the  fame  time  provided 
that  every  liberty  and  cuftom  which  the  King 
had  granted  to  his  tenants,  as  far  as  concerned 
him,  mould  be   obferved  by   the  clergy   and 
laity  towards  their  tenants,  as  far  as  concerned 
Extenfion  them  ;   thus  extending  the  relief  generally,  as 
fub-vaf-  °  Def°re  remarked,  to  the  fub-vaffals  as  well  as 
fals.  vaffals,  but  reftricting  it  ftill  to  the  freeman. 

Manifeft  as  were  fuch  reftriclions  and  omif- 
fions  in  the  Charter,  however,  and  limited  as 
the  bearing  feemed  to  be  even   of  its  greateft 
remedial  claufes,  thefe  did  not  avail  againft  its 
mighty  and  refiftlefs  effect  through  the  fucceed- 
Effe<ft  of   ing  centuries.     Its  framers  might  have  paufed, 
Charter  m  could   they  wholly  have   forefeen  or    known 
what  it  involved ;  and  that  under  words  in- 
tended only  to  be  applicable  to  the  relations  of 
feudal  power,  lay  concealed  the  moft  extended 
truths  of  a  juft  and  equitable  polity.     By  the 
very  right  they  claimed  to  deny  protection  to 
ferfs,   the    bonds   of  ferfdom    were   for   ever 
Its  power  broken.     By   the  authority  they   affumed   of 
of  expan-  protefting  againft  the  power  of  taxation  in  a 
prince,  they  forfeited  the  power  of  taxation  in 
a  like  cafe  which   they  believed  they  had  re- 


§  i.     The  Plant agenets :  Henry  III.  23 

ferved  to  themfelves.  They  could  not  affert  Subftance 
a  principle,  and  reflnd  its  operation  and  con-  ^IrmF 
fequences.  They  could  not  infill  upon  regular 
meetings  of  the  Great  Council  with  the  pur- 
pofe  of  controlling  the  King,  and  prevent  the 
ultimate  admiffion  into  it  of  forms  of  popular 
election  which  were  mod  effectually  to  control 
the  Nobility.  If  required  to  convey  by  a 
fingle  phrafe  the  truth  embodied  in  the  Great 
Charter,  it  might  be  fimply  and  fufficiently 
exprefTed  as  refinance  to  irrefponfible  tyranny; 
and  this  fubftantially  is  the  fame,  under  the 
fluff  jerkin  of  the  peafant  and  under  the  coat 
of  mail  of  the  baron.  In  all  the  ftruggles  of  Violations 
freedom,  therefore,  which  filled  the  centuries  ^rti^  ~f 
after  Runnymede,  it  played  the  moil  confpi-  charter. 
cuous  part ;  and  from  the  folid  vantage  ground 
it  eftabli  fried,  each  frefh  advance  was  always 
made.  Never,  at  any  new  effort,  were  its 
watchwords  abfent,  or  its  provifions  vainly  ap- 
pealed to ;  although,  when  old  Sir  Edward 
Coke  arofe  to  fpeak  in  the  third  parliament  of 
James  the  Firft,  the  neceffity  had  arifen  no  lefs 
than  thirty-two  times  to  have  them  folemnly 
reaffirmed  and  re-eftablifhed.  Thirty-two 
feveral  times  had  they  then  been  deliberately 
violated  by  profligate  minifters  and  faithlefs 
kings. 

Already  twice  had  this  wrong  been  fuffered  Henry  III. 
in  the  reign  fucceeding  John's,  when,  fix  years  I21  " 
after  the  Regent  Pembroke's  death,  and  while 
the  perfon  of  the  young  King  was  under  the 
guardianfhip  of  a  Poitevin  bifhop,  Peter  des 
Roches,  formerly  a  tool  of  John's,  there  was 
fummoned   the   earliefl   Great   Council  which 


24  Introductory  EJJay. 

Earlieft      bore  the  ominous  name  of  Parliament.     The 
council      Court's  urgent  neceflities  had  called  it  together  : 

named  as  a  ,  o  . p    > 

Parlia-      out,  upon  the  demand  for  a  iubfidy,  frelh  viola- 

ment-        tions  of  the  Charter  were  made  broadly  the 

ground  for  refufing  to  give  ;  and  it  was  only  at 

length  conceded,  in  the  fhape  of  a  fifteenth  of 

Supply      all  movables,  upon  receipt  of  guarantees  for 

alodnti0n"  a  more  ftri61  obfervance  of  the  Charter,  and 

redrefs.      "with  the  condition  that  the   money  fo  raifed 

mould  be  placed  in  the  treafury,  and  none  of  it 

taken  out  before  the  King  was  of  age,  unlefs 

for  the  defence  of  the  realm,   and  in  the  pre- 

Control     fence  0f  flx  bifhops  and  fix  earls.     As  far  as  I 

or  money  .r 

by  parlia-  am  aware,  this  is  the  nrit  example  of  parlia- 
ment,       mentary  control  brought  face  to  face  with  the 
royal  prerogative,  and  the  tranfaction  contained 
in  the  germ  whatever  has  been  worthieft  of  a 
free  people  in  our  hiftory. 
Appeal  of      Indirectly  may  be  traced  to  it,  among  other 
to  people."  incidents  very  notable,  that  proclamation  from 
Henry  the  Third,  fummoning   his  people  to 
take  part  with  him  againft  the  barons  and  great 
lords,  which  was   one  of  the  moil;  memorable 
of    the    precedents    unrolled    by    Sir    Robert 
Cotton  and  Sir  Edward  Coke  when  the  ftruggle 
with  the  Stuarts  began.     It  was  then  late  in 
the  reign ;     but  Henry  was   only   feeking  to 
better  the  inftruction   received  in  his  nonage 
Similar      from  appeals  exactly  iimilar  addrefTed  to  the 
frorrT        people   by  the  Barons,  while  their  conflict  ftill 
Barons,     continued  with  Peter  des  Roches.     The  wily 
Poitevin,  galled  by  the  conditions  attached  to 
the  fubfidy,  precipitated  the  young  King  into 
further  difputes ;   in  the  courfe  of  which,  offices 
of  truft  were  gradually  taken  from  the  Englifh 


§  i.     The  Plant  agenets :  Henry  III.  25 

barons  and  filled  by  foreigners  brought  over  Jealoufy 
into  England.  The  men  of  old  family,  wedded  °f  Fre?ch 
now  to  the  land  of  their  fathers  as  jealoufly  as 
the  Saxon  had  been,  faw  themfelves  difplaced 
for  the  French  jefter,  tool,  or  pander;  and 
thefe  fo-called  Norman  chiefs  turned  for  fym- 
pathy  and  help  to  a  people  no  longer  exclusively 
either  Norman  or  Saxon,  but  united  infeparably 
on  their  Englifh  foil. 

Hiftorians  have  been  very  reluctant  to  admit 
fo    early  an  intrufion  of  the  popular  element 
into  the  government  of  the  Plantagenets  ;  and 
it  is  {till  the  cuftom  to  treat  of  this  particular 
reign  as  a  mere  ftruggle  for  the  predominance  Struggle 
of  ariftocracy  or  monarchy.     But  beneath  the  |°an^°wei 
furface,  the  other  and  more  momentous  power  formed  to 
is  vifible  enough,   as  it  heaves    and  ftirs  the  w^r  °f 
outward  agencies  and  figns  of  authority  ;  and 
what  might  elfe  have  been  a  paltry  ftruggle, 
eafily  terminable,  for  court  favour  or  military 
predominance,  was  by   this  converted  into  a 
war   of  principles,    awful    and    irreconcilable, 
which    ran    its    courfe    with    varying   fortune 
through  all  fubfequent  time.     The  merchants  Rife  of 
and  tradefmen  of  the  towns  are  now  firft  recog-  ^ c^el 
nifable  as  an  independent  and  important  clafs.  men. 
They  have  been  enriched  by  that  very  inter- 
courfe  with  foreigners  which  was  fo  hateful  to 
the  clafs  above  them.     They  are  invefted  with 
privileges  wrung   from  the  poverty  of  their 
lords.     They  are  no  longer  liable  to  individual 
fervices,  but  in  place  of  them  are  paying  com- 
mon   rents.      They  have   guilds   and  charters  Guilds 
inviolable  as  the  fees  of  the  great  proprietors ;  cnhdarters 
and,  incident  to  thefe,  the  right,  as  little  now 


Introduclory  EJfay. 


Privileges 
and  rights 
ceded  to 
middle 
clafs. 


King's 
fummons 
for  parlia- 
ment not 
obeyed, 
1233. 


Political 

ballads. 


Attack 
upon  the 
Favourite. 


to  be  difputed  as  that  of  the  feudal  fuperior 
had  been,  to  hold  fairs  and  demand  tolls,  to 
choofe  their  own  magiftrates  and  enact  their 
own  laws.  On  the  hearing  of  fuch  men,  the 
provifions  of  the  Great  Charter,  read  aloud 
from  time  to  time  in  their  County  Courts, 
could  not  have  fallen  as  a  mere  empty  found. 
What  was  fo  proclaimed  might  be  but  half- 
enfranchifement ;  it  could  indeed  be  little  more, 
while  ferfdom  remained  in  the  clafTes  directly 
beneath  them  ;  but  it  pointed  to  where  freedom 
was,  accuftomed  them  to  its  claims  and  forms, 
and  helped  them  onward  in  the  direction  where 
it  lay.  They  joined  the  Barons  againft  the 
foreign  favourite. 

The  conflict  had  continued  fome  time,  and 
Henry  was  twenty-fix  years  old,  when  his 
neceflities  again  compelled  him  to  call  together 
a  parliament ;  but  twice  his  bidding  was  re- 
fused, and  the  mefTengers  who  bore  the  refufal 
might  have  added  the  unwonted  tidings,  that 
fongs  fung  againft  the  favourite,  and  filled 
with  warnings  to  the  fovereign,  might  daily 
be  heard  in  the  ftreets.  Amid  other  figns  and 
portents  of  focial  change  had  now  arifen  the 
political  ballad.  In  it  fhone  forth  the  firft 
vera  effigies  of  the  Poitevin  bifhop  of  Win- 
chefter  ;  nimble  at  the  counting  of  money  as 
he  was  flow  in  expounding  the  gofpel  ;  fitting 
paramount,  not  in  Winchefter,  but  in  Ex- 
chequer ;  pondering  on  pounds,  and  not  upon 
his  holy  book;  postponing  Luke  to  lucre; 
and  fetting  more  {lore  by  a  handful  of  marks 
than  by  all  the  doctrines  of  their  namefake 
faint.     Would  the  King  avoid  the  fhipwreck 


§  i.     The  Plant agenets:  Henry  111.  27 

of  his  kingdom  ?  afked  the  finger.     Then  let 
him  fhun  for  ever  the  ftones  and  rocks  (Roches) 
in  his  way.     Quickly,   too,  were  thefe  warn- 
ings followed  up.     By  no  lefs  a  perfon  than 
Pembroke's  fon,  the  flandard  of  rebellion  was 
let    loofe  in  the  Welfh  diftridts ;   the  clergy,  General 
opprefled  by  tax  and  tallage  from  Rome,  began  dlicon- 
to  take  part  in  the  general  difcontent ;  and  in 
midft   of   a    feaft   at   the  palace,   Edmund  of 
Canterbury    (Langton's    fuccefTor)    prefented 
himfelf  with  a  ftatement  of  national  grievances 
and   a    demand   for   immediate   redrefs.     He  Griev- 
reminded  the  King  that  his  father  had  well-  p"rtedand 
nigh  forfeited   his    crown ;    he  told  him  that  Redrefs 
the   Englifh  people  would  never  fubmit  to  be  ?™ltf', 
trampled  upon  by  foreigners  in  England  ;  and  1234. 
for  himfelf  he  added  that  he  mould  excom- 
municate all  who  any  longer  refufed,  in  that 
criiis  of  danger,  to  fupport  the  reform  of  the 
government    and   the    welfare    of  the   nation. 
That  was  in  February,    1234.     In  April,   a  Parlia- 
parliament  had  alTembled,  Peter  and  his  Poi-  ^e"tlbled 
tevins  were  on  their  way  home  acrofs  the  fea,  andFavou- 
the  minifters  who  had  made  themfelves  hateful  »t« :  dif- 
were  difmiiTed,  and  the  oppofition  barons  were  April,' 
in  power.  "34. 

This  will  read  like  the  language  of  a  modern 
day  ;   but  if  fuch  events  have  any  hiftoric  fig- 
nificance,   they  eftablifh  what  in  the    modern 
phrafe  can  only  properly  be  defcribed  as  minif- 
terial  refponfibility  and  parliamentary  control.  Minifteri- 
Nor  were  they  the  folitary  or  ifolated  events  ^mtyand 
of  their  clafs  which  marked  the  feeling  of  the  Parlia- 
time.      Again  and  again,  during  this  prolonged  ™ennt^ 
reign,  the   fame   incidents  recur,  in  precifely 


-8  IntroduBory  EJfay. 

the  fame  circle  of  refiftance  and  fubmiflion. 

There  is  an  urgent  requeft  for  money,  which 

is  contemptuoufly  refufed  ;  but  on  a  promife 

to    redrefs    grievances,    the    fubfidy  is   given. 

Then,  Court  coffers  being  full,  Court  pledges 

Diflxefs      are  violated ;   until  again  diftrefs  brings  round 

Redrefs,    the  old  piteous  petition,  and,  with  new  condi- 

and  Sup-    tjons  Qf  refl-ra;nt  ancj  conftitutional  fafeguards 

before  undemanded,  afTiftance  is  rendered  again. 
In  five  years  from  the  incident  I  have  named, 
the  money  fo  granted  by  Parliament  was  paid 
into  the  hands  of  felected  Barons,  with  as  ftricT: 
provifo    for    account    as    modern    parliaments 
have  claimed  over  public  expenditure  ;  and  in 
Securities  two   years   more,   on  the  payment  of  certain 
faith?   1C  monies  to  the  Exchequer,  the  City  of  London 
exacted  a  ftipulation  that  the  Judiciary,  Chan- 
cellor,  and  Treafurer  might  thereafter  be  ap- 
pointed with  the  confent  of  Parliament,  and 
hold  their  offices  only  during  good  behaviour. 
And,  at  the  very  time  when   public  faith  was 
thus  beginning  to  be  exacted  and  recognifed, 
Law  fyf-  iaw  was  taking;  the  form  of  a  fyftem.     It  was 
Braaon, '  now  that  Bracton  produced  that  treatife  which 
1250.         went  far  in  itfelf  to    eftablifh    uniformity  of 
legal  practice,  and  fo  create  our  common  law ; 
nor  had  the  reign   for  which  this  might  have 
fufficed  as  the  fole  diftinction,  reached  its  clofe, 
before   the  fame  great   lawyer   found  himfelf 
able  to  reckon  as  fuperior  to  the  King  "  not 
<c  only  God  and  the  law  by  which  he  is  made 
Curia        "  king,  but  his  Great  Court   (Curia  Regis)  ; 
Regis :       cc  fo  t^at  jf  jie  were  without  a  bridle,  that  is, 

"  the  law,  they  ought  to  put  a  bridle  upon 
tc  him."     This  Court,  this  Curia  Regis,  con- 


$  i.   The  Plant agenets  :  Firjl  Houfe  of  Commons.  29 

fitting   of  Chief  Judiciary,  Chancellor,   Con- Cabinet  of 
ftable,    Marfhal,   Chamberlain,    Steward,    and the  KinS- 
Treafurer,  was  what  in  modern  time  might  be 
called  the  Cabinet  of  the  King. 

But  the  achievement  which  moft  connects 
this  thirteenth  century  with  the  ftruggles  of 
the  feventeenth,  and  with   the  affociations  of 
modern  time,  remains  to  be  commemorated. 
Beyond  doubt  or  queftion,  and  after  due  allow- 
ance for  differences  in  a  difculTion  where  the 
moft  learned    and   calm   of  antiquarians  have 
not  been  able  wholly  to   diveft  themfelves  of  A  memo- 
party  zeal,  in  the  Great  Council  which  met  at  )^mbi 
Weftminfter  on  the  2nd  of  May,  1258,  ori- 2nd  May, 
ginated  the  Houfe  of  Commons  as  a  feparate  I258, 
branch  of  the  State. 

Under  the  earlieft  Norman  kings,  what  was  The  Great 
called  the  Great  Council  appears  to  have  been  u  °jenrci 
only  another  form   of  the  Saxon  Witan.     A  Normans: 
greater  mifapprehenfion   of  our  conftitutional 
hiftory  can  hardly  exift  than  that  which  would 
affect   to  difcover  in  it  any  actual  commence- 
ment of  our  modern  Houfe  of  Lords.     The 
idea  of  an  hereditary  Houfe  of  Lords  did  not  Not  a 
at  that  time  exift    in    England.       A   barony  j?°"?.of 
confifted  of  fo  many  knights'  fees ;  in  other 
words,  of  fo    many  eftates  from    which   the 
fervices  of  a  knight   were  due  ;   and  a  baron 
claimed  his  barony  not  as  a  lord  (even  the 
coronet  was  not  worn  until  much  later),  but 
as  a  proprietor.     The   Council,  in  fhort,  was  Not  h 
diftinctly  reprefentative.       The    dignity    was  ditary» bl 
territorial,  refulting  from  the  poffefnon  of  fiefs  [ativef 
of  land ;     and    if   thofe  fiefs  were  forfeited, 
alienated,   or  loft,  the  dignity  departed  with 


ere- 
ut 


3°  Introductory  EJfay. 

them.     But  it  is  not  difficult  to  difcern  how 
a   larger  parliamentary    fyftem   would    almoft 
necefTarily  arife  out  of  fuch   baronial  tenures. 
Germs      Through  all  the  differences  and  diffenfions  of 
o/kra-er    ^e    manY    learned    perfons    by   whom    thefe 
fyftem.      matters    have    been    difcufTed,    and    without 
touching  the  vexed  queftions  which  their  learn- 
ing has  left  {till  unfolved,  it  feems  tolerably 
clear  that,  whether  or  not  tenure  by  knight's 
fervice  in  chief  was   originally   diftinct   from 
tenure  by  barony,  they  had  become  fo  feparated 
fome  time  before  the  reign  of  John.    Tenants 
Break-up  in  chief  appear  to  have  comprifed,  in  the  firft 
ments'of    mftance>   onty  the  King's   immediate  vaffals  ; 
Council,    but  as  time  wore   on  they   could  not  fo  be 
reftricted.     Many  of  the  greater  baronies  fplit 
up   and  became  divided ;   while  the  name  of 
baron,  no  matter  what  number  of  fees  it  repre- 
fented,  or  for  the  feudal  fervice  of  how  few  or 
how  many  knights  it  may  have  been  refponfible, 
was  ftill  retained. 
Diftinc-  But  this  led  to  a  natural  iealoufy  on  the  part 

tions  and        r   ,i  j    •         • 

grades  of  °*  tne  greater  proprietors ;  and  in  time  to  a 

rank.        broad  diftinction,  in   name'  at  leaft,  between 

the  more  important  of  thofe  barons  who  held 

by  their  honours  or  baronies,  and  the  leffer 

proprietors  whom  grants  of  efcheated  honours 

might  newly  have  created,  or  whofe  ancient 

rights   had  been  reduced  by  efcheat  or  decay. 

A   tenant  in  chief  was  now  not  necefTarily  a 

baron  ;    or  he  might  be  a  baron   of  inferior 

Varieties   grade.     It  is  more  difficult  to  determine  what 

fummons   regu^ateci  tne  iffuz  of  writs  of  fummons  ;  but 

it  feems    probable    that   the  fame  jealoufy   to 

which  allufion  has  been  made,  brought  about 


§  i.  The  Plantagenets:  Firft  Houfe  of  Commons.  31 

the  diftinction  firft  obfervable  in  John's  reign, 
between  the  greater  baron  fummoned  by  his 
fpecial  writ,  and  the  inferior  tenants  in  chief 
called  together  by  a  fummons  directed  to  their 
fheriff.  It  is  clear  alfo,  that,  though  all  were 
entitled  to  fummons,  the  mere  right  of  tenure 
could  not  difpenfe  with  its  forms  ;  and  an 
unfummoned  tenant,  without  reforting  to  fuch 
remedies  as  might  compel  the  iffue  of  the  writ, 
could  not  take  his  place  in  the  Council. 

Up  to  this  point,  it  will  be  obferved,  the  Pecullari- 
principle  is  diftinctly  that  of  feudal  reprefenta-  !-ies,°[ 
tion.     The  immediate  vaffals  of  the  Crown,  reprefen- 
reprefenting  certain  land,  poffefs  the  perfonal  tat'on. 
right  to  be  prefent  in  parliament.     They  are 
the  liegemen  of  the  Sovereign  ;    and  by  the 
univerfal  feudal  compact,  though  aid  could  be 
afked  of  the  liegeman,  the  man's  confent  was  Aid  for 
necefTary   to  legalife  the  aid  ;  while  the  fame  Cor- 
relation, implying  protection  from  the  lord, 
conveyed  a  further  right  to  infift  upon   corre- 
fponding  guarantees.   In  this  view,  the  prefence 
of  both  larger  and  leffer  tenants  was  required, 
and  was  even  exacted  by  the  Crown  as  needful 
to  the  authority  and  execution  of  a  law.     But,  Leffer 
as  the  inferior  tenants  increafed  in  number,  the  reprefent- 
tax  for  parliamentary   attendance  on   men  ofed  by 
fmaller  fortunes  became  intolerable  ;  and  their  larSer- 
confent  and  attendance  came  to  be  implied  in 
that   of  the  greater  barons.     Still,  they  were 
fuppofed  to  be  in  the   Council ;  and  it  feems 
to  me  that  to  the  mere  form  and  legal  fiction 
thus  reforted  to,  may  be  traced  the   gradual 
tranfition  from  a  feudal  to  a  real  representation. 
The  fure  though  iilent  power,  with  which  a  Tranfition 


32  Introductory  EJJay. 

from  feu-  growing  fociety  of  men  will  modify  and  adapt 
dal  to  real  0]j  inftitutions  to  new  neceflities,  at  once 
widening  and  ftrengthening  their  foundations, 
is  for  the  moft  part  happily  unknown  to  thofe 
who  might  otherwife  not  unfuccefsfully  ftrive 
to  control  it. 

As  the  inferior  tenants  in  chief  withdrew 
gradually    from    the    Council,   its  component 
members  became  reftricted  to  the  bifhops  and 
abbots,  the  earls  and  barons,  the  minifters  and 
judges,  and  neighbouring  knights  holding  of 
Language  the  Crown.     But  the  language  of  the  writs 
iummons   continued  to  imply  a  much  larger  attendance. 
When,  for  example,  the  Great  Charter  was  con- 
firmed in  the  ninth  year  of  Henry's  reign,  the 
roll  informs  us  that  at  the  fame  time  a  fifteenth 
had  been   granted  in  return  by  the  bifhops, 
Fictions     ear^sj  barons,  knights,  free  tenants  and  all  of 
forefha-     the  kingdom  {et  omnes  de  regno  noftro  Anglice) ; 
truths2     anc^  wnen  a  fortieth  was  granted  feven  years 
later,  there  is  put  forth,  as  having  concurred 
in  the  grant,  the  ftrange  and  ominous  combina- 
tion of  bifhops,  earls,  barons,  knights,  freemen 
and  villeins.      This  was   indeed  a  fiction,  but 
with  an  expanding  germ  of  truth.     The  con- 
fent  of  particular  clafTes  was  to  be  underftood, 
as  a  matter  of  courfe,  to  have  been  included  in 
Forms       that  of  others.     But  the  very  emptieft  acknow- 
conveymg  ]e^gment;  0f  a  right  is  precious.     The  right 
itfelf  waits  only  its  due  occafion  to  aflume  the 
fubftance  and  importance  of  reality. 

Nor  had  the  Englifh  freeman,  even  under 
his  earlieft  Norman  kings,  been  wholly  with- 
out the  means  of  knowing  what  reprefentation 
meant.     When  the  Conqueror  or  his  fons  had 


§  i.   The  Plantagenets:  Firjl  Houfe  of Commons.  33 

any  fpecial  reafon  to  make  inquiry  into  their 
own  rights  ;  when  particular  wrongs  of  the 
people  reached  them,  or  when  peculations  were 
charged  againft  their  barons  or  officers ;  no-  Commif- 
thing  was  more  common  than  a  commiffion  i°™-°,  ;n 
of  knights  in  each  mire,  not  limply  named  by  (hires, 
the  Sovereign  (as  when  the  Conqueror  iffiied 
an  inquiry  into  the  details  of  the  Saxon  law), 
but  quite  as  frequently  elected  in  the  County 
Court,  whofe  bufinefs  it  was  to  proceed  from 
hundred  to  hundred,  to  make  the  investigation 
upon  oath,  and  to  lay  its  refult  before  the  King 
in  council.  The  Great  Charter  contained  a 
provifion  for  the  election  of  twelve  knights 
in  the  next  court  of  each  county  to  inquire 
into  foreft  abufes.     In  the  feventh  year  of  the  ?.ld  '.n~ 

J       .  ititution 

reign    now  under   notice,    every    lhenff    was  adapted  to 
ordered  to  inquire,  by  means  of  twelve  lawful  nevv  ufes- 
and  difcreet  knights,   what  fpecial    privileges 
exifted  in  his  fhire  on  the  day  of  the  firrt  out- 
break between  John  and  his  barons.     And  in 
the  year  of  the  affembling  of  the  Great  Council 
to  which  thefe  remarks  apply,  a  commiffion 
of  four  knights  in  each  county  received  it  in 
charge  to  inquire  into   certain  exceffies  com- 
mitted by  men  in  authority.     In  relation  to  County 
the  levy  of  fublidies  alfo,  the  fame  rule  came  ^eP.refen" 

j  j         t-h  n  •  tation 

to  be  adopted.     The  molt  ancient  example  on  begins. 
record  of  a  fublidy  (that  of  1207)  is  found  to 
have  been  collected  by  the  itinerant  judges  ; 
but  only  thirteen  years  later,  the  office  of  col-  Collection 
lection  is  feen  to  be  deputed  to  the  meriff,  in  IZ0?  e*n™ 
conjunction  with  two  knights  to  be  chofen  in  122°. 
a  full  court  of  the  county,  with  the  confent  of 
all  the  fuitors.       ~: 


34 


Introductory  EJay. 


Begin- 
ning of 
the  end. 


Vague 
formation 
of  autho- 
rity of 
Commons, 


Gradual 
fteps 
thereto. 
1214. 


Scheme 

to  obtain 

money 

from 

(hires. 

1254. 


Was  it  not  obvious  that  fuch  ufage  as  this 
muff  grow  as  the  people  grew  ?  Were  not  the 
collection  of  taxes,  and  reports  of  grievances, 
manifeft  fteps  to  a  power  over  the  money 
collected,  and  to  a  right  of  petition  againft 
the  grievances  expofed  ?  Is  it  difficult  to 
difcern,  throughout  thefe  efforts  of  Norman 
royalty  to  check  the  excefs  of  its  ministers,  and 
obtain  the  co-operation  of  its  people,  the  vague 
formation  of  that  authority  and  houfe  of  the 
Commons,  which  was  to  prove  more  formidable 
than  either  of  the  powers  it  was  called  into 
exiftence  to  control  ? 

Soon  what  was  vague  became  more  diftinct. 
It  wanted  yet  two  years  of  the  date  of  the  Great 
Charter,  when  a  writ  was  iffued  marking  the 
firft  undoubted  transition  towards  the  change 
fo  vaft  and  (o  memorable.  This  contained  a 
fummons  for  military  fervice,  with  an  order 
that  four  difcreet  knights  of  the  county  mould 
be  fent  to  Oxford  without  arms  to  treat  with 
the  King  concerning  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom. 
In  other  words,  it  was  a  fummons  to  Par- 
liament, in  terms  the  fame  as  thofe  of  a  later 
period ;  and  it  was  followed,  after  an  interval 
of  forty  years,  by  another  and  more  decifive 
inftance.  While  Henry  the  Third  was  on 
the  continent  in  1254,  his  Oueen  and  Regents 
fummoned  the  tenants  in  chief  to  fail  to  his 
affiftance ;  and  gave  order,  in  the  fummons, 
that  "befides  thefe,  two  lawful  and  difcreet 
"  knights  mould  be  chofen  by  the  men  of 
"  every  county,  in  the  place  of  all  and  each 
cc  of  them,  to  affemble  at  Weft.minft.er,  and 
"  to  determine  with  the  knights  of  the  other 


§  i.  The  Plantagenets :  Firfi  Houfe  of  Commons.  2S 

"  counties  what  aid  they  would  grant  to  their 
cc  Sovereign  in  his  prefent  neceffity,  To  that 
cc  the  fame  knights  might  be  able  to  anfwer, 
"  in  the  matter  of  the  faid  aid,  for  their 
cc  refpective  counties." 

Of  the  meaning  of  fuch  a  writ  and  its  return,  Knights 
there  cannot  furely  be  a  queftion  ;  nor  is  it  eafy  f°ra^«kr 
to   underftand  the  difcuffion  it  has  provoked,  counties. 
Call  it  lingular,  anomalous,  or  by  what  name 
may  raoft  fuitably  exprefs  its  irregular  character; 
except  it  from  ordinary  parliaments,  and  call  it 
a  convention  ;  ftill  the  undeniable  fact  remains, 
that  it  was  a  fcheme  to  obtain  money  from 
the    Commons    of  the  various  counties,    and 
that  to  this  end  it  prefcribed  the  election  of  Reprefen- 
reprefentatives  whofe    deliberation   and    afTent  -J^fe  ° 
mould  control  thofe  of  their  constituents.    The  taxes, 
language  of  the  writ  connects  itfelf  undoubt- 
edly with  that  of  its  predecefTor  in  the  fifteenth 
of  John  ;   and  it  is  quite  immaterial  whether 
or  not  the  barons,  and  higher  tenants  in  chief, 
were   fummoned  to   lit   with    thefe   knights. 
Enough  that  the  Commons  of  the  {hires  were 
thus    admitted  to  a  co-ordinate  fhare  in  the 
impofition  and  voting  of  taxes  ;  for,  whatever  One 
antiquarians  may  urge  as  to  Parliament's  ufe  ![t  ^eft. 
of    one  chamber   at   Weftminfter  up  to    the  minfter : 
middle  of  the  third  Edward's  reign  (abundant  j.eP.arate 

o      \  fittings 

proof  exifts  of  feparate  fittings  in  other  parts  dfewhere. 
of  England),  it  is  fufficiently  clear  that  the 
voting  muft  always  have  been  by  each  order 
feparately,  and  without  interference  from  each 
other.  The  mere  circumftance  of  the  different 
proportions  of  taxation  would  eftablifh  this. 

In  the  thirty-eighth  of  Henry  the  Third,  Admiffion 

D  2 


36  Introductory  EJfay. 

of  third      then,  the  principle  of  a  real  reprefentation  had 

eftate.        become  part  of  the  conflitution  of  England, 

and  the  third  eftate  of  the  realm  took  a  direct 

fhare  in  its  government.     Yet,  momentous  as 

the  conceflion  was,  it  had  been  obtained  by  no 

violent  effort,  but   {imply  as  the  unavoidable 

refult   of  the   increafing    importance    of    the 

people.     From  leffer  they  had  rifen  quietly  to 

Knights    higher  duties.     The    knight,  whofe   bufinefs 

ionLlth      '*     ^  keen  to  afTefs  fubfidies,  had  found  gradual 

admiftion  by  the  fide  of  the  earls  and  barons, 

to  help  in  thedifpofition  and  diftribution  of  the 

money  obtained ;  and  that  he  and  his  fellows 

were    fo  received    diftinctly   as    the    deputies 

of  others,  appeared  even  in  the  remuneration 

Lords  pay,  fet  apart  for  them.     Great  men,  fuch  as  earls 

fitting  m    an^  Darons   who  attended  in  their  own  right, 

tneir  own  o      ^ 

right.  paid  their  own  charges  ;  but  men  of  fmaller 
fubftance,  who  had  undertaken  merely  to 
tranfacl  bufinefs  for  others,  were  held  to  have 
a  title  to  compenfation  from  thofe  in  whofe 
behalf  they  acted.  As  they  were  paid  for 
their  labour  in  afTefiment,  fo  for  their  facrifice 
of  time  and  labour  in  reprefentation  they  were 
Knights  paid.  Wherefore  a  rate  levied  on  the  county 
are  paid,    d;fcharpred  their  expenfes  for  fo  many  fpecified 

fitting  for    .  .&  .  X     •  j  •        }i 

others.       days,  in  "  going,  itaying,  and  returning. 

On  another  branch  of  this  inquiry,  too,  which 
has  been  fadly  encumbered  with  needlefs  learn- 
ing and  mifplaced  vehemence  of  difcuflion,  the 

County  countv  rate  would  feem  to  have  an  important 
bearing.  It  has  been  affumed,  by  thofe  anti- 
quarians who  would  narrow  as  much  as  poffible 
the  bafis  on  which  our  freedom  is  built,  that 
the   reprefentative    knights,    as    reprefenting 


§  i.   The  Plant agenets  :  Firji  Houfe  of Commons.  37 

fimply  the  inferior  tenants  in  chief  from  whofe 
reluctance  to  attend  in  Parliament  they  fir  ft 
derived  importance,   are  not  to  be  taken  to 
have  had  relation  to  the  county  at  large.     But 
this  afTumption  is  negatived  by  every  reafon- 
able  fuppofition.     The  wages  of  the  knights  Wages  of 
were  levied  on  the  whole  county  (de  communi-  knights 
tate  comitates)  ;    and  the  mefne  tenant  could  entire 
hardly  have  been  denied  a  right,  to  the  fupport  county. 
of  which  he  was  obliged  to  contribute.     That 
what  concerned  all  lhould  be  approved  by  all, 
was  a  maxim  not  unufed  by  even  Norman 
kings.     The  language  of  the  writs  of  election, 
alfo,    cited    with    pardonable    exultation    by 
Prynne  in  the  early  fittings  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment, is  clear  and  fpecific.     The  tenants  in 
chief  are  never    mentioned  in    them ;    while 
tenants  of  the  Crown  implied  tenants  both  by 
free  and  by  military  fervice.     The  condition  Election 
required  of  the  candidate,  was  to  be  difcreet  by ful1 
and  lawful;  of  the  electors,  to  be  fuitors  of court/ 
the  county  ;   and  of  the  election,  to  be  made 
in  a  full  court.     A  full   County  Court  was 
always  the  leait  feudal  of  the  modified  feudality 
that   lingered  in  England.     It   comprifed  all  All  free- 
freeholders  ;  whether  of  the  King,  of  a  mefne  holder.s 

,       j  ,  ...  r      Dr  j  compnled: 

lord,  or  by  military  or  any  tree  lervice ;  and 

in  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Third  therefore,  not 

lefs  certainly  than  in  that  of  Victoria  the  Firft, 

the  knights  of  the  fhire  reprefented,  without  And  rc- 

regard  to  the  quality  of  tenure,  the  whole  body  panted 

r -r       1      1  1  by  knights 

or  freeholders,  of  fhire. 

Still,  they  were  knights.  Their  ftation 
affociated  them  with  the  earls  and  barons.  They 
were  part  of  what  in  feudal  institution  was 


38  Introductory  EJfay. 

held  to  be  a  lower  nobility.     They   ranked 

Refults      above  the  ordinary  burgefs  or  citizen.     They 

offuch      reprefented  the  power  of  the  Commons,  but 

tation!""  ^ey  were  not  commoners  ;  even   when    the 

commoners  fat  apart,  they  continued  to  fit  with 

the  barons  ;  and  as  yet  no  man  feems  to  have 

dreamt  that  the  clafs  even  lower  than  theirs 

could  ever  be  raifed  to  the  national  councils, 

whether  in  feparate,  co-ordinate,  or  fubordi- 

nate  rank.     Though  the  principle  which  by 

eafieft  preflure  expanded  to  admit  them,  had 

been  winning  its  gradual  way  for  centuries  to 

the  acknowledgment  it  had  at   laft  obtained, 

Ages  pre-  yet  that  lower  clafs  were  ftill  fhut  out.      But, 

theehourat  w^iat  ages  and  generations  are  needed  to  pre- 

produces.  pare,  the  man  and  the  hour  accomplifh ;  and 

both   were  at  hand  when  the  Great  Council, 

having  met  at  Weftminfter   on    the    2nd   of 

May,  1258,  yielded  to  the  demand  of  Simon 

de  Montfort  that  a  parliament  mould  meet  at 

Six  event-  Oxford  in  June.     The  ftruggle   which    then 

began,   filled   more  than   fix  eventful  years ; 

but  at  laft  the  day  arrived,  never  to  be  forgotten 

in  Englifh.  ftory,  and  on  the  14th  December, 

1264,  writs  went  forth  calling  together  re- 

prefentatives    from    the    counties,  cities,   and 

boroughs,    to    meet    the    prelates    and    great 

lords :  and  the  firft   enactment  of  that  moft 

Writs  for  memorable  afTemblage,  giving  folemn  confir- 

firft  Houfe  mation   to  charters  and  ordinances,  ran  as  by 

°12?m~    common  confent  c<of  the  King,  his  fon  Ed- 

mons,  d' 

14th  Dec.  (f  ward,  the  prelates,    earls,  barons,  arid  com- 
1264.        (( monaity  0f  {fa  realm.''> 

That,  from  the  pofition  thus  gained,  the  com- 
monalty never  again  were  diflodged,  is  the  fuffi- 


§  i.     The  Plant agenets :  Edward  I.  39 

cient  anfwer  to  thofe  who  would  afcribe  the 
victory  lefs  to  the  caufes  I  have  retraced  than 
to  the  fudden  needs  of  a  faction  of  the  barons. 
As  of  right  the  commonalty  took,  and  they  Rights 
kept,  the  place  to  which  they  were  called  ;  and  Sained 
we  may  difmifs  as  of  the  leaft  poffible  import-  gained 
ance   the   queftion   whether   the    power   was  always, 
ufurped    that   called   them.      Their    exiftence 
once  recognifed,   no  man  was  found  to  gain- 
fay  it ;  their  pofition  and  place  once  difcovered, 
everything  helped  to  make  it  more  decifively 
plain.      In  the  reigns  of  the  firft  and  fecond  Power  of 
Edwards,  and  their  fuccefTors,  we  find  them  in 


evergrow- 


actual  efficiency  as  a  branch  of  the  State  ;  and  im 
in  fpite  of  the  weaker  princes,  as  with  the  help 
of  the  wifer  and  ftronger,  their  power  was  ftill 
to  grow. 

Edward   the  Firft    had    not    occupied  his  Edward  1. 
father's  throne  three  years,  when  a  ftatute  was  12?I' 
paffed  that  forafmuch  as  election  ought  to  be 
free,  no  man  by  force  of  arms,  nor  by  malice 
or  menacing,  mould  difturb  any  to  make  free 
election.     It  was  in   this  reign  alfo  (when  fo 
many  great  improvements  in    the   laws  were 
effected  that  to  Edward  has  been  afcribed  the 
too  lofty  title  of  the  Englifh.  Juftinian)  that  Ele&ion 
the  refidents  of  the  various  counties,  in  which  of  sheriffs, 
the  Jury  Syftem  had  been  finally  confolidated, 
obtained    the    power,    afterwards   furrendered 
and   loft,   of  electing  their  own  fheriffs.     In 
the  thirteenth  of  the  fame  prince,  what  proved 
to  be  one  of  the  heavieft  blows  to  the  fyftem 
it  was  meant  to  guard  was  ftruck  by  the  arm- 
ing of  all  clafles  :  for  then  was  paffed  the  Great  Great 
Statute  of  Winchefter,  by  which  every  man  in  Statute  of 


4-0  Introductory  EJfay. 

Winehef-  the  kingdom,  according  to  the  quantity  of  his 
ter,  1*84.  ]ancjs  and  goods,  was    afTefTed  and  fworn  to 
carry  weapons.     The   leflbn  had    now    been 
taught  to  two  eftates  of  the  realm,  that  in  the 
third,  as  yet  unknown  to  itfelf,   the  fupreme 
force  Jay  ;  and  the  ability  or  power  mod  effec- 
tively to  make  common  caufe  with  the  third, 
was  hereafter  to  be  the  meafure  of  gain  or  lofs 
to  either  of  the  other  two.     A  curious  example 
Edward     prefents  itfelf  in  the  fucceeding  reign.     Under 
Edward  the  Second,  when  beyond  all  queftion 
the  Commons  fat,  as  well  as  voted,  apart  from 
the  temporal  and  fpiritual   Barons,  numerous 
Creation    boroughs  were  expreffly  created  with  the  defign 
of  Royal    0f  ftrengthening  the  regal  as  oppofed  to  the 
'  ariftocratic  influences ;   and    it  was   alfo  then 
that,  in  a  very  remarkable  ftatute,  equal  legis- 
lative power  with  the  other  eftates  was  claimed 
for  the  commonalty,  not  as  a  new  pretention, 
Equal       but  as   a   fundamental   ufage    of    the   realm. 
power       «  The  matters,"  they  faid,  "  to  be  eftablifhed 
for  Com-   <f  f°r  ^ie  eftate  of  the  king  and  of  his  heirs, 
mons.        cc  and  for  the  eftate  of  the  realm  and  of  the 
cc  people,  fhall  be  treated,  accorded,  and  eftab- 
cc  limed  in  parliament,  by  the  king,  and  by  the 
"  afTent  of  the  prelates,   earls,    and    barons, 
cc  and  the  commonalty  of  the  realm,  according 
Provision   "  as  hath  been  before  accuftomed."     Then,  too, 
for  affem-  the  Great  Charter  was  again  confirmed,   with 
Parlia-      the  ftriking  addition  of  cc  forafmuch  as  many 
merits.       "  people  be  aggrieved  by  the  king's  minifters 
u  againft  right,  in  refpect  of  which  grievances 
cc  no  one  can  recover  without  a  common  par- 
"  liament,   we  do  ordain  that  the  king   lhall 
"  hold  a  parliament  once  in  the  year,  or  twice, 


§  i.     "The  Plant agenets :  Edward  III.  41 

"if  need   be."     In  the  fucceeding  reign   fix  Confirm- 
different    ftatutes    confirmed    and    frill    more  a^°?s 
enlarged  its  provifions  ;   and  when  both    the  charter, 
firft  and  the  third  Edward,  in  the  plenitude 
of  their  power    and  their   fuccefs,    attempted 
without  direct  authority  from    Parliament  to 
impofe  taxes    on  the  people,   they    both  had 
to  fuffer  defeat.     Edward  the  Firft  ftruggled  Attempts 
long  to  reverfe  that  decifion  ;  and  in  the  end  t°Xensipo 
had  but  to  enter  into  more  fpecial  covenants  without 

•  •  "Pi* 

that  he  would  never  again  levy  aid  without  ^™a" 
the  afTent  and  good-will  of  the  eftates  of  the 
realm.     From  the  weak  government  of  his  fon 
and  fuccefTor,  the  power  was  decifively  wrefted ; 
and  money  fupplies  were  almoft  always  after-  Money 
wards,  or  at  leaf!  with  rare  exceptions,  made  made'^ 
conditional,  not  merely  that  the  fpecific  fervices  condi- 
for  which  they  were  voted  might  be  fecured, tlonal- 
but  that,   as  the  voluntary  gift  of  lords   and 
commons,  they  fhould  not  by  any  pretence  be 
drawn  into  precedents  as  of  right  or  force. 

The  long  and  remarkable  reign  of  Edward  Edward 
the  Firft's  grandfon  is  the  date  of  the  Statute  m-  I32y- 
of  Treafons,  one  of  the  greateft  gains  to  con- 
ftitutional  freedom.      It   limited   the   crime,  Statute  of 
before  vague  and  uncertain,  to  three  principal  Treafons- 
heads;  the  confpiring  the  King's  death,    the 
levying  war  againft  him,  and  the  adhering  to  his 
enemies  ;   and,  if  any  other  cafes  for  queftion 
fhould  arife,  it  prohibited  the  judges  from  in- 
flicting the  penalty  of  treafon  without  applica- 
tion   to  Parliament.     Then  alfo  were  paffed 
thofe  memorable  acts    againft    arbitrary   con-  Acts 
fcription  and  compulfory  prefling  of  foldiers,  *£*"}". 
fo  repeatedly  cited  in  the  conflict  with  Charles  t;on> 


42  Introductory  EJJay. 

the  Firft,   which  faved  to  every  man,  except 

upon  i(  the  fudden  coming  of  ftrange  enemies 

No  forced  cc  into  the  realm,"  the  obligation  to  arm  him- 

Snl!T:prgof  felf  onlY  withIn  hIs  own  mIre-     Without  a 

ooidieis.  J 

rtruggle  or  which  our  records   have  kept  the 
trace,  thefe  popular   gains  were  won.     What 
weaker  fovereigns  would  have  perilled  life  to 
Character  hold,  the  third  Edward  conceded  freely.     He 
ward  ill.  was  to°   clear-lighted  to  grafp  at  a    fhadow 
when  already  he  held  the  fubftance,  and  he  was 
too  powerful  to  fear  concefTions   that   had  a 
tendency  without  danger  to  the  throne  to  con- 
ciliate the    other   authorities    of    the    realm, 
victorious  Peace  had  her  victories  for  him,  therefore,  not 
weiieaCe  3S  ^s  renowned  than  thofe  which  he  obtained  in 
war.         war.     He  could  compofe  or  amufe  his  reftless 
Lords  by  a  politic  foundation  of  the  order  of 
the  Garter,  as  he  propitiated  his  difcontented 
Commons  by  a  frank  redrefs  of  the  complaint 
or  grievance.     No  manlier  prince,   and  none 
more  prudent  or  fuccefsful,  ever  occupied  the 
Englifh  throne.  No  influence  from  the  throne 
having  plainer   tendencies  to  popular  cultiva- 
tion, was  ever  left  to  a  fucceeding  age.     He 
had  played  with  confummate  genius  the  part  of 
Firft  man  ^e  firft  man  in  the  realm.     He  had  interefted 

in  the  i      r  i  r  n 

realm.       men  in  himfelf  for  no  apparently  iemlh  reafons, 

had  juftified  his  own  ambition  by  the  ambition 

of  a  common  country,  and  had  aggrandifed  his 

own  glory  as  the  fummit  of  the  nation's  greater 

Intel-       glorv'     Even  his  palaces  gave  the  feeling  of 

leftual  in-  elevation    to    his   people.       The    magnificent 

fluencesofftrucTures  of  Weftminfter  Hall  and  Windfor 

Ins  reign. 

rank  juftly  with  the  intellectual  influences  that 
were  then  difTufed  ;  and,  as  though  an  era  of 


§  I.  The  Plantagenets:  Depofition  of  Richard  II.  43 

fo  much  that  was  great  mould  not  pafs  with- 
out a  mark  to  diftinguifh  it  among   even  the 
greateft   of  all  future  time,  the  poet  Chaucer  Chaucer : 
arofe  to  charm  and  inftruct  his  countrymen,  132 
and,  by  the  purification  of  their  native  tongue, 
to  complete  the  national  fame.      Nor  was  this  improve- 
(perhaps  the  higheft  distinction  of  Edward  the  ment  of 
Third's  reign)  to  pafs  without  leaving  traces    ngl 
in  his  ftatute-book.     With  much  appropriate- 
nefs   it  was  enacted,  in  the  thirty-fixth  year 
of  his  government,  that  the  Englifh  language  Adopted 

which  had  been  thus  ennobled,  mould  in  future  in  Parllf- 
.        .  ,         .     ,  r  1     •  n    ■  ment  ro'Is- 

be  uied  as  the  language  or  legillation. 

The  greateft  of  the  Edwards  governed  Eng- 
land for  fifty  years,  and  called  together  feventy 
parliaments.      He  was  fucceeded  by  a  prince 
of  qualities  in  all  refpects  the  reverfe  of  his, 
and  whom  Parliament  depofed.     Yet  not  more  Richard 
certainly  in  the   enforced   refignation    of  the  IJ-  J377- 
crown    which   clofed    the    reign,    than  in  the 
rebellion  of  the  ferf-clafs  which  fignalifed  its 
commencement,  did  Richard  the  Second's  rule 
bear  teftimony  to  the  ftrength  and  efficacy  of 
principles   promoted  equally    by   the    rule  of 
Edward.      Placed  even  on  the  inferior  ground  Refults  of 
of  a  conflict  between  the  higher  powers  of  the  ^lchar.d  s 

o  ii-  •  •  &  f     rr-  1         depofition. 

state  ;  calling  it  mere  gain  to  the  King  when 
he  broke  down  the  exclufive  pretentions  of  the 
great  lords  by  forcing  their  Houfe  to  recognife 
his  writs  of  fummons,  and  counting  it  but  as  a 
new  privilege  to  the  Barons  when  they  led 
Henry  of  Lancafter  to  the  throne  ;  the  confe- 
quences  of  this  reign  were  momentous.  With 
at  leaft  the  nominal  co-operation  of  the  con- 
ftituted  authorities  of  his  empire,  a  legitimate 


44.  Introduftory  EJfay. 

People's  King  had  been  depofed ;  and  never  was  it 
power  to  afterwards  difputed,  that  the  folid  and  fingle 
fuccef-  claim  of  the  dynafty  which  took  his  place, 
fion:  refted  upon  the  ability  of  Parliament,  or  of 
the  power  which  thofe  Lords  and  Barons  with 
Sole  claim  all  England  armed  behind  them  reprefented, 
of  Houfe    fo  to  ajter  the  fuccemon.     By  the  wording  of 

or  Lan-  rr      .  J      .  ° 

caiter.  the  acts  or  fettlement  connected  with  tne  change, 
that  molt  efTential  principle  of  popular  right 
was  fully  admitted ;  and  from  them  were 
derived  the  hiftorical  and  legal  precedents 
which,  down  to  our  own  time,  have  proved 
moft:  advantageous  to  the  people. 

The  people's  political  importance  was  in  fact 
eftablifhed  by  it.      It  ftruck  out  from  the  dic- 
tionary of  the  State  the  terms  of  c  divine  right,' 
Terms  of  and  '  indefeafible  power.'  CCI  confefs,"  faid  the 
Richard  s  humbled  prince  to  the  men  who  had  withdrawn 

iubmil-         .     .         it       •  t  t  j     r 

fion.         their   allegiance,   cc  1  recognile,  and,  from  cer- 

' c  tain  knowledge,  confcientioully  declare,  that 

ci  I  confider  myfelf  to  have  been,  and  to  be, 

cc  infufficient  for  the  government  of  this  king- 

<c  dom,  and  for  my  notorious   demerits  not 

"  undeferving  of  depofition."     Nor  was  the 

voluntary    abdication    held    fufficient.       The 

Houfes  of  Lords  and  Commons,  in    folemn 

conclave  in   the    hall    at    Weftminfter,  made 

His  abdi-   Richard  the  Second's  renunciation  of  his  crown 

madecom-  tne^r  own  compulfory  act,  and,  amid  the  fhouts 

pulfory.      of  the  common  people  who  had  there  alTem- 

bled,  Henry  of  Lancalter  was  conducted  to 

the  vacant  throne. 

Hardly  at  any  preceding  period,  even  among 
the  Saxons,  had  the  popular  principle  taken 
more  vifible  fhape  than  on  that  momentous 


§  i.    The  Plant agenets :  Henry  IV.  45 

occafion.     It  was  only  fome  few  years  before  Popular 
that   the  exclufive  pretentions  of  the  barons  j£JS|t 
had  been  invaded,  by  admiffion  of  regal  writs 
of  fummons  into  their  houfe ;  and  here  they 
were  now  themfelves  inducting  a  new  fovereign 
to  the  feat  of  fupreme  power,  with  lefs  gua- 
rantee that  he  would  found  his  future  preten- 
tions on  the  fidelity  of  their  fwords,  than  that 
he  would  reft  it  rather  on  the  adhefion  of  the 
people.     From    thofe    approving    (bouts,    in  Adhefion 
which  the  old  Saxon  liberty  might  again  feem  °  *  f 
pealing  through  the  air,  there  doubtlefs  fell 
more  fafety  on  the  ear  of  Bolingbroke,  than 
from  the  mailed  tread  of  the  barons  who  led 
him   to  Richard's  chair.     May  we  not  even  Solicit- 
accept  the  fancy  of  the  poet  whofe  genius  takes  ^Lone 
rank  with  hiftory,  and  fuppofe  the  new  fove- 
reign of  the  houfe  of  Lancafter,  for  years  before 
this  crowning   day,  a  fuppliant  candidate  for 
the  popular    cries  that  at    length  hailed  the 
downfall  of  the  family  of  York  ? 

Ourfelf,  and  Bufhy,  Bagot  here,  and  Green,  Shake- 

Obferv'd  his  courtfhip  to  the  common  people.  fpeare's 

How  he  did  feem  to  dive  into  their  hearts,  Boling- 

With  humble  and  familiar  courtefy  ;  broke. 

What  reverence  he  did  throw  away  on  Haves, 

Wooing  poor  craftfmen  with  the  craft  of  fmiles, 

And  patient  underbearing  of  his  fortune, 

As 't  were  to  banifh  their  affects  with  him. 

Off  goes  his  bonnet  to  an  oyfter  wench  ; 

A  brace  of  draymen  bid  .   .   God  fpeed  him  well.   . 

And  had  the  tribute  of  his  fupple  knee, 

With  .  .  '  Thanks,  my  countrymen  !  my  loving  friends !' 

As  were  our  England  in  reverfion  his, 

And  he  our  fubjects'  next  degree  in  hope. 

Nor   did    thefe   crafty  courtefies  ceafe,   on  Henry  iv. 
attainment  of  their  firft  great  object.      Every  J399* 
popular  limitation  of  his  right  was  accepted 


46  IntroduBory  EJfay. 

ungrudgingly  by  the  firft  prince  of  the  houfe 
King  Bo-  of  Lancaster.    Wary  as  he  was  bold,  the  policy 
lmgbioke.  Qf  Bolingbroke  continued  to  be  the  policy  of 
Henry  the  Fourth.     The  parliamentary  autho- 
rity which   had    given   him    power,    and   the 
popular  fympathies  which  had   confirmed  his 
title,  were  in  every  poffible  way  promoted  by 
him  during  the  fourteen  years  of  his  great 
though  ftill  difputed  rule ;  and  no   one  who 
examines  the  preambles  and  other  wording  of 
the  ftatutes  that  were  pafTed  in  his  reign,  can 
Elevation  fail  to  be  ftruck  with  the  fenfe  of  how  much 
pcopfe.      t^ie  commoneft  orders  of  the  people  muft  have 
rifen  fince   the   date  of  the   reign  of  John,  in 
all  that,    with  the  feeling   of  perfonal  power, 
brings  the  hankering  after  political  privilege, 
gradual  means  to  eflimate  freedom  at  its  value, 
and  ftrength  ultimately  to  win  it.     Henry's 
firft  Houfe  of  Commons  re-afferted  the  right  on 
which  his  title  was  bafed,  by  taking  on  itfelf  to 
recognife  his  fon  as  prince  of  Wales  and  heir 
apparent  to  the  throne.     This  proceeding  was 
mentary    revived  and  confirmed  in  the  year  1404,  when 
affump-     the  fovereign  obtained  from  the  parliament  a 
formal  permiffion  that  the  right  of  fucceftion 
to  the  crown  fhould  be  vefted  in  the  prince's 
brothers,  if  he    himfelf   mould    die    without 
heirs.     In  1406  another  and  greater  ftep  was 
taken,  the  Commons   themfelves   in  that  year 
carrying  up  a  petition  to  Henry,  to  limit  the 
Precedent  fuccefTion  to  his  fons  and    their  heirs    male. 
for  Hano-  This  was  in  effect  a  precedent  for  the  fettle- 
ceffion  UC~  ment  °f  tne  crown  in  after  years  on  the  houfe 
1406.        of  Hanover. 

Other  precedents,  fcarcely  lefs  important, 


§  I.    The  Plantagenets  :  Henry  IV.  47 

date  from  this  reign.     In  the  firft  feffion  of  No  judge 
Henry  the  Fourth,  a  law  was  patted  that  no  £;j!^d 
judge    mould   be    releafed   from    the   penalty  orders, 
affixed  to  the  fanction  of  an  iniquitous  ad,  by 
pleading   the    orders    of    the   king,    or    even 
danger  to  his   own  life  from  the   fovereign's 
menaces.     In  the  fecond  year  of  the  reign, 
the  practice  which  was  afterwards  one  of  the 
ftrongeft  bulwarks  of  popular  privilege,  and 
which  had   now  been  for  fome  time  fubftan- 
tially  operative,  was  formally  infilled  on  as  a 
right ;  and  a  neceffary  fupply  was  propofed  to  cla'm  t0 
be  withheld  from   the  prince  until  he  had  an-  pi;es  con. 
fwered  a  petition   of  the  fubject.     The  Com-  ditionalou 
mons  in  perfon,  headed  by  their  Speaker  Sir  \e^™*' 
Arnold  Savage,  formally  proffered  this  bold 
claim.     Three  years  later,  the  king  was  defired 
to  remove  from  his  houfehold  four  officers,  one 
of  them    his    own    confefTor,  who   had  given 
offence  to  the  Commons  ;  and  Henry  complied  officers 
with  the  requeft,  that  he  might  not,  as  he  faid,  Houfe- 
leave  the  willies  of  his  faithful  fubjects  unfa-  Jj^J" 
tisfied.     At  the  fame  time  he  informed  them  1404. 
that  he  knew  of  no  offence  which  the  perfons 
complained  of  had  committed.      In  the  fixth 
year  of  the  fame  reign,  while  the  Commons 
voted  the  king  fupplies,  they  appointed  trea- 
furers   of   their  own  to  make  fure  that  the 
money  was  difburfed  for  the  purpofes  intended. 
In  that  year,  alfo,  new  laws  to  regulate  par- 
liamentary elections    attefted   the   rapidly  in- 
creafing  ftrejpgth  of  the  third  eftate.    A  ftatute  Law  for 
on  cc  the  grievous  complaints  of  the  Commons  regulating 
"  againft  undue  elections  for  fhires  from  the  Elections. 
"  partiality  of  fheriffs,"  and  directing  "  that  in 


48 


Introductory  Ejjay. 


All  Free- 
holders 
to  vote. 


The  lack- 
learning 
Parlia- 
ment. 
1406. 


Accumu- 
lation of 
Church 
property. 


Its  un- 
equal dis- 
tribution. 


fC  the  next  County  Court,  after  writs  for  par- 
<c  liament  are  delivered,  proclamation  mall  be 
f  {  made  of  the  day  and  place  of  the  parliament, 
cc  and  that  all  they  that  be  there  prefent,  as 
Cf  well  fuitors  duly  fummoned  as  others,  mail 
"  proceed  to  the  election  freely  and  indiffer- 
<f  ently,  notwithstanding  any  requeft  or  com- 
cc  mand  to  the  contrary" — bears  date  in  the 
year  1406. 

That  was  the  year,  too,  in  which  the  Houfe 
of  Commons  having  been  afked  to  grant  fup- 
plies,  fr.arr.led  the  King  with  a  plain  propofal 
that  he  mould  feize  all  the  temporalities  of  the 
Church,  and  employ  them  as  a  fund  referved 
for  the  exigencies  of  the  State.  It  is  needlefs 
to  defcribe  what  the  Church  was  then,  or  the 
extent  to  which  the  ill-gotten  wealth  of  the 
regular  clergy  had  attained.  Its  accumulation 
had  been  checked  by  ftatutes  of  mortmain 
under  the  firft  and  third  Edwards,  but  thefe 
again  were  eluded  by  licences  of  alienation  ; 
and  the  competent  evidence  of  Bifhop  Burnet 
permits  us  to  add  that  the  hand  of  a  church- 
man is  not  very  ready  to  let  go  what  once  it  has 
firmly  grafped.  Even  more  objectionable  than 
the  extent  of  this  wealth,  was  its  unequal  ap- 
portionment. While  fuch  abbots  as  thofe  of 
Reading,  Glaftonbury,  or  Battle,  lived  with  the 
riotous  pomp  of  princes  and  pafTed  their  days 
in  feafting,  thoufands  of  monks,  learned  and 
laborious,  were  ftruggling  with  fordid  poverty 
in  its  loweft  and  mod  degrading  foVms.  The 
project  of  the  Commons  included,  therefore,  a 
general  and  reafonable  endowment  of  all  the 
clergy,  to  precede  any  ftate  appropriation  of 


§  i .     The  Plantagenets :  Henry  IV.  49 

the  enormous  furplus  of  ecclefiaftical  revenues.  Proposal 
The  argument  they  urged  for  it,  and  again  and  £°  /""  * 
again  repeated,  was,  that  fuch  exorbitant  riches  appropria- 
no  lefs  than  fuch  too  fcanty  earnings  could  tend  tlon- 
only  to  difqualify  all  fections  of  the  Church  for 
the  due  difcharge  of  ministerial  functions  ;   and 
though  they  failed  in  their  immediate  purpofe, 
and  had  a  heretic  or  two  burned  in  their  faces 
by  way   of  archiepifcopal  revenge,  and  were  Failure  of 
dubbed  by  the  higher  clergy  in  fcorn  a  lack-  attempt, 
learning  parliament,  they  might  have  felt  that, 
by  the  very  agitation  of  fuch  a  queftion,  the 
feeds  were  fown  of  no  partial  gain  forpofterity. 
The  Church  itfelf  had  moft  reafon  to  regret 
its  immediate  failure.     But  it  led  to  fome  im- 
portant checks  on  clerical  privilege  ;  and  the  Thirty 
thirty  articles  which,  two  years  later,  were  not  artlcles/°r 
only  propofed  but  conceded,  for  the  regulation  of  King's 
of  the  King's  houfehold  and  government,  have  affairs, 
been  declared  by  Mr.   Hallam,   an  authority 
well  entitled  to  refpedt,  to  form  a  noble  fabric 
of  conftitutional  liberty,  hardly  inferior  to  the 
petition  of  right.     The  Sovereign  was  required 
to  govern  by  the  advice  of  a  permanent  council ; 
and  this  council,  together  with  all  the  judges 
and  the  officers  of  the  royal  houfehold,  were 
bound  by  folemn  oath  to  parliament  to  obferve 
and  defend  the  amended  institutions.     It  efta- 
blifhed  in  effect  the  principle  of  ministerial  Minifter- 
refponfibility  ;  and  it  is  a  remarkable  evidence  ^jf/"^"" 
of  the  fame  fpirit,  and  of  the  Strong  popular  tablifhed. 
impulfe  favoured,  if  not  created,  by  the  acccf-  I*10- 
fion  of  the  Houfe  of  Lancafter,  that  an  attempt 
made   by   the    Lords    to  interfere   with   the 
taxation  of  the  people,  in  the  year  after  the 


50  Introductory  EJJay. 

inter-       County   Elections    Bill    pafTed,    was    Strongly 
fei-ence      refented  and  reSiSted  by   the    Lower    Houfe, 

with  Tax-         .  .     , .  J  .     .  .  -     ,     . 

ation  by    as  in  great  prejudice  and  derogation   or  their 

the  Lords  liberties. 

To  this,  then,  had  been  brought,  at  the 
opening  of  the  fifteenth  century,  that  claim  of 
a  Sovereign  Authority  which  in  the  older  time 
had  certainly  been  conceded  to  the  Norman 
King.  For  it  would  be  as  idle  to  doubt  in 
what  division  of  the  State  the  ConqueSt  tem- 
porarily veSted  fuch  authority,  as  to  deny  that 

Changes    many  forms  of  it  Still  were  retained  long  after 

fincethe    its  fubStance  and  vitality  had  departed.     Still, 

Conquelt.     -  ,  r       r  ^       -n      •  i 

tor  example,  the  courle  or  legislative  procedure 
retained  veStige  of  exclusive  kingly  rule.     Peti- 
tions were  Still    prefented  by  the   Commons, 
considered  by  the  Lords,  and  replied  to  by  the 
Petitions    King  ;  which,  being  entered  on  the  parliament 
and  Bills.  roUj  formed    the    bafis    of  legislation   by    the 
monarch  himfelf.     Even  down  to  Henry  the 
Fifth,  indeed,  on  the  authority  of  a  fomewhat 
remarkable  remonStrance  found  on  the  roll,  we 
find  it    alleged  as  a  not  unufual  practice  for 
the  King,    taking   advantage    of  the    cuftom 
which  had  fo  arifen  of  leaving  Statutes  to  be 
drawn  up  by  the  judges  from  the  Petition  and 
Anfwer  during   the  parliamentary    recefs,    to 
Royal       induce  or  compel   the  judges  to  mifreprefent 
evaiion  of  an0<   falfify  the   intentions  of  parliament,    by 
mentary     producing  Statutes  to  which  it  had  not  given 
control.     afTent.     But  how  Strikingly  it  proves  that  the 
fovereign  authority,  as  a  real  working  power, 
had  declined,  and  that  the  Houfes,  reprefenting 
the  power  which  Stood  in  arms  behind  them, 
had  rifen,  when   fuch  artifices   were   thought 


§  i.      The  Plant agenets  :  Henry  V,  51 

worth  reforting  to ;  and  how  fignificant    the  Bills  fub- 
fadt   that   in  the    very    next   reign   even   thej1^*^. 
form    difappeared    altogether,    and,    in    place  tions. 
of    the    old    Petitions,    the    introduction    of 
complete    ftatutes   under   the    name   of   Bills 
was  effected.  ' — 

What  the  fword  had  won  the  fword  mould  Henry  v. 
keep,  faid  Henry  the  Fifth  on  his  accerTion  ;  ws- 
but  what  was    meant   by  the  faying    has  its 
comment  in  the  fact  that   in  the  year  which 
witneffed  his  victory  at  Agincourt,  he  yielded 
to  the  Houfe  of  Commons  the  moft  liberal 
meafure  of  legiflative  power  which  until  then 
it  had  obtained.     The  dazzling  fplendour  of  Good  out 
his    conquefts    in    France   had   for    the    timeofevi1- 
cart    into    made  every  doubt  or  queftion    of 
his  title,   but  the  very  extent  of  thofe  gains 
upon   the   French   foil   eftablifhed  only   more 
decifively    the    worfe  than  ufeleflhefs  of  fuch 
acquifitions    to    the    Englifh    throne.       It    is  Advan- 
a    rtriking    example    of    the    good  which    is  ^§e  to 

ox  o  C>ommons 

wrought  out  of  evil  by  an  all-wife  and  over-  from 
ruling  Providence,  that  the  very  mifchiefs  inci -  HenryV.'s 
dent   to  thefe  wars,   the  neceflity  for  unufual 
fupplies,  and  the  unavoidable  burdens  thrown 
upon  the  people,  led  to  fuch  legiflative  con- 
ceflions  of  a  popular  kind  as  till  then  had  not 
been  obtained.     The  neceffities  of  the  fovereign 
were    fupplied,    but   the   full    equivalent  was 
demanded  and  received  in    a  maintenance  of 
the  reftraints  upon  his  prerogative.     The  dif-  Further 
tinction    of   Henry's   reign    in    conflitutional  reftraints 
hiftory  will  always    be,    that  from  it  dates  a  prero^a_ 
power,    indifpenfable   to    a   free    and    limited  tive. 
monarchy,  of  which  not  only  were  the  leading 

E    2 


52  Introduftory  EJfay. 

fafeguards  now  obtained,  but  at  once  fo  firmly 

eftablifhed,  that  againft  the  mock  of  inceflant 

refiftance  in  later  years    they  flood  perfectly 

unmoved. 

Admiflion      They  had  followed,  as  a  kind  of  inevitable 

ofielifla-  con^ecluenceJ    from  that   formal  admiflion  of 

mre.         legislative  rights  in  the  Commons,  juft  adverted 

to,  which  led  to  the  change  from  Petitions  to 

Bills.     An  Act  had    been   parted,   providing 

that   "from  this  time  forward,  by  complaint 

<f  of  the  Commons  afking  remedy  for  any  mif- 

(C  chief,  there  be  no  law  made  thereupon,  which 

cc  mould  change  the  meaning  by  addition  or 

"  by  diminution,  or  by  any  manner  of  term 

<c  or  terms  ;"  and  a  formal  grant,  in  the  name 

of  the   King,  was  at  the  fame  time  appended 

Law         to  it,  Hating  that  from  thenceforth,  nothing 

agamft       fc  j-,e  enacted  to  be  petitions  of  his  Commons 

tampering  i     •         n  • 

with  peti-  "  that  be  contrary  to   their    afking,   whereby 
tions.        cc  ^y  fhouJd  be  bound  without  their  aflent." 
It  was  hardly  to  be  expected,  therefore,  that 
when    fubfequently,   in    the    fame   reign,    the 
Commons  claimed  certain  rights  and  exemp- 
tions needful  to  the  difcharge  of  their  trufr.,  to 
lafr.  as  long  as  the  truft  laded,  and  to  ceafe  when 
it  was  laid  down,  fuch  a  demand  could  fafely 
Exemp-     be  refitted.     Among  other  things,  they  required 
tions         perfonal  releafe  from  fuch  judicial  proceedings 
for'mem-  as  might  impede  parliamentary  functions.   They 
bers  of      afTerted   the  right   to    an    abfolute    defpotifm 
concerning  every  thing  that  parted  within  their 
own  walls.     They  exacted  the  exclufive  juris- 
diction  of  offences  which   tended    to  impair 
their  powers  or  obftruct  their  public  duties.     In 
a  word,  they  achieved  what  was  thenceforward 


the  Com- 
mons. 


§  i.     The  Plantagenets  :  Henry  V.  53 

known   by  the  formidable  name  of  Privilege  Privilege 
of  Parliament;  the  mield  and  buckler  under  of  Parlia- 
which    all    the   battles   of    liberty    and    good 
government  were    fought   in  the    after  time. 
An  attempt  to   drag  the  adjudication  of  the 
privilege  into   courts  of  law  followed  ;   when, 
in  the  famous  cafe  of  Thorpe  the  Speaker,  the  Thorpe's 
judges  declared  "that  they  would  not  deter- cafe. 
{C  mine  the  privilege  of  the  High  Court  of 
fC  Parliament,    of  which   the    knowledge   be- 
<£  longeth  to  the  Lords  of  Parliament,  and  not 
£C  the  juftices."     Nor  will  it  be  hazardous  to  Efta- 
predict  that  when  this  privilege  is  in  any  mate-  bllfhed 
rial  point  abandoned,  political  freedom  is  at  an  Courts. 
end.     When  deputed  rights   are    fuccefsfully 
afTailed,  abfolute  rights  are  no  longer  fafe ;  and 
parliaments  without  parliamentary  liberties,  as 
Pym  nobly  faid,  will  be  but  a  fair  and  plaufible 
way  into  bondage.     Not   many  years   after-  Right  of 
wards,    another  moll    momentous   claim    was  impeach- 
conceded,    for    which  the    prefent  right    had 
ferved  to  herald  the  way.     This  was  the  awful 
power    of  Impeachment,    which,  alfo  won  in 
the  fame  reign,  was  never  again  loft. 

For  let  it  not  be  thought  that  all  the  fruits 
of  the   hard-fought  liberal  victories  were    at 
once  gathered  in  and  ftored  for  peaceful  and  Liberal 
uninterrupted  enjoyment.      What   moil   im-  gains 
prelTes    the    careful    ftudent   of  early   Englifh  rented, 
hiftory,  is  the  marked  distinction  he  finds  it 
necefTary    to    keep    before  him,    between   the 
fecurities  of  civil    freedom  as  generally  exift- 
ing    and   in    fubftance   recognifed,    and   their 
violation  as  frequently  and  flagrantly  permitted.  Freedom 
Still  the  violation,  when  it  occurred,  was  {q&i  outraged 


54  Introductory  EJfay. 

but  not     to  be  fuch.     "So  when  the  Lion  preyeth,"  as 
brave  old  Sir  Edwin  Sandys  told  the  Houfe  of 
Commons  early  in   James  the  FirfVs    reign, 
Concef-     ff  no  caufe  to  think  it  his  right."     So  when 
fions  to      James  claimed  a  privilege  of  the  Plantagenets 
as  a  flower  of  the  Crown,  <c  the  flower  hath  had 
"  a  long  winter,  then,"  quaintly  interpofed  Sir 
James   Whitelocke,   the    father  of  Bulftrode, 
<c  fince  it  hath  not  budded  thefe  two  hundred 
Cf  years  !  "       Of  a  mingled  character  in   this 
refpecl  were  the  refults  of  the  long  and  bloody 
conteft,  now  about  to  begin,  between  the  rival 
branches  of  the  Plantagenet  family  ;    but    it 
does  not  admit  of  doubt  that  the  final  pre- 
dominance of  the  houfe  of  Lancafter  was,  like 
its  accefTion,    favourable   to    popular    liberty. 
HenryVi.  The   influence   from    which    it    firft   derived 
1422         authority,  ftill  imparted  power.     The  right  of 
parliament  to  alter  the  fucceflion  was  the  title 
on  which  that  houfe  refted,  and  in  its  continu- 
Differ-      ance  the  popular  fanclion  was  implied.     The 
encesm    Jegiflation  of  Henry  the  Sixth  was  lefs  popular 
a  centmy.  tnan  tnat  of  Henry  the  Fourth,  but  the  very 
facl:  marks  the  progrefs  which  had  been  made 
in  the  interval.     Henry  the  Fourth's  ftatute 
fC  againft    undue   Elections    for    Shires   from 
cc  the  partiality  of  Sheriffs,"  gives  the  power  of 
Voting  of  voting  to  every  one  prefent  at  the  place  of 
all  free-     election,    as  well   fuitors  duly    fummoned  as 

holders  in  TT  ,        _.      .  .      £  _ 

counties,  others.  Henry  the  bixth  s  ltatute  (C  for  the 
fc  due  Election  of  Members  of  Parliament  in 
"  Counties,"  limits  the  right  to  fuch  as  pof- 
fefTed  forty  millings  a  year  in  land  free  from 
all  burthens  within  the  county,  but  offers 
pricelefs  proof,  in  the  very  terms   of  its  pre- 


§  i.     The  Plantagenets  :    Henry  VI.  $$ 

amble,  of  how  great  had  been,  meanwhile  the  Limited 
advance  among  the  commoner!   orders  of  the  to  forty- 
people  in  at  leaf!  a  knowledge  of  their  ftrength  f^hofd- 
and  their  pretentions  to  power.      (i  Whereas,"  ers. 
it  ran,  f '  the  election  of  knights  has  of  late, 
Ci  in    many  counties  of  England,   been  made 
<e  by   outrageous    and   exceffive   numbers    of 
"  people,   many  of  them    of  fmall'  fubftance 
"  and  value,  yet  pretending  to  a  right  equal 
ec  to  the  beft  knights  and  efquires,  &c."     As 
the    period    of  the    acceffion  of  the  family  Greater 
of  Tudor   approaches,    the  full    effect   of  in-  ^ce^} 
fluences    that  had    led  to  fuch    legiflation    is  the  people. 
diflinctly  feen. 

The  heavieft  blow  had  been  {truck  uncon- 
fcioufly  at  the  feudal  fyftem  in  England  when 
the  third  eftate  of  the  realm  obtained  a  formal 
place  in  the  legiflature,  and  with  the  acceffion 
of  Edward  the   Firft  the  feudal   tenures  and 
privileges     had     begun    rapidly    to    decline.  Feudality 
Domeftic  and  prasdial  fervitude  had  alfo  been  declining, 
abolifhed,  or  had  fallen  to  difufe  ;  and  though 
villenage  was   never   repealed    by  any   regu- 
lar  enactment,    the    peafantry   had   'gradually 
been  emerging  from  it  into  the  ftate  of  hired  Villenage 
labourers  and  copyholders.    During  the  interval  P     d 

*  J  .  a  away. 

up  to  the  wars  of  the  Rofes,  without  exprefs 
external  aid,  fociety  had  been  finding  for 
itfelf  a  more  eafy  level  throughout  its  various 
gradations.  The  few  ariftocratic  privileges  Ch3nges 
that  remained  were  no  peculiar  burden  on  the  in  Society. 
knight,  the  gentleman,  or  the  yeoman,  the 
burgefs,  or  the  labourer  ;  and,  what  is  very 
important  to  keep  in  mind,  thefe  feveral  par- 
ticular claffes   had    obtained  their   form   and 


$6  Introductory  EJJay. 

place  in  fimple  obedience  to  the  working  of 

general  laws.     Servitude  or  villenage  was  no 

Higher      Part  °f  feudal  ifm ;    and  the  tendency   of  the 

develop-    feudal  fyftem  itfelf  was  to  decay,  in  proportion 

feudal  °f    t0  t^ie  n^gner  development  of  that  principle  of 

principle,  mutual  rights  and  duties,  and  of  the  correfpond- 

ing  obligations  thereby  engendered,  on  which 

feudalifm  was  founded. 

A  more   ftriking  illuftration  of  this   truth 

could  not   perhaps  be  afforded  than  by  the 

contraft,  which  has  not  efcaped  obfervation, 

A  con-      between  the  insurrections  of  Wat  Tyler  and 

traft.         Jack  Cade.     It  is  the  remark  of  Sir  Frederick 

Eden,  in  his  excellent  book  on  The  Poor,  that 

in  the  earlier  of  thefe  popular  tumults,  which, 

notwithstanding  the  atrocities  that  attended  it, 

1 38 1.        very  materially  contributed  towards  the  extinc- 

JXhr      ti°n  of  fervitude,  the  language  of  the  rebels, 

Rebellion.  .  o      o  3 

Popular    who   were  chiefly  villeins,  befpeaks  men  not 
demands,   unacquainted  with  the  efTential  requifites    of 
rational  liberty.     They  required  the  abolition 
of  flavery,  freedom   of  commerce  in  market 
towns  without  tolls  or  impofts,  and  a   fixed 
rent  on  lands  inftead  of  fervices  due  by  villen- 
age.     But  more  remarkable   and  worthy   of 
notice  is  the  advance  which,  after  the  com- 
paratively fhort  interval  of  three  quarters  of  a 
century,    Jack   Cade's    rebellion    proclaimed. 
Here  there  is  nothing  to  connect  the  move- 
1450.        ment   with    any    forms    of  ferfdom.      What 
R^ll'      reDe^s  now  claimed  with  arms  in  their  hands, 
Popular     was  the  redrefs  of  fuch  public  wrongs  as  the 
demands.   King's  profligate  expenditure,  and  the  Subject's 
expofure  to  illegal  exactions  in  order  to  main- 
tain  it ;    the   preference   of  foreigners    over 


§  i.     The  Plant agenets:  Henry  VI.  57 

Englishmen  in  the  offices  of  State  ;  the  grofs 
wrongs   committed  by   fheriffs   and  the  col- 
lectors of  taxes  ;  the  imperfect  and  uncertain 
adminiftration    of  juftice ;    and   finally  (moft 
memorable  grievance  of  all)  the  unwarrantable 
interference  of  the  nobles  in  elections  for  the 
Houfe  of  Commons.     Nothing  could   more  Rapid  fall 
ftrongly  mow  how  rapid  muft  have  been  the  gfZeud.al 
fall  of  the  feudal  fyftem  when  once  the  change 
began  ;    or   how  naturally  the  clafTes   imme- 
diately below  the  noble,  had  become  parties  to 
a  league  orTenfive  and  defenfive  againft  him. 
The  good  old  Fuller  fo  hated  all  rebellions,  as  the 
except  rebellions  againft  popery,  that  he  finds  people 
in  thefe  popular  infurrections  a  reafon  why  the 
better  fort    of  people,    to    avoid   being    con- 
founded with    levellers  and  rabble,   fet  up  a 
variety  of  nice  focial  diftinctions  :   but  the  truth 
lies  exactly  the  other  way.     Lefs  and  lefs  were 
the  diftinctions  marked,   as   the  Tudor  time 
came  on.     Commerce  and  intelligence  level  by  Levelling 
exalting.       And    Mr.    Hallam    has    pointed 
attention    to    the    very    unpleafing    remark, 
which  everyone  who  attends  to  the  fubject  of 
prices  will  be  difpofed  to  think  not  ill-founded, 
that  the  labouring   clafTes  engaged  in  agricul- 
ture were  generally  better  provided  with   the  Comforts 
means  of  fubfiftence  in  the  reign  of  Henry  oflaDOUr- 
the  Sixth  than  at  the  period  when  he  wrote.      clafTes. 

Evidence  more  direct  and  pofitive,  indeed, 
is  not  wanting,  of  the  comparative  happinefs 
and  freedom  of  the  people  generally  under  the 
latter   years   of  the  Plantagenet  rule.     Two  Refpec- 
very  truftworthy  writers  have  fketched,  from  t!veco"dl" 
perfonal  obfervation,  the  refpective  condition  England 


of  diftinc- 
tions. 


58 


Introductory  EJJby. 


and  of 
France. 


Contrafts 
of  the  two 
nations. 


Tefti- 
mony  of 
Sir  John 
Forteicue 


and  of 
Philip  de 
Comines. 


of  England  and  of  France  at  this  time  ;  and 
both  have  directed  attention  to  the  fact  that 
while,  in  France,  there  exifled  only  the  two 
divisions  of  a  powerful  governing  noblefTe  and 
a  fervile  peafant  population,  in  England,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  third  and  middle  clafs  had 
been  able  to  make  good  its  independence, 
becaufe  the  nobles  wifely  had  retained  no 
privileges  that  prevented  their  mixing  and 
marrying  freely  with  other  claffes  of  the  realm. 
So  while  in  France  the  principle  of  the  Civil 
Code,  that  the  will  of  the  monarch  is  law, 
prevailed,  the  people  in  England  lived  under 
protection  of  laws  of  their  own  .enacting  ; 
while  the  French  people  were  plundered  at  the 
fole  difcretion  of  their  Prince,  who  gave  immu- 
nity only  to  the  nobles,  the  Englifh  people 
paid  taxes  of  their  own  impofmg  ;  and  while 
an  Englifhman  upon  any  charge  of  crime  had 
the  benefit  of  trial  by  a  jury  of  his  peers,  con- 
feffion  was  extorted  from  a  Frenchman  by  the 
rack.  When  thus,  twenty  years  before  Henry 
the  Seventh  afcended  the  throne,  Sir  John 
Fortefcue  wrote  in  praife  of  the  Englifh  laws, 
he  placed  all  thefe  advantages  on  the  diflinct 
ground  of  the  fpecial  limitation  of  the  power 
of  the  Sovereign,  and  of  the  non-exclufive 
character  of  the  privileges  of  the  Lords  ;  and 
when  his  yet  more  travelled  and  experienced 
contemporary,  Philip  de  Comines,  turned  to 
England  from  the  contemplation  of  other 
States,  as  the  country  where  the  common- 
wealth was  befl  governed,  it  was  becaufe  he 
had  reafon  to  believe  that  there  the  People 
were  cc  leaft  oppreffed." 


§  i.     The  Plant agenets :  Henry  VI.  59 

What  the  main  guarantees  againft  oppref-  De  Lau- 
fion  were,  Henry  the    Sixth's  learned  Chan-  dlbus 
cellor  enables  us  to  ftate  in  detail  with  tolerable  Anali*. 
exactnefs.      In  the  firft  place,  the  "  fole  will  of  J465- 
cc  the  prince  "  could  not  enact  a  law,  nor  make 
alterations  in  exifting  laws,  nor  "  burthen  men 
(C  againft  their  wills  with  ftrange  impofitions," 
nor  cc  lay    taxes   or   fubfidies   of  what   kind 
Cf  foever  upon  the  fubject,''  but  with  the  con-  Restraints 
current  confent  of  the  whole  kingdom  through  on  Prer0" 
their    reprefentatives    in    Parliament.      Thefe 
reprefentatives  confifted  of  the  lords  fpiritual 
(bifhops  and  mitred  abbots),  and  lords  tem- 
poral   (in*  right   of  property,    by    hereditary  Conftitu- 
claim,  or,  after  Richard   the  Second,  by  fum-  p0n..of 
mons),  who  voted  in  the  upper  houfe  ;  and  of  ment. 
individuals  chofen  by  the  freeholders  of  coun- 
ties, and  the  burgeffes  of  towns,  who  formed 
the  lower  houfe.     In   the  next  place,  no  man  Rights  of 
could  be  thrown  into  prifon,  but  under  fane-  *he  iub- 
tion    of   a    legal  warrant    which  fpecified  hisje 
offence,    and    with    the    right   of  demanding 
fpeedy  trial.     That  trial,  moreover,  muft  be 
heard  in  a  public  court,  in  the  diftricl  where 
the  alleged  offence   was    committed,   and    be 
determined    conclusively    by    the    verdict    of 
twelve  men  ;    which  in  like  manner  decided 
queftions  of  fact,  as  affecting  the  civil  rights  of 
the  fubject.     Finally,  the  fervants  and  officers 
of  the  Crown  were  liable  to  actions  of  damage,  Refpon- 
or  to  criminal   procefs,  when  the  fubject    fuf-  f»blJ^y  of 

rj  •     m  i-i  1  r  theCrown. 

rered   unjuitly    at    their   hands    in  perlon    or 

eftate  ;   nor  could  they  plead  in  anfwer  or  jufti- 

fication,  even  the  direct  order  of  the  Sovereign. 

How  far  thefe  guarantees,  and  efpecially  the 


ment. 


60  Introductory  EJfay. 

Encroach- laft,  were    reduced    or    evaded  in   practice,   it 
ments  of  would  not  be  difficult  to  fhow.     Lord  Macau- 

IjXCCU  tivc 

'lay  has  remarked  on  the  'facility  with  which  a 
prince  who  referved  to  himfelf  a  pardoning 
power  might  overftep  the  limits  that  feparate 
executive  from  legiflative  functions,  by  fo 
remitting  or  fo  enforcing  penalties  as  virtually 
to  annul  or  create  the  ftatute  impofing  them. 
But,  in  theory  at  leaft,  no  one  ventured  to 
difpute  the  law  ;  and  when  judges  were  honeft, 
and  juries  intelligent  and  brave,  an  effective 
restraint  was  not  feldom  put  upon  the  Crown. 
Checks  of  The  checks  of  Parliament  had  invariable  re- 
cognition. In  affairs  of  peace  and  war,  in  the 
marriages  of  princes,  in  control  of  the  domeftic 
government,  Parliament  had  now  for  centuries 
claimed  and  obtained  the  privilege  of  advifing, 
and  not  feldom  of  reftraining,  the  Sovereign ; 
and  in  one  momentous  queftion,  it  had  com- 
pletely fucceeded,  as  we  have  feen,  in  eftablifh- 
Controlofing  its  paramount  authority.  The  formal 
the  purie.  tenure  and  abfolute  control  of  the  public 
purfe  had  at  length  been  finally  yielded  by  the 
Crown.  The  ftruggle  lafted  long  ;  but  more 
than  a  century  before  the  firft  Tudor,  no  prince 
had  even  attempted  to  impofe  a  tax  without  the 
confent  of  Parliament.  Happily  for  the  prince, 
indeed,  when  fuch  confent  involved  any  great 
difficulty,  he  had  the  mow  of  begging  and  bor- 
rowing to  refort  to ;  but  the  very  name  of  the 
Loans  and  Loan  or  the  Benevolence,  the  mere  pretence  that 
Benevo-     j^  wouy  borrow  and  beg,  kept  alive  his  formal 

lenccs.  •   ^         *■  *  «    «* 

abandonment  of  the  right  to  take,  and  at  laft 
ftrengthened  the  people  to  deftroy  it  for  ever. 
One  confederation  mould  be  added,  which  in 


§  I.    The  Plantagenets  :  Henry  VI.  61 

every  retrofpect  of  EnglifTi  constitutional  hiftory 
it  is  fafe  not  to  lofe  fight  of.     In  reviewing  source  of 
the  courfe  of  events  through  which  the  Com-  ftrength  to 
mons'  houfe  of  parliament  obtained  recognition,    ominons- 
it  is  important  not  to  attach  too  great  a  weight 
to    their    fingle   unaflifted   authority.       They  Derjveci 
profited  lefs  by  power  to  which  they  could  of  from  other 
themfelves  lay  claim,  than  by  power  or  weak-  Powers- 
nefs  in  other  fections  of  the  State.     They  were 
ftronger  after  the  rebellion  of  the  ferfs,  which 
ftruck  the  blow  at  villenage  ;  they  were  ftronger 
after  the  rebellion  of  the  barons,  which  crowned 
the    firft    Lancaftrian   king.       Deriving  help  Aflifted 
alternately  from  the  powers  above  and  below  a™  ™e  and 
themfelves,   it  would  have  fared  ill  with  the  from 
third  branch  of  the  legislature  at  any  difficult  below- 
crifis,  if,  unfupported  by  the  people,  they  had 
been  unaflifted  by  the  lords.     Nor  might  it 
be  unjuft  to  meafure  the  relative  value  of  fuch 
fupport  and  of  fuch  afiiftance,  by  a  comparifon 
of  the  lefs  perfect  maintenance  of  the  national 
liberties,  with  the  abfolute  victory  in  taxation. 
In  the  firft,  the  Commons  were  often  deferted  The 
by  the   Barons  ;  in  the  laft,  they  were  never  PeoPlethe 
deferted  by  the  People.  force# 

There  the  fupreme  force  lies.      None  exifts 
that  can  be  compared  with  it,  when  moved  into 
action.     The  bodily  fetters  of  the  feudal  fyftem,  Expe- 
the  mental  bondage  of  the  Roman    Catholic  dients  to 
priefthood,  were  expedients  to  keep  the  People  down! 
at   reft  ;     but  they   could  not  laft   for    ever. 
The  doom  of  feudalifm  had  gone  forth,  before 
the  preaching   of  WicklifFe  began.     It  only 
remained  that  the  ariftocratic    factions  fhould 
throw  themfelves  into  a  felf-exhaufting  ftrug- 


62  Introductory  EJfay. 

gle,  and,  underneath  the  very  ftorm,  provide 

for  thofe  principles  which  they  muff,  elfe  have 

refitted,  and  might  have  overthrown,  an  un- 

confcious  but  efficient  fhelter. 

Wars  of        During  the  wars  of  the  Rofes  there  was  no 

Rofes.       leifure  to  perfecute  the   Lollards ;  and   corn- 
Edward  .  r,  ,  n        o     j   1  •     . 

iv.  merce  and  the  arts,  unobitructed  by  any  inter- 

Edward  v.  meddling,  were  left  to  their  natural  develop- 
jjj  ar      ment.     Even  when  there  was  intermeddling,  it 
1461.        mowed  how  Commerce  had  been  rifing.    The 
I483'        fewlegiflative  enactments  of  this  fingular  period, 
pafTed  when  parliaments  were  at  leifure  from 
railing  or  putting  down   the  rival  fovereigns, 
fufficiently  prove  its  importance,  and  that  of 
L    -/i       its  cultivators.     It  was  a  parliament  of  Edward 
tion  the  Fourth,  which,  after  confirming  the  ftatutes 

£?"."£      of  the  fourth,  fifth,  and  fixth  Henries  (with 
wars.         the   impolitic    and   dangerous   diftinction    of 
"  late,    in    fact,   but  not  of  right,    kings  of 
fc  England")     prohibited  the   importation    of 
foreign  corn  ;  it  was  in  parliaments  of  Edward 
the  Fourth  and  Richard  the  Third,  that  impor- 
tations of  foreign  manufacture  were  forbidden, 
where  the  like  articles  could  be  produced  at 
Richard     home  ;  and  it  was  by  Richard  the  Third  him- 
III. 's        fejf  (who  had   the  ftrong  inducement  of  all 

ftatute  _      v  .       .  1      •        r  r  \ 

againft  ufurpers  to  invite  popularity  from  every  iource) 
forced  that  the  practice  of  extorting  money  from 
merchants  and  citizens,  on  pretence  of  loans 
and  benevolences,  was  abolifhed,  for  which  the 
ufurper  has  obtained  the  praife  of  Lord  Bacon 
as  <(  a  prince  in  militar  virtue  approved,  jealous 
ff  of  the  honour  of  the  Englifh  nation,  and 
ie  likewife  a  good  law  maker,  for  the  eafe  and 
"folace  of  the  common  people."     Thus  the 


§  I.      The  Plantagenets  :  Richard  III.  63 

marked  increafe  and  growing  refpect  of  com-  Advances 
merce,  the  fudden  reawakening  of  learning,  ad-  in  com" 
vances  made  in  the  ufeful  arts,  and  the  earlier!  learning, 
great  endowments  for  the  foundation  of  gram-  and  the 
mar-fchools   and  places   of  popular  education 
(after  the   25th    of   Henry  the    Sixth,    thefe 
foundations  increafed  rapidly  everywhere), — 
are  the  incidents  which  alfo  fignalife  the  time, 
when  the  chiefs  of  the  great  families,  ejected 
finally  from  thofe  provinces  of  France  which  Lofs  of 
had  fed  their  appetites  for  plunder  and  power, the 
had  been  impelled   to  that  conflict  with  each  provinces. 
other,  on  their  own  foil,  of  which  all  the  fuffer- 
ings  and  all  the  retribution  were  to  fall   upon 
themfelves  alone.       For    though    this  was   a 
ftrife  which  laded  incelTantly  for  thirty  years, 
though  twelve  great  pitched  battles  were  fought 
in  it,  though  eighty  princes  of  the  blood  were 
flain,  it  raged  only  on  the  furface  of  the  land,  War  on 
and  the  peaceful  current  beneath  was  free  to  furface  of 
run  on  as  before.  The  defolation  of  the  bloody  p e     ,~ ' 

/■  ■  1111  /*i  JrC3.CC  DC~ 

conflict  never  reached  the  heart  of  the  towns,  neath. 
except  in  awakening  fuch  inftincts  of  danger  as 
are  the  primary  fources  of  fafety.     Hence,  on 
the   one   hand,    for   precaution   and   defence,  Com. 
guilds,   commercial  brotherhoods,  and  muni-  mercial 
cipal   fafeguards  iilently  arofe,  to  grow  more  §J"C;^  re~ 
hardy  and  to   flourifh  ;  while,  on  the  other,  great 
ancient  baronies,  all-powerful  families,  names  families- 
that  had  overawed  the  crown  and  overfhadowed 
the  people,  fank  in  the  conflict,  never  to  rife 
again.     The  rtorm  thatfwept  the  lofty,  fpared 
the  low.      It  was  the  beginning  of  a  vaft  focial 
change,  now  accomplished  apparently  without 
the  aid  of  thofe  whom  principally  it  was  to 


64  Introductory  EJfay. 

Break-up  affed: ;  and  not  limited   to    England.     Over 

of  Middle  ^e  wn°le  continent  of  Europe  its  manifefta- 

Ages.       tions  might  be  feen.  The  fyftem  of  the  Middle 

Ages  was  everywhere  breaking  up.     The  fway 

of  a  feudal  chiefdom,  in  all  modifications  of 

its  form  ftill  fitful  and  turbulent,  was  ending  ; 

Kingcraft  and  there  was  rifing,  to  take  its  place,  a  pre- 

uccee  s.    dominance  0f  kingfhip  in  perfonal  attributes, 

a  calm  concentrated  individual  cunning,  or,  as 

it  was  called  in  after  years,  when  it  had  loft 

the  fubtle  qualities  that  juftified  the  name,  a 

Kingcraft,  which  in  two  great  monarchies  was 

deftined  to  overpower  Freedom,  and  in  the 

third  to  fall  before  it. 

Its  chief        The  tres  magi  of  kings,  renowned  for  pofTef- 

pro  e  01s.  £Qn  q£  t^.g  fUpreme  craftj  nave  Deen  celebrated 

by  Lord  Bacon.  Louis  the  Eleventh  had  arifen 
in  France,   and  Ferdinand  in  Spain  ;  yet  the 
leflbn  for  which  Machiavelli  waited  was  incom- 
plete, until  Henry  Tudor  took  posTeffion  of  the 
French,      Englifh  throne.     To  the  French  and  Spanifh 
Spamfli,     kings,  with   ftandins  armies  at  their  back  to 
lifh  kings,  silence  their  States  General  and  their  Cortes,  the 
tafk  of  tyranny  was  not  very  difficult ;  but  an 
infular  kingdom,  protected  from  its  neighbours 
by  the  fea,  had  no  pretence  to  indulge  in  fuch  a 
fovereign  luxury  as  the  professional  Soldier,  and 
the  more  difficult  problem  awaited  our  Englifh 
king  of  predominating  over  parliament  by  fheer 
Refults  in  force  of  the  prerogative.    Favoured  by  circum- 
England.  fl-anceSj  [t  fUCCeeded  for  a  time ;  but  it  left  to 
a  later  time  that   forced  readjustment  of  the 
balance,  which,  by  raising  parliament  far  above 
the  prerogative,  preferved  for  us  finally  the  old 
Constitution  of  the  realm. 


§  ii.     The  Tudor  s:  Henry  VII.  6$ 

§  ii.     The  Tudors. 

Though  the  laft  living  reprefentative  of  the  Henry 

houfe  of  Lancafter,   Henry  Tudor  was  not  its  VI0L 
...  .    .       .        r      }  .  .,   1485- 

legitimate  heir;  but  from  his  marriage  with 

the  heirefs  of  the  houfe  of  York,  he  derived 

a  ftrong  title.     His  own  difTatisfaction  with  Uneafi- 

it  neverthelefs,  and  his  uneafy  defire  to  fur-  "efs  *]L to 

....  J  ,      lucceihon. 

round  it  with  other  guarantees,  are  among  the 
indications  of  a  ftate  of  feeling  in  England,  at 
the  time,  which  further  diftinguifhes  the  pofi- 
tion  of  Henry  the  Seventh  from  that  of  the  other 
of  the  tres  magi.  The  act  of  fettlement  pafTed 
by  the  two  Houfes  upon  his  acceiTion,  taking 
great  pains  to  avoid  either  the  affertion  or  con- 
tradiction of  any  pretenfions  of  lineal  defcent, 
had  created  ftrictly  a  parliamentary  title  ;  but  parlia- 
he  afterwards  obtained  a  refcript  from  Pope  mentary 

r  r      fettle - 

Innocent  the  Third,  fetting  forth  all  the  other  ment 
conditions  on  which  he  defired  it  to  be  known 
that  the  crown  of  England  alfo  belonged  to 
him.     It  was  his,  according  to  this  document, 
by  right  of  war,  by  notorious  and  indifputable 
hereditary  fucceflion,  by  the  wifri  and  election 
of  all  the  prelates,  nobles,  and  commons  of 
the  realm,  and  by  the  act  of  the  three  eftates 
in  Parliament  afTembled ;  but  neverthelefs,  to 
put  an  end  to  the  bloody  wars  caufed  by  the  Pope's 
rival  claims  of  the  houfe  of  York,  and  at  the  refcript  on 
urgent   requeft   of  the   three  eftates,  he  hadt;t^e!ys 
confented  to  marry  the    eldeft  daughter  and 
true  heir  of  Edward  the  Fourth :  and  now, 
therefore,  the  fupreme  Pontiff,  being  called  to 
confirm  the  difpenfation  neceffary  to  fuch  mar- 


66  Introductory  EJfay. 

riage,    declared    the   meaning    of  the    act    of 

fettlement  paffed    by  Parliament   to  be,  that 

Henry's  ifTue,  whether  by  Elizabeth,  or,   in 

cafe  of  her  death,  by  any  fubfequent  marriage, 

tranf-       were  to  inherit  the  throne.     More  remarkable 

lated  for    than    the   refcript   itfelf,    however,    were   the 

epeop  e.  means  taken  to  carry  it  directly  to  the  clafTes 

it  was  meant  to  addrefs.     It  is  the  firft  fimilar 

document  of  which  we  have  any  evidence  that 

it  was  tranflated  into  Englifh  and  circulated 

and  firft     m  a  P°Pular  form  throughout  England.     A 

printed  in  broadfide  containing  it,  printed  by  Caxton,  is 

broadfide   one  0£  ^  moQ.  interefting  of  modern  difco- 

byCaxton.  .  .        .  Q 

veries  in  matters  or  this  kind. 

Such  indications  may  at  leaft  fatisfy  us  that 

Henry   Tudor  would   not  very  gravely  have 

refented  the  defcription  which  has  been  given 

Lord        of  him  by  Lord  Bolingbroke,  as  a  creature  of 

Bohng-     ^g  pe0pje  raifed  to  the  throne  to  cut  up  the 

view  of     roots  of  faction,  to  reftore  public  tranquillity, 

the  reign.  anc[   to    eftablifh  a  legal  government   on    the 

ruins  of  tyranny.     The  fame  writer,  however, 

who  doubts  if  he  fucceeded  in  this  defign,  is 

undoubtedly  wrong  when  he  fuppofes  that  he 

Lofles  to    failed  in  eftablifhing  what  by  all  the  cuftoms 

public       of  historical    courtefy  muft    be    called  a  legal 

1  eity'      government.     It  is  not  of  courfe  to  be  dif- 

guifed  that  in  fpite  of  many  great  principles 

afferted  in  it,    and    advantages  achieved,   his 

reign  was  not.  in  its  immediate  courfe  favour- 

Defeaion  a^e  to  liberty.     But  the  fact,  as  little  to  be 

of  parlia-  queftioned,  that  during  its  continuance,  rifings 

ment.        jn  tj-e  Commonalty  were  far   more  frequent 

than  remonftrances  in  the  Commons,  and  that 

upon  queftions  where  the  people  proved  mofl: 


§n.    The  Tudor s :  Henry  VII.  6j 

Stubborn,  parliament  generally  was  moft  com- 
pliant, fufficiently  mows  that  the  defection  did 
not  fo  much  lie  with  the  people  themfelves,  as 
with   their   proper  leaders    in   the  State.     It  Mainte- 
was    nevertheless    the   peculiarity  of  Henry's  ,nanCje  of 
defpotifm,   as  distinguished  from  that  of  his  forms. 
more  violent  predeceSTbrs,  that  he  bottomed 
it  Strongly  on  the  precedents  and  language  of 
law,  fcreening  the  violation  of  liberty  by  artful 
employment    of  its    forms ;  and  though    this 
may  have   made  the  defpotifm  more  odious 
while  it  laSted,  it  eftabliShed  more  certainly  a 
limit  to  its  duration.     Relatively  to  what  is  peculi- 
called  the  State,  circumstances  had  thrown  anarityof 
overbalance  of  power  into  the  hands  of  Henry  ;  defpotifm. 
but  to  the  mafs  of  the  people,  thefe  very  cir- 
cumftances  rendered   him    unconfcioufly    the 
instrument  of  great  focial  and  political  change. 
The  pofition  he  occupies  in  hiftory,  and  the 
rights  he  exercifed,  began  and  ended  with  his 
race. 

Everything   at  once  mowed  Signs  of  deep  incj;ca_ 
and   permanent   alteration.     The    immediate  tions  of 
refult  of  the  battle  of   Bofworth,  which  left  JJJJJ|L 
victory  in  the  hands  of  Henry  and  the  fmaller 
baronial  faction    of  the  Lancafters,    was    the 
commencement   of    a   fyftem    by  which    the 
more  numerous  nobles  of  the  oppoSite  faction 
were  as  much  as  poflible  depreSTed,  by  which 
fevere  ftatutes  againft  the  further  prevalence 
of  armed    retainers   were   frefhly  enacted    or 
revived,  restrictions  on  the  deviSing  of  land  in 
effect  removed,  and  all  things  directed  towards  Power 
an  ultimate  transfer  of  the  old  baronial  Strength  £ha "| ins 
into    entirely   new    channels.       Poverty   itfelf 


68  Introductory  EJfay. 

became  the  herald  and  forerunner  of  change. 
While  large  numbers  of  the  baronial  vafTals 
took   refuge    in    the   towns,    increafing    their 
power  and  privileges,  large  numbers  unhappily 
Neceffky    fl-ju    remained    upon  the   foil ;    and  thefe,  no 
Lawf        longer  necefTary  for  the  mows  of  pomp  or  the 
realities  of  war,  fuffered  the  worft  horrors  of 
destitution,  were  driven   to  its  larr.  refources, 
became    incendiaries  or    thieves,    overran   the 
land    as   beggars,    and,  in  the  end,   rendered 
necefTary  that    great  focial  revolution,  which 
took  the  name  of  a  Poor  Law  in  the  reign  of 
Elizabeth. 
Houfe  of       Of  the  mattered  ariftocracy  of  England  only 
Lords:      twenty-nine    reprefentatives    prefented    them- 
number,     felves  when  Henry  called  his  firft  Parliament, 
and    feveral    of  thefe    were    recent  creations. 
Doubtlefs  it  was  well,  for  the  ultimate  advance 
of  liberty,  that  the  old  feudal  power  had  thus 
been  fo  completely  fubdued,  and  the  way  by 
fuch  means  prepared  for  the  decifive  ftruggle 
with  the  Stuarts ;  but  for  the  immediate  pro- 
grefs  of  liberty,  it  was  certainly  lefs  beneficial. 
Commons  The  Houfe  of  Commons,   fuddenly  wanting 
weakened  \n  an  0\d  and  habitual  fupport,  was  too  ready 
nefsTn  "  an  inftrument  for  the  mere  ufe  and  convenience 
Lords.       of  the    King ;    and    to    avail    themfelves,    in 
fuch  circumftances,  of  every  attainable  advan- 
tage and  turn  it  to  the  beft  account,  in  each 
cafe  holding  it  for  religion  that  craft  might 
fuperfede  force,  conftituted   the  very  art  and 
Influences  genius    of  the  tres  magi.     But  though  fuch 
unfeen.      circumftances  worked  well  for  the  Mage  upon 
the  Englifh  throne,  he  did  not,  with  all  his 
craft,  penetrate  influences  around  him  that  were 


§  ii.   The  Tudor s :  Henry  VII.  69 

lefs    obvious ;  nor   fufpect  that,    by  a  purely  Uncon- 
felfifh.  legiflation,  he  might  yet  be  advancing  ^lous 
higher  hopes  and  more  comprehenfive  defigns.  making. 
Surrounded,   and  no  longer  affailable,  by  the 
impoverifhed  and  broken  power  of  the  paft, 
he  was  unconfcious  of  a  more  formidable  power 
which  was   fdently  and  infenfibly  replacing  it. 
He  thought  only  of  himfelf  and  his  fuccefTion. 
When,  by  the  ftatute  enlarging  and  extending 
the  old  Confilium  Regis,  and  creating  the  Star  star 
Chamber,  he  raifed  the  judicial  authority  ofcham^er 
the  King  in  Council  to  a  height  at  which  the 
fiercer!  of  his  Norman  predecefTors  would  not 
have  dared  to  aim,  he  did  it  to  fupport  the 
Throne.      That  a  rallying   cry  againft  the  Star 
Chamber  might  one  day  bear  the  Throne  into 
duft  was  not  to  him  within  the  fphere  of  pof- 
fibility.     What  was    near  him,    in    fhort,  he  A  keen 
never   miftook    or   marred,    and    no   man   fo but  n.a/~ 

1111  •!  n  rowviiion. 

clearly  law  what  would  help  or  might  obitruct 
himfelf.  As  Lord  Bacon  fays,  he  went  fub- 
ftantially  to  his  own  bufinefs ;  and,  to  the 
extent  of  not  fuffering  any  little  envies  or 
any  great  paffions  to  {land  in  its  way,  he 
was  a  practical  and  fagacious  flatefman. 
But  he  was  not  a  great  king,  though  he 
might  be  called  an  able,  a  crafty,  and  a 
prudent  one. 

So  much,  even  in  the  midft  of  eulogy  that  Lord 
might  itfelf  have  preferved  his   name,  would  Bacon's 
feem  to  be  admitted  by  his  incomparable  bio-  0f  Henry 
grapher.     i(  His  wifdom,"   fays   Lord   Bacon,  VII. 
<c  by  often  evading  from  perils,    was  turned 
<c  rather  into  a  dexterity  to  deliver  himfelf  from 
il  dangers  when  they  preffed  him,  than  into  a 


7°  Introductory  EJJay. 

(C  providence  to  prevent  and  remove  them  afar 
<l  off.     And  even  in  nature,  the  fight  of  his 
"  mind  was   like  fome  fights  of  eyes;  rather 
<c  Strong  at  hand,  than  to  carry  afar  off.     For 
<c  his  wit  increafed  upon  the  occafion  ;  and  fo 
<f  much  the  more,  if  the  occafion  were  Sharp- 
Leading    "  ened    by  danger."     It  will  be    a  Sufficient 
afts  of      comment  on  thefe  pregnant  fentences  merely 
vereignty. to  enumerate  his  leading  aits  of  fovereignty. 
Herefy  he  thought  dangerous,  and  he  burnt 
more  followers  of  Wycliffe  than  any  fince  the 
firft  Lancastrian  king.     Winner  of  a  fuccefsful 
flake  in  battle,  he  knew  the  chances  of  war  to 
be  dangerous,  and  he  favoured  ftrenuoufly  the 
arts    of    peace.     Served   by   men   whom    his 
death   or  difcomflture  might  Suddenly  attaint 
with  rebellion,   he    thought   it    dangerous  to 
leave  thofe  friends  without  fecurity  again  ft  the 
What  was  pofTible  vengeance  of  future  faction ;  and  he 

byehised    Paffed  a   law  which   made  poffeffion   of   the 

legifla-      throne  the  fubject's  obligation  to  allegiance, 

tion.         andjuftifiedrefiftance  to  all  who  mould  difpute 

it.  IncefTant  fuits  for  alienated  lands  he  thought 

dangerous,  in  a  country  torn  with  revolutionary 

quarrel ;  and  his  famous  ftatute  of  fines  barred, 

after  certain  conditions,  all  claims   of  ancient 

heritage.     But  not  to  him,  therefore,  belongs 

any  part  of  the  glory  of  thofe  greater  refults 

which  flowed  indirectly  from  thefe  meafures  of 

What  was  precaution.      It  was  with  no    intended    help 

efFeded      from    fcm    t^zt   ^   Wycliffe   herefy    Struck 

beyond  his    ,  J  .    J 

intention,  deeper  root ;  that  more  eager  welcome  was 
given  to  the  Studies  which  in  England  marked 
the  revival  of  learning ;  that  the  civil  duties 
of  allegiance  were  placed  on  a  juft  foundation  ; 


§u.     The  Tudors :  Henry  F II.  71 

and  that  the  feudal  reftriclions  of  landed  pro- 
perty were  finally  broken. 

On    the    other  hand,  with  relation    to  the  interval 
progrefs  of  conftitutional  freedom,  or  to  the  ^JSwid 
prevalence  of  juft  views  in  government  and  popular 
legiflation,  this  reign  of  Henry  the   Seventh  asencies- 
muft  be  regarded  as  the  opening  of  a  middle 
or  tranfitional  ftate.     The  feudal  ftrength  had 
been  broken,  and  the  popular  ftrength  had  not 
made  itfelf  felt ;   power  was  changing  hands, 
and  confcience  was  about  to  be  fet  free,  and 
both  were  to  be  meanwhile  committed,  almoft 
unrefervedly,  into  the  keeping  of  the  Tudors. 
The  intereft  of  the  fucceeding  reigns,  up  to 
the  very  middle  of  Elizabeth's  great  career,  is 
lefs  political  than  focial ;  and  it  is  not  in  the 
ftatute  book  or  the  parliament  roll  that  we  are 
to  look  for  what  fmoothed  and  made  ready  the 
way.     Early  in  the  fummer  of  the  eleventh  M  Ex- 
year  after  Henry  the    Seventh's   acceflion,  a  ^  Ame- 
Venetian  feaman  and  pilot  who  had  fettled  in  rica. 
Briftol  during  the  impulfe  given  to  Englifh  I496# 
commerce  in   the  wars  of  the  Rofes,  fet  fail 
from  that  city,  accompanied  by  his  three  fons, 
with  the  firft  European  expedition  that  ever 
reached  the   American  continent.       Later   in  vifit  of 
the  fame   fummer,    Lord    Mountjoy   brought  Erafmus 
over  Erafmus  into  England,  to  take  part  in  J°ndng" 
the  new  ftudy  of  which  Oxford  had  become 
the  unaccuftomed  fcene.     Of  commerce,  as  of 
learning,  it  was  the  reawakening  time.     The 
Cabots  difcovered  the  Ifland  of  Newfoundland  Sebaftian 
and  St.  John,  and,  with  their  five  mips  under  the  New 
the    Englifh    flag,    crept    along    the    coaft    of  World. 
Florida ;   while  Erafmus,  in  the  Greek  clafs  at 


72 


Introductory  EJfay. 


Erafmus 
in  Oxford. 


Revival  of 
ftudy  of 
Homer. 


Greek 
Profeffor 
fhip  at 
Oxford. 
1497. 


Diflike  of 
the  new 
learning. 


Oxford,  was  making  difcoveries  not  lefs  rich 
or  ftrange.  "  The  world,"  exclaimed  the 
ftudent-fcholar,  fCis  recovering  the  ufe  of  its 
ct  fenfes,  like  one  awakened  from  the  deeper! 
"  fleep."  The  civilifation  fo  beginning,  what- 
ever ftruggle  it  had  ftill  to  encounter,  was  to 
reft  finally  on  freer  intercourfe  and  interchange 
of  the  labours  of  men's  hands  as  well  as 
thoughts  ;  and  Angularly  rare  was  the  felicity 
that  befel  the  great  Greek  poet,  whofe  glory, 
identified  with  nigh  two  thoufand  years  of  the 
hiftory  of  the  paft,  was  to  be  alfo  moft  promi- 
nently afibciated  with  a  frefh  dawning  and 
reawakening  of  the  world.  As  with  the  old, 
fo  with  the  new  civilifation,  which,  through 
all  its  heats  and  vicifiitudes  of  quarrel,  civil  and 
religious,  was  to  find  him  ftill,  as  at  firft, 
driving  along  the  Sigaean  plain  his  temperate 
and  indefatigable  horfes,  making  the  Gods 
themfelves  his  charioteers  and  minifters,  and 
keeping  them,  alike  in  the  ardour  of  combat 
and  the  tranquillity  of  Olympus,  obedient  to 
his  will. 

That  Greek  Clafs  at  Oxford  was  formed, 
and  in  healthy  vigorous  action,  when  the 
fecond  fovereign  of  the  Tudor  race,  to  whom 
even  learned  and  intelligent  inquirers  have 
exclufively  attributed  the  improvement  in  lite- 
rary ftudies  and  purfuits  which  was  one  of  the 
redemptions  of  his  reign,  was  barely  fix  years 
old.  It  is  wonderful  with  what  alarm  it  was 
viewed  at  the  very  outfet.  Thus  early  public 
attention  directed  itfelf  to  what  were  called  the 
growing  Oxford  herefies.  Lovers  of  exifting 
fyftems  and  inftitutions  lifted  warning  voice 


§  ii.     The  Sudors :  Henry  VII.  73 

againft  them.      Grave  mifgivings  found  utter-  A  good 

ance  in  many  quarters ;   and  for  the  mod  part  °i(h  co"^ 

in  the  tone  of  that  good  old  Englifh  gentle- plaint: 

man  whofe  lamentations    found    later    record 

in    one    of    the   writings    of    Richard    Pace. 

"  Thefe  foolifh  letters  will  end  in  fome  bad 

"  bufinefs.      I  fairly  wifh  all  this  learning  at 

Cf  the  devil.      All  learned  men  are  poor  ;  even  againft 

cc  the  mod:  learned  Erafmus,  I  hear,  is  poor,  ^p*. 

<(  and  in   one  of  his  letters  calls  the  vile  hag  verty. 

iC  Poverty  his  wife.     By'r  Lady,  I  had  rather 

' c  my  fon  were  hanged  than  that  he  mould  be  - 

cc  come  a  man  of  letters.     We  ought  to  teach 

<c  our  fons  better  things." 

Happily  it  was  too  late,  for  the  mifchief 
was  done,  and  "  the  raoft  learned  Erafmus"  had 
been  its  principal  promoter.  His  brief  fojourn 
at  Oxford  in  his  youth  prefigures  almoft  the 
whole  of  his  illuftrious  career.  The  revival  t*£n , 
of  learning — the  re-awakening  of  the  great  Erafmus. 
writers  of  Greece  and  Rome — was  to  bring 
with  it  the  downfall  of  the  fchoolmen  ;  to 
whom  the  word  corruptions  of  the  Church, 
and  a  large  fhare  of  the  vice  and  barbarifm  of 
monkery,  were  due.  They  had  long  baniihed 
from  the  ftudies  of  churchmen  all  pretence  to 
a  fcriptural   foundation.     The  honeft  purfuit  Difiapks 

r-  i  ii  111  r        .        or  Aqui- 

of  truth,  they  had  replaced  by  argumentative  nas 
fubtlety ;  by  methodical  niceties  of  difputation ; 
by  fcholaftic  diftin&ions,  to  the  reft  of  the 
world  unintelligible  ;  by  foul-killing  lies,  and 
"  truths  that  work  fmall  good."  It  was  the 
fecret  of  the  fierce  oppofition  to  the  new 
learning,  that  it  boded  the  ruin  of  this  fyftem 
fooner  or  later  ;  and  on  the  day  when  Erafmus 


74 


Introductory  EJfay. 


Syftem 
of  the 
School- 
men 
doomed. 


Lan- 
guage  an 
enflaver  as 
well  as 
liberator. 


Connec- 
tion of 
words  and 
things. 


Erafmus's 

great 

weapon. 


"A  Se- 
cond 
Lucian." 


and  Colet  met  at  Oxford,  its  doom  had  been 
pronounced.  With  the  jargon  of  the  old 
learning  frill  dominant  around  them,  with 
perhaps  audible  founds  of  hideous  difpute 
from  monks  and  friars  beneath  their  college 
windows,  it  was  natural  (though  all  to  which 
it  would  eventually  lead  might  not  be  feen) 
that  their  firft,  interchange  of  thought  Should 
have  been  on  language  and  flyle.  Language 
has  been  called  the  liberator  of  mankind, 
but  has  alfo  proved  itfelf  hardly  lefs  their 
enflaver  ;  for  almoSt  as  often  as  it  has  freed 
them  from  ignorance,  it  has  handed  them 
over  to  prejudice,  or  rebound  them  in  the 
chains  of  cuftom.  If  the  fuccefs  of  the  fchool- 
men,  and  their  Strength  in  the  Romifh  church, 
had  arifen  out  of  the  confufion  and  imperfect 
understanding  of  language  which  their  bar- 
barous difputations  engendered,  it  was  fairly  to 
be  inferred  that  out  of  clearer  and  correcter 
notions  of  words  would  follow  clofer  infight 
into  things. 

Even  if  not  at  firft,  however,  the  entire 
intention  of  Erafmus,  it  is  not  the  lefs  his 
chief  exploit  and  glory.  With  the  mere 
weapon  of  Style  he  was  enabled  to  fcourge 
the  Dominicans  from  one  end  of  Germany  to 
the  other.  His  expofure  of  the  frauds  and 
credulities  of  his  age  would  have  paSTed  with 
comparatively  little  heed,  if  made  lefs  grace- 
fully ;  and  the  printing-prefs  of  his  friend 
Frobenius  would  have  worked  but  heavily,  if 
his  eafy  and  familiar  wit  had  not  lent  it  wings. 
Cf  Beware  a  fecond  Lucian  !  "  cried  the  Startled 
monks  ;   "  the  fox  is  abroad  that  layeth  wafte 


§n.    The  Tudor s  :  Henry  VII.  75 

ic  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord."     And  if  that 

was  the  vineyard  of  the  Lord,  it  was  indeed 

laid  wafte  by  Erafmus.      "  He  prefumes  to 

"  correct  the  Holy  Spirit !  "  was  the  next  note  Firft  pure 

of  alarm,   as  he  prefented  to  the  world  the  ^xlof  the 

firft  pure  Greek  text  of  the  New  Teftament.  ment# 

But  his  gift  was  beyond  recall  ;  and  what  was 

thus  by  Erafmus  made  familiar  to  the  learned, 

a  ftronger  and  more  refolute  fpirit  was  at  hand 

to  make  familiar  to  the  people.     The  great 

fcholar,   in    a  word,  taught   by   Grocyn    and The  way 

advifed  by  Colet,  was  now,  during  the  reign  {^i^u- 

of  our  firft  Tudor  fovereign,  preparing  minds  ther. 

at  Oxford  for  the  work  which,  even  more  than 

the  unexampled  compafs  of  his  learning  and 

the  vaft  number  of  his  writings,  immortalifed 

his  name.    "  Erafmus  knows  very  well  how  to  Complaint 

<f  point  out  errors,"  faid  Luther  in  after  years,  of  Eraf- 

i(  but  he  knows  not  how  to  teach  the   truth. 

"  He  can  do  nothing  but  cavil  and  flout,"  he 

added  ;  when  in  temper  even  lefs  tolerant  of 

that  friend  and  fellow-workman,   whom    not 

long   before  he   had  called  his  glory  and  his 

hope,  decus  nojirum  et  /pes  noftra.     It  might 

be  fo  ;    but  the  cavilling,  and   flouting,    and 

rooting  out  of  error,  were  in  thefe  early  days 

the  fowing  of  the  feeds  of  truth.      He  who  is  Harbinger 

to  gather  in  the  harveft,  is  as  yet  but  a  poor  ofthe  Re- 

Francifcan  fchoolboy  at  Madgeburg,  finging 

fongs  in  the  ftreet  for  bread  ;  and,  meanwhile, 

this  devotion  fo  Angle  hearted,  this  real  hatred 

of  hypocrify  and  ignorance,  this  pure  love  of 

learning,  this  exalted  fpirit  of  labour,  facrifice, 

and  felf-denial,  which  made  Erafmus  the  har-  J111"  of 

,.  r  1  1      r  1  11  kraimus 

Dinger  or  a  change  whole  extent  he  could  not  torefpeft 


76 


Introductory  EJfay. 


His 

achieve- 
ments. 


HIs  meafure,   and  by  which  he  conftituted  others, 

lmP  e'  men  Qf  knowledge  and  eminence,  unconfcious 
agents  in  a  democratic  revolution  which  of 
themfelves  they  would  ftrenuoufly  have  refitted, 
are  furely  entitled  to  large  veneration  and 
refpect.  It  avails  little  againft  the  claim,  that 
the  man  who  outran  his  time  in  thought,  lagged 
behind  it  in  action  ;  and  that,  having  borne 
the  heat  of  a  conteft,  he  fhrank  from  the  re- 
fponfibilities  of  a  victory.  What  work  was 
appointed  him  to  do,  he  did  with  a  Angular 
fuccefs.  Superftition  and  barbarifm  had  their 
firft  refolute  foe  in  him  ;  the  Scriptural  foun- 
dations of  truth  and  of  morality  had  in  him 
their  great  reftorer ;  and  it  mould  be  matter 
of  pride  to  Englifhmen  that  it  was  here  in 
Oxford,  and  by  intercourfe  with  their  country- 
men, thefe  glorious  undertakings  were  can- 
vafled,  begun,  and  cherifhed. 

The  ftatute-book  of  Henry  the  Seventh, 
however,  will  be  vainly  fearched  for  any 
attempt  to  ftrengthen,  govern,  or  direct  fuch 
agencies,  whether  material  or  moral.  It  was  his 
policy  to  favour  commerce  for  his  own  advan- 
tage ;  but  moft  affuredly  his  provifions  againft 
lending  money  on  intereft,  againft  letting  in 
foreign  commodities,  and  for  the  fuppofed 
enrichment  of  the  country  by  over-enrichment 
of  himfelf,  would  have  altogether  failed  to 
promote  it.  Among  his  legislative  exploits 
none  will  be  found  to  favour  learning,  nor  did 
merce  and  any  °f  his  acts  of  State  fuggeft  toleration  for 
learning  the  new  opinions  ;  but  neverthelefs  he  could 
aififted.  y  not  burn  a  Lollard,  without  more  widely  diffuf- 
ing  what   men   were  fo  readily  found  calmly 


His  con- 
nexion 
with  Ox 
ford. 


Henry's 
Statutes 


§n.     The  Tudor s  :  Henry  VII.  77 

and  even  cheerfully  to  die  for.      To  print  an  ufes  of 
occafional  pope's  bull,  or  one  of  the  acts  of*he  ?nnt~ 

•        inj?  lr  re  is. 

his  own  parliament,  was  the  fole  ufe  to  which 
he  cared  to  put  the  types  of  Caxton  or  Wynkin 
de  Worde ;  but  there  was  fitting  at  the  time,  in 
thofe  beggarly  roomsof  Oxford  colleges,  another 
parliament  compofed  of  fuch  men  as  Grocyn, 
Linacre,  Colet,  More,  Wolfey,  and  Erafmus, 
on  whom  that  printing  prefs  was  to  confer  an 
irrefiftible  power,  and  who  were  legiflating  for  Legif- 
the  reign  of  his  fucceflbr.     Indeed,    to    that  !f  inAfor 

r  •  •  1  •  1  •   1  1      j  the  future. 

following  reign,  everything  which  marked  out 
this  from  its  predeceflbrs  had  a  fingular  and 
fpecial  reference  ;  and  not  an  opportunity  in 
it,  improved  or  not  by  Henry  for  himfelf, 
failed  with  tenfold  increafe  to  reach  his  fon. 
Upon  his  two  moft  prominent  defigns,  of 
fencing  the  throne  again  ft  confpiracy,  and  mak- 
ing it  rich  and  independent,  he  fuffered  no 
doubt  to  reft.  Of  the  few  great  nobles  that  Disfavour 
remained,  not  one  ever  found  favour  from to  nobles- 
him ;  out  of  churchmen  and  lawyers  exclufively, 
he  chofe  his  friends  and  counfellors  ;  and 
i(  ever,"  as  Bacon  fays,  "having  an  eye  to 
"  might  and  multitude,"  there  was  not  a  gather-  _, 

0  .,.*?.  Favor  to 

ing  of  common  men,  whether  with  the  citizen's  church- 
cap    or    the    peer's    badge,    which    was    not men  aml 
watched  by  him  fo  clofely  and  unceafingly,  and 
with  fo  much  caution,  adroitnefs,  and  fuccefs, 
that  of  all  the  thick  brood  of  treafons  which  Throne 
marked  the  opening  of  the  reign,  not   one  guarded 
exifted  at  its  clofe  to  vex  its  fucceifor.     That,  Treafon : 
even  without  his  aid,  the  revenues  of  the  Crown 
ftiould  at  the  fame  time  have  largely  increafed, 
was  one  of  the  confequences  of  the  civil  wars, 


thods  of 
Extortion 


78  Introduttory  EJfay. 

which  had  difperfed   the  annuitants   and  cre- 
ditors who  previouily  crowded  the  door  of  the 
and  en-     Exchequer ;  but  thefe  revenues  were  handed 
riched  by  down  not  merely  unimpaired,  but  free  from 
tures61"      incumbrances,    increafed    by    forfeitures,    and 
with  the  enormous  addition  of  his  own  ill- 
gotten  exactions. 

Cf  Belike  he  thought  to  leave  his  fon,"  fug- 

gefts    Lord    Bacon    apologetically,    "  fuch    a 

<c  kingdom  and  fuch  a  mafs  of  treafure,  as  he 

cf  might  choofe  hisgreatnefs  where  he  would:" 

but  nothing  can  palliate  the  iniquity  by  which 

New  me-  fuch  wealth  was    amafled.     Every  means   of 

extortion  tried  by  the  Plantagenet  kings  having 

been  exhaufted,  he  fought  out  other  and  more 

fcandalous  methods  ;  and  when,  in  his  Courts 

at  Weftminfter,   he    had  found   two    learned 

lawyers  fufficiently  able,  fupple,  eloquent,  and 

unfcrupulous,  he  was  in  poffefTion  of  what  he 

Empfon     fought.     <c  As  kings,"  fays  James  the  Firft's 

and  Dud-  experienced  Chancellor,  "  do  more  eafily  find 

tc  inftruments  for  their  will  and  humour  than 

"  for  their  fervice  and  honour,  he  had  gotten 

IC  for  his  purpofe,  or  beyond  his  purpofe,  two 

lc  inftruments,  Empfon  and  Dudley."     Thefe 

men  revived   dormant  claims  of  the   Crown, 

founded  on  obfolete  pretenfions  of  feudal  tenure, 

and  made  them  a  means  of  frightful  oppreflion. 

Ufes  to      They  difcovered  forgotten  cafes  of  forfeiture  ; 

which       invented  falfe  charges   againft  innocent  men, 

nut  WerC  fr°m  which  releafe  was  only  given  on  payment 

of  what    were   termed  mitigations ;    dragged 

forward  arrears  of  old  amercements,  alleged  to 

be  unfatisfied  ;    and,  with  the  help  of  a  fort  of 

informers  and  plaintiffs  who  were  called  "  pro- 


§  ii.     The  Tudor s :  Henry  Fill.  79 

"  moters,"  made  the  ordinary  courfe  of  law  an 
enormous  engine  of  plunder.     Unremembered 
penal  flatutes  of  profligate  times  were  revived, 
to  the  end  that,   by  intolerable  exactions   for  Plunder 
offences  unknown,  unconfcious  offenders  might  "n(ler 

o       torms  or 

be  dragged  into  the  Exchequer;  where  Empfon  law. 
and   Dudley  fat   as  barons,  where  packed  de- 
pendents of  the  Crown  difcharged  the  functions 
of  juries,  where  juries  with  any  fenfe  of  mame 
were  made  docile  by  imprifonment  and  fine, 
and  from  whofe  clutches  the  unhappy  victims 
could  only  efcape  by  exorbitant  composition  or 
hopelefs  imprifonment.   But,  horrible  as  all  this 
was,  not  a  little  was  it  owing  to  fuch  atrocities 
that  Henry  the  Eighth  fucceeded  to  a  better  yjjly 
filled  exchequer    than  any  of  his  predeceffors  I509.' 
fince  the  Conqueft,   and  to   fo   many  greater 
facilities  for  the  work  it  was  appointed  him  to 
do. 

They  did  not  indeed    pafs    without   fome 
retribution.     Though  new  honours  had  been 
largely  heaped  upon  their  perpetrators  in  the 
laft  year  of  Henry  the  Seventh's  reign,  in  the 
firft  year  of  Henry  the  Eighth's  both  Empfon  Execution 
and  Dudley  were  led  to  the  fcaffold.     The  and  £>puj. 
popular  wrath  demanded   them    as  victims ;  ley. 
and,  it  being  more  convenient  that  death  mould 
wipe  out   their  debt,  than  that  by  any  worfe 
accident  the  royal  exchequer  mould  be  called 
to  make  reftitution,  the  new  King  gave  them 
up  to   the  executioner.     Strong-willed  as  the  Tudor 
Tudors  were,  they  were  generally  able  to  put  j^ics. 
a  prefent  rein   upon  their  paffions,  when  by 
fuch  means  they  could  make  more  fure  of  their 
ultimate  fafe    indulgence.      They    reigned  in 


80  Introductory  EJfay. 

Caufesof   England,   without  a  fuccefsful   rifing    againft 

them,  for  upwards  of  a  hundred  years :  but 

not  more  by  a  ftudied  avoidance  of  what  might 

fo  provoke   the  country,  than   by    the    moft 

refolute  repreffion  of  every  effort,  on  the  part 

of  what  remained  of  the  peerage    and   great 

families,  to  make  head    againft  the  Throne. 

yielding     They  gave   free  indulgence  to  their  tyranny 

to  peopie,  only  within  the  circle  of  the  court,  while  they 

nobles.  &  unceafingly  watched  and  conciliated  the  temper 

of  the  people.     The  work  they  had  to  do,  and 

which  by  more  fcrupulous  means  was  not  pof- 

fible  to  be  done,  was  one  of  paramount  necef- 

fity  ;  the  dynafty  uninterruptedly  endured  for 

only  fo  long  as  was  requifite  to  its  thorough 

Talk  of     completion  ;   and  to  each  individual  fovereign 

Sovereign.  t^ie  particular  tafk  might  feem  to  have  been 

fpecially  affigned.     It  was  Henry's  to  fpurn, 

renounce,    and   utterly    caft    off,   the    Pope's 

authority,  without  too  fuddenly  revolting  the 

people's  ufages  and  habits  ;  to  arrive  at  bleffed 

Henry's,    refults,  by  ways  that  abetter  man  might  have 

I5°9-        held  to  be  accurfed;  during  the  momentous 

change  in  progrefs,  to  keep  in  neceffary  check 

both  the  parties  it  affected  ;  to  perfecute  with 

an  equal  hand  the  Romanift  and  the  Lutheran  ; 

to  fend  the  Proteftant  to  the  ftake  for  refilling 

Popery,  and  the  Roman  Catholic  to  the  fcaffold 

for  not  admitting  himfelf  to  be  Pope ;  while 

he  meantime  plundered  the  monafteries,  rooted 

out  and  hunted  down  the  priefts,  alienated  the 

abbey  lands,  and  glutted  his  creatures  and  his 

Edward's,  own  coffers  with  that  enormous  fpoil.      It  was 

IS47-        Edward's  to  become  the  ready  and  undoubting 

inftrument  of  Cranmer's  defign ;  to  accept  the 


§ii.    The  Tudor s  :  Henry  VIII.  8 1 

Reformation  as  it  was  fo  prefented  to  him;  in  his 
brief  reign,  really  to  efiablifh  Proteftantifm  on 
our  Englifh  foil ;  but,  with  all  the  inexperience 
and   more  than    the    obftinacy    of   youth,    fo 
harfhly,  unfparingly,  and  precipitately  to  force 
upon  the  people    Cranmer's  compromife    of 
doctrine  and  obfervance,  as  to  render  poflible, 
even   perhaps   unavoidable,    his    elder    fitter's 
reign.     It  was  Mary's  to  undo  the  effect  of  Mary's. 
fuch  precipitate  eagernefs  of  the  Reformers,  I553" 
by  lighting  the  fires  of  Smithfield;   and  oppor- 
tunely to  arreft  the  waverers  from  Protertant- 
ifm,   by    exhibiting    in  their  excefs    the  very 
word    vices,    the    cruel    bigotry,   the  hateful 
intolerance,    the   fpiritual   flavery,    of  Rome. 
It  was  Elizabeth's  finally  and  for  ever  to  uproot  Eliza- 
that  flavery  from  amongft  us,  to  champion  all    "g6' 
over  the  world  a   new  and  nobler  faith,  and 
immovably  to  eftablifh  in  England  the  Pro- 
tectant religion. 

But  though  the  talks  thus  appointed  to  this  Tudor 
imperious  and  felf-willed  family,  had  the  effect  ^cva-  '" 
of  imparting  an  exceptional  character  to  their  tional. 
ftyle  and  courfe  of  government,  it  is  not  to  be 
inferred  that  even  they  dared  openly  to  violate 
thofe  old  fundamental  Englifh  laws  of  which  it 
has  ever  been  the  nature,  in  all  cafes,  adopting 
the  fine  expreffion  of  Fortefcue,  Cf  to  declare 
"  in  favour  of  liberty."     Henry  fent  to   the  its  checks 
fcaffold  whomever  he  pleafed,  from  within  the  andlimits- 
precincts  of  the  Court;    but  when,   without 
the  intervention  of  parliament,  he  would  have 
taken  the  money  of  the  people,    he  had  to 
retreat  before  the  refinance  offered,  and  publicly 
to  difavow  the  intention  of  breaking  the  laws 


82 


Introductory  EJfay. 


Eliza- 
beth's con 
ceffions. 


Mary's 
weaknefs. 


Houfe  of 
Com- 
mons. 


of  the  realm.  Elizabeth's  rule  had  been  not 
lefs  imperious  than  her  father's,  yet  one  of  her 
lateft  a6ls  was  freely  to  furrender  to  the  Houfe 
of  Commons  her  demand  for  certain  mono- 
polies, which  had  raifed  a  fierce  refiftance  in 
that  houfe.  Mary  was  able  to  burn,  at  her 
pleafure,  the  alienators  of  the  abbey  lands ; 
but  over  the  lands  themfelves,  inverted  by 
forms  of  law  in  their  new  proprietors,  fhe 
difcovered  that  fhe  was  powerlefs.  Unworthy 
as  the  pofition  was,  indeed,  in  which  the  Houfe 
of  Commons  confented  to  place  itfelf  in  thefe 
reigns,  what  furvived  of  independence  and 
courage  ftill  was  able  to  find  exprefTion  there ; 
Pofition  of  and  the  meaneft-fpirited  of  its  affembl ages  had 
yet  gleams  of  popular  daring,  which  mow  how 
little  might  have  ferved,  even  then,  to  put 
fubftance  into  the  forms  of  liberty,  and  how 
ready  was  even  a  Tudor  King,  <f  as  he  would 
<c  fometimes  {train  up  his  laws  to  his  preroga- 
"  tive,"  to  let  down  not  the  lefs,  as  Lord 
Bacon  faid  of  the  founder  of  the  race,  "  his 
"  prerogative  to  his  parliament."  In  truth  it 
can  never  be  too  often  repeated  that  tyranny 
can  only  reign  in  England  through  the  pre- 
tences of  freedom.  Acts  of  Parliament  are, 
with  us,  the  weapons  of  defpotic  rule  ;  and  at 
times  they  will  recoil  with  danger  to  the  ufer, 
or  break  in  the  defpot's  hand. 

Of  this  the  unhappy  Mary  had  painful 
experience  when  fhe  faw  the  very  Houfe  fhe 
had  packed  with  her  creatures  turn  againft  her 
in  the  matter  fhe  had  moft  at  heart.  They 
m£atary  went  with  her  in  re-eftablifhing  over  the  king- 
to  Mary,    dom  the  authority  of  Rome ;    but  when  (he 


Aclsof 
parlia- 
ment 
edged 
tools. 


Parlia- 


§u.     The  Tudor s :  Mary.  83 

would  have  had  them  concede  to  her  hufband  an 
authority  within  the  realm  that  might  involve 
danger  to  the  native  privileges  and  laws,  thofe 
very  tools  and  creatures  defer  ted  her.     Within  Three 
two  years   fhe  had    to    fummon  and    diiTolve  d.l(rolV" 

,         '     -p,     ,.  ,      .    r  .  tions  in 

three     .Parliaments,    and    informations    were  two  years, 
pending  againft  recufant  members  at  the  time 
of  her  death.     Nor  will  the  fame  kind  of  inci- 
dents fail  to  be  noted  in  her  ftronger  father's 
reign.     He  found    it    not  pofTible  to    reduce 
the  lower  Houfe  to  the  utterly  dependent  con- 
dition in  which  a  conftant  reaction  of  hope  and 
dread   (the  choice    between   confifcation    and  Privileges 
the   fcaffold,    or    church    property    and  royal  Henry0™ 
favour),  foon   placed  what    remained   of  the  vui. 
upper  Houfe.     The   difficulty  was  not  efTen- 
tially  very  great,   indeed,  in  dealing  with   the 
lower,  but  certain  forms  had  to  be  obferved ; 
and  it  is  curious  that  in  Henry  the  Eighth's 
reign,  not  only  (in  the  cafe  of  Ferrers)  was 
one    of    the    moft  valuable    confirmations    of 
privilege  obtained  by  the  Commons,  but  up-  Thirty 
wards  of  thirty  members  were  added  to  their  m,e,mjers 

i         r  J  ~.   .    .  added  to 

noule,  upon  the  principle  exprened  in  the  pre-  Commons, 
amble  to  the  a6l  for  fo  extending  reprefentation 
to  the  principality  of  Wales,  that  it  is  difad- 
vantageous  to  any  place  to  be  unreprefented, 
and  that  thofe  who  are  bound  by  the  laws  are 
entitled  to  have  a  voice  in  their  enaclment. 
Thus,  whatever  ufes  the  Houfe  of  Commons 
might  lend  itfelf  to,  the  idea  of  that  higher  func- 
tion of  reprefentation  was  at  leaft  never  loft  ; 
and  even  the  Tudors    had  to    remember,  in  Safeguards 
common  with  all  princes  to  whom  as  yet  the  armed 
luxury  of  a  {landing  army  was  unknown,  that  people. 

a  2 


84 


Obliga- 
tion for 
martial 
exercife. 


Power 

beyond 
the  So- 
vereign. 


All  legis- 
lation in 
name  of 
Com- 
mons. 


Subftance 
as  well  as 
form 
claimed 
by  them. 


Introductory  EJfay. 

the  people  To  reprefented,  being  freemen,  were 
trained  univerfally  to  bear  arms,  and  were 
under  penalties  to  prefent  themfelves,  at  ftated 
periods,  for  martial  exercife  in  their  counties 
and  fhires.  Only  becaufe  he  wielded  an 
authority,  therefore,  not  ftrictly  his,  and  for 
the  ufe  of  which  he  was  not  directly  refponfible, 
could  the  fovereign  in  fuch  cafe  ever  afTume  to 
be  all-powerful.  There  was  a  power  beyond, 
which  the  people  had  now  for  two  centuries 
uniformly  recognifed,  and  which  alone  could 
be  the  instrument,  whoever  might  be  the 
immediate  agent,  of  changes  affecting  them- 
felves. They  faw  the  lower  Houfe  continue 
to  grant  fubfidies,  not  to  be  raifed  by  any 
other  means  ;  and  they  faw  it  continued  to  be 
ufed  in  the  propofal  of  Statutes,  which  without 
its  confent  could  never  become  binding.  It 
gave  their  fole  validity  to  the  bills  of  attainder 
which  {truck  down  the  guilty,  or  lhed  the 
blood  of  the  innocent ;  and  only  by  its  Sanction 
had  one-fifth  of  the  landed  property  of  the 
nation  been  transferred  fuddenly  to  new  pro- 
prietors. As  the  times  of  the  Tudors  wore 
on,  too,  and  left  the  character  of  their  work, 
and  its  refults,  more  vifible,  the  members  of 
that  Houfe  began  to  claim  for  it  worthier 
affociations.  "  I  have  heard  of  old  Parlia- 
"  ment  men,"  faid"  Peter  Wentworth  from 
his  place  there,  in  the  latter  half  of  Elizabeth's 
reign,  '*  that  the  banifhment  of  the  Pope  and 
"  Popery,  and  the  reftoring  of  true  Religion, 
<c  had  their  beginning  from  this  houfe,  and 
ic  not  from  the  bifhops." 

Few  were  the  opportunities  directly  obtained 


§  ii.     The  Sudors:  Elizabeth.  85 

by  the  people,  however,  either  through  them- 
felves    or  their   reprefentatives,    in  this   great 
reign.     The  authority  of  the  two  Houfes  had  Jp'fJ- 
been  reduced,   at  her  acceffion,   to  a  point  fo  re;gIli 
low  that  not  a  barrier   any  longer  interpofed 
itfelf  between  the  fovereign  authority  and  the 
popular    allegiance.       But    in    placing    herfelf Character 
freely  amongft   her  fubjects,  in   making   their  ^^n . 
interefts  hers,  in  condescending  to  their  amufe- 
ments   and    their  prejudices,  as  if  they  were 
her  children,   they  were  yet  made  to  feel  that 
they    muft    fubmit    themfelves    to    the    difci- 
pline  of  children.     Defiring  rather  the  fame  of  A  fo- 
a  fovereign  demagogue  than  a  fovereign  prince,  j""a^n 
the  afpiring  tendencies  found  no  countenance  gogue. 
from  her,  and  the  mayor  and  the  alderman  had 
better  chances  of  her  favour  than  the  man  of 
literature  or  genius.     But  the  people  had  their  Advan- 
Spenfers  and  their  Shakefpeares,  in  her  defpite  ;  tages 
they  had   their  tranflation   of  the  Bible,  with  pe^e 
its   lefTons  of  charity  and  brotherhood  ;  they 
had   as   free   accefs    to    the   literature   of  the 
ancient  writers  as  to  that  of  the  living  and 
furpaffing    genius    which    furrounded    them; 
adventure  and  chivalry  moved,  in  well-known 
forms  and  living  realities,  through  the  land  ;  Rel-ult     f 
and  the  commonefl  people  might  lift  caps,  as  the  Re- 
they  palTed  along    the    Streets,  to    Drake,  to  formation. 
Sidney,  or  to  Raleigh.     "The  work  was  thus 
far    accomplished    which    Erafmus    and    his 
friends  at  Oxford  had  begun  ;  and  it  was  only 
neceflary  that  thofe  riling  influences  that  had  oxford 
marked    the  acceffion  of    the  Tudor  family  leflbns 
fhould  appear  in  full  and  active  operation  on  comp  ete* 
the  minds  of  the  Engliih  people,  to  fentence  to 


86 


Introductory  EJfay. 


Change 
impend- 
ing. 


Rife  of 
religious 
difcon- 
tent. 


The 

newly 

efta- 

blifhed 

Church. 


Impulfes 
of  Refor- 
mation 
reftrained. 


A  danger 
over- 
looked. 


a  gradual  but  certain  downfall  the  half-political 
half-patriarchal  fyftem  of  this  famous  woman, 
by  far  the  greater!;  of  her  race.  The  fons  and 
daughters  of  the  Arcadia  were  the  parents  of 
the  men  of  Charles  and  Cromwell. 

The  Queen  had  been  twelve  years  upon  the 
throne  when  difcontent  took  an  ominous  and 
threatening  form.  An  effential  feature  in  the 
Tudor  fyftem  had  been  that  the  framework  of 
the  ancient  hierarchy  of  Rome  mould  be  left 
untouched.  At  a  time  when  politics  were 
fuddenly  become  fubordinated  to  religion,  the 
idea  of  unlimited  fpiritual  dominion  was  too 
valuable  to  be  furrendered,  carrying  with  it,  as 
it  did  by  a  very  fimple  analogy,  unlimited 
temporal  dominion  alfo.  This  dominion  had 
moreover  been  placed,  by  the  aids  of  fupremacy 
and  uniformity,  at  the  abfolute  ufe  and  difpofal 
of  the  fovereign  ;  and  in  thus  formally  alTuming 
the  caft-off  robes  of  the  Pope,  Elizabeth 
rivalled  her  father  in  the  even  partiality  of  her 
perfecutions.  Indeed,  her  antagonifm  to  the 
Romanift  was  in  fome  refpects  lefs  keen  and 
perfonal  than  to  th*e  Proteftant  non-con- 
formift.  She  loved  to  the  lateft  moment  of 
her  life  the  gorgeous  ceremonials  of  religion, 
as  fhe  cherifhed  all  that  placed  in  Subjection  to 
authority  the  fenfes  and  the  faith  of  men ;  and 
while,  with  this  feeling,  me  adhered  to  forms 
and  ceremonies  which  her  mafculine  fenfe 
would  elfe  have  put  afide  in  fcorn,  and  clothed 
her  own  bifhops  with  the  fupreme  authority 
fhe  had  ftruck  down  from  thofe  of  Rome,  fhe 
unhappily  overlooked  altogether  the  poflibility 
of  danger  from  fuch  restraints  to  the  impulfes 


bl-id^ 

57°- 


§11.     'The  Sudors:  Elizabeth.  S7 

of  the  Reformation.     But  this  danger  was  now 
at  hand. 

In  the  year   1570,  the  institution  of  epif- Ca.rt-  j 
copacy  in  the    ProteStant  church  was  openly  Le'aures 
affailed  by  the  Lady  Margaret's    profefTor  of  at  Cam- 
divinity  at  Cambridge.     There  had  been  an 
active  difcuSTion  going  on  for  fome  years,  on 
matters  of  minor  consideration.     Tippets  had 
been  violently  contested,  and  fad  and  ferious 
had    been  difputes   upon    the   furplice.      But 
now,  to  the  amazement  of  the  imperious  Parker, 
who  had  declared  that  he  would  maintain  to 
the  death  thefe  efTentials  of  the  new  religion, 
all  further  mention  of  fuch  matters  ceafed,  and 
the  archbifhop  was  fummoned  to  maintain  to 
the  death  neither  tippet  nor  furplice,  but  the 
whole  ecclefiaftical  hierarchy  of  England.   Cart-  Puritan 
wright's  lectures  were  as  a  match   to  a  train,  ?arty, 

j        r  r  •  n  j  formed. 

and  a  formidable  party  of  puritans  Started  up 
in  England.  It  is  not,  however,  neceSTary  to 
dwell  on  the  Struggle  that  enfued.  It  was  fo 
far  conducted  with  Spirit  by  individual  mem- 
bers of  the  Houfe  of  Commons,  as  to  achieve  Its  iea(]ers 
feveral  folid  acceffions  «to  the  privileges  of  that  in  Houfe 
houfe,  and  to  leave  on  laiting  record  a  valuable     Com- 

n  •     n      i        rr»  r    n  ■         mons. 

protelt  againit  the  Tudor  lyitem  as  one  which 
centuries  of  Englifh  liberty  rejected  and  dis- 
claimed. Indeed,  if  Elizabeth  had  been  lefs  wife 
and  prudent,  if  her  perfonal  expenditure  had 
been  waSteful  or  her  exchequer  ill  fupplied,  it 
might  have  gone  hardly  with  her.  In  vain  She  Vain  at- 
packed  the  houfe  with  placemen,  and  flooded  the  ^P^  to 

1  *  1  i        r  r-  lubdue 

country  party  with  upwards  or  hxty  new  mem-  them. 
bers.   Still  the  Stricklands  and  the  Wentworths 
remained,   and  Still  in  every  feSHon  there  was 


88  Introductory  EJfay. 

at  leaft  placed  on  record  the  duty  and  right  of 
parliament  to  inquire  into  every  public  matter 
and  to  remedy  every  proved  abufe.  The  cry 
of  Englifh  liberty  was  never  raifed  more 
piercingly,  though  it  remained  for  later  days 
to  fend  back  to  it  a  louder  and  more  terrible 
echo. 
Laftatt  of  Elizabeth  herfelf,  in  the  clofing  years  of  her 
e^TucT"  re*&n>  mowed  that  ihe  had  not  remained  un- 
confcious  or  unmoved  by  the  vehemence  and 
fharpnefs  of  that  cry.  Greater!:  of  the  Tudors 
as  fhe  unqueftionably  was,  it  was  when  her 
authority  might  feem  to  have  been  moft 
weakened,  that  me  bequeathed  to  the  race 
which  fucceeded  hers,  by  her  laft  ac~t  of  fove- 
reignty,  an  example  which  might  have  faved 
them  the  throne,  if  they  could  have  profited 
by  it.  Unhappily  they  could  only  imitate  her 
in  the  qualities  which  provoked,  and  not  in 
thofe  which  fubdued  or  turned  afide,  refiftance. 
Ehza-       Jt  js  a  finking  fact  in  the  career  of  this  great 

beth  s  " 

ami-         Queen,  that  me  could  put  afide  her  hatred  and 

pathy  to    contempt  even  of  Puritanifm  itfelf,  when  fhe 

n  ans.    £lw  ^  j^  j-,ecc)rne  f0  traasfufed  with  the  defires 

and  wants  of  the  people  as    to  reprefent  no 

longer    a   religious  difcontent  alone.      While 

fhe  believed  it  to  be  confined  within  that  limit, 

the  prifon  and  the  rack  were  the  only  replies 

Puritan     fhe  made  to  it :  becaufe  fhe  knew  that  from 

fympathy  an  ferious  attacks  to  maintain  it,  the  caufe  fhe 

Eliza.       championed    then    protected  her  moft  effect- 

beth.         ually  ;  and  that  from  the  very  dungeons  into 

which  fhe  might  throw  the  Puritan   leaders, 

they  would  yet  be  ready  to  offer  up,  as  they 

did,  their  prayers  for  the  fafety  of  herfelf  and 


§  ii.     The  Tudor s :  Elizabeth.  89 

the  {lability  of  her  government.     For  to  all 

the  world  it  had  become  notorious,  that  the 

deftinies   and  fate  of    the    Reformation    had 

for  the  time  fallen  exclufively  into  her  hands  ; 

and  that  not  in  England  only  did  fhe  animate  Champion 

every  effort  connected  with  the  new  faith,  but  qJ^3^ 

that,  in  her,  centred  not  lefs  the  hopes  of  all  Reforma- 

who  were  carrying  on    the    ftruggle,    againft tlon- 

overwhelming   numbers,  in  other  lands.      Of 

the    movement,    however,    of  which    fhe  was 

thus  the  heroine,  fhe  unhappily  never  recog- 

nifed  the  entire  meaning  and   tendency  ;  and 

inftead  of  difarming  Puritanifm  by  conceffton, 

fhe    had    ftrengthened    and    cherifhed    it    by 

perfecution. 

But,  towards  the  clofe  of  her  reign,  when,  Puritan- 

after  that  fubduement  of  the  Roman  Catholic  llm  m  a 

.  .  1  •  1      n        1     J  new  form : 

power   on    the    continent   to    which    lhe   had 

devoted   fo    many   glorious  years,   fhe  found 

leifure   to    investigate    patiently   the   domeftic 

concerns    of   her    kingdom,    the    old   Puritan 

remonftrance  prefented  itfelf  to  her  under  a  new 

form,  and  in  ominous   conjunction  with  very 

wide-fpread   political    difTatisfaction.      Every- joined 

where  voices  had  become  loud  againft   royal  W1*h 

r  i-  3,i  1         political 

patents  or  monopolies  ;  ana  not  only  was  her  difcontent. 
firft  minifter's  coach  mobbed  in  the  ftreets  when 
he  went  to  open  her  parliament  of  1601,  but, 
when  Mr.  Serjeant  Heyle  rofe  in  that  parlia- 
ment to  exprefs  his  amazement  that  a  fubfidy 
fhould  be  refufed  to  the  Queen,  feeing  that 
fhe  had  no  lefs  a  right  to  the  lands  and  goods 
of  the  Subject  than  to  any  revenue  of  her  A  Queen's 
crown,  the  Houfe   univerfally  "  hemmed  and  SelJeant 

*  coughed 

"laughed    and    talked"    down    the   learned  down. 


90  Introductory  EJfay. 

Serjeant.    Nor  was  the  afpect  of  affairs  become 

lefs  grave  or  ftrange,  when,  a  little  later  in  that 

Cecil's       fame  affembly,  Cecil  thought  it  right  to  warn 

warning  to  ^  ]ower  Houfe  of  dangers  which  had   par- 
Commons.    .  £>  i  •       ■  j 
ticularly  declared  themfelves  to   his  ripe  and 

experienced  judgment.      cc  I  muft   needs  give 

f<  you  this  for  a  future  caution,  that  whatfo- 

"  ever  is  fubject  to  public  expectation  cannot 

ic  be   good,  while  the  parliament  matters  are 

iC  ordinary  talk   in  the  ftreet.      I  have  heard 

cc  myfelf,    being  in    my    coach,   thefe    words 

u  fpoken  aloud  :    God  prof  per  thofe  that  further 

Eliza-       "the  overthrow  of  thefe  monopolies!"     It  had  not 

beth's  laft  tjien  feemecj  poffible  to  the  Secretary's  experi- 

appear-  ,       ^  i       r  \r       •    i         i  •    i      • 

ance  in      ence,   that  the  Oueen  herielr  might  think  it 
Parlia-      fafer  (-0  attract  this  prayer  to  her  own  profperity 
than  to  let  any  one  elfe  reap  the  benefit  of  it ; 
but  a  very  few  days  undeceived  him.     Eliza- 
beth in  perfon  went  to  the  Houfe,  withdrew 
all  claim  to  the  monopolies  which  had  excited 
refiftance,  redreffed  other  grievances  complained 
of,  and  quitted  Weftminfter  amid  the  iliouts 
and   prayers   of   the  people    that  God  might 
profper  their  Queen.      Within  two  more  years 
fhe  died,  bequeathing  the  Crown  to  her  coufin 
of  Scotland. 
James  I.        To  this  point,  then,  the  Tudor  fyftem  had 
l6°3*        been    brought,  when    Scotland    and   England 
became  united  under  one  fovereignty,  and  the 
noble  inheritance  fell  to  a  race,  who,  compre- 
hending  not  one   of  the  conditions  by  which 
Two         alone  it  was  poffible  to  be  retained,  profligately 
kingdoms  mifufed  until  they   completely  loft  it.      The 
deTthe"11"  calamity   was   in  no   refpect  forefeen    by    the 
Stuarts,     ftatefman,  Cecil,  to  whofe  exertion  it  was  mainly 


§n.   The  Sudors :  Elizabeth's  Succejfor.  91 

due  that  James  was  feated  on  the  throne  ;  yet 
in  regard  to  it  he  cannot  be  held  blamelefs. 
Right  he  undoubtedly  was,   in  fo   far  as  the 
courfe  he  took  fatisfied  a  national   defire,  and 
brought  under  one  crown  two  kingdoms  that  Opportu- 
could  not  feparately  exift  with  advantage  to  I"1^10  ^ 
either ;   but  it  remains  a  reproach  to  his  name 
that  he  let  flip  the  occafion  of  obtaining  for 
the  people  fome  fettled  guarantees  which  could 
not  then  have  been  refufed,  and  which  might 
have  faved  half  a  century  of  bloodfhed.     None  No  condi- 
fuch  were  propofed  to  tames.   He  was  allowed  tionsmade 

f  •  •  •  T.t  Accef- 

to  feize  a  prerogative,  which  for   upwards  of  f10n> 
fifty  years  had  been  {trained  to  a  higher  pitch 
than   at    any   previous  period  of  the  Englifh 
hiftory  ;     and  his    clumfy  grafp   clofed   on  it 
without  a  fign  of  remonftrance  from  the  lead- 
ing ftatefmen  of  England.      tc  Do  I   mak  the 
Cf  judges  ?      Do    I    mak   the   bifhops  ?  "    he 
exclaimed,  as  the  powers  of  his  new  dominion 
dawned  on  his  delighted  fenfe  :   tc  then,  God's 
<c  wauns  !    I  mak  what  likes  me,  law  and  gof- 
cc  pel!"  It  was  even  fo.  At  a  time  when  it  was 
manifeft   that    the    prerogative  had  outgrown  n0  check 
even  the  power  of  the  greatefl  of  the  Tudors  °n  pver- 
to  retain  it,  when   the  conflict  long  provoked  p™ota_ 
was  about  to  begin,  when  the  balance  of  popu-  tive. 
lar  right  had  to  be  redrefTed  or  the  old  confti- 
tution  to  be  utterly  furrendered,   this  licenfe 
to  make  gofpel  and  law  was  given,  with  other 
far  more  queftionable  powers,  to  a  man  whofe 
perfonal  appearance  and  qualities  were  as  fug- 
geftive   of  contempt,  as  his  public  acts  were 
provocative    of  rebellion.     It  is    neceflary   to  Provoc£- 

jii  1  "■  r     i        r  1  ■    ,-.       r       •     •     tiontoRe- 

dwell  upon  this  part  of  the  iubjecT: ;  for  it  is  bellion. 


92  IntroduElory  EJfay. 

only  juft  to  his  lefs  fortunate  fon  and  fuccefTbr 
Penalties  to  fay,  that  in  it  lies  the  fource  of  not  a  little 
to  be  paid.  for  vvhich  the  penalty  was  paid  by  him.  What 
is  called  the  Great  Rebellion  can  have  no  com- 
ment fo  pregnant  as  that  which  is  fuggefted  by 
the  character  and  previous  career  of  the  firft  of 
the  Stuart  kings.  Upon  this,  therefore,  and 
upon  the  court  with  which  he  furrounded  him- 
felf  in  England,  though  they  do  not  othefwife 
fall  ftrictly  within  my  purpofe,  I  mall  offer  a 
few  remarks  before  doling  this  Effay. 

§.  in.  First  Stuart  King. 

Charafter       That  James  the  Firft  had  a  decidedly  more 

of  James,  than  fair  fhare  of  learning  is  not  to  be  denied; 

but  it  was  of  no  ufe  to  anyone,  and  leaft  of  all 

to  himfelf.     George  Buchanan  was  reproached 

for  having  made  him  a  pedant,  and  replied  that 

it  was  the  befthe  could  make  of  him.    Learn- 

His  learn-  ing  the  great  teacher  could  communicate,  but 

ing*  neither  objects  nor  methods  for  its  ufe,  nor  even 

a  knowledge  of  its  value.      Probably  no  fuch 

foolifh  man,  in  ways  of  fpeech  and  life,  as  James 

the  Firft,  was  ever  in  fairnefs  entitled,  before 

or  fi nee,  to  be  called  a  really  learned  one.   Never- 

thelefs    the  greater  marvel  is,   that  not  only, 

being  thus  foolifh  in  language  and  conduct,  was 

he  undoubtedly  a  fcholar,  but  that  he  had  alfo 

His  cun-   an  amount  of  native  Ihrewdnefs  which  fcholar- 

ning  and   fl^jp  nac|  neither  taught  him,  nor  tamed  in  him. 

fnrewd-         T  t  rr  rr    i  •  •  *i 

nefs#  He  pollened,  to  a  quite  curious  extent,  a  quick 
natural  cunning,  a  native  mother  wit,  and  the 
art  of  circumventing  an  adverfary  ;  and  it  was 
to  this  Henri  Quatre  alluded  when  he  called 


§  in.  Fir  ft  Stuart  King.  ^ 

him  the    wifeft    fool   in   Chriftendom.     That  Wifeft 
what  he  had  acquired  ever  helped  him  to  a  chriiten- 
ufeful  thought,    or    a  fuggeftion    of  practical  dom. 
worth,  it  is  impomble  to  difcover.     Myftically 
to  define  the  prerogative  as  a  thing  fet  far  above 
the  law  ;   to  exhibit  king-craft  as  his  own  par- 
ticular gift,  directly  vouchsafed  from  heaven  ; 
to  denounce  Prefbytery  as  the  offfpring  of  the 
devil ;  to  blow  with  furious  vehemence  what 
he   called    counterblafts   to    tobacco ;   to  deal  What  he 
damnation  to    the  unbelievers    in  witchcraft,  fld  ™lth 
and  to  pour  out  the  wrath  of  the   Apocalypie 
upon  Popery  ;  were  its  hig*heft  exploits.     He 
had    been    bufy    torturing    and    burning    old 
women  for  the  imaginary  crime  of  witchcraft, 
while  Elizabeth  was  preparing  a  fcaffold  for  his 
mother ;  and  it  was  to  make  the  reft  of  the 
world  as  befotted  with   fuperftition    as   him- 
felf,  that  he  wrote  his  Demonologie.     Before  he  Ufesofhis 
was    twenty,    with   an    aftonifhing   difplay    ofk"ow_ 
erudite  authorities,  he  had  conclulively  mown     to  ' 
St.  Peter's  defcendant  to  be  Anti-Chrift  ;   but 
his   real  objection  to   the  Pope  was  his  holi- 
nefs's  inconvenient  rivalry  to  the  royal  fupre- 
macy,  and  James,  who  at  other  times  feems  to 
have  contemplated  even  the  fetting  up  of  a 
Scotch  Cardinal,  was  not  more  eager  to  fet  fire 
to  a  witch  than  to  burn  feditious  priefts  who 
might  prefume  againft  his  own  Anti-Chrift  to 
rebel.     To  him  it  was,  in  all  conditions,  the 
climax  of  fin  to  refift  any  fettled  authority. 
He  would  have  been  right  if  fettled  authority 
had  found  in  himfelf,  as  he  appears  to  have  Too  con- 
verily  believed  it  had,  its  higheft  exponent  and  fijlent  an 
nobleft    reprefentative   that   the    earth    could  ti0„. 


94  Introductory  EJJay. 

afford.     But  it  was  far  from  being  fo  ;  and 

his  conduct,  with  all  its  grofs  inconfiftencies, 

Early        finks  to  the  mere  felfifh  level.     To  feditious 

Sare(jr  'h    Pr^e^s  ne  owed  his  Scotch  throne,  there  could 

be  no  doubt ;  but  as  little  had  he  the  courage 

to  take  open  part  againft  them,  as  the  honefty 

to  refrain  from  intrigues   with    his   mother's 

turbulent  faction.     The  only  allegiance  he  was 

always   true  to,  was  that  which  he  gloried  in 

avowing  he  implicitly  owed  to  himfelf. 

His  ex-  It  may  neverthelefs  not  be  denied  that,  at 

cufes.        jeafj.   -m  t|lat;  outfet  0f  his   Ufea  ne  had  fome 

excufe  for  fuch  felf-faving  inftincts,  in  the 
ftraits  through  which  he  then  paffed.  Alter- 
nately fwayed  between  the  two  contending 
forces;  his  perfon  now  feized  by  the  Nobles, 
and  the  Prefbytery  now  governing  by  his  name  ; 
he  fell  into  the  habit  of  making  unfcrupulous 
ufe  of  either,  as  occafion  happened  to  ferve. 
A  fchool  And  hence  the  fkill  in  outwitting  people, 
for  king-  tne  fly  Ways  of  temporifing,  the  ftudied  deceit 
and  cunning,  which  he  formed  gradually  into  a 
fyftem  under  the  mifufed  name  of  kingcraft, 
and  in  which  his  whole  idea  of  government  con- 
fided. Of  courfe  neither  party  could  truft 
His  pofi-  him.  The  condition  of  king  de  faElo  he  owed 
to  the  prefbyterians  who  placed   him  on  the 


tvveen 


Puritan  throne,  but  it  was  only  from  the  papifts  he 
an  Papift.  CQU\^  obtain  concefTion  of  the  title  of  king  de 
jure  which  he  coveted  hardly  lefs  ;  and  if  he 
detefted  anything  more  than  the  Jefuit  who 
preached  the  pope's  right  to  releafe  fubjects 
from  their  allegiance,  it  was  the  Prefbyter  who 
claimed  a  power  to  control  the  actions  of  his 
prince.     And  fo  his    character  was   formed : 


§  in.  Fir  ft  Stuart  King.  95 

without  an  opinion  to  reft  upon,  or  a  principle  Forma- 
to  guide  it ;   devoid  utterly  of  ftraightforward-  tl]°noihl'5 
nefs  or  felf- reliance  ;  incapable,   in   any  manly 
fenfe,  of  either    friendfhip    or    enmity ;  and, 
above  and  in  fpite  of  all,  with  a  fort  of  intel- 
lectual a&ivity,  real  in  itfelf  and   often   of  a 
confummate  mrewdnefs,  which  threw  only  into 
greater  relief  and  more  mifchievous  prominence 
thofe  grave    defects  of  character.     He  never  Hisattach- 
formed  an    attachment    which    was    perfedtly ments- 
creditable  to  him,  or  provoked  a  conteft  from 
which  he   did  not  run  away.     In  this  refpect 
he  was   always  the  fame,  and  the  early  Scotch 
days  of  Arran  but  prefigured  the  later  Englifh 
ones  of  Somerfet  and  Buckingham. 

Before   he   inherited   the    Englifh    throne,  Family  of 
James  had  three  fons  and  two  daughters  born  James- 
to  him.     Of  thefe,  two  fons  and  a  daughter 
died  before  they  reached  maturity ;   but  to  the 
furviving  daughter  and  fon,  a  memorable  part  in 
Englifh  hiftory  was   afligned.     At   Falkland,  eJJ"0,^, 
in  the  autumn  of  1596,  was  born  Elizabeth,  born,' 
afterwards  Queen  of  Bohemia:    whofe   name  J596- 
became  identified  on  the  continent  with  the 
Proteftant  caufe,  and  through  the  youngeft  of 
whofe    ten  children,   the  Ele&refs   Sophia    of 
Hanover,  the  Houfe  of  Brunfwick  finally  dis- 
placed the  Houfe  of  Stuart.      At  Dumferline, 
in   November   1600,   was    born    Charles,    his  Prince 
fecond  fon,  who  fucceeded  him  as  Charles  the  bom" 
Firft :  and  fhortly  before  whofe  birth,  Sir  Henry  1600. 
Neville  had  written  to  Sir  Ralph  Winwood 
that  out  of  Scotland  rumours  were  abounding 
of  no  good  agreement  between  the  King  of 
Scots  and  his  wife;  and  that  "the  difcovery 


96 


Introductory  EJfay. 


The  Gow 
lie  con- 
fpiiacy. 


Prince 

Charles's 
boyhood. 


Phyfical 
defecls. 


<c  of  fome  affection  between  her  and  the  Earl 
IC  of  Gowrie's  brother,  who  was  killed  with 
cc  him,  was  believed  to  be  the  trueft  caufe  and 
fc  motive  of  all  that  tragedy."  The  tragedy 
referred  to  was  the  murder,  in  their  own  cattle, 
of  the  grandfon  of  the  Ruthven  who  firft 
ftruck  at  David  Rizzio ;  and  the  condition 
of  James's  mother,  when  fhe  witnelTed  the 
afTaffination  of  her  favourite,  was  the  fame  as 
that  of  his  wife,  when  fhe  heard  the  fate  of 
Alexander  Gowrie.  Not  even  in  the  blood- 
ftained  Scottifh  annals  is  an  incident  to  be  found 
more  dark  or  myflerious  than  this ;  and,  on  the 
day  when  the  bodies  of  the  two  brothers  were 
fentenced  to  ignominious  expofure,  the  fecond 
fon  of  James  and  Anne  was  born.  His  baptifm 
was  fudden,  for  he  was  hardly  expected  to 
outlive  the  day  ;  and  it  was  through  an  infancy 
and  boyhood  of  almoft  hopelefs  feeblenefs,  he 
ftruggled  on  to  his  ill-fated  manhood.  There 
is  a  complexional  'weaknefs  imparted  at  birth, 
which  nothing  afterwards  will  cure  ;  and  this, 
difqualifying  alike  for  refolved  refinance  or  for 
manly  fubmiffion,  was  unhappily  a  part  of 
Charles  the  Firft's  moft  fad  inheritance.  He 
was  nearly  fix  years  old  before  he  could  ftand  or 
fpeak,  his  limbs  being  weak  and  diftorted,  and 
his  mouth  mal-formed  ;  nor  did  he  ever  walk 
quite  without  difficulty,  or  fpeak  without  a 
ftammer.  Who  ihall  fay  how  far  thefe  phyfical 
defects  carried  alfo  with  them  the  moral  weak- 
nefTes,  the  vacillation  of  purpofe  and  obftinacy 
of  irrefolution,  the  infincerity  and  bad  faith, 
which  fo  largely  helped  to  bring  him  to  the 
fcaffold  ? 


§  in.     Fir  ft  Stuart  King.  97 

James's  laft  year  as  the  King  of  Scots  was  Profpea 
probably  the   quieted   he   had  pafled  in  that  °f  Enslifil 

x  j  i>  -i  throne 

troubled  fovereignty.      As  his  fucceffion  to  the 
Englifh  throne  drew  nearer,  his  authority  in 
his    hereditary    kingdom    grew    more    ftrong. 
Many  of  his  enemies  had  periihed,  others  had  Joy  of 
become  impoverished  ;  and  all  began  to  think  s^dtiand 
it  more  profitable  game  to  join  their  king  in  a 
foray  on  the  incalculable  wealth  of  England, 
than  to  continue  a  ftruggle  with  him  for  the 
doubtful  prizes  of  his  barren  and  intractable 
Scotland.     But  his  difputes  with  his  fubjects 
furvived   his    dangers    from    them.       What  Indigna- 
tamed  the  laity,  had  made  more  furious  thetl1onot 
clergy ;    who    already,    in   no    diftant   virion, 
faw    their   fovereign    feated   on    the    Englifh 
throne  furrounded  by  the  pomps  of  prelacy, 
and  armed  newly  with  engines  of  oppreffion 
againft   themfelves.     Never  was   Kirk  fo   re- 
bellious,   in   flaming    up,    fynod  after    fynod, 
againft  the  fovereign's  unprincelinefs  and  un- 
godlinefs  ;   and  never  was  King  fo  abufive,  in 
protefting  before  the  great  God  that  highland 
caterans    and    border   thieves  were    not   fuch 
liars  and  perjurers  as  thefe  "puritan  pefts  in 
"  the   church."     He  was  in  the  thickeft  fury  Eliza- 
of  the  contention,  when  the  fycophants  who  ^eth's 
had    bribed    Elizabeth's   waiting-woman    for  nounced. 
earlieft  tidings  of  her  laft  breath,  hurried  head- 
long into    Scotland  to  falute  him  as  Englifh 
King.     Quieting,  then,  fome  ill-temper  of  his 
wife's  by  fhrewdly  bidding  her  think  of  nothing 
but  thanking  God  for  the  peaceable  pofTeflion 
they  had  got,  James  fet  out  upon  his  journey  Journey 
fouthward  on  the  5th  of  April,  1603.  fouthward 


98 


Introductory  EJfay. 


begun  : 

April, 

1603. 


Novelty  of 
a  King 
after  half 
a  century 
of  a 
Queen. 


Perfonal 
charafter- 
iftics  of 
the  new 
monarch. 


Face  and 
figure. 


Slobber- 
ing fpeech. 


It  was  indeed  fomething  to  be  thankful  for, 
that  peaceable  poiTeffion  of  the  land  to  which 
his  very  progrefs  was  a  fort  of  popular  triumph. 
Doubly  wonderful  had  Kings  grown  to  us, 
fays  old  Stowe,  fo  long  had  we,  fifty  years  or 
more,  been  under  Queens.  Racing  againft 
each  other  as  for  life  or  death,  ruined  flatefmen 
and  courtiers,  lawyers,  doctors,  and  clergy, 
civic  corporations,  mayoralties,  officialities  of 
every  defcription  and  kind,  all  claries  and 
conditions  of  public  men, — eager  to  be  fhone 
upon  by  the  new-rifen  fun.  And  furely 
never  from  ftranger  luminary  darted  beams  of 
hope  or  promife  upon  expectant  courtiers. 

The  fon  of  a  moil:  unhappy  mother,  by  a 
miferable  marriage,  and  even  before  birth  ftruck 
by  the  terror  of  the  murder  of  Rizzio,  James 
was  born  a  coward,  and  through  life  could 
never  bear  even  the  fight  of  a  drawn  fword. 
He  was  of  middle  ftature,  and  had  a  tendency 
to  corpulence,  which  the  faihion  of  his  drefs 
greatly  exaggerated.  He  had  a  red  complexion 
and  fandy  hair,  and  a  fkin  fofter,  it  was  faid, 
than  taffeta  farfenet,  becaufe  he  never  tho- 
roughly wafhed  himfelf,  but  was  always  rubbed 
flightly  with  the  wet  end  of  a  napkin.  His 
fanguine  face  had  only  the  fcantieft  growth  of 
beard ;  and  his  large  eye  rolled  about  unceaf- 
ingly  with  fuch  fufpicious  vigilance,  that  it 
put  fairly  out  of  countenance  all  but  the  moil 
experienced  courtiers.  He  had  a  big  head, 
but  a  mouth  too  fmall  for  his  tongue,  fo  that 
he  not  only  ilobbered  his  words  when  he 
talked,  but  drank  as  if  he  were  eating  his 
drink,  which  leaked  out  on  either  fide  again 


§  in.    Fir  ft  Stuart  King.  99 

into  the  cup.     His  clothes  formed  a  woollen 
rampart   around   him,    his   breeches  being  in 
large  plaits  and  full  fluffed,  and  his  doublets 
quilted   for  fliletto  proof;  and  fo  weak   and  Shuffling 
ricketty  were  his  legs  that  his  fteps  became  §ait- 
circles,  and  he  was  well-nigh  helplefs  when  he 
would    walk  alone.      cc  He    likes,"    fays    the 
aftonifhed  chaplain  of  the  Venetian  embaffy, 
cc  in  walking,  to  be  fupported  under  the  arms  Abfence 
"  by  his  chief  favourites."     It  was  in  truth  a  of  felf- 
neceffity,  as  the  favourites  were.  His  body  had  upp01 
as  little  in  itfelf  to  fuftain  it,  as  his  mind.   Both 
muffled  on  by  circular  movements,  and  both 
had  need  of  fupports  from  without. 

But,  if  the  time  has  now  come  in  England  A  fence  to 
for  any   ferious   conflict  between  the  Subject  monarchy 

j  j         thrown 

and  the  Crown,  where  any  longer  is  that  fence  down. 
or  barrier  to  the  monarchy  which  the  perfonal 
qualities    and    bearing  of  Englim    fovereigns 
have  heretofore  thrown  up ;   and  which  in  part 
years,   even  when    its    privileges    were    mofr. 
onerous,  has  been  no  inconfiderable  protection 
to    it  ?       This   clumfy,    uncouth,     fhambling  Courtiers 
figure,  with  its  goggle  eyes,  muffling  legs,  and  coniound- 
flobbering  tongue,  confounded  even  an  eager 
congregation  of  courtiers  ;   and  by  the  time  it 
reached  London,  a  witnefs  not  prejudiced  takes 
upon  himfelf  to  avouch,   cc  the  admiration  of 
(c  the  intelligent  world  was  turned  into  con- 
"  tempt." 

Up  to  the  clofe  of  the  journey,  neverthelefs,  Royal 
the  contempt  had  been  decently  difguifed.    At  {JJ°£jj|! 
Newcaftle  and  York,  magnificent  civic  enter-  don. 
tainments  awaited  his  Majefty.      With  fplen- 
dour  not  lefs  profufe,  Sir  Robert  Cary  received 


ioo  Introdufiory  EJJay. 

Entertain-  him  at  Widdrington,  the  Bifhop  of  Durham 
at  Durham,  Sir  Edward  Stanhope  at  Grimflon, 
Lord  Shrewfbury  at  Workfop,  Lord  Cumber- 
land at  Belvoir  Cattle,  Sir  John  Harrington  at 
Exton,  the  Lord  Burghley  at  Burghley,  and 
Sir  Thomas  Sadler  at  Standen.     With  princely 
AtHinch.  hofpitality,  Sir  Oliver  Cromwell  regaled  him 
mbrook :   at  Hinchinbrook  ;  and,  there,  the  fturdy  little 
nephew  and  namefake  of  Sir  Oliver  received 
Oliver       probably  his  firft  imprefTion  of  a  king,  and  of 
(Jt?A)Ve    t'ie  Something  lefs  than  divinity  that  hedged 
firft  lees  a  him  round.     At  Broxbourne,  too,  where  Sir 
King.       Henry  Cox  had  provided  noble  entertainment, 
greeting  as  memorable  was  in  ftore  for  him ; 
for  here  the  greateft  man  then   living  in   this 
univerfe,   fave  only  one,  waited  to  offer  him 
interview  homage.       <c  Methinks,"  faid  Francis  Bacon 
Francis      a^ter  the  interview,   cc  his  Majefty  rather  aiks 
Bacon.      <c  counfel  of  the  time  paft  than   of  the  time 
iC  to  come  ;  "  and,  clofing  up  againll;  the  time 
to  come  his  own  prophetic  virion,  that  wonder- 
ful genius  took  his  employment  in  the  fervice 
of  the  time  pail.      Nearer  and  nearer  London, 
meanwhile,  the  throng  fwelled  more  and  more ; 
and  on  came  the   King,  hunting  daily  as  he 
came,incelTantly  feafting  and  drinking,  creating 
knights  by  the  fcore,  and  everywhere  receiving 
Arrival  in  worfhip  as  the  fountain  of  honour.     Vifions 
land  of      0f  levelling  clergy  and  factious  nobles,  which 
had   haunted    him    his  whole  life  long,   now 
pafTed  for  ever  from  him.      He  turned  to  his 
Scotch  followers,  and  told  them  they  had  at 
laft  arrived  in  the  land  of  promife. 
interview       But  he  had  yet  to  fee  the  moft  important 
man  in  this  promifed  land.     He  was  waiting 


withCecil: 


§  in.    Firji  Stuart  King.  101 

the   royal    advent    at  his  feat  of  Theobalds,  At  The°- 
within  a  few  miles  of  London,  on  the  3rd  of  „*a  May. 
May  :    and    ftrange  muft  have  been  the  firft 
meeting,  at  the  gate  of  that  fplendid  manfion, 
between  the  broad,  fhambling,  muffling,  gro- 
tefque  monarch,  and  the  fmall,  keen,  crook- 
backed,  capable  minifter  ;  between  the  fon  of 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  and  the  fon  of  her  chief 
executioner.     We  are  not  left  to  doubt  the  Unfayour- 
nature  of    the  impreflion   made   upon   Cecil.  preflion 
During    the    years    he    afterwards    pafTed    in  on  the 
James's  fervice,  he  withdrew  as  far  as  pofTible  raim  er" 
from  the  control  he  might  have  claimed  to 
exercife,  and   the  refponfibility  he  muft  have 
arTumed,   over  the  home  adminiftration ;  and 
did  his  beft,  to  the  extent  of  his  means,  by  a 
fagacious  policy  abroad,  to  keep  England  ftill  Foreign 
refpecled  and  feared  in  her  place  amid  foreign  p°licy- 
nations.      No  one  ferved  the  King  fo  ably,  or, 
there   is  reafon    to    believe,   defpifed    him    fo 
much.       In  her  latter   years,    Elizabeth    had 
exacted   of  her    minifters    that    they    mould 
addrefs  her  kneeling,  and  fome  one  congratu- 
lated Cecil   that    thofe    degrading   conditions 
were    pafTed    away.      "Would    to    God,"   he 
replied,  £c  I  yet  fpake  upon  my  knees  !  " 

On  the  death  of  Cecil,  in  the  tenth  year  of  Death  of 
the  reign,  James  found  himfelf  firft  free  to  ^^ 
indulge,  unchecked,   his  lufts  of  favouritifm. 
Though   already   the  Ramfays,   Humes,   and 
Marrs,    had    contrived    to    fatten    themfelves 
upon  him,  it  is  not  until  Cecil  has  parTed  away 
that  we  get  full  right  of  the  Somerfets  and 
Buckinghams.     Robert  Car  was   a  poor  but  Rife  of 
handfome  young  Scot,  younger  fon  of  one  of  Somerfet. 


102  IntroduElory  EJJay. 

the  fmall  lairds  of  Teviotdale,  ftraight-limbed, 
well-favoured,  ftrong-ihouldered,  and  fmooth- 
faced,  when  the   King's  eye  fell    upon    him. 
Within  a  few  weeks  he  was  created  Knight, 
Lord-treafurer,  Vifcount,  Knight  of  the  Gar- 
King's      ter,    and    Earl ;     and    everywhere   about   the 
Sprites"  Court>  acc°rding  to  Lord  Thomas  Howard, 
the  King  was   to   be  feen  leaning  upon  him, 
pinching  his  cheek,  fmoothing  his  ruffled  gar- 
ment,  and,  while  directing    his    difcourfe   to 
others,  looking  ftill  at  him.    He  attended  him 
at  his  rooms  in  illnefs,  taught  him  Latin,  beg- 
gared  the  beft  to  enrich  him  ;  and,  when  the 
wife  of  Raleigh  knelt   at  his  feet  to  implore 
him  not  to  make  deftitute  the  hero  he  had 
imprifoned,   fpurned   her  from  him  with  the 
words,  cc  I  mun  ha'  the  land  !   I  mun  ha'  it  for 
Somerfet's  <c  Car."     On  the  eve  of  Car's  arraignment  as 
fal1-  a  murderer,    the    king  is  defcribed,    by    one 

who  was  prefent  at  their  parting  interview,  to 
have  hung  lolling  about  his  neck,  flobbering 
his  cheeks  with  kifTes  ;  and  their  Arrange 
connection  was  not  even  unloofed  by  Car's 
conviction  of  the  crime.  The  life  of  Over- 
bury's  murderer  was  fpared ;  he  had  fub- 
fequent  glimpfes  of  favour;  and  he  received 
no  lefs  a  penfion  than  4000/.  a  year  when  his 
offices  were  transferred  to  a  fuccefibr  certainly 
better  entitled  to  favour  than  himfelf,  and  a 
man  of  greater  ability,  but  whofe  rife  had 
been  hardly  more  honourable.  Never  any 
Rife  of  man,  exclaims  Clarendon  of  George  Villiers, 
in  any  age,  or  in  any  country  or  nation,  rofe 
in  fo  fhort  a  time  to  fo  much  greatnefs  of 
honour,  fame,  or  fortune,  upon  no  other  ad- 


Villiers. 


§m.     Fir  ft  Stuart  King,  103 

vantage  or  recommendation  than  of  the  beauty 
and  gracefulnefs  of  his  perfon.  Nor  was  it  in  a  J^iSTat 
lefs  degree  the  amazement  of  the  grave  fignors  a  mafque. 
and  ambafTadors  of  Venice,  when  received  at  a 
court  mafque,  to  fee  the  prime  minifter  Buck- 
ingham, for  the  delectation  of  the  King,  cut  a 
fcore  of  lofty  and  very  minute  capers,  and  the 
King,  for  the  reward  of  his  prime  minifter, 
pat  him  on  both  cheeks  with  an  extraordinary 
affection. 

Such  entertainment  had  of  courfe  little  to 
recommend    it   to  Italian   vifitors,  who  feem 
rightly   to  have  judged,  of  all  the  ordinary 
actors  in  it,    that   not  only  were  they  odious  Scenesand 
and    profligate,    but  in  fome    {qr(q  or   other  ^J^ 
defpicable.     The  likings  of  James's  court  were 
indeed    thofe  of  Comus   and    his  crew ;   and 
even  the  genius  it  engaged  in   its  fervice,  it 
degraded  to  that  level.     Nakedly  to  indulge 
every  grofs  propenfity,  became  the  daily  pur- 
fuit  and  higheft  qualification  of  all  admitted  to 
its    precincts.       The    circle    that    furrounded 
Elizabeth  had  been  no  very  exact  model  of 
decency  ;     but  there  was   ftrength  of  under-  Unre- 
ftandins:  in  the  Queen,  and  it  conftrained  the  ^ned 

°  e*s  *  w  inaul- 

vices    of  thofe  around    her,  as  it  veiled   her  gences. 
own.     When  James  became  chief  of  the  revels, 
this  check  paffed  wholly  away.    Everything  was 
in  wafteful  excefs ;  and  in  the  foul  corruption 
which  alone  could  fatisfy  it,  the  men  were  not 
more  eagerly  engaged  than  the  women,  who 
drank  alfo  freely  as  they,   and  played  as  deep. 
Lady    Glenham    took  a  bribe  of  a  hundred  Bribes 
pounds    for    fome  diihonourable  work   to   be  vvomen  ^ 
done    by  her   father  ;     and   even    the  King's 


104  Introductory  Ejfay. 

coufin,  poor  Arabella  Stuart,  intrigued  to  get 
one  of  her  uncles  a  peerage,  for  a  certain  fum 
to  be  paid  to  herfelf.  The  dead  Queen  had 
gradually  difufed,  and  at  laft  ftrictly  prohibited. 
Sports  of  the  brutal  fports  of  the  cockpit ;  but  her  fuc- 
jt#  cefTor  revived,   and  at  leaft  twice  every  week 

took    part   in    them.     Daily,    from    morning 
until  evening  in  the  chafe,  the  bear-garden,  or 
the  cockpit,  and  from  evening  until  night  in 
grofs    fenfual    pleafures,  the  Court  paffed  its 
life  ;   and  to  what   extent  fuch  life  took  pre- 
cedence of  every  other,  may  be  partly  meafured 
Profligate  by  the  fad  that  the  fee  of  the  Matter  of  the 
expendi-    Cocks    exceeded    the    united    falaries   of  two 
Secretaries  of  State.     The  fecond  year  of  the 
reign  had  not  paffed,  when  Cecil  had  to  write 
to   Lord  Shrewfbury  that  the  expenfe  of  the 
royal  houfehold,  which  till  then  had  not  ex- 
ceeded  thirty  -thoufand   a  year,  had  rifen  to 
a  hundred  thoufand  ;  cc  and  now  think,"  added 
the  minifter  of  Elizabeth,  "what  the  Country 
cc  feels ;     and    fo    much    for    that."     In    the 
feventh  year  of  the  reign,  the  furplus  of  outlay 
above  revenue  continued,   and,  according   to 
Debts  of    tne  then  value  of  money,  James's  debts  were 
the  King,  half  a  million  ;  or  at  our  prefent  value,  fome- 
thing  more  than  a  million  and  a  half.     The 
mame  of  his  neceffities  became  flagrant.     His 
treafurer,   Buckhurft,  was  feized  in  the  ftreet 
for  wages  due  to  his  fervants ;  the  very  pur- 
veyors flopped  the  fupply  to   his  table  ;   and 
Shameful  fome  years  afterwards,  when  the  embafly  from 
neceflities.  yenjce  came  to  London,  fuch  wants  of  the 
royal  houfehold  were  flill  common  talk.      They 
went  on  increafing  further.     The  hungry  and 


§iii.     Firji  Stuart  King.  105 

numerous  family  of  the  favourite  had  to  be 
provided  for  as  well  as  himfelf,  and  of  all  the  Bucking- 
favourites  none  had  been  fo  profufe  as  Buck-  liam's 

,  .  1  •  1      extrava- 

lngham.     As  yet  among  rare  luxuries  was  the  CTance. 
coach,   unheard  of  till  the   preceding    reign, 
and  then  with  two  horfes  only  ;   but  James's 
prime  minilter,  to  the  general  amazement  of 
men,  drove  fix,  and  even  eight  horfes.     Hard  Expedi- 
would  it  be  to  fay  which  was  moll  degrading, ents  tor 

1  •  r     1  n  1         1    r  •         money. 

the  extremity  or  the  waite,  or  the  deiperation 
of  the  means  of  meeting    it.      Benevolences 
were  tried,  and  exorbitant  fines  were  impofed 
by  the   Star   Chamber  on   thofe  who   refitted 
them    or   who    counfelled   refiftance.     Impo-  Benevo- 
fitions  by  prerogative  were  laid  in  every  form,  fie"cses 
and  were  backed  by  fuborned  and  fcandalous 
decifions  in  the  courts.     Patents  were  granted  Patents 
on  all  fides  to  greedy  projectors,  creating  mo-  and  n!°" 

o  j    r     j  }  o  nopolies. 

nopolies  the  moft  intolerable,  and  eating  the 
life  out  of  trade.      Fees  had  been  got  from 
knighthood,   until  nobody  more  would  incur 
the   coil ;   men  of  gentle  birth  had  been  ex- 
hausted, till,  as  the  faying  went,  not  an  untitled  Knight- 
Yorkfhire  fquire  was  left  to  uphold  the  race  ;  hood  ex- 
and  Lord  Bacon,  at  even  his  wits'  end  after  Lord 
Montgomery's  barber  and  the  hufband  of  the 
Queen's   laundrefs    had   been  knighted,  fug- 
gefled  knighthood  with  fome   new  difference 
and  precedence.      Hereupon  baronetcies  were  Baronet- 
thought  of ;    and,  being  offered  for  a  thoufand  cies  in- 
pounds  each  to  any  who  confented  to  be  pur-  ventec  • 
chafers,  for  a  time  they  made  the  King  richer 
by  fome  hundred  thoufand  pounds.      This  new  peerases 
branch  of  induftry  turning  out  fo   well,  the  put  up  to 
peerage  had  been  next  put  up  to  fale,  and  not     e# 


io6 


Introductory  EJfay. 


Tariff  of 
titles. 


James's 
theolo- 
gical dis- 
plays. 


Hampton 
Court  Con 
ference. 


King's 
conduct  to 
Puritans. 


lefs  openly.  For  fix  thoufand  pounds  a  man 
became  a  baron ;  for  twenty  thoufand  an 
earl ;  and,  if  Mr.  John  Hampden,  of  Great 
Hampden  in  Bucks,  had  not  preferred  a  lefs 
perifhable  title,  his  mother  would  have  given 
ten  thoufand  pounds  to  make  a  vifcount  of 
him. 

Yet  the  fcenes  of  extravagance  and  riot 
which  fo  marked  the  Court  of  the  firfr.  of  our 
Stuart  kings,  may  be  characterized  as  even 
decent  and  refpectable,  by  the  fide  of  thofe 
more  detectable  exhibitions  in  which  its  chief 
actor  claimed  to  be  regarded  as  furnifhed  forth 
with  fparkles  of  divinity,  and  the  lieutenant 
and  vicegerent  of  God.  James  had  written  a 
treatife  to  prove  that  inafmuch  as  Monarchy 
was  the  true  pattern  of  the  Godhead,  it  could 
in  no  refpect  be  bound  to  the  law  ;  for  as  it 
was  atheifm  and  blafphemy  to  difpute  what 
God  could  do,  fo  it  was  prefumption  and  high 
contempt  to  difpute  what  a  King  could  do,  or 
fay  that  a  King  could  not  do  this  or  that:  and 
an  unimpeachable  witnefs,  who  was  prefent  at 
the  Hampton  Court  Conference,  has  fhown  with 
what  peculiar  emphafis,  upon  occafion,  he  could 
recommend  thefe  principles  by  his  graces  of 
fpeech.  At  that  Conference  (a  memorable 
one,  for  in  it  the  thing  called  Englifh  Puritan- 
ifm  firft  openly  made  good  its  claims  to  obtain 
a  hearing  from  majefty  itfelf)  he  affected  to  fit 
in  judgment  as  moderator  between  the  High 
Church  Party  and  the  Puritans ;  and  it  was 
after  having  heard  the  high  churchmen  at  great 
length,  and  with  much  gracioufnefs,  that  he 
interpofed  with  fcurrilous  abufe  as  foon  as  the 


§iii.     Fir  ft  Stuart  King.  107 

Puritans   began    to    fpeak.     He    fC  bid    them 

<c  awaie  with  their  fnivellinge ;    moreover,  he 

<f  wifhed  thofe  who  would  take  away  the  fur- 

cc  plice  might  want  linen  for  their  own  breech. 

cc  The  bifhops,"  it  is  added  naively,  "  feemed  Delight 

<f  much  pleafed,  and  faid  his  maieftie  fpake  by  °f.  *he 

...  r  ~    .     -  .       .        „    J    „        r    -      ,J    Bifhops. 

cc  the    power   or    lnlpiration.         One   or    the 
bifhops  prefent,  indeed,  Bancroft  of  London, 
flung  himfelf  on  his  knees,  and  protefted  his 
heart  melted  for  joy  cc  that  Almighty  God  had, 
<c  in  his   flngular  mercy,  given  them  fuch  a 
<c  King  as    had  not   been  {e.tn   fince  Chrift's 
cc  time."     Chancellor  Ellefmere  cried  out  that  Chan- 
for  his  part  he  had  now  feen  what  he  had  never  ^^ 
hoped  to  fee,  King  and  Prieft  united  fully  in  mere's 
one  perfon  ;   and  Archbifhop  Whitgift  affeve-  ldeal- 
rated  that  his  Majefty  fpoke  by  the  Spirit  of 
God.      cc  I  wift  not  what  they  mean,"  adds  the 
reporter  of  the  Conference,   fCbut  the   fpirit 
cc  was   rather  foul-mouthed."      It    was  cruel 
alfo  ;   for  the    character  in  which  this  deified 
Scotch  pedant  next  prefented  himfelf  was  one 
that    might   well     have    been    fuggefted    and 
justified    by  fuch  obfequious  blafphemy.     He  James's 
fent    two    Unitarian  ministers,    Bartholomew  religious 
Legat  and    Edward  Wrightman,  to  periih  by  [ions# 
the  ftake  at  SmitMeld  ;  he  fent  to   the  fcaf- 
fold,    after   torturing,    the   white-haired    old 
puritan  Peachem ;    and   he  perfecuted  to  the 
death   the    Dutch   reformer  Vorftius,  againft 
whofe   tolerant   and    pious   teaching    he    had 
penned  the  memorable  declaration  which  was 
infcribed   to    "our    Lord  and   Saviour  Jefus 
fC  Chrift  by  his  moil  humble  and  moft  obliged 
cc  fervant  James."      In  the   prefence  of  fuch 


io8 


Introductory  EJfay. 


Retribu- 
tion in 
(tore. 


A  parallel 
to  James's 
creed. 


Alleged 
darker 
traits  : 


Not  eita- 
bliflied. 


Lambeth 

MSS.930, 

f.91. 


acts  and  utterances,  and  of  the  utter  impoffi- 
bility  of  difcovering  for  them  any  reafonable 
mitigation  or  excufe,  it  is  not  harm  to  James's 
memory  to  fay  that  the  blood  of  his  unhappy 
fon  only  half  expiated  thefe  and  fimilar  fins. 
The  records  of  civilifed  life,  and  of  rational 
men,  offer  no  other  inftance  of  fuch  pretentions. 
We  have  to  turn  for  a  parallel  to  the  peflilen- 
tial  fwamps  of  Africa,  where  one  of  thofe  pro- 
digious princes  whom  we  bribe  with  rum  to 
affift  us  in  fuppreffmg  the  flave-trade,  announced 
lately  to  an  Englifh  officer,  "  God  made  me 
cc  after  His  image:  I  am  all  the  fame  as  God: 
<c  and  He  appointed  me  a  King."  This  was 
James's  creed  precifely;  and  after  delivering  it 
to  his  fubjects  in  words  exactly  fimilar,  he 
might  be  publicly  feen  of  them,  as  Harrington 
defcribes  him  at  a  mafque  given  by  Cecil, 
fC  wallowing  in  beaftly  delights." 

It  will  neverthelefs  be  barely  juft  to  add, 
even  of  this  revolting  picture,  that  it  has  been 
darkened  by  touches  of  a  more  infamous  com- 
plexion of  which  there  is  no  proof.  In  the 
Overbury  proceedings  much  muft  ever  remain 
inexplicable ;  but  agitation  under  threat  of 
an  accufation  unnamed,  confifts  unfortunately 
with  innocence  quite  as  much  as  with  guilt. 
A  weak  man  is  even  likelier  than  a  guilty  one 
to  be  difturbed  as  James  was,  when  Somerfet's 
dark  threats  were  brought  to  him  by  the 
Lieutenant  of  the  Tower ;  and  there  exifts  a 
letter  of  his  at  Lambeth,  replying  to  the 
Earl's  remonftrance  againft  inquiry  into  the 
murder,  which,  though  earlier  than  the  dif- 
clofures  of  the  Lieutenant,  renders  incredible 


§  in.    Firfl  Stuart  King.  109 

the  inference  they  might  elfe  have  led  to.     In 
plain  words   I  believe  James    to  have  had  as 
little    to    do  with  Overbury's    death    as  with 
Prince  Henry's,  and  that  fufpicions  even  more  innocent 
deteftable  reft  upon  no  fair  evidence.      Enough  ^t0°vt^~ 
otherwife  has  here   been    faid  to  explain    the  Prince 
contempt  and  diflike,  which,  feveral  years  be-  Henr>- 
fore  his  death,   had  fattened  upon  his  name, 
and  were  the  inheritance  of  his  race. 

Let    an    intelligent    foreigner    defcribe   for  opinion;-. 
us  the  opinion  of  their  ruler,  which  had  be-°fthe 
come  generally  prevalent  among  the  Englifh  peop  e 
people.       fC  Confider    for    pity's    fake,"    fays 
M.  de  Beaumont,  in   one   of  his  defpatches, 
<c  what  muft  be  the  ftate  and  condition  of  a 
ci  prince,  whom  the  preachers   publicly  from 
"  the  pulpit  aflail ;    whom  the  comedians   ofContempt 
cc  the  metropolis  covertly  bring  upon  the  ftage;  of  the 
cc  whofe  wife  attends  thofe  reprefentations  in  ^  ^_° 
<c  order  to  enjoy  the  laugh  againft  herhufband;  vereign. 
<c  whom  the  Parliament  braves  and  defpifes; 
<f  and  who  is  univerfally  hated  by  the  whole 
<f  people."      The    Frenchman's  great  mafter, 
Henri   Ouatre,   fhortly  before   he  fell  by  the 
hand  of  an  affaffin,  had  fpoken  of  the  effects 
of  fuch   contempt  when  directed  againft  the 
perfon    of  a    Sovereign,    as    marvellous    and 
horrible:  and    in   this    cafe    alfo    they    were  £e„acy to 
deftined  to  prove  marvellous  and  horrible,  in  Charles  I. 
thefecond  generation. 


THE  DEBATES  ON 
THE    GRAND    REMONSTRANCE. 

November  and  December,  1641. 


§   1.     Prefatory. 


Moft  ex-  If  the  queftion  were  put  to  any  thoroughly 
citing  informed  ftudent  of  our  Great  Civil  War, 
before" the  mto  wnat  fingle  incident  of  the  period  before 
war.  the  actual  outbreak  would  appear  to  have  been 

concentrated  the  larger!  amount  of  party  paf- 
fion,  he  could  hardly  fail  at  once  to  fingle  out 
the  Grand   Remonftrance.     And  if  he  were 
then  afked   to  name,  out  of  all  the  party  en- 
counters of  the  time,  that  of  which  the  fubjecl: 
matter  and  antecedents  have  been  moil  unac- 
countably flurred  over  by  hiftorians,  he    muft 
M  ft         perforce   give  the  fame    anfwer.       It   follows 
gle&ed  by  that  the  writers  of  hiftory  have  in   this  cafe 
hiftorians.  thought  of  fmall  importance  what  the   men 
whofe  deeds  they  record  accounted  to  be  of  the 
greateft,  and  it  will  be   worth  inquiring  how 
far  the  later  verdict  is  juft. 

Happily,  the  means  exift  of  forming  a 
judgment  as  to  the  particular  fubjecl:,  on 
grounds  not  altogether  uncertain  or  unfafe. 
The    Grand     Remonftrance     itfelf    remains. 


§  I.     Prefatory.  1 1 1 

Under  mafTes  of  dull  and  lifelefs  matter  heaped  Remon- 
up  in  Rufhworth's  ponderous  folios,    it  has  A™™eed  -m 
lain  undifturbed  for  more  than  two  centuries ;  RujJi- 
but  it  lives  ftill,  even  there,  for  thofe  who  care  w»**. 
to  ftudy  its  contents,  and  they   who  fo  long 
have  turned  away  from  it  unftudied,  may  at 
leaft  plead  the  excufe  of  the  dreary  and  deter- 
ring companionfhip  around  it.      The   truth, 
however,  is,  that  to  the  art  and  difingenuouf- 
nefs    of   Clarendon   it   is    really  due,  in  this 
inftance   as  in  fo  many  others,  that  thofe  who  Miflead- 
have  written  on  the  conflict  of  parties  before  '"S  of 
the  civil  war  broke  out,  have  been  led  off  to  don. 
a  falfe  ifTue.     He  was  too  near  the  time  of  the 
Remonftrance   when    he    wrote,   and   he    had 
played   too  eager  a  part  in   the    attempt    to 
obftruct    and   prevent   its   publication  to   the 
people,  not  to  give  it  prominence  in  his  Hif- 
tory  ;  but  he  found  it  eafier    to    falfify   and  FaJfifica- 
mifreprefent  the  debates  concerning  it,  of  which  Debates. 
there  was   no  publi  fried  record,   than  to  pafs 
altogether  in  filence  the  ftatements  made  in  it, 
diffufed  as  they  had  been,  fome  fcore  of  years 
earlier,   over  the  length  and  breadth   of  the 
land.     Indeed  it  alfo  better  ferved  the  purpofe 
he  had,  fo  to  garble  and  mifquote  thefe ;   and  Mifftate- 
from  the  fragment  of  a  fummary  he  gave,  fill-  j^^  b°  ~ 
ing  fome  fix  pages  of  the  octavo  edition  of  his  all. 
book,    Hume  and  the  hiftorians  of  the  laft 
century  derived  manifeflly  the  whole  of  what 
they  knew  of  the  Grand  Remonftrance.      But 
even  the  more  careful  and  lefs  prejudiced  hif- 
torians of  our  own  century   have  not  fhown 
that  they  knew  much  more. 

Upon  the  debate  in  the  Houfe  before  it  was 


I  12 


The  Grand  Remonfi  ranee. 


put  to  the  vote,  as  referred  to  by  Hyde,  all 
writers  have  dwelt ;  and  of  courfe  every  one 
has  copied  and  reproduced  thofe  graphic 
Sir  Philip  touches  of  Philip  Warwick,  the  young  courtier 
wick's  anc^  follower  of  Hyde,  afterwards  the  faithful 
account,  fervant  of  the  King,  in  which  he  gives  his 
verfion  of  what  the  Remonftrance  was,  how  it 
originated,  and  what  an  exciting  debate  it  led  to. 
How  fome  leading  men  in  the  Houfe,  as  he 
fays,  jealous  of  the  propofed  entertainment  to 
be  given  by  the  City  to  the  King  on  his  return 
from  Scotland,  had  got  up  an  entertainment  of 
their  own  in  the  fhape  of  a  libel  (the  Remon- 
ftrance, that  is),  than  which  fouler  or  blacker 
could  not  be  imagined,  againft  his  perfon  and 
government;  and  how  it  parTed  fo  tumultu- 
oufly,  two  or  three  nights  before  the  king  came 
to  town,  that  at  three  o'clock  in  that  Novem- 
ber morning  when  they  voted  it,  he  thought 
they  would  all  have  fat  in  the  Valley  of  the 
Shadow  of  Death  :  for  they  would,  like  Joab's 
and  Abner's  young  men,  all  have  catched  at 
each  other's  locks,  and  fheathed  their  fwords 
in  each  other's  bowels,  had  not  the  fagacity 
and  great  calmnefs  of  Mr.  Hampden,  by  a 
fhort  fpeech,  prevented  it,  and  led  them  to 
defer  their  angry  debate  until  the  next  morn- 
ing.* Doubtlefs  a  fcene  to  be  remembered, 
and  which  naturally  has  attracted  all  attentions 
fince  ;  but  that  out  of  the  many  who  have  fo 
adopted  it,  and,  from  the  mere  reading  it,  felt 
fome  fhare  in  the  excitement  it  pourtrays,  not 
one  mould  have  been   moved  to  make  clofer 


Extraoi 

dinary 
fcene. 


Hamp- 
den's in 
fluence. 


*  Memoir es  of  the  Reign  of  King  Charles  the  Firft,  by  Sir 
Philip  Warwick,  Knight,  (Ed.  1702)  201-a. 


§  I.    Prefatory.  1 13 

inquiry  into  what  the  fo-called  "libel"  really  Various 
was  that  fo  had  roufed  and  maddened  the  par-  ref^ences 
tifans  of  the   King,  may  fairly  be   matter  of  Remon- 
furprife.       Hallam   is  content  to  give   fome  ftfance. 
eight  or  nine  lines  to  it,  in  which  its  contents 
are  not  fairly  reprefented.     Lingard  difpofes 
of  it  in  fomething   lefs  than   a  dozen   lines. 
Macaulay    has   only    occafion    incidentally   to 
introduce  it,  and  a  fimple  mention  of  it  is  all 
that  falls  within  the  plan  of  Carlyle.     Godwin 
pafTes  over  it  in  filence ;  and  fuch  few  lines  as 
Difraeli  (in  his  Commentaries)  vouchfafes  to 
it,  are  an  entire  mif-ftatement  of  its  circum- 
ftances  and  falsification  of  its  contents.      It  is  Clarendon 
not  necelTary  to  advert  fpecifically  to  other  hif-  f^l^eJ 
tories  and  writings  connected  with  the  period ; 
but  the  affertion   may   be  confidently  made, 
that  in  all  the  number  there  is  not  one,  what- 
ever its  indications  of  refearch  and  originality 
in  other  directions    may   be,  which   prefents 
reafonable  evidence  of  any  better  or  more  inti- 
mate knowledge  of  the  Grand  Remonftrance 
than  was  derivable  from  the  garbled  page  of 
Clarendon.     The  purpofe  of  this  work  is  toPurpofeof 
remove  that  reproach  from  the  ftudy  of  this  ^he  Pre", 
period  of  hiftory  ;  not  merely  by  endeavouring 
to  prefent  in  fome  detail,  and  with  explanatory 
illustration  from  manufcript  and  contemporary 
papers,    an    abftract    of  the   contents    of  the 
Remonftrance,    but    by    reproducing,    from 
records  as  yet  untouched,   fuch  accurate  and 
detailed   descriptions  of  the  debates  that  at- 
tended its  paffage  through  the  Houfe,  as  may  Written 
perhaps  alfo  reproduce,  and    reanimate   with  from  MS. 
their  old  truth  and  vividnefs,  the  actual  circum-  recor  s' 


1 14  The  Grand  Remonfirance. 

stances  of  the  time.  Only  fo  may  the  eagernefs 
and  passion  difplayed  on  both  fides  become 
again  intelligible  to  the  modern  reader. 

§11.  What  the  Grand  Remonstrance  Was. 

Cafe  of         This  moft   memorable  State  Paper,   com- 

the Parlia-  monly  fo  garbled  and  almoft  invariably  fo  mifre- 

againftthe  prefented  as  I  have  had  occafion  to  remark, 

King.       remains  neverthelefs  a  fact  living  and  accessible 

to  us;  a  folid  piece  of  actual  history,  retaining  the 

form  which  its  authors  gave  to  it,  and  breathing 

ftill  fome  part  of  the  life  which  animated  them. 

It  embodies  the  cafe  of  the  Parliament  againft 

the   Ministers   of  the  King.     It  is    the  moft 

authentic     ftatement    ever    put   forth    of   the 

Moft  com- wrongs  endured  by  all  clafTes  of  the   Englifh 

P1^  j^ftl^  people,   during  the   firft    fifteen   years  of  the 

Great        reign  of  Charles  the  Firft  ;  and,  for  that  reafon, 

Rebellion,  the  moft  complete  justification  upon  record  of 

the  Great   Rebellion.       It   posTesTes,    for   the 

ftudent  of  that  event,  the  fpecial  intereft  which 

arifes  from  the  fact,  that  it  demonstrates  more 

clearly  than  any  other  paper  of  the  time,  by  its 

Religion    clofe  and  powerful  reafoning,  how  infeparable 

Religion   and   Politics  had    become,  and  how 

each  was  to  be  stabbed  only  through  the  fide 

of  the  other.     If  we  would  fatisfy   ourfelves 

that  wherever  any  writer  fuch  as  Hume  has 

fought  to  put  a  distinction  between  the  modes 

of  regarding    thefe    fubjects    purfued    by  the 

ftatefmen  of  this  Parliament,  and  that  where 

Hume's     he    has    contrasted    their    profound    capacity, 

f^-dlf".  undaunted  courage,  and  largeness  of  view  in 

Civil  Affairs,  with  their  fuppofed  narrownefs 


and  Poli 
tics  in 


of  its  con- 
tents. 


§  ii.    What  the  Grand  Remonfirance  Was.  1 1 5 

and  bigotry  in  Religion,  he  has  fimply  fhown  refuted 
how  imperfect  and  narrow  had  been  his  own  *?y  the 
ftudy  and  preparation  for  the  talk  of  doing  ftrance# 
juftice  to  fuch  men,   we  have  but  to  turn  to 
the  Grand  Remonftrance.     For  the  prefent  I 
can  only  dwell  upon  it  briefly. 

It  defcribes,  then,  the  condition  of  the  three 
kingdoms  at  the  time  when  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment met,  and  the  meafures  taken  thereon  to 
redrefs  ftill  remediable  wrongs,  and  deal  out 
juftice    on    their   authors.      Enumerating  the  Charafter 
ftatutes  pafTed  at  the  fame  time  for  the  good  of 
the  fubject,   and  his  fafety  in  future  years,  it 
points  out  what  yet  waited  to  be  done  to  com- 
plete that  necefTary  work,  and  the  grave  obftruc- 
tions  that  had   arifen,  in  each   of  the   three 
kingdoms,  to    intercept   its   completion.       It 
warns  the  people  of  dangerous  and  defperate 
intrigues  to  recover  afcendancy  for  the  court 
faction  ;  hints   not  obfcurely  at  ferious  defec-  Warnings 
tions   in    progrefs,    even    from   the    popular  agamft 
phalanx ;  accufes  the   bifhops  of  a  defign  to 
Romanize    the    Englifh    Church ;    denounces 
the  effects  of  ill  counfels  in  Scotland  and  Ire- 
land ;  and  calls  upon  the  King  to  difmifs  evil 
counfellors.     It  is,  in  brief,  an  appeal  to  the 
country  ;    confirming,  on  the  one   hand,    of  a 
dignified  afTertion  of  the  power  of  the  Houfe 
of  Commons  in  re-eftablifhing  the  public  liber- 
ties, and,  on  the  other,  of  an  urgent  reprefen- 
tation  of  its  powerlefThefs  either  to  protect  the 
future  or  fave   the   paft,   without   immediate  Appeal 
prefent     fupport    againft    papifts    and    their  to  the 
favourers  in  the  Houfe  of  Lords,  and  their  cc 
unfcrupulous  partizans  near  the  throne.  There 

1  2 


n6 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


States 
what 
the  war 
put  in 
iffue, 


No  dii-  is  in  it,  neverthelefs,  not  a  word  of  difrefpect 
refpeft  to  to  the  perfon  or  the  juft  privileges  of  royalty  ; 
Church.  a°d  nothing  that  the  fair  fupporters  of  a  found 
Church  Eftablifhment  might  not  frankly  have 
approved  and  accepted.  Of  all  the  State  . 
Papers  of  the  period,  it  is  in  thefe  points  much 
the  moft  remarkable ;  nor,  without  very  care- 
fully reading  it,  is  it  eafy  to  underftand  rightly, 
or  with  any  exactnefs,  either  the  iflue  challenged 
by  the  King  when  he  unfurled  his  ftandard,  or 
the  objects  and  defires  of  the  men  who  led  the 
Houfe  of  Commons  up  to  the  actual  breaking 
out  of  the  war. 

EfTential  as  the  ftudy  of  it  is,  however,  to 
any  true  comprehenfion  of  this  eventful  time, 
the  difficulty  of  reproducing  it  in  modern  hif- 
tory  muff,  doubtlefs  be  admitted.  It  is  not 
merely  that  it  occupies  fifteen  of  Rufhworth's 
clofely  printed  folio  pages,  but  that,  in  fpecial 
portions  of  its  argument,  it  paffes  with  warmth 
and  rapidity  through  an  extraordinary  variety 
of  fubjects,  of  which  the  connection  has  ceafed 
to  be  always  immediately  apparent.  Matters 
are  touched  too  lightly  for  eafy  comprehenfion 
now,  which  but  to  name,  then,  was  to  ftrike  a 
Difficulty  chord  that  every  breaft  refponded  to.  Some 
duciXTt  mDje&s  a^°  nave  a  large  place,  to  which  only 
a  near  acquaintance  with  party  names  and 
themes  can  affign  their  juft  importance,  either 
as  affecting  each  other,  or  making  ftronger  the 
ultimate  and  wider  appeal  which  by  their  means 
was  defigned.  The  very  heat  and  urgency  of 
tone,  the  quick  impatience  of  allufion,  the 
minute  fubdivifion  of  details,  the  pafiionate 
iteration  of  topics,  everything  that  made  its 


Occupies 
15  folio 
pages  in 
Rufh- 
worth. 


§  in.  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes  and  his  MS.  Journal,         1 1 7 

narrative  fo   intenfe  and  powerful  once,   and  Its  varI- 
gives  to  it  in  a  certain  knfe  its  vividnefs  and  minute 
reality  ftill,  conftitutes  at  the  fame  time  the  detail, 
difficulty  of  prefenting  it  in  fuch  an  abftrad, 
careful  and  connected,  not  without  detail  and 
yet  comprefled,  as  would  admit  of  reproduc- 
tion here.     It  will  be  well  worth  while,  never- 
thelefs,   to  make  the  trial  ;    which,   however 
fhort  it  may  fall  of  fuccefs  in  the  particular 
matter,  may  have  fome  historical  value  inde- 
pendently.    For,  by  the  ufe  of  thoie  manu-  Purpofed 
fcript  records  to  which  I  have  referred,  as  yet  L"^"  °n 
unemployed  by  any  writer  or  hiftorian,  it  will  records. 
at  leaft  be  poffible  to  illuftrate  the  abftracl  to 
be  given  by  an  account  of  the  Debates  refpeft- 
ing  it  in  the  Houfe  of  Commons,  and  thefe 
with  relation  as  well  to  itfelf  as  to  its  antece- 
dents and  confequences,  far  more  interesting, 
becaufe  more   minute  and  faithful,   than  any 
heretofore  given  to  the  world.     And  in  this 
will  be  the  undoubted  additional  advantage, 
that  thereby  will  be  fupplied  a  not  inefficient 
teft  for  Clarendon's  accuracy  and  honefty  of  Teft  for 
ftatement  in  the  mod  critical  part  of  his  nar-  Claren- 
rative  of  thefe  affairs.  honefty. 

§  in.  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes  and  his 
Manuscript  Journal  of  the  Long 
Parliament. 

One  preliminary  to  the  talk  I  have  under-  Authority 
taken  feems  to  be  required  of  me.     To  eftab-  f^"6;^ 
liih  for  myfelf  the    claim  to    authenticity  of  this  work, 
ftatement  which  it  is  propofed  to  difpute  in 
others,   it  will    be    neceffary  to   defcribe   the 


1 1 8  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

authority   from  which  the  moft  part   of  the 
facts  given  in  this  paper  are  derived,  and  now 
firft    contributed   to    hiftory.     They    are    the 
refult  of  much  tedious  and  painful   refearch 
into  the  blotted  manufcripts  of  Sir  Simonds 
D'Ewes,  preferved  in  five  bound  volumes  in 
journal  by  the  Britifh  Mufeum,*  and  entitled, cc  A  Journal 
p  Ewes     cc  0f  trie   Parliament    begun    November    3d, 
leianMSS. <f  Tuefday,  Anno  Domini   1640."       To  the 
exiftence  of  fuch  a  journal  attention  has  been 
lately  drawn  more  than  once   by  allufions  in 
Mr.    Carlyle's    writings     in    connection    with 
Cromwell  ;f   and  from  a  manufcript  abftract 
made  for  him  when  he   contemplated  writing 
a    Hiftory    of  the    Puritans  (a  project  which 
it  is  a  matter  of  great  regret  that  he  aban- 
doned), a  very  interefting  notice  of  D'Ewes, 
Writers     with  fome  account  of  his  Journal,  was  pub- 
acquaint-  ]jfhed    feveral   years    ago    in   the    Edinburgh 
'  Review.^      Mr.    Carlyle   kindly    placed    this 

*  Harleian  MSS.  Nos.  162,  163,  164,  165,  166. 

-f-   "  We  call  thefe  Notes  the  moft  interefting  of  all  manu- 

"  fcripts.     To  an  Englifh   foul  who  would  underftand  what 

'*  was  really  memorable   and   godlike  in   the   Hiftory  of  his 

"  country,  diftinguifhing  the  fame  from  what  was  at  bottom 

Notes  by     "  «»-memorable  and  devil-like  :  who  would  bear  in  everlafting 

D'Ewes       "  remembrance  the  doings  of  our  noble  heroic  men,  and  fink 

character-   "  into  everlafting  oblivion  the  doings  of  our    low    ignoble 

ifed.  "  quacks   and  fham-heroes, — what   other    record   can  be    fo 

"  precious  ?" — Carlyle's  Mifcellanies,  iv.  338-9. 

X  For  July,   1846.     I    do  not   betray  any    confidence    in 

ftating  that  this  paper  was  by  that  very  learned  and  agreeable 

writer,    Mr.   John    Bruce,    whofe    defcription    of    D'Ewes's 

original  manufcript  may  here  be  fubjoined,  in  confirmation  of 

what  is  faid  in  the  text.     "  For  fome  part  of  the   time,  the 

Edinb.         "  Notes  have  been  copied  and  written  out  in  a  narrative  form, 

Review,      "  in  a  refpectable  hand  ;  in  other  places,   we  have  nothing 

July,  "  but  the  rough  jottings-down   of  D'Ewes's  own  pen.     At 

1846.  "  firft,  when  we  begin  to  read  them,  all  is  obfcurity,  as  dull 

"  and  denfe  as  that  which  overclouds  the  pages  of  Ruftiworth, 


§  in.  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes  and  his  MS.  Journal.         1 1 9 

manufcript  at  my  difpofal  on  my  commencing 
fome  years  fince,  at  the  requeft  of  the  MeiTrs. 
Longman,  what  I  have  found  to  be  the  not 
very  eafy  talk  of  preparing  for  a  library  edition, 
and  making  lefs  unworthy  of  the  favour  ex-  Neceffity 
tended  to  it,  a  work  entitled  The  State/men  ^  pi  ftudy- 
the  Commonwealth  written  feveral  years  before,  original 
On  comparing,  however,  its  abftract  of  D'Ewes  MS. 
with  the  original,  it  proved  to  be  fo  entirely 
imperfect  and  deficient  even  as  an  index  to  the 
larger  collections,  that  there  was  no  alternative 
but  to  begin  the  refearch  anew.      I  will  preface 
what   I   have  to  relate  as   the  refult  of  fuch 
more  careful  inquiry  with  a  brief  account  of 
the  writer.  J 

Simonds  D'Ewes  was  the  elded  fon  of  Paul  Account 
D'Ewes,  one  of  the  Six  Clerks  of  the  Court  °f 
of  Chancery,  who  had  married  the  daughter  of 
his   chamber-fellow   in  the   Temple,   Richard 
Simonds,    whofe    Dorfetfhire  eftate,  inherited 
by  his  daughter,  went  afterwards  to  enrich  her 
fon.     He  was  born  in  December  1602  ;  and,  Born 
after    a  childhood    pafTed    with   his   mother's  l6°2- 
family    in   Dorfetfhire,   lived   with  his   father 
alternately  in  Suffolk  and  in  Chancery  Lane ; 
went  in  his  fourteenth  year  to  Bury  School, 
and  in  his  fixteenth  to  St.  John's  in  Cambridge, 
from  which,  after  a  refidence  of  little   more 
than  two  years,  he  was  very  glad  to  get  back  At  Cam- 
to  his  father,  out  of,  as  he  tells  us,  the  fwear-  b"dge, 
'  '  1618. 

"  Nalfon,  and  the  Journals  ;  but  as  we  go  on,  the  mift 
"  gradually  grows  lefs  denfe, — rays  of  light  dart  in  here  and 
"  there,  illuminating  the  palpable  obfcure  ;  and  in  the  end, 
"  after  much  plodding,  and  the  exercife  of  infinite  patience, 
"  we  may  come  to  know  the  Long  Parliament  as  thoroughly 
"  as  if  we  had  fat  in  it." 


1 20  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

Leaves      ing,  drinking,  rioting,  and  luftful  indulgence, 

Cam-        abounding  generally  in  Cambridge  at  that  time. 

1620-/.     So  long  previously  as  his  ninth  year  he  had 

been  entered  of  his  father's  Inn,  fo  that  now,  on 

going  into  commons  at  the  Temple,  he  found 

himfelf,  lad  as  he  was,  "ancient"  to  above 

two   hundred   elder    Templars.     But,  though 

deftined  for  a  working  lawyer,  he  did  not  take 

kindly  to  the  practical  ftudy  of  the  profeffion. 

True  to  his  firft  childiih  affociations  with  the 

Chancery  Rolls  and   Records    in    his  father's 

houfe,  he  went  fuddenly  back  to  the  purfuit 

Quits        thus  favoured  moft,  and  became  a  confirmed 

w.e%~       Antiquary.     He  had  not  mis-fpent  his  time  at 

minlter         „        1     •  j  Tt  r  •  J  1T-,       ,.n 

Hall.  Cambridge.  He  was  a  fair  clamcal  and  Englilh 
fcholar,  had  got  himfelf  well  up  in  Ariftotle, 
and  was  accuftomed  to  recreate  his  leifure  with 
Spenfer's  Fairy  Queen.  But  the  grand  purpofe 
of  all  ftudy  now  prefented  itfelf  in  other  and 
Delight  more  abforbing  fhapes  ;  and  from  this  to  the 
in  old,    .  clofe  of  his  life  he  found  tc  in  records  and  other 

records.  . 

Cf  exotic  monuments  of  antiquity,  the  moft 
cc  ravifhing  and  fatisfying  part  of  human 
Cf  knowledge."     ' 

Fortune  befriended  him.     As  his  father  had 
married  an  heirefs,  he  thought  he  might  look 
out  for  one  himfelf;  and  he  found  one.     In 
Marriage,  his  twenty-fourth  year  he    married  a  Suffolk 
heirefs  who  had  not  quite  completed  her  four- 
teenth, and  fiveyears  later  he  added  greatly  to  her 
eftate  by  inheriting  his  father's.    He  bought  a 
Buys  his    knighthood  and  afterwards  a  baronetcy,  worked 
rank.        nard  at  the  tranfcription  of  records,  collected 
valuable    manufcripts    and     parchment    rolls, 
amafled  materials  for  what  he  flattered  himfelf 


§  in.  Sir  Simonds  UEwes  and  his  MS.  Journal.         1 2 1 

would    be  "  a   more    exact    hiftory   of    Great  Projefts 
u  Britain  that  remaineth  of  any  nation  in  theaHlftoiT- 
c<  Chriftian  world,"  compiled  his  really  valu- 
able Journals  of  Elizabeth's  Parliaments,  and 
brought  together  a  library  of  fome  rarity  and 
worth.     The  growth  of  his  importance  had  i*1^  c 

1  1       1      &  t  -i     1        1  •  •  Sheriff  of 

been  marked  meanwhile  by  his  nomination  as  Suffolk, 
High  Sheriff  of  Suffolk  in   1639.     He    nad  l639- 
not  in  former  years  been  unmindful   of  public 
affairs,  nor  had  the  ftudy  of  antiquity  dulled 
a    fomewhat     fharp      fight     for     what     was 
actually   pafiing  around  him  ;    but  not  until 
the    time  of   his    official    experience    had   he 
realifed  all  the  wrongs  under  which  his  country- 
men were  labouring.     He  was  not  long  now 
in  publicly   declaring  himfelf  of   the   Puritan 
party,  his  natural  leaning  to  which  had  been 
further    ftrengthened  by  his  affection  for  his 
wife's  coufin,  Sir  Nathaniel  Barnardifton,  after- 
wards member  for  the  county  ;    and  the  end  Sympathy 
of  it   was    that   upon   his    humbly    bringing  pur|tans# 
before  the   Council,  in  his  character  of  High 
Sheriff,   certain    ancient  records    mowing    the 
illegality  of   fhip  money,  and  proving  other 
acts  of  the  Board  to  be  unwarrantable,  Laud 
incontinently    made  a   determined   patriot    of 
him  by  flinging  him  into  the  Star  Chamber. 
Refolved  upon   this  to  get  a  hearing  for  his 
records    in   Parliament,    flnce    elfewhere    they 
were  filenced,  he  offered  himfelf  twice  before 
he  fecured  a  feat,  but  was  at  length  returned  Returned 
to  the  Long  Parliament   for    Sudbury.     He  paj££s 
came  up  to  London  laden  with  the  manufcripts,  ment  for 
books,  and  parchment  rolls,  that  were  to  pro-  Sudbury, 
claim  his  knowledge  of  the  ancient  liberties  ; 


122 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Lodgings 
at  Weft- 
minfter. 


Firft 

fpeech  in 
Houfe. 


Afliduous 
attend- 
ance. 


Takes 
Notes  of 
debates. 


Fruit 
thereof: 


took  a  lodging  firft  in  Millbank  Lane,  and 
then  in  fC  Goate's  Alley,  a  little  beyond  the 
(( White  Lyon  Taverne,  near  the  Pallace  Yard"; 
took  his  feat  on  the  day  when  the  committee 
of  feven  were  appointed  to  fearch  for  prece- 
dents in  the  contemplated  proceedings  againft 
Strafford ;  and  on  that  night  wrote  off  to  his 
wife,  whom  he  had  left  behind  him  in  Suffolk, 
"  I  fpake  thrice  this  morning  in  the  Houfe, 
fC  and  at  my  fecond  fpeech  vouched  a  record, 
ci  which  not  onelie  gave  great  fatisfaction,  but 
tl  ended  a  waightie  and  perplexed  difpute  it  was 
fC  then  controverting." 

Daily  from  that  day  onward,  for  upwards 
of  four  years,  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes  attended  in 
the  place  he  had  felected  for  himfelf,  on 
the  front  bench  at  the  left  of  Mr.  Speaker, 
juft  oppofite  the  end  of  the  Clerk's  table, 
with  the  regularity  and  precifion  of  one 
of  his  own  precedents.  <c  Vouching"  them 
almoft  every  day  thenceforward,  having  fome- 
thing  to  fay  from  them  on  almoft  every 
queftion,  and,  what  is  moft  to  our  prefent  pur- 
pofe,  never  failing  for  a  fingle  day,  when  not 
{peaking  himfelf,  to  be  feen  bufily  writing  in  a 
note-book  as  others  fpoke  around  him,  there  fat 
the  learned  and  felf-fatisfied  member  for  that 
fmall  Suffolk  borough,  taking  no  unimportant 
part  in  the  making  of  hiftory.  His  love  for 
ftudying  records  had  fortunately  extended  to 
a  paffion  for  creating  them,  and  the  fruit  of  his 
daily  taking  of  notes  was  the  manufcript 
cc  Journal  of  the  Parliament  begun  November 
"  3d,  Tuefday,  Anno  Domini  1640,"  which 
ftill  continues  for  us,  as  I  have  ftated,  a  record 


§  in.  Sir  Simonds  D'Ezves  and  his  MS.  Journal.         1 23 

of  inappreciable  value.      Even  as  Sir  Simonds  in  five 
had  actually  written  them  in  the  Houfe,  with  flumes 
note-book  on  his  knee  and  ink-bottle  hanging  journal, 
at  his  bread,   great  portions  of  them  remain, 
confufedly  bound  up  with  duplicate  copies  and 
other  portions  more    fairly   tranfcribed  ;    and 
hence,  arifing  from  their  very  claim  to  implicit 
acceptance,  the  impoiTibility  of  accepting  them 
from  any  but  the  original  manufcript. 

I  foon  found,  indeed,  on  beginning  the  en-  condition 
quiry  before  adverted  to,  that  without  ftriclly  of  the 
honed    and  earned  examination  of  D'Ewes's  ^'f ina 
actual  handwriting,  it  was  impoflible  to  make 
anything    of   the  Journal.      Whatever    in    it 
is  mod  valuable,  is  in    the  roughed  blurred 
condition ;     written    often    on    the   backs  of 
letters,  mere  difjefta  membra  of  Notes  for  a 
Diary,  often  all  but  illegible,  now  and  then 
entirely  fo  ;  and  the  reader  will  better  under- 
dand  the  full  force  of  this  remark  who  turns 
to  the  careful  facfimile  made  for  me  of  two  of  Pages  fac- 
its  pages,  and  given  as  an  illudration  to  the  imi  e 
prefent  volume.       Many   portions,   certainly, 
are  more   legibly  written,  a  fecretary  or  tran- 
fcriber  having  been  called  in  for  the  purpofe ; 
but  thefe  are  found  upon  examination  to  be 
alfo   the  lefs  valuable,  confiding  often  of  illus- 
trations drawn  from  contemporaneous  printed 
records,  of  prodigioufly  lengthy  expanfions  of 
fomewhat  pedantic  orations  by  D'Ewes  him- 
felf,  or  of  extracts  from  the  Journals  or  other 
documents  fupplied  by  the  Clerk  of  the  Houfe., 
Other    parts,    again,  appear    in    duplicate,   as  Compo- 
mere  expanfions  of  preceding  notes.      On  the  "f"^^* 
other  hand,  wherever  the  blotted  writing  of 


124 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


D'Ewes  recurs,  there  fprings  up  again  the 
actual  and  ftill  living  record  of  what  he  had 
himfelf  heard,  and  himfelf  noted  down,  with 
pen  and  ink,  as  he  fat  in  that  memorable  par- 
liament;* and  thefe  Notes,  extending  from 
Confufed  1640  to  1 645,  and  in  which  the  fourth  or 
prefent      ftfth  Qf  ti10fe  vears  }s  found  jumbled  up  with 

the  firft,  fecond,  or  third,  the  one  perhaps 
written  on  the  reverfe  of  the  other,  have  been 
thrown  together  and  bound  with  fuch  equally 
fmall  regard  to  fuccindt  arrangement,  that  the 


Self- 
painted 
portrait. 


Jealoufy 
of  Note- 
taking  : 


Old  Vane 

objects, 

and 

D'Ewes 

replies. 


*  I  quote  a  paflage  from  the  original  manufcript  under 
date  November  13th,  164.1.  The  plea  and  demurrer  put  in 
by  the  bifhops  was  then  in  debate,  and  Mr.  Holbome,  member 
for  St.  Michaels,  was  fpeaking.  "  I  was  then  about  to  with- 
"  draw  a  little  out  of  the  houfe,  and  went  down  as  far  as  the 
"place  where  he  was  fpeaking;  and  finding  a  feat  empty 
"  almoft  juft  behind  him,  I  fat  down,  thinking  to  have  heard 
"  him  a  little,  before  I  had  gone  out.  But  finding  him  en- 
"  deavour  to  juftify  the  plea  and  demurrer,  I  drew  out  again 
"  my  pen  and  ink,  and  took  notes,  intending  to  anfwer  him 
"  again  as  foon  as  he  had  done."  Between  four  and  five 
months  later  (March  5,  1641-2)  a  fpecial  inftance  occurred  of 
the  jealoufy  very  frequently  exhibited  by  members  of  the 
houfe  in  regard  to  the  practice  of  note-taking.  Sir  Edward 
Alford,  member  for  Arundel,  had  been  obferved  taking  notes 
of  a  propofed  Declaration  moved  by  Pym.  Sir  Walter  Earle, 
member  for  Weymouth,  upon  this  objected  that  he  had  feen 
"  fome  at  the  lower  end  comparing  their  notes,  and  one  of 
"  them  had  gone  out."  Alford  was  thereupon  called  back, 
and  his  notes  required  to  be  given  up  to  the  Speaker.  D'Ewes 
then  continues:  "  Sir  Henry  Vane  fenr.  fitting  at  that  time 
"  next  me,  faid  he  could  remember  when  no  man  was  allowed 
"  to  take  notes,  and  wifhed  it  to  be  now  forbidden.  Which 
"  occalioned  me,  being  the  principal  note-taker  in  the  houfe, 
"  to  fay,  &c.  That  the  practice  exifted  before  he  was  born. 
"  For  I  had  a  Journal,  13th  Elizabeth.  For  my  part  I  Ihall 
"  not  communicate  my  journal  (by  which  I  meant  the  entire 
"  copy  of  it)  to  any  man  living.  If  you  will  not  permit  us 
"  to  write,  we  mult  go  to  fieep,  as  fome  among  us  do,  or  go 
"  to  plays,  as  others  have  done."  For  further  illufirations  I 
may  perhaps  refer  the  reader  to  the  Arrejl  of  the  Fi<ve  Members, 
§  xxiii. 


§  in.  Sir  Simonds  D 'Ewes  and  his  MS.  Journal.         1 25 

record  of  the  fame  week's  debates  may  occa- 
sionally have  to  be  fought  through  more  than 
one,  or  even  two  volumes.  The  pages  in 
facfimile  prefixed  to  this  work,  which  exprefs 
fairly  the  condition  of  the  reft,  were  felected 
not  for  that  reafon,  but  becaufe  they  were 
found  to  contain  a  fact  of  fuch  great  hiftorical  Example 

,  r  n     '  r    or  impor- 

importance,  and  to  let  at  reit,  in  a  manner  10  tance  0f 
flartling  and  unexpected,   difcuftions  relating their 
to  it  which  have  divided  the  writers  of  hiftory,  conten  s' 
that  it  feemed  defirable  to  prefent  them  in  a 
fpecially  authentic  form.     Yet  the  very  pages 
fo  containing  it  were  found  entirely  feparated 
from  the  main  part  of  the  debates  of  which 
they  form  the  connected   portion,  and  mixed 
up,   in  a  different  volume  of  the  MS.,  with 
the  quite  difconnected  records  of  three  years 
later.      All  this,  at  the  fame  time,  while  it  why  not 
explains  the  obfcurity  in  which  D'Ewes's  Notes  earlier 
have  until  now  been  permitted  to  reft,  gives  ™  eiie 
us  alfo   ftriking  proof  of  the  genuinenefs  of 
the  record.     Its  extraordinary  value  and  ex- 
actnefs  will  appear  in  the  fection  I  am  a*bout  to 
devote  to  the  fubject  of  Strafford's  Attainder, 
as  well   for  more  detailed  explanation  of  the 
new  fact  referred  to,  as  for  the  better  under- 
ftanding  of  the  pofition  of  parties  during  the 
Remonftrance    debates.       The    reader,    who 
afterwards  purfues  with  me  the  fubject  of  the 
Great  Remonftrance  itfelf,  will  have  lefs  reafon 
to  doubt  the  fcrupulous  veracity  of  what  is 
here  about  to  be  contributed  to  its  illuftration. 


126 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 


The 

Attainder 
made  a 
teft  of 
opinions. 


A  falla- 
cious one. 


Unwife 
compan- 
ions and 
contrails. 


§  iv.    Attainder    of    the   Earl    of 
Strafford. 

The  Bill  for  Strafford's  Attainder  has  been 
generally  employed  as  a  teft  of  opinion  upon 
the  occurrences  of  this  great  period.  To  have 
oppofed,  or  to  have  fupported  it,  is  even  to 
this  day  put  forth  for  proof,  in  either  partizan, 
of  the  temperate  love  of  freedom  or  of  the 
unreafoning  paflion  for  revolution.  The  folly 
of  adopting  fuch  a  teft,  and  the  grave  contra- 
dictions it  involved,  have  been  often  pointed 
out ;  but  it  has  neverthelefs  been  ftill  re- 
peated and  infifted  on,  with  no  abatement  of 
confidence. 

The  laft  perfon  of  any  pretention  who  made 
ufe  of  it,  a  privy  councillor  and  county  mem- 
ber, himfelf  a  lineal  defcendant  of  Charles  the 
Firft's  Chief  Juftice  of  the  Pleas,*  clalTes  the 
Attainder  with  what  he  calls  the  revolutionary, 
the  "  fatal "  act,  for  perpetuation  of  the  Par- 
liament, to  which  the  royal  afTent  was  given 
on  the  fame  day  ;  and  he  contrafts  the  reck- 
lefs  fupporters  of  fuch  legiflative  abominations 
in  the  perfon  of  Mr.  Pym,  with  the  confti- 
tutional  fupporters  of  a  limited  monarchy 
reprefented  by  my  lord  Clarendon.  It  is 
neverthelefs  more  than  doubtful  whether  Mr. 
Edward  Hyde  did  not  vote  for  the  attainder, 


"  Story  *  The  late  Mr.  George  Bankes  of  Dorfetfliire,  who  made 

of  Corfe  ufe  of  the  expreiTions  quoted  in  the  text,  in  remarking  on  fome 
Caftle."       family  papers  of  his  anceftor  Sir  John  Bankes,  Charles  the 

Firft's  Chief  Juftice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  which  he  publifhed 

a  few  years  ago. 


fy  iv.   Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  127 

and  it  is  very  certain  that  he  did  vote  for  the 
bill  to  perpetuate  the  parliament.     The  fame 
ingenuous  admirer  of  Clarendon  ftrongly  de- 
nounces the  celebrated  Proteftation  on  behalf The 
of  Parliamentary    liberty    and  the    Reformed  t;onr°  \Q  a" 
religion,  brought  forward  at  the  time  by  Pym  defend 
with  fo  furprifing  an  effect  upon  the  people,  ^arn'a"  . 
without  appearing  to    be  in  the   leaft  aware  Religion. 
that  the  fecond  name  affixed  to  the  Proteft- 
ation was  Edward   Hyde's.*      He    can    find 
nothing    better   than  Robefpierre's   Reign  of 
Terror  wherewith  to  compare  the  excitements 
and  "pretended"  plots   that  forced  on  Straf- 
ford's execution ;  though  it  refts  on  authority 

*  In  a  letter  to  Lady  D'Ewes,  Sir  Simonds  thus  defcribes  D'Ewes 
the  ill-fated  interference  of  the  King  which  dire&ly  led  to  the  to  Lady 
Proteftation,    and    deftroyed    the    laft   hope    entertained    by  D'Ewes. 
Strafford.     "  On  Saturday  morning  wee  underftood  that  the 
"  King  was  come  to  the  Upper  Houfe  and  expe&ed  us.  Some 
"  feared  a  diffolution ;    but  Mr.    Maxwell  came  in  with  his 
"  white  fticke,  and  looking  cheerfullie,  faied,  Feare  not ;  noe 
"  harme,  I  warrant  you.     But  trulie  wee  heard  there  what  King's 
"  aftonifht  us  all ;  for  in  fumme   the  King  told  us,  that  the  ill-fated 
"  Earle  of  Strafford  was  not  guiltie  of  treaibn  in  his  confcience,  ftep. 
"  but  of  miidemeanors  onlie,  and  foe  would  not  have   him 
"  fuffer  death,  but  onlie  bee  removed  from  his  places. — Upon 
"  our  returne  to  the  Houfe,  wee  refufed  to  proceede  in  anie 
"  bufinefs,   but  fate  lilent,  yet  fome   fpake   Ihortelie   of  our 
"  calamitie.     When    I  dreamt  of  nothing  but  horror    and 
"  defolation  within  one  fortnight,  the  coniideration  ofyour- 
"  felfe  and  my  innocent  children  drew  teares  from   mee.     At 
"  laft,  manye  having  often  cried  Rife,  Rife,  betweene  eleven 
"  and  twelve  wee  role.     Sunday  was  paffed  over  with  much 
"  affliction  and  fadnefs.  On  Monday  morning,  the  third  day  of 
"  this  inftant  May,  fome  feven  thoufand  citizens  came  downe  Agitation 
"  to  Weftminfter  ;  manie  of  them  Captaines  of  the  Cittie  and  jn  tne 
"  men  of  eminent  ranke.  They  ftaied  each  Lord  almoft  as  hee  Houfe 
"  came   by,   and  defired  they  [might  have  fpecdie  execution  and  in  the 
"  upon  the  Earle  of  Strafford,  or  they  were  all  undone,  their  City. 
"  wives  and  children.     Wee  (hut  upp  ourdoores,  and  though 
"  fome  went  in  and  out,  yet  kept  private  what   wee  weere 
"  about,  and  ftaied  from  eight  in  the  morning  till  eight  at 


128  The  Grand  Remonfirance. 

Royalift     beyond  difpute  that  the  man  who  carried  up 

ers  of*"    to   tne   Lords    the    firft   meffage    as    to    the 

Attain-     army  plot  which    precipitated  the   execution, 

der-  was  no  other  than  Edward  Hyde.     Its  refolute 

promoter  to   the  laft,  by  fpeeches  as  well   as 

votes,   was    Falkland,   Hyde's  deareft    friend. 

Culpeper,  his  other  confidential  and  intimate 

ally,  fupported  eagerly  every  ftep  that  led  to 

it.     The  laft  thing  his  aflbciate  Lord  Capel 

recalled,  as  he  laid  his  own  head  down  upon 

Falkland,  the  fcaffold  raifed   by  Cromwell,  was  his  vote 

Capelf61'  m  favour  of  it.     And  Hyde  himfelf  was  the 

and  Hyde,  man  who  expofed  and  defeated  the  final  defpe- 

rate  attempt  of  Strafford's  perfonal  friends,  by 

means  of  an  efcape  from  the  Tower,  to  avert 

what  Clarendon  had  afterwards  the  face  to  call 

Strafford's  "  miferable  and  never  to  be  enough 

<c  lamented    ruin."      Such  are  the    inconfift- 

encies  and   contradictions   incident   to  almoft 

every  attempt,  founded  on  the  hitherto  recog- 

nifed  fources   which  alone  were  open   to  the 

ftudent,  to  adjuft  and  apportion  correctly  the 

fhare  taken  in  thefe  momentous   proceedings 

by  the  leading  men  in  the  Commons. 

Much  of  the  confufion  is  undoubtedly  due 
to  Clarendon,  the  afliduous  efforts  of  whofe 
later   life,  to    blacken    the    characters    of  the 


"Protef-    "  n'ght,  and  fo  concluded  of  a  Proteftation  for  the  defence 
tation  "        "  of  the  true  religion,  the  King's  perfon,    the   Priviledges  of 
drawn  up.  "  Parliament  and  our  Liberties.     The  Speaker  read  the  Pro- 
"  teftation  firft,  and  then  everie  man  in  the   Houle,   even  the 
"  Trealurer  of  the  King's  Houfehold  himfelf,   lpoke  to  this 
"  effect,  holding  the   laid  Proteftation  in  his   hande. — 'Mr. 
"  'Speaker,   I,  — ,  doe  willinglie  make  the  fame  Proteftation 
Taken         "  '  that  you  have  made  before  me,  according  to  what  is  con- 
by  all.         "  '  tained  in  this  paper,  with  all  my  heart.'  " 


§  iv.    Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  129 

leading  men  of  the  parliament,  are  read  with  Danger 
implicit  belief  by  fo   many  to  whom  it  never  °     ;niev" 
occurs  to  remember  that  at  the  outfet  of  his  life  Claren- 
Mr.  Hyde  had  acted  cordially  with  thofe  men.  don- 
The  privy  councillor  I  have   quoted  at  once 
fatisfied  himfelf  that  Clarendon  could  not  have 
had  any  poffible  complicity  with  the  Attainder, 
becaufe   in   that   cafe   his    language   to  Lord 
EfTex,  fet  down  in  his  own  memoirs,  would 
involve  an  incredible  inconfiftency.     But  un- 
happily the  entire  conduct  of   Hyde  at  this  Conduft 
period  is  now  proved  to  have  been  an  incon-  of  Hyde» 
fiflency  (to  ufe  no  ftronger  word),  deliberately 
as  well  as  elaborately  planned,  and  carried  out 
with  a  view  to  the  ufes   to  be   made    of  it 
towards  the  fervice  of  the  King.     When  he 
declined    to    take   office   with    Culpeper    and 
Falkland,  it  was  becaufe  tc  he  mould  be  able  to  WH  he 
"  do  much  more  fervice  in  the  condition   he  0^ce_ 
fC  was  in,  than  he  mould  be  if  that  were  im- 
<c  proved    by   any    preferment."      In    other 
words,  he  flayed  as   an  independent  member 
among    the    patriots,  to    make     the    better 
royalift  ufe  of  his  knowledge  of  their  plans. 
Even  in  his  own  hiftory  he  does  not  fcruple 
to   fay    as    much,    though    his    firft    editors 
had  not  the    filial  courage   to  print  it.       By 
the   favour    of     more    authentic    editing    it 
ftands  there  now,  a  lhamelefs  avowal,  on  the 
fame  page  which  perpetuates  his  fame.    When 
he  had  himfelf  afTented  to  a  particular  ftate 
paper  iffued  by  the  Houfe  of  Commons,  he  strange 
does  not  hefitate  to  inform  us  that  the  anfwer, leIf~ 
iffued  fome  days  later  by  the  King,  was  copied 
from  a  draft  prepared  and  privately  forwarded 


130  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

byhimfelf ;  and  when,  in  grand  committee  on 
Hyde        the  bill  againft  epifcopacy,  he  was  chofen  chair- 
ofacom-  man,  he  expreflly  tells  us  that   he  ufed  the 
mittee.      advantage    it   gave    him    to    "enfnare"    and 
"  perplex"    the    advocates    of   the   meafure. 
Somewhat  earlier,  it  may  not  here  be  out  of 
place  to  add,  he  had  fat  alfo  as  chairman  of  a 
committee  to  hear  witneffes  in  fupport  of  cer- 
tain complaints  brought  before  the  CommonSj 
on  which  occafion  he  feems  to  have  found  it 
extremely   difficult   to   enfnare  or    perplex   a 
particular  member  who  fat  with  him.     This 
Encoun-    was  a  gentleman  whom  he  had  "  never  before" 
ters  a  tem-  heard  fpeak  in  the  Houfe,  but  whofe  whole 

peftuous  l   •  ,  •  r  n 

perfon.      carriage  in    the   committee   was    io  tempeit- 
uous,    and    his    behaviour    fo    infolent,    that 
Mr.  Hyde  found    himfelf  under  the  painful 
neceffity   of  reprehending   him.      A    rebuke 
which  neverthelefs  appears  to  have  had  fmall 
effect  on   the  honourable  member,  who   "in 
"  great  fury  reproached  the  chairman  for  being 
'*  partial ;"  which,  having  regard  to  the  confef- 
fion  juft  made   in  a  precifely   fimilar  cafe,  I 
am  difpofed  to  think  that  the  chairman   de- 
Mr.  cidedly    may    have    been.       The    honourable 
Cromwell  member  who  came  fo  tempeftuoufly  on  this 
"fury."     occafion  between  the  witneffes  ("who  were  a 
"  very  rude  kind  of  people  ")  and  Mr.  Hyde's 
fenfe  of  decorum,  was  Mr.  Cromwell,  lately 
returned  for  the  town  of  Cambridge. 
Sir  Ralph       But  a  more  reliable  reporter  than  Mr.  Hyde 
Jj™7*    was  at   length  found  when  the  Notes  of  Sir 
Ralph  Verney  were  difcovered.*    Among  them 

*   Quoted  originally  by  Serjeant  Onflow,  and  afterwards  by 
Mr.  Hallam,    they  were  firft  pubiiflied  in  detail  by  Mr.  Bruce. 


§  iv.    Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  131 

was  one  of  a  fpeech  by  Hampden,  in  debate  Reports 
upon  the  propriety  or  otherwife  of  the  Com-  ^}ebai.e  °.n 

r  r   i-  1  tt       r  1  Strafford. 

mons  attending  the  upper  Home  to  hear 
Strafford's  counfel  on  the  matter  of  law,  which, 
on  being  made  public  by  Serjeant  Onflow,  was 
thought  generally  to  have  eftablifhed  the  fact 
that  Hampden  had  feparated  himfelf,  as  to  the 
Attainder,  from  the  friends  with  whom  he 
ufually  acted,  and  had  been  againft  proceed- 
ing by  bill.  Verney's  words  are  thefe. 
"  Hampden,  The  bill  now  pending  doth  not  Speech  by 
"  tie  us  to  goe  by  bill.  Our  Councill  hath  Hamp- 
cc  been  heard;  ergo,  in  juftice,  we  rauft  hear 
cc  his.  Noe  more  prejudice  to  goe  to  hear 
"  Councill  to  matter  of  law,  than  'twas  to 
<c  hear  Councill  to  matter  of  fact."  No  doubt 
the  implication  feemed  to  be  that  Hampden 
would  rather  not  have  been  tied  to  go  by  bill. 
On  the  other  hand  it  was  to  be  remarked 
that  the  refolution  to  which  Verney's  note 
relates,  was  upon  a  queftion  in  no  refpect  vital 
to  the  Bill  of  Attainder.  Culpeper  voted 
with  St.  John  againft  it,  Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard 
joining  with  Lord  Digby  for  it ;  and  Hamp-  on  quei- 
den,  in  voting-  as  he  is  fuppofed  to  have  done, tlon  n.ot, 

ij    1  r  •      rir         •  'material 

would  have  ieparated  himfelf  quite  as  much  to  the  Bill. 
from  the  Hyde  and  Culpeper  party  as  from 
the  friends  with  whom  he  invariably  acted. 
Nor  was  there  really  fufficient  ground  for 
fuppofing  that  up  to  this  point  any  grave  dis- 
pute or  difTenfion  had  arifen  in  the  lower 
Houfe  upon  the  courfe  to  be  purfued  againft 
Strafford.  As  yet  he  had  few  friends  there  : 
his  hotteft  enemy,  Lord  Digby,  not  having 
yet  become  his  friend.     And  it  is  entirely  a 

K  2 


1 3 1  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

mifapprehenfion  to  argue  as  though  the  alter- 
native were  raifed  by  the  point  to  which 
Attainder  Hampden  fpoke,  either  to  hear  Strafford's 
not  in  counfel  at  the  bar,  or  to  proceed  with  the  bill  ; 
and  for  this  plain  reafon,  that  both  were  ulti- 
mately done.  Hampden's  opinion  arid  vote 
prevailed,  and  the  Bill  of  Attainder  neverthelefs 
proceeded. 

It  appeared  to  me,  for  thefe  reafons,  that 
nothing  had  been  fettled  conclufively  by  Ver- 
ney's  note  beyond  the  fact  of  his  having  defired 
that  Strafford's  counfel  mould  be  heard  in  the 
manner  propofed,  with  full  fanction  of  the 
Houfe :  both  becaufe  it  contained  no  opinion 
Hampden  diftinclily  adverfe  to  the  Attainder,   and  alio 

iuppoled  l  .  .    . 

favourable  becaufe,  believing  Pym  to  have  originated  that 
t0  lU  meafure,  I  found  it  difficult  to  imagine  that 
in  a  proceeding  of  fuch  importance  Hampden 
could  have  feparated  himfelf  from  the  friend 
with  whom,  through  the  whole  courfe  of  thefe 
eventful  times,  he  certainly  had  no  other 
known  difference.  I  was,  however,  but  partly 
right ;  and  to  the  great  hiftorian  whofe  lofs  we 
Corrcfter  ajj  depl0re,  to  Lord  Macaulav  alone,  of  all  who 

judgment  •       n  tr 

by  Ma-  have  vanoully  commented  on  Verney's  note, 
cauley.  muft  be  given  the  praife  of  having  conftrued  it, 
not  indeed  altogether  correctly  as  to  the  fpecial 
matter  in  debate,  but,  as  to  the  general  and  more 
important  queftion  of  a  defire  dill  to  ftand  on 
the  Impeachment,  with  a  Angular  correctnefs. 
"  The  opinion  of  Hampden,"  he  had  re- 
marked, not  permitting  himfelf  to  be  influ- 
enced, in  the  plain  conftruclion  of  the  words, 
by  any  confideration  of  the  courfe  which  Pym 
might  have  preferred  to  take,   "as  far  as  it 


§  iv.    Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  133 

"  can   be  collected  from  a  very  obfcure  note  Effhys,  i. 
"  of  one  of  his  fpeeches,  feems  to  have  been  467> 
u  that  the  proceeding  by  Bill  was  unnecefTary, 
"  and  that  it  would  be  a  better  courfe  to  6b- 
li  tain  judgment  on  the  Impeachment."     This, 
I  mall  proceed  to  mow,  was  exactly  the  opinion  Line 
which  Hampden    had   formed ;  and  it  is  yet  x^rJn  b 
more  ftartling  to  add  that  in  adopting  it  he  Hampden, 
was    only    following    Pym's    lead.       Not    to 
Macaulay,  or  to  any  one,  had  it  occurred  as 
within  reafonable  probability,  that  Pym  him- 
felf,  upon  the  mere  ground  of  policy,  might 
alfo  have  oppofed  the  Attainder.     Such  never- 
thelefs  was  the  fact.     The  evidence  of  D'Ewes  Evi- 
ls decifive.     It  fets  at  reft,  at  once  and  for  d"£e  ot 
ever,    fuch   perfonal    ftatements   and    charges 
connected  with    this    great  fact  in   hiftory  as 
have  been  variouftv  difputed   and  long  con- 
tested by  hiftorians ;  and  it  apportions  at  laft,  Doubts 
with  fome  degree  of  correctnefs,  the  refpon-  let  at  reft- 
fibilities  of  blame  and  praife  incurred  by  the 
men  who  abandoned  the  way  of  Impeachment 
they  had   themfelves   originated,   in    order  to 
proceed  by  Bill."+~ 

That   mode   of  procedure,  it  feems,   had  Procedure 
been  canvaffed  at  the  opening  of  the  feflion ;  JjJ Anally 
and  having   been   itrongly   advocated    by  St.  propofcd. 
John,  Glyn,  and  Maynard,  a  Bill  of  Attainder 
was  actually  prepared.     But  Pym  and  Hamp- 
den were  fo  bent  the  other  way,  and  fo  con- 
vinced  that  their   proofs  would   eftablifh  the 
charge  of  treafon  under  the  ftatute  of  Edward,  p      and 
that  the  Impeachment  went  on.     Nor  in  this  Hampden 
belief  did  they  ever  waver  for  an  inftant.     Up  for  Im> 
to  the  clofe  of  the  proceedings  on  the  trial,  ment> 


1 3  4  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

they  had  an   invincible  perfuafion  that  in  the 

feveral  hearings  before  the  upper  Houfe  both 

the  fa&s  and  the  law  had  been  eftablifhed  ;  and 

when  the  fitting  of  the  thirteenth  day,  Satur- 

Difpute     day  the   ioth  of  April,    had  clofed  abruptly 

April,       m  violent  diflatisfaclion  at  a  decifion  of  the 

peers  which  allowed  Strafford  to  reopen  the 

evidence  on  other  articles  provided  the  demand 

of  the  Commons  to  give  additional  proofs  of 

the  twenty-third  article  were  conceded,  they 

returned  to  their  houfe,  not  to  throw  up  the 

Impeachment,  but  to  prepare  the  heads  of  a 

Diflktif-     conference  with  the  Lords  for  fettlement  of 

with°n      ^uc'1  matters  or*  difference  as  had  arifen.     But 

Lords.       with  them  returned  a  more  difcontented  fection, 

numbering  among  its  members  not  only  fuch 

men  as   Hafelrig  and  Henry  Marten,  Oliver 

St.  John  and  Glyn,   but  alfo  a  group  com- 

prifed   of  Falkland,  Culpeper,  the  Hothams, 

Tomkins  (member  for  Weobly),  and  others, 

all  of  whom  afterwards  either  openly  embraced 

the  caufe  of  the  King,   or  fecretly  confpired 

to  further  it.     And  by  thefe  men  it  was  that 

the   project   of  proceeding    by  Bill,   formerly 

laid    afide,    was    now   fuddenly   revived   and 

prefTed.       "  Divers,"    fays    D'Ewes,    "  fpake 

ived.     cc  whether  we  fhould  proceed  by  way  of  Bill 

"  of  Attainder,    or    as  we    had    begun ;   but 

"  moll  inclined  that  we  mould  go  by  Bill." 

Oppofed    The    principal    opponents    were    Pym    and 

byPym     Hampden. 

Hampden.      The  additional  evidence  fought  to  be  given 

before  theLords,  upon  the  twenty-third  article, 

was  that  copy    of  the    Notes    taken    at    the 

Elder        Council  Board  by  the  elder  Vane  on  the  day 

Vane's  '  J 


Bill  of 
Attainder 

rev 


§  iv.    Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  135 

of  the    diflblution  of   the  Short  Parliament,  Notes  of 
which  had  been  abstracted  from  his  cabinet  by  Counci1- 
the  younger  Vane,  and  by  him  given  to  Pym, 
who  had  founded  the  twenty-third  article  upon 
them.     They  were  publicly  read  for  the  firft 
time,  after  the  tumultuous  return  of  the  Com- 
mons  to  their   own  houfe  on  that    Saturday 
afternoon  ;    and  from  them  it  appeared,   not  Objection 
only  that  Strafford   had  given  the  King  fuch  Zofac- 
traitorous    advice    as    the    article    in    queftion  tion. 
charged  him  with   (that,  having  been  denied 
fupply  by  his  Parliament,   the  Sovereign  was 
abfolved  and   loofe  from   all  rule  of  govern- 
ment,  and    that   he  had  an  army  in    Ireland 
which  he  might  employ  to  reduce  "  this  king- 
"  dom"  to  obedience),  but  that  Laud  and  Lord 
Cottington  alfo  had  taken  part   in  the  dan- 
gerous  counfel.     Amid  the  excitement  con-  Exdte- 
lequent    thereon,    the    Bill    of  Attainder  was nient 
produced  ;  and  the  propofal  by  which  it  was 
met  on  the  part  of  thofe  who  objected  to  its 
introduction,  was,  that  a  narrative  of  the  cir- 
cumstances  attending  the  difcovery  and  pro- 
duction of  Vane's  important  Notes  of  Council 
mould  be  drawn  up  and  fubmitted  to  the  Lords 
at  a  conference ;  and  that  if,  upon  delibera-  Confer- 
tion,  the  Lords  decided  not  to  receive  it  except  "ice  with 

,.   .  c  •     •  ,  r   i  Lords 

upon  condition  or  permitting  the  acculed  to  pr0p0fed. 
reopen  the  evidence  upon  other  articles,  then 
that  it  mould  be  waived,  and  immediate  fteps 
taken  to  fum  up  the  cafe  on  both  fides,  and 
demand  judgment.  Any  other  courfe,  they 
argued,  would  involve  not  only  the  certainty 
of  delay,  but  a  ftrong  probability  of  difagree- 
ment  with  the  Houfe  of  Lords.     So  decided 


J 


6  The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


was  the  feeling  for  the  Bill,  however,  that  for 
once  thefe  great  leaders  were  outvoted,  and  it 
was  introduced  and  read  a  firft  time  ;  a  fug- 
Pym  and   geftion  of  Hampden's,  for  refuming  at  Mon- 
Hampden  day's  fitting  the  preparation  of  heads   for  a 
conference  with  the  upper  Houfe,  being  at  the 
fame  time  afTented  to. 
Sitting  of       What   occurred  in  the    latter  part   of  this 
the  12th    Monday's  fitting  (the  early  part  was  occupied 
1 641.'       by  tne  fpeeches  of  Pym  and  young  Vane  in 
reference  to  the  Minutes  of  Council,  and  by 
the  examination  of  the  elder  Vane's  fecretary  as 
to  their  abstraction  from  his  cabinet),  the  reader 
who  turns  to  the  facfimile  given  at  the  open- 
ing of  this  volume  may  Study  from  D'Ewes's 
Reported  blotted  record,  taken  down  while  yet  the  fitting 
%v     ,    went  on,  and  while  the  men  named  in  it  were 

D  Ewes  s  /  . 

MS.  bufy  talking  and  writing    around  him.     He 

will  probably,  however,  elect  to  avail  himfelf 
of  the  labour  I  have  already  given  to  the  talk 
of  decyphering  it,  and  prefer  to  read  it  in  the 
plain  print  fubjoined.  Nor,  having  fo  enabled 
him  to  understand  the  existing  condition  of 
D'Ewes's  manufcript,  and  the  caufes  which  will 
continue  to  keep  it  a  fealed  book  from  all  but 
the  moft  determined  Student,  Shall  I  think  it 
necefTary  to  recur  to  the  Subject  in  the  frequent 
further  references  I  am  about  to  make,  and  in 
which  everything  required  to  render  my  extracts 
intelligible  will  be  Silently  fupplied. 
Two  The   report    now  to  be   quoted  is  of  the 

pages  in    rounrheSt   kind,  as  will  be  obferved  :    paSTing 

tac-lmnle.     .     D     .       r        '  .  K  & 

abruptly  from  one  point  to  another  without 
explanation,  and  leaving  upon  record  things 
fubfequently  laid  afide.     But   its  evidence  is 


§  iv.    Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  137 

decifive  as  to  the  perfonal  matters  for  which  alone  Pym  and 
it  is  here  introduced  ;  and  never  more  can  be  ^™p,ien 
raifed  the  queftion,  fo  long  and  eagerly  debated,  together. 
of  whether  or    not  Hampden  quitted   Pym's 
fide    during    the    difcuffion    of    the    Bill    of 
Attainder,    and  temporarily  joined   with    the 
party  whom  he  afterwards  very   determinedly 
oppofed.     Upon   this,    as    upon   every  other 
great  incident  of  the  time,  the  two  friends  held, 
their  courfe   together,   from  firft  to  laft.      It 
muft  be  kept  ever  in  view,  however,  that  they  why  they 
did  not  oppofe  the  introduction  of  the  Bill  of  ^tpt°;^_ 
Attainder  as  having  any  doubt  either  of  Straf-  der. 
ford's  guilt,  or  of  the  fufficiency  of  the  proofs 
againft  him.     They  oppofed  it  for  the  exprefs 
reafon  that  they  held  the  proofs  already  placed 
before  the   Lords  to  be  fufficient  ;    and  their 
fubfequent    affent    to    it,   when    the    majority 
finally  determined  on  that  courfe,  involved  no 
inconfiftency. 

<c  Mr.  Pymme  fhewed  that  the  Committee  pym  fug. 
"  appointed  for  the  managing  of  the  evidence  gelts  con- 

rarence 

(i  agft  the  Earle  of  Strafford  had  prepared  cer- 
' '  taine  heads  for  a  conference  with  the  Lords. 

"  Mr.  Maynard  begann  where  Mr.  Pymme 
"  ended  &  furth  [further]  fhewed  that  wee 
"  were  to  defire  a  conference. 

"  1 .  A  Narrative  of  the  evidence  concerning  Maynard 
ic  the  triall  againft  the  Earle  of  Strafford,  rec.ltes 

r  i-i-i  11  points  for 

"  tor  which  evidence  wee  had  two  mem-  fettle- 
"  bers  of  the  houfe  readie  to  bee  depofed  ment- 
"  &  for  wch  the  Committee  advized  with 
11  the   houfe  &    intended  to    have   pre- 
"  fented   the   fame    to    their    Lorpps    on 
"  Saturday  laft. 


138 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Houfe  will 
make  fa- 
ciihces  to 
prevent 

delay. 


Others 
guilty 
with 
Strafford. 


Their 
guilt  not 
to  be  in- 
filled on. 


The 

Notes  of 
Council. 


<c  2.  The  houfe  having  taken  confideration 

"  thereof  doe  conceive  it  verie  materiall  : 

"  yet  in  regard  of  the  danger  &  diftrac- 

"  tion  of  the  kingdome  being  verie  great 

cc  &  will  admit  noe  delay,   they  are  re- 

<c  folved  to  come  to  a  generall   replie  & 

"  to    waive    the   faied   evidence,    if  the 

"  Lords    fhall   not    permitt    it   to    bee 

tl  examined    unlefTe  the    Earle  of  Straf- 

*c  ford   [have]  libertie  to    examine   wit- 

"  neffes  to  other  Articles  ;  wch  the  houfe 

cc  doth  doe  to  avoid  delay,  which  is  now 

cc  of  extreame  dangerous  confequence. 

"3.  Others  confederated.     Archbp  &  Lord 

"  Cottington  are  difcovered:   when  rao- 

"  tion  to  bring  in  Irifh  armie  was  made 

Cf  by  Earle  of   Strafford:   by  this  paper 

11  will   appeare,  if  their  Lorpps  will  have 

cc  the  paper  read." 

At  this  point,  as  will   be  {etn   in  the  fac- 

fimile,   D'Ewes  puts  a   note    in  the  margin, 

refpecling  that   third  head    of   the    propofed 

conference  to  which   the  preceding  not  very 

clear  fentences,   and    the    two    following    not 

much  more  luminous  paragraphs,  relate. 

"  This  3d  head  thus  penned  was  rejected, 
tc  and  a  new  one  brought  in. 

"  Defire  the  Lds  to  joine  with  us  to  prevent 
cc  danger  :  which  might  enfue  upon  fuch  coun- 
«  fels. 

"  Thofe  Councellors  removed. 

"3.  That  upon  occafion  of  dilcoverie  of 

iS  this  evidence  a  paper  was  read  in  the 

cc  houfe  by  wch  it  appeared    that   at  the 

l<  fame  time  when  the  Earle  of  Strafford 


§  iv.  Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  139 

tc  gave  that  dangerous  counfell  of  bring-  Laud  and 
"  ing  in    the  Irifh  armie   into  England  £°"ing' 
cc  others    were    prefent,     deciphered     by  involved. 
(C  thefe  letters  Arch.  &  L.  Cott.  whome 
<c  wee  conceive   Lord  Arch.  &  L.  Cott. 
cc  verie  full  of  pernicious  counfell  to  the 
<c  King  &   flanders    to    the    Commons 
'c  houfe  afTembled  in  the  laft  Parliament. 
"  Mr.  Hotham  moved  to  have  the  bill  of  Hotham 
1  the  Earle  of  Strafford's  attainder  read.  tainder" 

"  Mr.  Pymme  would  not  have  the  bill  read, 
c  but  to  goe  the  other  way  :   becaufe  this   is 
c  the  fafer,  to  mew  that  wee  &  the  Lords  are  pym 
c  reconciled  &  not  fundred  :   &  foe  we  mail  asain(l- 
c  proceed   the  more  fpeedilie   by  demanding 
'  judgment. 

Cf  Mr.   Maynard  one  way  doth  not  croffe 
c  another,  but  wee  may  goe  by  bill  of  attain- 
c  der  if  wee  will,  or  by  demanding  judgment :  Maynard 
c  wch  wee  may  beft  refolve  upon  when  wee  fee  for- 
'  the  end  of  the  triall. 

"  Sir  Benjamin  Rudier  [Rudyard]  fhewed 
c  the  great  treafon  of  the  Earle  of  Strafford, 
c  &  yet  faied  that  one  full  third  parte  of  the  Rudyard 
4  evidence  was  not  heard,  &  that  divers  of  ou  tlU ' 
f  the  Lords  who  weere  prefent  at  the  open- 
c  ing  thereof  weere  not  fatisfied  that  it  was 
c  treafon." 

So  ends  the  firft  page  of  the  facsimile.  On 
the  reverfe  page  the  debate  is  continued,  the 
firft  two  fpeakers  being  men  notorious  after- 
wards for  their  royalift  fervices,  and  the  third 
being  D'Ewes  himfelf. 

"  Mr.  Tomkins  for  bill  of  attainder  to  bee  Tomkins 
Cf  read,  for  it  is  the  old  way. 


140 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


Culpeper 
for. 


D'Ewes 

agfainft. 


Urges 
judgment 
on  Im- 
peach- 
ment. 


Explana- 
tion afked 
from  old 
Vane. 


Refufed. 


cc  Sir  John  Culpepper  not  to  lay  bill  afide : 
the  fafeft  &  the  fpeedieft  way  to  proceede  by 
bill  :  yet  for  the  conference  now. 
"  I  faied  that  I  was  verie  gladd  of  the  motion 
for  a  conference.  NecefTitie  to  complie  with 
Ls  [Lords]  for  timor  bonorum  fpes  malorum 
&  the  diffraction  now  foe  great  in  the  king- 
dome  as  it  threatens  much  hazard.  Firft 
to  demand  Judgment  the  moft  ancient  way 
in  evident  cafes :  Bill,  when  men  dead,  or 
fledd,  or  cafes  difficult.  This  the  fhorte 
way.  For  nothing  now  but  to  demand 
judgment.  A  bill  will  be  long  in  paffing ; 
&  all  delaies  incident  to  that  as  to  this. 
For  the  fumming  upp,  a  narrative  may  bee 
omitted  or  proceeded  in.  This  the  fafe 
way.  Bpps  in  bill  ought  to  have  voices. 
Divers  faied  No.  But  I  tolde  them  that 
I  fpake  not  by  rote  or  tradition  but  what  I 
knew.  That  I  had  this  morning  been 
fearching  in  the  office  of  the  dark  of  the 
Lordes  houfe  touching  the  bill  of  attainder 
of  Sir  Thomas  Seymour  Lord  Sudeley,  as  in 
paper  pinned.* 

"  Divers  moved  that  Mr.  Treafurour  might 
explaine  himfelfe,  whome  hee  meant  by 
L.  Cott.  whether  hee  did  not  meane  Lord 
Cottington. 

fC  Mr.  Treafurour  [Vane]  denied  to  make 
any  other  or  further  explanation  till  he  had 
well  advized  therupon,  though  wee  fent  him 
to  the  Tower. 


*  All  that  remains  now  of  that  "  paper  pinned,"  however, 
the  i'pace  it  once  occupied.     The  page  fimply  proceeds  and 
lofes  as  in  the  text. 


§  iv.     Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  1 4 1 

"  Mr.  Glynne  fhewed  reafon,  why  the  com-  Glyn 
tc  mittee  named  the  Lord  Cottington  becaufe  exPla,ns- 
"  [he]  had  fworne  hee  was  there. 

"  Mr.  Martin  [Henry  Marten]   fpake   to  Marten 
"  have   bill   of  attainder  read  againe  and   tofo!"^-t_ 

D  tainder. 

<f  proceede  that  way. 

"  Mr.  Hamden   anfwered   him   &   moved 
"  the  merTage  might  goe  upp  fpeedilie. 

"  Mr.  Hamden  fent  with  the  meffage  about  Hampden 
11  12  of    the  clocke,    but    the    Lords    weere  agamlt- 
"  rifen. 

"  Being   returned  wee   fell   into  debate  to 
"  vote  the  heads  for  the  conference. 

"Upon  the  firft  head  before  fett  downe  Vane  and 
"  being  read  and  debated,  Mr.  Treafurour h,s  Son- 
tC  upon  fome  motions,  was  twice  drawen  to 
<f  declare  concerning  the  faied  paper  found  by 
"  his  fonne,  that  hee  firft  moved  his  Matie  that 
"  hee  might  burne  it,  &  foe  he  commanded 
cc  him  to  doe  it :  &  fecondly,  that  hee  was  not 
"  poffiblie  able  to  fpeake  further  to  it,  till  hee 
"  had  confidered  deliberated  of  it." 

Of  the  men  who,  on  that   12th  of  April,  Subfe- 
thus  fupported   the  Attainder,   Hotham   was  ^"fe  of 
afterwards    executed    for    betraying  the   truft  fupporteis 
repofed  in  him  by  the  Houfe,  Tomkins  was  Jjer^"31"' 
expelled  for  fimilar  bad  faith,  and  Culpeper 
entered  into  the  fervice  of  the  King.     Glyn 
and    Maynard   feem  not  to  have  committed 
themfelves    on    that    day,    but   in    the   fub- 
fequent  debates  they   proved  to  be  as  eager 
for  the  Attainder  as  St.  Johnhimfelf;  though  Condua 
both   lived  to  take  part  at  the  Reftoration,  oi  pb;n 

,.  ...r         ....  ,      and  May- 

to  their  eternal    inramy,  in    bringing    to   the  ^d. 
fcaffold    men     fuch    as    Henry   Vane,   whofe 


142 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Line 
taken  by 
Falkland 


excufed 
by  Cla- 
rendon. 


only  crime  was  to  have  borne  a  fhare,  not 
more  marked  than  their  own,  in  thefe  tranf- 
actions.  Of  Falkland,  in  relation  to  the 
Attainder,  it  is  needlefs  to  fpeak.  Such  was 
what  Clarendon  calls  his  fharpnefs  of  tone 
upon  this  fubject  altogether,  "  fo  contrary,"  he 
adds,  "  to  his  natural  gentlenefs  and  temper," 
that  his  friend  fays  thofe  who  knew  him  but 
imperfectly  were  wont  to  account  for  it  by 
recalling  the  memory  of  fome  unkindnefles,  not 
without  a  mixture  of  injuftice,  from  Strafford 
to  his  father  ;*  while  Clarendon  himfelf,  with 
the  ufual  difingenuoufnefs,  attributes  it  to  his 
having  been  "miAed  by  the  authority  of  thofe 
(f  who,  he  believed,  underftood  the  laws  per- 
"  fectly."  If  this  indeed  had  been  the  fact, 
it  is  a  pity  that  fo  accomplished  a  lawyer  as 
Mr.  Hyde  was  already  become  did  not  take 
the  neceffary  pains  to  enlighten  fo  intimate  a 
friend,  gone  aftray  on  a  matter  of  fuch  great 
importance  ;  but  ftill  more  is  it  to  be  regretted 
that  very  confiderable  grounds  mould  exift 
for  believing  that  they  actually  went  aftray 
refpecting  it  in  each  other's  company.  For 
if  it  be  alfo  true,  as  in  his  hiftory  he  distinctly 
informs  us,  that  upon  no  queftion  had  they 
ever  had  a  fingle  difference,!  or  given  votes 

Strafford's  *  Strafford  had  undoubtedly  a  great  contempt  for  the  elder 
contempt  Falkland,  his  predeceffor  in  the  Government  of  Ireland  j  and 
for  old  when  the  King  referred  to  the  new  Lord  Deputy  fundry  ap- 
Falkland.  plications  from  Falkland  for  favours  to  be  beftovved  on  rela- 
tives or  connections  of  his  own,  Strafford  always  refolutely  fet 
his  face  againft  them.     See  Letters  and  Difpatckes,  paffim. 

f  This  is  repeatedly  faid  or  implied  in  what  is  remarked  of 
Falkland  throughout  the  hiftory,  and  when  it  occurs  to  the 
hiftorian  to  defcribe  the  difagreement  between  himfelf  and 
Falkland  on   the  debate   of  the   bill   for   taking   away   the 


What 
excufe 
for  Mr. 
Hyde  ? 


§  iv.    Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  143 

oppofed    to  each  other,  until  the  day  when, 
after  Strafford's  execution,  the  bill  for  taking  Takes 
away    the    bifhops'  votes   was    firft   debated,  ^me 

•     r  •         •  r  r\-\  ttj  l        'lne  as 

the  inference    is    irrefiftible  that    Hyde,  who  Falkland. 
affuredly  did    not  at    any  time   vote  againft, 
muft  have  voted  for,  the  Attainder.   Certainly 
what  he  fays  refpecting  it  in  his  book  is  an 
entire  falsification  of  the  facts,  and  could  only 
have  been  written  under  the  perfuafion   that 
the  erafure  from  the  journals  of  both  Houfes, 
at  the  Restoration,  of  every  trace  of  the  pro- Too  much 
ceedings  connected  with  it,  had  equally  obli-  jjjlth  in 
terated  them   alfo    from    the   recollections    of 


memories. 


men.  He  might  have  fhrunk  from  fuch  con- 
fident mifitatement,  if  any  vifion  of  D'Ewes's 
Notes  had  prefented  itfelf,  as  likely  ever  to 
rife  again. 

So  clear  and  Straightforward,  on  the  other  Pym  and 
hand,    was  the    courfe    taken    by    Pym    and  Ha"?Pden 

tt  1  •        r  1  comment 

Hampden,    that    even    by    their    fubfequent  through- 
adoption  of  the  Attainder  not  a  Shadow  of out" 
inconiiftency  was    thrown    on    their    previous 
refiftance.     They  refitted  it,  becaufe,  believing 

bifhops'  votes,  brought  forward  after  Strafford's  execution,  he  Hyde  and 
expreffly  notes  it  as  memorable  that  there  arofe  in  this  debate,  Falkland's 
"  between  t-zvo  per  funs  --who  had  never  been  known  to  differ  in  a°ree- 
"  the  houfe"  a  difference  of  opinion  (i.  412).     Now  nothing  ment. 
is   fb  certain  as  that    Falkland    ftrenuoufly,    by   votes    and 
ipeeches,  fupported  the  Attainder  in  eveiy  ftage  ;  and  it   is 
utterly  impoflible  that  Hyde  could   have  made  the   remark 
jult.  quoted,  which  was  written  two  years  after  his  friend's 
death,  with  anything  fo  recent  and  lb  marked  in  his  memory 
as  a  difference  on  the  Attainder  muft  have  been.    The  friends 
fat,  too,    as  they  voted,   together.     "The    Lord    Falkland  Sitting  as 
"  always  fat  next  Mr.  Hyde,  which  was  fo  much  taken  notice  well  as 
"  of,   that  it  they  came  not  into   the    Houfe    together,    as  voting 
"  ufually  they  did,  everybody  left  the  place  for  him  that  was  together. 
"  abfent"  (i.  413). 


144-  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

Their  be-  the  guilt  of  Strafford  to  have  been  proved, 

Strafford's  ^ey  contmued  to  have  faith  in  the  Impeach- 

guilt.        ment ;  and  afterwards  they  adopted  it,  becaufe, 

the  Houfe  having  finally  determined  againft 

the  Impeachment,  the  fame  conviction  as   to 

Strafford's  guilt  left  them  only  that  alternative. 

Until  the  very  laft,  however,  they  clung  to  the 

Impeachment,  and  to  the  obligations    it  had 

impofed.     St.  John,   Glyn,   and  Maynard,  as 

Queftion    foon  as   the  bill  was  introduced,  would  have 

whether     made  it  the  pretext  for  refitting  what  had  pre- 

to  hear  his  vioufly  been  refolved  as  to  hearing  counfel  for 

Strafford  before  the  Lords  upon  the  matter  of 

law  ;  and  this  point  was  ftrenuoufly  debated 

for  two  days.     It  was  in  relation  to  it  that  the 

fpeech  was  fpoken  by  Hampden  of  which  Sir 

Ralph  Verney  kept  the  note.     Both  Falkland 

and  Culpeper,  as  well  as  St.  John,  Maynard, 

and  Glyn,  infifted  ftrongly  that  it  would  com- 

promife  both  the  dignity  and  the  power  of  the 

Commons,  if,  at  a  time  when  they  propofed 

to   make  themfelves  judges  in  the  cafe,  they 

confented  to  hear  or  reply  to  counfel  anywhere 

but  at  their  own  bar  ;  and  Culpeper  went  fo 

byFaTk-    far  as  to  affert  his  belief,  that,  by  attending  fo 

land  and    to  hear  and  reply  before  the  Lords,  they  would 

Culpeper.  jmperji  their  right  to  affume  fubfequent  legif- 

lative  action  in  the  matter.      But  Pym  and 

byPHamp-  Hampden   were   not  to  be  moved  from  the 

den  and     ground  on  which  they  flood  refolutely  as  to 

ym'        this  part  of  the  cafe.     Why  mould  not  the 

lawyers  of  the  Houfe,  fuggefted  Hampden  in 

reply  to  Culpeper,  fpeak  to  the  points  of  law 

before  the  bar  of  the  Lords,  and  then  come 

back  to  their  feats  among  the  members  of  their 


§>  iv.    Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  145 

own  Houfe,  and  afterwards  fpeak  again  at  the 
Lords'  bar  if  neceffary  ?     To  which  Maynard  Speech  ot 
fomewhat  hotly  replied,  that  he  fhould  hold  Maynard 

r     1  1      j  r  1         againit. 

Juch  a  running  up  and  down  rrom  one  place 

to  another  to  be  nothing  lefs  than  a  difhonour 

to  the  Commons.     The  word  called  up  Pym,  Pym  in 

who  appears  to  have  made  one  of  his  raoft  reS^' 

effective  appeals.     He  fubmitted  to  the  Houfe 

that  the  queftion  before    it,   of  hearing    and 

replying  to  Strafford's  counfel  before  the  Lords, 

did  not  bind  them  either  to  continue,  or  to 

abandon,  the  proceeding  by  bill.     That  might 

hereafter  be  fettled,  according  to  the  wifdom 

and  pleafure  of  the  Houfe  ;    but   what  they  Advo- 

had  now  to  confider  was  the  queftion,  really  catesStraf- 

involving  honour,  whether  the  pledge  was  to  claim  to 

be  kept  or  to  be  broken,  which,   at  the  time  hearing. 

when  their  counfel  firft  rofe  before  the  Lords  to 

fpeak  againft  Strafford,  they  then  undoubtedly 

gave  that  Strafford's  counfel  fhould  be  heard 

in  his  behalf  before  the  fame  tribunal.     cc  If," 

continued  Pym,  according  to   the  report    in 

D'Ewes's  manufcript  of  this  remarkable  fpeech, 

"  if  we  did  not  go  this  way  to  have  it  heard 

"  publickly  in  matter  of  law  as  well  as  it  had 

"  been  heard  for  matter  of  fact,  we  fhould 

"  much  difhonour  ourfelves,  and  hazard  our 

"  own  fafeguards." 

To  this  appeal  the  Houfe  yielded,  and  the  His  ap- 
fame  fpirit  which  fuggefted  it  prevailed  in  the  j?eal  f,f  , 
fubfequent  proceedings.  It  was  upon  Pym's 
motion,  when  the  Impeachment  was  finally 
abandoned,  that  all  its  raoft  material  articles 
were  imported  into  the  Bill ;  that  the  facts, 
under  each  article,  were  voted  feparately  ;  and 


146  The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 

His  fug-    that,  before  the  third  reading  paffed  to  a  quef- 
§efti°ns  as  tion,  the  Houfe  firft  heard  the  "  Gentlemen 
tainder.     "  °f  the   l0ng   r°be "   argue   at  great   length 
the  feveral  points  of  law,  and  then  proceeded 
judicially  to   vote  upon  them.     It  would    tax 
a  greater    ingenuity,      I  think,   than  that  of 
the  privy    councillor  and  county    member    to 
whom   reference  has  been  made,  to   difcover 
in  all  this  anything  of  Barrere  or  Fouquier 
Tinville.     It  is  a  fchool  of  comparifon,  how- 
ever, to  which  recourfe  is   ever  readily  found 
by  unreafoning  afTailants  of  the  parliamentary 
Englifh     leaders ;  and  Mr.  Bankes  has  not  fcrupled  to 
compared  declare  that  "  while  the  Englifh   are   thought 

to  r  rcncli  /*         •   . 

Revolu-  "  to  be  lefs  fanguinary  in  their  days  of  political 
tion.  «  frenzy  than  the  French,  undoubtedly  the 
cc  hiftory  of  London  in  1641  bears  very  many 
<f  points  of  iimilarity  with  the  hiftory  of  Paris 
"from  the  year  1791  to  1793."  Not  the 
lefs  is  it  to  be  faid,  of  all  fuch  attempts 
at  parallel,  that  they  are  fimply  and  utterly 
falfe.  For  a  moment  to  fet  up  the  afTertion 
that  the  hiftory  of  London,  during  the  year 
when  the  Commons  impeached  and  beheaded 
the  moft  capable  minifter  of  the  King,  and  the 
King  made  a  fimilar  but  lefs  fuccefsful  attempt 
Folly  and  againft    the    moft    capable   members    of    the 

fallehood     ^  i  x  •    ,        c  /»      •!      ■ 

of  com-  Commons,  bears  even  any  points  or  limiJanty 
parifon.  with  the  hiftory  of  Paris  at  the  time  when  its 
guillotine  reeked  with  the  execution  of  its 
harmlefs  inoffenfive  King  and  its  poor  fallen 
Queen,  while  women  and  men  were  taken 
daily  by  waggon  loads  to  death,  and  while  the 
fwollen  gutters  of  the  wicked  city  foamed 
over   into    the   Seine  with    the  beft  blood  of 


§  iv.   Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  147 

France,  is  to  infult  the  fenfe  of  the  reader  to  Obfolete 
whom  fuch  folly  is  addreffed.     Happily,  few  vievvs- 
are  now  found  to  repeat  it.     It  belongs  to  a 
hardihood  of  affertion  that  has  long  been  parTed 
away,  to  compare  the  frenzied  wretches  who 
bore  aloft  the  mangled  body  of  the  PrincefTe 
de  Lamballe  with  the  calm  felf-refolute  men 
who   kept   the  fword  quietly  fheathed  till  it 
flamed  out  at  Edgehill  and  Marfton  Moor. 
It  is  now  for  the  moft  part  the  declared  belief  Opinions 
of  every  writer  who  has  mown  himfelf  fami-  of  t!.ie  bet" 
liar  with  this  period  of  Englifh  hiftory,  that  formed. 
with  anything  approaching  to  its  temper  under 
wrong,  its   patience   in   long  fuffering  before 
the  fword  was  drawn,  its  moderation  in  victory 
when  the  fword  was  finally  fheathed,  no  fimilar 
movement  in  the  world  was  ever  begun  and 
carried  to  its  clofe. 

Upon  this  earlier  portion  of  the  ftory   of 
our  civil  wars,  indeed,  nearly    all    intelligent 
inquirers  might  be  thought  to  have  laid  afide 
their  differences  long  ago.      From  whatever  Agree- 
oppofite  points  of  view,  the  faireft  judgments  ment  UP 
have    been    able    of  late    years    to    arrive    ator-F;ve 
fubftantially  the  fame  conclufion,  on  this  firft  Members, 
ftage  of  the  conflict, ;   and,  up  to  the  Arreft  of 
the  Five  Members   at   leaft,  to  agree  that  a 
power  to  difcriminate  between  good  and  bad 
faith   is  really  all   the   investigation  requires. 
That  the  Long  Parliament  had  no  defire  per- 
manently  to   ftrip  the  Crown  of  any  of   its 
eflential  prerogatives,  and  did  abfolutely  no-  Parlia- 
thing,  before  the  fword  was  drawn,  which  was  ™i"t's 
not  juftified  by  the  King's  perfonal  character,  tbn. 
or  of  which  the  fufficient  reafon  is  not  difcern- 

L  2 


148 


"The  Grand  Remon ft  ranee. 


General 
character 
of  the 
ftruggle. 


More 
wealth 
with  the 
Commons 
than  with 
the  King. 


No 
terrorifm. 


Origin 

of  the 
intereft 


ible  in  a  necefTary  abfence  of  all  belief  or  truft 
in  his  promifes,  is  an  opinion  which  the 
mod  uncompromifing  high-church  reafoners 
have  not  been  afhamed  to  adopt  from  the 
late  Mr.  Coleridge ;  and  it  was  the  fcrupu- 
lous  regard  for  truth  and  right  by  which  the 
ftruggle  was  fo  characterifed  at  its  beginning, 
that  imparted  to  it  mainly  what  bore  it  in  fuch 
honour  and  credit  to  its  end.  We  have  alfo 
to  remember  that  much  more  of  the  real  wealth 
of  the  kingdom  was  committed  on  behalf  of 
the  Parliament  than  at  any  time  remained  with 
the  King,  and  that  this  alone  would  have  ren- 
dered it  impoffible  that  Janjculottifm  mould 
have  got  the  upper  hand  amongft  us.  Some 
lives  were  fternly  exacted,  becaufe  held  to  have 
been  neceflarily  forfeited ;  but  no  blood  was 
ruthleflly  or  caufeleflly  fpilt  upon  the  fcaffold. 
No  monftrous  or  unnational  innovations  dif- 
graced  the  progrefs,  and  no  infamous  profcrip- 
tions  marked  the  termination,  of  the  war. 
The  palaces  of  England  flood  throughout  as 
unrifled  as  its  cottages  ;  and,  except  where 
fortified  refiftance  had  been  offered,  the  man- 
fions  and  manor-houfes  remained  as  of  old, 
through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land. 
While  the  conflict  continued,  no  fervile  paf- 
fions  inflamed  or  difgraced  it ;  and  when  all 
was  over,  the  vanquifhed  fat  down  with  the 
victors  in  their  common  country,  and  no 
man's  property  was  unjuftly  taken  from  him. '. 
For  thefe  reafons  it  is  that  the  various  inci- 
dents and  characters  in  the  civil  wars  of  the 
feventeenth  century  continue  to  be  regarded 
with   a  living  and   active  fympathy.      Other 


§  iv.  Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  140 

events,  hardly  lefs  momentous  at  the  time  of  fall 
their  occurrence,  have  left  but  a  local  and  partial  l£  P|^d 
ftamp  upon  our  annals  ;  while  even  yet  the  war. 
intereft    of   thefe   is    national    and    univerfal. 
They  do    not  concern  particular  neighbour- 
hoods only,  but  addrefs  themfelves  frill  to  every 
family  and  firefide  in  the  kingdom  ;   for  under 
Heaven  we   owe   it  mainly  to  them  that  all 
Englifh  homes  are  now  protected  and  fecure. 
The   refult    has   anfwered    to    their    origin. 
They  began   in  no   fordid  encounter  of  felf- 
ifhnefs    or   faction,  they  involved    no   vulgar 
difputes  of  family  or  territory,  and  perfonal 
enmities  formed  no   neceflary  part  of  them. 
They  were  a  war,  as  one  of  their  leaders  faid,  A  war 
without  an  enemy.      In  the  principles  they  put  wlthout 

.  .„  .-  -  ,  r  r ,  J   \    r   an  enemy. 

to  liiue,  we  continue  ourlelves  to  be  not  lels 
interested    than    were    our    forefathers  ;    and 
hardly  a  queftion  of   government  has   arifen 
fince,  affecting  human  liberty  or  the  national 
welfare,  which  has  not  included  a  reference  to 
this  great  conflict,  and  fome  appeal  to  the  pre- 
cedents it  eftablifhed.      Nothing  can  be  unim- 
portant that  relates  to   it,  therefore,  nor  any 
fervice  fmall  that  may  explain  the  motives  of  D'Ewes 
its  leaders  ;  and  it  is  well  that  the  record   by  as  *°  a(5ts 
D'Ewes,  to  which  we  are  about  to  befo  largely  motives. 
indebted,  fhould  have  enabled  us  firft  to  difcern 
clearly  the  courfe  they  took  upon  the  greateft 
queftion  that  arofe  before  the  war  began. 

One  word  as  to  Strafford  himfelf  may  be  Strafford, 
added  at  this  outfet  of  my  narrative.   Believing 
that  juftice  remained  with  the  Parliament,   I 
think  not  the  lefs  that  high  and  noble  qualities 
were  engaged  on  the  fide  of  the  King ;  and  man  on 


150  The  Grand  Remonji ranee. 

the  King's  beyond  all  queftion  they  found  their  moft  con- 
fpicuous  example,  as,  but  for  the  event  I  have 
been  defcribing,  they  would  have  found  their 
moft  formidable  development,  in  Strafford. 
His  Irifh  adminiftration  is  the  fignal  proof 
that  in  fome  of  the  nobleft  qualities  of  ftates- 
manfhip,  and  eminently  in  the  fupreme  art  of 
turning  the  refources  of  a  country  to  profitable 
Where  account,  he  flood  alone  in  his  age.  But  what 
his  ftatef-  fhouJd   nave  Deen  to   fucn  a  mari  tne  higheft 

manihip  .  .rri& 

fucceeded.  object  or  ambition,  he  unhappily  mifled  alto- 
gether ;  and,  tried  as  it  was  in  moft  advan- 
tageous circumftances  in  Ireland,  and  backed 
as  it  was  by  his  own  confummate  power,  his 
whole  fyftem  of  government  broke  down.  It 
could  not  have  fuftained  itfelf,  indeed,  without 
Where  overthrowing  the  public  liberties,  becaufe  it 
it  failed.  was  an  attempt  to  eftablilh  the  royal  pre- 
rogative above  them.  Neverthelefs  it  alfo 
included  much  that  had  no  unpopular  af- 
pecft,  for  it  was  the  defign  of  a  man  of 
courage  and  genius.  He  would  have  cleared 
the  land,  by  foul  means  or  fair,  of  the  native 
pofTeffors ;  he  would  have  rooted  out  the 
idle,  improvident,  beggarly  proprietor ;  and 
he  would  have  planted  everywhere  Englifri 
wealth  and  Englifh  enterprife.  It  is  remarkable 
that  a  fcheme  which  in  its  final  development 
brought  its  author  to  well-merited  ruin,  fhould 
yet  have  involved  fo  much  that,  in  other 
hands,  and  with  other  ultimate  aims,  might 
His  fyftem  have  faved  and  regenerated  Ireland.  Every 
in  Ire-  petty  oligarchy  would  have  been  reduced  by 
it  to  fubjeclion  before  the  monarchy,  and  it 
would  have  ftruck  down  all  the  tyrannies  but 


§  iv.  Attainder  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford.  j  5  1 

its  own.  The  mere  forms  of  parliament  would 
univerfally  have  been  retained  and  refpected 
by  Strafford,  became  he  knew  that  defpotifm 
has  no  fuch  efficient  ally  as  parliaments  de- 
prived of  parliamentary  power.  While  he  The  good 
made  the  Irilh  Cufhoms  more  profitable  by  ;mPlied 
four  times  their  annual  amount,  he  would  fo 
have  employed  this  enormous  increafe  as  again 
and  again  to  multiply  itfelf,  through  enlarged 
refources  of  commerce  and  trade.  While  he 
eftablifhed  vaft  monopolies  for  the  Crown,  he 
would  have  abolimed  private  monopolies  that 
had  fimply  gorged  its  fervants.  And  in  the 
very  act  of  impoiing  taxes  arbitrarily,  and 
levying  them  by  military  force,  he  fell  with 
fo  heavy  a  hand  on  wrongdoers  of  high  rank, 
as  made  the  oppreffed  commonalty  grudge  lefs 
what  they,  too,  had  to  endure.  But  here  lay  the  The  dan- 
danger  that  proved  fatal  to  him.      He  created  ger  th? t 

or  m  proved 

numerous  enemies  whofe  power  he  defpifed,  fatal, 
and  he  failed  to  fecure  the  Angle  friend  whofe 
conftancy  and  courage  might  have  baffled  them. 
Strafford's  Irifh.  adminiftration    had    no  fuch 
dire  foe  as  the  monarch  whom  it  was  meant 
to  fave.     Charles  intrigued  againft  it  himfelf,  Bad  faith 
and  favoured  all  the  intrigues  of  others.     Even  °^.the 
the  fervices  it  rendered  to  him  were  hateful  for       ■ 
their  connection  with  the    reftraints  it  would 
have  impofed  upon  him.     It  became  thus  of 
the   very  effence  of  Strafford's   defign,  com- 
prehenfive  as  it  was,  that  the  good  it  might 
have   wrought   mould    perifh    by   the    evil  it 
could    not    but    inflict.     The    fword   he  had 
provided  for  fafety  turned  and  broke  in  his 
hand.     A  too  vaft  ambition,  joined  with  a  too 


152  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

narrow  aim,  deftroyed  him.  And  his  Irifh 
Moral  of  adminiftration  is  now  chiefly  memorable,  not 
Strafford's  for  t^Q  revenues  and  refources   it  fo   largely 

govern-  .  o     J 

ment.  developed  and  his  matter  as  miferably  wafted  ; 
not  for  the  linen  trade  it  eftablifhed,  which 
{truck  root  and  has  faved  the  land ;  but 
becaufe  it  has  mown,  by  one  of  the  greateft 
examples  on  record,  of  what  fmall  account  is 
the  ftatefmanihip  mod  fuccefsful  in  providing 
for  material  wants,  which  yet  refufes  to  recog- 
nife  the  moral  neceflities  of  the  people  it 
aiTumes  to  govern. 

§  v.  Reaction  after  Strafford's 
Death. 

Parties  The  altered  pofition  of  parties  after  Straf- 

altered       ford's  death  was  firft  publicly  fixed  and  de- 

Elite  r  _ 

Strafford's  clared    by    the    Grand    Remonftrance.       The 
death.       Debates  refpecting  it  are  the  commencement 
of  the  ftruggle  which  divided  into  two  hoftile 
camps  the  very  party  heretofore  impregnable 
in  their  unity  and  ftrength,  and  which  directly 
Remon-     brought   on    the  war.     It   is    natural,  there- 
iirance      forej  that  me  author  of  the  Hijiory  of  the  Re~ 
ftarting-    bellion    mould   nowhere  affecl;    more  particu- 
point.       larity  of  detail   than  in  defcribing  the  various 
incidents  and  circumftances  of  the  difcufTion 
relating   to  it.     It  was,  indeed,  to  the  party 
of  which  he  then  firft  aflumed  the  lead  in  the 
Houfe,  as  to  their  opponents,  the  critical  mo- 
ment of  their  career.     It  was,   to  both,  the 
turning  point  of  all  they  had  done  heretofore, 
What       or  might  hope  to  do  hereafter.     Falkland  told 
Cromwell  his  friend  Hyde,  that,  as  he  and  Cromwell  left 


§  v.  Reaction  after  Strafford's  Death.  1 53 

the  houfe  together  immediately  after  the  laft  faid  to 
divifion,  the  member  for  Cambridge  faid  to  Falkland- 
him,  that,  if  it  had  gone  againft  them  in  that 
vote,  he  and  many  other  honeft  men  he  knew 
would  have  fold  all  they  had  the  next  morning, 
and    never   have   {qqr  England    more;    and, 
without  too  readily  accepting  this  anecdote,  Alleged 
or    thinking    cc  the    poor    kingdom,"  as  Mr.  tf™°™fOI 
Hyde  phrafes  it,  to  have  been  half  fo  near  to  Charles, 
its  deliverance  in  that  particular  as  he  affects  to 
believe,  it  would  be  impoffible  to  overftate  the 
gravity,  to  both  parties,  of  the  iffue  depending 
on  the  vote  which  had  juft  been  taken. 

Immediately  after  the  execution  of  Strafford,  Hyde's 
which   Hyde   and   his   affociates,  as  we  have  ne|y 
thus  feen,  helped  more  largely  than  any  other 
feclion  of  the  Houfe  to  accomplish,  they  began 
fleadily  and  fecretly  to  employ  every  artifice, 
and  all  the  advantages  which  their  pofition  in 
the  Commons  gave  them,  to   bring  about   a 
reaction   favourable  to  the  King.      The  one 
formidable   obftacle    had    been  removed,    by 
Strafford's    death,    to    their    own    entry    into 
Charles's  counfels  ;  and  without  further  gua-  Reaftion 
rantees  for  the  fecurity  of  any  one  conceffion  tor  the 

IK"  ino* 

they  had  wrefted  from  the  Crown,  they  were       a" 
prepared  to  halt  where  they  flood,  or  even  (as 
in  the  cafe  of  the  Epifcopacy  Bill)  to  recede 
from  ground  they  had  taken  up.*     Nor  was 

*  Richard  Baxter   (Reliq.  Baxt.  19)  has  attributed  "the  Miftakg 
"  firft  breach  among  themfelves"  to  the  defire  on  the  part  of  0f  Rjchard 
"  Lord   Falkland,   the  Lord  Digby,    and  divers    other  able  gaxter 
"  men,"  to  gratify  the  King  "  by  lparing  Strafford's  life." 
But  Baxter  wrote  long  after  the  event,  and  was  very  imper- 
fectly   informed.     Neither  Falkland  nor  Hyde   had   at  any 
time  a  friendly  feeling  to  Lord  Digby,  and  though  a  difference 


154  The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 

it    to    be  doubted    that  the    plan    had    fome 
chances  of  fuccefs,  in  the  particular  time  when 
Chances    lt  was  tried-     From  the  moment  the  Impeach- 
of  fuccefs.  ment  was  carried  againft  Strafford,  thofe  old 
relative  pofitions  of  King  and  Houfe  of  Com- 
mons, which  in  the  memory  of  living  men, 
had  exifted  as  if  unchangeably,  were  fuddenly 
reverfed.     There  was  not  a  Parliament  in  the 
preceding  reign  that  James  had  not  lectured, 
as  a   fchoolmafter    his  refractory  pupils  ;   nor 
any  in  the  exifting  reign  that  Charles  had  not 
old  pofi-   bullied,  as  a  tyrant  his  refractory  flaves.     But 
tions         this  was  gone.     The   King  was  now,   to  all 
appearance,  the  weaker  party,  and  the  Houfe 
of  Commons    was    the    ftronger  ;     and    how 
readily  fympathy  is  attracted  to  thofe  who  are 
weak,  however  much  in  the  wrong,  and  how 
apt  to    fall    away    from  the  ftrong,    however 
clearly   in  the  right,  it  does   not  need  to  fay. 
Da;iy        The  popular  leaders  became  confcious  of  daily 
defections  defections  from  their    ranks :   the    Houfe    of 
Popular     Lords  unexpectedly  deferted  them,    on  quef- 
ranks.       tions  in  which  they  had  embarked  in  unifon ; 
the  Army  was  entirely  unfafe  ;   and  opinions 
began  to  be  bufily  put  about,  that  enough  had 

no  doubt  arofe  as    to  the   Bill  of  Attainder,   the    principal 

feceders  who  went  with  Digby  on  that  queftion  were  lawyers, 

Only  law-  fuch  as  Selden,  Holborne,  and  Bridgman,  who  went  with  him 

yers  fe-        on  no  other  ;  and  undoubtedly  the  men  who  took  afterwards 

ceded  on     the  lead  in   forming  a   king's  party,  fuch   as  Falkland  and 

the  At-       Culpeper  (whom  Selden  refufed  to  join),  had  taken  the   lead 

tainder.       in  promoting  the  Bill  of  Attainder.     The  evidence   adduced 

in   the  preceding  feclion  (hows  that  when  the  liberal  leaders, 

who  to  this  hour  are   fuppofed  to  have  originated  and  moil 

hotly  urged  forward  the  Bill,  were  in  reality  oppoling  it,  and 

bent  only  on  continuing  and  clofing  by  way  of  Impeachment, 

Culpeper  and  Falkland  ftrenuoufly  advocated  the  procedure 

by  Bilk 


§  v.  Reaction  after  Strafford's  Death.  155 

been    conceded    by    the    King,    and   that   the 
demand  for  more  would  be  ungenerous. 

Never  had  a  great  caufe  been  in  peril  more  Chara&tr 
extreme.     For  molt  thoroughly  was  the  cha-  ?/.the 

o      J  Ivin°". 

racier  of  their  adverfary  known  to  its  chiefs, 
and  that  not  a  Single  meafure  of  redrefs  had 
been  extorted  from  him  which  was  not  yielded 
in  the  fecret  hope  of  finding  early  occafion  to 
reclaim  it.     It  was  notorious  that  Charles  the  His  view 
Firft    entertained    a    belief   of   the  invalidity  ast.Vn~ 
of  the  moft  important  of  the  meafures  already  0f  Stat- 
paffed  by  the  Long  Parliament,  on  the  ground  utes- 
that    his    own  aSTent,  having    been  given  by 
compulsion,  was  iffo  fatlo  void.      His  Attor- 
ney-General    had    encouraged    him     in    this 
notion;*  and  Hyde  himfelf  cannot  help  con-  Affenting 
demning  the  facility  with  which  he  affented  to  W1*h  Pur_ 
aits   requiring   grave  deliberation,  in  reliance  revoke, 
on   this  dangerous  opinion  that  the  violence 
and    force  ufed  in   procuring  them  rendered 
them  abfolutely  invalid  and  void.     This,  fays 
Hyde,f    made     the  confirmation   lefs    consi- 
dered, as  not  being  of  Strength  to  make  that  Hyde's 
act    good  which   was  in    itfelf  null.     One  of  comPlaint- 
thofe  great  acts  indeed  could  not  fo  be  dealt 
with.       Strafford    could  not    be    raifed    from 
the  dead,  and  therefore  only  had  the  concef- 
fion    in  his    cafe  been    obtained  with  greater 
difficulty   than    in    the    reft.      Now,     every- 
thing   promifed  fairly  for    a    refumption    of 
all  elfe.     The  Army  had  been    widely    tarn- Sources  of 
pered   with  ;    to  fave    the    bifhops   and    their  f0a  p^. 
bifhopricks,    the     Universities    were    moving  merit. 

*  Clarendon:  Life  and  Continuation,  i.  206-211. 
t  HiJI.  ii.  252. 


i56 


The  Grand  Remonft ranee. 


heaven  and  earth  ;*  reliance  could  no  longer 
Signs  of  be  placed  upon  the  Lords  ;  concurrently  with 
wavering.  many  £gns  Qf  treachery  among  the  Commons 
themfelves,  in  which  Mr.  Edward  Hyde  nota- 
bly took  part,  were  feen  evidences  elfewhere 
dangerous  of  the  return  of  an  unreafoning 
confidence  in  the  King ;  even  in  the  City, 
the  ftronghold  of  liberal  councils,  a  promi- 
nent royalift  had  been  able  to  carry  his 
election  as  lord  mayor ;  and  the  patriots  could 
not  hope  that  their  power,  or  their  oppor- 
tunities, would  furvive  any  real  abatement 
of  zeal  or  enthufiafm  in  the  people.  It 
is  more  wearing  to  the  patience  to  wait  for 
the  redrefs  that  is  really  near,  than  for  what 
is  wholly  uncertain  and  remote;  and  thofe 
who  had  bravely  and  filently  endured  the 
wrongs  of  fifteen  years  without  a  parliament, 
were  ready  to  refent  a  delay  of  half  as  many 
months  in  the  reliefs  which  parliament  had 
promifed  them.f      What    Charles   gained  by 


Abate- 
ment of 
popular 
enthu- 
fiafm. 


The  *  "  Bi/hops  had  been  much   lifted  at,"  fays  May  (lib.  i. 

clergy         cap.  ix),  "  though  not  yet  taken  away,  whereby  a  great  party 

and  uni-     "  whole  livelihood  and  fortunes  depended  on   them,  and  far 

verfities.      "  more  whofe  hopes  of  preferment  looked  that  way  (moft  of 

"  the  Clergy,  and  both  the  Univeriities),  began  to   be  daily 

"  more  difaffe&ed  to  the   Parliament  j  complaining  that  all 

"  rewards  of  learning  would  be  taken  away.  Which  wrought 

"  deeply  in  the  hearts  of  the  young  and  moft  ambitious  of 

"  that  coat." 

Ficklenefs      f  This  point  is  admirably  touched  by  the  hiftorian  May. 


of  the 
people. 


"  Some  are  taken  off"  (weaned  from  Parliament,  he  means) 
"  by  time  and  their  own  inconftancy,  when  they  have  looked 
"  for  quicker  redrefs  of  grievances  than  the  great  concurrence 
"  of  lb  many  weighty  bufinefles  can  poflibly  admit  in  a  long 
"  difcontinued  and  reforming  Parliament,  how  induftrious 
"  foever  they  be,  diftracled  with  fo  great  a  variety.  Thofe 
"  people,  after  fome  time  fpent,  grew  weary  again  of  what 
"  before  they  had  fo  long  wiflied  to  fee  ;  not  confidering  that 


§  v.    Reaction  after  Strafford's  Death.  157 

fecrecy,  the  popular  leaders  loft.     It    was  im- 
poflible  that  they   mould   make  public  all  the 
reafons  and  motives  for  their  proceedings,  while 
yet  fuch  enforced   concealment  on  their  part 
told  ftrongly  to  the  advantage  of  the  King.    If 
ever  warning  for  future  guidance  were  needed,  Charles's 
the  time   for  it    was  now   come ;   and   there  advan- 
was  neverthelefs  no  way,  confiftent  with  fafety,  a§es' 
of   mowing  the   people    in  whofe  caufe  they 
were  labouring,  the  prefent  perils  and  pitfalls 
that  befet  them,  without  turning  frankly  and 
boldly  to  the  leflbns  of  the  paft.     With  even  A  ™n- 
fo  much  femblance  of  amended  adminiftration,  nnefded 
and  fuch  pretences  of  half  popular  meafures, 
as  the  ingenuity  of  Hyde   could  furnifh   (if 
Charles  could  be  brought  to  concede  only  fo 
much),  there  was  yet  the  means,  in  the  abfence 
of  that  indifpenfable  warning  againft  repofing 
confidence    in    the    fovereio-n,    of    ftriking    a 
heavy  blow  for  recovery  of  the  old  preroga- 
tive.      Nor    were     nearer    dangers    wanting. 
Pym's  life  had  been  aimed  at  repeatedly ;  and  Threaten- 
more   than   one  attempt    had   been    tried    to  *.nss  of 

.  torcc. 

overawe  deliberation   by  the  difplay  of  force. 

'  a  prince,  if  he  be  averfe  from  fuch  a  Parliament,  can  find 

!  power  enough  to  retard  their  proceedings,  and  keep  off  for 

'  a  long  time  the   cure  of  the   State.     When  that  happens,  lmDa_ 

'  the  people,  tired  with  expectation  of  fuch  a  cure,  do  ufually  tience 

'  by  degrees  forget  the  fharpnefs  of  thofe  difeafes  which  before  waitine 

'  required  it;  or  elfe — in  the  redrefiing  of  fo  many  and  long 

'  diforders,  and  tofecure  them  for  the  future,  there  being  for 

'  themoft  part  a  neceflity  of  laying  heavy  taxes,  and  draining 

'  of  much  money  from   the  people — they  grow  extremely 

'  fenfible  of  that  prefent  fmart ;  feeling  more  pain  by  the 

'  cure,  for  a  time,  than  they  did  by  the  lingering  difeafe  Cure 

'  before;  and  not  confidering  that  the  caufes  of  all  which  morepain- 

'  they  now  endure  were  precedent,  and  their  prefent  fuffering  ful  than 

'  is  for  their  future  fecurity."     Lib.  i.  cap.  ix.  1 15.  difeafe. 


of 


158  The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 

Freedom    Something  was   in    peril  beyond   the  abftract 
or  drei\     freedom  of  parliament  or  debate :  nor  was  it 

potiim  ?  r  }  r  -r 

more  to  lecure  the  permanence  or  provisions 
already  achieved  for  the  public  liberty,  than  to 
guard  againft  fudden  fubftitution  of  a  naked 
defpotifm,  that  the  parliamentary  chiefs  were 
now  called  to  alTert  and  defend  their  por- 
tion, or  to  abandon  it  for  ever. 
Refolu-  They  were  not  men  to  hefitate,  and  they 

non  to      refolved  upon  an  Appeal  to  the  People  in  a 
to  the       more    direct    form  than   had    ever  yet  been 
People,      attempted.     Within  a  week  after  the  Houfe 
firft  met  in  November,  a  committee  had  been 
moved  for  by  Lord  Digby,  in  a  moft  paflion- 
Origin      ate  fpeech,  to  "  draw  up  fuch  a  Remonstrance 
°f  *he        t(  to   the  Kino;  as  mould  be  a  faithful    and 
ftrance."    tc  lively  reprefentation  of  the  deplorable  ftate 
fC  of  the  kingdom,  and  fuch  as  might  difcover 
"  the  pernicious  authors  of  it ;  "  and  the  pro- 
Firft         pofal   had  been  adopted   in    a  modified    and 
moved  by  more  moderate  form,  wherein  it  will  be  found 

jyjabv  on  tne  Journa^s  (ii«  25)j  °f  "fome  fuch  way 
"  of  Declaration  as  may  be  a  faithful  repre- 
"  fentation  to  this  Houfe  of  the  eftate  of  the 
"  kingdom ; "  all  the  leading  men  of  the 
houfe  being  members  of  the  committee,  and 
Lord  Digby  its  chairman.  Thisdefign,  fuper- 
feded  for  the  time  by  matters  of  more  prefTing 
moment,  and  whofe  originator  had  in  the 
interval  become  the  hotteft  partizan  of  the 
receives  King,  was  revived  in  the  fummer.  Charles 
warning  -.  received  warning  of  it  before  he  departed  for 
Scotland,  on  that  mirTion  which  has  fince  been 
mown  to  have  had  no  object  fo  eagerly  defired 
as  to  gather  fuppofed  proofs  on  which  to  build 


§  v.  Reaction  after  Strafford's  Death.  159 

a  charge  of  treafon  againft  Pym  and  Hampden,  on  eve  of 
and   fuch    acceffions    from    the    undifbanded  j°urney  to 

-,  ,  .  r  .  r     ,  Scotland. 

Scotch  army  to  the  conipirators  or  the  army 
of  the  North  as  to  render  fafe  the  profecution 
of  fuch  a  charge.     Bifhop  Williams,  for  pur- 
pofes  of  his  own,  had  intercourfe  with  a  fer- 
vant  of  Pym's,  and  did  not  fcruple  to  tell  the 
King  how    that   he   had   learned,    from    this 
worthy,  what  had  been  going  on  in  his  matter's 
houfe.    Some  of  the  Commons  were  preparing 
a  Declaration  to  make  the  actions  of  his  Ma-  Bifhop 
jetty's  government  odious,  and  he  had  better  ^Tlli1riams 
try  to  conciliate  them  before  he  went.     The  concilia- 
King  was  as  ready  to  accept  the  fuggeftion  as  tlon- 
the  wily  prelate  to  offer  it,  and  negotiations 
were  opened  for  a  revival  of  the  fcheme   of 
giving  office   to   the  leaders  of  the    popular 
party,  fet  on  foot  a  few  months  before.   What  King  con- 
had  then  for  its  object  to  fave  Strafford's  life  fents- 
was  now  defigned  to  fave  the  King,  by  giving 
him  time  to  ruin  the  very  men  he  was  mean- 
while to  invite  to  ferve  him. 

The  continued  hoftility  of  Pym  and  Hamp- 
den to  the  Scottifh  vifit,  and  their  calm  deter- 
mination to  bring  forward  the  Remonftrance, 
baffled  the  plan.     There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Scheme 
for  a   time  the    Court    party    believed  their baffled- 
opponents  to  be  on  the  point  of  taking  office. 
The  rumour  firft  went  that  Hampden  was  to 
be  Secretary  of  State.    Then  it  was  announced,  intended 
with  more  confidence,  and  by  no  lefs  a  perfon  d.iftnbu- 
than  Mr.  Nicholas,  {o  foon  himfelf  to  aflume  offices. 
that  high  office  and  who  meanwhile  was  ex- 
ercifing  its  functions,  that  the  feals  were  to  be 
taken   by  Denzil  Hollis,  that  Hampden  was 


1 60  The  Grand  Remonft  ranee. 

Friday,      to    be  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy,    that   Lord 
30th  of      gay  ancj  seale  was  to  be  Lord  Treasurer,  and,  as 
in  all  the  previous  propofed  arrangements,  that 
Pym  was  to  be  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer. 
The  date  of  the  letter  in  which  fuch  intended 
distribution    of  the    offices    is  mentioned  by 
New         Nicholas  is  the  29th  of  July  ;  and  on  the  day 
Miniftry    following,  an  Under  Secretary  in  his  depart- 
ment writes  to  a  friend  that  Mr.  Treafurer  has 
warned  him  to  be  in  readinefs  for  the  expected 
change.*     Neverthelefs  it  came   to  nothing. 
Within  the  next  feven  days,    the  differences 
between  the  King  and  the  leaders  of  the  majo- 
rity in  the  Houfe  had  deepened  ;   in  the  teeth 
of  all  their  reprefentations,  inftant  departure 
for  Scotland  was  perfifted  in,  and  the  propo- 
rtion for  a  viceroy  during  the  royal  abfence 
Saturday,  overruled ;  and  on  the  firft  Saturday  in  Auguft 
7th  Aug:  a  portion  of  the  King's  retinue  had  already  fet 
forth  upon  the  journey,  while  the  Houfe  were 
{till  in  the  midft  of  a  confufed  debate  which 
lafted  till  nearly  midnight,  and  in  the  courfe 
Remon-     Qf  whicn  had  been  brought  forward  the  fubjeel 
formally    of  (( A  Remonstrance    to    be    made,    how 
brought     «  wee   found  the  Kingdome  and  the  Church, 

forward.      „  ^  ^  ^  ftate  of  ^  nQW  ftan(Js<»| 

*   I  have  printed  thefe  various  letters,   from  MSS.  in  the 
State  Paper  Office,  in  my  Arreft  of  the  Five  Members, %  v. 

f  I  quote  Sir  Ralph  Vemey's  Notes  of  the  Long  Parliament 

(p.  113):  Saturday,  7th  Auguft,  1641.     It  occurs  after  allu- 

fion  to  the  facl  of  an  extraordinary  fitting  of  the  Houfe  having 

.  been  appointed  for  the  following  (Sunday)  morning,  and  after 

e"        mention  made  of  an  order  taken  for  a  "peremptory"   call  of 

ment  as      tjie  Houfe  on  t^e  next  Wedncfday  "  in  regard   of  the  great 

to  Scotch     e(  and  wejgjlty  affaires  that  import  the  faifty  of  the  kingdome." 

journey,      ^jj  ^^  are  indications  0f  the  great  appreheniion  prevailing 

at  the  moment  as  to  the  King's  obftinate  periiftence  in  going 

to  Scotland.     And  on  this  Saturday,  as  I  remark  in  the  text, 


§  v.     ReaElion  after  Strafford's  Death.  161 

All  the  pains  and  labour  of  the  intriguing  Bifliop 
Bifhop,  therefore,  might  clearly  have  been  fpared.  ^   , 
He  needed  not  to  have  bribed  Mr.  Pym's  fer-  labour 
vant,  nor  was  it  neceflary  to  have  fet  on  his  loft- 
matter  to  bribe  Mr.  Pym  himfelf.  The  Declara- 
tion,   or,    as    Lord   Digby   had   fuggefted    it 
mould  be  called,  the  Remonftrance,  appears  to 
have  been  revived  openly,  and  direction  given 
that  it  mould  take  its  place  among  the  orders 
of  the  Houfe,  as  part  of  the  bufmefs  of  the 
feflion  remaining  to  be  done.     Portions  of  it 
certainly   came    under   difcuffion    before   the  Remon- 
members  rofe  for  the  recefs  ;  and  we  have  evi-  ftrance 
dence  that  after  the  King's  departure,  amid  the  difcuifed. 
excitements  of  the  inquiry  into  the  army  plot, 
the  committee  to  whom  it  had  been  referred 
had  it   under   deliberation    as    "the  Remon- 
<f  {trance  of  the  ftate  of  the  Kingdom  and  the 
"  Church. "*     What  its  promoters  prudently 
concealed,  or,  to  fpeak  perhaps  more  correctly, 
had  not  yet  finally  fettled,  was  the  particular  man- 
ner in  which  they  propofed  to  make  ufe  of  it. 

The  King  quitted  London  on  Monday  the  King 
9th  Auguft  ;  with  what  hopes  of  returning,  <lluts  Lon- 
after  his  abfence,  better  able  to  cope  with  his  Augurt. 
antagonists  in  the  Houfes,  an  anecdote  related 
by  Mr.   Hyde  may  in  fome  degree  enable  us 
to  judge.     He   defcribesf   the   furprife  with 
which,  fome  little  time  before,  he  had  received 
an  invitation  to  wait  privately  on  the  King ;  Hyde's 
how   he  had   fuppofed   it  was  fome  miftake,  -Jterview 

both  Houfes  fat  until  after  10  at  night,  unable  to  fettle  upon 
any  fatiffa&ory  courfe. 

*  So  ftyled  in  the  Commons'  Journals  (ii.  234). 

f  In  his  Life  and  Continuation,  i.  92-93. 


1 6  2  The  Grand  Remonflrance. 

te  for  that  he  had  not  the  honour  to  be  known 

l<  to  the  King,  and  that  there  was  another  of  the 

"  fame  name,  of  the  Houfe  ;"  but  how  that  it 

proved  to  be  no  miflake,  and  he  accordingly 

faw  the  King  alone  in  the  "  fquare  room  "  at 

Why        Whitehall.    On  which  occafion  his  Majefty  told 

Charles     j^m  <c  tjlat  j^  neard  from  all  hands  how  much 

ful  to  him.  "  he  was  beholden  to  him  ;  and  that  when  all 

"  his   fervants  in   the    Houfe   of   Commons 

"  either   neglected   his  fervice,  or  could   not 

ff  appear  ufefully  in  it,  he  took  all  occasions 

"  to  do  him  fervice;   for  which  he  thought  fit 

<c  to  give  him  his  own  thanks,  and  to  aiTure 

"  him   that    he   would    remember   it   to    his 

c<  advantage."    For  his  affection  to  the  Church 

in  particular,  Mr.  Hyde  proceeds  to  tell  us, 

his  Majefty  thanked  him  more  than  for  all  the 

reft  ;  and  then  he  difcourfed  of  what  he  called 

His  fervice  the  paflion  of  the  Houfe }  and  of  the  bill  lately 

againft      brought   in    againft    Epifcopacy,    and    afked 

paPcyCBill.  Hyde  whether  he  thought  they  would  be  able 

to  carry  it,  to  which  the  other  anfwered  he 

believed  they  could  not,  at  leaft  that  it  would  be 

very  long  firft.    ."  Nay,"  replied  Charles,  "If 

u  you  will  look  to  it  that  they  do  not  carry  it 

Engage-    "  before  I  go  to  Scotland,  which  will   be   at 

mentto     "  fuch  a  time,  when  the  armies  fhall  be  dif- 

defeat  it.    cc  j^^gj^  /  w///  undertake  for  the  Church  after 

"  that  time." 

Plainly  one  great  hope  on  which  Charles 
built  in  this  expedition  to  his  Northern 
dominions,  was,  by  means  of  perfonal  inter- 
courfe  on  his  way  with  the  mutinous  Northern 
army,  and  by  fimilar  influences  exerted  in 
Edinburgh  over  the  leaders  of  the  yet  undif- 


§  vi.   Reaffembling  of  Parliament :  Oct.  1641.  163 

banded  Scottifh  force,  to  be  able  to  achieve  Hopes 
fome  plan  for  getting  certain  regiments  into  gro™ti^e 
the  fouth  with  a  view  to  his  defign  againft  the  journey. 
Parliament  itfelf  in  the  perfons  of  its  leading 
members.       Does   your    Majefty   fay,    then, 
exclaimed  Hyde,  that  you  can  undertake  for 
the  Church  after  your  return  ?     "  Why,  then,  Hyde's 
"  by  the  Grace  of  God,  it  will  not  be  in  much  Promife- 
"  danger."     What  Mr.  Hyde  meant  by  this 
will  foon  more  fully  appear. 

§  vi.     Reassembling  of  Parliament  : 
October,  1641. 

The  parliamentary  recefs, during  which  Pym  20th  of 

fat  as  chairman  of  a  committee  having  abfolute  oftober> 

0 .  1641. 

powers  to  conduct  bufinefs    in   the  interval,  Houfes 

lafted  from  the   9th  of  September,  when  the  meet- 

Houfe  had  not   rifen   until    nine    o'clock    at 

night,  to  the  morning  of  the  2.0th  of  October. 

On  that  day  the  members  reaffembled  ;    but 

great  gaps  were  feen  in   their  ranks,  and  it  Defaulters 

became  obvious,  as  week  followed  week  with-  c°™  *  nS 

out    fupplying    thefe    deficiencies,     that    the 

average  of  attendance  had  confiderably  dimin- 

ifhed.     Lord  Clarendon,  though  he  hefitates 

expreflly  to  fay  fo,  would  have  us  afTume  that 

the  King's  party  fuffered  moft  by  this  falling 

off ;  but  the  afTumption  is  hardly  reconcileable 

with  the  ftrenuous  exertions  of  the  patriots  to 

compel   a  more  full   attendance.     It   appears 

from  the  D'Ewes  manufcript  that  Strode  went  Strode's 

even  fo  far,  fome  two  months  after  the  recefs,  ProPofi- 

as  to  propofe  to  fine  a  member  £50,  or  expel  againft  the 

him,  if  he  perfifted  in  abfence  without  leave  ;  abrent 

M  2 


164 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


without 
leave. 


Liberal 
party- 
weakened, 


Forebod- 
ings com- 
ing true. 


Report 
from  the 
Recels 
Com- 
mittee. 


and  when  fuggeftion  was  made  on  the  King's 
behalf  from  Edinburgh,  for  the  ifTue  of  a 
proclamation  requiring  full  attendance  of  all 
the  members  of  the  Houfe,  the  Lord  Keeper 
and  Chief  Juftice  Bankes  were  againft  it^as 
unfeafonable.  The  truth  feems  to  have  been, 
that  the  defection  comprifed  generally  the  clafs 
of  not  very  fettled  opinions  which  had  hitherto 
fided  moftly  with  the  ftrongeft  ;  and  that  its 
manifestation  at  this  critical  time,  bringing 
new  proof  of  influences  at  work  as  well  within 
as  without  the  Houfe,  to  weaken  the  power  of 
its  leaders,  furnifhed  alfo  a  more  complete 
juftification,  if  that  were  needed,  of  the  courfe 
on  which  they  had  refolved. 

Nor  had  they  affembled  many  hours  before 
darker  warnings  gathered  in  upon  them. 
The  Scottifh  journey  had  borne  its  fruits. 
The  entire  diibanding  of  the  Northern  army 
at  the  time  appointed  had  been  intercepted 
by  the  King's  order,  under  the  hand  of  Vane  ; 
there  had  been  communications  with  it,  during 
the  King's  progrefs  to  Edinburgh  ;  and  the  in- 
trigues in  Edinburgh  itfelf  had  been  fo  far 
partially  fuccefTful,  that  a  fchifm  had  been 
effected  among  the  leaders  of  the  Covenant 
of  a  character  precifely  fimilar  to  that  which 
Hyde  had  undertaken  for  England.  It  was 
Pym's  duty  now,  as  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee appointed  to  fit  during  the  recefs,  after 
narrating  the  difcovery  of  Goring's  plot,  to 
place  before  the  Commons  certain  evidences 
exifting  of  another  widely  fpread  army  confpi- 
racy  in  England,  of  the  weight  or  importance 
to  be  attached  to  which,  and   of  its  poflible 


§  vi.  Reajfembling  of  Parliament ;  Oft.  1641.  165 

connection  with   matters  then    tranfpiring   in  Another 
Scotland,  the  Houfe  would  judge.     Falkland  Plot- 
and  Hyde  attempted  to  turn  the  debate  into 
another   direction,    and    the   refult   was    flill 
dqubtful  when    Pym,    in    the    midft    of   the 
fitting,  produced  letters  which  the  committee 
had  received  from  Hampden.     Hampden  was  Letters 
flill  in  Edinburgh,   nominally  (with   Fiennes  Produced 
and  Stapleton)  as  acommiffioner  on  the  Scotch  Hampden, 
debt,  but  really  to  watch  the  King's  proceed- 
ings there ;    and    the  letters   now  handed  in 
from  the  member  for  Bucks,  and  which  had 
reached  the  committee  by  an  exprefs,  detailed 
the  fcheme  jufl  difcovered  at  Edinburgh  for 
the  afTaflination  of  the  leaders  of  the  Cove- The  "In- 
nant.*     The  entire   contents  of  thefe  letters  cident," 

#  Clarendon  fays  explicitly  that  Montrofe,  while  profeffing  Charge 
to  be  able  to  fatiffy  the  King  of  the  treaibn  of  Argyle  and  againlt 
the  Hamiltons,  advifed  the  more  certain  and  expeditious  mode  Montrofe. 
of  difpoling  of  them    by   affafTination,    which   he    "  frankly 
"undertook  to  do"  (Hi/l.  ii.  17).     The  noble  hiftorian  adds 
that  the   King    "  abhorred  that  expedient,"  but  unhappily 
even  he  is  not  able  to  deny  that  the  King  continued    his 
regard  and  confidence  to  the  man  who  (as  at  any  rate  he 
appears    himfelf  to  have  believed,  at    the    clofe  of  his  life, 
when  the  beft  opportunities  had  meanwhile  prefented  them- 
felves    for    maturing    his    knowledge  and  judgment  of   the 
facts)  had  aclually  fuggefted  aflaffination.     The  fubject  is  fur- 
ther purfued  in  my  Arreft  of  the  Five  Members,  §  xxviii.  From 
the  manufcript   records  of  thefe    proceedings   of  the    Long 
Parliament   which  are  before  me  as  I  write,  I  find  that  Pym,  30th  Oc- 
as early  as  ten  days  after  the  prefent  date,  namely,  on  the  30th  tober. 
October,  appears  to  have  been  thoroughly  conicious  of  what  Pym's 
had  been  going  on  in  Edinburgh.     In  the  courfe  of  the  more  ipeech  on 
elaborate  itatementhe  then  gave  of  the  circumftances  (adverted  Army 
to  in  his  fpeech  ten  days  before)  of  "  a  new  defign  now  lately,  defigns. 
"  again  to  make  ufe  of  the  army  againft  us,"  he  has  occafion 
to  advert  alio  to  the  fact  that  "fecret  forces  were  ready  in 
"  fome  places,  and  fecret  meetings  had  been  in  Hamplhire  by 
"  fundry  great  recufants;"  and  with  this  he  couples  a  warn- 
ing "that  the  Prince"  (afterwards  Charles  II.)  "who   was 
"  appointed  to  be  at  Richmond,  was  often  at  Oatlands  with 


1 66  7 'he  Grand  Remonjlrance. 

were  not  divulged :  but,  on  the  further  ftate- 
ment  then  made  by  Pym,  a  propofition  by 
Hyde  (which  Falkland  fupported)  for  leaving 
the  bufinefs  of  Scotland  to  the  Parliament 
Hyde  and  there,  and  paffing  to  confideration  of  the 
Falkland   pay  Qf   t^Q  £ve  undifbanded   troops    of  the 

outvoted.    *■    J 

Northern  army,  was  ftrenuoufly  refilled,  and  at 
laft  fuccefTfully.  Then,  upon  the  motion  of 
Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard  fupported  by  Sir 
Walter  Earle  and  others,  among  whom  Sir 
Simonds  D'Ewes  diftinguifhed  himfelf  by  a 
highly  metaphorical  and  ingenious  addrefs  in 
which  he  enlarged  upon  a  wholefome  bar- 
barous cuftom  prevailing  in  Africa  of  hanging 
up  one  Lion  to  fcare  the  reft,  refolutions  were 
paffed  for  immediate  conference  with  the  Lords 
on  the  fafety  of  the  parliament  and  kingdom ; 
Pym's  re-  instructions  were  given  for  occupation,  with  a 
carried,  ftrong  force,  of  all  the  military  ports  of  the 
city;  the  trained-bands  of  London  were  ordered 
up  to  guard  the  two  Houfes  by  night  as  well 
as  by  day ;  and  thefe  troops,  with  the  fimilar 
force  enrolled  in  Weftminfter,  were  fubfe- 
quently  turned  into  a  regular  parliamentary 
guard  acting  under  direction  of  the  Earl  of 
Effex.  All  this  had  paffed  during  the  day 
of  the  20th  of  October ;  and  in  the  evening, 
Edward  Nicholas,*  already  named  as  fo  foon 

"  the  Qjaeen,  and  away  from  the   Marquis  of  Hertford   his 

"  Governor,  for  whom  there  were  no  convenient  lodgings  at 

£  "  Oatlands."     Then,  after  a  certain  break,  thefe  remarkable 

f  '  a"  words  follow  :   "That  he  feared  the  con/piracy   ivent   round, 

tracked       "  anc*  'was  *n  ^cot^a?1^  as  'we^  as  England."'' 

*  An  able  and  a  moderate  man,  who  ferved  his  mailer 
faithfully,  and  (rareft  of  qualities  in  a  King's  fervant  then) 
not  urvwifely.     Clarendon  defcribes  him,  in  one  of  the  iup- 

Charaaer  puffed  paffages  of  his  Hiftory,  as  "  one  of  the  Clerks  of  the 


§  vi.  Reajfembling  of  Parliament :  0£l.  1641.  167 

to  be  knighted  and  made  Secretary  of  State  in 
place  of  Windebank,  and  who    now  fat  for 
Newton  in  Hants,  keeping  the  fignet  during 
Charles's    abfence    in    Edinburgh,    wrote     to  Alarm  of 
the  King  that   fome  well-affected  parliament  ^hola! 
men  had    been  with  him    that   day  in  great 
trouble,  in  confequence  of  news  from  Scotland, 
and  that  he  had  not  been  able  to  calm  their 
anxiety.*     As  the   days  pafTed  on,  and  new 
light  was  thrown  on  the  equivocal  polition  of 
the  King  with  the   promoters  of  the  league 
againft  Argyle  and  the  Hamiltons,  this  caufe 
for    trouble  to    the  "  well-affected "    did   not 
diminifh.     In  a  fecond  letter,  his  Majefty  is  King's 
told   how  much  his  fervants  in  the  Houfe  are  difheart- 
difheartened  to  be  kept  fo  long  in  darknefs.  ened. 
In  a  third,  he  has  further  notification  of  the 
great  pain  which   is   caufed    by    his    filence. 
Nevertheless,    that    mofl:    fignifkant    filence 
continued. 

Hampden  followed  foon  after  his  letters,  Arrival  of 
leaving  his  fellow-commiffioners  f    in    Edin-  HamPden- 
burgh,  and  arrived  in  London  while  the  newly 
introduced    bill   to    take    away   the    bifhops' 
votes  in  the  other  Houfe  was  under  difcuffion. 


"  Council,  who  had  been  Secretary  to  the  Duke  of  Bucking-  of  Edward 
"  ham  for  the  Maritime  Affairs,  a  man  of  good  experience,  Nicholas. 
"  and  of  a  very  good  reputation"  (ii.  600).     The  King  made 
him  Secretary  of  State  as  foon  as  he  returned  from  Scotland. 
See  Clarendon's  Life,  i.  94. 

*  "  The  next  day  after  the  receipt   of  the  letters,"  fays  Indirect 
Clarendon  (ii.  579),   "  the  Earls  of  Effex  and  Holland  fadly  ways  of 
"  told  me,  that  I   might  clearly  difcern  the  indirect  way  of  the  Court. 
"  the  Court,  and  how  odious  all  honeft  men  grew  to  them." 

f  The  Hon.  Nathaniel  Fiennes,  Lord  Say  and  Seale's 
fecond  fon,  member  for  Banbury  ;  and  Sir  Philip  Stapleton, 
member  for  Boroughbridge. 


168  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

Bjfhop's     Hyde  had  kept  faithfully  his  promife  to  the 
difcuffio"  King.    Upon  this  bill  being  reproduced,  Falk- 
land  rofe,    and,    to    the  general  amazement, 
retracted  the  views  he  had  formerly  been  fo 
deeply  pledged  to,  and  declared  his  determina- 
tion to  vote  againft  it.      D'Ewes,  and  other 
ftaunch   holders  of  Puritan  opinions,    appear 
to  have  been  completely  unprepared  for  this 
demonstration ;   but  very  fpeedily  others  joined 
in   it,   among  whom  Sir  Edward  Dering,  the 
member  for  Kent,  notably  diftinguifhed  him- 
felf.     Thus  Hyde's  fcheme  was  thriving  ;   and 
Speakers    the  well-affected  Parliament-men,  as  Secretary 
for  and      Nicholas  calls  them,  were  now  acting  as  a  com- 
pact body,  and  not  fcrupling  to  avow  the  new 
tactics  that  governed  them.     "1  am  forry," 
faid    Hampden,    <c  to   find  a  noble   lord   has 
Hamp-      «  changed  his  opinion  fince  the  time  the  lafr. 
priie!   Ur" il  bill  to  this  purpofe  pafTed  the  Houfe ;  for 
<c  he  then  thought  it  a  good  bill,  but  now  he 
fC  thinketh  this  an  ill  one."     cc  Truly,"  replied 
Lord  Falkland,  Cf  I  was  perfuaded  at  that  time, 
"  by  the  worthy  gentleman  who  hath  fpoken, 
"  to  believe  many  things  which  I  have  fince 
<c  found  to  be  untrue  ;  and,  therefore,  I  have 
Falk-        "  changed  my  opinion  in  many  particulars,  as 
land's        cc  wejj  as  to  things  as  perfons."     It  was  the 
firlt   frank   bold   announcement    of  the  rup- 
ture in  the  Parliamentary  party,  and  it  may  be 
interefting  to  paufe  and  confider  the  character 
of  the  man  from  whom  it  came. 


§  vii.    Lord  Falkland.  169 


§  vii.     Lord  Falkland. 

The  fudden  and  impetuous  break-off  from  Beliefs  as 
the  party  with  whom  he  had  acted  To  zealoufly  *°  ^,alk" 
in   matters  requiring  no  common  nerve   and  chara&er. 
refolution,  characteriftic  as  it  was  of  the  real 
Falkland,  jars   with    the    popular  impreffions 
that  arife  at  mention  of  his  name.    But  merely 
to  compare  it  with  the  courfe  we  have  feen 
him  adopt  upon  fuch  queftions  as  Strafford's 
Attainder,  may  well  fuggeft  fome  doubt  as  to 
the  entire  correctnefs  of  the  eftimates  ordinarily 
formed  of  the  political  character  and  opinions 
of  this  celebrated  man.    He  is  generally  affumed 
to  have  been  the  incarnation  of  moderate  and 
temperate   counfels.     It   is   but  a   few    years  Suppofed 
fince  his  example  was  publicly  pleaded  by  a  firft  ^P*: oi 
minifter  of  the  Crown  to  juftify  the  fincerity  tion. 
with  which  he  might  be  profecuting  a  war  in 
the  midft  of  continual  proteftations  of  a  defire 
for  peace.     We  were  afked  to  remember  that  the 
raoft  virtuous  and   felf-reftrained  character  in 
our  great  rebellion,  and  the  man  moft  devoted 
to  the  Royalift  caufe,  ftill  murmured  and  f  c  in- 
geminated "  -peace,  peace,  even  whilft  arming  for 
the  combat.     But  the  allufion  was  unfortunate 
in  turning  wholly  on  that  alleged  circumftance 
in   Falkland's   career  which    is    moft  capable 
of  clear  difproof.    He  was  by  no  means  devoted 
to  the  caufe  he  fought  for ;  and  he  cried  out 
peace,  peace,  folely  becaufe  he  detefted  the  war. 

No  doubt,  however,  he  is   the   man  of  all  Errors  and 
others  of  our  civil  conflict  who  is  moft  gene-  m,sJudS- 
rally  fuppofed  to  have  reprefented  therein  the 


170  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

monarchical  principle ;  and  upon  this  ground 
his  ftatue  was  among  thofe  voted  earlieft  for 
the  hiftorical  adornment  of  the  new  Palace  at 
Weftminfter.  But  the  real  truth  is,  that 
Falkland  was  far  more  of  an  apoftate  than 
Strafford,  for  his  heart  was  really  with  the 
Parliament  from  the  flrft,  which  Strafford's 
never  was ;  and  never,  to  the  very  end,  did 
Never  he  fincerely  embrace  the  caufe  with  which  his 
zealous  for  gal]ant  and  mournful  death  at  the  age  of 
ing'  thirty-four  *  has  eternally  connected  him.  I 
have  no  wifh  to  fay  anything  to  unfettle  the 
admiring  thoughts  which  muft  always  clufter 
round  the  memory  of  one  whom  Lord  Claren- 
don has  celebrated  not  fimply  as  a  flatefman  and 
foldier,   but  as  a  patriot,  poet,f  and  philofo- 

Tribute  *  "  Thus  fell  that  incomparable  young  man,  in  the  four- 

by  Hyde.    "  and-thirtieth  year  of  his  age,   having  lb  much  dilpatched 

"  the  bulinefs  of  life,   that  the   oldeft  rarely  attain  to  that 

"  immenfe  knowledge,  and  the  youngeft  enter  not   into  the 

' '  world  with  more  innocence.     Whofoever  leads  fuch  a  life, 

"  need  not  care  upon  how  fhort  a  warning  it  be  taken  from 

"  him."     Hijl.   iv.    257.       For  "  need  not   care"    the    flrft 

editors  had  fubftituted   "  needs  be  the  lefs  anxious." 

Gratitude        t  To  the  gratitude  of  the  poets  themfelves, — to  the  eternal 

of  the  remembrance  with  which  fuch  men  as  Ben  Jonfon,  Suckling, 

Poets  to      Waller,  and  Cowley,  can  pay  richly  back  in  their  loving  verfe 

Falkland.  a1^  kinds  and  degrees  of  loving  fervice, — Falkland  rather  owes 

his  title  than  to  any  achievements  of  his  own.     But  there  are 

yet  a  fufncient  number  of  good  lines  in  his  occafional  poetical 

pieces  to  juftify  Suckling's  having  placed  him  in  his  '  Sefllon 

'  of  the  Poets.'    There  are  many  manly  verfes  in  his  Eclogue 

on  Jonfon's  death. 

ji;s  "  Alas  !  that  bard,  that  glorious  bard  is  dead, 

Eclogue  Who,  when  I  whilome  cities  vifited, 

on  Hath  made  them  feem  but  hours  which  were  full  days, 

Jonfon,s  Whilft  he  vouchfaft  me  his  harmonious  lays ; 

death.  And  when  I  lived,  I  thought  the  country  then 

A  torture  ;  and  no  manfion,  but  a  den." 

Falkland  puts  this  into  the  mouth  of  Hylas,  and  it   may 


§  vii.     Lord  Falkland.  171 

pher,  in  fentences  that  will  be  immortal.  But 
it  is  impoflible  to  become  familiar  with  the 
details  of  this  period  of  our  hiftory,  and  with 

remind  us  of  what  Clarendon  fays  of  the  writer's  own  paf- 
fionate  fondnefs  for  London.     Melyboeus  rejoins  : 

"  Jonfon  you  mean,  unlefs  I  much  do  err 
I  know  the  perfon  by  the  character." 

The  fame  fpeaker  continues : 

"  His  learning  fuch,  no  author,  old  or  new,  On  Jon- 

Elcaped  his  reading  that  deferv'd  his  view,  *on  s_ 

And  fuch  his  judgment,  fo  exaft  his  teft  learning. 

Of  what  was  beft  in  books,  as  what  books  beft, 
That,  had  he  joined  thole  notes  his  labours  took 
From  each  moft  praifed  and  praife-deferving  book, 
And  could  the  world  of  that  choice  treafure  boaft, 
It  need  not  care  though  all  the  reft  were  loft." 

Of  his  great  art  he  then  fpeaks,  fo  that  what  he  pleafed  to  His 
write—  vogue  in 

"  Gave  the  wife  wonder  and  the  crowd  delight.  theatres. 

Each  fort  as  well  as  fex  admir'd  his  wit, 
The  hes  and  ihes,  the  boxes  and  the  pit ; 
And  who  lefs  liked,  within  did  rather  chufe 
To  tax  their  judgments  than  fufpeft  his  mule. 
Nor  no  fpeftatorhis  chafte  ftage  could  call 
The  caufe  of  any  crime  of  his,  but  all 
With  thoughts  and  wills  purg'd  and  amended  rife 
From  the  ethick  leftures  of  his  Comedies  : 
Where  the  fpeftators  aft,  and  the  fham'd  Age 
Blufhes  to  meet  her  follies  on  the  ftage  ; 
Where  each  man  finds  fome  light  he  never  fought, 
And  leaves  behind  fome  vanity  he  brought. 
Whofe  Politicks  no  lefs  the  mind  direft 
Than  thofe  the  Manners,  nor  with  lefs  effeft, 
When  his  majeftic  Tragedies  relate 
All  the  diforders  of  a  tottering  ftate."     .   .  . 

It  was  to  be  remembered  alio,  Melyboeus  adds,  that  of  all  His  felf- 
this  old  Ben  was  himfelf  "  fole  workman  and  fole  architeft,"  raifed 
as  to  which  he  concludes  :  fortune. 

"  And  furely  what  my  friend  did  daily  tell, 

If  he  but  afted  his  own  part  as  well 

As  he  writ  thofe  of  others,  he  may  boaft 

The  happy  fields  hold  not  a  happier  ghoft  !  " 

Thefe  are  not  only  good  lines,  but  very  valuable  perfonal 
notices  of  rare  old  Jonfon. 


172  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

Opinions   Falkland's  mare  in  what  preceded  the  Debates 
Falkland  ■ on  ^  Remonftrance,  and  to  doubt  in  what 
fpirit  alone  he  could  have  taken  the  part  which 
he  fubfequently  played.     Over  and  over  again 
does    Clarendon    himfelf  find  it  neceflary  to 
remark  of  him,  that  he  never  had  any  venera- 
tion for  the  Court,  but  only  fuch  a  loyalty  to 
the  King  as  the  law  required  from  him  ;  and 
as  t0         as  often  is  he  conftrained  to   admit,  on  the 
Court  and  other  hand,  that  he  had  naturally  a  wonderful 
mcnt?"      reverence  for  Parliaments,  as  believing  them 
moft  folicitous  for  juftice,  the  violation  whereof, 
in  the  leaft  degree,  he  could  not  forgive  any 
mortal  power* 

But  the  friend  who   has  done  fo  much  to 
preferve  and  endear  his  fame  flnce  his  death, 
had    unhappily   influence    enough,    while    he 
Influence   lived,  to  lead  him  into  a  poiition  which  made 
of  Hyde.    tke  exzQ  reverfe  0f  thofe  opinions  an  official 
neceffity  ;  and  Falkland  was  eminently  a  man 
who,  finding  himfelf  fo  placed,  however  unex- 
pectedly, was  ready  to  facriflce  everything  to 
the  punctilio  of  honour.     In  his  opinions,  if 
not  in  his  perfonal  antecedents,  he  was  like  the 
Faith  of    old  cavalier  Sir  Edmund  Verney,  whofe  doubts 
CaVa°iier     were  expreffed  to   Hyde,  the  tempter  of  all 
thefe  men.     "  I  have  eaten  the  King's  bread, 
"  and  ferved  him  near  thirty  years,  and  I  v/ill 
"  not  do  fo  bafe  a  thing  as  to  forfake  him.      I 
"  choofe   rather   to  lofe  my  life  (which  I  am 
"  fure  I  mail  do)  to  preferve  and  defend  thofe 

*  This  pafTage  is  of  courfe  meant  to  convey,  as  Bifliop 
Warburton  has  remarked,  that  Falkland  thought  refiftance 
lawful,  which  Hyde  himfelf  did  not.  And  the  fame  feeling 
is  expreffed  in  other  paflages,  as  ii.  94  j  iv.  244,  &c. 


§  v  1 1 .     L  ord  Falkland.  1 7  3 

£c  things  which  are  againft  my  confcience  to 
"  preferve  and  defend;  for,  I  will  deal  freely 
"  with   you,    I    have    no   reverence   for    the 
<c  bifhops    for  whom   this    quarrel    fubfifts." 
There  was  only  this  important  difference  in  sentiment 
Falkland,  that  the  bread  which  he  had  eaten,  not  Jud§- 
and  the  fervice  to  which  he  was  vowed,  before 
he  made  his  final  election,  was  that  of  the 
Parliament  and  not  of  the  King.     And  it  is 
not  difficult  to  difcern  that  his  ftrongeft  feeling 
remained  in  this  direction  throughout :  even 
when  he  feemed,  as  it  will  be  my  duty  to  fhow 
him  in   this   party  ftruggle  of   the  Remon- 
ftrance,  moft  deeply  to  have  committed  him- 
felf  againft  its  leaders.     His  convictions  never  £afy  prCy 
ceafed   to    be   with   the   opinions   which   the  to  Hyde's 
Parliament  reprefented,    though    his  perfonal  ^rnua" 
habits,  his  elegant  purfuits,  his  faftidious  taftes, 
his  thorough-going   fenfe  of  friendfhip,   and 
even   his   fhynefs  of  manner   and   impatient 
impulfivenefs  of  temper,  made  him  an  eafv 
prey  to  the  perfuafive  arts  that  feduced  him  to 
the  fervice  of  the  King.     Nor  will  it  be  unjuft 
to  add  that  it  is  the  admiration  thus  attracted 
to    his  perfonal   character  and   habits,  rather 
than  any  fenfe  of  his   public  fervices,  which 
conftitutes  the  intereft  of  his  name.     It  is  not 
therefore  in   parliament,   nor  on  the  field  of  Falkland': 
battle,  that  they  mould  feek  for  Falkland  who  ftrong- 
would  cheriih  him  moft,  but  rather  in  that 
private  home  to  which  his  love  and  patronage 
of  letters  lent  infinite  graces  and  enjoyments, 
and  where  the  man  of  wit  and  learning  found 
himfelf  invariably  welcomed  as  to  "a  college 
"  fituated  in  a  purer  air." 


174 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


Macaulay. 


view  Lord  Macaulay  has  remarked  that  he  was 

taken  by   too  faftidious  for  public  life,  and  never  em- 
ir <  -1,  ..  -  .., 

barked  in  a  caufe  that  he  did  not  ipeedily 
difcover  fome  reafon  for  growing  indifferent 
or  hoftile  to.*  There  is  fomething  in  that ; 
but  we  mould  prefer  to  fay  that  his  fpirit  in 
all  things  was  too  much  on  the  furface — too 
quick,  impetuous,  and  impatient ;  and  hence 
both  his  ftrength  in  impulfe,  and  his  weaknefs 
in  action.  He  carried  about  with  him  a  painful 
fenfe  of  perfonal  difadvantages  which  he  was 


Macau- 
lay's 
EJfays 
i.  160. 


A  public 
man    unfit 
for  public 
life. 


What  if 
he  had 
lived  to 
Revo- 
lution ? 


*  The  subjoined  paffage  is  fo  happy  a  fpecimen  of  the  manner 
of  the  writer,  that  I  cannot  reiift  appending  it.  "  He  did  not 
perceive  that  in  fuch  times  as  thofe  on  which  his  lot  had 
fallen,  the  duty  of  a  ftateiman  is  to  choofe  the  better  caufe 
and  to  ftand  by  it,  in  l'pite  of  thofe  exceffes  by  which  every 
caufe,  however  good  in  itfelf,  will  be  difgraced.  The 
prefent  evil  always  feemed  to  him  the  worft.  He  was  always 
going  backward  and  forward ;  but  it  mould  be  remembered 
to  his  honour  that  it  was  always  from  the  ftronger  to  the 
weaker  fide  that  he  deferted.  While  Charles  was  oppreffing 
the  people,  Falkland  was  a  refolute  champion  of  liberty.  He 
attacked  Strafford.  He  even  concurred  in  ftrong  meafures 
againft  Epifcopacy.  But  the  violence  of  his  party  annoyed 
him,  and  drove  him  to  the  other  party,  to  be  equally 
annoyed  there.  Dreading  the  fuccefsof  the  caufe  which  he 
had  efpoufed,  difgufted  by  the  courtiers  of  Oxford,  as  he 
had  been  difgufted  by  the  patriots  of  Weftminfter,  yet 
bound  by  honour  not  to  abandon  the  caufe  for  which  he 
was  in  arms,  he  pined  away,  neglected  his  peri'on,  went 
about  moaning  for  peace,  and  at  lalt  rulhed  defperately  on 
death,  as  the  beft  refuge  in  fuch  miferable  times.  If  he  had 
lived  through  the  fcenes  that  followed,  we  have  little  doubt 
that  he  would  have  condemned  himfelf  to  fhare  the  exile 
and  beggary  of  the  royal  family  ;  that  he  would  then  have 
returned  to  oppoi'e  all  their  meafures ;  that  he  would  have 
been  fent  to  the  Tower  by  the  Commons  as  a  ftifler  of  the 
Popifh  Plot,  and  by  the  King  as  an  accomplice  in  the  Rye 
Houfe  Plot ;  and  that  if  he  had  efcaped  being  hanged,  firft 
by  Scroggs,  and  then  by  Jefferies,  he  would,  after  manfully 
oppofing  James  the  Second  through  years  of  tyranny,  have 
been  feized  with  a  fit  of  companion  at  the  very  moment  of 
the  Revolution,  have  voted  for  a  Regency,  and  died  a  Non- 
juror."    (Ed.  1843.) 


§  vii.     Lord  Falkland.  175 

eager  to  overcome,  and  his  very  impetuofity  objeaions 
was  often  but  another  form  of  fhynefs.     But thereto- 
to  whatever  caufe  attributable,  it  is  certain  that 
what  he  would  do  in  public  life,  he  was  apt  to 
overdo ;  and  there  cannot  be  a  greater  miftake 
than  that  which  fo  often  reprefents  him,  and 
which  voted  him  the  firft  ftatue  among  Englifh 
worthies  in  the  palace  at  Weftminfter,  as  the 
incarnate    fpirit   of   the    moderation    of   our 
ftruggle    in    the    feventeenth    century.     His 
temperament  had  in  it  as  little  as  poffible  of 
calmnefs  or  moderation.     He   fought  a  duel  Excita- 
before  he  was  nineteen ;  and  while  yet  in  his  blllty  of 
minority,  he  had  defied  his  father's  authority  emper 
and  made  a  runaway  match.     What  his  friend 
Hyde  calls  a  "  notable  vivacity  "  was  always 
expreffing  itfelf  in  him,  by  words  or  deeds ; 
whether  the  matter  was  great  enough  to  impel 
him  fuddenly  into  the  allegiance  for  which  he 
died,   or   only  fmall   enough   to  bring   down 
"  his  clafped  hands  tightly  on  the  crown  of  his 
cf  hat  "  where  another  man  would  have  thought 
it  enough  quietly  to  fit  covered.     Mentioning  Anecdote 
a  vote  of  the  Commons  for  fome  certain  fpecial  by  Claren- 
fervice,  by  which  the  Speaker  was  inftrucled  in 
the  name  of  the  whole  Houfe  to  give  thanks 
to  him  who  had  rendered  it,  and  every  member 
was  alfo  defired  as  a  teftimony  of  his  particular 
acknowledgment    "to  ftir  or  move  his  hat," 
Hyde  tells  us  that,  believing  the  fervice  itfelf 
not    to    be   of   that    moment,    and    that    an 
honourable    and    generous   perfon   would   not 
have  ftooped  to  it  for  any  recompenfe,    "in-  Emphafis 
"  ftead  of  moving  his  hat,  he  ftretchcd  both  overdone. 
Cf  his  arms  out  and  clafped  his  hands  together 


176 


Similar 
trait  of 
Danton. 


Strange 

refem- 

hlances. 


Stranger 
contrafts. 


The  Grand  Remonjl ranee. 

<c  upon  the  crown  of  his  hat,  and  held  it  cloje 
"  down  to  his  head,  that  all  men  might  fee 
<c  how  odious  that  flattery  was  to  him,  and 
<c  the  very  approbation  of  the  perfon  though 
cc  at  that  time  mod  popular."  The  action 
might  for  once  have  excufed  the  ftrange  defire 
of  the  privy  councillor  before  named,  to 
compare  his  countrymen  in  thefe  wars  to  very 
different  actors  in  a  very  different  revolution. 
<c  Firm  as  the  hat  of  Servandony  !  "  fhouted 
Danton,  with  happy  allufion  to  one  of  the 
towers  of  St.  Sulpice  fo  named,  as  he  crufhed 
down  and  held  his  hat  immovably  over  his 
great  broad  face,  when  threatened  with  chaftife- 
ment  if  he  would  not  uncover  while  he  fat  in 
the  pit  of  the  Fran^ais  on  the  eve  of  the 
Convocation  of  the  States-General.  And 
certainly,  however  unlike  the  men,  a  fudden, 
indignant,  too  impatient  fpirit,  was  common 
to  both.  It  largely  contributed  to  what  was 
right  as  well  as  to  what  was  wrong  in  Falkland, 
and  might  equally  have  juftified  his  felection 
as  the  reprefentative,  not  of  the  moderation  of 
the  ftruggle,  but  of  either  of  its  extremes. 
The  artift  who  received  the  commimon  for 
his  ftatue  might  have  fculptured  him  as  on 
the  8th  of  February  (1 640-1),  the  vehement 
affailant  of  the  Bifhops,  or  as  on  the  25th  of 
October  (1641),  the  vehement  fupporter  of 
the  Church.  He  might  have  been  taken  in 
1640  as  eager  for  Strafford's  life,  as  in  1643 
he  had  become  recklefs  of  his  own  in  the  fame 
ill-fated  fervice  as  Strafford's.  / 

Very  certain  it  is,  at  any  rate,  that  he  is  the 
laft  perfon  to  take  for  a  model  of  devotion  to 


§  vii.     Lord  Falkland.  177 

the   caufe   he   was   kft   engaged   in.      Hyde 
expreflly  tells  us  that  <c  from  the  entrance  into 
"  this  unnatural  war  his  natural  cheerfulnefs 
Cf  and  vivacity  grew  clouded;"  that  only  "when  Diflike  of 
lc  there  was  any  overture  or  hope  of  peace,  he       war* 
fc  would  be  more  erect  and  vigorous;"  and 
that  fuch,  in  fhort,  was  his  friend's  diflike  of  the 
war  that  he  invited  and  fought  death  merely 
to  get  himfelf  fairly  out  of  it.     Before  war 
was  actually  entered  on,  indeed,  we  have  proof 
that  this  dejection  and  fadnefs   of  fpirit  had 
ftolen  upon  him.     When,  for  inltance,  on  the  Laftap- 
5th  of  September,  1642,  he  delivered  to  the  f*^J 
Houfe  of  Commons,  as  minifter  to  the  King,  of  Com- 
the  laft  meflage  fent  by  Charles  to  the  repre-  mons- 
fentatives  of  his  people,  he  is  defcribed  in  the 
Manufcript  Journal  of  D'Ewes,  who  witnefTed 
the  fcene,  to  have  flood  bareheaded  at  the  bar, 
even  as    Culpeper   had    flood    but    ten    days 
before,  looking  fo  dejectedly  as  if  he  had  been 
a  delinquent  rather   than   a   member  of  the  More  like 
parliament,  a  privy  councillor,  and  mefTenp;er        " , 

r  1         w-«  ttt         1  1  •    1   •  1         °       quentthan 

from  the  King.      Was  he   thinking,  then,  of  Miniftei. 
that  old  reverence  he   bore    to    Parliaments, 
infomuch  that  he  thought  it  really  impofTible 
they  could   ever  produce  mifchief  or  incon- 
venience to  the  kingdom,  or  that  the  kingdom 
could  be  tolerably  happy  in  the  intermilTion  of 
them  ?  *       As  he  furveyed    the   old   familiar 
benches,  was  he  forrowful  with  the  fad  mif-  ?,e#ret  or 
giving  that  he  had  elfewhere  now  transferred  his  proach  ? 
allegiance,  and  that  it  was  no  longer  permitted 
him  to  hold  the  exalted  opinion  he  once  held 

*  Clarendon,  Hiji.  iv.  244. 


178  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

of  the  uprightnefs  and  integrity  of  the  leading 
men  who  fat  there,  especially  of  Mr. 
Hampden  ?  * 

But  whatever  fuch  doubts  or  felf-queftion- 
ings  may  have  been,  they  need  not  now  over- 
fhadow  or  cloud  a  memory  that  Englifhmen 
of  all  opinions  may  well  be  proud  to  cherifh. 
If  we  defire  to  reclaim  Falkland  to  the  Parlia- 
ment, it  is  that  we  would  gladly,  for  ourfelves, 
aflbciate  with  that  fide  in  the  ftruggle  thofe 
Falk-        prodigious  parts  of  learning  and  knowledge, 
land's       that  inimitable  fweetnefs  and  delight  in  con- 
qualities.   verfati°n>  that  flowing  and  obliging  humanity 
and  goodnefs  to  mankind,  that  primitive  fim- 
plicity  and  integrity  of  life.    But  it  is  doubtlefs 
the  wifer  courfe  to  feparate  from  all  mere  party 
alTociations  fuch  qualities  as  thefe,  and  rather 
to  think  of  them  as  vouchfafed  to  fuftain  and 
fweeten  our  common  nature  under  all  its  con- 
Services     ditions  of  conteft  and  trial.       He  afked   no 
)f  man's  opinion,  fays  Clarendon,  whom  he  de- 
fired  to  ferve  ;  it  was  enough  that  he  found  a 
man  of  wit,  family,   or  good  parts,    clouded 
with  poverty  or  want ;  and  fuch  was  his  gene- 
rality and  bounty  for  all  worthy  perfons  of 
that  kind  needing  fupplies  and  encouragement 
(whofe  fortunes    required,   and    whofe    fpirits 
made  them  fuperior  to,  ordinary  obligations),! 

*  HiJI.  iv.  245. 

Hyde's  t   "  As,"  Clarendon  takes  occafion  to  fay  (Life,  i.  46), 

happy  "Ben   Jonfon,   and   many   others  of  that  time."     "Which 

"  yet,"  he  adds,  "  they  were  contented  to  receive  from  him, 
"  becaufe  his  bounties  were  fo  generoufly  distributed,  and  lb 
"  much  without  vanity  and  orientation,  that,  except  from 
"  thofe  few  perfons  from  whom  he  lbmetimes  received  the 
"  character  of  fit  objeft  for  his  benefits,  or  whom  he  intruded 
"  for  the  more  fecret  deriving  them  to  them,  he  did  all   he 


wit 


happy 
eulogy 


§  vii.     Lord  Falkland.  179 

that  he  feemed  to  have  his  eftate  in  truft  for 
fuch  alone.     To  that  generous  home  which  he  Open 
kept  open  to  his  friends  near  Oxford,  no  man  oxford* 
had  to  pay  toll  or  tax  of  opinion  at  entering.* 
There,   without  queftion  afked,   men    of   all 
opinions  in  Church  and  State  alTembled  ;  find- 
ing in  their  hoft  fuch  an  immenfenefs  of  wit 
and  fuch  a  folidity  of  judgment,  fo  infinite. a  to  men 
fancy  bound  in  by  a  mod  logical  ratiocination,  o{ .  . 

r     \  ni  11  11  •  opinions. 

iuch  a  vait  knowledge  that  he  was  not  ignorant 
in  anything,  with  fuch  an  exceffive  humility  as 
if  he  had  known  nothing,  that  the  place  was 

"  could  that  the  perfons  themfelves  who  received  them  mould 

"  not  know  from  what  fountain  they  flowed;  and  when  that  Exquifite 

"  could  not  be  concealed,  he  fuftained  any  acknowledgment  deljcacv 

"  from  the  perfons  obliged  with  fo  much  trouble  and  baftiful- 

"  nefs,  that   they   might  well    perceive,   that   he   was   even 

"  afhamed  of  the  little  he  had  given,  and  to  receive  fo  large 

"  a  recompenfe  for  it." 

*   "  Who  all  found  their  lodgings  there,"  fays  Clarendon,  Picture  of 
"  as  ready  as  in  the  colleges  ;  nor  did  the  lord  of  the  houfe  Falk- 
"  know  of  their  coming  or  going,  nor  who  were  in  his  houfe,  land's 
"  till  he  came  to  dinner,  or  fupper,  where  all  ftill  met :  other-  houfe. 
"  wife  there  was  no  troublefome  ceremony  or  conftraint,  to 
"  forbid  men  to  come  to  the  houfe,  or  to  make  them  weary  of 
"  flaying  there ;  fo  that  many  came  thither  to  ftudy  in  a  better 
"  air,    finding  all  the  books  they  could  defire  in  his  library, 
"  and   all  the  perfons  together  whole  company  they  could 
"  wifh,  and  not  find  in  any  other  fociety."     Life,  i.  48.     In 
his  hiflory  Clarendon   adds  that  upon  one  fubjeft  only  was 
Falkland  intolerant  in  refpeft  of  thofe  whom  he  received,  and  Intolerant 
he  attributes  it  to  the  fail  that  the  Papifls  had  corrupted  his  only  of 
two  younger  brothers  (his  mother  was  a  Catholic)  "  being  intole- 
"  both  children,  and  ftolen  them  from  his  houfe,  and  tranfported  ranee, 
"beyond  leas;"     and  that  they   had    alio     "perverted     his 
"  fillers :"  upon  which  occaiion,   Clarendon  mentions,   "  he 
"  writ  two  large  difcourfes  againft  the  principal  pofitions  of 
"  that  religion,  with  that  fharpnefs  and  flyle,  and  full  weight 
"  of  reafon,  that  the  Church  is  deprived  of  great  jewels  in  the 
"  concealment  of  them,  and  that  they  are  not  publifhed  to  the 
"  world."     Hift.   iv.    244.       Some    curious    letters    having  Difcourfes 
reference  to  thefe  incidents  in  Falkland's  family  will  be  found  againft 
in  the  Clarendon  State  Papers,  ii.  535 — 538.  Popery. 

n  2 


180  The  Grand  Remonfirance. 

A  college  to    them    as    a   college    fituated    in    a    purer 

in  purer      o|j-  * 

Were  it  poflible  that  a  time  might  come 
when  all  recollection  mould  have  pafled  away 
of  the  momentous  quarrel  in  which  Falkland 
threw  down  his  life,  thofe  things  might  yet 
continue  his  name  and   memory   with   profit 
and  advantage  to  all  men.     And  even  above 
Three       them  we  would  place  the  three  particular  cha- 
fpecial      racteriftics   which  the  affection   of  his   friend 
iftics:     "  cannot  help  recording,  while  he  qualifies  them 
as    niceties    with    which    he    was    reproached 
during  life  as  unfuited  to   f(the  neceffity  and 
{<  iniquity  of  the  time."      Holding,   on   the 
other  hand,  that  were  it  only  pofTible  to  find 
men  pure  enough  to  practife  them,  they  would 
abate  the  neceffity  and  iniquity  of  every  time, 
I    mail    clofe    the   feet  ion    by    placing    them 
on  record  here  as  the  higheft  human  eulogy 
to  be  pronounced  on  Falkland.    The  firft  was, 
love  of      that  fo  feverely  did   he  adore   truth  that  he 
truth  5       could  as  eafily  have  given  himfelf  leave  to  fteal 
as  to  dilTemble.     In  other  words,  to  fuffer  any 
man  to  think  that  he  would  do  anything  which 
he  was  refolved  not  to  do,  he  thought  a  far 
more    mifchievous    kind    of   lying    than    any 
pofitive  averring  of  what  could  eafily  be  con- 
tradicted.     The  fecond  was,  that  he  would 
hatred  of  never  give  the  remoteft  countenance  or  enter- 
fpiesj        tainment  to  the  employing   of  fpies.      Such 
inftruments,  he  held,  muft  be  fo  void  of  all 
ingenuoufnefs    and     common    honefty    before 
they  could   be  of  ufe,  that    afterwards    they 

*  Clarendon,  Hi/},  iv.  243. 


§  viii.    The  SeceJJion  and  its  Dangers.  1 8 1 

could  never  be  fit  to  be  credited ;  and  he  could 
account  no  fingle  prefervation  to  be  worth  fo 
general  a  wound  and   corruption    of  human 
fociety  as  the  cherifhing  fuch  perfons  would 
carry  with  it.      The  third  was,  that  he  de-  reVerence 
nounced  ever  with  vehement  indignation  the  f°r  p"- 
liberty  of  opening  private  letters,  upon  fufpi-  J^^ 
cion  that  they  might  contain  matter  of  dan- 
gerous confequence ;  thinking  it  fuch  a  violation 
of  the  law  of  nature  that  no  qualification  by 
office   could  juftify    a    fingle   perfon    in    the 
trefpafs. 

Such  and  fo  great  that  lafl  particular  tref- 
pafs, indeed,  that  it  may  in  fome  cafes  be  a 
moot  queftion  whether  any  lapfe  of  time 
abfolves  the  refponfibility  of  keeping  private 
letters,  which  the  writers  of  them  never  meant 
to  be  laid  open,  ever  ftrictly  and  facredly  clofed. 

§  viii.    The  Secession  and  its  Dangers. 

There  was  certainly  no  kind  of  conceal-  Falk- 
ment  or  referve,  and  no  diffembling,  in  what  lanci's 
Falkland  told   the    Houfe   upon    Hampden's  "eea^er . 
return  from  Scotland.     So  far  he  fhowed  the 
ftrength  of  his  character  even  in  a  confeffion 
of  the  weaknefs  of  his  conduct.     He  was  no 
longer   difpofed  to    accept   or   act    upon    the 
counfels  of  the  member  for  Buckinghamfhire, 
and  he  avowed  at  once  that,  upon  the  queftion 
where  they  molt  widely  diverged,  he  meant  to 
follow  Hyde's  counfels.     He  had  changed  his  r>ot 
opinion    in   many  particulars,    as   well   as    to  d^but 
things  as  perfons,  and  he  chofe  frankly  to  fay  Hyde, 
fo.  This  was  at  leaft  fair  warning.    On  which- 


182 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Liberal  ever  fide  might  be  found  to  lie  ultimately  the 
broker^  ri&nt  or  tne  wrong>  here  was  at  any  rate  an  end 
up.  to  that  phalanx  which  had  brought  Strafford 

to  the  fcaffold,  lodged  Laud  in  the  Tower, 
and  driven  Finch  and  Windebank  into  exile  ; 
which  had  condemned  fhip-money,  impeached 
the  judges  who  gave  it  their  fanction,  and 
dragged  one  of  them  in  open  court  from  the 
feat  his  injustice  had  polluted  ;  *  which  had 
paffed  the  triennial  bill,  and  voted  as  un- 
lawful every  tax  upon  the  fubject  impofed 
without  confent  of  the  Houfe  of  Com- 
mons ;  which  had  abolifhed  all  j'urifdiclions 
that  reared  themfelves  above  the  law ;  and 
before  whofe  unfhrinking,  compact  array,  alike 
the  petty  and  the  mighty  instrument  of 
wrong  had  fallen,  the  Stannary  Courts  and 
the  Court  of  York,  the  Star  Chamber  and  the 
High  CommilTion.  In  not  one  of  thefe  retri- 
butive or  reformatory  acts,  had  the  party  of 
Hyde  and  Falkland  wavered  in  the  leaft :  in 
Defertion  many,  they  had  outstripped  even  Denzil 
Hollis,  Cromwell,  Hampden,  and  Pym.  But 
they  now  did  not  hefitate  to  give  out,  as  in 
Falkland's  reproach  to  Hampden,  that  un- 
founded inducements  had  been  addreffed  to 
them  ;    and   that    this  juftified    their    inftant 


Its 

achieve 

merits. 


by  fe 
ceders 


A  Judge 
arretted 
on  the 
Bench. 


*  I  quote  from  Whitelocke's  Memorials  (p.  40,  Ed.  1732). 
"  February  13,  1640.  Sir  Robert  Berkley,  one  of  the  Judges 
"  of  the  King's  Bench,  who  gave  his  opinion  for  Ship  money, 
"  was  impeached  by  the  Commons  of  High  Treafon,  in  the 
"  Lords'  Houfe,  and,  by  their  command,  Maxwell,  the  Ufher 
"  of  the  Black  Rod,  came  to  the  King's  Bench  when  the 
"  Judges  were  fitting,  took  Judge  Berkley  from  off  the  Bench, 
"  and  carried  him  away  to  prifon,  which  ttruck  a  great  terrour 
"  in  the  reft  of  his  brethren  then  fitting  in  Weftmintter  Hall, 
"  and  in  all  his  profefTion." 


§  viii.    The  Seceffion  and  its  Dangers.  183 

defertion,  as  well  of  the  principles  they  had 
acted  on,  as  of  the  men  they  fo  long  had  acted 
with.      What   the   alleged   mifreprefentations never 
were,   has   never  been   explained.     But   it  is  for 
certain  that  not  an  attempt  was  made  by  them, 
before  they  paffed  into  opposition  againft  their 
old  afTociates,  to  obtain  a  fingle  fecurity  for 
the  King's  better  faith  as  to  any  one  tranfaction 
of  the  year  during  which  they  had  ranked  as 
his  opponents.     Still  in  all  refpects  unaltered,    n^t    j8 
fave  that  Strafford  flood  no  longer  by  his  fide, 
at  leaft  Charles  the  Firft  cannot  be  accufed  of 
having  tempted  thefe   men.       Their  names, 
and  their  exertions  in  debate,  are  fubmitted  by 
Secretary  Nicholas  to  his  matter,  with  a  re- 
queft  for  due  encouragement  to  fuch  fervice, 
in    the  very  letters  which    bear   evidence   of 
Charles's  continued    hatred  of  the   Caufe  of  Oldcaufe 
which  they  had  been  the  defenders,  and  were  f^i  to  him. 
now  the  betrayers.     There  is  hardly  an  inter- 
change   of   confidence    at    this    date    between 
Edinburgh  and  Whitehall,  in  which  there  is 
not    either    news   of    fome    frefh    fuppofed 
danger  to  the  parliamentary  leaders,  received 
with  unconcealed  fatisfaction  ;  or  the  fuggeftion 
of  fome  plot  or  intrigue  againit  them,  thrown 
out  with  eager  hope.     If  they  had  flinched  or 
wavered  for  a  moment,  all  that  they  had  gained  Danger  01 
rauft  at  once  have  paffed  from  their  keeping.  ° ing  a 
Happily  for  their  own  fame,  more  happily  for 
our  peaceful  enjoyment  of  the  fruits  of  their 
defperate  druggie,  they  ftood  quiet  and  un- 
difmayed  under  every  danger  and  every  form 
of  temptation. 

Some  days  before  the  realTembling  of  the  Reappear- 


i84 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


ance  of 
plague. 


King's 
defire  for 
adjourn- 
ment of 
Houfes. 


Pym's 
refiilance. 


Attempt 
on  Pym's 
life. 


Letter 
delivered 


Houfe,  great  ficknefs  had  broken  out  in 
London  ;  the  plague  had  reappeared  in  fome 
quarters  ;  and  the  occafion  had  been  feized  for 
an  intrigue  to  ftay  the  reaflembling,  or  to  pro- 
cure at  Jeaft  an  adjournment  of  place  if  not  of 
time.  It  is  a  leading  topic  in  feveral  letters 
from  Secretary  Nicholas  to  the  King.  At 
firft  he  is  full  of  hope,  defcribing  the  fpread  of 
the  plague  and  the  fhutting  up  of  infected 
houfes  around  Weftminfter,  and  confidently 
anticipating  that  adjournment  in  fome  form 
muft  be  reforted  to,  fo  rife  and  dangerous  the 
ficknefs  grows.  But  after  three  days  he  has 
to  change  his  tone,  and  to  tell  the  King  that 
11  Mr.  Pym  "  and  thofe  of  his  party  will  not 
hear  that  parliament  fhall  not  be  held,  or  fhalJ 
meet  anywhere  but  in  London  or  Weftminfter. 
It  met,  as  we  have  feen  ;  and  Mr.  Pym,  five 
days  after  the  meeting,  received  very  decifive 
intimation  of  the  temper  with  which  the 
King's  partizans  out  of  doors  now  regarded 
him. 

He  was  fitting  in  his  ufual  place,  on  the 
right  hand  beyond  the  members'  gallery,  near 
the  bar,  on  the  25th  of  October,  when,  in  the 
midft  of  debate  on  a  proposition  he  had  fub- 
mitted  for  allowance  of  "  powder  and  bullet  " 
to  the  City  Guard,  a  letter  was  brought  to 
him.  The  Serjeant  of  the  Houfe  had  received 
it  from  a  meftenger  at  the  door,  to  whom  a 
gentleman  on  horfeback  in  a  grey  coat  had 
given  it  that  morning  on  Fifh-ftreet-hill ;  with 
a  gift  of  a  milling,  and  injunction  to  deliver  it 
with  great  care  and  fpeed.  As  Pym  opened  the 
letter,   fomething  dropped  out   of  it  on  the 


§  viii.    The  SeceJJlon  and  its  Dangers.  185 

floor  ;  but  without  giving  heed  to  this  he  read  hY  *he 

.  do  m  Serieant 

to  himfelf  a  few  words,  and  then,  holding  up 
the  paper,  called  out  that  it  was  a  fcandalous 
libel.    Hereupon  it  was  carried  up  to  the  lately-  Handed 
appointed  Clerk's  Affiftant,  Mr.  John  Rufh-  £  J^- 
worth,  who,  in  his  unmoved  way,  read  aloud  its  worth, 
abufe  of  the  great  leader  of  the  Houfe,  and  its 
affeveration  that  if  he  mould  efcape  the  pre- 
fent  attempt,  the  writer  had  a  dagger  .prepared 
for  him.     At  this  point,  however,  young  Mr. 
Rufhworth  would  feem  to  have  loft  his  coolnefs, 
for  he  read  the  next  few  lines  in  an  agitated  way. 
They  explained  what  had  dropped  from  the 
letter.    It  was  a  rag  that  had  covered  a  plague-  its  con- 
wound,  fent  in  the  hope  that  infection  might  by  tents' 
fuch  means  be  borne  to  him  who  opened  it. 
"  Whereupon,"    fays    the   eye-witnefs,    from 
whofe  report  the  incident  is  now  flrft  related 
as  it  really  happened,  "the  faid  clerk's  affiftant  Mr.  Rufh- 
**  having  read  fo  far,  threw  down  the  letter  ^°^  s 
"  into  the  houfe  ;   and  fo  it  was  fpurned  away 
<c  out  of  the  door."      Its   threats,   however, 
could  not  fo  be  fpurned  away,  and  were  not 
mere  empty  brutalities.     Nicholas's  report  of 
it  to  the  King  was  dated  but  a  few  days  after 
the  occurrence,  yet,  in  the  brief  interval,  not 
only  had    another  attempt    upon    Pym's    life  Further 
been    difcovered,   but  a  perfon    miftaken  for  atteniPts 

so- 3_i  nit 

him  had  been  {tabbed  in  Weftminfter  Hall.  pym. 
Charles  made  no  comment  on  the  particular 
fubject  reported  upon  by  his  correfpondent. 
But,  if  fo  minded,  his  Majefty  might  have  told 
him  that  he  and  his  Queen  had  their  plots 
alfo,  againft  the  foremoft  man  of  the  parlia- 
ment ;  and  that  Pym's  name,  for  purpofes  of 


i86 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


Houfe. 


their  own,  was  become  a  word  of  familiar 
found  in  their  letters  to  each  other.* 
Hisaflail-  Pym  had  affailants  in  the  Houfe  itfelf,  too, 
ants  in  the  more  open,  but  hardly  more  honourable. 
The  firft  direct  refult  of  the  dark  rumours 
from  Scotland  inculpating  the  King,  was  a 
proposition  moved  in  the  Commons  for  a 
vote  affirming  the  King's  right  to  nominate 
all  officers,  councillors,  ambaffadors,  and 
minifters ;  but  demanding  that  the  power  of 
approving  them  mould  in  future  reft  with  the 
parliament.     It  was  brought  forward  by  Mr. 


Refolu 

tion 

moved 


Allufions 
to  Pym  in 
Queen's 
letters. 


Attempts 
to  bring 
him  into 
fulpicion. 


Caufes 
of  his 
popu- 
larity. 


Tribute 
by  Cove- 
nanter 
Baillie. 


*  "  I  received  yelterday  a  letter  from  Pym,  by  which  he 
"  fends  me  word  that  he  fears  I  am  offended  with  him,  becaufe 
"  he  has  not  had  a  letter  from  me  for  a  long  time.  I  beg  you 
"  tell  him  that  that  is  not  the  cafe,  and  that  I  am  as  much 
"  his  friend  as  ever,  but  I  have  lb  much  bulinefs,  that  I  have 
"  not  been  able  to  write  by  expreffes,  and  by  the  poft  it  is  not 
"  fafe."  So  wrote  Henrietta  Maria  to  her  hufband  the 
King ;  and  the  intention  of  courfe  was  to  damage  Pym,  if 
poffible,  by  letting  fuch  expreffions,  in  themfelves  a  pure 
invention,  carnally  be  feen.  Again  me  fays,  in  another 
letter:  "  As  to  the  thirty  thoufand  pieces  which  Pym  lends 
"  me  word  have  been  promifed  a  long  time  ago,  and  not  fent, 
"  you  will  alio  be  Ihown  how  they  have  been  employed  moft 
"  ufefully  for  your  fervice."  Again,  artfully  naming  him 
with  a  known  agent  and  minilter  of  Charles  :  "  I  have  lb 
"  much  bufmefs  that  I  have  not  leifure  to  write  to  Pym  nor 
"  to  Culpeper.  Remember  me  to  them,  and  tell  them  I  am 
"  returned  to  England  as  much  their  friend  as  when  I 
"  left,  &c."  ThefubjecT:  of  Pym's  extraordinary  popularity, 
and  its  caufes,  is  treated  in  more  detail  in  my  Arrejl  of  the 
Five  Members,  §  v,  but  I  will  here  fubjoin  the  ltriking  tefti- 
mony  borne  by  Covenanter  Baillie  to  the  qualities  which  had 
fingled  out  this  great  man  for  thofe  onerous  duties  of  leader- 
fliip  under  which  he  lank  exhaulted  in  the  fecond  year  of  the 
war.  Baillie  is  writing  to  his  friend  Spang  on  the  ioth 
Auguft,  1644:  "Since  Pym  died,  not  a  State  Head  amongft 
"  them  :  many  very  good  and  able  fpirits,  but  not  any  of  fo 
"  great  and  comprehenfive  a  braine,  as  to  manage  the  multi- 
"  tude  of  fo  weightie  affaires  as  lyes  on  them.  If  God  did 
"  not  fit  at  their  helme,  for  any  good  guiding  of  theirs  long 
"  ere  this  they  had  been  gone."     Journals,  ii.  216. 


§  vin.     The  Secejjion  and  its  Dangers.  187 

Robert  Goodwin,  the  member  for  Eaft  Grin- 
ftead,  in  a  fpeech  levelled  at  the  new  party  in 
the  Houfe.    He  dilated  on  the  difafters  under-  againft 
gone    from  former  advifers  and  minifters  of™"Jj^t_ 
the  Sovereign  ;   and  argued  that  all  they  had  ments 
gained  would  now  be  loft,  if  they  could  nottooffice- 
guard  againft  poftible  dangers  from  new  coun- 
sellors as  unworthy,  and  who  might  perhaps 
become  as  powerful,  as  the  old.      The  matter 
was  debated  on  both   fides  with   vehemence, 
and  Mr.  William  Strode,*  who  fat  for  Beer- 

*  What   Clarendon  fays  of  Strode,  that  he  was  "  one  of  Claren- 
"  thofe  ephori  who  moft  avowed  the  curbing  and  fupprefung  dori's 
"  of  Majeliy  "   (i.  253),   and  further    (ii.    23),    that   he  was  attackon 
"  one  of  the  fierceft  men  of  the  party,  and  of  the  party  only  Strode: 
"  for  his  fiercenels,"  is  coloured  always  by  ftrong  peribnal  dil- 
like,  but  it  had  probably  foine  foundation.      Only  he  forgets 
to  ftate  that  Strode  had  precifely  the  fame  claims  to  popular 
fympathy  and  confidence  of  which  he  does  not  withhold  the 
credit  from  other  leading  men,  in  fo  far  as  fuch   might  fairly 
reft  on  former  lufrerings,  and  long  imprifonments,  tor  inde- 
pendent  conduct   in    preceding   parliaments.      And    indeed, 
coniidering  the  ftrong  claim  which,  in  every  other  cafe,  fuch 
fufferings  conftituted — the  title  which  the  mere  fa£l  of  having 
fo  fuffered  gave,  to  popularity  out  of  the  Houfe,  to  authority 
within  it,   and    to  continued  diflike   and  jcaloufy    from  the 
Court — it  is  perfectly  inexplicable  to  me  that   Clarendon,  in  not  ap- 
remarking  on  the  arreft  of  the  five  members,  fhould  bring  plicable  to 
himfelf  to  talk  of  a  man  who  had  fat  in  the  laft  two   Parlia-  Strode  of 
ments   of  James  and  in   all  the  Parliaments  ot  Charles,  who  James's 
had  been  a  foremoft  actor  in  the  great  fcene  of  the  diflblution  reign, 
of  the  Third  Parliament,  and  who  for  his  fpirited  and  manly 
conduct  that  day  had  fuffered  perfecution  and  long  imprifon- 
ment,  as  he  fpeaks  of  Strode.     After  obfeiving  that  three  of 
the  five  members  impeached  were  really  diftinguifhed  men,  he 
adds  (vol.  ii.  161),  "  Sir  Arthur  Halelrig  and  Mr.  Strode  were 
"  peribns  of  too   low   an  account  and   efteem  ;  and  though 
"  their  virulence  and  malice  was  as  confpicuous  and  tranfcen- 
"  dent  as  any  man's,   yet  their  reputation,  and  intereft  to  do 
"  any  mifchief,  otherwife  than   in  concurring  in  it,  was  fo 
"  fmall,    that   they    gained    credit   and    authority  by   being 
"  joined  with  the  reft,  who  had  indeed  a  great  influence." 

I  had  written  thus  far  when  it  occurred  to  me  to  make  Probable 
further  inquiry,  and  the  remit  is  a  conviction  to  my  mind  confufion 


i38 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


between 

two 

Strodes. 


The  later 
Strode  a 
young 
man. 


Evidence 
of 

D'Ewes's 
Journal. 


Scene  at 
Arreft  of 
Five 
Members, 


Counter 
tefti- 
mony  in 


alfton,  appears  to  have  given  the  member  for 

that  the  Strode  of  the  Parliaments  of  James  and  the  early 
Parliaments  of  Charles,  and  the  Strode  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment, in  whofe  identity  every  hiftorian  and  writer  upon  thefe 
times,  fo  far  as  I  am  aware,  has  hitherto  implicitly  believed,  and 
by  whom,  as  one  and  the  fame  fpeaker,  a  large  place  is  filled  in 
both  Editions  of  the  Parliamentary  Hiftory,  were  two  diftinff. 
perfons.  That  fo  extraordinary  a  miftake  fhould  have  been 
made  as  to  aperfon  whom  the  King's  fatal  attempt  was  calcu- 
lated to  render  notorious,  may  ferve  to  mow,  among  other 
things,  how  much  has  yet  to  be  learned  refpe&ingthe  incidents 
and  aftors  in  thefe  momentous  times.  The  proof  as  to  Strode 
confifts  in  the  fact  of  repeated  references  to  him  as  a  young 
man,  in  the  manufcript  reports  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
houfe  which  I  have  had  before  me  while  writing.  Rufhvvorth 
had  already  drily  noticed  {Colleclions,  Part  iii.  Vol.  I.  477) 
his  obftinacy  in  refufing,  when  the  King's  intention  was 
made  known,  to  leave  the  houfe  with  the  other  members, 
until  his  ancient  acquaintance  Sir  Walter  Earle  forced  him 
out:  but  I  fubjoin  an  ampler  account  of  the  fcene,  until  now 
unpublifhed,  which  is  interefting  in  itfelf,  and  appears  decifive 
as  to  the  miftake  hitherto  made.  "  But  Mr.  William  Strode, 
"  the  laft  of  the  five,  being  a  young  man  and  unmarried, 
"  could  not  be  perfuaded  by  his  friends  for  a  pretty  while  to 
"  go  out  5  but  laid  that  knowing  himfelf  to  be  innocent,  he 
"  would  ftay  in  the  houfe,  though  he  fealed  his  innocency 
"  with  his  blood  at  the  door:  nor  had  he  been  at  laft  over- 
"  come  by  the  importunate  advice  and  entreaties  of  his  friends, 
'*  when  the  van  or  fore-front  of  thole  ruffians  marched  into 
"  Weftminfter  Hall.  Nay,  when  no  perfuafions  could  prevail 
"  with  the  faid  Mr.  Strode,  Sir  Walter  Earle,  his  entire 
"  friend,  was  fain  to  take  him  by  the  cloak,  and  pull  him 
"  out  of  his  place,  and  fo  get  him  out  of  the  houfe."  From 
the  fact  of  his  reprefenting  Beeralfton,  and  of  the  connection 
between  the  family  of  the  elder  Strode  and  Sir  Walter  Earle, 
young  Strode  was  in  all  probability  the  fon  ;  but  both  the 
Editions  of  the  Parliamentary  Hiftory,  and  all  other  bio- 
graphies and  hiftories  relating  to  him,  beginning  with  the 
very  pofitive  account  in  the  Second  Imprefllon  of  the  Athena 
Oxonienfes  (iii.  176-8,  Edit.  1817),  muft  now  be  altered,  if 
what  I  have  here  advanced  be  correct. 

[The  difpute  of  Strode's  identity  was  reflated,  and  the  view 
here  exprefted  further  enforced,  in  my  Arrejl  of  the  Fi<ve 
Members,  §  xxi,  in  reply  to  fome  remarks  which  the  prefent 
note  had  elicited  in  a  very  able  book  {Illujlratiom  of  the  Great 
Rebellion,  by  Mr.  Langton  Sanfoid)  publifhed  after  my 
EJfays.  But,  in  now  leaving  as  it  ftands  this  curious  hirtoric 
doubt,  I  am  bound  frankly  to  fay  that  the  counter  teftimony 


§  vni.     The  SeceJJiun  and  its  Dangers.  189 

Saltafh,  Mr.  Edward  Hyde*,  fome  advantage,  strode'* 
by  the  unufual  violence  of  tone  with  which  he  violence, 
broadly  infifted  on  the  right  of  the  Houfe  to 
a  negative  voice  in  placing  great  officers  of 
ftate.  "  I  think  moft  he  faid  was  premedi- 
"  tated,"  fays  a  member  who  was  prefent ; 
u  but  it  was  fo  extreme  in  ftrain,  as  Mr. 
"  Hyde  did,  upon  the  fudden,  confute  moft 

in  favour  of  identity,   though  far  from  decifive,  is  ftronger  favour  of 
than  I  fuppofed.    A  Refolution  of  the  Houfe  is  reported,  vot-  identity, 
ing  a  tribute  after  the  death  of  Strode  of  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment, which  would  feem  to  recognife,  not  only  his  attempted 
arreft  by  Charles,  but  his  former  fufferings  under  James.     On 
the  other   hand,  this  vote  belongs  to  a  period  when  a  con- 
fuiion  between  perfons  of  the  fame  family  was  quite  poflible  The  other 
in  a  refolution  having  for  its  objecl  to  exprefs  the  public  grati-  view 
tude.     And   I   l'ubjoin,  in  further  corroboration   of    doubts  ftrength- 
which  I  ftill  hold  to  predominate,  an  extrafl  from  a  private  ened  : 
letter  of  D'Ewes  to  his  wife  defcribing  the  introduction  of  the 
Triennial  Bill,  unquestionably  the  a6t  of  the  man  affociated 
afterwards  with  Hampden  and  Pym  in  the  King's  attempted 
Arreft.     "  My  dear  Love,"  writes  D'Ewes,    "I  had  thought 
"  to  have  written  at  large  unto  you  this  weeke,  but  multitude 
"  of  buiinefs  hinders  mee.     I  heere  enclofed  fend  you  a  copie 
"  of  an  Aft  of  Parliament  which  was  firft  brought   into   the  in  lettei 
"  Houfe  by  one  Mr.   William  Stroud,   a  young  man.''''     Is  it  to  Lady 
conceivable  that  D'Ewes,  one  of  the  moftpun&iliouuy  accurate  D  Ewes, 
of  writers,  would  thus  have  delcribed  a  man  who  had  obtained 
diftin£tion  as  a  reprefentative  of  the  people  before  the  clofe  of 
the  preceding  reign,  when  D'Ewes  himfelf  was  little  more  than 
a  lad  from  college  ?    And  as  he  thus  firft  defcribed  the  Strode 
of  the  Long  Parliament,  fo,  after  nearly  twelve  months  had 
pafled,  we  have  feen  that  he  continued  to  defcribe  him.   i860.] 

*  I   call   him  by  either  name  indifcriminately,    Hyde    or  Another 
Lord  Clarendon,  in  the  courle  of  this  work  ;  but  he  was  not  Hyde: 
the  only  Hyde  who  fat  in  the  Long  Parliament.     There   was 
a  Robert  Hyde,  alfo  a  lawyer  and  a  royalift,  who  fat  for  Salif- 
bury  ;  commonly  called  Serjeant  Hyde.     Robert  voted  againft 
Strafford's  attainder,    and  has  occasionally  been  miftaken  for 
Edward  in  the  lift  of  "  Straffordians."     When   Edward   firft  more 
received  the  King's  melfage   for  an   interview  before   he  fet  decidedly 
forth  to  Scotland,  he   affecled  to  believe  the  meffenger  had  Royalift 
committed    a  miftake,    and  that  his   royalift   namefake    was  than 
intended.     Much  more  likely   he,   than  one  who  had  taken  Edward, 
fuch  part  on  the  other  fide  !     See  Life,  i.  92. 


190  The  Grand  Remonft ranee. 

Hyde's      cc  of  it."     Eagerly  was  Mr.  Hyde  now  plying 

oppor-       n;s  chofen  office  of  King's  defender  ;   but  he 

doubtlefs   found  his  talk  more  difficult  after 

the    interval    of  a   week,    during   which   the 

ftartling    news    had  arrived  (received  in   the 

Houfe,  fays  Clarendon,  with  deep  filence  and 

Irifh  Re-   a  kind  of  confternation)  of  that  rebellion  and 

bellion.      moft  appalling  mafTacre  by  the  Irifh  papifts, 

from  fome  connivance  with  whofe  abettors  the 

memory  of  Charles  the   Firft  has  never   yet 

been  cleared.     Pym  then  faw  his  advantage. 

He  put    the  matter  of  evil  counfellors  in  a 

more    practical    form,    and  brought  fuddenly 

into  open  clafh  and  collifion  the  two  parties 

Pvm's       into  which  the  Houfe  had  become  divided. 

oppor-      And  the  fame  great  name  of  Strafford  which 

had   formerly  united  them,   re-appeared  now 

but  as  the  fignal  to  mow  how  completely  they 

were  riven  afunder. 

§  ix.     The  New  Party  and  the  Old. 

5th  No-         On  Friday,   the   5th  of  November,   upon 
vember,     the  qUeftion  0f  the  fupply  neceffary   for  the 
Pym's       forces  to  be  fent  into  Ireland,  and  whether  or 
ipeech  on  not  affiftance  mould  be  afked  from  the  Scotch, 
fellors.    "  Pyni  arofe,  and  after  remarking  that  no  man 
fhould  be  readier  or  more  forward  than  himfelf 
to   engage  his  eftate,   his  perfon,  his  life,  for 
the  fuppreffion   of  this  rebellion  in   Ireland, 
there  was  yet  another  queftion  alfo  to  be  con- 
fidered.      All  that  they   there  did  would  be 
vain,  as  long  as  the  King  gave  ear  to  the  coun- 
fellors about  him.     His  Majefty  muft  be  told, 
faid  the  member  for  Taviftock,  that  Parliament 


§  ix.    The  New  Party  and  the  Old.  191 

here  finds  evil  counfels  to  have  been  the  caufe 
of  all  thefe  troubles  in  Ireland  ;  and  that  unlefs 
the  Sovereign  will  be  pleafed  to  free  himfelf 
from  fuch,  and  take  only  counfellors  whom 
the  kingdom  can  confide  in,  Parliament  will  Excite- 
hold  itfelf  abfolved  from  giving  afliftance  in  ment  in 

Houfe 

the  matter.     cc  Well  moved  !   Well  moved  !" 

cried    many    members ;    and    <f  divers,"   fays 

D'Ewes,  "  would  have  had  it  fpeedily  affented 

cc  unto,    but    Mr.   Hyde    flood  up,  and  firft 

"  oppofed  it,  and  faid,  amongft  other  things, 

iC  that  by  fuch  an  addition  we  mould  as  it 

tc  were  menace  the  King."     Upon  this  hint  Edmund 

up  fprang  fuddenly  the  member  for  St.  Ives,     *  ers 

Mr.  Edmund  Waller,  coufin  to  Hampden  and 

to  Cromwell,  yet  one  of  Hyde's  mofl  eager 

recruits,    nor    more    defpifed   for    his    abject, 

veering,  vacillating  fpirit,  than  he  was  popular 

for  his  wit,  vivacity,  and  genius.*     Thefe  he 

had  now  placed  entirely  at  the  King's  difpofal. 

He  begged  the  Houfe  to  obferve  what  Mr.  Compares 

Pym  had  juft  faid,  and  to  remember  what  for-  ^j^ 

merly  had  been  faid  by  the  Earl  of  Strafford. 

Where  in  effect  was  the    difference  between 

fuch  counfel  to  a  King,  as  that  he  was  abfolved 

from  all  laws  of  government,  on  Parliament 

*  "  He  had  a  graceful  way  of  fpeaking;  and  by  thinking  Value  of 
"  much  upon  feveral  arguments,    he  feemed  often  to  fpeak  prepara- 
"  upon  the  fudden,  when  the  occafion  had  only  administered  t;on  jn 
"  the  opportunity  of  faying  what  he    had  thoroughly  con-  oratory. 
"  fidered,  which  gave  a  great  luftre  to  all  he  faid  ;  which  yet 
"  was  rather  of  delight  than  weight.      There  needs  no  more 
"  be  faid  to  extol  the  excellence  and  power  of  his  wit,  and 
"  pleafantnefs  of  his  converfation,  than  that  it  was  of  magni- 
"  tude  enough  td  cover  a  world  of  very  great  faults  ;  that  is, 
"  fo  to  cover  them,  that  they  were  not  taken  notice  of  to  his 
"  reproach."     Clarendon,  Life,  i.  5+. 


\gz  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

refufing  his  unjuft  demands ;  and  fuch  advice 
to  a  Parliament,  as  that  it  mould  hold  itfelf 
abfolved  from  affifting  the  State,  on  the  King's 
non-compliance   with    demands    perhaps    not 
more  juft  ?     The  too  ingenious  fpeaker   was 
Pvm  rifes  not  permitted  to  fay  more.     Pym  rofe  imme- 
to  order,    diately  and  fpoke  to  order.     If  the  advice  he 
had  given  were  indeed  of  the  fame  nature  as 
Lord   Strafford's,  then   he    deferved  the  like 
punifhment ;    and  he    craved,    therefore,    the 
juftice  of  the  Houfe,  either  to  be  fubmitted  to 
its  cenfure,  or  that  the  gentleman  who  fpoke 
laft  be  compelled  to  make  reparation.     Many 
Cries  for    and  loud  were  the  cries  for  Waller  which  fol- 
Waller.     lowed  this  grave  and  dignified  rebuke  ;   but  a 
ftrong  party  fupported  him  in  his  refufal  to  give 
other  than  fuch  modified  explanation  as  he  at  firft 
tendered,  and  it  was  not  until  after  long  debate 
that  he  was  ordered  into  the  committee  cham- 
ber, and  had  to  make  fubmifTion  in  the  required 
Repara-     terms.       It   was    near    five    o'clock   on    that 
November  evening,  when  Mr.  Waller  tf  pub- 
cc  lickly  afked  pardon  of  the  Houfe  and  Mr. 
"  Pym."  * 

Com-  *  All,  until  now,  revealed  of  this  affair,  is  contained  in  the 

mons'       .    fubjoined  entry  from  the  Commons'  Journals  (ii.  306),  under 
Journals:    head  of  Friday,  5th  Nov.  164.1: 
5th  Nov.         "  Exceptions  were  taken  at  words  fpoken  by  Mr.  Waller, 

"  which  reflected  upon  Mr.  Pym  in  a  high  way:  for   which 

"  he  was  commanded  to  withdraw. 

"  And  he  being  withdrawn,  the  Buiinefs  was  a  while  de- 

"  bated  :  And  then  he  was  commanded  to  return  to  his  place. 
"  And  then  the  Speaker  told  him,  that   the  Houfe  held  it 

"  fit,  that,   in   his  place,   he  mould  acknowledge  his  offence 

"  given  by  his  words,  both  to  the  Houfe  in  general,  and  Mr. 

"  Pym  in  particular. 
Waller's         "  Which   he  did   ingenuoufly,   and  exprefled  his   forrow 

apology.     "  for  "•" 

The  fpecial  caufe  of  offence  is  now  firft  made  known. 


tion 
made. 


§  ix.    The  New  Party  and  the  Old.  193 

But  the  Houfe,  or  Mr.  Pym,  was  little  now 
to  Mr.  Waller  and  his  friends,  in  comparifon 
with  their  new  and  late-found  allegiance  to  the 
other  matter  whom  till  now  they  had  deter- 
minedly oppofed.     So  quick  and  complete  the  Dramatic 
change,  it  was  as  the  fhifting  of  a  fcene  upon  chanSes : 
the   ftage.     The  men  who  had  always  been 
courtiers   were   feen    fuddenly    depofed   from 
what  importance  they  had,  and  an  entirely  new 
fet   of  characters  promptly  filled  their  place. 
"  I    may    not    forbear   to    let    your    Majefty  reported 
"  know,"  writes  Nicholas  immediately  before  !?.     . 
the  fcene  juft  named,  and  defcribing  the   de- 
bates which  led  to  it,  "that the  Lord  Falkland, 
<c  Sir   John    Strangways,    Mr.    Waller,   Mr. 
ff  Edward    Hyde,    and    Mr.    Holborne,    and 
u  divers  others,  ftood  as  champions  in  mainte- 
Ci  nance  of  your  prerogative,  and  mowed  for 
"  it  unanfwerable  reafon  and  undeniable  prece- 
"  dents,  whereof  your  Majefty  mail  do  well 
"  to  take  fome  notice,  as  your  Majefty  mail 
"  think  beft,  for  their  encouragement."  Eagerly  Royal 
did  the  King  refpond,  that  his  good  Nicholas  thanks  to 

1       r  r  1  •      1  •    managers. 

was  commanded  to  do  fo  much  at  once  in  his 
name,  and  to  tell  thofe  worthy  gentlemen  that 
he  would  do  it  himfelf  at  his  return.  The 
Secretary  was  ill  when  that  meffage  reached 
him,  but  it  was  not  a  matter  that  admitted  of 
delay.  Hyde  was  fent  for  to  King  Street,  Hyde  fent 
where  Nicholas  lived ;  was  mown  up  to  his  Nicolas, 
bed-room,  in  which  he  lay  very  fick ;  and  the 
bufinefs  was  wholly,  Mr.  Hyde  informs  us 
with  a  modeft  fatisfaction,  "  to  fhow  Mr. 
<f  Hyde  a  letter  from  the  King  to  Mr.  Nicholas, 
"  in  which  he  writ  to  him,  that  he  underftood, 


94 


'The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Is  fhown 
a  letter 
from  the 
King. 


Old 

leaders 
unmoved. 


Majority 
ftill  Effi- 
cient. 


Meafures 

againft 

Biftiops: 


<c  by  feveral  hands,  that  he  was  very  much 
"  beholden  to  Mr.  Hyde  for  the  great  zeal 
cc  he  mowed  to  his  fervice ;  and  therefore 
tc  commanded  him  to  fpeak  with  him,  and  to 
"  let  him  know  the'fenfe  he  had  of  it;  and 
"  that  when  he  returned,  he  would  let  him 
cc  know  it  himfelf."  *  Through  Mr.  Hyde 
paffed  doubtlefs  feveral  fimilar  meflages,  and 
thereupon  clofely  had  followed  Mr.  Waller's 
affault  on  Mr.  Pym,  and  the  rebuke  at 
Weftminfter  winning  him  frefh  favour  at 
Whitehall. 

Each  incident  that  had  manifefted  thus,  how- 
ever, the  fpirit  and  purpofe  of  the  new  oppofi- 
tion,  ferved  only  to  knit  more  clofely  what  was 
left  of  the  old  liberal  phalanx.  No  word  was 
breathed  of  any  kind  of  concefTion.  Their 
fpeech  had  not  been  more  decifive,  or  their 
action  more  vigorous,  while  Strafford  flood  at 
bay.  Broken  as  were  their  ranks,  their  majo- 
rity was  fufficient  and  decifive ;  and  they  had 
a  fupreme  force  in  referve  to  which  they  were 
about  to  appeal.  Wherever  Hyde  and  his 
friends,  therefore,  might  be  expected  to 
mufter  ftrongeft,  there  they  {truck  ever  them- 
felves  the  firft,  and  ftill  the  heavieft. 

Before  the  recefs,  thirteen  bifhops  had  been 
impeached  for  an  attempt  to  override  the  law 
by  afferting  a  legiflative  authority  in  new 
Canons  which  they  claimed  to  impofe ;  after 
the  Houfe  again  met,  as  we  have  (tcn}  a  bill 
had  been  introduced  for  taking  away  their 
votes  in  the  upper  Houfe  ;  fubfequently  there 


Life  and  Continuation,  i.  94  (Ed.  1827). 


§  ix.     The  New  Party  and  the  Old.  195 

had  been  feveral  fharp  debates  on  a  propofal 
to  fequefter  them  from  giving  votes  on 
the  difabling  bill,  becaufe  they  mould  not 
thereby  be  at  once  parties  and  judges  :  yet 
this  was  the  time  felected  by  Charles  for 
prefling  with  characteriftic  vehemence  the  in- 
veftiture  of  five  new  bifhops,  of  whom  four 
had  fat  in  the  Convocation  which  impofed  the 
difputed  Canons  !  In  writing  to  Edinburgh,  propofal 
Nicholas  had  been  careful  to  recount  the  furprife  *°  make 

five  new 

he  heard  exprefTed  that  any  man  mould  move  ones< 
his  Majefty  for  making  of  bifhops  in  thofe 
times,  to  which  his    Majefty  wrote  inftantly 
back  that  on  no  account  was  there  to  be  any 
delay  ;  and  at  the  very  moment  thefe  letters 
were  thus  interchanged,  Mr.  Oliver  Cromwell  Cr°™~ 
had  carried  in  the  Commons,  by  a  majority  of  counter 
eighteen,  a  motion  for  a  conference  with  the  motion. 
Lords  to   ftay  the  inveftiture.       cc  This  bu/i- 
iC  nefs,"  fays   D'Ewes,  "  was  debated  with  as 
fC  great  earneftnefs  almoft  as  I  ever  faw  in  the 
"  Houfe." 

The  earneftnefs  had  certainly  not  abated  a 
few  days  later,  when,  the  time  limited  for 
pleading  to  the  impeachment  having  arrived, 
the  impeached  bifhops  were  to  put  in  their  Bifhops' 
anfwer  ;  and  a  demurrer  was  entered  on  their  demurrer 
behalf  fo  fkilfully  drawn  up,  that  the  curiofity 
was  great  to  afcertain  its  author.  It  came  on 
for  difcuftion  in  the  Houfe ;  and  the  one  of 
Hampden's  counfel  who  had  argued  with  moft 
confummate  ability  againft  fhip-money,  and 
who  had  not  heretofore  been  very  friendly  to 
bifhops,     Mr.    Holborne,    member    for    St.  J?olborne 

n/i-    1        i»  1        r    \  •      1        1  1        -i    supports 

Michael  s,   and  or  late  entirely  leagued  with  bifhops. 

0  2 


Holborne : 


1 96  'The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

Hyde,  got  up  to  fupport  it.     Hereupon  Sir 
Simonds   D'Ewes,  that  wealthy  and  refpected 
country    gentleman    and    collector    of  prece- 
dents and  records,  who  now  fat  for  Sudbury, 
ex-high- fheriff  of  Suffolk    but  formerly  ftu- 
dent   and  barrifter   of  the   Middle    Temple, 
D'Ewes     made    a   lucky   hit.     He    complimented    his 
replies  to   learned  friend  ;  recalled  the    days  when  they 
ufed  to  meet  at  mootes  in  Lincoln's  Inn,  and 
admitted  that,  of  all  men,  he  was  wont  to  get 
deepeft  into  the  points  of  a  cafe ;  but,  truly, 
he  had   this  day  fo  ftrongly  maintained  the 
plea   and   demurrer   of  the  bifhops,  that  he 
could  not  have  performed  it  more  exactly  if 
he  himfelf  had  drawn  the  fame.     Something 
here  perhaps  in  Holborne's  manner  betrayed 
him,  but  a  loud  laugh  burft  forth  which  was 
ifing      kept  up  fome  time.     fC  All  the  Houfe  laughed 
laugh        a  f0  long,"  fays  D'Ewes,   cc  as  I  was  fain  to 
h?m.  fC  remain    fllent  a  good  while  ;  for  I  believe 

ic  many  in  the  Houfe  did  fufpect,  as  well  as 
<(  myfelf,  that  either  the  faid  Mr.  Holborne 
<c  had  wholly  drawn  them,  or  at  leafl:  had 
"  given  his  affiftance  therein."  It  was  quite 
true ;  but  the  great  fhip-money  lawyer  took 
little  for  his  pains  in  having  thus  come  to  the 
Begin-  refcue.  Upon  the  fuccefs  of  the  demurrer, 
tl'ngnd  Pym  headed  a  conference  with  the  Lords  ;  de- 
manded, in  the  name  of  the  Commons,  that 
the  votes  of  the  bifhops  mould  be  fufpended 
until  the  fate  of  the  bill  under  difcuffion  was 
decided ;  and  fo  began  the  conflict  with  the 
Right  Reverend  Bench  which  ended  in  their 
committal  to  the  Tower. 

In  like  manner  it  fared  with  the  two  other 


rai 


counter 
moves. 


§  ix.     The  New  Party  and  the  Old.  197 

questions,  control  of  his  Army  and  choice  of  his 
Counfellors,  on  which  the  King  was  himfelf 
moll  fenfitive,  and  his  friends  in  the  Houfe 
moft  bufy  and  eager.  Every  move  they  made  Moves 
was  outmoved.  Vehement  as  were  the  excite-  and 
ments,  and  grave  the  dangers,  of  the  Iriih 
Rebellion,  of  the  doubtful  allegiance  of  the 
force  under  arms  in  England,  and  of  the 
attempts  in  Scotland  againft  Argyle  and  the 
Hamiltons,  Pym  feized  and  turned  to  inftant 
advantage,  as  already  we  have  {qqr  on  one 
fubject,  the  equivocal  pofition  regarding  all  in 
which  ill  counfels  had  placed  the  King. 

At  the  fame  time,  being  far  the  moft  practi-  Prudence 
cal  man  in  the  Houfe,  he  never  infifted  upon  ^   0jp  " 
any  propofition,   however  in    itfelf  defirable,  Pym. 
which  carried  with  it  the  danger  of  dividing 
his  party  ;*  fetting  himfelf  to  difcover,  in  all 
fuch  cafes,  a  lefs  objectionable  mode  of  effecting 
the  fame  object;  and  Oliver  St.  John,  who  con- 
tinued to  hold  the  office  of  Solicitor-General, 
having  pointed  out  the  ill  confequence,  to  many 
members,  of  fuch  a  refolution  as  that  objected 
to  by  Waller,  abfolving  the  Houfe  under  any 
conditions  from   its   necelTary  engagement  to  Gives 
affift  in  reducing  the  Irifh  Rebellion,  Pym  at  effe£l  to 
once  recaft  his  refolution,  and  brought  it  for-  QlfgJ^ 
ward  in  its  new  form  on  the  8th  of  November.  John. 
Subftantially  it  was  the  fame  as  at  firft  ;  but  fo 
expreffed,  that  while  it  met  the  objection  of 
St.  John,  it  alfo  met  with  greater  directnefs 
what   was   known  to   be  the  purpofe  of  the 
King.     Affuming  that  his  Majefty  fhould  not  Pofition 

*  See  other  illuftrations  of  this  in  my  Arreft  of  the  Five 
Members,  §  xxiii. 


198 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


of  Houfe 
as  to  Irifh 
Rebellion. 


Hope  of 
the  King 
thereon. 


Baffled  by 
Pym. 


Speech 
to  the 
Lords 
againft 
evil  coun- 
fels. 


be  gracioufly  pleafed  to  difmifs  his  evil  coun- 
fellors,  it  declared  that,  while  the  Houfe  would 
neverthelefs  continue  in  the  obedience  and 
loyalty  due  by  the  laws  of  God  and  the  king- 
dom, yet  they  would  take  fuch  a  courfe  for 
the  fecuring  of  Ireland  as  might  likewije  Jecure 
them/elves.  "  I  hope  this  ill  news  of  Ireland," 
Charles  had  curtly  written  to  Nicholas,  in  the 
midft  of  the  fudden  public  horror  at  that  appal- 
ling news, tc  I  hope  this  ill  news  of  Ireland  may 
Cf  hinder  fome  of  thefe  follies  in  England ! " 
Small  chance  of  fuch  hope  finding  realization  if 
a  refolution  worded  like  Pym's  might  pafs  the 
Houfe  !  Charles  would  have  ufed  the  neceffity 
for  an  armed  force  fo  as  to  direct  it  againft  Eng- 
li/h  as  well  as  Irifh  <c  follies. "  Pym  faw  what  was 
meant,  and  rendered  the  fcheme  impoffible. 

Orlando  Bridgman  led  the  oppofition,  and 
after  a  long  and  fierce  debate  Pym's  refolution 
pafTed  by  a  majority  of  151  to  110.  Then, 
at  a  conference  with  the  Lords  the  following 
day,  every  ftep  to  which  had  been  hotly  con- 
tended in  the  Commons,  he  obtained  their 
confent  to  the  introduction  of  a  fimilar  claufe 
againft  evil  counfellors  into  the  inftructions 
for  requesting  help  from  the  Scotch  Parliament 
for  fuppreftion  of  the  Irifh  Rebellion  ;  and 
this  after  a  fpeech  confummate  in  its  power 
and  efFect,  and  remarkable  for  the  fubtlety  of 
its  argument  againft  the  Roman  Catholic 
religion  as  in  its  full  indulgence  incompatible 
with  the  exiftence  in  a  State,  not  only  of  any 
other  form  of  religion,  but  of  any  form  what- 
ever of  political  government  and  freedom.  It 
is   alfo  a  fact  full  of  fignificance  that  on  the 


§  ix.     The  New  Party  and  the  Old.  199 

fame  day  when  the  refolution  embodied  in  this  Refolu- 
claufe  had  patted  the  lower  Houfe  by  a  majority  tl0£ 
of  forty-one,  and  the  conference  with  the  Lords 
was  obtained,  which  was  only  two  days  later 
than   that  of  the  fierce   refiftance    of   Hyde, 
Culpeper,  and  Falkland,  and  of  Waller's  high- 
flying parallel  between  Strafford  and  Pym,  I 
difcover  that  <c  Mr.   Cromwell "    moved    and 
carried  an   addition  to  the  fubjects   for  con- 
ference :  cc  that  we  mould  defire  the  Lords  that  Amotion 
tc  an  Ordinance  of  Parliament  might  pafs  to  ^  ollver 

o        r  (Jromwell. 

cc  give  the  Earl  of  Effex  power  to  aflemble,  at 
<c  all  times,  the  trained  bands  of  the  kingdom  on 
ff  this  fide  Trent,  for  the  defence  thereof,  till 
{c  further  orders  therein  taken  by  the  Houfes." 

Therein  lay  the  ominous  germ  and  begin-  Germ 
ning  of  the  victorious  army  of  the  parliament !  pJi^. 
Such  power  as  Cromwell   thus    obtained   for  mentary 
Effex,  during  the  pleafure  and  under  the  autho-  ArmY- 
rity  of  Parliament,  the  King  had  given  him 
before  his  departure,  with  a  limit  of  its  duration 
to  the  period  of  his  abfence  in  Scotland.     But 
even  more  pregnant  of  difafter  to  the  King's 
defigns  than  the  power  thus  inverted  in  the  moft 
popular  member  of  the  Houfe  of  Lords,  was  the 
character  of  the  authority  by  which  the  right  fo 
to  give  or  to  withhold  fuch  power  was  affumed. 

Then  for  the  firfl:  time  had  appeared  the  ill-  Ominous 
boding  claim  of  authority  for  an  Ordinance  of  fo^  pU 
both  Houfes  in  the  abfence  of  the  King. 
Nicholas  haftened  to  inform  the  King  of  the 
portent.  A  great  lord  had  objected,  he  faid, 
and  expreffed  doubts  whether  men  might  be 
raifed  without  warrant  under  the  Great  Seal ; 
whereupon,  this  doubt  being  made  known  in 


200 


The  Grand  Remonflrance. 


Ordi- 
nances 
minus  the 
Kinsr. 


Alarm 
thereat 


the  Commons'  Houfe,  it  had  been  declared  that 
an  Ordinance  of  both  Houfes  was  a  fufficient 
warrant  for  levying  of  volunteers  by  beating 
of  the  drum,  cc  and  an  entry  of  fuch  their 
cc  declaration  was  accordingly  made  in  the 
<c  Register  of  that  houfe."  The  letter  of 
Nicholas  is  dated  the  ioth  November,  only 
two  days  later  than  Cromwell's  refolution. 
Meanwhile,  however,  the  Queen  appears  to 
have  fent,  upon  this  all  important  point,  even 
earlier  tidings  to  the  King;  for,  in  a  letter 
dated  the  1 2th  November,  only  two  days  later 
than  the  communication  to  Nicholas,  fhe  thus 
writes  to  him  :  "I  fend  you  a  letter  for  Milord 
fC  Keeper,  that  the  King  did  fend  to  me  to 
c c  deliver  if  I  thought  it  fit.  T'hejubjecl  of  it  Js 
t(  to  make  a  Declaration  againft  the  Orders  of 
(C  Parliament  which  are  made  without  the  King. 
"  If  you  believe  a  fit  time  give  it  him,  if  not 
<c  you  may  keep  it  till  I  fee  you."  In  the 
fame  letter  fhe  tells  Nicholas  that  the  King 
will  certainly  be  in  London  by  the  20th  of  the 
month,  and  that  he  is  therefore  to  advertife 
the  Lord  Mayor  of  London  of  the  fact. 
Prepara-  The  chief  magiftrate  was  duly  informed,  and 
conflict"  haflened  to  make  good  ufe  of  the  time  fo  given 
him  :  but  the  leaders  of  the  Commons  had 
already  made  provifion  for  turning  to  ftill 
better  ufe  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the 
time. 


8th  Nov, 
1641. 


§  x.     Conflict  Begun. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  fame  Monday  the 
8th    of    November    when    Pym's    modified 


§  x.     ConfiiB  Begun.  201 

refolution    againft    evil    coimfels    paffed,    the  Rough 
"Declaration    and    Remonftrance "  was   fub-draftof 
mitted  in  its  firft  rough  draft  for  difcuffion  by  fiance ' 
the  Houfe.     Never  before  was  prefented  to  it,  fubmitted. 
never  fince  has  it  received,  fuch  a  State  Paper 
as  that ! — Immediately  upon    its   production, 
it.  was  read  at   the  clerk's  table ;  whereupon 
feveral  notices    of  motions  for  additions  and 
amendments  were  given,  and  order  was  taken 
for  commencing  the  difcuffion  upon  its  feveral 
claufes,  Jeriatim,  on  the  following  morning  at 
nine  o'clock. 

The  character  of  the  impreffion  at  once  Nicholas 
made  by  it  will  be  inferred  from  the  inftant  ^Kfoe 
communication  of  Secretary  Nicholas  to  the 
King.  On  the  evening  of  the  fame  day,  he 
wrote  off  to  Scotland  that  there  had  been  that 
afternoon  brought  into  the  Commons'  houfe, 
and  there  read,  a  Declaration  of  the  State  of 
Affairs  of  the  kingdom,  which  related  all  the 
mifgovernment  and  all  the  unpleafing  things 
that  had  been  done  by  ill  counfels  ("as  they 
cc  call  it ")  fince  the  third  year  of  the  reign 
until  now.  The  further  confederation  of  it 
was  to  be  had  the  next  day  in  the  Houfe ;  and  Mr.Secre- 
fo  much  was  it  likely  to  reflect  to  the  prejudice  J^y- 
of  his  Majefty's  Government,  that  Mr.  Secre- 
tary fC  troubled  "  to  think  what  might  be  the 
iffue  if  his  Majefty  came  not  inftantly  away 
from  Edinburgh.  Every  line  in  the  letter 
fhowed  the  fore  perplexity  the  writer  was  in. 
He  could  not  poffibly  account  for  this  Remon- 
ftrance  fatisfactorily  as  a  party  demonstration. 
cc  Surely  if  there  had  been  in  this,"  he  fays, 
{f  nothing  but  an  intention  to  have  justified  Kind's 


L02 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 


inftant 
return  : 


King's 
anfwer : 


Stop  the 
Remon- 
ftrance ! 


Forces 
organifed 
for  the 
ftruggle. 


"  the  proceedings  of  this  Parliament,  they 
cc  would  not  have  begun  fo  high."  He  en- 
treated the  King  to  burn  his  letter,  or  he, 
Nicholas,  might  be  loft ;  and  at  its  clofe  he 
again  made  urgent  and  anxious  reprefentation 
to  his  Majefty,  that  he  could  not  poffibly  fo 
much  prejudice  himfelf  by  at  once  leaving 
Edinburgh  and  all  things  there  unfinifhed,  as 
by  delaying  his  return  to  London  even  one 
day.  The  King's  anfwer,  avoiding  the  queftion 
of  the  immediate  return,  as  to  which  he  had 
already  communicated  with  the  Queen,  was 
not  lefs  urgent.  "  You  muft  needs  fpeak  with 
"  fuch  of  my  fervants  that  you  may  beft  truft, 
"  in  my  name,  that  by  all  means  poflible  this 
cf  Declaration  may  be  flopped." 

Alas  !  this  was  not  by  any  means  poflible. 
All  that  could  now  be  done,  by  earneft  recruit- 
ing for  the  royal  fervice,  was  to  aroufe  and 
league  firmly  together,  in  defperate  oppofition 
to  the  Remonftrance  and  its  authors,  a  band 
of  members  of  the  lower  Houfe,  even  more 
fierce  and  only  lefs  determined  than  the  other 
indiflbluble  league  already  pledged  to  fupport 
it,  and  bent  upon  carrying  it  to  the  people. 
And  fo  the  ftruggle  began. 


§    xr.       The    Opening     Debates  :      9TH, 

IOTH,  I2TH,  I5TH,  AND  1  6th  NOVEM- 
BER. 

Firft  On  Tuefday,  the  9th  of  November,   the 

ShNov     ^r^-  debate  was  taken.     The  hour   appointed 

for  it  was  nine  o'clock,  but  it  did  not  begin  till 

about  twelve  o'clock,  and  it  continued  until  a 


§  xi.      The  Opening  Debates :  gth  Nov.  203 

late  hour.     The  order  of  procedure  was  firft 
fettled.    The  Declaration  was  to  be  read  claufe 
by  claufe ;  every  member  was  to  fpeak  to  each 
claufe,  if  he  would  ;   and  if  any  fpoke  to  have  Procedure 
the  claufe  amended,  and  that  the  Houfe  gave  fettled- 
leave,   then   it  was  to  be  amended,   and  the 
claufe  with  the  amendments  put  to  the  quef- 
tion.    Cromwell  and  Strode  were  among  thofe 
who  moved  the  firft  amendments.     At  this 
firft  fitting  alfo,   Bulftrode  Whitelocke,  who  Movers 
fat  for  Marlow,  Serjeant  Wylde,  the  member  ^mend. 
for    Worcefterfhire,    Mr.    Henry   Smith,    the  ments. 
member  for  Leicefterfhire  and  afterwards  one 
of  the  King's  judges,   Sir  John   Clotworthy, 
who  fat  for  Maiden,  Mr.  Wingate,  the  member 
for  St.  Albans,  and  Mr.  Geoffrey  Palmer,  the 
member  for  Stamford,  and  formerly  one  of  the 
managers  of  Strafford's  impeachment,  moved 
and   carried   infertions    and    additions ;   all  of 
them,  with  exception  of  the  laft,  defigned  to 
make  it  more  ftringent  and  fevere  in  tone. 
On  the  following  day,   Nicholas  reported  as  Report  of 
ufual  to  the  King.     A  fourth  part  had  been  Nicholas 

,  ,         &         .  r  /    rc        ,      r        to  King, 

gone  through,  comprmng  nearly  fifty  clauies ; 

and  the  reft  of  it,  Mr.   Secretary  had  learnt, 

was  to  be   voted  in  the  fame  way,  as  faft  as 

might  be  ;  after  which  it  was  to  be  tranfmitted 

ftraightwav  to  the  Lords.    The  latter  informa-  K'"g's 

o  .;  m  order 

tion  was  inaccurate  ;  but  the  King's  inftant  thereon, 
order  to  act  upon  it,  though  deftined  to  be  of 
no  avail  as  to  the  upper  Houfe,  was  a  new 
incentive  to  activity  in  the  lower.  cf  Com- 
"  mand  the  Lord  Keeper  in  my  name,"  he 
wrote,  "  that  he  warn  all  my  fervants  to  oppofe 
"  it  in  the  Lords'  houfe." 


204  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

Second  On  Wednefday,   the   ioth    of   November, 

icJhNov    ^S  a  mem^er  w^°  t0°k  Part  m  tne  debate, 
"  we  proceeded  with  the  Remonftrance  where 
**  we  left  off  yefterday."     Infertlons  and  addi- 
tions   were    again    made,    among    them    one 
having  reference  to  flavifh  doctrines  again  ft  the 
fubjecVs  property  in  his  eftate,  very  generally 
preached  from  pulpits  before  the  King  ;   and  a 
peremptory  order,  ifTued  at  this  fitting,  to  the 
No  copies  effect  that  the  clerk  fhould  on  no  account  give 
given  out  out  copies  °f  tne  Declaration  until  the  Houfe 
had   fully   perfected    it,    may    ferve  to    fhow 
how  intereft  was  gathering  around  it  from  day 
to  day. 
nth  Nov.       The  Irifh  Rebellion,  and  provision  for  the 
Strod        levies  and  expenditure  it  had  fuddenly  rendered 
necefTary,  occupied  the    Houfe    fo  inceffantly 
during  the  fitting  of  the  1 1  th  of  November,  that 
the  order  for  renaming  the  Remonftrance  had 
to  be  laid  afide  ;  but  a  remarkable  allufion  was 
thrown  out  in  reference  to  it,  by  Strode,  in  the 
courfe  of  the  debate  on  the  railing  money  for 
fupply  of  his  Majefty's  wants  in  Ireland.      He 
fpoke  of  the  difTatisfaction  of  the  people,  and 
of  the  injuftice  of  laying  further  burdens  on 
Deitina-     them,  until  fomething  were  done  to  reaffure 
tion  of      them  under  their  prefent  fears  and  mifgivings, 
ftranc""     an<^  to  g^ve  them  hope  that  what  with  fo  much 
avowed:    toil  and  facrifice  had  been  lately  gained  was 
not  again  to  be  completely  loft.      "  Sir,"  faid 
the  member  for    Beeralfton,  cc  I  move  againft 
<f  the  order  of  the  committee  that  we  fhould 
Ct  not   admit  of  the  giving  of  money  till  the 
ic  Remonftrance  be  pafTed  this  Houfe,  and  gone 
thepeople.  "  into  the  country  to  fatisfy  them."     This  at 


§  xi.      The  Opening  Debates  :   \ith  Nov.  205 

any  rate  was  plain  fpeaking.*     Thus  early  in. 
the  debates,  the  defire  and  the  defign  of  the 
promoters  of  the  Remonftrance  were  frankly 
avowed.     It  was  to  be  to  them   fome  guar- 
antee that  the  army  about  to  be  raifed  for  the  To  be 
fuppreffion  of  Irifn  rebellion,  fhould  not  here-  Pn"te.d 
after  be  ufed  for  the   fuppreffion  of  Englifh  culated. 
liberty.      It  was  to   be  printed  and  circulated 
among  the  people. 

That  was  on  Thurfday,  the  1  ith  of  Novem-  Third 
ber.     On  the  day  following,  the  Remonftrance  ^^nVv 
was  proceeded  with,  and  every  part  fo  obfli- 
nately  difputed,  that  the  Houfe  fat  far  into 
that    November   afternoon.      A    motion    for 
rifing  having  been  refifted  fuccefsfully,  another 
member  moved  that  candles  mould  be  brought.  Motion 
This    was    a    proceeding    as    yet    very  rarely  Jjj™an~ 
reforted  to  ;    it  having  been  only  during  the 
proceedings  on  the  Attainder  of  Strafford  that 
the  order  of  the  Houfe  had  been  fo  far  relaxed 
as  to  admit  of  new  motions  made,  except  with 
fpecial  permiffion,  after  noon.j"     <cSir,"faid 

*  Strode  feems  to  have  had  the  habit  of  blurting  out  in  Strode's 
words,  in  a  Hidden  impulfive  way,  what  the  more  referved  of  manner  or 
the  party  more  prudently  were  content  to  leave  as  matter  of  fpeech. 
inference  from  their  acts.     As  to  the  queftion  of  difbanding 
the   Scotch  army,    for  inftance,    he  frankly  avowed :  "  We 
"  cannot  yet  fpare  the  Scotch.     The  fons  of  Zeruiah  are  too 
ic  ftrong  for  us  ;"  for  which,  being  called  to  order,  the  Houfe 
refufed  to  exact  any  apology.     (Journals,  Feb.  6,  1 640-1.) 
What  he  thus  openly  declared  had  till  then  (according  to 
May,  lib.  i.  cap.  viii.)   been  afTerted  principally   by  the   ill-  Avowal 
affecled,  who  not  only  in  difcourfe  but  written  libels  taxed  the  as  to 
Parliament    with  it,   imputing   it  to  them  as  a  crime  of  too  Scotch 
much  diftruft  of  the  King,  and  accufing  them  of  having  kept  armV- 
up  a  foreign  army  to  overawe  their  own  Prince. 

f  I  find,  from  the  D'Ewes  manufcript  before  me,  that  on  the 
4th  December  1640,  on  the  motion  of  Strode,  an  order  was 
made  that  "  every  one  upon  coming  into  the  Houfe  who  did 


206 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


D'Ewes 

in  favour 
of  candles, 


Private 
reports 
to  the 
King. 


Shilling 
fines. 


Orders 
as  to 
bufinefs 


as  to 

reading 

Bills. 


the  advocate  for  candles,  who  was  no  other 
than  D'Ewes  himfelf,  ccwe  have  now  been 
<c  fitting  in  the  houfe  near  upon  feven  hours  " 
(the  ordinary  hour  of  meeting  was  eight  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  but  of  late,  in  confequence 
of  the  prolonged  fittings,  the  hour  had  been 
generally  nine,  fometimes  even  ten  o'clock), 
<c  and  we  do  not  now  think  fit  to  rife,  but 
"  we  will  ftill  fit.  I  defire  that  we  may  fit 
(c  according  to  the  ancient  ufe  of  parliaments, 
<c  having  the  ufe  as  well  of  our  eyes  as  of  our 
"  ears  ;  and  that  lights  may  be  brought  in." 

On  this  very  day,  Nicholas  had  written  fome- 
what  more  hopefully  to  the  King  that  the 
Houfe  had  been  the  day  before  fo  employed 
about  Irifh  affairs,  that  they  meddled  not  with 
their  Declaration :  but  after  a  very  few  days 
he  has,  lefs  eagerly,  to  report  that  they  have 
been  making  up  for  loft  time.  <c  The  Houfe 
<c  of  Commons,"  he  wrote,  cc  haftens  by  all 
tc  means  the  finifhing  of  the  Declaration  or 
''Remonftrance;  and  for  the  more  fpeedy 
"  expediting  of  it,  they  have  at  the  committee 

"  not  take  his  place,  or  did,  after  taking  his  place,  talk  Co 
"  loud  as  to  interrupt  the  bufinefs  of  the  Houfe  from  being 
"  heard,  mould  pay  a  milling  fine,  to  be  divided  between  the 
"  ferjeant  and  the  poor."  And  to  this  order,  on  the  motion 
of  Sir  John  Strangways,  the  member  for  Weymouth,  it  was 
added  "  that  after  twelve  o'clock  no  new  bufinefs  be  entered 
"  into,  or  moved,  without  the  leave  of  the  Houfe."  More 
formally  it  was  refolved  a  few  days  later,  upon  the  motion  of 

:  Sir  Walter  Earle,  the  other  member  for  Weymouth,  "  that 
u  the  ancient  order  of  the  Houfe  be  obferved :  namely,  that 
"  no  bills  be  read  the  fecond  time  but  between  the  hours  of 
"  nine  and  twelve."  To  which  it  was  added,  at  the  fuggeftion 
of  Mr.  Speaker  (Lenthal),  that  all  bills  might  be  read  a  fiift 

0f  time,  early  in  the  morning.  For  further  notices  of  fuch  orders 
and  modes  of  proceeding  in  the  Houfe,  fee  Arreji  of  Five 
Members,  §  xxiii. 


§  xi.     The  Opening  Debates  :  i^thNov.  207 

li  parted  by    many  particulars    to  avoid  the 
'c  delay  of  long  debates." 

In   thofe  few  words  were  alfo  exprefTed  the  Tenacity 
fteady  perfeverance  and  tenacity  of  what  was  Majefty's 
truly   to  be  called  His  Majefty's  Oppofition.  oppofi- 
Every  inch  of  the  ground  was  fo   contefted, tl0n* 
indeed,  that  only  the  moft  watchful  and  refo- 
lute  determination  could  avail  to  maintain  any 
part  of  it  unimpaired ;  and  all  the  forms  of 
the    Houfe  were    exhausted    in    pretences   for 
delay.     The  whole  of  the  fitting  of  Monday,  Fourth 
the  15th  of  November,  was  taken  up  with  the  ^ e^ov 
difcuffion  of  the  fingle  claufe  which  ultimately 
flood  as  the  hundred  and  ninetieth.     In  this, 
adverting  to  the  charges  brought  by  the  ill- 
afFected  party  againft  the  leaders  of  the  Houfe 
of  Commons,  it  was  affirmed,  in  contradiction 
of  thofe  charges,  that  not  the  meddling  of  the 
Commons  with  the  power  of  epifcopacy,  but 
the  idolatry  and  popifh  ceremonies  introduced  As  to 
into   the  Church   by  command  of  the  bifhops  bifhops* 
themfelves,  were  the  caufes  why  fectaries  and  idolatry, 
conventicles  abounded  in  England,    and  why 
Englifhmen,   feeking  liberty   of  worfhip,  had 
been   driven  into  exile.     A  debate  of  extra- 
ordinary   vehemence   arofe    upon   this    word 
command.     It    was    led   by  Sir  Edward  Der-  Speech  by 
ing,    the    member    for    Kent,  *    who    but    a  DermS- 

*  Poor  Sir  Edward  Dering  got  himfelf  only  laughed  at  for 
his  pains  in  going  fuddenly  over  to  Hyde's  party  on  this  and  the 
other  queftion  of  the  Bifhops.     He  loft  his  feat  in  the  Houfe 
ihortly after, and  failed  toobtain  any  ftandingwiththe  Royalifts. 
Yet  he  feems  to  have  been  an  eloquent  and  on  the  whole  a  well-  Dering 
meaning  man, and  hardly  to  havedeferved  the  fneers  of  Claren-  fneered 
don;  who  in  his  Hijiory  (i.  416)  characlerifes  him  as  a  man  of  at  by 
levity  and  vanity,  eafdy  flattered  by  being  commended  ;  and  Claren- 
goes  fo  far  as  to  aflert  that  his  "greateft  motive"  in  moving  the  don. 


208 


Falk- 
land's 
former 
attack  on 
Bifhops. 


Prefent 

vehement 

defence. 


Fifth 
Debate  : 
1 6th  Nov. 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 

little  while  before  had  moved  the  reading  of 
a  bill  for  extirpating  bifhops,  deans,  and  chap- 
ters ;  and  it  was  fupported  by  Lord  Falkland, 
who,  on  the  8  th  of  the  preceding  February, 
had  diftinctly  charged  the  bifhops  with  having 
deftroyed  unity  under  pretence  of  unifor- 
mity, with  having  brought  in  fliperftition  and 
fcandal  under  the  titles  of  reverence  and 
decency,  with  having  defiled  the  Church  by 
adorning  the  churches,  and  deftroyed  of  the 
gofpel  as  much  as  they  could  without  bringing 
themfelves  into  danger  of  being  deftroyed  by 
the  law.  With  a  pettifogging  worthier  of  Hyde 
than  of  himfelf,  Falkland  now  joined  Dering 
in  afking  where  proof  was  to  be  found  that 
the  bifhops  had  iflued  any  <c  command  "  for 
the  introduction  of  idolatry.  Who  hath  read 
this  command?  they  afked.  "Who  hath 
cc  heard  it  ?  Who  hath  feen  this  commanded 
<f  idolatry  ?  "  The  day  clofed  while  yet  the 
debate  had  not  ;  an  order  being  made  that 
the  Remonftrance  fhould  be  refumed  the  next 
day  at  ten  o'clock,  and  that  meanwhile  the 
claufe  which  had  then  been  debated  fo  much, 
fhould  be  recommitted  to  the  committee  that 
originally  drafted  it,  to  prepare  it  in  fuch  a 
manner  as  might  be  agreeable  to  the  fenfe  of 
the  Houfe. 

On  Tuefday,  the  16th,  the  debate  was  re- 
fumed  accordingly ;  but  the  obnoxious  word 
remained  in  the  claufe  as    again    introduced, 

trenchant  bill  againft  the  Bifhops,  was  that  he  might  have  the 
opportunity  of  applying  the  two  lines  from  Ovid, 

Cuncfa  prius  tentanda,  fed  immedicabile  vulnus 
Enfe  reddendum  eft,  ne  pars  fincera  trahatur ! 


§  xi.   'The  Opening  Debates :  16 th  Nov.  209 

and  after  further  hot  debate,  the  queftion  of 
whether  it  fhould  ftand  pafled  to  a  divifion. 
It  was  carried  in  the  affirmative  by  a  majority  ciaufe 
of  25,  Sir   Thomas  Barrington,  the  member  l?iinft 
for  Colchefter,  and  Sir  Martin  Lumley,   the  carried, 
member  for  EfTex,  being  tellers  for  the   124 
ayes,  and  Sir  Edward  Dering,  with  Sir  Hugh 
Cholmley,   the   member  for  Scarborough,  for 
the  99  noes.     The  difcuflion  on  this  day  again 
occupied  nearly  all  the  fitting,  and  was  only  at 
laft  clofed  by  the  compromife  of  laying  afide  Compro- 
fome  claufes  in  which  exception  had  been  taken  Liturgy.0 
to  parts  of  the  Liturgy  as  favouring  of  fuper- 
ftition.    Other  changes,  comprifing  fome  addi- 
tions, were   alfo  affented  to ;  and  thefe,  with 
the  Declaration    as    amended  thus  far,    were 
referred  to  "  the  fame   committee    that   was 
<c  appointed  for  penning  of  it,  and  they  are  to 
cc  bring  it  back  to  the  Houfe  with  all  convenient 
cc  fpeed."  A  further  conceflion  to  the  Oppofi-  Concef- 
tion  was  at  the  fame  time  made,  in  the  addition  oVf?- 
to  that  committee  of  the  names  of  Culpeper  tion. 
and  Falkland. 

The  two   following  days,    Wednefday  and  Unautho- 
Thurfday,  the   17th  and  1 8th  of  November,  polts. 
were  filent  as  to  the  Remonftrance,  but  filled 
with  matters  of  grave  import  having  a  direct 
bearing  upon  it.     Complaints  had  been  made 
of  unauthorifed  and  exaggerated  accounts  fent 
abroad  of  the  recent  proceedings  of  the  Houfe, 
and  after  debate  an  order  was  iflued  for  peremp- 
tory fuppreffion  of  all  prefent  printing,  cc  or  Suppref- 
cc  venting  in  manufcript,"  of  the  Diurnal  Oc-  p°"n°efd 
currences  of  parliament.     The  examinations  as  and  MS. 
to  the  new  army  plot  were  alfo  completed,  the  Dlurnals- 


2 1  o  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

evidence  leaving  little  doubt  as  to  the  defign 

having  been  known  to  the  King ;  and  Pym 

Refolu-     moved  and  carried  a  refolution,  cc  that,  in  the 

tion  as  to   u  examinations  now  read  unto  us,  we  did  con- 

lecond  .  r         .  .       3 

Army  "  ceive  there  was  iufticient  evidence  for  us  to 
Plot.  «  believe  that  there  was  a  fecond  defign  to 
"  bring  up  the  army  to  overawe  the  delibera- 
<c  tions  of  this  Houfe."  That  was  the  moft 
direct  avowal  yet  made  of  a  confcioufnefs  on 
the  part  of  the  Commons,  not  merely  of  what 
had  taken  the  King  to  Scotland,  but  of  what 
ftill  kept  him  there.  The  alarm  and  difmay  it 
carried  with  it,  mowed  how  unerringly  the  mark 
had  been  hit. 


§  xii.     Preparations  for  the  Final 
Vote.      19TH  Nov.  and  20th  Nov. 

Nicholas's       On  the  day  after  Pym's  refolution  had  been 

fwc°r     Pafl"ed}   Friday  the   19th,   Secretary   Nicholas 

wrote  with  unconcealed   alarm  and  mifgiving 

to  his  matter.     "The  worft  in  all  thatbufinefs 

if  is,  that  it  reflects   on  your  Majefty,   as  if 

Cf  you  had  given  fome  inftructions  concerning 

"  the  ftirring   up  the  army    to    petition    the 

"  Parliament.    I  hope  it  will  appear  that  your 

<c  Majefty 's  intentions  were  only  to  retain  the 

i(  army  in  their  duty  and  dependance  on  your 

"  Majefty."  After  which, in  the  fame  letter,  Mr. 

Secretary  went  on  to  fay,  that  there  had  been 

nothing  done  thefe  two  days  by  the  Commons 

touching   the    Declaration    remonftrating   the 

Progrefs    bad  effects  of  ill  counfels  ;  but  it  was  thought 

ofRemon- that  tne  fame  WOuld  be  finiihed  that  week. 

reported.    There  were,  he  added,  divers   well   affected 


§  xii.     Preparations  for  Final  Vote.  ill 

fervants  of  his  Majefty  in  the  Houfe  who  had 
continued  to  oppofe    the  Remonftrance   with  Nicholas 
unanfwerable  arguments :     but   it  was   verily  as.t0. 

D  ,  .      J  printing: 

thought  that  it  would  pafs  notwithstanding, 
and  that  it  would  be  cc  ordered  to  be  printed" 
without  tranfmiffion  to  the  Lords.  Upon 
which  it  is  to  be  obferved  as  beyond  queition, 
that  manifestly  there  was  no  longer  any  con- 
cealment of  the  ultimate  defign  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Houfe  of  Commons.  Thus  early,  the 
destination  of  the  Remonftrance  was  known. 
Strode  had  already,  indeed,  argued  upon 
the    afTumption    of    its    being    printed    and the  de';sn 

«      civowed. 

diffufed  among  the  people,  as  a  thing  to  be 
admitted;  and  any  fubfequent  complaint,  there- 
fore, of  being  taken  by  furprife  when  the  pro- 
portion for  the  printing  was  formally  made, 
could  have  been  but  a  lheer  pretence  on  the 
part  of  its  opponents. 

"While  Nicholas  was  writing  to  the  King,  it  sixth 
had  been  brought  back  to  the  Houfe  from  the  I9thNov. 
committee,  purfuant  to  the  laft  order  ;   certain 
amendments  to  it  had  been   violently  debated, 
having   reference    to  portions  of  the  fervice- 
book  ;  *  thefe   ultimately,  upon  conceflion  by 
the  majority,  had  been  read  and  afTented  to, 
and  certain  other  verbal  alterations  made  ;  and  Amend. 
another  lengthened  debate  had  given  further  ments  and 

*  I  fubjoin  achara&eriftic  paflage  from  a  fpeech  of  Dering's 
delivered  in  this  debate,  as  reported  and  preferved  by  himfelf. 
"  Why,  Sir,  at  one  of  your  committees   I  heard  it  publicly 
"  afferted  by  one  of  the  committee  that  fome  of  our  Articles 
"  do  contain  fome  things  contrary  to  Holy  Scripture  ...     I 
"  ftarted  with  wonder  and  anger  to  hear  a  bold  mechanick  A  bold 
V  tell  me  that  my  creed  is  not  my  creed.     He  wondered  at  mecha- 
"  my  wonder,  and  faid,  I  hope  your  ^worjtiip  is  too  n.vife   to  nick. 
"  believe  that  nxihich  you  call  your  creed." 

p  2 


2 1 1  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

verbal       opportunity    for   the    <c  unanfwerable "    argu- 
changes.    ments    on  the  one    fide,  and  the    quiet   and 
refolved  anfwers  on  the  other,  which  had  now- 
occupied  the  Houfe,  with  fmall  intermifiion, 
fince  the  9th  of  November.     Why  mould  you 
pafs  this  unneceffarv  and  unfeafonable  Declara- 
tion ?  urged  Hyde  and  his  friends  once  more. 
Hyde's      It  is  unneceffary  to  detail  grievances,  moft  of 
urgent      which  are  already   fully   redrelTed ;  and  it  is 
unfeafonable  to  welcome  home  from  Scotland, 
with  fuch  a  volume  of  reproaches,  the  very 
author  of  that  redrefs,  and  to  affail  his  Majefty 
the  King  for  what  others  have  done  amifs,  and 
for  what  he  himfelf  hath  reformed.      We  pro- 
pofe  to  pafs  it,  was  the  determined  anfwer   of 
Pym's        Pym  and  his  affociates,  becaufe   we  hold  it  to 
reP  y :       De    neceffary  for  the  prefervation   and  main- 
tenance of  the  conceffions  which  have  fo  been 
made.       We    believe   ourfelves  in   danger  of 
being  deprived  of  all  the  good  acts  we  have 
gained,  if  great  care  and  vigilance  be  not  ftill 
ufed  to  difappoint  malignant  counfels.     They 
who   moft  exalt  the  grace  and  bounty  of  the 
King  in  regard  to  thofe  good  acts,  have   been 
and  vindi-  moft  bufy  to  pervert   the    affections    of   the 
people  from  ourfelves  in  regard  to  the  fame 
matter.      For  our  own  acquittal,  therefore,  we 
would  let  the  kingdom  know  in  what  ftate  we 
found  it  at  our  firfr.  convention,  what  fruit  it 
hath  received    by   our    counfels,   wherein    we 
think  the  fecurities   obtained  are  not  yet  fuffi- 
cient,   and  fuch  further  meafures  as    in    our 
confciences  we  believe  to  be  called   for.     Be- 
,  caufe,  though  the  prime  evil  counfellors  have 

J\  home      1  11  1  •  • 

thruft.       been  removed,  there  are  others  growing  up  in 


cation. 


§  xii.    Preparations  for  Final  Vote.  213 

their  places  like  to  do  quite  as  much  mifchief. 
— To  which  laft  home  thruft,  reply  could  not 
have  been  very  eafy  ! — It  was  late  in  the  after- 
noon, when  at  the  clofe  of  this  debate,   the 
order  was  moved  and  carried  that  the  Declara-  Order  for 
tion    mould    be    duly    engroffed,    and    again  er>gr°3- 
brought  in  at  two  o'clock  the  next  day.     All 
which  having  been  accomplifhed,  the  Houfe 
was    about    to    pafs   to   other  bufinefs,   when 
D'Ewes  informs  us  that  Mr.  Speaker  Lenthal  Com- 
made  an  appeal  ad  mifericordiam  for  himfelf.  ^Tm 
He  mowed  that  he  had  been  fitting  very  late  speaker, 
yefterday    (Thurfday   1 8th),  that  it  was  now 
paft  four  o'clock,  and  that  he  really  could  not 
hold   out  daily  to  fit  kvcn  or   eight   hours. 
Whereon  the  indefatigable  Mr.  Pym,  admit-  Lenthal 
ting   the   appeal,   fuggefted   that    the    Houfe relieved- 
mould  rife,  and  that  a  grand  committee  mould 
prefently  fit. 

On   Saturday,   the  20th   of  November,   at  Seventh 
two  o'clock,  the  Remonftrance,  engrafted  and  debate : 
finifhed,  was  laid  upon  the  table.     Doubtlefs 
it  was  then  expected    by  its    fupporters,  and 
with  fome  mow   of  reafon,  that  after  having 
flood  the  brunt  of  (o  many  prolonged  debates, 
it   might  be  voted   without  further  refifhmce. 
A  refolution  was  accordingly  moved  upon  its  p;na] 
introduction,   ci  that  it  be  read  and  finifhed  to-  debate 
"  night;"  which  was  met,  however,  by  fuch 
determined  oppofition,  that  Pym  was  obliged 
to  yield,  and  the   final   debate  was  fixed  for 
ten  o'clock  on   the   morning  of  Monday  the 
22nd.      ct  Why  would  you   have  it  flill  put  Cromwell 
"  off,"  afked  Cromwell  of  Falkland,  as  they  and 
left  the  Houfe ;  "  for  this  day  would   quickly 


214 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Prepara- 
tions for 
Laft 
Debate. 


Remon 
ftrance 
lying  on 
table. 


Statement 
by  Cla- 
rendon : 


charge 
againft 
Pym : 


a  mifre- 

prefenta- 

tion. 


<f  have  determined  it."  To  which  Falkland 
made  reply  that  there  would  not  have  been 
time  enough,  for  fure  it  would  take  fome 
further  debate.  Oliver  rejoined,  "A  very 
cc  forry  one."* 

Cromwell  was  miftaken,  no  doubt.  He  was 
not  in  Hyde's  confidence,  and  could  not  know 
of  the  defperate  party-move  to  be  attempted 
on  the  occafion  of  the  laft  debate.  But  before 
this  is  defcribed,  and  while  the  Remonftrance, 
ready  engrofTed,  is  lying  on  the  table  of  the 
houfe,  the  time  would  feem  to  have  arrived 
for  the  endeavour  to  prefent  it  to  the  reader, 
at  once  with  fufficient  fulnefs  for  accurate  re- 
flection of  all  its  ftatements  and  in  fuch  form 
as  to  render  juftice  to  the  ftriking  narrative 
they  embody,  yet  at  the  fame  time  fo  compreffed 
as  to  bring  it  within  the  limits  of  ordinary 
hiftories.  There,  it  fhould  long  ago  have  had 
the  place,  from  which  it  may  hardly  be  too 
much    to   believe  now,  with  fome  degree   of 

*  Hiji.  ii.,  42.  Clarendon  tells  the  anecdote,  however,  in 
a  fenfe  quite  different  from  that  which  it  derives  from  an 
authentic  ftatement  of  the  circumftances.  It  was  in  the 
ordinary  courfe  of  the  bufinefs  of  the  Houfe  that  Pym  had 
propofed  at  once  to  bring  the  matter  to  a  conchdion,  but 
Clarendon  (ii.  41)  would  have  us  believe  that  he  made  that 
proportion  in  direct  forfeiture  of  a  previous  engagement. 
"  And  by  theie  and  the  like  arts,  they  promifed  themfelves 
"  that  they  fliould  eafily  cany  it ;  fo  that,  the  day  it  <ivas  to  be 
"  refumed,  they  entertained  the  Houfe  all  the  morning  with 
"  other  debates,  and  towards  noon  called  for  the  Remon- 
"  ftrance,"  &c,  upon  which  they  were  forced  to  go  back  to 
the  firft  underftanding  of  giving  an  entire  day  to  the  debate. 
Accordingly,  he  continues,  "  the  next  morning,  the  debate 
"  being  entered  upon  about  nine  of  the  clock,"  &c.  Now, 
no  fuch  incidents  occurred.  On  the  day  fixed  for  the  refump- 
tion  of  the  debate,  it  nvas  refumed,  and  at  the  hour  precifely 
which  before  had  been  arranged  ;  namely,  twelve  o'clock. 
Clarendon's  ftatement  is  an  entire  mifreprefentation. 


Abflracl :  The  Preamble.  1 1 5 

confidence,  that  it  never  more  can  be  excluded. 
In  which  expe&ation  are  here  appended  to  it  Propofed 
fome  notes  of  matters  not  lying  on  the  furface  J]j^"ac_al 
of  ordinary   books,  which  will  be  found    to  tions. 
illuftrate  and  completely  corroborate  the  moft 
ftartling  of  its  averments. 

And  fo  to  modern  readers  is  committed  that 
Great  Vindication  of  the  riling  of  their  ancef- 
tors   againft  the  Sovereign  in  the  feventeenth 
century,  as  to  which  one  who  oppofed  it  elo- 
quently   through    all    its    ftages    thus    frankly 
confeffed  the  fecret  of  his  oppofition  :   "  Sir,  Dering 
ff  this  Remonjlrance,  whenfoever  it  pajfeth,  ^'//^ne]^oen_ 
"  makefuch  an  imprejfion,  and  leave  Juch  a  cha-  ftrance. 
cc  racier  behind,  both  of  his  Majefty,  the  People, 
fC  and  the  Parliament,  and  of  this  prejent  Church 
cc  and  State,  as  no  time  Jhall  ever  eat  it  out, 
iC  while  hijlories  are  written,  and  men  have  eyes 
cc  to  read  them  /" 


abstract:   of  the   grand   remonstrance. 
1 .   The  Preamble :  Purpofe  aimed  at. 

The  Preamble,    confining   of  twenty    not  Struggle 
numbered  claufes,  and  opening  in  the  name  of of  Paft 
{C  the    Commons    in    the   prefent   Parliament  months. 
"  affembled,"  begins  by  declaring  that  for  the 
paft  twelve  months  they  had  been  carrying  on 
a  ftruggle  of  which  the  objecl;  was  to  reft  ore 
and  eftablifh  the  ancient  honour,  greatnefs,  and 
fecurity,  of  the  Nation  and  the  Crown.     That 
during  this  time  they  had  been  called  to  wreftle 


2 1 6  T'he  Grand  Remonft ranee. 

with    dangers   and    fears,    with    miferies    and 
calamities,   with    diftempers   and  diforders   To 
various,  great,  and  preffing,  that  for  the  time 
the  entire  liberty  and  profperity  of  the  kingdom 
had  been  extinguished  by  them,  and  the  foun- 
Why        dations  of  the  throne  undermined.     And  that 
Remon-    now^    finding   great   afperfions  caft  on    what 
intro-        had    been  done,    many  difficulties    raifed  for 
duced.       the    hindrance  of  what  remained  to   do,  and 
jealoufies  everywhere  bufily  fomented  betwixt 
the  King  and  Parliament,  they  had  thought  it 
good  in  this  manner  to  declare  the  root  and 
growth  of  the  defigns  by  which  fo  much  mif- 
chief  had  been  caufed ;  the  heighth  to  which 
thefe  had  reached  before  the  beginning  of  the 
prefent  Parliament ;  the  means  that  had  been 
Neceffary  ufed  for  extirpating  thofe  mifchievous  defigns; 
to  com-     and,  together  with  the  progrefs  made  therein, 
Reforms.  t^ie  ways  °f  obstruction  by  which  fuch  progrefs 
had  been  interrupted,  and  thefteps  ftill  remain- 
ing to  be  taken  as  the  only  courfe  whereby 
the  obftacles  at  prefent  intervening  could  be 
finally  removed. 
Courtcon-      Then,  in  exprefs  terms,  they  ftate  the  gene- 
fpnacy :     raj  pjan  or  fcneme  of  the  authors  of  thofe  evils, 
as  a  confpiracy  to  fubvert  the  fundamental  laws 
and  principles  of  government  on  which  alone 
the  religion  and  juftice  of  the  kingdom   can 
firmly  reft ;  and  they  denounce  the  confpirators 
to  fubvert  as  threefold,  (i)  the  jefuited  papifts,  (2)  the 
Laws:       bifhops  and  ill-affected  clergy,   and  (3)  fuch 
counfellors,  courtiers,  and  officers  of  ftate,  as 
had  preferred  their  private  ends  to  thofe  of 
his    Majefty    and    the    Commonwealth.     All 
three  claffes  of   confpirators,  they  continued, 


Abfiract :  The  Preamble.  217 

had  principles  and  counfels  in  common  ;   and 
thefe  were   to  keep  up   continual   differences  to  degrade 
betwixt  the  King  and  People,   and  to  lower  Pr<*eft; 
and  degrade   the   Proteftant  religion   through 
the  fides  of  thofe  befl  affected  to  it.     To  the 
end  that  fo,  on  the  one  hand,  fetting  up  the 
prerogative  whenever  a  queftion  of  liberty  was 
mooted,  difcrediting  the  claims  and  authority 
of  Parliament,  and  ever  pretending  to  hzfiding  to  dif- 
with  the  King,  they  might  get  to  themfelves  ^etjlt 
the  places  of  greater!:  trull  and  power,  putting  ment. 
him    upon   other    than    the  ancient   and  only 
legitimate  ways  of  fupply;  and,  on  the  other 
hand,  by  cherifhing  to  the  utmoft  fuch  views 
of  church  doctrine  and    difcipline    as    would 
eftablifti  ecclefiaftical  tyranny,  by  fowing  dif- 
fenfions  between  the  common  Proteftants  and 
thofe   whom    they    called    Puritans,    and    by  Upholders 
including  under  the  name  of  Puritans  all  who  °Jc£f  l 
defired  to  preferve  unimpaired  the  public  laws  named 
and  liberties  and  the  purity  and  power  of  the  Puntans- 
true  religion,  they  might  be  able  ultimately  to 
introduce    fuch    opinions    and    ceremonies    as 
would  neceffarily  end  in  accommodation  with 
Popery.*     For,  of  the  three  elements  of  the 

*  "  It  feemed  that  their  work,"  faid  Falkland,  in  one  of  Falkland 
his  admirable  fpeeches  againrt  Laud  and  his  afibciates  (already  againlt 
fpoken  of,   a?ite,  208),   "  was  to  try  how  much  of  a  Papiit  Laud. 
"  might  be  brought  in  without  Popery  ;  and  to  deftroy  as 
"  much  as  they  could  of  the  Gofpel  without  bringing  them- 
"  felves  into  danger  of  being  deftroyed  by  the  Law.   .   .   . 
"  The  defign  has  been  to  bring  in  an  Englifh  though   not   a 
"  Roman  Popery  :  I  mean,  not  only  the  outlide  and  drefs  of 
"  it,  but  an  equally  abfolute  and   blind  dependence   of  the 
"  people  upon  the  clergy,  and  of  the  clergy  upon  themfelves. 
"  They  have  oppofed  the  papacy  beyond  the  feas  that  they  Propofed 
"  might  fettle  one  beyond  the  water."     [He  means  at  Lam-  Pope  at 
beth.]     "  Nay,  common  fame  is  more  than  ordinarily  falfe,  if  Lambeth. 


2l8 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 


Popery 
the  chief 
confpira- 
tor. 


confpiracy,  that  was  the  ftrongeft.  And  as  in 
all  compounded  bodies,  fo  in  this,  the  opera- 
tions had  been  qualified  and  governed  through- 
out by  the  predominating  element. 

Such  in  fubftance  was  the  preamble  to  the 
Great  Remonftrance ;  of  which  all  that  fol- 
lowed was  in  the  form  of  practical  proofs  and 
illuftrations.  Thefe  were  contained  in  two 
hundred  and  fix  numbered  claufes  ;  each  claufe, 
as  we  have  feen,  having  been  put  feparately  to 
the  Houfe,  and  fo  voted. 


Claufes 
i—6. 


Incidents 
of  firft 
Parlia- 
ment. 


En  glim 

livings 

and 

Romifh 

opinions. 


2.  Firft)  Second,  and  Third  Parliaments  of 
Charles. 

The  firft  fix  had  relation  to  the  Firft  Par- 
liament of  the  reign,  and  to  the  recovery  of 
ftrength  by  the  Popifh  party  after  their  dif- 
comfiture  by  the  breach  with  Spain  at  the  clofe 
of  the  reign  of  James.  Two  fubfidies  had 
been  given  by  that  parliament,  yet  it  was  dif- 
folved  without  the  relief  of  a  fingle  grievance  ; 
and  then  followed  the  difafters  of  Rochelle, 
the  defertion  of  the  Proteftant  party  in  France, 
the  difcreditable  attempt  on  Cadiz,  the  aban- 
donment of  the  Palatinate  and  of  the  Protef- 
tant ftruggle  in  Germany,  the  wrongs  inflicted 
on  merchants  and  traders,  the  prefling  and 
billeting  of  foldiers  *  in  all  parts  of  the  king- 

"  none  of  them  have  found  a  way  to  reconcile  the  opinions  of 
"  Rome  to  the  preferments  of  England  ;  and  to  be  fo  abfo- 
"  lutely,  direclly,  and  cordially  papifts,  that  it  is  all  that 
"  fifteen  hundred  pounds  a  year  can  do  to  keep  them  from 
"  confeffing  it." 

*  The  intolerable  wrong  and  mifery  implied  in  this  griev- 
ance will  be  better  underftood  by  reminding  the  reader  of  the 
pafllonate  fpeech  of  Wentworth  (afterwards  Earl  of  Strafford) 


Abjiratl:  Firfi  and  Second  Parliamts-  of  Charles.         1 1 9 

dom,  and  the  endeavour,  happily  fruftrated, 
to  introduce  therein  large  bodies  of  mercenary- 
troops. 

The  next  four  claufes  defcribed  the  Second  Clauie* 
Parliament,    its    diflblution    after    a   declared 
intention  to  grant  five  fubfidies,  and  the  fub- 
fequent  levy  of  thofe  fubfidies,  not  by  parlia- 
mentary authority,  but  by  the  fole  order  of  the 
King.    Commiffions  of  loan  were  ifTued,  and  all  incidents 
who  refufed  were  imprifoned  ;  many  contract-  °f  Second 
ing  ficknefTes  in  prifon  from  which  they  never  ment. 
recovered.      Privy  feals   went   forth,    raifing 
enormous  fums.     Court  wafte  and  profufion 
were  fpoken  of  on  all  fides,  while  the  people 
were  unlawfully  impoverifhed.*     And  a  com- 

in  the  debates  on  the  Petition  of  Right,  in  which,  referring  Billeting 
to   the  billeting  of  foldiers,   he  exclaims,   "  They  have  rent  grie- 
"  from    us   the   light  of  our  eyes  !  enforced    companies   of  vances. 
"  guefts  worfe  than   the  ordinances  of  France  !  vitiated  our 
"  wives  and  daughters  before  our   faces  !"     In  the  Verney 
Papers,  Mr.  Bruce  prints  the  fubjoined  veiy  curious  return  of 
recufant  parifhes  in  the  three  hundreds  of  Aftiindon. 

"  A  retorne  of  thofe  parifhes  that  doe  refufe  to  paye  for 
"  the  billiting  of  foldiers  in  my  diuiiion  with  in  the  three 
"  hundreds  of  Afhindon. 

li.   s.    d. 
"  Cherfly.     Mr.  Thomas  Britwell,  John  Winter, 

"  with  the  reft 113     3  Lifts  of 

"  Brill.    George  Carter,  Mr.  John  Pirn,  Mr.  Wil-  recufants. 

"  liam  Pirn,  Mr.  John  Cafwell,  with  the  reft  .240 
"  Ilmor.     Thomas  Lyeborn,  Edmon  Brooks,  with 

"  the  reft 160 

"  Lurgefall.     The  whole  parifli       .  .  .     .      1   18      3 

"  Borltall.     The  whole  parifh      .  .  .  .      1    13     6 

"  Per  me,  Edward  Bulitrod," 

The  two  Pyms  named  in  this  return,  if  not  connections  or 
relatives  of  the  great  ftatelman,  at  leaft  were  worthy  of  the 
name  they  bore. 

*  In  the  Diary  of  Walter  Yonge,  from  1604  to  1628,  edited  Yonge's 
by   Mr.  Roberts  for  the    Camden   Society    (1848)  with   an  Diary. 
interefting  and  well-informed  introduction  about  the  leading 


220 


<The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Claules 
ii — 16. 


Incidents 
of  third 
Parlia- 
ment. 


Proceed- 
ings to 
get 
money. 


How 

ipent. 


Amend- 
ments by 
J.C 


million  under  the  great  feal  exacted  payments 
from  the  fubject  by  way  of  excife,  to  an  extent 
and  in  a  manner  before  unheard  of.* 

The  Third  Parliament ;  the  attempt,  by  a 
furreptitious  declaration,  to  evade  its  enact- 
ment of  the  Petition  of  Right;  its  forcible 
diiTolution  ;  the  imprifonment  and  perfecution 
of  its  moft  diftinguifhed  members ;  and  the 
Royal  Declaration  printed  and  difperfed  among 
the   people  to  difcredit  and  difavow  its  pro- 

weftern  families  (Yonge  was  a  Devonfhire  magiftrate  and 
member  for  Honiton),  the  two  following  notices  occur  in 
clofe  juxtapofition  (p.  98)  : 

(1)  "December,  1626.  The  King  having  determined 
"  heretofore  to  demand  of  all  his  fubjefts  fo  much  money  by 
"  way  of  loan  as  they  are  fet  in  fublidy,  viz.  :  he  that's  fet 
"  at  20/.  in  fublidy  to  lend  unto  the  King  20/.,  the  judges 
"were  urged  to  fubfcribe.  They  paid  their  money,  but  re- 
M  fufed  to  fubfcribe  the  fame  as  a  legal  courfe  :  for  which  Sir 
"Randall  Crewe,  Chief  Juftice  of  England,  had  his  patent 
"  taken  from  him,  and  he  was  difplaced  Ter.  Michael.  1626, 
"  anno  2  Caroli.  The  privy  council  fubfcribed  ;  the  lords 
"  and  peers  fubfcribed,  all  except  fourteen,  whereof  fix  were 
"  Earls  :  viz.  Earl  of  Effex,  Earl  of  Warwick,  Earl  of  Clare, 
"  Earl  of  Huntington,  Earl  of  Lincoln,  and  the  Earl  of 
"  Bolingbroke,  being  Lord  St.  John." 

(2)  "  The  Duke  of  Buckingham  feafted  the  King,  Queen, 
"  and  French  Ambaffador,  and  bellowed  4000/.  in  a  banquet. 
"  The  fweet  water  which  coft  him  200/.  came  down  the  room 
"  as  a  fhower  from  heaven  ;  the  banquet  let  down  in  a  (heet 
"  upon  the  table,  no  man  feeing  how  it  came  ;  with  other 
"  pompous  vanities  to  wafte  away  and  confume  money,  the 
"  country  being  in  poverty,  and  more  necelfary  occafions  for 
"  it." 

Any  one  who  cares  to  purfue  this  fubjecl  will  find  many 
important  illuftrations  of  it  among  the  Clarendon  State  Papers. 

*  Among  the  notices  for  additions  to  the  original  draft  of 
the  Remonftrance,  entered  on  the  Journals,  the  fubjoined 
appear  with  the  initials  J.  C.  and  may  doubtlefs  be  affigned 
to  Sir  John  Clotworthy. 

"  The  laft  expedition  into  Germany. 

"  The  loans  upon  Privy  Seal. 

"  The  Commiflion  of  Excife." 


Ab  fir  a  51 :    Third  Parliament  of  Charles.  2 1 1 

ceedings,*  and  give  colour  or  excufe  for  the 
violence  ufed  to  its  chiefs ;  form  the  fubjecl: 

*  It  was  on  the  motion  of  Strode,  member  for  Beeralfton,  Addition 
when  the  Remonftrance  was  before  the  Houfe,  that  there  was  by  Strode, 
ordered  to  be  inferted  therein  a  mention  of 

"  The  Declaration  fet   forth    upon   the   breach   of   both 
<(  Parliaments." 

Some  remarkable  illuftrations  of  the  exciting  incidents  which 
immediately  preceded  and  very  fhortly  followed  the  ill-fated  dif- 
iblution  of  this  great  Parliament,  have  been  found  among  the  Mounde- 
family  papers  of  the  Moundefords  ot  Norfolk.     I  felect  one  or  ford  MSS. 
two  out  of  many  paffages  which  furnifh  traits  and  character- 
iftics  of  the  lawlefs  time,  and  throw  a  furprifingly  vivid  light 
upon  the  allufions  in  the  Great  Remonftrance.     From  Lon- 
don, the  14th  April,  1628,  Sir  Edmund  Moundeford,  mem- 
ber  for  Thetford  in  the  Third  Parliament  then  fitting,  and 
who  fat  for  Norfolk  in  the  Long  Parliament,  writes:     "  We 
"  went  this  afternoon  with  our  Speaker  to  the  King  to  deliver 
"  him  a  petition  for  the  billeted  fouldiers,  what  anfwer  we  Billetin°- 
"  (hall  have  is  not  known.     Our  houfe  proceeds  not  with  that  foldiers. 
"  calm  it  did.     God  grant  a  good  end."     On  the  5th  of  the 
following  month  he  writes  :   "  Sorrye  am  I  to  be  a  meflenger 
"  of  fadd  tidings.     The  feares  of  an  ill  ending  of  this  Parlia- 
"  ment  are  now  growne  fo  great  as  they  command  beliefe. 
"  Our  laft  day  is  appointed  to-morrow  feven-night,   and  we 
"  are  as  farre  from  ending  our  worke  as  when   wee   began." 
In  the  interval   between  the  Third  and  the  Long  Parliament, 
he  writes  :   "  We  have  no  new  fheriffs  pricked,  nor  fhall  not  ciierjfr 
"  (it  is  faid)  untill  the  now  fheriffs  have  accounted  for  this       1  n,:D_ 
"  fhip-money  :  in  fome  counties  they  pay,  in  others  not,  and  monev 
"  many  make  the  flieriffs  take  diftrefs.     New  impofitions  are 
"  fet  upon  fruit,  filver,  pewter,  pines,  and  divers  other  things 
"  to   the  value   80,000  li.  pr  ann.     There  is  a  patent  to  be 
"  granted  for  making  Salt,  which  will  make  us  all  fmarte.u 
From  Drury  Lane,  on  the  13th  of  November  1632,  he  writes: 
"  On  Wednefday  laft,  one  Mr.  Palmer  was  cenfured  1,000  li. 
"  in  the  Star  Chamber  for  living  in  London  contrary  to  the  Projects 
"  Proclamation,  and  yet  he  was  a  Batchelor,  and  never  had  for  plun- 
"  family,  and  lately  had  his  man/ion  houfe  burnt  in  the  countrie.  der  of 
"  There   is  diligent  fearch  made   by  the  co?iflables  of  eyerie  fubject. 
il  ward,  and  the  names  taken  of  allfuch  lodgers  as  lay  in  towne 
"  the  laft  'vacation.'"''     The  allufion  in  this  laft  letter  is  to  one 
of  the  moft  fcandalous  of  all  the  projects  for  the  plunder  of 
the  fubjecl  fet  on  foot  by  this  recklefs  government  to  enrich 
the  exhaufted  treafury  of  the  King.     A  Proclamation  came 
forth  from  the  Council  Table  commanding  all  who  could  not 
fhow  their  ftay  in  London  to  be  abfolutely  neceffary,  to  go 
within  forty  days  and  refide  in  their  refpeclive  counties  and  at 


222 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


of  the   fix  following    claufes.*     Strenuous  as 
had  been  the  ftruggle  to  pafs  the  Great  Peti- 
tion, its  only  ufe  had  been  to  fhow  with  what 
recklefs    prefumption,  by  wicked  and  daring 
violation   ministers,    the    Jaws    had    been   broken    and 
ofPetition  the   liberties  fupprerTed  which  therein  were  fo 
lg   "   folemnly  and  recently    declared.     And  what, 
meanwhile,  had  been   their  fufFerings,  whofe 
only   crime  was  to  affert  the  laws,  and  who 
could  be  punifhed  only  by  their  entire  fubver- 
fion  ?     The  reprefentatives  of  the  people  had 
been  flung  into  prifon,  and  there  treated  like 
felons  for  words  fpoken  in  parliament.    All  the 
comforts  of  life,  all  means  of  prefervation  of 
health,  all  more  neceflary  means  of  fpiritual 
Imprifbn-  confolation,  were  denied  to  them.    Not  fuffered 
ment  of     to  g0  abroad  to  enjoy  God's  ordinances  in  God's 

JVlcmbcrs  ... 

houfe,  His  minifters  not  permitted  to  minifter 
comfort  in  their  prifons,  the  liberty  of  reading 


Atroci- 
ties of  the 
Court. 


Authors 
of 

Amend- 
ments. 


their  manfion  houfes,  "  in  order  to  hinder  them  from  wafting 
"  their  eftates"  (!) ;  and  by  the  example  which  Sir  Edward 
Moundeford  here  furnifties,  fome  idea  may  be  formed  of 
the  atrocities  perpetrated  under  cover  of  this  Proclamation. 
How  truly  fays  Bifhop  Warburton  (Notes  on  Hijh  of  Reb.  vii. 
579)  that  every  now  and  then  a  ftory  comes  out  which  ftiows 
the  Court  to  have  been  fo  exceedingly  tyrannical  as  to  abate 
all  our  wonder  at  the  rage  of  thole  who  had  been  opprefled 
by  it. 

*  Several  of  thefe  claufes  appear  to  have  received  additions 
in  the  Houfe  ;  and  to  feveral  notices  of  motions  in  the  Journals 
that  the  confidcration  of  fuch  and  luch  particulars  fhould  be 
added,  are  appended  fometimes  initials,  fometimes  the  abbre- 
viated name,  more  rarely  the  name  in  full.  One  name  is  thus 
given  : 

"  Pal.  The  additional  explanation  to  the  Petition  of 
"  Right." 

Which  may  ftand  for  Geoffrey  Palmer,  the  Member  for 
Stamford,  who  took  a  leading  part  in  the  debates ;  or  it  may 
be  intended  for  Sir  Guy  Palmes,  member  for  Rutlandfhire  : 
the  former  is  the  more  probable. 


AbftraEl :    'Third  Parliament  of  Charles.  223 

and  of  writing  taken  from  them  ;  in  fuch 
miferable  durance,  years  upon  years  had  pafTed. 
Towards  the  clofe  of  the  fecond  year,  indeed, 
fome  had  been  releafed,  yet  not  without  heavy  Heavy 
fines,  and  the  fhame  of  being  enforced  to  give 
fecurity  for  good  behaviour  :  but  others  might 
have  wearied  out  their  lives  in  imprifonment, 
if,  eighteen  months  ago,  a  parliament  had  not 
come  ;  and  to  one,  the  moft  diftinguifhed  of 
them  all,  after  four  years'  tedious  mifery,  there 
had  come  a  mightier  friend.  In  the  laft  days  Sufferings 
of  November,  16^2,  the  brave  and  dauntlefs  arjd  death 

01  .hfiiot 

Eliot    died     in    the   Tower.      Petition    after 
petition  had  been  fent  up  for  his  releafe  ;  ap- 
plication had  been  made  for  but  a  few  months' 
freedom,   even  to  give  him  ftrength  to  bear 
further  imprifonment ;  without  fuch  temporary 
change,  his    phyfician    had    teftified    that    he 
muft  perim  ;  but  a  cold  and  ftern  refufal  was 
the  only  anfwer  vouchfafed,  and  the  end  came 
which    was   paft    remedy,    and    never    to   be 
redreffed.       His    blood    cried    for   vengeance  His  blood 
ftill ;  *  or  for  repentance  of  thofe  Minifters  of  crying 
State  who  had  fo  obftructed  the  courfe  alike  geance. 
of    his    Majesty's  juftice    and    his    Majefty's 
mercy. 

*  There  was  no  wrong  which  Pym  appears  more  deeply  to  Eliot's 
have  refented  than  this  murder  (for  fuch  it  really  amounted  ufage  in 
to)  of  his   great  affociate  in  the  former   parliaments  of  the  Tower, 
reign.     The  little  parliament  (which  met  in  April,  164.0)  had 
not  affembled  many  days   when    Pym   moved    "  that   it    be 
"  referred  to  the  committee  of  the  Tower  to  examine   after 
"  what  manner  Sir  John  Eliot  came  to  his  death,  his  ufage  in 
"  the  Tower,  and  to  view  the  rooms  and  places  where  he  was 
"  imprifoned  and  where  he  died,  and  to  report  the   fame  to 
"  the  Houfe." 


224  The  Grand  Remonji ranee. 


3 .   Government  by  Prerogative :  from  Third 
Parliament  to  Pacification  of  Berwick. 

cl    r  The  long  and  terrible  interval  which  fuc- 

17—60.     ceeded,  and  which  only  Laud's  mad  refolve  to 
impofe  the  fervice-book  on   Scotland  at   laft 
abruptly  clofed,   during  which  no  parliament 
met,  and  the  people  were  forbidden  even  to 
fpeak  of  parliaments,* — forbidden  merely  to 
look  back  to  their  ancient  liberty, — fills  forty- 
Govern-    f°ur  claufes>  UP  to  tne  fiftieth  inclufive.     Then 
ment  by    parTed  over  the  land  a  net-work  of  tyranny  fo 
Preroga-   eiaDorate  and   comprehenfive,  that,  excepting 
only  its   agents  and   projectors,    not  a  fingle 
clafs  of  the  community  efcaped  it.      Nearly  all 
men  fuffered  alike,  in  lands,  goods,  or  perfon ; 
nor  was  there  left  to  any  one  that  which  fafely 
he  could  call  his,  except  the  wrong,  and  the 
too  patient  endurance. 
nl    r  Obfolete    laws   and   fervices    which    it  was 

Clauies  ,  . 

17,21,22,  hoped  had  been  extinguilned  for  ever,  con- 

31,44, 45,  fronted    fuddenly    all    families    of   reafonable 

'  49"     condition.      Old    laws    of    knighthood    were 

revived  ;    and   fuch    fums  exacted  for  default, 

as,  whether  in  refpect  of  the  perfons  charged, 

the  fines  demanded,  or  the  modes  of  exaction, 

Revival     were  entirely  monftrous.      By  fines  and  com- 

of  feudal    pofitions  for   wardfhips   alone,f    eftates   were 

ftatutes. 


*  During  the  firft  difcuffion  of  the  Remonftrance,  Mr. 
Wingate,  member  for  St.  Alban's,  moved  that  theie  fliould 
be  named  therein 

"  The  Proclamation  fet  forth,  forbidding  people  fo  much 
"  as  to  talk  of  a  parliament." 

f  Some  notion  of  the  advantage  taken,  for  purpofes  of 
extortion,  of  thofe  obfolete  feudal  ftatutes,  may  be  derived 


Abfiracl:    Government  by  Prerogative.  225 

weakened  pair,  help.  Coat  and  conducl: 
money,*  and  other  military  charges,  were 
either  preffed  as  due,  or,  failing  that  claim  of 
right,  were  required  as  loans.  Without  a  Ancient 
fhadow  of  pretence,  either  in  fad:  or  law,  the  fnarters 
ancient  lecunties  and  charters  or  real  property 
were  everywhere  violated  ;  and  from  forefts 
where  never  any  deer  fed,  from  depopulations 
where  never  any  farm  was  decayed,  and  from 
enclofures  where  never  any  hedges  were  fet, 
charges  unceafing  and  infatiable  were  drawn 
againft  the  land.f     When  flaws  in  title  were 

from  the  documents  in  the  Verney  Papers  relating  to  Mrs.  Wardfhip 
Mary  Blacknall,   who  had  the  misfortune,    on  her  father's  extor- 
death,  to  become   a  ward  of  the  Crown,  and  four  of  whofe  tions. 
maternal  relations,    "  Anthony  Blagrove  the  elder,  Anthony 
"  Blagrove  the  younger,    both   of  Bulmarih,  Richard   Libb 
"  efquire  of  Hardwick  in  the  county  of  Oxford,  and  Charles 
"  Wileman  efquire  of  Steventon  in   Berks,"  are  obliged  to 
purchale  from  the  Court  of  Wards  (that  is,  the  Government) 
freedom  from  opprefTion,  and  mere  ordinary  rights  of  citizen- 
fhip,  by  payment  to  the   Crown  of  a  fine  of  2000/,  half  of 
which  is  paid  down,  and  a  bond  given  for  the  remainder. 

*  This  oppreffive  tax  was  afTeffed  on  the  feveral  hundreds  Coat  and 
feparately,  each  being  obliged  to  fupply  its  quota  of  men  by  conduct 
prefling  or  enliilment,  in  proportion  to  its  fize  and  the  number  money, 
demanded  j    one  (hilling  being  paid  to  each   man,  fourteen 
(hillings  levied  for  the  coft  of  his  "  coat,"  and  two  other  pay- 
ments made  feverally,  as  remuneration  to  the   conftable  who 
took  him  to  the  place  of  embarkation,  and  as  fine  or  charge 
for  his  "  conduct,"  or  expenfes  on  the  way. 

-f-  From  a  Schedule  of  Grievances  largely  circulated 
through  the  country  before  April  1640,  I  felect  one  or  two 
items : 

"  The  new  taxe  of  Coate  and  Conduct  Mony,  with  undue  Schedule 
"  meanes  ufed  to  inforce  the  payment  of  it,  by  meffengers  of  Griev- 
"  from  the  counfell  table."  ances. 

"  The  infinite  number  of  Monopolies  upon  everything  the  April, 
"  countryman  mull  buy."  1640. 

"  The  rigid  execution  of  the  Forreft  laws  in  theire  extre- 
mity." 

"  The  exaction  of  immoderate  fees  by  fome  officers  under 
"  the  Lord  Chief  Juftice  in  Eyre." 


226  The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 

Packed      alleged,  they  were  judged  by  packed  juries  ; 
Ju"£s  .      and  when  commiffions  of  inquiry  into  exceffes 
by  law.      of  fees  or  fines  were  ifTued,  they  were  made  but 
additional  means  of  increafing  and  confirming 
the  grievance.     They  ended,  for  the  moft  part, 
in  compofitions  with  the    delinquents   them- 
felves  ;    fo  that  offences  to  come  were  com- 
promifed    as   well  as    the   offences   part,   and 
a   complete    impunity    eftablifhed    for   future 
wrongs.     To  thefe  matters  were  devoted  the 
17th,  2 1  ft,  22nd,  31ft,  44th,  45th,  and  49th 
claufes. 
Claufes  Nor  was  the  lot  of  the  merchant  and  trader, 

18,19,20,  jn  tnjs  difaftrous  interval,  more  to  be  envied 
than  that  of  any  owner  of  a  moderate  eftate. 
In  the  very  teeth  of  the  Petition  of  Right, 
tonnage  and  poundage  were  again  levied,  with 
many  other  fimilar  impofitions,  of  which  fome 
were  in  a  difproportion  fo  monftrous,  that  the 
amount  of  the  charge  exceeded  the  entire 
Monftrous  value  of  the  goods.  The  book  of  rates  gene- 
taxation     raUy  was  ajf0  enhanced  to  fuch  an  extent  that 

or  com-  it  r    o  •  r  1 

merce.       tne  ordinary  tranlacnons  or  commerce  became 
impofTible.      And    though,    for   thefe   violent 
afTeiTments,  there  was  fet  up  the  notable  pre- 
tence of  duly  guarding  the  feas  ;   and  though 
Pretence    there  was  fuddenly  added  thereto  that  new  and 
of  guard-  unheard  of  tax  of  fhip-money,*  by  which,  for 

Finch  was  at  this  time  Chief  Juftice  of  the  Common  Pleas, 

and  no  part  of  his  conducl  in  the  circuit  in  Eyre  more  exaf- 

perated  the  people  than  his  extending  the  boundaries  of  the 

forefts  in  Effex,  and  annihilating  the  ancient  perambulations. 

The  tax  *  ^n  t^le  above-named    "  Schedule  of  fuch  Grievances  as 

]eafi  "  moft  oppreffe  this  country,"  largely  circulated  in  the  early 

funport-      Part  °^  1^4°»  ftands  firft   "The   illegall  and   infupportable 

a]Jje  "  charge  of  (hip-money,  now  the  fifth  yeere  impofed  as  high 

"  as  ever,  though  the  fubject  was  not  able  to  pay  the  laft 


Abjlracl:  Government  by  Prerogative.  il~] 

many  years,  with  the  help  of    the   book  of  SmP- 
rates,  near  upon  700,000/.  was  yearly  taken 
by  the  Crown ;  the  feas  meanwhile  were  left 

"  yeer,  beeing  a  third."     The  Lord  Deputy  Wentworth's 

newfwriter   gives  us  curious  notices  of  this  memorable  tax, 

"  word  of  lading  found  in  the  memory  of  this  kingdom  ;" 

but  even  his  gofliping  letters  lofe  fomething  of  their  carelefs 

tone  in  talking  of  it,  and  mow  that  he  alfo  winces  and  fmarts  Hardfhips 

under  the  prelTure  no  one   can  efcape.       In  one  year,  Mr.  of  fhip- 

Garrard  fays,  "it   will   coft  the  city  at  leaft  35,000/."     He  money 

names  particular  aiTefhnents  to  the  amount  of  360/.  and  300/:  affeflment. 

"  great  fums  to  pay  at  one  tax,  and  we  know  not  how  often 

"  it  may  come.      It  reaches  us  in  the  Strand,  being  within 

"  liberties  of  Weftminfter,  which  furnifheth  out  one  fhip — 

"  nay  lodgers,  for  I  am  let  at  40J;  but  I  had  rather  give  and 

"  pay  ten  fubfidies  in  parliament  than  \os.  this  new-old  way 

"  of  dead  Noy's."     And  as  in  the  cities,  fo  in  the  country. 

"  Mr.  Speaker,"  faid  Sir  John  Culpeper,  "this  tax  of  fhip- 

"  money  is  the  grievance  which  makes  the  farmers  faint,  and  Prifons 

"  the  plough  to  go  heavy."    So  intolerable  was  it  everywhere,  fiHedt 

indeed,  that  the  prifons  were  literally  filled  with  thofe  who 

had  refufed  and  refilled  payment,  before  the  Crown   (which, 

through   the  judges  on    circuit,    had  -refilled    every    former 

attempt  to  bring  the  queftion  into  the  courts  as  refilling  even 

to  admit  a  doubt  of  its  legality)   confented    to   appear   to 

Hampden's  plea.     The  Court  lawyers  had  felefled  Hampden  Hampden 

as  a  better  man  to  fight  it  out  with,  than  the  lefs  affable  and  one  of 

apparently  more  obdurate  Lord  Saye;  but  here,  as  everywhere,  many  re- 

they  were  fated  to  difcover  their  miftake.     I  give  a  curious  cufants. 

note  (not  otherwife  reported)  as  to  Lord  Saye's  fubfequent 

proceedings  : 

"  March   19,    1638-9.       Shipmoney,    determined   for   the 
"  king  by  his  prerogative,  argued  Eafter  and  Trinity  Term. 
"  In   Michaelmas  term,  the   lord   Saye  brought  his    aclion  £or(j 
"  about  it  to  the  King's  Bench  barre.    Mr.  Holborne,  plead-  gaye>s 
"  ing    llrongly    for    him,    was    rebuked   by    Judge    Bartlet  refiftance. 
"  [Berkeley],    hecaufe    it   was   determined    as   before.       He 
"  alleged  a  president   when    fuch    determinings    have    been 
"  againe   quellioned.       Judge    Crooke    alledged    prefidents. 
"  Judge  Joanes   laid  they  were  not  like.     Sir  Jo.  Brampton 
"  [Bramfton]  alledged  that  they  had   no  prefident  like   this, 
"  viz.  to  call  the  thing  in  queftion  the  next  terme,  and  before 
"  the  judges'  faces  that   did  determine  it.      The  lord  Saye 
"  affirmed,  that  if  their  Lordfhips  wold  fay  it  were  lawe,  then  decifion 
"  he  wold  yeeld ;  but  otherwife  not,  to  the  wronging  of  his  in  his 
"  country.     He  hath  time  to  confider  until  the  next  terme."     cafe. 

Pym,  in  his  great  fpeech  in  the  little  parliament,  ftruck  at 

Q  2 


221 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


Seas  fo  utterly  unguarded  that  the  Turkifh  pirates 

wholly  un-  ranged  through  them  uncontrolled,  repeatedly 
taking  great  imps  of  value,  and  conngning  to 
flavery  many  thoufands   of  Englifh  fubjecls.* 


guarded. 


Pym  on 
ihip- 

money. 


Not  a 
light  tax. 


Piracies 
in  the 
Channel. 


Infults  to 

Englifh 

flag. 


the  root  of  the  extraordinary  and  univerfal  refiftance  provoked 
by  this  tax  when  he  pointed  out,  that  it  extended  to  all  per- 
fons  and  to  all  times,  that  it  fubjected  goods  to  diftrefs  and 
the  perfon  to  imprilbnment,  that,  the  King  being  ible  judge 
of  the  occafion,  there  was  no  poflibility  of  exception  or  relief, 
and  that  there  were  no  rules  or  limits  for  the  proportion,  fo 
that  no  man,  under  it,  knew  what  eftate  he  had,  or  how  to 
order  his  courfe  or  expenfes.  It  is  quite  a  miftake  to  fuppofe, 
as  fome  have  reprefented,  that  it  was  a  light  tax ;  and  that 
Hampden,  well  able  to  afford  it,  oppofed  it  only  on  principle. 
No  man,  not  the  wealthier!  in  that  day,  was  able  to  afford  it. 
It  muff,  fooner  or  later,  have  broken  him  down. 

*  "  About  the  end  of  March,  1627,  Sir  William  Courtenay 
"  his  houfe  of  Ilton,  near  Salcomb,  in  Devon,  was  robbed ; 
"  and  much  of  his  pewter  plate  and  houfehold  fluff  carried 
"  away.  It  was  done  by  certain  pirates,  which  came  up  in 
"  boats  from  Salcomb,  and  fled  the  fame  way  they  came 
"  without  apprehenfion  " — Diary  of  Walter  Yonge :  to  which 
paflage  a  valuable  note  is  appended  by  the  editor.  The 
fovereignty  of  the  fea  was  as  yet  but  the  emptieft  of  claims. 
Pirates  of  all  lands  fwept  our  coafts  during  the  whole  of  this 
period  of  government  by  the  fole  will  of  the  King.  Piracy 
had  become  indeed  fo  much  more  profitable  than  honeft 
trading  that  many  Englifhmen  turned  Turks  and  lived  at 
Tunis.  Sir  Francis  Verney  is  fuppofed  to  have  been  among 
them  3  and  Mr.  Bruce  (in  his  moft  interefting  collection  of 
Verney  Papers,  printed  for  the  Camden  Society,  95-102)  does 
not  effectually  rebut  the  fuppofition.  "  Affifled  by  Englifh- 
"  men,"  fays  the  editor  of  Yonge's  Diary,  "the  Barbary 
"  corfairs  not  only  fcoured  the  Englifh  and  St.  George's 
"  Channels,  but  even  difembarked,  pillaged  the  villages,  and 
"  carried  the  inhabitants  into  flavery,  to  the  number  of  feveral 
"  thoufands. .  . .  One  veffel  the  Algerines  captured  was  worth 
"  260,000/.  The  Dutch  refumed  their  fifhing  without  a 
"  licence,  and  captured  two  rich  Eaft  Indiamen.  France, 
"  Spain,  and  Holland  violated  the  neutrality,  and  infulted 
"  the  Englifh  flag.  The  French  fcoured  the  Severn  in 
"  1628  ...  So  late  as  the  year  1633,  Lord  Wentworth,  ap- 
"  pointed  lord-deputy  of  Ireland,  names  noted  pirate  veffels' 
"  off  the  coaft  of  Ireland,  and  their  captures.  The  Turks 
"  carried  off  a  hundred  captives  from  Baltimore  in  Ireland, 
"  in  163 1.  They  landed  their  poor  captives  at  Rochelle  and 
"  marched  them  in  chains  to  Marfeilles.     And  in  1645,  the 


Abjlracl, :  Government  by  Prerogative.  229 

It  was   in    vain   that   the   leading    merchants 
would  have  appealed  to  the  law.    The  ordinary  No  laws 
courfe  of  juftice,   the  common    birthright   0ftoapPeal 
the  fubject  of  England,  was  clofed  to  them. 
The  moft  diftinguifhed  of  their  number  who 
made    the    trial    was   dragged    into    the    Star 
Chamber,  fined   2000/,   kept  twelve  years  in  Cafe  of 
prifon,  and  releafed  a  beggar.*     Thefe  things  ^lchard 
are  the  fubject  of  claufes  18th,  19th,  20th  and  bers. 
part  of  the  34th. 

Other  wrongs,  too,  equally  grave,  the  mer- 

"  Turks  carried  off  twenty-fix  children    at   one    time   from  Captures 
"  Cornwall.     The   editor  has   a  curious  bill  of  expenfes  for  by  Turks. 
"  fending  pirates  with  their  hands  tied  behind  them  on  horfe- 
"  back  to  Dorchefter  gaol." 

*  A  man  had  but  to  queftion  the  moft  profligate  decifions 
of  the  Courts  to  be  dragged  into  the  Star  Chamber.     One 
inftance  of  a   different  kind,  fhowing  the  deep  refentment  of 
the  people  at  fuch  proceedings,  is  well  worthy  of  prefervation. 
Of  the  twelve  judges  who  pronounced  on'  fhip  money,  three 
diffented,  of  whom  Hutton  was  one  ;  and  a  clergyman  named 
Harrifon  was  brought  before  a  jury  for  having  charged  Judge 
Hutton  with  treaion,  in  having  denied  the  King's  prerogative 
in  the  matter  of  fhip  money.    The  jury  gave  10,000/.  damages  Popular 
againft  him  ;  a  judgment  difallowed,  but  evincing  unmiftake-  fynmafhv 
ably  the  feeling  of  the  people.     That  was  in  1638-9.     I  may  fQr  jujg.e 
add,  not  lefs  as  a  valuable  illuftration  of   this  part  of  the  fjutton^ 
fubjecl,  than  as  a  good  fpecimen  of  Hyde's  tone  in  the  Houfe 
at  this  time,  a  few  fentences  from  his  fpeech  upon   the  mif- 
doings  of  the  Bench  of  Judges.     "  The  great   refolution  in 
"  fhip  money  was  a  crime  of  fo   prodigious  a  nature,  that  it 
"  could  not  be  eafily  fwallowed   and  digefted  by  the   con- 
"  fciences  even  of  thefe  men  ;  but  as  they  who  are  to  wreftle, 
**  or  run   a  race,  by  degrees  prepare  themfelves  by  diet  and 
"  leffer  effays   for  the  main  exercife,   fo  thefe  judges  enter 
"  themfelves,  and  harden  their  hearts,   by  more    particular  jrvcje's 
"  trefpaffes  upon  the  law — by  impofition  and  taxes  upon  the  fopl-i,' 
"  merchant  in  trade,  by  burdens  and  preffure  upon  the  gentry  ap-ainftthe 
"  by  knighthood — before  they  could  arrive  at  that  univerfal  judo-ps 
"  deftruclion  of  the  kingdom  by  fhip  money  ;  which  promifed         ° 
"  them  reward  and   fecurily  for  all  their  former  fervices,  by 
"  doing  the  work  of  a  parliament  to  his  Majefcy  in  fupplies  5 
"  and  feemed  to  elude  juftice  in  leaving  none  to  judge  them, 
"  by  making  the  whole  kingdom  party  to  their  oppreffion." 


230  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

Claufes      chant  fhared  with  the  mafs  of  his  countrymen. 
27,28,29,  Ag  wj(.j1  the  Petition  of  Right,  which  had  been 
and  35.      folemnly  enacted  only  eight  months  before,  fo 
it  fared  with  the  ftatutes  againft  monopolies 
and  projectors,  won  by  as  hard  a  ftruggle  in 
the   fourth    parliament   of  James,  and   which 
now  had  been  the  law  for  many  years.     Again 
Mono-      had  monopolies  and  protections  of  every  kind 
revived:    fprung  up  into  existence,  and  the  whole  com- 
munity  fmarted    and    groaned   under   them. 
There  were  monopolies  of  foap,  of  fait  and 
faltpetre,  of  wine,  of  leather,  of  coals;  literally, 
of  everything  in  moft  common  and  neceffary 
all  necef-   ufe ;  and,  as  the  immediate  and  univerfal  con- 
life  pro-     fequence,  not  merely  were  the  moft  extravagant 
teded  and  prices  required  to  be  paid  for  everything  fo 
debaied.    protected,  but    articles  of  the  worft  quality, 
and  fubject  to  the  bafeft  adulterations,  were 
fure  to  be  fupplied.     Purveyors,  clerks  of  the 
markets,  faltpetre  men,:;:  became  bye-words  of 
petty  oppreffion.    Not  only  a  man's  unavoid- 
able daily  wants,  but  his  trade,  his  employment, 
his  habitation,  anything,  ferved  as  the  pretext 
for  fome  vexatious  reftraint  to  his  liberty.     If 
Reftraints  he  would  build  near  London,  he  found  fuch 
on  enter-    building  was  adjudged  a  nuifance,  and  had  to 
pay  fome  projector  for  permiflion  to  inflict  the 
nuifance  on  his  neighbours.     If  he  would  trade 
at  fea,  he  was  furprifed,  even  there,   by  the 
projector,  as  by  a  foreign  enemy.      Merchants 
commonly  were  prohibited  from  unlading  their 
goods  in  ports  for  their  own  advantage,  and 

*  Bulftrode  Whitelocke  moved  and  carried,  in  the  Houfe 
itfelf,  this  addition  of  "  the  abides  of  Purveyors  and  balt- 
"  petre  men." 


Abjiracl :  Government  by  Prerogative .  231 

compelled  to  unlade  in  places  for  the  advantage 

of  monopolifers  and  projectors.     There  was  Debafe- 

alfo  a  fcheme  of  brafs  money  fet  on    foot  *  ment  of 

*  currency. 

which  would  have  had  the  effecl;  of  beggaring 
the  whole  kingdom  at  a  ftroke,  by  fummary 
and    Simultaneous  procefs.     And  when  fome 
foiitary  citizen  was  occasionally  moved  to  refin- 
ance, it  was  but  to  difcover  that  what  he  had 
imagined  to  be  courts  of  law  for  the  determi- 
nation of  the  fubjec^:s,  rights,  were  now  become 
courts  of  revenue  to  fupply  the  treafury  of  the 
King.     The  common  refult  of  fuch  refiftance  Courts  of 
was   long   and    hard    imprifonment ;    lofs    oflawbe~ 
health  to  many,  lofs  of  life  to  fome ;  and  theirs  courts  0f 
was  an  enviable  lot,  who  efcaped  with  the  mere  royal 
breaking  up  of  their  eftablifhments  and  the  levenue- 
feizure  of  their  goods. j~     The  points  fo  dwelt 

*  "  About  the  month  of  July,  1638,  there  was  a  project  Project 
"  on  foot  for  brafle  money.     It  was  folemnly  debated  whether  for  brais 
"  it  be  for  his  Majefty's  l'ervice  to  coine  brafle  money,  and  to  money, 
"  make  the  fame  currant  within  his  dominions." — Diary  0/163%. 
Rous,   p.    95.       Of  the  confequences  that   mull  immediately 
have  enured  upon  this  wicked  propofal  to  debate  the  coin  of 
the  realm,  it  is  needlefs  to  fpeak ;  but  fome  of  them  are  de- 
tailed in  a  paper  printed  by  Rous,  pp.   95—98.     Lord  Falk- 
land made  a  happy  allufion  to  the  brafs  project  in  one  of  his 
refolute  fpeeches  againft  the   bifhops,   while  yet  he  acted  on 
that  queftion   with    Hampden   and   Pym.       "  As    fome    ill  paijj._ 
"  minifters  in  our  State  firft  took  away  our  money  from  us,  ]antps 
"  and  after  endeavoured  to  make  our  money  not  worth  the  reference 
"  taking  by  turning  it  into  Brafs  by  a  kind  of  anti-philofo-  tnereto# 
"  pher's  ftone — fo  thefe  men  ufed  us  in  this  point  of  preach- 
"  ing  :  firft  deprefling  it  to  their  power,  and  next  labouring 
"  to  make  it  fuch  as  the  harm  had  not  been  much   if  it  had 
"  been  deprefled." 

f  The  ftate  to  which  in  this  refpeft  the  kingdom  had  been  Grimfton 
brought  was  briefly  and  forcibly  exprefled  by  Mr.  Harbottle  on  denials 
Grimfton,  the  member  for  Colchefter,  fubfequently  Mafter  of  of  juftice. 
the  Rolls  and  Speaker  of  the  Parliament  that  welcomed  back 
Charles  the  Second,  in  one  of  the  great  debates  on  grievances. 
"  Sir,"    he  faid,    "  by   fome  judgments   lately   obtained    in 


232  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

upon  were  in  the    27th,   28th,   29th,   30th, 
33rd,  part  of  the  34th,  and  the  35th  claufes. 
Claufes  From  the  private  wrong  the  public  grievance 

2fi'24a»-'  *s  °^  cour^"e  rarely  Teparable  ;  but  here  it  hap- 
3"'  pened  frequently  that  the  one  received  peculiar 
exafperation  from  the   other,   and   a  finking 
inftance  was  alleged  in  the  monopoly  of  gun- 
powder.    So  high  was  the  rate  fet  upon  gun- 
Gun-        powder,  that  the  poorer  fort  of  people  were 
mrao-1      unable  to  buy  it ;  fo  ftrict  was  the  protection, 
poly:         that  without  a  licenfe  it  was  not  procurable  at 
all ;  and,  befides  the  unlawful  advantages  thus 
permitted    to    individuals,  many  parts  of  the 
kingdom  were  left  in  confequence  utterly  with- 
out defence.*     It  refulted,  in  fact,  in  one  of 
Trained    ^e  neavieft  wrongs  inflicted  on  the  common- 
bands  dif-  wealth.     The  Trained    Bands   were  generally 
couraged    difcouraged   in   their    exercifes,    the    country 
began  to  lofe  its    martial    fpirit,   and   feveral 
bodies  of  militia  in  the  counties  had  their  arms 
taken  away.    Belonging  alfo  to  the  fame  clafs  of 

"  courts  of  juftice,  and  by  fome  new  ways  of  government 
"  lately  ftarted  up  amongft  us,  the  law  of  property  is  fo  much 
"  maken  that  no  man  can  fay  he  is  mailer  of  anything.  All 
"that  we  have,  we  hold  but  as  tenants  by  courtefy  and  at 
"  will,  and  may  be  ftripped  of  at  pleafure." 

*  It  was  moved  by  J.   C.  (Sir  John   Clotworthy)  in  the 

Houfe  that  the   gunpowder   monopoly    mould    be    fpecially 

entered  "  as  it  was  a  project  for  difarming  of  the  kingdom." 

Culpeper    Another  J-    C.     (Sir  John    Culpeper),   unhappily  now  the 

on  pro-       fierceft  opponent  of  the  Remonltrance,  had  ftrongly   prefTed 

teclion  of  i^lis  as  a  grievance  at  the  opening  of  the  Long  Parliament. 

„un.  "  However  little  it  may  item  prima  facie,  fir,"  he  faid,  with 

powder.      admirable  fenfe  and  fhrewdnefs,   "  upon  due  examination  it 

"  will  appear  a  great  grievance,  that  enhancing  of  the  price 

"  of  gunpowder  whereby  the  Trained  Bands  are  much  dif- 

"  couraged  in  their  exercifing  .   .  .  Mr.  Speaker,  the  Trained 

"  Band  is  a  Militia  of  great  ftrength  and  honour,  without 

"  charges  to  the  King,  and  deferves  all  due  encouragement." 


AbftraR :  Government  by  Prerogative.  233 

grievances,  were  fuch  incidents  as  the  breaking 

up  of  the  foreft  of  Dean,  and  the  alignment 

to  projectors,  for  fupply  of  temporary  needs, 

of  the  royal  timber  therein.     One  of  the  beft  Favours 

ftore-houfes  of  the  kingdom  for  maintenance  to  PaPlft 

r    •  n  •  1  1    n  1      projectors. 

of  its    lhipping  was  thus  loft ;   nor  was  the r 
grief  of  good  fubjects  abated,  when  they  faw  it 
leafed  and  fold  to  papifts.    And  as  public  pof- 
feffions  were  feized  by  private  projectors,  fo 
was  private  land  appropriated  under  pretences 
of  public  or  royal  title.      The  Crown  lawyers  Seizures 
put  in  claims  incefTantly  to  portions  of  eftates  "nder 
between  high   and   low  water   marks,  againft  commif- 
which  the  owners  had  no  remedy  ;*  and  com-  »ons. 
miffions  were  granted  under  vexatious  and  all 
but   obfolete  ftatutes,  by  which,  for  the  fole 
benefit  of  the  rich,  the  poor  were  moft  heavily 
burthened.f     Large    quantities   of  Common,  Commons 
alfo,   and  feveral  public  grounds,  were  taken  *aken 
from  the  fubject  under  colour  of  the  ftatute  of  peop]e. 
improvement,  and  by  abufe  of  the  commiflion 
of  fewers.     The  23rd,  24th,  25th,  26th,  and 
32nd  claufeswere  thus  occupied,  the  laft  having 


*  Mr.  Serjeant  Wilde  had  moved  in  the  Houfe  as  to  "  the  Wilde 
"  Deftruftion  of  Timber,  efpecially  in  the  Foreft  of  Deane,  and  Clot- 
"  by  Recufants  5"  and  confederation  was  moved  to  be  added  worthy, 
by  J.  C.  (Sir  John  Clotworthy)  of  "  the  Entitling  the  King 
"  to  the  lands  between  the  high-water  and  low-water  mark." 

f   "  Here  is  at  this  prefent,"   writes  Garrard  to  the  Lord 
Deputy  Wentworth,    "  a    Commiflion    in  execution  againft 
"  cottagers  who  have  not  four  acres  of  ground  laid  to   their 
"  houfes,  upon  a  ftatute  made  the  31    Rliz.  which  vexeth  the 
"  poor  people  mightily,  all  for  the  benefit  of  the  Lord  Mor- 
"  ton,  and  the    Secretary   of  Scotland,   the   Lord  Sterling;  p]unc]er 
"  much  crying  out  there  is  againft  it,  efpecially  becaufemean,  0f  t}ie 
"  needy,  and  men  of  no  good  fame,  prifoners  in  the  Fleet,  poor# 
"  are  ufed  as  principal  Commiflioners  to  call  the  people  before 
"  them,  to  fine  and  compound  with  them." 


234 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


been  fpecially  inferted  at  the  urgent  reprefenta- 
tion  of  Cromwell.* 

The  fteps  by  which  the  ordinary  courts  of 

4^42'43!Juc^cature  had  become  meanwhile  fo  degraded, 

46,and47.  as  to  render  poflible  the  prolongation  of  this 

lawlefs  time,  are  fuccin&ly  detailed  in  the  38th, 

39th,  40th,  41ft,  42nd,  43rd,  46th,  and  47th 

claufes.     The    patents    of    the    judges    were 

altered;  and  the  condition  of  abfolute  fervility, 

durante  bene  placito,  took  the  place  of  that  which 

might  imply  at  lean;  moderate  independence, 

the  quamdiu  Je  bene  gejjerit.     Some  few  judges 

were  difplaced  for  refufing  to  betray  their  oaths 

and  their  confciences  ;f  nearly  all  the  reft  were 

Juftice  in-  overawed  into  treachery  to  both ;  the  ordinary 

tercepted.  approaches  to  juftice  were  interrupted  or  fore- 

clofed;^  and  they  who  fhould   have  been  as 

dogs   to  defend  the  fheep,   became  the   very 


Claufes 


Patents 
of  the 
Judges 
altered. 


Commif- 
fions. 


Alleged 
defeats  in 
title  deeds, 


Anecdote 
of  a 
Judge. 


*  "  The  CommifTion  of  Sewers  to  be  farther  explained" 
are  the  terms  of  a  notice  given  in  the  Houle  by  Cromwell. 
This,  and  the  Commiffion  for  Depopulations,  were  often 
indignantly  recurred  to,  both  by  Pym  and  Cromwell. 

f  The  opportunities  for  violating  both  were  unceafing. 
Under  the  pretext  of  curing  defects  in  titles  of  land,  a  pro- 
clamation was  iffued  propoiing  to  grant  new  titles  on  pay- 
ment of  a  reafonable  composition ;  the  alleged  flaws  to  be 
tried  by  judges  empowered,  without  appeal,  to  eftablifh  the 
objections;  and  whoever  declined  to  avail  himielf  of  this 
facility  for  being  plundered,  was  threatened  in  no  meafured 
terms  with  the  feizure  and  utter  lofs  of  all  belonging  to  him. 

%  "  Sir,"  faid  Mr.  Harbottle  Grimfton,  in  one  of  his  able 
fpeeches  on  grievances  at  the  opening  of  this  parliament,  "  I 
"  will  tell  you  a  paflage  I  heard  from  a  judge  in  the  King's 
"  Bench.  There  was  a  poor  man  committed  by  the  Lords, 
"  for  refufing  to  fubmit  to  a  project;  and  having  attended  a 
"  long  time  at  the  King's  Bench  bar  upon  his  habeas  corpus, 
"  and  at  laft  prefling  very  earneftly  to  be  bailed,  the  judge 
"  faid  to  the  reft  of  his  brethren,  '  Come,  brothers,'  faid  he, 
"  '  let  us  bail  him;  for  they  begin  to  lay  in  the  town,  that 
"  '  the  judges  have  overthrown  the  Law,  and  the  bifhops  the 
"  <  Gofpel.'  " 


AbftraEl :  Government  by  Prerogative.  13$ 

wolves  to   worry  them.     If  a  lawyer  mowed 
fidelity  to  his  client  in  any  queftion  affecting 
the  Crown,  he  was  marked  by  the  court  dif- 
favour.   Solicitors  and  attornies  were  repeatedly  Law  and 
threatened,  and  not  feldom  were  punifhed,  for  lawyejS 
profecuting  the  moft  lawful  fuits.    New  oaths 
were  forced  upon  the  fubject.   Undue  influences 
were   employed    to    make  juries  find  for   the 
King.     Men    found   themfelves   fuddenly,   in 
their    freeholds    and    eftates,    their    fuits    and 
actions,  bound  and  overruled  by  orders  from 
the  Council  Table.*     Old  judicatories,  as  the  old  jurif- 
Chancery,  the  Exchequer  Chamber,  the  Courts  ahu|°jS 
of  the  Houfehold,f  the  Court  of  Wards,  and 

*  "  The    Council    Table    bit   like    a    ferpent ;    the    Star  Council 
"  Chamber  like  fcorpions.     Two  or  three  gentlemen   could  Board 
"  not  ftir  out,  for  fear  of  being  committed   for  a  riot.     Our  tyranny. 
"  fouls  and  coniciences  were  put  on  the  rack  by  the  Arch- 
"  bifhop.     We  might  not    fpeak  of  Scripture    or   repeat  a 
"  fermon  at  our  tables.     Many  godly  minifters  were  lent  to 
"  find  their  bed  in  the  wildernefs.     The  opprefiion  was  little 
"  lefs  in  the  lower  courts  and  in  the  lpecial  courts." — Speech 
by  Sir  Arthur  Hafelrig  in   Richard  Cromwell's  parliament, 
Feb.  1658-9.     Clarendon  reports  it  as  not  merely  an  ordinary 
faying  but  a  regular  principle  of  conduft  with  Finch,  fworn 
in  to  the  high  office   of  Lord  Keeper  in  January,  1639-40,  Policy  of 
that  while  he  was  Keeper,  no  man  lhould  be  lb  faucy  as  to  Keeper 
difpute  orders  of  the  Council  Board ;  but  that  the  wifdom  of  Finch, 
that  Board  mould  be  always  ground  enough  for  him  to  make 
a  decree  in  Chancery.     Hift.  i.  131. 

f  Of  the  kind  of  courts  thus  recklelfly  allowed  to  override  Courts 
or  fuperfede  the  ordinary  courts  of  judicature,  a  remarkable  of  the 
inftance  occurs   in  the   Verney  Papers,  where  a  reprieve   ap-  Houfe- 
pears  ligned   by   Secretary  Windebank  for  "  one    Elizabeth  hold. 
"  Cottrell,    condemned   to  death  at    the    Verge   holden   on 
"  Thurfday  laft  for  Healing  one  of  his  Majefty's  dimes,"  and 
ferving  notice  to  the  Treasurer  and  Comptroller  of  the  Houfe- 
hold  to  ftay  the  execution.     But  moft  undoubtedly  no  autho- 
rity exifted,  even  in  the  two  infamous  Tudor  ftatutes  creating 
criminal  courts  within  the  royal  precinifs,  by  which  Charles 
the  Firft's  Treafurer  or  Comptroller  was  empowered  to  try,  Verney 
convicl,   and   capitally   fentence    any   Englifti   lubjeft.     Mr.  Papers., 
Bruce  has  properly  pointed  out  that  the  only  criminal  cafes  p.  182. 


236 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 


New  the  Star  Chamber,  were  enlarged  fo  as  griev- 
C°Ufd  ou^y  t0  exceed  their  proper  jurifdiction ;  and 
new  judicatories,  fuch  as  the  Court  of  the  Earl 
Marfhal,  were  created  without  a  pretence  of 
legality.  No  man  who  was  in  favour  at  White- 
hall, any  longer  cared  or  needed  to  feek  juftice 
Rules  of  except  where  juftice  might  be  fitted  to  his  own 
defire;  and  the  rules  of  common  law,  which 
had  furvived  through  centuries  of  comparative 
barbarifm,  began  to  lofe  their  certainty  and 
efficacy  in  this  brief  term  of  twelve  miferable 
years.* 

The  37th  claufe  dealt  with  the  Star  Cham- 

37, 51)  52.  ber,    and   recited    the    fines,    imprifonments, 

55'    '    '   baniihments,    ftigmatifings,   whippings,    gags, 

pillories,  and  mutilations,*)"  which  it  adminif- 


law  un 

fettled. 


Claufes 


Death 
for  Heal- 
ing royal 
difh. 


Notices 
for  infer- 
tions  in 
Remon- 
strance. 


Tragedies 
of  Bait- 
wick, 


to  which  the  limited  jurifdiclion  of  the  Tudor  Courts  could 
poflibly  apply,  were  thofe  of  members  of  the  royal  houfehold 
confpiring  to  kill  the  King  or  any  great  officer  of  the  Itate, 
or  fhedding  blood  within  the  limits  of  the  palace.  To  punifh 
capitally  the  theft  of  one  of  his  Majefty's  dimes,  even  though 
committed  by  a  fervant  of  the  royal  houfehold  (which  Eliza- 
beth Cottrell  prefumably  was),  is  a  notion  that  could  only 
have  entered  into  the  projects  and  arrangements  of  the  molt 
lawlefs  government  that  England  had  ever  known. 

*  Several  notices  of  motion  for  additions  to  the  Remon- 
ftrance,  given  after  its  introduction  into  the  Houfe,  had 
reference  to  thefe  fubje6ts.     I  fubjoin  a  few  fuch  notices  : 

"The  Courts  of  Wards." 

"  The  Jurifdiction  of  the  Council  of  the  Marches." 
"  The    Council   Table,   as  they   take   cognizance  of  me 
"  andte." 

"  The  Buying  and  Selling  of  Honours  and  Dignities." 

Smyth,  the  fignature  attached  to  the  firft,  was  doubtlefs  Henry 
Smyth,  the  member  for  Leiceftermire,  who  furvived  the 
vicilfitudes  of  the  eight  following  years,  and  fat  on  the  trial  of 
the  King. 

t  The  bloody  tragedies  of  Baftwick,  of  Burton,  and  of 
Prynne, — men  of  fpotlefs  reputation  in  their  feveral  learned 
callings,  and  whofe  offence  was  limply  to  have  claimed  the 
commoneft  right  of  freemen, — are  well  known,  and  cannot  to 


Abfiracl :  Government  by  Prerogative.  237 

tered  to  cafes  of  confcience.     Nothing  was  too  Ecclefi- 
trivial,  nor  anything  too  grave,   to  efcape  its  altical 
tyranny  ;*  and  they  were  fortunate  who,  once 
within  its  clutches,  were  again  reftored  fafely 

this  day  be  read  without  a   burning  fenfe  of  irritation  and  Burton, 
amazement   that    even   the  much-enduring   Englifh    people  and 
could  have   poffeffed  their  fouls  in  patience,  under  fo  many  Prynne. 
years  of  fuch  a  government.     Thomas  May,  the  hiftorian  of 
the  Parliament,  has  a  pregnant  remark  upon  the  fubjecl:.  "  It 
"  feemed,  I  'remember,  to  many  gentlemen  (and  was  accord - 
"  ingly  difcourfed  of),  a  fpeftacle  no  lefs  ftrange   than  fad, 
"  to  fee  three  of  feveral  profeflions,  the  nobleft  in  the  king- 
"  dom,   Divinity,   Law  and  Phyfick,  expofed  at  one  time  to 
"  fuch  an   ignominious  punifhment,  and  condemned  to  it  by 
"  proteftant  magiftrates,  for  fuch  tenets  in    religion   as  the  Mutila- 
"  greateft  part  of  proteftants  in   England   held,  and  all  the  tions  for 
"  reformed  churches  in  Europe  maintained."  (Lib.  i.cap.  7.)  confcience 
And  this  feeling  it  was,  ftored  up  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  lake. 
the  people,    that  found   afterwards   fuch  terrible  vent.     Yet 
the  few  leading  names,  fuch  as  Leighton's  and  theirs,  which 
live  in  the  hiltory  of  fuch  perfecutions,  are  of  courfe  but  the 
type  of  countlefs   others,  the  record  of  whole  fufferings  has 
perifhed.     Here  is  a  marginal  notice  from  Rous's  Diary  as  of 
one  of  the  commoneft  incidents  of  the  time.      "  Many  great 
"  cenfures  in  the  Starre  Chamber.     Tubbing's  cafe.  Tubbing 
"  loft  one  eare  at  Weftmintter,   and,  ere  he  loft  the  other  in 
"  Norfolk,  he  died  in  prilbn  in  London."  Rous  was  a  clergy-  R       , , 
man  of  Suffolk ;  a  man  apparently  of  fupreme  fillinefs  and  ^  ■ 
dulnefs,  and  who  had  no  opinions  worth  mention  on  any  fub-        „>  ' 
jecl,  to  trouble  either  himfelf  or  his  neighbours  with.     The  "' 
only  merit  of  his  Diary  (and  this  but  fcant)  is  to  collecl:  pieces 
of  goffip,  and  fo  preferve  evidences  of  popular  fails   or  feel- 
ings, quite  above  the  colour  of  fufpicion  on  the  ground  of  any 
popular  fympathies  in  the  gofliper  himfelf. 

*  "  When,"  laid  Mr.  Bagfhaw,  member  for  Southwark, 
in  his  fpeech  at  the  meeting  of  the  Long  Parliament,  "  I 
"  call  my  eyes  upon  the  High  Commiffion  and  other  Eccle- 
"  fiaftical  Courts,  my  foul  hath  bled  for  the  wrong  and 
"  preffure  which  I  have  obferved  to  have  been  done  and  com- 
"  mitted  in  thefe  Courts  againft  the  King's  good  people.  I  Cafe  of 
"  have  fome  reafon  to  know  this,  that  have  been  an  attendant  a  hat. 
"  to  the  Court  thefe  five  years,  for  myfelf  and  a  dear  friend  of 
"  mine,  fometime  knight  of  our  fhire,  for  a  mere  trivial  bufi- 
"  nefs.  The  molt  that  could  be  proved  againft  him  was  the 
"  putting  on  his  hat  in  the  time  of  fermon."  But,  alas  !  Mr. 
Bagfhaw  yielded  afterwards  to  Hyde's  temptations,  and  joined 
the  party  of  the  King. 


23  8 


The  Grand  Remonftrancc. 


Star 

Chamber, 


High  _ 
Commif- 
fion  and 
Council 
Table. 


Bifhops' 
Courts. 


People 
driven 
beyond 
feas. 


Extent  of 
the  emi- 
gration. 


to  their  friends  and  to  their  callings  ;  thrice 
happy,  if  not  feparated  for  ever  from  the  ftudies 
they  cherimed  and  the  aflbciates  they  loved. 
Yet,  even  fo  adminiftered,  the  Star  Chamber 
ftill  fell  fhort  of  the  perfect  tyranny  which  the 
Primate  fought  to  eftablifh  over  opinion  and 
confcience  throughout  England.  It  was  not 
until  the  feverity  of  the  High  Commiflion,  yet 
further  fharpened  by  the  rigour  of  the  Council 
Table,  had  brought  the  Star  Chamber  at  laft 
into  the  form  and  ufes  of  a  Romim  Inquifi- 
tion,  that  Archbifhop  Laud  at  length  feemed 
fatisfied  (51,  52,  $3,  54,  and  55).  And 
while  its  fufpenfions,  excommunications,  de- 
privations, and  degradations,  fell  daily  upon 
learned  and  pious  ministers,  whofe  zeal  marked 
them  out  in  its  metropolitan  jurisdiction, 
Bifhops'  Courts  were  eftablifhed  throughout 
the  country  on  a  flmilar  model,  which,  though 
not  reaching  fo  high  in  extremity  of  punifh- 
ment,  made  themfelves  more  generally  grievous 
by  the  multiplicity  of  their  vile  perfecutions. 
No  man  was  now  fo  poor  as  not  to  know  what 
ecclefiaftical  domination  meant.  It  lighted 
upon  the  meaner  fort  of  tradefmen.  It  flruck 
the  induftrious  artificer.  It  impoverished  by 
thoufands  large  clafles  of  the  people.  And 
thofe  whom  in  that  refpect  it  fpared,  it  yet  fo 
afflicted  and  troubled,  that  great  numbers 
departed,  with  all  that  they  pofTeffed,  into 
Holland,  into  New  England,  into  whatfoever 
land  or  wafte  beyond  the  fea  the  opprefTed  con- 
fcience might  hope  for  freedom.  Such  was  the 
extent  of  this  emigration,  that  it  was  felt  in 
that  fpring  and  fountain  of  Engliih  wealth,  the 


AbftraEl:  Government  by  Prerogative.  239 

woollen-cloth  manufacture,  as  well  by  the  tranf- 
port  abroad  as  by  diminution  of  the  flock  at 
home. 

The  claufes  remaining  to  be  enumerated  in  claufes 
this  fection   of  the  Remonftrance,  the   48th,  *%,  5°,  5*, 
50th,  56th,  57th,  58th,  59th,  and  60th,  fpokeand6o. 
of  appointments  to  offices;  of  distributions  of 
preferments ;    of  tamperings  with  the  magif- 
tracy  ;  and  of  the  predominance  at  the  Council 
Table  of  one  or  two  favoured  Ministers,  by 
whofe   counfels    all   others  were   negatived    or 
overruled.    The  divines  Selected  for  promotion 
in  the  Church  were  thofe  in  whofe  pulpits  the  Church 
prerogative  had  been  preached  above  the  law,  ^nts" 
fuperftitious  formalities  elevated  above  religion, 
and  the  property  and  rights  of  the  fubject  moSt 
decried  ;*  and  it   became  quite  the  fafhion  to  Pulpit 
put  forth  thefe  doctrines  in  public  and  folemn  d°armes- 
fermons  before  the  King.f     The  Sheriffs    in 
the  feveral  counties  were  no  longer  named  in 
the    ufual    courfe ;    but,    when    they    efcaped 
being  the  victims  of  oppreffion,  were  made  its 
instruments.     They  were  either    pricked   for 
Sheriffs    as    a  punifhment  and  charge,   or  as  R^^f 
mere  agents    or    commiffioners  \    to    execute  sheriffs. 

*  "  Minifters  in  their  pulpits,"  laid  Wentworth,  talking, 
in  his  days  of  patriotism,  of  the  Sovereign's  monftrous  claim 
to  the  fubjecYs  eftate,  "have  preached  it  as  gofpel,  and  damned 
"  the  refufers  of  it." 

\   I  find  in  the  Journals  of  the  ioth  of  November,  a  notice  Royalift 
of  motion    for   insertion   in  the  Remonftrance,  to  which  no  preachers, 
name  is  attached,  of  "  The  fermons  preached  in  divers  places 
"  before  the  King  that  the  Subject   had  no  property  in  his 
"  eftate." 

\  Adverting  to  the  common  and  ordinary  instructions  of 
the  Council  to  the  various  Commiffions  they  iffuecl  againft  the  jjvcje  on 
Subject,  that  they  (hould  "  proceed  according  to  their  difcre-  t^  coun_ 
"  tion"  it  had  been  well  faid  in  the  Houfe  by  Hyde  himfelf : 


240 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 


Treat- 
ment of 
patriots  : 


what  the  Council  would  have  to  be  done.  So, 
no  lefs,  it  fared  with  the  magiftracies  and  places 
of  great  truft  in  the  counties.  Whofoever  had 
mown   the  wifh  to  maintain   religion,  liberty, 


cil  of  the     "  Such  a  confufion  hath  this  '  difcretion'  produced,  as  if  dii- 
North.         "  cretion  were  only  one  remove  from  rage  and  fury.     No  in- 
"  convenience,  no  mifchief,  no  difgrace,   that  the  malice,   or 
"  infolence,  or  animofity  of  thefe  commiffioners  had  a  mind  to 
"  bring  upon  that  people   [he   is    fpeaking  of  the    affirmed 
jurifdiftion  of  the  Court  of  York],  but,  thro'  the  latitude  and 
"  power  of  this  'difcretion,'  the  poor  people  have  felt.     This 
"  '  difcretion'  hath  been  the  quickfand  which  hath  fwallowed 
"  up  their  property,    their   liberty.       I   befeech   you,  refcue 
Anecdote    "  them  from  this  'difcretion.'"   Mr.  Hyde  took  great  pride  to 
of  Hyde      himfelf  in  after  years  for  his  patriotic  exertions  in  this  matter, 
at  York.     and  with  infinite  felf-complacency  tells  us  how,  on  his  joining 
the  King  at  York  on  the  eve  of  the  war,  he  became  curioufly 
aware  of  the  imprelfion  which  his  expofure  of  the  "  Council  of 
"  the  North"  had  made  in  that  ancient  city.   One  of  the  King's 
fervants  had  taken  a  lodging  for  him  before  his  arrival,  which 
he  found  to  be  an  excellent  lodging ;  and,  in  the  greateft  good 
humour  therewith,  he  was  undreffingfor  bed, when  his  own  fer- 
Trouble      vant  came  up  to  him  from  a  lower  room  in  much  alarm,  pro- 
at  his  tefted  that  the  people  of  the  houfe  mull  be  mad,  and  entreated 

lodgino-s.     him  to  leave  the  place  at  once.     By  no  means  difpofed  to  quit 
haftilyfuch  comfortable  quarters,  he  infiited  upon  the  why  and 
wherefore,   to   which  the   man  replied  that  nothing  could  be 
more  civil  than  the  conduft  of  the  people  at  firft ;  and  that 
he  was  himfelf  made  welcome  in  the  room  below,  occupied  by 
the  miftrefs  of  the  houfe  ;  and  that,  fitting  together  there  quite 
pleafantly,  "  (he  alked  him  what  his  mailer's  name  was,  which 
"he  told  her.      What !    faid  (lie:    That  Hyde  that   is  of  the 
Landlady    "Houfe  of  Commons!       And  he  anfwering    Yes,    fhe  gave 
curfes  and  "  a  great  fhriek,  and   cried  out  that  he  fhould  not  lodge  in 
abufes  "  her  houfe:  curfing  him  with  many  bitter  execrations.  Upon 

him.  "  fhe  n°iieJ  her  hufband  came  in ;  and  when  fhe  told  him  who 

"  it  was  that  was  to  lodge  in  the  chamber  above,  he  fwore  a 
"  great  oath  that  he  fhould  not ;  and  that  he  would  rather  fet 
"  his  houfe  on  fire  than  entertain  him  in  it.  .  .  .  He  knew 
"  him  well  enough  :  he  had  undone  him,  and  his  wife,  and 
"  his  children  !"  Such  was  the  fervant's  account,  with  more 
oaths,  and  flamming  of  doors,  than  may  here  be  dwelt  on  j 
and  for  which,  on  Mr.  Hyde's  refolving  neverthelefs  to  wait 
till  morning  to  try  and  find  out  fome  rational  explanation, 
The  the   next  day    brought  reafon  enough.     "  The  man  of  the 

myftery       "  houfe  had  been  an  Attorney  in  the  Court  of  the  Prefident 
explained,  "and  Council  of  the  North,  in  great  reputation  and  pra£tice 


Abfiracl :   Government  by  Prerogative.  241 

and  the  laws,  were  weeded  out  of  the  commif-  excluded 
fion  of  peace,  and  all  employments  of  influence  h'2.m 

*     .       .  •  *•*  ornccs  and 

in  their  diftri£ts  ;  which  afterwards  paffed,  by  honours. 

fecret  bribery  or  open  purchafe,  into  the  leaft 

worthy  hands.     Titles  of  honour,  ferjeantfhips 

of  law,  and  places  affecting  the  common  juftice 

of  the  kingdom,  were  made  matters  of  open 

bargain  in  this   way,    parTing  to  men  of  the 

weakeft   parts ;   and  of  courfe  what  were    ill 

gotten  were  ill  administered  and  ill  ufed.     Nor 

did  the  courfe  of  terrorifm  and  corruption,  thus  Terrorifm 

taking  in  the  middle  and  higher  grades,   and  ruption" 

already  ftretching  down,  as   we  have  feen,    to 

the  loweft,  flop  upward  until  the  higheft  were 

reached.      It  had  its  confummation  only  at  the 

very   council-table  of  the  King.      There  fat 

councillors,  who  were  councillors  only  in  name; 

and  whofe  fole  ufe  was  to  confirm,  in  a  few, 

the  real  power  and  authority.     Though  other-  Strafford's 

wife    perfons   of  never  fo  great  abilities   and  Laud's 

honour,  whofoever   oppofed    thofe    few    were 

"  there  ;  and  thereby  got  a  very  good  livelihood,  with  which 

"  he  had  lived  in  fplendour  ;  and  Mr.  Hyde  had  fat  in  the  chair 

"  of  that  Committee,  and  had  carried  up  the  votes  of  the  Com- 

"  mons  againft  that  Court,  to  the  Houfe  of  Peers,  upon  which 

"  it  was  diflblved."     {Life,   i.    149-152.)     Another  trait  of 

the  time  worth  preferving  may  be  taken  from  the  fame   part 

of  Clarendon's    recollections.     Rapidity    of    communication 

had  then   become  of  vital  neceffity  to  the  king's  fervice,  and 

he  takes  occafion  to  mention  the  marvellous  fpeed  wherewith 

it  had  become  polfible  to   accomplifh    the  journey   between 

London  and  York.     It  is  (even  to  us  in  thefe  days)  remarkable. 

"  It  was  a  wonderful  expedition  that  was  then  ufed  between  ■pravel- 

"  York  and  London,  when  gentlemen  undertook  the  fervice,  ij 

"as  enough  were  willing  to  do;    infomuch   as   when  they  between 

"  defpatched  a  letter  on  Saturday  night,  at  that  time  of  the  Lon(jon 

"  year  (end  of  April),  about  twelve  at  night,  they  received  ancj  York 

"  always  the  King's  anlwer,  Monday  by  ten  of  the   clock 

"  in  the  morning.'"     Life  i.  135. 


242 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


predomi- 
nance at 
council. 


Claufes 
61-67. 


Defign 
of  the 
Court. 


Puritans 
the  par- 
tition 
againft 
Rome: 


to  be  flung 
down. 


marked  out  for  difcountenance  and  neglect ; 
and  the  refolutions  of  ftate  which  were 
brought  to  the  table,  were  not  offered  for 
debate  and  deliberation,  but  merely  for  coun- 
tenance and  execution. 

Such  being  the  ftate  of  the  kingdom  in  the 
clofing  months  of  1639  (J  now  Proceed  to 
ftate  the  fubftance  of  the  next  1 5  claufes,  from 
the  6 1  ft  to  the  75th  inclusive),  all  things 
appeared  ripe  for  putting  the  finifhing  touches 
to  the  great  defign  of  the  leading  men,  the  few 
juft  named,  which,  as  was  now  made  fufficiently 
obvious,  had  three  diftinct  parts.  A  folemn 
adjudication  of  fhip- money  had  been  lately 
obtained  ;  and  the  Government  was  to  be  fet 
free  from  all  reftraint  of  laws  in  regard  to 
perfons  and  eftates.  There  muft  be  an  identi- 
fication (only  not  as  yet  to  be  called  Popery) 
betwixt  Papifts  and  Proteftants,  in  doctrine, 
difcipline,  and  ceremonies.  And  the  Puritans,* 
who  remained  ftill  as  the  Englifh  wall  or  par- 
tition flung  up  againft  Rome,  muft  be  either 
rooted  out  of  the  kingdom  with  force,  or 
driven  out  by  fear  (61,  62,  6$,  64).  The 
main  ftumbling-block  to  the  entirenefs  of  the 
plan  was  Scotland ;  and  Laud,  bent  on  doing 
the  work  thoroughly,  now  ftruck  in  there 
with  his  fervice  book,  his  new  canons,  and  his 
liturgy.     The  Scots  refifted ;  the  Archbifhop 


Who 
were 
called 
Puritans. 


*  "  Whofoever  fquares  his  actions  by  any  rule,  either  divine 
(t  or  human,  he  is  a  Puritan  ;  whofoever  would  be  governed 
"  by  the  King's  laws,  he  is  a  Puritan ;  he  that  will  not  do 
"  whatfoever  other  men  would  have  him  do,  he  is  a  Puritan. 
"  Their  great  work,  their  mafterpiece,  now  is,  to  make  all 
"  thofe  ot  the  true  religion  to  be  the  fufpecled  party  of  the 
"  kingdom." — Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard,  Nov.  7,  1640. 


Abftracl :  Government  by  Prerogative.  243 

would   not   recede ;    and,    occupying    filently  Scotch 
either  fide  of  the  Tweed,  two  armies  gradually  Rebelllon- 
arofe  (65,  66,  67). 

But,  when  they  were  ready  to    encounter,  ciaufes 
counfels  of  fear,  if  not  of  prudence,    led  to  6^-7S- 
the  pacification  of  Berwick ;  which  had  how- 
ever hardly  been  completed,   when  Strafford  Strafford 
refiimed  his  place  at  the  council  board,  con-  at  the 
demned  the  courfe  that  had  been  taken,  and  Board, 
advifed  what  he  declared  to  be  the  Crown's  laft 
and  beft  refource,  the  fummoning  of  a  parlia- 
ment.*     Not    indeed    to    give   counfel    and 
advice,  but  to  reftricr.  itfelf  to  the  giving  of 
countenance  and  fupply  ;  for,  to  men  who  had 
corrupted    and   diftempered  the  whole  frame 
and  government  of  the  kingdom,  the  attempt  His  rea- 
alfo  to  corrupt  what  alone  could  reftore  all  to  lonsforri 
a  right  frame  again,  was  become  matter  ofment. 
fafety  and  neceffity.    If  the  plan  mould  fucceed, 
and  parliament  be  pliant,  the  feffion  would  be 
continued,  and  mifchief  eftablifhed  by  a  law. 
If  it  mould  fail,  and  parliament  be  ftubborn, 
the  feffion  would  at  once  be  broken,  and  the 
Crown  abfolved  for  ufing  foul  means  by  the 

*  The  fubjoined  is  chara£teriftic  of  the  feeling  of  the  time. 

u  The   27   of   March,   15   Car.    1639,   his   Majeftie  rode  jy'tary  Gf 
"  through   Roifton  to   Yorkeward,  there  to  meete  his  army,  Rous 
"  &c.     It  was  told  me,  April  1,  that  whereas  it  is  an  ufe  to  March 
"  deliver  billes  to  the  ficke  to  be  praid  for  in  this  manner;  1639. 
"  one  from  the  church  dore,   perhaps  in  the  throng,  pulles 
"  another  by  the  moulder,  and  gives  him  the  note  or  bill,  he 
"  another  &c.  untill  it  come  to  [the]  clerke ;  the  clerke,  at 
"  the  preacher's  comming  into  the  pulpit,  delivers  them  to 
"  him,  &c.     Some  one  had  put  up  a  bill  which  the  preacher 
"  wold  not  reade,  but  let  it  fall.      The  bill  was  thus:  John  Prayers 
"  Commonwealt/i's-man  of  Great  Britaine,  being  ficke  of  the  for  a  par- 
"  Scottijli  difeafe,  defires  the  -prayers  of  this  congregation  for  a  liament. 
'■'■parliament!'' — Diary  of  Rous,  88. 


244  ^he  Grand  Remonji ranee. 

pretence  of  having  endeavoured  to  ufe  fair 
(68,  69,  70,  71,  72).  Simultaneoufly  with 
the  iflue  of  writs,  went  forth  levies  for  a  new 
army,  with  frefh  acts  of  violence  againft  the 
His  Irifli  Scots.  At  the  fame  time,  Strafford,  pafling 
.sa      over  into  Ireland,  called  together  a  parliament 

againit         .  '  o.  tr 

the  Scots,  in  Dublin;  wrefted  from  it  four  fubfidies; 
and,  without  concealing  the  purpofe  for  which 
they  were  defigned,  fummoned  levies  of  eight 
thoufand  foot  and  one  thoufand  horfe  from  the 
well-appointed  army,  chiefly  of  Papifts,  which 
he   had   been  able   to  raife  in  that  kingdom 

(73,  74,  75)- 

4.     The  Short  Parliament  and  the  Scottijli 
Invajion. 

Ckufes  -pH£  meetjng  0f  the  Houfes  at  Weftminfter 

on  the  13th  April,  1640;  the  demand  of 
twelve  fubfidies  for  the  releafe  of  fhip-money 
alone  ;  the  temperate  tone  of  both  the  Com- 
mons and.  the  Lords,  and  the  fudden  and 
intemperate  difTblution  ;  occupy  claufes  76, 
77,  and  78.  The  next  twenty-fix,  from  the 
79th  to  the  104th  inclufive,  defcribe  the 
momentous  interval  before  the  afTembling  of 
the  Long  Parliament. 
Claufes  On  the  very  day  of  the  diffolution  of  the 

79—  4-     parliament  of  April,  the  King's  moft  powerful 
Counfellor  advifed  that  he  was  now  abfolved 
from  all  rule  of  government,  and  entitled  to 
fcSff°rd'S  ^PPty   himfelf  out    of    his    fubjecls'    eftates 
counfel:     without  their  confent.*     A  vigorous  levy  of 

*  This  memorable  advice,  which  coft  Strafford  his  head, 
was  given  on  the  5th  May  1640;    and  it  was  from  the  notes 


Abftra£l :  Short  Parliament  &  Scotti/Ii  Invqfion.         245 

fhip-money  was  accordingly  ordered  ;  a  forced  its  refults. 
loan  was  fet  on  foot  in  the  city  of  London  ;   a 
falfe  and    fcandalous  Declaration  againft:  the 
Houfe  of  Commons  was  iffued  in  the  King's 
name  ;   on  the  day  following  the  dilTolution, 
fome  members  of  both  houfes  had  their  ftudies 
and  cabinets,  'f  yea,  their  pockets,"  fearched;* 
and   foon    after,    for   having    maintained  the  Diffolu-    • 
privilege  of  parliament,  one  of  the  members  shortPar- 
of  the  lower  Houfe  was  committed  from  the  liament. 
Council  Table.   Harfher  courfes  were  contem- 
plated, and  the  report  of  them  went  abroad  ; 
but  the  ficknefs  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford,  and 
a  tumultuous  riling  in  Southwark  and  about 
Lambeth,j"  were  fuppofed  to  have  intercepted 

of  the  elder  Vane,  taken  that  day  at  the  Council  Table,  and 
fubfequently  found  by  his  lbn  and  handed  to  Pym,  that  the 
evidence  was  obtained  againft  him. 

*  "Sir   William  Beecher  was  committed  to  the  ufher  of  Arrefts  of 
"  the  blacke  rod  for  not  difclofing  his  warrant  to  ferche  the  Parlia- 
"  pockets  of  Erie  of  Warwicke,  Lord  Say,  Lord   Brooke,  ment  men. 
"  prefently  after  the  laft  parliament  broken  up.     It  was  done 
"  the  next  morne  to  the  Lord  Say  and  Lord  Brooke  in  bedde; 
"  the  Lord  Brooke's  lady  being  in  bedde  with  him.     The 
"  King  at  length   affirming  that  he  commanded  it,  he  was 
■'■'  releal'ed." — Diary  of  John  Rous,  p.  101. 

t   "  Upon  the  diflblution  of  the  parliament  (5th  May,  1640)  R;ots  at 
"  prefently  were   two  infurreclions  in  one  weeke,  at  South-  gouth- 
"  wark  and   Lambeth;  in  the  firft   the   White  Lion  prylbn  war^ and 
"  was  broken  and  prifoners  fet  free,  &c. ;  in  the  fecond,  Lam-  LamDeth. 
"  beth  Houfe  in  hazard,  &c.       One  man   was    taken,   and 
"  hanged  and  quartered." — Diary  ofjohn  Rous,  p.  90.      Cla- 
rendon tells  us,  (Hiji.  i.  253)  that  the  reference  to  the  Lam- 
beth riots  in  the  Remonftrance  received  modification  during 
the  debates.     What  he  fays  is  chara£teriftic,  as  well  for  its 
difhoneft  reference  to  thofe  riots  (for  which  one  man  fuffered 
execution),  as  for  its  allufion  to  Mr.  Strode.      "Thisinfa-  Allufions 
"  mous,   fcandalous,    headlefs   infurreclion,   quafhed   by  the  by  Cla- 
"  deferved  death   of  that  one  varlet,  was  not  thought  to  be  rendon. 
"  contrived  or  fomented  by  any  perfons  of  quality,  yet  it  was 
"  difcovered  after  in  the  Houfe  of  Commons  by  Mr.  Strode 
"  (one   of  thofe  Ephori  who  moft  avowed  the   curbing   and 


2  4-6 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 


Claufes 
85-87. 


the  execution  of  them.      (79,  80,   81,  82, 

%3>  84.) 

Neverthelefs  they  failed  to  turn  afide  the 
Archbifhop  from  his  eager  and  unfwerving 
advance  to  Rome.  Undaunted  and  undeterred 
by  difcontents  and  tumults,  never  did  he  and 
Laud  ftill  the  other  bifhops  follow  up  that  purpofe  more 
moving  to  actively  than  in  thofe  fix  memorable  months. 
If  any  before  could  have  doubted  what  they 
aimed  at,  now  it  was  made  plain  to  all.  For 
now  it  was  that,  with  the  authority  of  a 
fo-called  provincial  fynod,  canons  were  put 
forth  declaring  things  lawful  which  had  no 
warrant  of  law ;  justifying  altar- worfhip,  and 
other  fuperflitious  innovations  ;*  fetting  at 
defiance  the  ufages  and  the  Statutes  of  the 
realm  ;  trampling  alike  on  the  property  and 
liberty  of  the  fubject,  the  rights  of  Parliament, 
and  the  prerogative  of  the  King ;  and  mowing 
that  they  who  would  fet  the  Crown  above  the 


Crown 
above  the 
Laws : 


"  iuppreffing  of  Majefty)  with  much  pleafure  and  content ; 
"  and  it  was  mentioned  in  the  firft  draught  of  the  firft  Re- 
"  monftrance  (when  the  fame  was  brought  in  by  Mr.  Pym) 
"  not  without  a  touch  of  approbation,  which  was  for  that 
"  reafon  fomewhat  altered,  though  it  ftill  carried  nothing  of 
"  cenfure  [judgment]  upon  it  in  that  piece."  It  is  quite  true, 
as  Clarendon  alleges,  that  only  one  man  fuffered  death  for 
this  difturbance,  but  it  was  not  the  clemency  of  the  Govern- 
ment, but  of  one  of  the  few  upright  judges  of  the  day,  which 
An  honeft  had  prevented  other  capital  profecutions.  "  Judge  Reeve," 
judge.  fays  Rous,   November,    1640,    "this   fummer   affizes   did  in 

"  Southwarke  refufe  to  proceede  upon  the  inditement  of  one 
"  of  the  Lambeth  tumult,  faying  he  wold  have  no  hand  in 
"  any  man's  bloud  ;  but,  becaufe  the  fellow  had  been  bufie, 
"  &c.  remitted  him  to  prifon  againe."     Diary,  101. 

*  "  They  would  evaporate  and  difpirit  the  power  and 
'*  vigour  of  religion  by  drawing  it  out  into  folemn  fpecious 
"  formalities,  into  obfolete  anticmated  ceremonies  new  fur- 
"  bifhed  up." — Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard,  7th  Nov.  1640. 


Sir  Ben, 
Rudyan 


AbftraSt :  Short  Parliament  &  Scottijh  Invafion.         24.J 

Jaws,    would    alfo   fet    themfelves    above    the 
Crown.    They  impofed  new  oaths;  they  taxed 
the  great  mafs  of  the  clergy  for  the  King's 
fupply ;  *    they   fomented    the    quarrel    with  Mitre 
Scotland,    which    they    fondly    fly  led    Bellum  ^bove 
Epjcofale ;f  they  compofed,  and  enjoined  to 
be  read  in  the  churches,  a  prayer  againft  the 
Scots  as  rebels,  of  which   the  obje£t  was  to 
drive  the  two  nations  to  irreconcileable  blood- 
fhed ;   and,  above  all,  upon  authority  of  their 
pretended  canons  and  conftitutions,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  fuch  extremities  of  fufpenfion,  ex-  Church 
communication,  and  deprivation  againft  good  °PPref- 
minifters  and  well-affedted  people,  as  left  the 
pafTage  eafier  than  it  yet  had  feemed  to  their 
defign  of  reconciliation  with  Rome.      (85,  86, 

87.) 

For  it  was  part  of  the  defign  that  the  Papifts  ciauies 
at  this  time  fhould  receive  peculiar  exemptions  88-94. 
from  the  penal  laws,  befides  many  other  en- 
couragements   and    court    favours.  J      They 

*  "Sir,  imagine  it!"  exclaimed  Mr.  Harbottle  Grimfton.  Grimfton. 
"  See  what  a  pitch  they  have  flown  !  A  fynod  called  together 
"  upon  pretence  of  reconciling  and  fettling  controverfies  in 
'*  religion,  take  upon  themfelves  the  boldnefs,  out  of  parlia- 
"  ment,  to  grant  fubiidies  and  to  meddle  with  men's  free- 
"  holds  !  I  fay,  the  like  was  never  heard  of  before  ;  and 
"  they  that  durft  do  this  will  do  worfe,  if  the  current  of  their 
"  raging  tyranny  be  not  flopped  in  time." 

f  In  the  laft  great  debate  on  the  Remonftrance,  Falkland  Falkland, 
(of  all    men  in  the  world)  took   objection  fpecially  to  this 
pafTage  ;  feeble  and  faint  tranfcription  as  it  is,  of  what,  fome 
few  months  earlier,  he  was  never  himfelf  wearied  of  urging 
and  repeating  in  fiery  and  paflionate  fpeeches. 

J  The  celebration   of  mafs,   though    illegal,    was    openly  Mafs  con- 
connived  at ;  but  woe  to  the  Proteftant  who  declined  attend-  nived  at : 
ance   at  his  parifh  church  becaufe  he  would  not  bow  to  the 
altar  !     He  was  punifhed  firft  by  fine,  and,  on  a  repetition  of 
his  refufal,  by  tranlportation.    "  It  hath  been  more  dangerous," 


24S 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Secret 

meetings. 


conven- 
ticles 
made  cri- 
minal. 


Defigns  pofTefTed,  in  the  King's  fecretary  of  ftate,  Sir 
andpower  Franc}s  Windebank,  a  powerful  agent  for 
s"  fpeeding  all  their  defires.*  They  had  a  refi- 
dent  Pope's  Nuncio,  by  whofe  authority,  under 
direct  instructions  and  influences  from  Rome 
itfelf,  all  the  moil  influential  of  the  nobility, 
gentry,  and  clergy  of  that  perfuafion  held 
fecret  convocations  after  the  manner  of  a  par- 
liament.   So  led  and  Strengthened,  they  erected 

exclaimed  Falkland,  in  his  fpeech  upon  grievances  in  the 
Short  Parliament,  "  for  men  to  go  to  fome  neighbour's  parifli 
"  when  they  had  no  iermon  in  their  own,  than  to  be  obitinate 
"  and  perpetual  recufants.  While  maffes  have  been  faid  in 
"  fecurity,  a  conventicle  hath  been  a  crime  ;  and,  which  is 
"  yet  more,  the  conforming  to  Ceremonies  hath  been  more 
"  exacted  than  the  conforming  to  Chriftianity."  In  like 
manner  the  Roman  Catholics  were  fingled  out  for  ipecial 
conceffions  of  monopolies.  "  They  grew,"  fays  Clarendon, 
"  not  only  fecret  contrivers  but  public  profeffed  promoters 
"  of,  and  minifters  in,  the  moil  grievous  projects  ;  as  that  of 
"  foap,  formed,  framed,  and  executed  by  almoft  a  corporation 
"  of  that  religion,  which,  under  that  licenfe  and  notion, 
"  might  be,  and  were  fufpecled  to  be,  qualified  for  other 
"  agitations"  (i.  262).  Fancy  the  monopoly  of  fuch  a  necef- 
fity  as  foap  in  the  hands  of  a  corporation  of  Roman  Catholics, 
ufing  it  to  impofe  the  worft  articles  at  the  higheft  price  upon 
all  claffes  of  the  people!  "Continual  complaints  rife  up," 
writes  Garrard  to  Lord  Deputy  Wentworth,  "  that  it  burns 
"  linen,  fcalds  the  laundreis's  fingers,  and  waftes  infinitely  in 
"  keeping,  being  full  of  lime  and  tallow."  And  fancy  the 
fame  fort  of  thing  going  on  with  refpecl:  to  every  conceivable 
thing  on  which  a  tax  could  be  laid,  or  out  of  winch  a  mono- 
poly could  be  formed  !  Salt,  ftarch,  coals,  iron,  wine,  pens, 
cards,  dice,  beavers,  belts,  bone-lace,  meat  drefied  in  taverns 
(the  vintners  of  London  gave  the  King  6000/.  for  freedom 
from  this  horrible  impofition),  tobacco,  wine  caflcs,  game, 
lamprons,  brewing  and  diftilling,  weighing  of  hay  and  ftraw 
in  London,  guaging  of  red  herrings,  butter-calks,  kelp  and 
feaweed,  linen  cloth,  rags,  hops,  buttons,  hats,  gut-firing, 
fpeftacles,  combs,  tobacco-pipes,  fedan  chairs,  and  hackney 
coaches  (now  firft  invented),  faltpetre,  gunpowder,  down  to 
the  privilege  of  gathering  rags  exclufively — all  thefe  things 
were  fubje£t  to  monopolies,  and  all  heavily  taxed  ! 

*  For  proof  in  all  refpecls  confirmatory  of  this  ftatement, 
fee  Clarendon's  Hijforj,  i.  3 n- 12. 


Favour 
to  Papifls 


Matters 
fubjeff.  to 
mono- 
poly. 


Abftratl :  Short  'Parliament  &  Scottijh  Invafion.         249 

new    jurifdictions    of    Romifh    Archbifhops ; 
levied    taxes ;     fecretly    ftored    up    arms    and 
munition ;    and  were  able   to    fet    in   motion 
fuch  powerful  agencies,  at  the  Court  and  in  Agencies 
the   Council,  that    it    actually    there    became at  ^?urt 
matter  of  debate  whether  or  not  to  iflue  to  council, 
fome  great  men  of  the  party,  under  private 
conditions  and  inftructions,  a  commiffion  for 
the  raifing  of  foldiers.     And  thus  there  was  imperium 
moulded  within  the  Englifh  State  another  State «  i*frr»> 
independent  in  Government,  oppofed  in  affec- 
tion and  intereft,  fecretly  corrupting  the  carelefs, 
actively  combining  againfl  the  vigilant,  and  in 
this  pofture  waiting  the  opportunity  to  deftroy 
thofe  whom  it  could    not   hope    to    feduce.* 
(88  to  94  inclufive.) 

*  Let  me  illuftrate  what  is  faid  in  the  text  by  one  of  the  ~  h  bv 
moft  mafterly  expofitions  ever  made  of  the  true  ftate  of  the  Jt  ,  ? 
cafe,  and  of  the   real  iflue  that  was  then  to  be  determined.  ' 

"  Sir,"  faid  Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard,  in  perhaps  the  moft 
eloquent  of  all  the  fpeeches  delivered  in  the  great  debates 
of  November  1640,  "  if  we  fecure  our  Religion,  we  mail 
"  cut  ofF  and  defeat  many  plots  that  are  now  on  foot  by 
"  them  and  others.  Believe  it,  Sir,  Religion  hath  been  for  a 
"  long  time,  and  ftill  is,  the  great  defign  upon  this  kingdom. 
"  It  is  a  known  and  praftifed  principle,  that  they  who  would 
"  introduce  another  religion  into  the  Church,  mult  firft  trouble  ot~te  anc) 
"  and  diforder  the  government  of  the  State,  that  fo  they  may  r->],nrri1 
"  work   their  ends  in  a  confufion  :    which  now   lies  at  the  n-rievancs 

"  door I  have  often  thought  and  faid,  that  it  muft  ^jfeDara_ 

"  be  fome  great  extremity  that  would  recover  and  rectify  this  11 
"  State  ;  and   when   that  extremity  did  come,  it  would  be  a 
"  great  hazard  whether  it  might  prove   a   Remedy   or   Ruin. 
"  We    are    now,  Mr.    Speaker,  upon  that  vertical  turning 
"  point,  and  therefore  it  is  no  time  to  palliate,  to  foment  our 

"  own  undoing To  difcover  the  difeafes  of  the  State  is 

"  (according  to  fome)  to  traduce  the  Government;  yet  others 

"  are  of  opinion  that  this  is  the  half-way  to  the  cure 

"  Men  that  talk  loudly  of  the  King's  fervice  and  yet  have 
"  done  none  but  their  own,  that  fpeak  highly  of  the  King's 
"  power  yet  have  made  it  a  miferable  power  producing  nothing 
"  but  weaknefs,  thefe  are  they  who  have  always  peremptorily 


250 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Claufes 
95-104. 


Prifons 
full. 


Non- 
parlia- 
mentary 
fupply 
exhaufted, 


Difcon- 
tent  of 
Lords : 


Ruin  of 

old  mon- 
archy. 


Yonge's 
Diary. 


But  a  crifis  came  unexpectedly.  At  the 
moment  when  any  further  illegal  prefTure  on 
the  fubjecT:  feemed  hopelefs,  his  Majefty's 
treafure  was  found  to  be  confumed,  and  his 
entire  revenue  to  be  anticipated.  Though  the 
prifons  were  filled  with  commitments  from  the 
Council  Table,*  yet  "multitudes"  who  had 
refufed  illegal  payments  ftill  hung  in  attendance 
at  its  doors.  Several  of  the  fheriffs  had  been 
dragged  up  into  the  Star  Chamber  from  their 
refpective  counties,  and  fome  had  been  im- 
prifoned  for  not  having  levied  fhip-money  with 
fufficient  vigour.  In  a  word,  the  fource  of 
non-parliamentary  fupply  was  exhaufted.  The 
people,  with  no  vifible  hope  left  but  in  defpe- 
ration,  languifhed,  beginning  to  feem  pafTive 
under  grief  and  fear;  and  the  King's  chief 
advifers  fuggefted  a  fubfcription  to  fupply  his 
wants,  to  which  they  made  very  large  perfonal 
contribution.  But  the  example  was  loft  on 
the  clafs  to  which  alone,  with  any  effect,  the 
appeal  could  be  made.  For  now  the  Nobility 
themfelves,  weary  of  their  filence  and  patience, 
began  to  be  fenfible  of  the  duty  and  truft 
which  belonged  to  them  as  hereditary  counfel- 

1  purfued  one  obftinate  pernicious  courfe.  Firlt,  they  bring 
'  things  to  an  extremity ;  then  they  make  that  extremity,  of 
;  their  own  making,  the  reafon  of  their  next  a&ion,  feven 
'  times  worfe  than  the  former.  And  there,  Sir,  we  are  at  this 
'  inftant.  They  have  almoft  lpoiled  the  beft  inftituted  Govern- 
'  ment  in  the  world,  for  fovereignty  in  a  king,  for  liberty  to 
'  the  fubjeft  ;  the  proportionable  temper  of  both  which, 
'  makes  the  happier!  State  for  power,  for  riches,  for  duration." 
*  "  Many  are  daily  imprilbned  for  refilling  to  lend  the 
'  King,  fo  that  the  prifons  in  London  are  full  ;  and  it's 
'  thought  they  mail  be  fent  and  imprilbned  in  divers 
'  gaols  in  the  country,  remote  from  their  own  dwellings." — 
Walter  Yonge 's  Diary,  p.  105. 


AbftraR :  Short  Parliament  &?  Scottijlo  Invafion.         25 1 

lors  of  the  Crown  ;    and  fome  of  the   mofr.  petition 
ancient  of  them  petitioned  his  Majefty  for  the  [°r  1 
redrefs  to  which  his  fubjects  were  entitled.'' 


lament. 


*  This  memorable  Petition,  which  was  afterwards  the  fub-  The  York 
jecTt  of  fpecial  thanks  in  both  Houles,  which  bore  attached  to  Declara- 
it  the  names  of  the  Earls  of  Bedford,  Briftol,  Hertford,  EfTex,  tion. 
Mulgrave,  Paget,  Warwick,  and  Bolingbroke,ofthe  Vifcounts 
Say  and  Seale,  and  Mandeville,  and  of  the  Lords  Brook,  and 
Howard  of  Efcrick,  has  never  been  lb  correctly  printed  as  in 
the    copy  now  fubjoined.      Every  word  has  its  weight  and 
value. 

"  The  humble  Petition  of  your  Majefty's  moll  loyal  fub- 
"  jecls,    whole  names   are  here   underwritten,   in  behalfe    of 
"  themfelves  and  many  others. 
'  Moll:  Gracious  Sovereign  : 

'  The   lenfe  of  that  duty  and  fervice  which  we  owe  unto 
'  your   Majefty,   and  our  earned   affection   to   the   good  and 
'  welfare  of  this  your  realm  of  England,  have  moved  us,   in 
'  all   humility,    to   befeech  your  Majefty  to  give  us  leave  to 
'  offer  unto  your  molt   princely    wildom,    the   apprehenfion  Dangers 
'  which  we,  and  other  your  faithful  fubjefts,  have  conceived,  to  State 
'  of  the  great   diftempers  and  dangers  now  threatening  the  and 
'  Church  and  State,  and  your  Royal  Perfon,  and  of  the  iitteft  Church. 
'  means  by  which  they  may  be  removed  and  prevented. 

'  The  Evils  and  Dangers  whereof  your  Majefty  may  be 
'  pleal'ed  to  take  notice  are  thefe : 

'  1.  That  your  Majefty's  facred  perfon  is  expofed  to  hazard 
c  and   danger  in  the  prelent  expedition  againft   the    Scotilh 
'  armie  :  and  by  the  occailon  of  this  war,  your  revenues  much 
'  wafted  j  your  fubjecls    burthened   with   Coat  and   Conduit  Griev- 
'  money,    with    Billeting    of    Souldiers    and    other    Military  ances  of 
'  Charges,    with  divers  rapines  and  diforders   committed  in  fubjecl:. 
'  leveral  parts  in  this  your  realm  by  the  fouldiers  railed  for 
'  that  fervice ;  and  your  whole  kingdom  become  full  of  care 
'  and  dilcontent. 

'  2.  The  fundry  innovations  in  matters  of  Religion,  the  Innova- 
'  Oath  and  Canons  lately  impofed  upon  the  clergy,  and  other  tions  in 
'  your  Majefty's  lubjefts.  relio-ion. 

'  3.  The  great  Increafe  of  Popery  ;  and  Employing  of 
'  Popilh  Recufants,  and  others  ill-affefted  to  the  Religion  by 
'  Law  eftablilhed,  in  places  of  power  and  truft,  efpecially  in 
'  commanding  of  Men  and  Armes  both  in  the  Field  and  in 
'  fundry  Counties  of  this  your  realm  :  whereas,  by  the  Laws, 
'  they  are  not  permitted  to  have  Armes  in  their  own  houles. 

'  4.  The  great  mifchief  which  may  fall  upon  this  king- 
'  dom,  if  the  Intention,  which  hath  been  credibly  reported, 


252 


Taxation 
without 
reprefen- 
tation. 


Par- 
liament 
the  only 
remedy. 


Story  by 
Shaftef- 
bury. 


Firft  re- 
folve  of 
the  Court 


T/ie  Grand  Remonjirance. 

Which  Petition  had  yet  borne  no  fruit,  when 
the  Scots,  oppreiTed  in  their  confciences,  re- 
strained in  their  trades,  impoveriihed   by  the 

'  of  bringing  in  of  Irifh  and  foreign  forces  fhould  take 
1  effect. 

'  5.  The  urging  of  Ship-money,  and  profecution  of  fome 
'  fheriffs  in  the  Star-chamber  for  not  Levying  of  it. 

1  6.  The  heavy  charges  upon  Merchandize,  to  the  dif- 
'  couraging  of  Trade.  The  multitude  of  Monopolies,  and 
'  other  Patents,  whereby  the  Commodities  and  Manufactures 
'  of  the  Kingdom  are  much  burthened,  to  the  great  and 
'  univerfal  Grievance  of  your  people. 

1  7.  The  great  grief  of  your  fubjecls  by  the  long  Intermii- 
'  fion  of  Parliaments,  and  the  late  and  former  Diffolving  of 
'  fuch  as  have  been  called,  without  the  happy  effects  which 
'  otherwife  they  might  have  produced. 

'  For  remedy  whereof,  and  prevention  of  the  danger  that 
'  may  enfue  to  your  Royal  perfon,  and  to  the  whole  State, 

'  We  do,  in  all  humility  and  faithtulnefs,  befeech  your 
'  moft  excellent  Majefly,  that  you  will  be  pleafed  to  fummon 
'  a  Parliament  within  fome  fhort  and  convenient  time,  where  - 
'  by  the  caufe  of  thefe  and  other  great  greivances  which  your 
'  people  and  your  poor  Petitioners  now  lye  under,  may  be 
'  taken  away,  and  the  Authours  and  Councellours  of  them 
'  may  be  there  brought  to  fuch  Legal  Tryal  and  condign 
'  punifhment  as  the  nature  of  their  feveral  offences  fhall  require ; 
'  and  that  the  prefent  War  may  be  compofed  by  your  Ma- 
'  jellies  wiidom  without  effufion  of  blood,  in  fuch  manner  as 
1  may  conduce  to  the  honour  and  fafety  of  your  Majefties 
'  perfon,  the  content  of  your  people,  and  the  unity  of  both  of 
'  your  realms  againft  common  enemies  of  the  Reformed 
'  Religion.' 

"  And  your  Majefty's  Petitioners  mail  always  pray,  &c." 

A  lingular  anecdote  is  told  of  this  petition  on  no lels  autho- 
rity than  that  of  the  firft  Lord  Shaftefbury.  It  occurs  with 
his  fignature  in  Locke's  Common  Place  Book  (King's  Life, 
1.  222),  and  other  undoubted  references  by  Shaftelbuiy  to  the 
fame  ltory  (Marty n's  Life,  i.  115,  119),  eftablifti  the  author- 
fhip  :  "  This  petition,"  he  fays,  "  was  prefented  to  the  King 
"  at  York  by  the  hands  of  the  Lord  Mandeville  and  the  Lord 
"  Howard.  The  King  immediately  called  a  Cabinet  Council, 
"  wherein  it  was  concluded  to  cut  off  both  the  lords'  heads 
"  the  next  day  ;  when  the  Council  was  up,  and  the  King 
"  gone,  Duke  Hamilton  and  the  Earl  of  Strafford,  general  of 
"  the  army,  remaining  behind,  when  Duke  Hamilton,  alking 
'  "  the  Earl  of  Strafford  whether  the  army  would  ftand  to  them, 
"  the  Earl  of  Strafford  anfwered  he  feared  not,  and  protefted 


Abftracl :  Affs  of  the  Long  Parliament.  253 

feizure    of  their    mips    in    Englifh   and   Irifh 
ports,  and  hopelefs  of  fatisfying  the  King  by 
any    naked    unfupported    fupplication,   forced  The 
the   pafTage  of  the  Tyne  at  Newburn  with  a  inc°.Jlon 
powerful  army;  and  having  pofTefTed  themfelves 
of  Newcastle,  there,  out  of  brotherly   love  to 
the  Englifh   nation,  ftayed  their   march,   and 
gave  the  King  leifure  to  entertain  better  coun- 
fels.       A   ceffation  of  arms    was    determined 
upon  for  a  certain  fixed  period,  and  all  differ- 
ences were  referred  in  the  interval  to  the  wif-  Parlia- 
dom  and  care  of  the  Ancient  Council  of  the  ,nent  Jum_ 

t-»  r  moned: 

nation.    A  Parliament  was  fummoned  to  meet  3d  Nov. 
on  the  3rd  November,    1640.       (95  to  104  l64°- 
inclusive.) 

5.     Acls  of  the  Long  Parliament. 

The  great  deeds  done  by  this  memorable  Claufes 
affembly  during  the    firft.   twelve   months    0fI05&II°- 
its  exiftence,  are  then,  in  no  boaftful  or  vain- 
glorious fpirit,  detailed  by  their  authors.    Hif- 
tory  fpeaks  to  us,  here,  while  yet  in   the  very 
procefs  of  creation  ;   and,  by  a  rare  privilege,  H        of 
records  the  actions  of  her  heroes  in  language  the  Long 

"  he  did  not  think  of  that  before  then.     Hamilton  replied,  if 
"  we  are  not  fure  of  the  army,  it  may  be  our  heads  inftead  of 
"  theirs  5  whereupon  they  both  agreed  to  go  to  the  King  and  fecond 
"  alter  the  Council,  which  accordingly  they  did."     There  are  thoughts, 
fome  probabilities  againftthe  ltory,  but  at  leaft  it  vividly  reflects 
the  popular  belief  of  the    Angularly  dangerous  and  critical 
turning  point  to  which  public  affairs,  and  all  aftors  in   them, 
had  then  unquestionably  come.     I   take  the  opportunity  of  Shaftef- 
referring  to  the  Papers  refpecling  the  firft  Lord  Shafteibury's  bury 
life,  of  which  a  portion  has    been  lately  publifhed    by   Mr.  Papers. 
Chriftie,  as  extremely  interefting  in   themfelves,  and  not  un- 
likely to  clear  off  fome  mifts  of  exaggeration  and   prejudice 
from  a  famous  hiftoric  name. 


254 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 


Parlia- 
ment. 


Their 
talk. 


Claufes 
106-109. 
and 
111-124. 


Two 

armies 
paid. 


Twelve 
iubfidies 
raifed. 


Griev- 
ances 
redrefled. 


they  have  themfelves  Jeft  to  us.  They  do 
not  understate  the  work  they  had  to  do  ;  nor 
do  they  exaggerate  their  own  power,  in  doing 
it.  All  opposition,  they  remark,  feemed  to 
have  vanifhed  when  firft  they  met.  So  evident 
were  the  mifchiefs,  To  manifeSt  the  evil  of  the 
counfellors  refponfible  for  them,  that  no  man 
ftood  up  to  defend  either.  Yet  very  arduous 
was  the  work  of  reformation.  The  difficulties 
feemed  to  he  infuperable,  which  by  the  Divine 
Providence  they  overcame  :  the  contrarieties 
incompatible,  which  yet  in  a  great  meafure 
they  reconciled.      (105  and  110.) 

It  was  not  only  that  the  multiplied  evils  and 
corruption  of  Sixteen  years  Strengthened  by 
authority  and  cuftom,  and  that  the  powerful 
delinquents  whofe  interests  were  identified  with 
their  continuance,  were  together  to  be  brought 
to  judgment ;  but  that  two  armies  were  to  be 
paid,  at  a  coft  of  near  80,000/.  a  month ;  that 
the  King's  houfehold  was  to  be  fupplied,  in  even 
its  ordinary  and  neceflary  expenfes  ;  and  that 
the  people  were  yet  to  be  tenderly  charged,  as 
already  exhausted  by  unjuft  and  grofs  exactions 
(106,  107,  108,  and  109).  And  all  this  was 
done.  During  the  year,  twelve  Subsidies  had 
been  raifed,  to  the  amount  of  600,000/.  ;  yet 
had  the  kingdom  been  fubftantially  no  lofer  by 
thofe  charges.  Ship-money,  which  drew  fup- 
plies  almoft  without  limit  from  the  Subject, 
was  abolifhed.  Coat  and  conduct-money,  and 
other  military  afTefTments,  in  many  counties 
amounting  to  little  lefs  than  Ship-money,  were 
declared  illegal  and  removed.  Monopolies,  of 
which  but  the  leading  few,  fuch  as  foap,  wine, 


AbJiraB  :  Ads  of  the  Long  Parliament,  255 

leather,  and  fait,  prejudiced  the  common  people 
to  the  amount  of  nearly  a  million  and  a  half  polies  ~ 
yearly,    were    univerfally    fupprefTed.*     And,  abolifhed. 
what  was  more  beneficial  than  all,  the  root  of 
thefe    intolerable   evils   had    been   extirpated. 

*  No    one  was    more   eager   againft  the    Remonftrance,  Culpepper 
or  fought  every   ftage  of  it  with  a  more  impaffioned    refift-  a«ainlt 
ance,    than    Sir  John    Culpeper,    fo   foon   to  be   appointed  projectors. 
"  for    life "     Chancellor    of    the    Exchequer    (until    Hyde 
was   ready   to   affume    that   office,   when    Culpeper    became 
a  lord   and    Mailer  of  the  Rolls)  :  yet   it   was    he  who,    at 
the    meeting   of   the    Long    Parliament,     had    fpolcen    that 
memorable   fpeech   againft  monopolies  and  projeclors  which 
might  have  iupplied  Sydney  Smith  with  his  famous  diatribe 
on   the  univerfality  of  Britifh   taxation  two   hundred   years 
later.     "  It  is  a  neft  of  wafps,  or  fwarm  of  vermin,   which 
"  have  overcrept  the  land;  I  mean  the  monopolers  and  polers 
"  of  the  people.     Like  the  frogs  of  Egypt,  they  have  gotten  Swarm  of 
"  the  poffeffion  of  our  dwellings,  and  we  have  fcarce  a  room  mono- 
"  free  from  them.     They   fup   in   our  cup,  they  dip  in  our  polift 
"  difh,  they  fit  by  our  fire.     We  find  them  in  the  dye-fat,  the  vermin. 
"  wafh-bowl,  and  the  powdering-tub.     They  fhare  with  the 
"  butler  in  his  box.     They  have  marked  and  fealed  us  from 
"  head  to  foot.  Mr.  Speaker,  they  will  not  bait  us  a  pin.  We 
"  may  not  buy  our  own  clothes  without  their  brokage."     To 
illuftrate  theopeiation  of  forae  of  thefe  monopolies,  a  ftriking 
pafTage  may  alio  be  taken  from  a  fpeech  of  Pym's,  in  which 
he  undertook  to  fliow  that  the  gain  of  the  King  was  wonder- 
fully dilproportioned  to  the  lofs  of  the  Subject.     "  In  France,  Sneech  bv 
"  not  long  fmce,  upon  a  furvey  of  the  King's  revenue,  it  was  r>vm  . 
"  found  that  two  parts  in  three    never  came  to  the   King's 
"  purfe,  but  were  diverted  to  the  profit  of  the  officers  and 
"  minifters  of  the  Crown;  and  it  was  thought  a  very  good 
"  fervice  and  reformation  to  reduce  two   parts  to  the  King, 
"  leaving  ftill   a  third  part  to  the  inftruments  that  were  em- 
"  ployed  about  getting  it  in.     It  may  well  be  doubted  if  the 
"  King  have  the    like  or    worfe  fuccefs    in    England.     For  firiall 
"  inftance,   he   hath   referved  upon  the  monopoly  of  wines  „ajn  to 
"  thirty  thoufand  pound  rent  a  year  ;  the  vintner  pays  forty  Kino- 
"  fhillings   a  tun,  which  comes  to  ninety  thoufand  pounds ;  frorrflarge 
"  the  price  upon  the  fubjecl:  by  retail  is  increafed  twopence  a  j0fs  to 
"  quart,  which  comes  to  eight  pounds  a  tun,  and  for  forty-  Subject. 
"  five   thoufand  tun   brought   in    yearly   amounts   to    three 
"  hundred  and  fixty  thoufand  pounds;  which  is  three  hundred 
"  and  thirty  thoufand  pounds  lofs  to  the  kingdom,  above  the 
"  King's  rent !  " 


256  The  Grand  Remonft  ranee. 

Taxation  The  judgment  of  both  Houfes,  fubfequently 
Com-ed  t0  emD°died  in  a  ftatute,  had  put  an  end  for  ever 
mons.        to  the  arbitrary  power  pretended  to  be  in  the 
King,  of  taxing  the  fubjecl,  or  charging  their 
eftates,  without  confent  of  their  representatives 
in  parliament.    Judgment  had  been  dealt,  alfo, 
upon    the   living    grievances ;    upon   the  evil 
counfellors,  and  actors,  of  treafon  to  the  com- 
Delin-       monwealth.     The  Earl  of  Strafford  had  pe- 
punifhed.   rifhed  on  the  fcaffold.     Lord  Finch,  the  Lord 
Keeper,  and  Sir  Francis  Windebank,  the  Secre- 
tary of  State,  had  taken  flight  into  ignominious 
exile.     Archbifhop  Laud  and  Judge  Berkeley 
were  lodged   in  the  Tower.     And  fuch  was 
the    report  ■  gone    forth    of  thefe   memorable 
ads     of    retribution,     that     not    the    prefent 
only,  but  all  future  times,  were  like  to  find 
fafety  and  prefervation  therein.     (111  to  124 
inclufive.) 
Claufo  Through   ten  fucceeding  claufes  the  great 

i^'and'    recital  continued.     The  abolition  of  the  Star 
126,  and    Chamber,   of  the  High  Commiflion,    and  of 
1 37-142.    trie  Courts  of  the  Prefident  and  Council  in  the 
North,   as   of  fo  many  forges   of  opprefTion, 
mifery,  and  violence,*  was  exultingly  detailed. 

Ralph  *  To  what  extent  thefe  courts  might  be,  and  were,  made 

Verney        to  minifter  to  opprefTion,   could   only  be  fhown  by  a  relation 

to  James     too  particular  for  this  place  ;  but  there  is  a  letter  from  Ralph 

Dillon  :        Verney  to  his  friend  James  Dillon,  describing  Prynne's  fine 

1634..  and   punifhment,    which   remarkably   illultrates    the    recklefs 

liberty  of  indulgence  to  private  fjdeen  and  pafiion,  on  which 

they  were  all  baled,  and  by  which  all  were  governed.     The 

judgment   for  a  fine,   as   will  be  obferved,   was   taken  on  the 

average  of  the  various  rams  fuggelted. 

1633 — 4.  February  26th.  "  I  did  but  even  now  receave  a 
"  letter  from  you,  wherein  you  defire  an  account  of  Mr. 
"  Prinn's  cenfure.  To  fatisfie  you  therein.  He  is  to  be 
"  degraded  in  the  Univerfitie,  difbarred  at  the  Innes  of  Court ; 


AbfiraB :  Amis  of  the  Long  Parliament.  257 

And  thofe  votes  of  both    Houfes   were    re-  Over- 
counted, which  had  taken  away  the  immoderate  tyranny  • 
power  of  the  Council  Table  ;  had  blafted  for 
ever  the  defign  of  overriding  gofpel  and  law 
by  canons  of  the  Church ;  had  {truck  down 
the  exorbitances  of  Bifhops  and  their  courts;  Eccle- 
had    punifhed  fcandalous  minifters  ;     had  re-  ^d  civil 
formed  the  foreft  laws ;  had  put  an  end  to  the 
encroachments  and  oppreflions  of  the  Stannary 
Courts ;   had  abolifhed  the  extortions  of  the 
Clerk  of  the  Market ;  had  relieved  the  fubjecl 
of  the  vexations  of  the  old  laws  of  knighthood; 
and,  of  all  thefe  and  other  as  grievous  public  How 
wrongs,  left  no  more  trace   or   veftige    than  pi^f 
might  fuffice  to  tell  to  future  generations  the 
{lory  of  the   miferies  they  had  occafioned.* 
(127  to  136  inclufive.)     In  the  fame  recital, 
but  ftanding  apart  from  the  general  ftatement 
of  redrefs,  was  the  mention  made  (125   and 

"  he  was  fined  in  foure  thoufand  pounds  by  fome,  by  others 

"  in  5,oooh-,  in  6,oooh-,  in  io,oooh;  but  which  or" thefe  does 

"  now  ftand   I  cannot  refolve  you,  becaufe  I  counted  not  in 

'•'  which  of  thefe  fummes  moft  of  the  Lords  did  agree  ;  but  I 

"  believe  it  was  in  4oooh\     He  was  withall  condemned  to  the  prvrmp> . 

"  lofle  of  his  ears,  whereof  he  is  to  part  with  one  at  Weftmin-      ,n-fu 

"  fter,  with  the  other  at  Cheapfide,  where,  whileft  an  officer  ilen(. 

"  doeth  execution  on  him  felf,  the  hangman  is  to  doe  execu-  defcr'bed 

"  tion   on   his  booke,  and  burne  it  before  his  face.     He  is 

"  withall  to  fuffer  perpetuall  imprifonment  by  the  decree  of 

"  the  Starr  Chamber.     There  were  of  the  lords,  that  counted 

' '  this  not  enough ;  they  would  have  his  nofe  Jlitt,  his  arme 

"  cutt  off,  andpenn  and  inke  for  ever  withheld  from  him  ;  but 

"  thefe  were  butfewe,  and  their  cenfure  flood  not." 

*  A  claufe  introduced  in  the  courfe  of  this  fummary,  hav-  pourt  Qc 
ing  reference  to    the  Court   of  Requefts,    was   fubfequently  Reaue^ 
objected  to  by  the  liberal  leaders,  and  on  adivifion  was  rejected  j:v;j:on 
by   187   to    j 23    (this  was  the  firlt  divifion  on  the  great  day 
when  the  final  vote  was  taken),  Sir  John  Clotworthy  and  Sir 
Thomas  Barrington  being  tellers  for  the  majority,  and  for  the 
minority,  Mr.  Stanhope  and  Sir  F.  Cornwallis. 


258  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

126)  of  the  two  memorable  ftatutes,  for  tri- 
ennial parliaments,  and  for  prevention  of  any 
Two         abrupt  diflblution  of  the  exifting  parliament, 
famous      as  constituting  not  only  a  remedy  for  the  pre- 
Statutes.    fen^  b^  a  perpetual  fpring  of  remedies  for 
the  future  ;  and,  clofing  the  Statement  (137  to 
142  inclufive),  was  a  brief  Sketch  or  intima- 
tion  of  other  contemplated   meafures,  which 
the  existence  of  thofe  two  fafeguards  had  ena- 
bled them  to  prepare  with   fome   reafonable 
Other  ads  certainty  of  enactment  even  before  the  clofe 
prepared:  0£  ^q  feflion.     Among  them  were  laws  and 
provisions  for  defining  and  fettling  the  powers 
of  the  biShops ;  for  abating  pride  and  idlenefs 
in  the  clergy  ;  for  earing  the  people  of  needlefs 
and  fuperftitious    ceremonies ;     for   removing 
unworthy,  and  maintaining  godly,  preachers ; 
titles  and  for  fo  establishing  the  King's  revenue,  as  both 
there* f      to  cut  °^  Superfluities,  and  make  more  certain 
all  neceffary  payments ;  for  fo  regulating  courts 
of  juStice  as  to  abridge  both  the  delays  and  the 
cofts  of  law;  for  better  fettling  of  the  currency, 
and    equality    of    exchanges ;     for   increafing 
manufactures  and  facilitating  trade  ;  for  put- 
ting an  end  to  the  iniquities  of  prefs- money;* 
and  for  fo  improving  the  herring  fiihery  on 
their  own  coaSts,   as  not  only  to  give  large 
employment  to  the  poor,  but  to  create  and 
cherifh  a  plentiful  nurfery  of  feamen. 

*  In  the  Schedule  of*  Grievances,  before  referred  to,  appears 

"  the  compelling  fome  free-men,  by  imprisonment  and  threat- 

"  ening,   to  take  preiTe-money  ;  and  others,  for  feare  of  the 

Horror  of  "  like  imprifonment,  to  forfake  their  place  of  habitation,  hid- 

impreff-       "  i-ng  themfelves  in  woods,  whereby  their  families  are  left  to 

ment.  "  yc  charge  of  the  parifh,  and  harveft  worke  undone  for  want 

"  of  labourers."     Diary  of  John  Rous,  p.  92. 


AbfkraEl :  Practices  of  the  Court  Party.  259 


6.   Practices  of  the  Court  Party. 

Then  arofe,  in  connection  with  this  men-  claufes 
tion  of  laws  fo  defirable  to  be  panned,  the  con-  I43-IS3- 
fideration  of  fuch  and  fo  many  obftructions  and 
difficulties  then  lying  acrofs  the  path  to   their 
accomplishment,  as  might  ftill  prove   ftrong 
enough,  and  obftinate  enough,  to  defy  removal. 
The  heart  of  the  Remonftrance  lay  here ;  and  obftmc- 
its    authors  made  no    fecret  of  their  aim  in  tl0"s ^x" 
fo  fhaping  and  directing  it.     The  malignant 
party,  they  frankly  declared,  reprefenting  ftill 
the  authors  and  promoters  of  all  the  miferies 
and  wrongs  therein  defcribed,  had  taken  heart 
again.     Even  during  the  prefent  parliament,  Prefer- 
that  party  had  been  enabled  again  to  prefer  to  m^ft 

c  1  r  n  j  ev     coun~ 

degrees  or  honour,  and  to  places  of  truft  and  fellors. 
employment,    fome   of  its    own    factors    and 
agents ;  and  had  ufed  this  influence  to  work, 
in  the  King,  ill   impreflions  and  opinions  of 
the  proceedings  of  the   Houfe  of  Commons : 
as  if  its  members  had  altogether  done  their  Reproach 
own  work  and  not  his,  and  had  obtained  from  againft 
him  many  things  very  prejudicial  to  the  Crown,     ou  e : 
both  in  refpect  of  prerogative  and  profit.     To 
wipe  out  which  laft-named  flander,  they  thought 
it  good  to  declare,  that, — in  voting  25,000/. 
a  month  for  the  relief  of  the  Northern  Coun- 
ties, in  voting  300,000/.  by  way  of  brotherly 
affiftance  to  the   Scots,  and  in  voting  above  of  re- 
50,000/.  a  month  for  the  charge  of  the  army,  r"finfr[0 
— all  thefe  fums,  which,  with  the  addition  of  theCrown. 
monies  yielded  by  afTeffments  on  merchandize, 
amounted  to  a  million  and  a  half  fterling,  had 


-6o  The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 

been  contributed  to  the  greatnefs,  the  honour, 
and  the  fupport  of  the  King.     He  was  bound 
to  protect  his  fubjects  ;  and  his  fubjects  might 
well  have  claimed  exemption  from  contributing 
to  the  relief  of  burthens,  created  by  the  very 
A  million  wrongs  inflicted  on  themfelves.     Yet,  out  of 
voted  for   t^r  Purfe   ^nc.e  tne  prefent  parliament  met, 
the  King,  had  this  million  and  a  half  been  voted  to  his 
Majefty,  by  thofe  very  members  of  the  Houfe 
of  Commons  whom  the  ill-affected  were  now 
fo  "  impudent  "  as  to  reproach   with   having 
done   nothing  for  the  King!      (143  to   153 
inclufivec) 
Claufes  As  to  the  other  reproach  put  forth  to  juftify 

154.-161.  tjle  flanc[er,  ancj  touching  mainly  the  queftion 
of  prerogative,  it  was  met  with  challenge  as 
frank  and  refolute.  While  they  acknowledged 
with  thankfulnefs,  and  in  the  moft  impreffive 
Popular  language,  that  the  King  had  given  his  confent, 
b  1Kinffed  during  the  preceding  ten  months,  to  more 
good  bills  for  the  advantage  of  the  fubject 
than  had  been  in  many  previous  ages,  they 
yet  claimed  to  remember  the  venomous  coun- 
cils which  had  flnce  gone  far  to  obftruct  and 
Fourgreat  hinder  the  benefits  from  thefe  good  acts.  They 
aftsre-  proceeded  to  inftance,  one  by  one,  the  four 
ftatutes, — the  Triennial  Bill,  the  Bill  for  Con- 
tinuance of  the  Parliament,  and  the  two  Bills 
for  Abolition  of  the  Star  Chamber  and  High 
CommifTion, — fingled  out  to  eftablifh  the 
charge  of  having  prejudiced  the  Crown  in  pre- 
rogative as  well  as  profit  (in  none  other  could 
be  found  fo  much  as  the  fhadow  of  pretence 
for  fuch  a  charge) ;  and  they  declared  themfelves 
content  to  reft,  upon  no  other  than  thefe  four, 


AbJiraEl :  PraSlices  of  the  Court  Party.  261 

the  ifTue  whether  or  not  they  had  been  careful,  No  inten- 
ever,  to  avoid   deSiring  anything  that  fhould  tl0n ,to 
weaken  the  Crown  in    its  juft   profit    or   its  down  by 
neceSTary  power.     The  Star  Chamber  and  High  them- 
CommifTion  had  ceafed,  for  fome  time  before 
their  abolition,   to  bring  in   any  considerable 
fines  ;  and,  fruitful  to  the  laft  in  oppreffion, 
were  fo  no  longer  in  revenue.      The  Triennial 
Bill  had  fallen  Short  of  what  the   ancient  law, 
existing  ftill  in  two  unrepealed  Statutes  appoint- 
ing parliaments  each  year,  would  have  justified 
them  in  demanding.    And  though  there  might 
indeed  feem  to  have  been,  in  the  Bill  againft 
putting  an  end  without  its  own  confent  to  the 
Parliament  then  fitting,  fome  restraint  of  the  Reftraints 
royal  power  in  diffolving  parliaments,  it  was  neceffary 
to  be  remembered   that    the   defign    of  that 
Statute  was  by  no  means  to  take  the  authority 
out  of  the  Crown,  but  Simply  to  fufpend  its 
operation  for  the  fpecific   time  and  occafion. 
Without  it,  the  great  pecuniary  charges  here- 
tofore defcribed  could  never  have  been  under- 
taken :     the   firSt    confequence  whereof  muff, 
have  been,  the  giving  up   of  both  armies  to 
confufion   and  of  the  kingdom  to    plunder  ; 
and  the  firft  and  greateft  facrifice,  that  of  the 
public  peace  and  of  the  King's  own  fecurity. 
(154  to  161  inclusive.) 

Thus  far  the  Slander  of  the  ill-affe&ed  had  ciaufes 
reached,  in  relation  to  the  King.     But  it  had  l62-168- 
taken  alfo  a  wider  range ;  and, — by  fuch  afper- 
lions  as  that  the  Houfe  of  Commons  had  fpent 
much  time  and  done  little  work,  efpecially  in 
the  grievances  concerning   religion  ;   and  that  „,     ... 
it  preffed  itfelf  upon  the  kingdom  with  peculiar  againft 


262  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

the  Par-  burthens,  not  only  by  the  voting  of  many  fub- 
fidies  heavier  than  any  formerly  endured,  but 
by  excefs  in  the  protections  againft  fuits  and 
debts  granted  to  its  members, — the  attempt 
had  been  made  to  damage,  with  the  people,  the 
reputation  of  their  reprefentatives,  and  to  bring 
the  Englifh  nation  out  of  love  with  Parlia- 
Danger  of  ments.  Yet  was  there  truly  a  ready  anfwer, 
mems"  S "^  tnev  to  whom  fuch.  {lander  was  addreffed 
would  but  look  back  and  forward.  Before 
they  judged  this  Parliament,  let  them  look 
back  to  the  long  growth  and  deep  root  of  the 
Grievances  it  had  removed,  to  the  powerful 
fupports  of  the  Delinquents  it  had  ftruck 
down,  to  the  great  neceffities  of  the  Common- 
wealth for  which  it  had  provided, — let  them 
look  forward  to  the  many  advantages  which 
not  the  prefent  only  but  future  ages  would 
reap,  from  the  laws  it  had  palTed  and  the  work 
Compari-  it  had  accomplifhedy — and  where  was  the  in- 
fon  with    different  judgment,  to  which  its  burthen  laid 

former  J       i?  3 

parlia-       upon  the  fubject  would  not  feem  lighter  than 
ments.       m  any  former  example,  and  to  which  its  time 
fpent  in  deliberation  would  not  appear  to  have 
been  better  employed  than  a  far  greater  pro- 
portion of  time  in  many  former  parliaments 
Alleged     Put  together  ?     In  the  only  direction  where  it 
excels  of    was  polTible  that  juft  reafon  for  complaint  might 
pim  ege*   exift,   already   a   bill  was   under  difcuffion   to 
provide  a  remedy  ;    and  any  undue  ftretching 
of  thofe   protections  *    from    fuit   and    arrelt 
which  were  neceffary  to  the  difcharge  of  the 

*  "  By  which  the  debts  from  parliament  men,  and  their 
"  followers,  and  dependants,  were  not  recoverable."  Claren- 
don, Hift,  ii.   55. 


AbJlraEl :   Practices  of  the  Court  Party.  263 

functions  of  a  legiflator,  would  now  very 
fpeedily  be  removed.  (162  to  168,  inclu- 
five.) 

But  what  was  the  character  of  the  men,  and  Claufes 
what    their   daily    practices   and   efforts,    by  l69-l8°- 
whom  thefe  {landers  had  been  bufily  difperfed  ? 
They  were  the  fame  men  who  mofl  bufily  had 
fown  divifion  between  the  fifter  kingdoms,  and 
ftriven  to  incenfe  againft  each  other  the  fub- 
jects  of  one  Crown  :    Who  had  been  able  fo  The  party 
to  influence  the  bifhops,  and  a  party  of  Popifh  parna_ 
lords  in  the  upper  Houfe,  as   to  create  thofe  ments. 
very  obstructions  and  delays    for   which   the 
lower  Houfe  was  afTailed :   Who  had  laboured, 
not  unfuccefsfully,  to  feduce  and  corrupt  fome 
even  of  the  reprefentatives  of  the  people,  and 
to  draw  them  into  combinations  againft  the 
liberty  of  parliament :    Who,  by  their  inftru- 
ments    and    agents,   had    tampered   with    the 
King's  army  for  the  fame  wicked  and  traitor-  intr;„uers 
ous  purpofe,  and  had  twice  engaged  in  plots  with 
to  bring  up  a  force  to  overawe  the  delibera-  Army- 
tions  of  the  Houfe  of  Commons,  and  to  feize 
the   perfons    of  its    leaders:    Whofe    defigns 
with   this   view,    as    well    in    Scotland    as   in 
England,  had  frill  been  defeated,  before  ripe 
for    execution,  by   the  vigilance  of  the  well- 
affected  ;  but  who  had  been  fo  far  more  fuc- 
cefsful  in  Ireland,  that  not  till  the  very  eve  of 
the  day  when  the  main  enterprife  mould  have  Promoters 
been  executed  at  Dublin,  was  difcovery  made,  f^6"" 
by  God's  wonderful  providence,  of  their  fcheme 
to  pofTefs  themfelves  of  that  whole  country,  to 
fubvert   totally  its    government,  to  root   out 
and  deftroy   the   Proteftant   religion,  and   to 


264  The  Grand  Remonft ranee. 

mafTacre  all,  without  exception,  of  whatever 
fex  or  age,  who  were  bred  in  it,  or  likely  to 
The  irifli  be  faithful  to  it.  Which  devilifh  defign  was 
tragedy.  £Q  far  pUrfuec[  notwithftanding,  that  open  re- 
bellion had  broken  out  in  other  parts  of  the 
Irifri  kingdom,  many  towns  and  caftles  had 
been  furprifed,  many  murders  and  villanies 
unutterable  perpetrated,*  all  bonds  of  obe- 
dience   to    the    King   and    the    laws    fhaken 

*  It  has  been  referved  for  our  own  time,  after  fuch  a  lapfe 
of  years  as  might  have  feemed  to  render  wholly  incredible 
the   poflibility  of  a  recurrence  of  fuch  horrors,  to  furnifh  a 
parallel  to  the  unfpeakable  cruelties  perpetrated  in  this  Irifli 
Rebellion.   "  The  innocent  Proteftants"  (I  quote  the  hiftorian 
Maflacres  May,  no   vehement  or   exaggerated  writer)    "were    upon  a 
of  Irifh       "  fudden   diffeifed  of  their  eftates,  and  the  perfons  of  above 
Proteft-        "  two  hundred  thoufand  men,  women,  and  children  murthered, 
ants.  "  many  of  them  with  exquifite  and  unheard  of  tortures,  with- 

"  in  the  fpace  of  one  month.  .  .  Dublin  was  the  fanttuary  of 
"  all  the  defpoiled  Proteftants,  .  .  and  what  mifchiefs  foever 
"  were  a&ed  in  other  parts,  were  there  difcovered  and  lamented. 
"  Their  eyes  were  fad  witnefles  of  the  rebels'  cruelty,  in  fuch 
"  wretched  fpeclacles  as  daily  from  all  parts  prefented  them- 
"  felves  :  people  of  all  conditions  and  qualities,  of  every  age 
"  and  fex,  fpoiled  and  ftripped  .  .  .  And  befides  the  miferies 
"  of  their  bodies,  their  minds  tortured  with  the  lofte  of  all 
"  their  fortunes,  and  fad  remembrance  of  their  hulbands, 
"  wives,  or  children,  moft  barbaroufly  murdered  before  their 
"  faces  .  .  .  But  that  part  of  this  woful  tragedy  prefented  to 
"  the  eyes  was  the  leaft,  and  but  the  fhadow  of  that  other 
"  which  was  related  to  their  ears,  of  which  the  readers  and  all 
"  pofterity  may  fhare  the  forrow.  Many  hundreds  of  thofe 
Narrative  "  which  had  elcaped, — under  their  oaths  lawfully  taken  upon 
by  May.  "  examination,  and  recorded  with  all  particulars, — delivered 
"  to  the  Councill  what  horrid  maflacres  the  bloody  villains 
"  had  made  of  men,  women,  and  children  ;  and  what  cruel 
"  inventions  they  had  to  torture  thofe  whom  they  murdered  ; 
"  fcarce  to  be  equalled  by  any  the  moft  black  and  baleful 
"  ftory  of  any  age.  Many  thoufands  of  them  at  feveral  places 
"  (too  many  to  be  here  inferted),  after  all  defpites  exercifed 
"  upon  them  living,  were  put  to  the  worft  of  deaths  :  fome 
"  burned  on  fet  purpofe,  others  drowned  for  fport  and  paftime ; 
"  and  if  they  fwam,  kept  from  landing  with  poles,  or  fhot  or 
"  murdered  in  the  water  :  many  were  buried  quick,  and  fome 
"  let  into  the  earth  breaft  high,  and  there  left  to  famifh.     But 


Abjlracl:  Defence  of  the  Popular  Leaders.  16$ 

off,  and  fuch  a  fire  in  general  kindled,  as 
nothing  but  God's  infinite  bleffing  upon  the 
meafures  and  endeavours  now  at  this  time  in 
progrefs  would  be  able  to  quench.  And 
to  that  fo  miferable  tragedy  in  Ireland,  but  Intended 
for  the    great  mercy  of   Providence  in  con-  Prolosue 

o  j  to  tragedy 

founding  former  plots,  this  country  of  Eng-  ;n  Eng- 
land would  have   been  made    to   furnifh    the land- 
lamentable   prologue.       (169    to    180    inclu- 
five.) 

7.   Defence  of  the  Popular  Leaders, 

"And    now,"    proceeded    this  memorable  ciaufes 

181-191. 

"  molt  barbarous  (as  appears  in  very  many  examinations)  was 
"  that  cruelty  which  was  lhowed  to  pregnant  women,   whom 

"  the  villains  were  not  content  to  murder,  but .     But  I 

"  am  loath  to  dwell  upon  fo  lad  a  narrative."     Lib.  2,  cap.  i. 
14.     Let  a  brief  paffage  from  the  authentic  RuJ/i-zvort/i  (Part 
III.  vol.  i.  p.  416-7)  complete  the   horror,   and  with  it  the 
appalling  parallel  to  incidents  which  have  plunged  this  living 
generation  into   mourning.     "  For  fuch   of  the   Englifh   as 
flood  upon  their  guard,  and  had  gathered  together,  though 
but  in  fmall  numbers,  the  Irifh  fairly  offered  unto  them  good  Narrative 
conditions  of  quarter,  affured  them  their  lives,  their  goods,  by  Rufh- 
and  free   paffage,   and  as  foon   as  they  had  them  in   their  worth, 
power,  held  themfelves  difobliged  from  their  promifes,  and 
left   their   foldiers  at  liberty  to  defpoil,  ftrip,  and  murder 
them  at  pleafure  .   .  .  Their  fervanrs  were  killed  as  they 
were  ploughing  in  the  fields,  hulbands  were  cut  to  pieces  in 
the  prefence  of  their  wives,  their  children's   brains   were 
dalhed  out   before  their  faces  .  .  their    goods    and    cattle 
feized  and  carried  away,  their  houfes   burnt,  their  habita- 
tions laid  wafte,  and  all  as  it  were  at  an  inftant,  before  they 
could   fufpecl  the   Irifh    for  their   enemies,   or    any    ways 
imagine  that  they  had  it  in  their  hearts,  or  in  their  power, 
to  offer  fo  great  violence,  or  do  fuch  mifchief."     Claren-  Claren- 
don's own  touching  account   (viii.   9,   and   elfewhere)  of  the  don's  ac- 
barbarous  circumftances  of  cruelty  with  which,  in  the  fpace  of  count, 
lefs  than  ten  days,  an  incredible  number  of  proteftants,  '*  men, 
"  women,  and  children  promifcuoufly,  and  without  diftinclion 
"  of  age  and  fex,"  were  murdered,  mull  be  familiar  to  every 
reader  of  his  Hiftory. 


i66 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 


Hopes  of 
leaders  of 
Commons. 


Reply  to 
their  af- 
iailants. 


Cham- 
pions of 
Epifco- 
pacy  : 


Declaration,  in  language  which  its  authors 
might  fairly  have  claimed  to  be  appealed  to  on 
all  occafions  afterward  when  their  deeds  or  their 
motives  mould  be  called  in  queftion — fC  And 
now,  what  hope  have  we  but  in  God  ?  The 
only  means  of  our  fubfiftence,  and  power  of 
Reformation,  is,  under  Him,  in  the  Parlia- 
ment ;  but  what  can  we,  the  Commons,  with- 
out the  conjunction  of  the  Houfe  of  Lords  ? 
and  what  conjunction  can  we  expect  there, 
when  the  Biihops  and  recufant [Lords  are  fo 
numerous  and  prevalent,  that  they  are  able 
to  crofs  and  interrupt  our  beft  endeavours 
for  Reformation,  and  by  that  means  give 
advantage  to  this  malignant  party  to  traduce 
our  proceedings  ? 

<c  They  infufe  into  the  people  that  we  mean 
to  abolifh  all  Church  Government,  and  leave 
every  man  to  his  own  fancy  for  the  fervice 
and  worfhip  of  God,  abfolving  him  of  that 
obedience  which  he  owes  under  God  to  his 
Majefty  ;  whom  we  know  indeed  to  be  in- 
trufted  with  the  ecclefiaftical  law  as  well  as 
with  the  temporal,  to  regulate  all  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Church  of  England — though  by 
fuch  rules  of  order  and  difcipline  only  as  are 
eftablifhed  by  Parliament ;  which  is  his  great 
council  in  all  affairs,  both  in  Church  and 
State. 

<c  They  have  {trained  to  blaft  our  proceed- 
ings in  parliament  by  wrefting  the  interpre- 
tations of  our  Orders  from  their  genuine 
intentions.  They  tell  the  people  that  our 
meddling  with  the  power  of  Epifcopacy  hath 
caufed  fectaries  and  conventicles,  when  it  is 


Abjiratl :  Defence  of  the  Popular  Leaders.  267 

c  Idolatry,*  and  the  Popifh  Ceremonies  intro- 

c  duced  into  the  Church  by  command  of  the 

c  Bifhops,  which  have  not  only  debarred  the  their 

c  people  from  them,  but  expelled  them  from  uanders- 

c  the  kingdom.     And  thus,  with  Eliab,  we  are 

f  called  by  this  malignant  party  the  troublers 

c  of  the  State  ;  and  frill,  while  we  endeavour 

f  to  reform  their  abufes,  they  make  us  authors 

f  of  thofe  mifchiefs  we  ftudy  to  prevent. 

cc  We  confefs  our  intention  is,  and  our  en-  Defign 
c  deavours  have  been,  to  reduce  within  bounds  gimps' 
c  that   exorbitant   power  which   the  Prelates  Bill. 
c  have  aflumed  unto  themfelves,  fo  contrary 
f  both  to  the  word  of  God  and  to  the  laws  of 
c  the  land  :  to  which  end  we  pafTed  the  Bill 
f  for  the  removing  them  from  their  temporal 
f  power  and  employments,  that  fo  the  better 
f  they  might  with   meeknefs  apply  themfelves 
c  to  the  difcharge  of  their  functions ;  which  Bill 
c  they  themfelves  oppofed,  and  were  the  prin- 
c  cipal  inftruments  of  croffing.j* 

1 '  And  we  do  here  declare  that  it  is  far  from  n0  inten- 
c  our  purpofe  or  defire  to  let  loofe  the  golden  tion  to 
1  reins  of  difcipline  and  government   in    the  ^fchjiine 
c  Church,  leaving  private  perfons  or  particular 


*  No  expreflion  was  fo  hotly  contefted  in  the  Houfe  as  this  Idolatry 
of  Idolatry.     It  was  debated,  as  the  reader  has  been  already  jn  the 
told,  with  extraordinary  vehemence  ;  the  claufe  containing  it  Church, 
was  recommitted  twice ;  Falkland  and   Culpeper  were  added 
to  the  Committee  appointed  "  to  prepare  the  claufe  in  fuch  a 
"  manner   as  may  be  agreeable  to  the  fenfe  of  the  Houfe  ;" 
and  after  a  divifion  taken  on  the  queftion  of  whether  it  mould 
ftand,  which  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  twenty-five,  it  was 
again,  on  the  final  debate,  vehemently  difcuffed. 

f  This  claufe  alfo  was  ftrenuoufly  contefted  to  the  laft,  and 
on  the  day  when  the  final  divifion  on  the  Remonftrance  was 
taken,  as  will  hereafter  be  feen,  it  was  again  put  to  the  vote. 


268 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Confor- 
mity de- 
fired. 


Sugges- 
tion for 
Synod : 


congregations  to  take  up  what  form  of  divine 
fervice  they  pleafe :  for  we  hold  it  requifite 
that  there  lhould  be,  throughout  the  whole 
realm,  a  conformity  to  that  order  which 
the  Laws  enjoin  according  to  the  word  of 
God.  But  we  defire  to  unburden  the  con- 
fciences  of  men  of  needlefs  and  fuperftitious 
ceremonies,  to  fupprefs  innovations,  and  to 
take  away  the  monuments  of  idolatry.* 
"  The  better  to  effect  which  intended  Re- 
formation, we  defire  there  may  be  a  General 
Synod  of  the  moft  grave,   pious,   learned, 


Author-  *  Clarendon  more  than  once  imputes  the  main  authorfhip 

ftiip  of         or"  r'ie  Remonftrance  to  Pym  ;  but  the  fhare  taken  in  it  by 

Remon-      tnat  great  ftateiman  is  yet  more  fatisfaclorily  eftablifhed  by  the 

ftrance.        extraordinary  number  of  paffages  in  it,  identical  in  ftyie,  in 

manner,  and  often  in   the   moft-  precife  expreffion,  with  his 

printed   fpeeches.       The    paffages   on    Church    government 

quoted  above  are  among  the  many  fuch  proofs  from  internal 

evidence.     In  themfelves  they  are  remarkable,  and  they  agree 

exactly  with  the  tone  and  terms  of  the  brief  but  impreffive 

"  Declaration  and  Vindication'"  which  the  maligned  leader  of 

Afcribed     the  popular  party  put  forth,  with  his  own  name,   againft  the 

to  Pym.       calumnies  of  the  royalifts  during  the  year  preceding  his  death. 

"  That  I  am,  ever  was,  and  fo  will  die,  a  faithful  fon  of  the 

"  Proteftant  Religion,  without  having  the  leaft  relation,   in 

"  my  belief,  to  the  grofs  errors  of  Anabaptifm,  Brownifm,  or 

"  any  other  revolt  from  the  orthodox  doctrine  of  the  Church 

"  of  England,  every  man  that  hath  any  acquaintance  with 

"  my  converfation  can  bear  me  righteous  witnefs.     Thefe  are 

"  but  afperfions  call  upon  me  by  fome  of  the  difcontented 

Parallel        "  clergy,  and  their  factors  and  abettors  ;  becaufe  they  might 

paffages       "  perhaps  conceive  that  I  had  been  a  main  inftrument  in   ex- 

rrom  "  tenuating  the  haughty  power  and  ambitious  pride  of  the 

Pym's  "  bifhops  and  prelates  .  .  And  was  it  not  high  time  to  feek 

Vtndica-       "  to  regulate  their  power,  when,   inftead  of  looking  to  the 

tion.  "  cure  of  men's  fouls  (which  is  their  genuine  office),   they 

"  infli<Sled   punifhment  on  men's  bodies,  banifhing    them   to 

"  remote   and   defolate   places,     bringing   in   papiftical  cere- 

"  monies  by  unheard   of  canons  into  the  Church,  impoling 

"  burdens  upon  men's  confciences  which   they  were  not  able 

"  to  bear,   and  introducing  the  old  aboliffied  fuperftition  of 

"  bowing  to  the  altar  ?" 


AbftraEi :  Remedial  Meafures  demanded.  16^ 

ci  and  judicious  divines  of  this  ifland,  affifted 
<c  with  fome  from  foreign  parts,  profefling  the 
cc  fame  religion  with  us  ;  who  may  conflder  of 
cc  all  things  neceffary  for  the  peace  and  good 
"government  of  the  Church,  and  reprefent  to  fettle 
cf  the  refults  of  their  confutations  unto  the  Church 
cc  Parliament.     There,  to  be  allowed  of,  and  menti 
(C  confirmed ;  and  to  receive  the  ftamp  of  au- 
(c  thority  whereby  to  find  pafTage  and  obedience 
<(  throughout  the  kingdom. 

"  We   have  been  malicioufly  charged  with  Defire  to 
cc  the    intention   to    deftroy   and    difcouraee  ^Ivan?e 

t  •  1  ••  ■      1  •    r  n  1  -Learning  : 

cc  Learning,  whereas  it  is  our  chiereit  care  and 

(f  defire   to  advance  it,  and  to  provide  fuch 

<c  competent  maintenance  for  confcientious  and 

Cf  preaching  minifters  throughout  the  realm  as 

<c  will  be  a  great  encouragement  to  fcholars, 

cc  and  a  certain  means  whereby  the  want,  mean- 

{(  nefs,  and  ignorance  to  which  a  great  part  of 

"  the  clergy  is  now  fubject,  will  be  prevented. 

(c  And  we  have  intended  likewife  to  reform  by  re- 

cc  and  purge  the  Fountains  of  Learning,  the  forming 

ic  two  Univerfities,  that  the  ftreams   flowing  t;ensiverl1" 

ic  from  thence  may  be  clear  and  pure,  and  an 

<c  honour  and  comfort  to  the  whole  land." 

So  ran  the  claufes  of  the  Great  Remon- 
ftrance  from  the  181ft  to  the  191ft  inclufive, 
memorable  always  for  their  plain  vindication  of 
the  motives  and  meaning  of  its  authors. 

8.   Remedial  Meafures  demanded. 

Fourteen  claufes  more,  from  the   192nd  to  Claufes 
the  206th,  carried  theRemonftrance  to  its  clofe.  I92" 
In  thefe  were  frankly  indicated  the  meafures 


270 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


Demands 
made. 


Settlement 
of  Monar- 
chy with 
limita- 
tions. 


which  the  people  were  entitled  to  demand,  as 
their  only  fafe  or  fufficient  guarantee  againft  the 
recurrence,  at  any  moment,  of  the  wrongs  and 
fufferings  of  the  pad  fixteen  years.  The 
groundwork  of  thefe  meafures,  I  may  remark, 
was  precifely  that  which  formed  afterwards  the 
baiis  of  the  fettlement  by  which  alone  the  Mo- 
narchy was  again  firmly  eftablifhed  in  England. 
It  comprifed  fafeguards  againft  the  Roman 
Catholic  religion;  fecurityfor  the  better  admi- 
niftration  of  the  laws ;  and  conditions  for  the 
future  felection  of  only  fuch  counfellors  and 
minifters  by  the  King,  as  the  Parliament  might 
have  reafon  to  confide  in. 

For  the  firft,  it  was  laid  down  broadly  that 
the  principles  of  thofe  who  profefTed  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  religion  fo  certainly  tended  to 
the  deftruction  and  extirpation  of  all  Pro- 
teftants,  whenever  they  mould  have  oppor- 
tunity to  effect  it,  that  it  was  abfolutely  necef- 
fary  to  keep  them  in  fuch  condition,  as  that 
they  might  not  be  able  to  do  any  hurt ;  *  and 


p      ,  *  The  expreffion  is  exactly  that  which  Pym  had  employed 

y      s  in  his  fpeech  on  grievances  in   the    Short  Parliament,  in  a 

pie         _      paflage  which  vindicates  his  memory  from  any  imputation  or 

°Pel>  '      intolerance.     It  is  always  with  the  prudent  fpirit  of  the  ftatef- 

man,  and  never  with  the  unreafoning  hatreds  of  the  bigot, 

that  this  great  fpeaker  adverts  to  the  Roman  Catholic  religion. 

diflike   of  "  ^e  ^'^   not   defire  anv  new  ^aws  aga>nft  Popery,   or  any 

the  ftatef-  "  r'gorous  courfes  in  the  execution  of  thofe  already  in  force. 
"  He  was  far  from  feeking  the  ruin  of  their  perlbns  or  eftates  ; 
"  only  he  wimt  they  might  be  kept  in  fuch  a  condition  as 
"  fliould  reftrain  them  from  doing  hurt  .  .  .  The  principles 
"  of  Popery  are  fuch  as  are  incompatible  with  any  other 
"  religion.  Laws  will  not  reftrain  them.  Oaths  will  not. 
"  The  Pope  can  difpenfe  with  both  thefe  ;  and  where  there  is 
"  occafion,  his  command  will  move  them  to  the  difturbance 
"  of  the  realm,  againft  their  own  private  dilpofition,  yea  againft 
"  their  own  reafon  and  judgment,  not  only  in  fpiritual  matters 


Safe- 
guards 
againft 
Roman 
Catholic 
Religion. 


man,  not 
the  bigot, 


AbfiraB :  Remedial  Meaf tires  demanded.  i~ji 

that  fuch  connivance. and  favour,  therefore,  as 
had  theretofore  been  mown  to  them,  mould 
thereafter  be  avoided.*  With  this  view  his 
Majefty  was  moved  to  grant  a  {landing  com- 
million  to  fome  choice  men  named  in  Parlia-  Suggefted 
ment,  who  might  take  watch  of  their  increafe,  9ommii" 
report  upon  their  counfels  and  proceedings, 
and  ufe  all  due  means,  by  execution  of  the 
laws,  to  prevent  mifchievous  defigns,  from  that 
quarter,    againft  the   peace  and  fafety  of  the 

"  but  in  temporal.  Henry  III  and  Henry  IV  of  France 
"  were  no  Proteftants  themfelves,  yet  were  murthered  becaufe 
11  they  tolerated  the  Proteftants.  The  King  and  the  king- 
tl  dom  can  have  no  fecurity  but  in  their  weaknefs  and  dif- 
"  abilitie  to  do  hurt." 

*  It  is  not  neceflary  to  multiply  illustrations  of  the  thorough  The 
underftanding  of  the  character  of  the  King,  which  appears  in,  Kind's 
and  juftifies,  the  various  urgent  warnings  of  the  Remonftrance  tendencies 
againft  his  dangerous  tendency  to   intercourfe   with    Rome.  t0  Rome. 
But  let  me  refer  the  reader  to  one   of  the  lateft  and  moll 
decifive  evidences  on  this  point,  furnilhed  in  the  very  curious 
and  interefting  volume  of  Letters  written    by  Charles  to  his 
Queen  in  1646,  publilhed  by  the  Camden  Society  in  1856,  and 
moft  carefully  edited  by  Mr.   John   Bruce.     In  thefe  letters 
will  be  found  the  moft  fatisfaclory  of  all  evidence,   under  his 
own  hand,   of  the  otherwife    incredible  and    utterly    infane 
fcheme   by  which  he  propofed,   lo  that  congenial  helpmate 
who  did  more  than  all  the  reft  of  his  advifers  to  bring  about 
the  tragedy  of  his  death,   that  (lie  fhould  "  invite  the  Pope  Compact 
"  and  other  Roman  Catholics  to  help  me  for  the  reftitution  of  for  reftora- 
"  Epifcopacy  in  England,  upon  condition  of  giving  them  free  t|on  0f 
"  liberty  of  confeience,  and  convenient  places  for  their  devo-  Epifco- 
"  tions.   .  .   I  defne  thee  not,"    he  adds,    "  to  communicate  pacy. 
"  this  motion  to  any  of  the  French  minifters  of  ftate,  but  I 
"  would  have  thee  to  acquaint  the  Cardinal  with  it,  requiring 
"  his  afliftance,  for  certainly  France  is  as  much   obliged  to 
"  afllft  me  as   honour  can  make  it."   p.  42.     The  intended 
mode  of  doing  it  was  worthy  of  the  thing  to  be  done.     The  Propofed 
Queen  was  to  get  the  French  government  to  invade  England  Invitation 
with   6000  men,  and  with  thefe,  and  double  the  number  of  to  the 
Irifti  Roman  Catholics,  Charles  propofed  to  provide  for  the  French  ! 
fafe  re-eftablilhment  of  the  Englifh  Proteftant  Church  and  his 
own  royal  authority!    Letters  in  1646,  p.  24  and  25.     And 
fee  Clarendon's  State  Papers,  ii.  262. 


272  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

realm.  And  it  was  further  fuggefted,  that 
fome  fufficient  tefts  mould  be  applied  to  that 
counterfeit  and  falfe  conformity  of  Papifts  to 
the  Englifh  Church,  by  colour  of  which  per- 
.  fons  greatly  difaffected  to  the  true  religion  had 
been  admitted  into  places  of  higheft  authority 
and  truft  in  the  kingdom. 
11.  por  the  fecond,  Stipulation  was  made,  that, 

rities  for    for  the  better  prefervation  of  the  liberties  and 
Adminif-  laws,  all  illegal  grievances  and  exactions  mould 
Laws        be  prefented  and  punifhed  at  the  feffions  and 
affizes  ;  that  judges  and  juftices  mould  be  very 
careful  to    give  this  in  charge  to  the   grand 
juries  ;   and  that  both  the  fheriff  and  the  juf- 
tices mould  be  fworn  to  the  due  execution  of 
the  Petition  of  Right  and  other  laws. 
in.  por  trie  third,  a  feries  of  precautions  were 

teaion  fuggefted  to  meet  thofe  cafes  of  not  infrequent 
againft  occurrence,  when  the  Commons  might  have 
Counfel-  juft  caufe  t0  take  exceptions  at  particular  men 
lors.  for  being  felected  to  advife  the  King,  and  yet 

have  no  juft  caufe  to  charge  them  with  crimes. 
Seeing  that  there  were  grounds  of  diffidence 
which  lay  not  in  proof,  and  others  which, 
though  proveable,  were  yet  not  legally  crimi- 
nal (as,  to  be  a  known  favourer  of  Papifts,  or 
to  have  been  very  forward  in  countenancing 
Parlia-  and  fupporting  great  offenders  questioned  in 
merit  tobe  Parliament,  or  to  have  become  notorious  for  a 

conlulted  3 

in  choice  ftudied  contempt  of  Parliamentary  proceed- 
ofMimi-  ings),  the  moft  cogent  reafons  might  exift  to 
be  earned  with  the  King  not  to  put  his  great 
affairs  into  fuch  hands,  though  the  Commons 
might  be  unwilling  to  proceed  againft  them  in 
any  legal  way  of  impeachment.     It  was  then 


§  xiii.    The  Hotife  and  its  Members  :   1641.  273 

plainly  ftated  that  fupplies  for  fupport  of  the 
King's  own  eftate  could  not  be  given,  nor  fuch 
afliftance  provided  as  the  times  required  for 
the   Proteftant  party   beyond   the  fea,   unlefs  Minifters 
fuch    Counfellors,    Ambafladors,    and    other  *°^  fub_ 
Minifters    only  were   in  future    employed  as  jeft  to 
Parliament  could  give  its  confidence  to ;  and  laws- 
unlefs  all  Counfellors  of  State  were  fworn,  as 
well  to  avoid  receiving,  in  any  form,  reward 
or  penfion    from  any  foreign  prince,*   as  to 
obferve  ftrictly  thofe  laws  which  concerned  the 
fubjecl:  at  home  in  his  liberty. 

And  fo  this  famous  Declaration  ended,  with 
a  prayer  that  his  Majefty  might  ever  have     a0'"gof 
caufe   to  be  in  love  with   good    counfel  and  Remon- 
good  men  ;  and,  profiting  by  the  humble  and  ftrance- 
dutiful   reprefentations   therein  made,    might 
acknowledge  how  full  of  advantage  it  would 
be,  to  himfelf,  to  fee  his  own  eftate  fettled  in 
a  condition  fufHcing  to  fupport  his  honour,  to 
fee  his  people  united  in  ways  of  duty  to  him 
and  in  endeavours  for  the  public  good,  and, 
by  the  influence  of  his  own  power  and  govern- 
ment, to  fee  derived  to  his  own  kingdom,  and 
procured  to    thofe    of  his    allies,   Happinefs, 
Wealth,  Peace,  and  Safety. 


§  xiii.     The  House  and  its  Members  : 
22nd  Nov.  1641. 

Such  was  the  Declaration,  the  Great  Re-  Monday, 
monftrance,  which  lay  engrafted  on  the  table  *g"     ov" 

*  On  Friday  the   nth   of  December  1640,   I  find  from  a 
manufcript  report  of  the  proceedings  of  that  day,  Pym  handed  Englifh 
in   feveral   petitions,    and    among   them   one  from    "  Jofeph  ftatefmen : 

T 


274 


King 
approach- 
ing 
London. 


10  o'cloc 

A.M. 

Speaker 
late. 


Petition 

from 

moniers. 


and 

foreign 
penfions. 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

of  the  houfe  on  Monday  the  22nd  of  November 
1 641,  waiting  the  final  vote.  The  King,  eager 
at  laft  to  reach  London  before  that  vote  could 
be  taken,  was  now  haftening  with  all  fpeed 
back  from  Edinburgh ;  and  the  fact  that  he 
was  only  diftant  a  two  days'  journey  was 
doubtlefs  known  to  Pym,  Hampden,  and 
Cromwell,  when  they  paiTed  into  the  houfe 
that  morning. 

The  Speaker  was  late,  probably  in  expecta- 
tion that  he  mould  have  to  fit  long ;  and 
prayers  were  not  over  until  a  little  after  ten. 
There  is  then  fome  bufinefs  eiTential  to  be 
done,  and  honourable  members  eager  for  the 
great  debate  are  fain  to  curb  their  impatience. 
Mr.  Wheeler,  the  member  for  Weftbury,  has 
to  report  concerning  a  delinquent  involved  in 
the  recent  confpiracies.  Sir  John  Price,  the 
member  for  Montgomeryshire,  has  ill  report 
to  make  of  a  Mr.  Blany,  a  Welfh  juftice  of 
peace.  Mr.  Strode  has  to  complain  of  an 
order  of  the  Houfe  as  to  a  cafe  in  the  Ex- 
chequer tending  to  throw  difcredit  on  himfelr, 
and  to  obtain  correction  of  the  fame.  Mr. 
Speaker  has  to  prefer  a  petition  from  fome 
hundred  or  fo  of  the  Moniers  of  the  mint, 
claiming  to  be  exempt,  by  the  precedents  of 
four  centuries,  from  contributing  to  the  pay- 
ment of  the  laft  fix  fubfidies  voted  by  the 
Commons  ;  which  petition,  having  been  pre- 
fented  to  the  King,  his  Majefty  had  commended 

"  Hawes  and  other  merchants  touching  the  wrongs  done  them 
"  at  fea  by  the  Spaniards  ;"  and  moved  that  it  mould  be  re- 
ferred "  to  the  fame  committee  appointed  to  confider  of  the 
"  Turkifh  pirates  and  Algiers,  and  to  enquire  what  minifters 
"  of  our  State  do  receive  penfions  from  foreign  States." 


§  xiii.     The  Hoiife  and  its  Members :   1641.  275 


to  Mr.  Speaker  for  prefentation  this  day,  and  piftinc- 
by  the  Houfe  was  now  ordered  to  be  referred  between 
to  the  committee  for  poll-money,  fome   not  Common- 
very  courtly  members  remarking  that  Cf  thefe  wealth  and 
tc  fubfidies  were  given  to  the  Commonwealth 
"  and  not  to  the  King,  and  therefore  they  were 
"  not  freed   by  any   charter  of  exemption." 
But,  above  all,  Mr.  Pym  has  to  report  the 
refult  of  a  conference  with  the  Lords  the  pre- 
ceding Saturday  on  Irifh  affairs,  and  fundry 
important  matters  relating  thereto.     He  has 
evidence  to  offer  that  {C  this  defign  of  Ireland 
"  was  hatched  in  England."  He  has  a  petition 
bearing  on  thefe  affairs  to  prefent  from  Sir  ?Y™  °n 

o  1  m         Ireland. 

Faithful  Fortefcue.  He  has  to  make  an  im- 
portant fuggeftion  for  the  tranfport,  to  Ireland, 
of  the  magazine  at  Hull ;  to  get  authority  for 
the  neceflary  eftimates,  from  the  officers  of 
ordnance,  as  to  the  number  of  mips  required 
for  fuch  tranfport ;  to  take  order  for  the 
immediate  provifion  thereof;  and  to  obtain 
means,  by  a  vote  of  4000/.  to  Mr.  Crane,  the 
victualler  of  the  Navy,  for  the  hardening  away 
of  other  mips  to  guard  the  coaft  of  Ireland. 

So  the  time  paffed  until  the  clock  had  {truck  I2  °'clock 
twelve,  when,  as  the  members  began  to  hurry  D'jnner_ 
out   for  dinner,   cries    became   loud    for    the  hour. 
debate   on    the    Remonftrance.      Thereupon, 
order  having  been    made   (fo   little   in  fome 
quarters,  even  then,  was  any  debate  of  unufual 
duration  expected)  that  the  Irilh  bufinefs  mould 
be  refumed  as  foon  as  the  debate  on  the  Deck-  or1d1".  o°r 
ration  was  done,  and  the  order  of  the  day  for  day. 
refumption  of  the  latter  fubject  having  been 
read,    Mr.  Hyde   rofe  and   defired  that  the 


276 


Hyde's 
motion  to 
sain  time. 


The  old 
Houfe  of 
Com- 
mons. 


Weft- 

minlter 

Hall. 


Famous 

affocia- 

tions. 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

Serjeant  might  be  fent  with  his  mace  to  call 
up  fuch  members  of  the  houfe  as  were  then 
walking  in  Weftminfter  Hall.  It  was  a  device 
to  gain  time,  Mr.  Hyde,  we  may  prefume, 
not  liking  to  fpeak  to  thinly  occupied  benches  ; 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  liberal  leaders  were 
interested  to  have  no  time  loft,  and  many 
refitted  the  propofal.  After  fome  debate,  how- 
ever, the  objectors  gave  way,  and  the  Serjeant 
with  his  mace  departed  accordingly. 

The  old  Houfe  of  Commons,  it  may  be 
well  here  to  remind  the  reader,  now  that  a 
generation  has  grown  up  who  never  faw  the 
narrow,  ill-lighted,  dingy  room,  in  which  for 
three  centuries  fome  of  the  moft  important 
bufinefs  of  this  world  was  tranfacted,  ran  exactly 
at  right  angles  with  Weftminfter  Hall,  having 
a  paffage  into  it  at  the  fouth-eaft  angle.  The 
Hall  itfelf,  in  thofe  days,  fhared  in  all  the 
excitements  of  the  Houfe ;  and  nothing  of 
intereft  went  on  in  the  one,  of  which  vifible 
and  eager  indications  did  not  prefent  themfelves 
in  the  other. 

It  was  here,  in  the  Hall,  within  an  hour  after 
the  diffolving  of  the  Short  Parliament,  that  the 
cheerful  and  fanguine  Mr.  Hyde,  with  deeply 
defpondent  face,  deplored  gloomily  that  rafh. 
ftep  to  the  dark  and  referved  Mr.  St.  John, 
who,  with  laughter  lighting  up  features  rarely 
known  to  fmile,  rejoined  brifkly  that  all  was 
well,  and  it  mutt  be  worfe  before  it  would  be 
better.  It  was  here,  upon  the  affembling  of 
the  Long  Parliament,  that  Mr.  Hyde  had 
walked  up  and  down  conferring  on  the  ftate  of 
affairs  with  Mr.  Pym,  when  that  worthy  and 


§  xiii.    The  Ho  life  and  its  Members :  1641.  277 

diftinguifhed  member  told  him  they  muft  now  Pym  and 
be  of  another  temper  than  they  had  been  here-  Hyde' 
tofore,  and  muft  not  only    fweep  the  houfe 
clean  below,  but  muft  pull  down  all  the  cob- 
webs which  hung  in  the  top  and  corners,  that 
they  might  not  breed  duft,  and  fo  make  a  foul 
houfe  hereafter.     It  was  here  the  King  himfelf 
was  fo  foon  to  enter  on   his  ill-fated  errand 
againft  the  Five  Members,  ftriking  fuch  a  fear 
and  terror,  according  to  a  manufcript  report 
now  before  me,  Cf  into  all  thofe  that  kept  mops  sho-is  in 
ic  in  the  faid  Hall,  or  near  the  gate  thereof,  as  the  Hal1- 
<c  they  inftantly  fhut  up  their  fhops."  *     For 
here  alfo  fuch  trades  as  thofe  of  bookfellers, 
law-ftationers,  fempftreffes,  and  the  like,  found 
cuftomers  among  the  variously  idle,  bufy,  or 
curious    people,   continually  drawn   together  ;  place  °* 
and  under  the  roof  of  the    noble   old  Hall, 
whatever    the    bufinefs   in  progrefs  might  be 
within  the  Courts  adjoining  or  in  the  Chapel 
beyond,  might  be  heard  the  old  city  cry  of 
What  d'ye  lack  ?  addrefTed  to  lawyers  walking 
up  and  down  till  their  cafes  in  the  Bench  or  for  M.p.'s 
Exchequer  come  on,  to  clients  in  attendance  la™yers> 
to  confult  with    their    lawyers,    to    politicians  clients. 
anxious  for  news,  and  to  members  of  either 
Houfe  efcaping  from  committees  or  debates. 
— As  thofe  of  the  lower  Houfe,  however,  for 
whom  Mr.   Hyde    fent  the   Serjeant   and  his 
mace,  have  doubtlefs  by  this  time  been  col- 


*   Bookfellers,  law-ftationers,  fempftrefles — thefe  and  other  LaucJ's 
trades  akin  to  thefe,  now  and  for  fome  time  later,  plied  their  /)/#,-« 
callings  in  the  place ;  and  Laud  notices  in  his  Diary  a  narrow 
efcape  of  the  Hall  from  being  burnt  down,  owing  to  a  fire  in 
one  of  the  flails. 


278  The  Grand  Remonfirance. 

lected,  it  is  our  bufinefs  to  enter  St.  Stephen's 
with  them  and  obferve  the  afpecl;  it  prefents. 
st.  The  entire  length  of  the  room  in  which  the 

Stephen's  members  fat  was  fomething  lefs  than  the 
chaPel-  breadth  of  Weftminfter  Hall ;  and,  handfome 
as  it  originally  had  been,  with  its  rich  archi- 
tecture and  decorated  paintings  of  the  thir- 
teenth century,  it  had  loft  all  trace  of  thefe 
under  boards  and  whitewafh  immediately  after 
its  old      the  Reformation,  when  alfo  a  new  floor  above, 

interior.      ancj     a     n£w     YQQ£    uncJerj    tne    Q\^     ft\\\    more 

abridged  its  proportions.  At  the  weftern  end, 
the  entrance  was  between  rows  of  benches,  paf- 
fing  the  bar,  and  underneath  a  gallery  into 
which  members  mounted  by  a  ladder  on  the 
right-hand  corner,  near  the  fouthern  window. 
At  the  eaftern  end,  a  little  in  advance  of  a 
large  window  looking  on  the  river,  ftood  the 
officers  of  Speaker's  chair  ;  and  again,  a  little  lefs  in  ad- 
Houfe.  vance  of  that,  towards  the  middle  of  the  floor, 
ftood  the  Cleik's  table,  at  which  fat  Henry 
Elfyng,  and  John  Rufhworth  his  lately  ap- 
pointed aftiftant,  with  their  faces  to  the  mace 
and  their  backs  to  the  Speaker.  Then,  on 
right  and  left  of  the  Speaker,  in  benches 
ftretching  along  and  fpringing  up  as  in  an 
amphitheatre  on  either  hand,  were  affembled 
Honour-  tne  Honourable  Members.  There  they  fat, 
able  mem-  puritan  and  courtier,  the  pick  and  choice  of 
the  gentlemen  of  England  ;  with  bearded  faces 
clofe-cut  and  ftern,  or  here  and  there  more 
gaily  trimmed  with  peak  and  ruff;  faces  for 
the  moft  part  worn  with  anxious  thoughts  and 
fears,  heavy  with  toil,  weary  with  refponfibility 
and  care,  often  with  long  imprifonment ;  there 


§  xni.     The  Houfe  and  its  Members :  1641.  279 

they  fat,  in  their  fteeple  hats  and  Spanifh 
cloaks,  with  fwords  and  bands,  by  birth,  by 
wealth,  by  talents,  the  firft  affembly  of  the 
world.  And  there,  prefiding  in  his  great 
chair  furmounted  by  the  arms  of  England,  fat 
Mr.  Speaker ;  alfo  hatted,  cloaked,  and  fworded  Pofition 
like  the  reft  ;  but  not  always  treated  by  them,  speaker. 
nor  in  footh  always  treating  them,  with  the 
refpect  which  has  gathered  to  his  office  in  later 
time. 

It  was  but  a  few  weeks,  for  example,  before 
the  late  recefs,  that  that  honourable  barrifter 
and  member  for  Melcombe  Regis,  Mr.  Richard  Richard 
King,  took  upon  himfelf  to  declare,  that,  in  a  *~JjJ^s  n 
particular  rebuke  which  Mr.  Speaker  had  ad-  Lenthal. 
drefTed  to  another  honourable  member,  he  had 
Cf  tranfgreffed  his  duty  in  ufing  fo  difgraceful 
fC  a    fpeech   to    fo    noble  a  gentleman ;"    and 
though  the  Houfe  interfered  to  protect  their 
Speaker,  and  Mr.  King  was  commanded  to 
withdraw  into   the  Committee  Chamber,   the 
matter  ended  in  but  "  a  conditional  apology 
"  with  which  the  Houfe  was  not  fatiffied  but 
<c  the    Speaker  was."     The   noble  gentleman 
whom  it  vexed  Mr.  King  to  fee  treated  with  Hon. 
difrefpect  was  the   younger  brother  of  Lord  D£j°in 
Digby,  Mr.  John  Digby,  member  for  Milborn 
Port ;  who,  on  the  day  when  his  brother  would 
have  been  expelled  the  Houfe  of  Commons  if 
the  King's   letters-patent   had  not  ifTued  the 
night  before  calling  him  to  the  Houfe  of  Lords, 
<c  came  into  the  houfe,  and  getting  upon  the  his  dif- 
"  ladder  that  ftands  at  the  door  of  the  houfe  gjPe£  to 
ei  by  which  the  members  thereof  ufually  go  up 
{C  to  thofe  feats  which  are  over  the  fame  door 


280 


The  Grand  Remonjl ranee. 


rebuked 

by 

Lenthal. 


Cf  under  the  gallery,  he  fat  ftill  upon  the  faid 
u  ladder;"*  whereupon  the  Speaker,  doubt- 
lefs  coupling  the  aft,  as  a  fign  of  difrefpect, 
with  a  difplay  of  infubordination  by  the  fame 
young  gentleman  on  difcuffion  of  his  brother's 
cafe  the  previous  day,  cc  called  out  to  him,  and 
cc  defired  him  to  take  his  place,  and  not  to  fit 
cc  upon  the  faid  ladder  as  if  he  were  going  to 
<c  be  hanged  :  at  which  many  of  the  Houfe 
<c  laughed,"  and  Mr.  King,  as  aforefaid,  was 
indignant.  The  incident  leaves  us  at  leaft  no 
room  for  doubt,  that,  though  the  Speaker's 
powers  were  in  their  infancy  as  yet,  and  his 
claim  to  proper  confideration  only  grudgingly 
admitted,  he  had  neverthelefs  as  unruly  an 
Speakers  affemblage  to  deal  with,  as  the  powers  and 
powers,  confideration  conceded  to  him  in  modern  par- 
liaments have  found  themfelves  barely  equal  to 
govern. f     Incefiant  certainly  were  the  rebukes 


Mr. 


Selden 
and  the 
Digbys. 


Digby  on 
his  ladder 
and  the 
ape  on 
houle-top, 


D'Ewes 

and 

Lenthal. 


*  Selden  has  a  note  in  his  Table  Talk  referring  to  this  affair 
of  the  Digbys,  and  comparing  the  new-made  lord,  lafe  from 
the  wrath  of  the  Commons,  to  an  ape  on  the  houle-top  grin- 
ning at  the  whip  below,  of  which  the  farcaftic  humour  might 
probably  enough  have  been  fuggefted  by  the  incident  D'Ewes 
has  preferved  for  us.  If  the  learned  member  for  Oxford 
Univerfity,  as  is  moft  likely,  aclually  faw  the  younger  Digby 
fneering  at  Mr.  Speaker  from  the  top  of  his  ladder,  the  other 
image  of  the  ape  might  naturally  prefent  itfell.  "  My  lord 
"  Digby  having  fpoken  fomething  in  the  Houfe  of  Com- 
"  mons,  for  which  they  would  have  queftioned  him,  was 
"  prefently  called  to  the  Upper  Houfe.  He  did  by  the  Par- 
"  liament,  as  an  ape  when  he  hath  done  fome  waggery:  his 
"  mafter  fpies  him,  and  he  looks  for  his  whip,  but  before 
"he  can  come  at  him,  'whip,'  fays  he  to  the  top  of  the 
"  houfe  I"— Table  Talk,  p.  175.  (Ed.  Irving,  1854..) 

T  Even  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes  himfelf,  one  of  the  moft  prim 
and  precife  of  men,  and  a  very  Grandifon  of  propriety  in 
regard  to  all  cuftoms,  orders,  records,  and  authorities  of  the 
Houfe,  in  which  he  was  a  marvellous  proficient,  yet  indulges 
himfelf  without  fcruple,  when  any  occafion  ariles,  in  a  fneer- 


§  xnr.   The  Houfe  and  its  Members  :   1641.  281 

offered,    and   the   rebuffs   received,    by    Mr.  Lenthal's 
Speaker  Lenthal ;  who,  fetting  afide  the  one  weaknefs. 
notable  a£t  of  his  career,  had  but  commonplace 
qualities  of  his  own  to  fuftain  him  ;  and  who, 
in  efpecial,  feems  often  to  have  found  (herein 
perhaps  not  differing  from  later  experiences  in 

ing  difrefpect  to  Mr.  Speaker.     On  the  fecond  of  December 
1 641,  for  example,  there  is  quite  a  paffage  of  arms  between 
them.     It  begins  with  D'Ewes,   "  fitting  in  my  ufual  place 
"  near  his  chair,"  correcting  Mr.  Speaker  on  a  point  of  order  A  quarrel 
connected  with   a  fummons  to  conference  with  the  Lords,  on  point 
Then,  upon  D'Ewes  moving  to  have  the  Londoners'  petition  of  order, 
read  over  again,  Mr.  Speaker  takes  his  turn  by  interpofing 
that  it  is  the  worthy  member's  own  fault  to  have  been  abfent 
at   the  reading  on  the  previous  day  ;  but  has  to  ciy  D'Ewes 
mercy,  on  the  latter  pleading  his  abfence  that  day  at  Hampton 
Court,  by  order  of  the  Houfe  itfelf,  to  affift  in  prefenting  the 
Great   Remonftrance   to  the  King.     Then  Mr.  Waller  gets 
up  to  fpeak,  and  handles  both  the  points  ftarted,  as   well  the 
conference  with   the   Lords  as  the  Londoners'  petition.     To 
him  fucceeds  D'Ewes,  who  alfo  enlarges  upon  both  fubjects 
under  various  heads,  until   Mr.   Speaker  becomes  manifeftly 
uneafy.     "  Having   proceeded  thus  far  or  a  little  further,  I 
"  perceived  the  Speaker  often  offering  to  rife  out  of  his  chair 
"  as  if  he  intended  to  interrupt  me."     An  explanation  fol- 
lows.   Mr.  Speaker  thinks  D'Ewes  out  of  order  in  not  taking 
points  feparately,  firft  the  matter  of  conference  with  the  Lords, 
and  then  the  Londoners'  petition  afterwards.     "  Whereupon  D'Ewes 
"  I  flood  up  again  and  faid,  '  Truly,  fir,  I  am  much  behold-  lectures 
"  '  ing  to  you  for  admonifhing  me,  but  if  you  had  been  but  Mr. 
"  *  pleafed  to  have  informed  the   gentleman  who  fpoke  laft  Speaker. 
"  '  before  to  both  the  particulars,  you  would  have  faved  me 
"  '  my  labour,  for  I  did  but  follow  his  method  ; '  at  which 
"  the  Houfe  laughed  ;  and  the  Speaker  being  half  afhamed 
"  of  what  he  had  done,  flood  up  again  and  confefled  that  he 
"  did  permit  Mr.    Waller   &c.    and  now  he  left  it  to    the  Lenthal's 
"  Houfe,    &c."       Other  fimilar  inftances  might  be  quoted.  submif- 
One   had  occurred  in  reference  to  a  point  on  the  palling  of  {ion# 
the  Subfidy  Bill,  on  the  previous   13th  of  February,  1640-1, 
when  the  Speaker  had  predicted  all  forts  of  ill  confequences 
from  a  particular  courfe  of  procedure,  and  D'Ewes  is  careful 
to  inform  him    (and  us)   that  "  no   inconvenience   had   fol- 
"  lowed."     Another  involved  a  very  fharp  encounter  (26th 
Feb.  1 641-2)  with  Sir  Arthur  Hafelrig.     And  any  one  who 
cares  to  purfue  the  fubject  will  find  additional  illuflrations  in 
my  Arrefi  of  Five  Members,  §  xxiii. 


282  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

Magijler    the  fame  feat)  the  dinner-hour  an  almoft  infu- 
perable  difficulty.     As  it  has  been  with  many  a 
modern  Mr.  Speaker  between  the  hours  of  feven 
and  eight  in  the  evening,  fo  fared  it  with  Mr. 
Lenthal  between   twelve  and  one    mid-day.* 
Not  a  great  many  days  before  the  prefent  fit- 
ting, the  rum  of  members  out  of  the  Houfe  at 
that  hour,  during  a  debate  on  fupply,  had  been 
fuch  that  he  was  fain  flatly  to  tell  them  <c  they 
Houfe       <<  were  unworthy  to  fit  in  this  great  and  wife 
by  dinner  "  afl~embly  in  a  parliament  that  would  fo  run 
bell.  "  forth  for  their  dinners."  j-    And  now,  though 

the  Serjeant  has  returned  with  feveral  members 
from  the  Hall,  fo  many  more  continue  abfent 
from  the  Houfe  at  this  clamorous  hour,  that 
Mr.  Hyde  ft  ill  waits  and  defers  to  fpeak. 

*  There  is   a  pleafant  paflage  in  Clarendon's  Life  (i.  90), 

where  he  expreffly  excepts  certain  leading  members  from  this 

habit  of  milling  out  at  the  time  of  dinner,  and  defcribes  what 

plan  they  adopted.     When  their  hours  had  become  very  dif- 

orderly,  he  fays,  the  Houfe  feldom  riling  till  after  four  of  the 

clock  in  the    afternoon,    he  ufed   to    be    frequently    invited 

("importuned  "  he  calls  it)  to  dine  with  the  party  of  whom 

Pym's  Pym  was  the   leader,  and  often  went  with  them  accordingly 

dinner         to  "Mr.  Pym's  lodging,  which  was  at  Sir  Richard   Manly's 

parties.        "  houfe,  in  a  little  court  behind  Weftminfter  Hall,  where  he, 

"  and  Mr.  Hampden,  Sir  Arthur  Hafelrig,  and  two  or  three 

"  more,  upon  a  ftock  kept  a   table,  where  they  tranfacled 

"  much  buiinefs,  and  invited  thither  thofe   of  whofe  conver- 

"  fion  they  had  any  hope."  It  was  after  one  of  thefe  dinners, 

the  fummer  evening  being  fine,  that  Nathaniel  Fiennes  having 

propofed  to  Mr.  Hyde  to  ride  into  the  fields  and  take  a  little 

An  even-    a'r'  ^^  tvvo  ^ent  *or  their  horfes,  and,  while  riding  in  the 

ino-  ride       fi^ds    between  Weftminfter  and   Chelfea,    Mr.    Fiennes  did 

his  beft  to  convert  Mr.    Hyde  from   his  notions  as  to  the 

government  of  the  Church. 

+  This  will  explain  a  faying  of  Lord  Falkland's  reported 
in  one  of  the  fupprelTed  paffages  of  Lord  Clarendon's  Hiftory, 
recently  reftored  (ii.  595,  Appendix  F),  "  that  they  who 
"  hated  bilhops,  hated  them  worle  than  the  devil ;  and  they 
"  who  loved  them,  loved  them  not  fo  well  as  they  did  their 
"  dinners." 


§  xin.     The  Houfe  and  its  Members  :  1641.  283 

While  he  does  this  yet  a  few  minutes  longer, 
let  us  feize  the  occafion  to  obferve  where  fome 
of  the   prominent  people  fit.     The   member 
whofe    manufcript    record    chiefly    has    been  where 
quoted,  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes,  will  guide  us  to  „^Jfrs 
the  knowledge  here  and  there,  in  jotting  down  fit. 
his  own  fpeeches  ;  for,  as  it  was  then  the  cuftom 
to  avoid  mention  as  well  of  the  place  repre- 
fented  as  of  the  member's  name,  the  principal 
mode  of  indicating  a  previous  fpeaker  was  by 
fome  well  known  perfonal  quality,  or  by  his 
pofition  in  the  houfe.*    Sir  Simonds  himfelf  fat 
ufually  by  the  Speaker's  chair,  on  the  lowermoft 
form  clofe  by  the  fouth  end  of  the  clerk's  table ;  Sir 
and  there,  whatever  the  fubjecl;  of  debate  might  pl^jj. 
be,   or  the  excitement  going  on  around  him, 
the  precife  felf-fatiffied  puritan  gentleman  fat, 
writing-apparatus  forming  part  of  his  equip- 
ment,  his  eyes  clofe  to  the  paper  (for  their 
fight  was  defective),  and  ever  bufily  taking  his  taking 
Notes  :   but  it  was  his  cuftom,  when  he  fpoke,  hls  notes- 


*  Thus  old  Sir  Harry  Vane,  referring  to  D'Ewes  himfelf 
(June  26,  1641)  "  is  forry  to  mils  the  gentleman  out  of  his 
"  place  who  is  fo  well  verled  in  records  j"  and  in  like  manner 
Sir  Robert  Pye  characlerifes  him  (July  1,164.1)  as  "that  learned 
"  gentleman  who  was  fo  well  Ikilled  in  records — and  then  he 
<l  looked  at  me."  Sir  John  Evelyn  is  (4  March,  1641-2) 
"  my  very  worthy  friend  on  the  other  fide."  Sir  Arthur 
Hafelrig  is  (26  February  1641-2)  "  that  worthy  gentleman  in 
"  the  gallery."  Sir  Ralph  Hopton  is  "  that  ancient  parlia- 
"  ment  man."  Mr.  Cage,  member  for  Ipfwich,  is,  "  my  old  Places  of 
*'  neighbour  behind  me,"  or,  "  an  old  gentleman  who  ufed  members 
"  to  fit  here  behind  me."  Sir  Thomas  Barrington,  member  in  Houfe. 
for  Colchefter,  is,  "  as  ancient  a  parliament  man  as  Mr.  Cage, 
"  though  not  of  as  many  years."  "  No  man  did  more  honour 
"  and  love  that  worthy  member  that  fpake  laft  than  myfelf," 
are  words  in  which  an  allufion  to  Pym  is  conveyed.  And 
Mr.  Denzil  Hollis  is  "the  worthy  gentleman  whom  I  very 
"  much  refpecl:." 


2.84  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

Marten      to  go  up  two  fteps  higher,  that  he  might  more 

ym*  eafily  be  heard  by  the  whole  Houfe.     In  this 

pofition,  Mr.  Harry  Marten,  the  member  for 

Berkfhire,  was  "the  gentleman  below."     Mr. 

Pym,  the  acknowledged  chief  of  the  majority 

of  the  Commons,  is  ever  in  his  <c  ufual  place 

<c  near  the  Bar,"  juft  beyond  the  gallery  on  the 

fame  right-hand  fide  of  the  houfe  at  entering. 

Sir  John  Culpeper,  member  for  Kent,  and  fo  foon 

to  be   Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  is  "  the 

Culpeper,  (C  gentleman  on  the  other  fide  of  the  way."* 

Falkland    ^e  **at  uPon  tne  left-hand  fide  ;  and  near  him, 

and  moft  generally  together,  fat  Hyde  and  Falk- 

Palmer.     jancj .  jy[r>  Qeoffrey  Palmer,  the  member  for 

Stamford,  and  Sir  John  Strangways,  fitting 
near.  On  the  fame  fide  at  the  upper  end,  on 
the  Speaker's  right,  fat  the  elder  Vane,  mem- 
ber for  Wilton,  for  a  few  days  longer  Secre- 
tary of  State  and  Treafurer  of  the  Houfehold  ; 
near  whom  were  other  holders  of  office.  Sir 
Vane  and  Thomas  Jermyn,  his  Majefty's  Comptroller, 
KIns's  who  fat  for  Bury  St.  Edmund's ;  Sir  Edward 
Herbert,  the  Attorney-General,  who  fat  for 
Old  Sarum ;  Oliver  St.  John,  the  Solicitor- 
General,  member  for  Totnefs,  ftill  holding  the 
office  in  the  King's  fervice  which  had  failed  to 
draw  him  over  to  the  King's  fide  ;  Mr.  Coven- 
try, member  for  Evefham  and  one  of  the  King's 
houfehold ;  f  and  young  Harry  Vane,  mem- 
ber for  Hull,  and  as  yet  Joint-treafurer  of  the 
Navy  ;  all  fat  in  this  quarter,  on  the  Speaker's 

*  "  I  defired  that  the  gentleman  on  the  other  fide  of  the 
"  way — and  then  I  looked  on  Sir  John  Culpeper,  ©Y." 

f  "  For  if  the  gentleman  on  the  other  fide  who  laft  prefled 
"  it — and  then  I  looked  towards  Mr.  Coventrie,  SV." 


§  xni.     The  Houfe  and  its  Members  :  1641.  285 

right.  Near  them  fat  alfo  Mr.  Edward  Ni- 
cholas,  Clerk  of  the  Council,  loon  to  be  Sir 
Edward  and  Secretary  of  State  in  place  of 
Windebank,  now  an  anxious  auditor  and  fpec- 
tator  of  this  memorable  debate,  which  he  was 
there  to  report  to  the  King.  Between  thefe  indepen- 
members  and  Hyde,   on  the  fame  fide  of  the   ent, 

J       3  members'. 

houfe,  fat  the  member  for  Wilton,  Sir  Ben- 
jamin Rudyard ;    Sir  Walter   Earle ;  William 
Strode  ;    and   lawyer  Glyn,    the  member  for 
Weftminfter.     Mr.   Herbert  Price,  the  mem- 
ber for  Brecon,  with  Mr.  Wilmot,  member  for 
Tamworth,  and  a  knot  of  young  courtiers,  fat 
at  the  lower  end  of  the  houfe  on  the  fame  fide, 
immediately  on  the  left    at    entering.      John  Hampden, 
Hampden  fat  on  the  other  fide,  behind  Pym  ;  Cromwell 
and  between  him  and  Harry  Marten,  fat  Ed-  Hollis.and 
mund  Waller ;  on  one  of  the  back    benches,  Selden- 
Cromwell ;  not  far  from  him,  Denzil  Hollis  ; 
and  under  the  gallery,  the  member  for  Oxford 
Univerfity,   the  learned  Mr.  Selden.*     Near 
him  fat  lawyer  Maynard,  the  other  member  The 
for  Totnefs  ;  and  over  them,  in  the   gallery  lawyers- 
itfelf,  that  fuccefsful  lawyer,  Mr.  Holborne  ; 
Sir    Edward    Dering ;     and    the    member  for 
Leicefterfhire,  Sir  Arthur  Hafelrig.     But  our 
lift  muft  come  to  a   clofe.     The  reader  has 
been  detained  too  long  from  the  debate  on  the 
Great  Remonftrance. 

*  "  I  faid  that  I  did  prize  whatfoever  mould  fall  from  the 
"  pen  or  tongue  of  that  learned  gentleman  under  the  gallery 
"  — a?idthen  I  looked  towards  Mr.  Selden,  &c." 


286 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


Eighth 
Debate  : 
2zd  Nov. 


Hyde 

fpeaks. 


Doubts 
Houfe' s 
right  to 
remon- 
ftrate. 


Objections 
to  form 
and  lan- 
guage : 


Hyde's 
wordinefs, 


§  xiv.    Speeches    of    Hyde,     Falkland, 
Dering,  Rudyard,  and  Bagshaw. 

Hyde  opened  this  remarkable  debate  in  a 
fpeech  of  great  warmth*  and  great  length. 
The  general  ground  of  objection  he  took  was 
that  a  Declaration  fo  put  forth  was  without 
precedent ;  and  he  queftioned  the  power  of 
the  Houfe,  in  fo  far  as  this  was  defined  by  the 
words  ufed  in  the  writs  of  election,  to  make, 
alone,  a  remonftrance  to  the  people,  without 
the  concurrence  of  the  Lords.  Arguing  from 
this,  he  afTerted  that  the  form  of  the  Declara- 
tion touched  the  honour  of  the  King,  and  that 
it  ought  not,  for  that  reafon,  to  be  made 
public  or  be  circulated  among  the  people.  Such 
a  publication  could  only  bejuflified  by  having 
peace  for  its  end,  and  here  every  fuch  object 
would  be  fruftrated.  In  the  Remonftrance 
itfelf,  apart  from  thefe  confiderations,  he  did 
not  deny  that  there  might  be  a  propriety.  The 
members  of  the  Houfe  were  accufed  to  have 
done  nothing  either  for  King  or  kingdom. 
It  was  right  to  repel  that  charge.  But  if  a 
parliament  muft  make  an  apology,  let  them 
mow  what  they  had  done  without  looking  too 
far  back.  They  may  defire  themfelves  to  fee, 
but  they  mould  not  divulge,  their  own  infir- 
mities,  any    more  than  a  general  the    defects 

*  Mr.  Philip  Warwick,  young  courtier  as  he  was,  and 
admirer  of  all  things  courtly,  could  yet  detect  the  points  in 
which  the  King's  principal  advocate  in  the  Houfe  was  weak, 
as  well  for  himfelf  as  his  caul'e.  "  Mr.  Hyde's  language 
"  and  ftyle,"  he  remarks,  "  were  very  fuitable  to  bufinefs,  if 
"not  a  little  too  redundant."     Memoires,  p.  196. 


§  xiv.  Speeches  of  Hyde  and  Falkland.  2S7 

of  his  army  to  the  enemy.  All  was  true,  if 
expreffed  modeftly.  But  fuch  pafTages  as  Sir  unjuft  to 
John  Eliot's  imprifonment  under  the  King's  * ie  Kms* 
own  hand,  and  his  wanting  bread,*  were  ill— 
exprefTed.  Let  them  be  chary  of  Majefty. 
They  flood  upon  their  liberties  even,  for  the 
Sovereign's  fake :  left  he  mould  be  King  of 
mean  fubjects,  or  they  fubjects  of  a  mean  King. 

Lord  Falkland  rofe  immediately  after  Hyde,  Lord„ 
and,  as  his  wont  was,  fpoke  with  greater  paflion  fp^j,*11 
in  his  warmth  and  earneftnefs  ;  his  thin  high- 
pitched  voice  breaking  into  a  fcream,  and  his 
little,  fpare,  flight  frame  trembling  with  eager- 
nefs.     He  ridiculed   the   pretenfion  fet  up  in 
the  Declaration  to  claim  any  right  of  approval  King's 
over  the  councillors  whom  the  King   mould  n§ht  ^ 
name ;    as  if  prieft    and   clerk    fhould   divide  own 
nomination  and  approval  between  them.     He  minifters 


*  In  Sir  Ralph  Verney's  Note  of  the  debate  (p.  121),  this 
paffage   Itands  "  Sir  John   Eliot's  imprifonment,   under   the  Allufion 
"  King's  own  hand,  and  the   Kings  wanting  bread,  ill  ex-  to  Eliot 
"  preffed."     It  is  clear,  however,  that  the  words  marked  in  inRemon- 
italics  are   a  repetition   by  miftake  from   the  previous  line,  flrance : 
Clarendon  in  his  Hiftory  (ii.  51)  affects  to  quote,  in  the  exa6l 
words  of  the  Remonftrance  as  it  parted  ("after  many  unbe- 
"  coming  expreffions  were  call  out  "),  the  paffage  refpecling 
Eliot ;  and  he  quotes  it  in  inverted  commas,  thus :  "  One  of 
"  which  died   in   prifon,  for  ivant   of  ordinary  refrejliment, 
"  whofe  blood   ftill   cried   for  vengeance."     The   "  want  of 
"  ordinaiy  refreshment"  in  the  hiftory,  is  clearly  the  fame  as 
"  wanting  bread  "  in  the  fpeech  ;  yet  certainly  the  Remon- 
ftrance as  printed  fays  no  fuch  thing,  and  the  words,  if  ever  :ncor_ 
there,  muft  have  been  among  the  unbecoming  expreftions  caft  re£\\y 
out.     The  paffage  really  runs  thus  :  "  Of  whom  one  died  by  quoted  by 
"  the  cruelty  and  harfhnefs  of  his  imprifonment,  which  would  pjyc[e 
"  admit   of    no    relaxation,    notwithftanding    the   imminent 
"  danger  of  his  life  did  fufficiently  appear  by  the  declaration 
"  of  his  phyfician.     And  his  releafe,  or  at  leaft  his  refrefli- 
"  ment,   was  fought  by  many  humble  petitions.      And  his 
"  blood  ftill  cries,  &c." 


2S8 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Defends 
Laud. 


Dangers 
of    * 
Remon- 
ftrance. 


Apology 
for 
bifhops  : 


denounced  it  as  unjuft  that  the  concealing  of 
delinquents  mould  be  caft  upon  the  King. 
He  faid  (forgetting  a  former  fpeech  of  his  own 
going  directly  to  this  point)*  it  was  not  true 
to  allege  that  Laud's  party  in  the  Church  were 
in  league  with  Rome ;  for  that  Arminians 
agreed  no  more  with  Papifts  than  with  Pro- 
teftants.  And,  with  the  power  to  make  laws, 
why  mould  they  refort  to  declarations  ?  Only 
where  no  law  was  available,  were  they  called 
to  fubftitute  orders  and  ordinances  to  com- 
mand or  forbid.  Reminding  them  of  the 
exifting  [ftate  of  Ireland,  and  of  the  many 
difturbances  in  England,  he  warned  them 
that  it  was  of  a  very  dangerous  confequence 
at  that  time  to  fet  out  any  remonftrance  :  at 
leafb  fuch  a  remonftrance  as  this,  contain- 
ing many  harm  expreffions.  Above  all,  it 
was  dangerous  to  declare  what  they  intended 
to  do  hereafter,  as  that  they  would  petition 
his  Majefty  to  take  advice  of  his  parliament  in 
the  choice  of  his  privy  council ;  and  it  was  of 
the  very  word  example  to  make  fuch  allufion 
as  that  wherein  they  declared  that  already  they 
had  committed  a  bill  to  take  away  bifhops' 
votes.  He  pointed  out  the  injuftice  of  im- 
puting to  the  bifhops  generally  the  defcription 
of  the  Scotch  war  as  bellum  epifcopale,  which 
he  afTerted  had  been  fo  ufed  by  only  one  of 
them.  He  very  hotly  condemned  the  ex- 
preffion  of  lc  bringing  in  idolatry,"  which  he 
characlerifed  as  a  charge  of  a  high  crime 
againft  all  the  bifhops  in  the  land.     And  he 


See  ante,  p.  217 


§  xiv.  Speeches  of  Falkland  and  Dering.  289 

denounced  it  as  a  manifeft  contradiction  and 
abfurdity,  that  after  reciting,  as  they  had  and  Pop- 
indeed  fufficient  caufe  to  do,  the  many  good  lfil  Loids- 
laws  parTed  by  a  parliament  of  which  bifhops 
and  Popim  lords  were  component  members, 
they  mould  end  by  declaring  that  while  bifhops 
and  Popifh  lords  continued  to  fit  in  parlia- 
ment no  good  laws  could  be  made. 

Falkland  was  followed  by  Sir  Edward  Dering,  Sir 
who  was  fo  well  pleafed  himfelf  with  the  fpeech  j^^L 
he  proceeded   to    deliver,  that   he  afterwards  fpeaks: 
committed    it,   with    another    fpoken  in    the 
preliminary  debates,  to  print,  with  a  preface 
which  cofl  him  his  feat  in   the  Houfe ;  *  and 

*  Under  date  the  2nd  February,   1 641-2,   D'Ewes  gives 
curious  and  amufing  evidence   in  his  Journal  of*  the   anger  Derino-'s 
awakened  in  wife  grave  men  by  this  very  filly  publication  of  publica- 
Sir  Edward  Dering's.      Oliver  Cromwell  takes  the  lead  in  rion  of  his 
vehemently  denouncing  the  book.     D'Ewes  himfelf  chimes  fpeeches. 
in  as  violently,  for  that   "in  this  fcandalous,  feditious,   and 
"  vain-glorious  volume,"  he  does  "  fo  overvalue  himfelf  as  if 
"  able  of  himfelf  to  weigh  down  the  balance  of  this  Houfe 
"  on  either  fide,  &c.  &c."    Then  Sir  Walter  Earle  moves  to 
call   in   the  book.     But  to  this  D'Ewes  very  fenfibly  objects, 
"  for  that  by  fo  doing  the  price  of  it  would  rife  from  fourteen 
"  pence  to  fourteen  fhillings,  and  haften  a  new  impreffion." 
Finally,    Cromwell    moves   and  carries   that   the   obnoxious  Ordered 
volume  fhall  be  burnt  "next  Friday:"    on  which  occafion  to  be 
doubtlefs  Palace-yard  was  duly  illuminated  by  the  fmall  bon-  burnt, 
fire.     See  this  matter  further  treated  in  Arrefl  of  Five  Mem- 
bers, §  xxiii.     But  perhaps  there  was  really  more  reafon  than 
lies  immediately  on  the  furface  for  the  refentment  with  which 
the  Houfe  regarded  the  publication  by  its  members  of  their 
fpeeches,  unauthorifed  by  itfelf.     It  gave  fome  fort  of  fanc- 
tion  to   another  publication  of  a  ftill  more  unauthorifed  des- 
cription, which  had  lately  become  not  uncommon,  and  by 
which   many  members  fuffered  not  a  little.     I  quote  one  of 
the  entries  of  D'Ewes  in  his  Journal  under  date  the  9th  Feb- 
ruary, 1641-2.     "  After  prayers  I  laid  that  much  wrong  was  Origin  of 
"  offered  of  late  to  feveral  members  by  publifhing  fpeeches  in  penny-a- 
"  their  names  which  they  never  fpake.      I  had  yefternight  a  Unincr. 
"  fpeech  brought  me  by  a  ftationerto  whom  one  John  Bennet, 
"  a  poet  lodging  in  Shoe-lane,  fold  it  for  half-a-crown  to  be 

u 


'.go 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


until  very  recently,  this  publication  by  the 
member  for  Kent  was  fuppofed  to  be  the 
only  fragment  which  had  furvived  of  the 
debates  on  the  Grand  Remonftrance.*     Nor 


Reported 
fpeeches 
never 
fpoken : 


Royalift 
petitions 
forged : 


work  of 

poor 

fcholars 

in  ale- 
houfes. 


Verney's 
Notes. 


"  printed.     He  gives  it  as  my  fpeech  at  a  conference  when 
"  there  was  no  conference."     This  is   probably  one  of  the 
firft  glimpfes  to  be  got  in  our  hiftory  of  the  now  ancient  and 
important  penny-a-lining  fraternity.     The   danger  and  the 
annoyance,  however,  were  greater  from  the  interpolated  and 
falfified  verfions,  now  alfo  abundantly  put  forth,  of  fpeeches 
really  fpoken   in  the  houfe,  than  from  the  pure  inventions  of 
which  D'Ewes  complained.     I  may  add  that  the  inventions 
were  not  limited  to  fpeeches  only.      Petitions   affecting  to 
reprefent  the  feeling  of  large  claffes  of  people  were  got  up  in 
the  fame  way  !     On  the  25th  of  January,  1 641-2,  the  matter 
of  a  Royalift  petition    from    Hertford/hire   was   before    the 
houfe,  and  the  fubjoined  curious  entry  is  made   in   D'Ewes's 
Notes.      "  Thomas  Hulbert,  one  of  the  framers  of  the  Hert- 
'  fordfhire   petition,   fent  for  as  a  delinquent,  alfo   Martin 
'  Eldred,  one  of  the  penners  of  the  fame.     The  faid  Martin 
'  Eldred,  being  called   into  the  houfe,  did  acknowledge  that 
'  Thomas  Hulbert,  a  young  fcholar  of  Cambridge,  did  draw 
'  the  faid  falfe  petition  of  Hertfordfhire  in  his  prefence  ;  and 
'  that  they  fold  it  to  the   faid  John  Greenfmith,  a  ftationer, 
'  for  half-a-crown,  which  the  faid   Greenfmith,  being  called 
'  in,  did  likewife  confefs  ;    and  that  he  printed   it.     I  faid 
'  there  were  now  abiding  in,  and  about  London,  certain  loofe 
'  beggarly  fcholars  who  did   in  ale-houfes  invent  fpeeches, 
'  and  make  fpeeches  of  members  in  parliament,  and  of  other 
'  paffages  fuppofed  to  be  handled  in,  or  prefented  unto,  this 
'  houfe.       That   the    licenfe    of    printing   thefe    fcandalous 
'  pamphlets  is  grown  to  a  very  great  heighth,  &c."    Where- 
fore the   indignant  Sir  Simonds  would    have    Mr.    Thomas 
Hulbert,  and  Mr.  Martin  Eldred,  and  Mr.  John  Greenfmith 
forthwith  conveyed  to  the  Gate-houfe. 

*  The  gloom  was  broken  by  fuch  additional  brief  notices 
as  were  fupplied  by  the  appearance,  a  few  years  ago,  of  Sir 
Ralph  Verney's  valuable  Notes  of  Proceedings  in  the  Long 
Parliament,  moft  intelligently  edited  by  Mr.  Bruce  ;  but  the 
exiftence  of  the  manufcript  materials  which  have  fupplied  me 
with  the  main  portions  of  the  account  now  laid  before  the 
reader  in  this  Work,  was  not  fufpecled,  even  fo  late  as  Mr. 
Bruce's  publication.  The  report  fupplied  in  my  text  of  the 
particular  debate  now  in  progrefs,  is  the  refult  of  a  careful 
companion  of  the  notes  of  Verney  and  D'Ewes,  each  having 
been  ufed  to  correct  and   complete  the  other.     Fragments  of 


§  xiv.   Speech  of  Sir  Edward  Dering.  igi 

was  it  by  any  means  a  bad  fpeech,  though  for  not  dif. 
the  interests  of  his  party  it  was  hardly  a  dif-  creet  y* 
creet    one.     They   would    fain   indeed    have 
prevented  his    rifing   fo  early  in  the  debate, 
but  as  yet  Pym  refolutely  kept  his  place,  and 
the  field  was  open  to  all  comers. 

Dering  began  by  enlarging  on  the  impor-  Urges 
tance  of  the  matter  in  difcuflion   as  far  tran-  imP°r- 
fcending  any  mere  bill  or  act  of  parliament.  Rem0n- 
Of  what  was  fo  put  forth,  he  warned  them,  ftrance. 
the  three  kingdoms  were  but  the  immediate  or 
firfb   fupervifors ;    for  all    Christendom  would 
be  attracted  by  the  glafs  therein  fet  up,  and 
would    borrow    it   to  view  their    deformities. 
Then  let  them  not  difmifs  in  hafte  what  others 
would  fcan    at  leifure.      It   was    to    be  con- 
sidered,  firft,  whether  their  constituents  were  But  wny 
looking  for  fuch   a   Declaration.     If  not,  tocan7it: 
what  end  did  the  Houfe  fo  decline  ?     Where-  p°e0pie  ? 
fore  fuch   defcenSion  from  a  parliament  to  a 
people  ?     The  people  looked  not  up  for  any 
fo    extraordinary    courtefy.     The  better  fort 
thought  beft  of  that  Houfe ;  and  why  mould 
its  members    be    told    that    the    people    were 
expectant  for  a  Declaration.     <c  My  conftitu- 
<c  ents,"  continued  Sir  Edward,  "don't  want 
cc  it.     They  do   humbly   and   heartily  thank 
<c  you  for  many  good  laws  and  Statutes,  and 
cc  pray  for  more.     That  is  the  language  beft  People 
ci  understood  of  them  and  moft  welcome  to  wan^  oruy 
<c  them.     They  do    not   expect   to    hear  any  laws. 
£f  other  Stories  of  what  you  have  done,  much 

Verney's  notes,  I  have  already  remarked,  were  known  to  Mr. 
Serjeant  D'Oyley  and  Mr.  Hallam  fome  years  before  their 
publication  by  Mr.  Bruce. 

v  2 


igi  'The  Grand  Remonji ranee. 

"  lefs    promifes   of  what  you   will    do.     Mr. 

cc  Speaker,"  he  added,  "when  I  firft  heard  of 

(c  a  Remonftrance,  I  prefently  imagined  that, 

(C  like  faithful  counfellors,   we  mould  hold  up 

<f  a    glafs    unto    his    Majejiy.     I    thought    to 

Remon-     cf  reprefent,  unto  the  King,  the  wicked  coun- 

ftrat^to     cc  ^ejs   0£  pernicious  counfellors;    the  reftlefs 

cc  turbulency  of  practical  papifts;  the  treachery 

<c  of  falfe  judges ;  the  bold  innovations,  and 

"  fome  fuperftition,  brought  in  by  fome  prag- 

cc  matical  bifhops  and  the  rotten  part  of  the 

cc  clergy.      I  did  not  dream   that  we  mould 

li  remonftrate  downward,  tell    ftories    to    the 

but  not      (c  people,  and  talk  of  the  King  as  of  a  third 

downward  cc  perforK"     The  orator  was  here  upon  delicate 

to  .People  • 

'  ground,  and  had  perhaps  fome  warning  as  he 
fpoke  that  his  footing  was  unfafe.     He  did  not 
difpute,  he  already  had  remarked,  the  excellent 
ufe  and  worth  of  many  pieces  of  the  Declara- 
tion ;  but  what  was  that  to  him,  if  he  might 
not  have  them  without  other  parts  that  were 
both    doubtful    and    dangerous  ?       He    felt 
Agrees      ftrongly,  with   the    noble  learned   Lord  who 
JmJi     j   fpoke    laft    (Falkland),   that   to    attribute    an 
introduction  of  idolatry  to  the  command  of  the 
bifhops  was  to  charge  thofe  dignitaries  with  a 
high  crime.     He  did  not  deny  that  there  had 
been  fome  fuperftition  in  doctrines  and  in  prac- 
tices by  fome  bifhops,  but  flat  idolatry  intro- 
duced by  exprefs  command  was  quite  another 
thing.    He  objected  that  to  refer  to  the  decifion 
Church     of  Parliament  the  order  and  difcipline  that  were 
regulation  to  rep-ulate  the  Church,  would  be  to  encourage 

no  sub  eel:  .  . 

for  Par-     fectarianifm  ;  and  he  further  objected  that  thefe, 
liament.     and  other  fimilar  pafTages,  appeared  to  have  been 


§  xiv*.  Speech  of  Sir  Edward  Dering.  293 

introduced  by  the  Committee  without  being  firfr. 
difcuffed  and  recommended  to  them  from  the 
Houfe.    Then,  taking  up  the  doling  averments 
in  the  Declaration  as  to  the  defire  of  its  promo- 
ters for  the  advancement  of  learning  by  a  more 
general  and  equal  diftribution  of  its  rewards, 
he  avowed  his  opinion  that  this  object  would  Advocates 
be  defeated  if  the  great  prizes  in  the  Church  P*Izes in 
were   abolifhed.     "  Great    rewards,"   he  faid, 
"do  beget  great  endeavours;  and  certainly, 
cc  Sir,  when  the  great  Bafin  and  Ewer  are  taken 
cc  out  of  the  lottery,  you  mail  have  fewadven- 
cc  turers  for  fmall  plate  and  fpoons  only.*     It 
£C  any  man   could  cut  the  moon  out  all  into  Would 
cc  little  ftars, — although  we    might   ftill  have  not  $lit 

'       r       11  moons 

<c  the  fame  moon,  or  as  much  in  imall  pieces,  into  ftars. 
cc  yet  we  mould  want  both  light  and  influence." 
Much  beyond  this  flight  even  the  member 
for    Kent    could    not    be    expected    to    foar ; 
and  forcible  and  lively  as  many  parts  of  his 
fpeech  had  been,  its  general  tone  and  tendency 
had  alfo  been  fuch,  that  the  impatience  and 
fears  of  party  friends  muft  greatly  have  been 
relieved  by  his  preparation  to  refume  his  feat,  Final  rea- 
after  fome  further  enlargements  of  his  argu-  lons  f°r 
ment  for  the  patronage  and  diffufion  of  learn-  vote. 
ing.     He  ended  by  ftating,   that  becaufe   he 
neither  looked  for   cure  of  complaints  from 
the    common   people,    nor    did    defire   to   be 

*  There   is  no  new  thing  under  the   fun ;  and  it  hardly  Sydney 
needs  to  remind  the  reader  that  Sydney  Smith's  famous  argu-  Smith  an- 
ment  in  defence   of  the   "prizes  in  the   Church,"   in  thofe  ticipated. 
three  letters  to  Archdeacon  Singleton  which  rank  among  the 
wittieft  profe  compofitions  in  the  language,  had  been  exaflly 
and  almoft  literally  reproduced  from  this  fpeech  of  Sir  Edward 
Dering's. 


294  ^he  Grand  Remonji 'ranee. 

cured   by  them  ;  becaufe  the  Houfe  had  not 
recommended    all    the  heads  of   the  Remon- 
ftrance  to  the  Committee  which  brought  it  in  ; 
and    becaufe    they   paffed    his    Majefty,    and 
remonftrated  to   the  people ;  he   mould  give 
his  vote  with  Mr.  Hyde. 
Rudyard        When  Dering  relumed  his  feat,  Sir   Ben- 
fpeaks.      jamm  Rudyard  rofe.     It  could  hardly  fail  but 
that  much    intereft    mould  be  felt  as    to  the 
part  he  would  take  on  this  occafion.     He  was 
not  a  leader  in  the  Houfe  ;  but  his  fpeeches 
had   the    influence    derived    from    Angularly 
eloquent  expreffion,  from  his  age  and  charac- 
ter, from  that  long  experience  of  parliaments 
His  cha-    in  which  he   rivalled  even  Pym    himfelf,   and 
rafter  by    from  njs  gravity,  courtefy,  and  moderation  of 
tone.     In  thefe  qualities  the  Hiftorian  of  the 
parliament  reports  him  as  pre-  eminent.    "  Cujus 
<c  erant  mores,"  he  fays,  "  qualis  facundia ;  " 
inftancing  his  oration  at  the  opening  of  the 
fefTion  as  Cf  a  perfect  exemplar"  at  once  of  the 
unfparing  expofure  of  grievances,  and  of  <f  the 
Cf  way  of  fparing   the   King."*     His  known 
defire  in  this  latter  refpecl  gave  peculiar  fignifi- 
cance  to  what  mould  now  fall  from  him. 
Favour-         He  began  by  ftating  that  in  his  opinion  it 
Declare-    was  absolutely  requifite  that  the  Houfe  mould 
tion.         publifh  a  Declaration,  becaufe  this  parliament 
had  been  flandered  by  fo  many.     Of  the  ilan- 
derers    he  then    fpoke,    as    confirming   of   the 
papifts,  to  whom  all  parliaments  were  hateful, 
but   this  worft    of  all ;    of   the    delinquents, 
whom  the  parliament   had   punifhed ;  and  of 

*  May's   Hiflory :    lib.   i.   chap.  vii.      Rudyard  was  now 
verging  on  his  70th  year,  having  been  born  in  1572. 


§  xiv.  Speech  of  Sir  Benjamin  Ritdyard.  295 

the  recklefs  clafs  of  libertines,  who  fought  ever 

to  throw  off  the  reitraints  of  parliament  and 

law.     Next  he  commented  on  the  malignancy 

of  the  libels    they  had  propagated  fo  bufily.  Great 

Neverthelefs,  he  continued,  "  whatfoever  they  aeCts  of.. 

cc  traduce,  by  God's  affiftance  we  have  done  ment. 

"  great  things  this  parliament — things  of  the 

tc  firft  magnitude.     We  have  vindicated  the 

fc  liberty  of  our  perfons,  the  freedom  of  our 

<f  eftates.     We  have   gotten,  by  the    King's 

<f  grace  and  favour,  a  triennial,   a  perpetual 

<c  parliament,  wherein  all  other  remedies  and 

<f  liberties  are  included.    We  have  done  fome- 

cc  thing,  too,  for  religion  ;    though   I  reckon 

"  that  laft,  becaufe,  I  am   forry  to    fpeak  it, 

cc  we  have  done  lead  in  that."     Then,  as  if  to  Neceffity 

guard  himfelf  from  a  too  decisive  tone  againft  *°   e  ^na 

o  _  0  it  aganilt 

Hyde  and  his  party,  with  whom  he  was  never  libels. 
on  unfriendly  terms,  he  defired  Mr.  Speaker 
not  to  imagine  that  he  approved  ordinarily  of 
parliament  putting  forth  what  might  be  called 
an  apology.  Truly  he  thought  it  went  hard 
with  a  parliament  when  it  was  put  to  make  an 
apology  for  itfelf,  becaufe  apologies  were  com- 
monly accounted  fufpicious  ;  but  the  malignity 
and  machinations  of  the  times  had  here  en- 
forced it,  in  this  inftance  had  made  it  necefTary. 
To  the  particular  Declaration  before  the  Houfe,  states  one 
however,  he   had  yet  one  objection  to  make,  objection 

t-,.  r       1         •   1       1  •  /•toReraon- 

jrlis  vote  went  freely  with  the  narrative  part  or  ftrance. 
it ;  but  he  muft  object  to  what  he  would  call 
the  prophetical  part.  He  meant  thofe  claufes 
which  fet  forth  acts  that  were  waiting  to  be 
palTed,  and  meafures  intended  hereafter.  In 
that,  it  appeared  to  him,   there  was  danger  ; 


296  The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 

Would     and   he  doubted  if  there  was   precedent  for 
only  men-  \tm     ft  was  to  forefee  the  whole  work  of  this 
patted  :C  b  parliament    to  come,    and   to  bind  it  up  by- 
anticipation  and  engagement  of  votes  before- 
hand.    And  he  would  humbly  wiih  the  Houfe 
to  coniider,  whether,  if  they  failed  in  perform- 
not  Bills    ing  fome  few  of  the  things  they  fo  promifed 
mprogrefs  ancj  ^e  world  would  expecl,  they  might  not 
tended,     lofe    more  by  non-performance  of  thofe  few 
than  they  would  be  likely  to   get  by  all  the 
reft  of  the  Declaration.     He  refumed  his  feat 
with  the  remark  that  in  any  of  thefe  his  doubts 
he  mould  be  glad  to    be   refolved  by  better 
judgments. 

This  fpeech,  moderate  and  temporifing  as  it 

quent        was,  was  made  matter  of  fuch  grave  reproach 

attacks  on  afterwards;  and  one  of  chronicler  Heath's  bafe 

yar  "  inventions,  which  reprefented  its  fpeaker  dying 

of  remorfe  as  foon  as  the  firft  blood  of  the  war 

was  drawn,  and  complaining  on  his  death-bed 

that  Mr.  Pym  and  Mr.  Hampden  always  told 

him  they  thought  the  King  fo  ill-beloved  by 

his  fubj  eels  that  he  would  never  be  able  to  raife 

an  army  to  oppofe  them,  has  obtained  fuch  wide 

belief;  that  I  paufe  for  a  moment,  before  clofing 

the  fection,  to  difpofe  finally  of  that  flander. 

A  poet  Rudyard  had  in  his  time  played  no  undiftin- 

o?d  oetsnd  guimed  part  among  the  patriots,  and  he  had 

talents  and  graces  of  mind,  that,  as  they  juftly 

entitled   him    to    fuch   praife    at   Jonfon's,* 

Poem  by  "  Rudyard,  as  letter  dames  to  great  ones  ufe, 

J3en  My  lighter,  comes  to  kifs  thy  learned,  mule  ,• 

Tonfon.  Whole  better  ftudies  while  fhe  emulates, 

J      She  learns  to  know  long  difference  of  their  ftates. 
Yet  is  the  office  not  to  be  defpis'd, 
If  only  love  fhould  make  the  aclion  prized  ; 


§  xiv.    Speech  of  Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard.  297 

would  have  given  any  caufe  new  luftre.     He 
was    a  mafterly    orator,  and  no  contemptible 
poet ;    and  though,  as    I  have   faid,   he   was 
never  a  leader  among  thefe  remarkable  men, 
they   might  well   boaft   of  the  acceffion  they 
received  when  fo  courtly  and  accompli  fried  a 
gentleman  left   his   fafliionable   haunts   upon 
town  and  took  his  place  among  them.     But  Joins  the 
his  part  was  played  out  when  the  war  of  words  J™{.a" 
became  fo  fharp  as  to  forefhadow  the  fiercer 
conflict.     He  was  in  truth  too  good  a  fpeaker 
for  the  fervice  which  alone  in  other  refpects  he 
could  render  when  the  ftruggle  took  its  graveft 
afpect.     Shakefpeare  knew  a  kind  of  men  in- 
capable even  of  their  diftrefs,  and  Sir  Benjamin 
was   not   altogether    capable   of  his   excellent 
oratory.     His  temperament  was  too  delicate,  u". 
anxious,  and  irrefolute,  for  all  the  tendencies  duties, 
and   confequences   of  his   own   brave  fpeech. 

Nor  he  for  friendship  can  be  thought  unfit, 
That  ftrives  his  manners  fliould  precede  his  wit." 

And  again  : 

"  If  I  would  wifh  for  truth,  and  not  for  mow,  Epigrams 

The  aged  Saturn's  age  and  rites  to  know  ;  addreiled 

If  I  would  ftrive  to  bring  back  times  and  try  to  Rud- 

The  world's  pure  gold,  and  wile  fimplicity  ;  yard. 

If  I  would  virtue  fet  as  flie  was  young, 

And  hear  her  fpeak  with  one,  and  her  firft  tongue  ; 

If  holieft  friendfhip,  naked  to  the  touch, 

I  would  reftore,  and  keep  it  ever  fuch ; 

I  need  no  other  arts,  but  ftudy  thee  : 

Who  prov'ft  all  thefe  were,  and  again  may  be." 

And   ftill  again — this  grand  and  brave  old  Jonfon  could 
never  fay  too  much  for  the  men  he  loved  and  honoured : 

"  Writing  thyfelf,  or  judging  others  writ, 
I  know  not  which  thou'ft  moft,  candor,  or  wit ; 
But  both  thou  haft  fo,  as  who  affecls  the  ftate 
Of  the  bed  writer  and  judge,  mould  emulate." 

Ben  Jonfon's  Epigrams. 


298  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

Sayings     "  He  fhould  be  very  glad,"  he   faid  on  one 
^  occafion,  "  to  fee  that  or>od  old  decrepit  law 

doings.  .0  * 

(C  Magna  Charta,  which  hath  been  kept  fo  long 
tc  bedrid  as  it  were,  walk  abroad  again  with 
fC  new  vigour  and  luftre  ;"  but  nobody,  not 
Charles  himfelf,  was  fo  much  alarmed  as  Sir 
Benjamin,  when  that  good  old  law  did  in 
reality  get  upon  its  legs  again.  Yet  in  this 
he  was  no  traitor  ;  no  renegade.  It  was  the 
effect  of  timidity  and  of  time.  When  thefe 
debates  began,  he  had  paffed  his  feventieth  year ; 
and  thus  in  all  probability  he  found  himfelf 
finking  bedwards,  at  the  very  time  when  the 
gigantic  ftatute  before  named  was  rifing  out 
of  its  long  fleep.  Though  he  continued  (till 
to  act  with  the  parliament,  therefore,  it  is  no 
very  grave  reproach  to  him  that  during  the 
progrefs  of  the  war  he  mould  have  cried  out 
Condua  inceffantly  (as  indeed  it  became  old  age  when 
in  old  age.  fenfible  of  the  grave's  approach)  for  peace,  for 
peace ;  and  he  is  even  fuppofed  to  have  gone 
fo  far  as  to  entitle  himfelf  to  the  (in  that  day) 
equivocal  praife,  recorded  on  the  title-page 
of  one  of  his  publifhed  fpeeches,  of  having 
fC  nobly  defended  the  Bifhops."  But,  convert 
to  the  defire  for  compromife  as  he  fo  became, 
he  at  Ieafl  did  not  defert,  or  malign,  the  men 
with  whom  he  had  acted  in  riper  years.  The 
No  apof-  good  old  knight,  to  fay  nothing  of  his  honefty, 
tate.  was  too  mucri  0f  a  gentleman  for  that.      Nor 

is  there  the  remoteft  reafon  to  infer,  much  as 
he  difliked  the  conflict,  that  he  was  killed  by 
it.  He  remained  in  his  place  in  the  Houfe  of 
Commons  as  long  as  he  could  ;  ftill,  however 
feebly,  acting  with  Pym  and  with  his  fucceffors 


§  xiv.  Speeches  of  Rudyard  and  Bagflmw.  299 

(as  for  example  in  his  fpeech  againft  the  Court 
of  Wards  as  late  as  '45);  ftill  inceffantly 
defiring  a  compromife;  and,  though  he  never 
regained  any  eminence  in  public  affairs,  not 
paffing  from  the  fcene  till  he  was  eighty-feven.  Afting  in 
It  feems  quite  clear,  therefore,  that  the  writers  or  ^ou.re  tl)1 

..  .    .    t-        ,  1  c        ,        j    r        Ins  death: 

politicians  who  want  a  precedent  tor  the  deler-  a*.  87. 
tion  and  abufe  of  a  great  caufe,  or  a  fet  of  great 
principles,  muft  not  go  to  the  life  of  the  very 
eftimable  Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard.  They  muft 
be  fatisfled  with  the  ftudy  of  the  life  of  Hyde, 
which  will  mow  them,  perhaps  better  than  any 
other  piece  in  hiftory,  how  it  is  poffible  to  act 
in  intimate  union  with  the  principles  and  policy 
of  a  particular  party  at  the  commencement  of 
a  life,  and  to  employ  its  clofe  in  fteadily 
blackening  the  characters  and  opinions  of  the 
men  with  whom  one  had  fo  acted  cordially  in 
earlier  days. 

When  Rudyard   refumed  his    feat,  he  was  Mr. 
fucceeded  by  Mr.   Bagfhaw,  the  member  for  ^ag£iaw 
Southwark,  whofe  effective  fpeech  on  griev- 
ances at  the  opening  of  the  feffion  had  for  a 
time  given  him  a  place  in  the  Houfe  which  he 
failed  to   make  good.     He   had  now  joined 
Hyde's  party,  but  did  them  fmall  fervice  in 
this  difcurlion.     All  that  has  furvived  of  his 
fpeech  are  two  objections  to  a  paffage  in  the 
Declaration  as  to  the  abufes  of  the  law  courts  ; 
and   againft   the   tendency  of  one    expreffion,  againft 
Cf  the  reft  of  the  clergy,"  to  comprehend  and  Remon. 
blame  the  whole  of  that  profeffion.     But  he  ftrance. 
was  followed  by  a  more  powerful  fpeaker.     ^ 


300  The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


§  xv.  Speeches  of  Culpeper,  Pym,  Bridg- 
maNj  Waller,  and  Hampden. 

Sir  John  Sir  John  Culpeper,  Dering's  colleague  in 
ibeik?61  ^e  representation  of  Kent,  and,  after  Falk- 
land, Hyde's  Strength  and  reliance  in  the 
debate,  fpoke  next  after  Bagfhaw ;  and  we 
may  well  fuppofe  the  fpeech,  from  the  frag- 
ment of  it  that  remains,  to  have  been  highly 
characteristic  of  the  man.*  With  a  ready 
elocution,  he  had  a  rough  and  hafly  temper  ; 
and  though,  when  he  pleafed,  few  were  fo 
qualified  by  memory  and  quicknefs  to  feize 
Manner  of  and  reproduce  all  the  points  in  a  difcuffion,  he 
pea  mg.  f^om  faw^  or  cared  to  fee,  more  than  that 
fingle  point  to  which  he  chofe  to  addrefs  him- 
felf.  At  all  times  in  fpeaking,  Hyde  admits, 
he  was  warm  and  pofitive,  uncourtly  and  un- 
graceful in  his  mien  and  motion,  andfomewhat 
indifferent  to  religion.    His  firft  objection  now 

Character        *  "  He  feldom  made  an  entire  judgment  of  the  matter  in 

of  Cul-        "  queftion,  for  his  appreheniion  was  commonly  better  than 

peper.  "  ms  refolution  ;  and  he  had  an  eagernefs  or  ferocity  that 

"  made  him  lels  fociable  than  his  other  colleagues  ;  (for  his 

"  education   and  converfe  in  the   world    had    been    in    part 

"  military)  and  his  temper  hafty." — Sir    Philip    Warwick's 

Memoires,  p.  196.     "  He  might  very  well  be  thought  a  man 

"  of  no  very  good  breeding;  having  never  facrificed  to  the 

"  Mules,  or  converfed  in  any  polite  company." — Clarendon's 

Remark      Life,  i.  106-8.     In  his  Hijlory  (ii.  94),  he  fays  that  he  could 

by  Hyde :  upon  occafion,  when  he  fpoke  at  the  end  of  a  debate,  as  his 

cuftom  often  was,  recollect  all  that  had  been  faid  of  weight 

on  all  fides  with  great  exaftnefs,  and  exprefs  his  own    fenfe 

with  much  clearnefs  and  fuch  an  application  to  the  Houfe, 

that   no  man    more    gathered  a  general    concurrence  to  his 

more  opinion  than  he.      This  defcription,   however,    from   other 

applicable  accounts,  would   feem  to  be  much  more  applicable    to   the 

to  Pym.      peaking  of  Pym. 


§  xv.  Speeches  of  Culpeper  and  Pym.  301 

to  the  Remonftrance  was  that  it  fpoke  of  alter-  Objeas  to 
ing  the  government  of  the  Church,  and  would  ^emon" 

fc>  d  itrance : 

therefore    offend    the   people  ;     an   argument 
which   certainly  no  other  fpeaker  would  have 
had  the  boldnefs  to  put   in  that  form.     He 
then  declared  his  oppofition  to  reft  upon  two 
grounds.     The  firft  was,  that  the  Declaration 
was    unneceffary.      The   parliament    had  not  "ot  necef~ 
been    <c  fcandaled"    by    any    public   act,    and 
therefore  needed  not  to  fend  out  any  declara- 
tion to   clear  themfelves.      The  fecond  was, 
that  if  this  were  not  fo,  it  was  yet  both  uncon- 
stitutional and  dangerous  in  its  prefent  form. 
Going  but  from  that  Houfe,  he  faid,  it  went 
but  on  one  leg.     All  remonftrances  mould  beanddan- 
addreffed  to  the  King,  and  not  to  the  people,  gjj°us  in 
becaufe  it  belonged  to  the  King  only  to  redrefs 
grievances.     Their  writs  of  election  did  not 
warrant  them  to  fend  any  declaration  to  the  People 
people,  but  only  to  treat  with  the  King  and  n°j  toJ^ 

1       1       j  1     j  •  1  1  1  addrefled 

the  lords  :   nor  had  it  ever  been  done   by  any  alone, 
parliament    heretofore.        It   would    be    moft 
dangerous  for  the  public  peace. 

The  member  for  Taviftock  rofe  after  him, 
and  delivered  a  fpeech  which  in  the  manufcript 
record  of  the  debate  before  me  is  characlerifed  pym 
as  an  anfwer  to  what  had  been  faid  by  the  pea 
various  members  who  preceded  him  ;  and  of 
which  the  fragment  remaining,  fcanty  as  it  is, 
mows  that  this  was  indeed  its  character.  Even 
here  its  maffive  and  equal  proportions  are 
manifeft  ;  and  we  may  trace  again  the  calm 
power  and  felf-pofTefTion  with  which  the  veteran 
leader  of  the  Parliament  appears  to  have  paffed 
in  review  the  previous  fpeakers,  as  his  cuftom  Anfwers 


302 


The  Grand  Reraonftrance. 


preceding 
ipeakers. 


Replies 
to  Hyde 


replies  to 
Falkland. 


Claim  of 
Parlia- 
ment to 
advife 
King. 


was  in  the  great  debates,  and  to  have  anfwered 
each.  The  boldnefs  and  plain  fpeaking  of  his 
reference  to  the  King  was  even  for  him  re- 
markable. 

To  Hyde's  appeal  that  the  Houfe  mould  be 
chary  above  all  things  of  the  King's  honour, 
Pym  replied  that  the  honour  of  the  King  lay 
in  the  fafety  of  the  people,  and  that  the  mem- 
bers of  that  Houfe  had  no  choice  now  but  to 
tell  the  truth.  They  had  narrowly  efcaped 
great  dangers,  and  the  time  was  parTed  for  con- 
cealment. The  Plots  had  been  very  near  the 
King.  All  had  been  driven  home  to  the  Court 
and  the  Popifh  party.  To  what  the  noble 
lord  (Falkland)  had  objected  againft  the  alleged 
neceflity  of  difallowing  the  votes  of  the  Popifh 
lords  and  their  abettors  the  bifhops,  he  anfwered 
that  good  laws  parTed  in  fpite  of  thofe  votes 
formed  no  anfwer  to  the  afTertion  that  the  con- 
tinued prefence  of  fuch  voters  would  prevent 
the  future  enactment  of  fimilar  necefTary  laws. 
That  debate  itfelf  might  help  to  mow  how 
their  dangers  were  increafing  upon  them  ;  and 
<f  will  any  one  deny,"  afked  Pym,  cc  that  the 
<c  Popifh  lords  and  the  bifhops  do  now  obftruct 
"us?"  Nor  could  he  fee  any  breach  of 
privilege  in  naming  them  ;  for  had  they  not 
heretofore  often  complained  of  particular  lords 
being  away,  and  of  mifcarriages  that  lords  had 
occafioned  ?  Where  alfo,  he  defired  to  know, 
mould  be  the  danger  apprehended  by  ic  the 
cc  noble  learned  lord"  in  the  recommendation 
to  his  Majefty  not  to  choofe  fuch  counfellors 
as  that  Houfe  might  be  unable  to  approve  ? 
"  We  have  fuffered  fo  much  by  counfellors  of 


§  xv.   Speech  of  John  Pym.  303 

cc  the  King's  choofing,"  faid  Pym,  "  that  we  Right  to 
<f  defire  him  to  advife  with  us  about  it."     He  co.nt">ul 

,     ,  ,  .  r  n.        .         .    miniiters. 

maintained  that  this  courie  was  conttitutional, 
and  where  was  the  objection  to  it  ?     Many  of 
the  King's  fervants  were  known  to  have  moved 
him  about  fuch  counfellors,  and  why  may  not 
the  parliament  ?     He  enlarged  upon  this  ;  and 
illustrated  the   mifchief  of  difregarding   fuch 
advice  by  that  quarrel  with  the  firft  parliament 
upon  the  unwife  treaty  of  peace  with  Spain, 
which  had   been  fraught  with  fo  many  evils. 
The  fame  worthy  lord,   and  the  knight  who  Replies  to 
fpoke  after  him  in  the  debate,  had  objected  to  Culpeper. 
the  expreffion  idolatry.     But  for  himfelf,  he 
declared  his    opinion    that  altar-worfhip  was 
idolatry ;  and  fuch  worfhip  had  undoubtedly 
been  enjoined  by  the  biihops  in  all  their  ca- 
thedrals.      Coupling  afterwards  Sir  John  Cul- 
peper's  affertion  as  to  the  danger  of  disturbing  Replies  to 
the   exifting    Church    government,    with    Sir  DennS' 
Edward    Dering's    urgent   appeal   againft   the 
danger  of  permitting  feclarianifm  to  intrude 
into  the  liturgy    or  fervice,  Pym  avowed  his 
readinefs  to  join  in  a  law  againft  fectaries,  and 
remarked  that  they  would  moft  furely  prevent 
the  evil  by  going  to  the  root  of  what  caufed 
it.     Let  them  take  care,  then,  that  no  more  of 
fuch  pious  and  godly  minifters  as  were  now 
feparatifts  beyond  the  fea,   fhould  be  driven 
out  of  England  for  not  reading  the  Book  of 
Sports.     Adverting  next  to  what  had  fallen  slanders 
from  opponents  of  the  Declaration  in  admiffion  jpjj1*1 
of  the  flanders  thrown  out  againft  parliament,  ment." 
Pym  challenged  them  to  fhow  that  anything 
but  a  Declaration  could  take  away  the  accufa- 


304  ^he  Grand  Remonfirance. 

tions  that  had  fo  been  laid  upon  the  members 
As  to       of  that  Houfe.     To  Dering's  remark  againft 
Church     the  fuprp-eftion  of  a  more  equal  provifion  for 
'  miniftersof  the  Church,  that  it  would  interfere 

with  the  great  prizes,  he  replied  that  he  held  it 
beft  that  learning  mould  be  better  provided  for 
in  the  general  than  extravagantly  rewarded  in 
Remarks   the  particular.     Another  learned  knight  on  the 
on  Rud-    oppofite  benches  (Sir  Benjamin  Rudyard)  had 
objected  to  what  he  termed  the  prophetical  part 
of  the  Declaration ;  but  he  would  remind  the 
worthy  member  that  the  Declaration  did  not 
prophefy,  but  faid  fimply  that  which  it  believed 
to   be  fit,   and    might  eafily  be    done.     The 
member  who  followed  him  (Mr.  Bagfhaw)  had 
Replies  to  queftioned  the  propriety  of  afTerting  that  the 
Bagfhaw.  Court  of  Chancery  had  grown  arbitrary  and 
unjuft  in  their  jurisdiction,  but  to  this  he  re- 
plied that  not  the  Chancery  alone  but  every 
Englifh  court  had  of  late  years  ufurped  unjuft 
and  arbitrary  jurifdiction.        To   the   worthy 
knight    oppofite    (Sir    John   Culpeper)    who 
averred   that  a   declaration    going    from    this 
Oppofes     Houfe  alone,  without  having  defired  the  lords 
Lords'       tQ   ••       went  but  upon  one  leg    he  anfwered 

claim  to  J        '  r .  » J      *      , 

mare  in  that  the  matter  or  this  particular  Declaration 
Remon-  was  [n  no  refpe<5t  fit  for  the  lords.  Many  of 
the  lords  were  accufed  in  it.  It  alfo  dealt 
throughout  with  fubjects  which  had  been  agi- 
tated only  in  that  Houfe.  The  afiertions  made 
by  the  fame  honourable  perfon,  that  all  remon- 
ftrances  fhould  be  addrefTed  to  the  King,  and 
that  their  writs  of  election  did  not  warrant  them 
to  fend  any  declarations  to  the  people,  were 
not  borne  out  by  the  practice.     Remonftrances 


§  xv.  Speeches  of  Pym  and  Bridgman. 


iu3 


were  not  in  truth  directed  either  to  the  King  An  aft  of 
or  the  people,  but  mowed  the  acts  of  the  Houfe.  Com- 
If  it  were  defired  to  prefent  the  Declaration  0f  Lords 
now  before  them  to  the  King,  it  muft  be  done  or  King. 
by  Petition  prefixed  to  it ;  and  for  his  own 
part  he  inclined  that  fuch  mould  be  the  courfe. 
Honourable    fpeakers    had    complained  of    a 
direction  to  the  people  in  this  cafe,  but  where 
was  it  ?     Such  had  not  been  the  purpofe,  nor 
was  it  neceffary.     It  would  fufBce  that  its  con-  Appeal  to 
tents  mould  reach  the  people,  and  be  read  by  people 
them.     And  when,  by  means  of  the  Declara-  preienta- 
tion,  it  became  known  throughout   England  tives. 
how  matters  ftood,  and  how  the  members  of 
the  Houfe  had  been  flandered,  it  would  bind 
and  fecure  to  them  the  people's  hearts. 

It  was  late  in  that  November  evening  before 
Pym  refumed  his  feat,  but  candles  had  been 
brought  long  ago,  and  the  debate  ftill  went  on. 
Orlando  Bridgman,  member  for  Wigan,  fo  Orlando 
foon  to  be  Sir  Orlando  and  law  dignitary  to  Bridgman 
the  King,  rofe  next  from  among  the  group  of 
lawyers  feated  near  Hyde,  and  questioned 
Pym's  view  of  the  Houfe's  right  to  remon- 
ftrate  or  declare  alone.  They  could  only 
confent,  counfel,  and  petition  ;  and  it  was 
expreffly  faid,  in  the  indemnity  of  the  Lords 
and  Commons,  that  nothing  mould  be  reported 
out  of  either  Houfe,  without  confent  of  both 
Houfes.  As  for  what  had  been  faid  of  the  £ePJies  t0 
feparatifts  driven  beyond  fea,  he  thought  them 
a  condition  of  men  to  be  taken  away,  being 
they  were  not  at  all  moderate.  To  the  right 
of  approval  fought  by  the  Houfe  for  ever  over 
all  counfellors  felected  by  the  King,  he  ob- 


306  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

jected  ;  and  he  thought  the  temporary  ground 

alleged,  of  the  neceffity  fo  to   obtain  fecurity 

for  a  proper  ufe  of  the  money  to  be  voted  for 

the  affairs  of  Ireland,  a  reafon  too  particular 

to  juftify  fo  general  a  demand. 

Edmund        Edmund  Waller  flarted  up  and  fpoke  after 

Waller      Bridgman,  and  with  ingenious  and  lively  turns 

of  expreffion,  as  his  cuftom  was.     He  thought 

the   Declaration   ill-named,    he  faid.      It  was 

aimed  more  at   the  future  than  the  part,  and 

expoftulated  lefs  with  what  had  been  done  than 

with    what  was   expected   to    be  done.      He 

thought  it  mould  be  called,  not  a  i^fmonftrance, 

but  a  Prnnonftrance.      And  how  unnatural 

were  all  fuch  expedients  for  expreffing  the  will 

Laws  not  of  that   Houfe.     Laws  were  the  children  of 

to  yield  to  tj-ie  parliament,  and  it  did  not  become  them  to 

deftroy  their  offspring  by  means  of  orders  and 

declarations.     By  what  authority,  too,  did  they 

claim    the  right  to  control  the  King  in  the 

choice  of   his  counfellors  ?     Freeholders   had 

power  to   choofe  freely  the    members  of  the 

Why  con-  Houfe  of  Commons  to  make  laws,  and  yet  the 

trolthe      King   muft   not  choofe  counfellors   to   advife 

ang'       according  to  law  without  the  approbation  of 

the  Houfe.     In  one  fenfe  it  might  indeed  be  a 

Remonftrance,    but    it   was    a    Remonftrance 

againft  the  laws,    f 

John  Jonn  Hampden  now  rofe.     Little  remains 

Hampden  of  what  he  faid,  but  fufficient  proof  that  he 

fpeaks.      muft  have  fpoken,  as  he  did  ever,  with  calm 

decifion,  yet  with  that  rare  temper  univerfally 

attributed  to  him  in  debate,  and  which  even  to 

a  difcuffion  fo  angry   and  paffionate  as  this, 

could  bring  its  portion  of  affability  and  cour- 


§  xv.  Speech  of  John  Hampden.  307 

tefy.     What  were  the  objections,  he  afked,  to 
this  Declaration?     When  that  Houfe    difco- 
vered  ill  counfels,  might  it  not  fay  there  were 
ill  counfellors,  and  complain  of  them  ?     When  Why 
any  man  was  accufed,  might  he  not  fay  he  had  °^f  to 
done  his  endeavour  ?     cc  And,"  continued  the  tion  ? 
member  for  Bucks,  fC  we  fay  no  more  in  this." 
The  party  oppofed  to   the  members  of  the 
Houfe   was    prevalent,  and    it    was   therefore 
neceffary  for  them  to  fay  openly  that  they  had 
given  their  beft  advice.     That  was  declared  in 
the   Remonftrance,    and    no    counter   remon- 
ftrance could  come  againft  them,  being  it  was 
wholly   true.      Quiet    and    merely  fuggeftive, 
however,  as  Hampden's  general  tone  in  this 
fpeech  feems  to  have  been,  yet,  once  at  leaft, 
in  the  courfe  of  it,  he  rofe  to  a  higher  ftrain. 
We  have  {qqii  that  Dering  enforced  his  argu-  Replies  to 
ment  againft  ufing  the  power  and  revenues  of  Derms- 
the  bifhops  in  any  attempt  to  ftrengthen  the 
Church  by  fo  giving  influence  and  increafe  to 
the  general  body  of  the  clergy,  by  remarking 
that  if  any  man  could  cut  the  moon  out  all 
into  little  ftars,  although  the  fame  amount  of 
moon  might  ftill  remain  in  fmall   pieces,  both 
light  and   influence  would  be  gone.     Taking 
up    this   extravagant    illuftration,    Hampden 
claimed  to  apply  it  differently.      He  afked  the  Quotes 
Houfe  to  remember  what  authority  they  had  andH 
for  believing  that  the  ftars  were  more  ufeful  to  Revela- 
the  Church    than  the  moon.      And  then  hetions- 
quoted    from   the    Book    of   Revelations    the 
paffage  *  under  which  the  perfect  Church,  the 

*  "  And   there  appeared  a  great  wonder  in   Heaven  :  A 
"  Woman  clothed   with   the   fun,  and  the  moon  under  her 

x  2 


308  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

fpoufe  of  Chrift,  is  figured,  and  warned  them 
that  when  the  woman  mould  be  clothed  with 
the  fun,  the  moon  would  be  under  her  feet, 
and  her  head  would  be  circled  with  ftars. 


§  xvi.    The  Speeches  up  to  Midnight. 

Hampden       The  Houfe  had  now  been  fitting,  without 

renames     interval  or  reft,  for  a  length  of  time   unex- 

o'clock,     ampled  in  any  one  s  experience.     It  was  nearly 

P-M-         nine  o'clock  before  Hampden  refumed  his  feat, 

yet  ftill  the  cries  for  adjournment  were  refifted 

amid  excitement  and  agitation  vifibly  increaf- 

ing.     D'Ewes  had  himfelf  left  the  Houfe  foon 

after  four  in  the  afternoon.     He  forefaw,  as  he 

tells  us,  that  the  debate  in  the  iiTue  would  be 

long  and  vehement;  and  having  been  informed 

by    Sir    Chriftopher    Yelverton,    member   for 

Bofliney,  that  thofe  who  wifhed  well  to  the 

Declaration  did  intend  to  have  it  paiTed  with- 

Wh  out  the  alteration  of  any  one  word,  he  did  the 

D'Ewes     rather  abfent  himfelf  (cc  being  alfo  fomewhat 

Wclock1  "  iH  of  a  cold  taken  yefterdaY  ")  becaufe  there 
were  fome  particulars  therein  which  he  had 
formerly  fpoken  againft,  and  could  not  in  his 
confcience  aiTent  unto,  although  otherwife  his 
heart  and  vote  went  with  it  in  the  main.  His 
relation  of  what  followed  in  his  abfence,  there- 
fore, was  derived  by  him  from  other  members 
of  the  Houfe. 
Attempts  The  refolution  of  which  Yelverton  informed 
at  com-      D'Ewes,  though  relaxed  upon  a  few  points, 

promife  ,    °        ,  •1,  •        /i      _ri 

refifted.      appears  to  have    been    in    the    main    iteadily 

"  feet,  and  upon  her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  ftars.'' — Reve- 
lations, xii.  1. 


§  xvi.     The  Speeches  up  to  Midnight.  309 

adhered  to  ;  and  it  was  this  refolved  deter- 
mination to  refift  all  attempts  at  any  material 
compromife,  which  tended  more  than  anything 
elfe  to  prolong  and  exafperate  the  oppofition. 
Several  fuch  attempts  were  made,  but  without 
fuccefs.      Though  verbal  changes  were  aiTented  Two  divi- 
to,*  and  one  claufe  was   omitted,  it  may  be  10ns' 
inferred,  from  the  two  divifions  which  imme- 
diately preceded   thofe  taken  upon  the  main 
queftion,  that  fuch  few  previous  changes  were 
not  made   under  the  prefTure  of  any  adverfe 
vote.      The   firft.  was  upon  a  proposition  by       ; 
the  promoters  of  the  Declaration  to  remove  a  18710123. 
claufe    to  which   they    had    found    reafon    to 
object,  and  this  they   carried,  in   a  Houfe   of 
three  hundred  and  ten  members,  by  a  majority 
of  fixty-four.j-      The  fecond   divifion,   which 
was  taken  on  the  claufe  avowing  the  neceflity 

*  I  fubjoin  what  appears  as  to  this  in  the  Journals  of  the  Subject  of 
Houfe.  "  Refolved,  That  the  Courts  of  Chancery,  Exchequer  nrft  divi- 
"  Chamber,  &c.  are  arbitrary  and  unjujl  in  their  proceedings,  flon> 
"  to  be   left  out ;  and   to  be  added  inftead   thereof,   'which 
"  have  been  grievous  in  exceeding  their  jurifdiclion.     '  Loofe 
"  '  perfons"  to  be  made  '  Libertines?     Refolved  upon  the  quef- 
"  tion,  that  thefe  words  which  authority  fliall  enjoin,  be  made 
"  which  the  law  enjoins.     Refolved,   For  to  him  they  are  beft 
"  known,  that  thefe  words  to  be  left  out.       Refolved,  that  the 
"  word  Firft  be  left  out;  and  that  the  claufe  beginning  with 
"  the  word  which,  and  ending  kingdom,   be  left  out."     This 
omitted  claufe,  which   had  relation  to  the  Court  of  Requefts, 
was  probably  that  to  which  D'Ewes  referred  when,  after  the 
remark  quoted  in  the  text,  he  added,  "  But  thofe  who  defired  Remark 
"the  declaration  might  pafs,   were  compelled,    contrary    toby 
"  their  refolution  of  which  Sir  Chriftopher  Yelverton  had  in-  D'Ewes. 
"  formed  me,    to   fuffer  many  particulars  to  be  altered,  and 
"  amongft  the    reft    that  which    I  could  not    have  aflented 
"  unto."     See  Ante,  p.  257. 

f  Sir  Thomas  Barrington  and  Sir  John  Clotworthy  were  Tellers, 
tellers  for  the  ayes,  Sir  Frederick  Cornwallis  (member  for  Eye 
in  Suffolk)  and  Mr.  Stanhope  (member  for  Tamworth,  and 
fourth  fon  of  Lord  Chefterfield)  for  the  noes. 


3 1  o  The  Grand  Remonfirance. 

».       and  intention  to  reduce  the  exorbitant  power 
16H0147.  Qf  ^g  biihops,  ran  clofer,  for,  though  in  the 
interval,  two  members  only  had  left  the  Houfe, 
the  liberal  majority  was  only  fourteen.* 

Still  it  fufficed ;  and  no  figns  of  receding 
were  mown.     More  firmly  than  ever,  there- 
fore, as 'the  night  went  on,  the  debate  con- 
Denzil      tinued   to    rage  ;    and    what   remains  of  the 
fpeak^.      fpeech  of  Denzil  Hollis  gives  proof  of  a  lefs 
tolerant    and    more  defiant  temper  than    any 
previous  fpeaker  had  exhibited.     He  plainly 
avowed  with  what  belief  and  expectation  he 
was  there  to  fupport  the   Declaration.     The 
kingdom,  he  faid,  confifted  of  three  forts  of 
men,  the  bad,  the  good,  and  the  indifferent. 
People  to  The  indifferent  could  turn  the  fcales,  and  that 
be  influ-    \r\n^  0f  men  it  was  their  hope  to  fatisfy  by 
publifhing  this  Remonfirance.     In    denial  of 
what  had  been  averred  by  Culpeper,  Bridgman, 
and  other  fpeakers,  he  declared  the  Houfe  to 
be    expreflly   empowered,   by    their   writs   of 
election,  to  do  this  ;  and  he  quoted,  in  proof, 
the  language  of  the  writ  by  which  they  were 
called   ad  traftandum  de  arduis  negotiis,  &c. 
Power  of  -A-s  to  the  ability  refiding  in  either  branch  of 
Houfe  to   the  legillature  to  make  Declarations  without 
twl]^      ^e  concurrence  of  the  other,  he  faid  that  it 
refted   on  grounds  not   to  be   aflailed.     The 
Lords  had  often  made  Declarations  without  the 
Commons,  as  about  the  Irifh  nobility  ;    and 
the  Commons   without   them,   as    about  the 

Second  *  The  numbers  were  161   to  147,   Sir  Walter  Earle  and 

divifion  Mr-  Arthur  Goodwyn  (Hampden's  colleague  in  the  repre- 
fentation  of  Bucks)  telling  for  the  majority,  and  Sir  F.  Corn- 
wallis  and  Mr.  Strangways  for  the  minority. 


§  xvi.     The  Speeches  up  to  Midnight,  311 

Duke  of  Buckingham.     It  had  been  objected 
that  there  were  fubjects  on  which  they  of  that 
Houfe  were  not  entitled  to  advife  his  Majefty, 
but  all  neceffary  truths  muft  be  told.     If  kings  Right  to 
were  mifled  by  their  counfellors,  the  people's  c^xo} 
reprefentatives  may,  nay  they  muft,  tell  them  adviiers. 
of  it.     It  was  a  duty  which  refted  within  fafe 
limits.      They    only    befeeched   the   King   to 
choofe  good  counfellors,  for  againft  fuch  the 
Houfe  would  never  except. 

Many    members    rofe    after    Hollis,    but 
Speaker  Lenthal's  eye  (a  rule  of  precedence 
only  lately  adjudged  to  be  fettled)*  refted  fir  ft 
on  lawyer  Glyn,  the  member  for  Weftminfter,  Glyn 
foon  to  be  recorder  for  London.     There  had  lpea  s' 
been  fome  doubt  as  to  the  line  he  would  take, 
but  he   fpeedily  removed  it.     It  was  againft 
nature,  he  faid,  not  to  have  liberty  to  anfwer 
a   calumny,   and  there   was    no  way  but    by 
Remonftrance   to    repel   what   had    been  laid 
upon  them.     They  had  made  a  Remonftrance  preCe- 
in  the  firft  year  of  the  reign,  and  that  without  dents  for 
the    Lords ;    and  in    the   third   year,  if  the  ft™°cne~ 
Speaker  of  the  Houfe  had  fat  ftill  in  his  chair, 
a  Remonftrance  would  have  been  voted,   and 
no  fault  found  with  it.     The  right  was  unques- 
tionable.    Both  the  Lords  temporal  and  the 
Bifhops  had  often  feverally  protefted  without 
the   Commons.      He   approved    alfo    of  the  Reafons 
matter  of  the  Declaration.     It  was  an  honour  J.n  ^ 

*   "  Then,"  fays  D,Ewes(in  the  courfe  of  his  note  defcrib- 
ing  the  debate   on  the  Canons,  26th  November,  164.0,  after  Speaker's 
Glyn  had  done  fpeaking),   "  long  difpute  eniued  who  mould  eye  rule 
"  fpeak,  divers  ftood  up,  and  at  laft  ruled  for  Mr.   White,  of  pre- 
"  and  the  Speaker's  eye  adjudged  to  be  the  rule."  cedence. 


12 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


Mr. 

Coventry 
fpeaks. 


Geoffrey 

Palmer 

fpeaks. 


Maynard 
fpeaks. 


to  let  the  world  fee  that  in  one  twelvemonth 
they  could  reduce  the  diftempers  of  twelve 
years.  The  people  trufted  that  Houfe,  and 
it  was  therefore  no  difhonour  to  flrive  to 
fatisfy  them. 

From  the  anxious  group  of  members  who 
fat  near  Hyde,  among  whom  were  now 
gathered  feveral  fervants  and  officers  of  the 
King,  Mr.  Coventry,  member  for  Evefham 
and  fecond  fon  of  the  deceafed  Lord  Keeper, 
rofe  after  Glyn,  and  appealed  to  the  Houfe  at 
leaft  to  addrefs  the  Declaration  to  the  King, 
if  they  mould  perfifl  in  voting  it.  Though 
men  build  their  monuments  in  their  own  time, 
he  faid,  yet  a  chronicle  of  any  King's  reign 
had  never,  until  now,  been  written  in  his 
life-time,  without  his  own  confent.  After  him 
ftarted  up  Mr.  Geoffrey  Palmer,  the  well- 
known  lawyer  (he  was  Attorney-General  at 
the  Reftoration),  member  for  Stamford,  and 
Hyde's  intimate  friend  and  counfellor,  who 
afTerted  with  much  vehemence  that  the  Houfe 
could  not  declare  without  Lords  and  King,  nor 
had  ever  done  it,  and  that  the  beft  way  for 
the  Commons  to  anfwer  a  fcandal  was  to 
neglect  it.  As  to  his  friend's  law,  however, 
fC  honeft  Jack  Maynard "  at  once  rofe  and 
protefted,  when  Palmer  refumed  his  feat.  It 
was  fully  competent  to  the  Houfe  to  declare 
to  the  people,  for,  he  continued,  if  they  fhould 
do  nothing  but  what  was  ordained  and  fettled 
with  the  other  branches  of  the  State,  they 
would  afTuredly  fit  ftill.  They  petitioned 
only  for  liberty  to  approve,  they  did  not  dic- 
tate the  choice  of,  the  counfellors  of  the  King.  * 

J 


§  xvi.     The  Speeches  up  to  Midnight.  313 

Meanwhile,  as  the  debate  thus  continued  to  Midnight 
rage  towards  midnight,  one  counfellor  of  the  aPProach- 
King  had  filently  and  fadly  withdrawn.     His 
Majefty's  correfpondent  Nicholas,  under  pro- 
mife  to  inform  him  that  night  of  the  refult  of 
the  difcuffion,  had  waited  and  watched  until 
nearly  worn  out  with  fatigue,  and  had  then  of 
necefiity  repaired  to    Whitehall   to   clofe  and 
forward  his  difpatch.     He  firft  added  to  it  the  Secretary 
fubjoined    words,   little   fuppofing    that    they  Nicholas 
would   be   rendered  very  memorable  by  what 
occurred    in  the  Houfe    after    his  departure. 
f  The  Commons  have  been  in  debate  about 
'  their  Declaration  touching  the  ill  effects  of 
c  bad  councils  ever  fince  twelve  at  noon,  and 
'  are  at  it  ftill,  it  being  near  twelve  at  mid- 
e  night.      I  flayed   this  difpatch  in  hope  to  Writes  to 
f  have  fent  your  Majefty   the  refult  of  that the  KinS- 
c  debate,  but  it  is  fo  late,  as  I  dare  not  (after 
f  my  ficknefs)  adventure  to  watch  any  longer 
c  to  fee  the  ifTue  of  it :  only  I  affure  your 
c  Majefty  there  are  divers  in  the  Commons' 
i  Houfe  that  are  refolved  to  ftand  very  ftiff 
1  for  rejecting  that  Declaration,  and  if  they 
f  prevail  not  then  to  proteft  again/lit."     So 
thoroughly  had  Hyde's   party  previoufly  re-  Reveals 
folved  upon,  and   fo  unrefervedly  communi-  Hydes 

■  .  purpolc 

cated  to  the  ministers  of  the  King,  the  ftep 
which  they  afterwards  declared  was  quite  un- 
premeditated, and  indeed  rendered  fuddenly 
neceffary  by  the  tactics  of  their  opponents. 
But  Nicholas  would  hardly  have  repeated  it, 
even  to  his  matter,  could  he  have  (ctn  the  turn 
that  affairs  were  to  take. 


314  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


%  xvii.     Question  Put,  and  Palmer's 
Protest. 

Mr.  Secretary  Nicholas  had  not  long  left  the 
Houfe  when,  a  little  after  twelve  o'clock,  the 
main  queftion  whether  the  Remonftrance  fhould 
Refiftance  pafs  was  at  laft   allowed  to  be  put.     In   his 
t0uePftionng  Hiftory,  Clarendon  admits  that  it  was  the  party 
led  by  Mr.  Hyde  (himfelf)  which  fo  long  had 
refitted  the  inceffant  calls  for  a  divifion ;   and 
that  they  hoped  to  profit  in  numbers  by   fo 
wearing  out  their  opponents,  is  the  plain  and 
irreiiftible  inference.      Neverthelefs,   he    pro- 
ceeds to  tell  his   readers  that  when  midnight 
arrived,     many    were    gone    home   to    their 
lodgings  out  of  pure  indifpofition  of  health, 
having  neither  eat  nor  drank  all  the  day ;  and 
Which      others  had  withdrawn  themfelves,   that    they 
fide  might  neither  confent  to  it,  as  being  againft 

deb ed  by  tneir  reafon  and  confcience,  nor  difoblige  the 
other  party  by  refufing  ;*  leaving  it  to  be 
inferred,  that  the  gain  from  delay  was  entirely 
to  the  other  party,  not  his  own.  In  another 
paflage  t  he  conveys  a  fimilar  impreffion,  in- 
forming us  that  candles  having  been  called  for 
when  it  grew  dark  "  (neither  fide  being  very 
cc  defirous  to  adjourn  it  till  the  next  day, 
<f  though  it  was  evident  very  many  withdrew 
iC  themfelves  out  of  pure  faintnefs  and  dif- 
Hyde's  <£  ability  to  attend  the  conclusion),  the  debate 
ftatement:  cc  continued  till  it  was  after  twelve  of  the 
cc  clock,  with  much  pafTion."     And  again  he 

*  Hijl.  ii.  595.  f  Ibid.  ii.  42. 


§  xvn.     £h(eJlion  Put,  and  Palmer's  Proteft.  315 

fays,  in  a  third  pafTage,""*  that  the  party  led  by- 
Mr.  Pym  knew  well  enough  that  the  Houfe 
had  not,  at  that  time,  half  its  members  prefent, 
though  they  had  provided  that  not  a  man  of 
their  party  was  abfent ;  and  that  they  had 
even  then  carried  it  by  the  hour  of  the  night, 
which  drove  away  a  greater  number  of  old  and 
infirm  oppofers,  than  would  have  made  thofe 
of  the  negative  fuperior  in  number.  AfTum-  White- 
ing  for  a  moment  that  this  was  fo  ;  that  the  locke  s : 
hour  of  the  night  did  really  carry  it ;  and 
that  it  was,  as  Whitelocke  affirms  Sir  Benjamin 
Rudyard  compared  it  to,  the  verdict  of  a 
ftarved  jury  ;j"  finely  it  is  inexplicable  that 
from  Pym  and  his  friends,  who  were  to  profit  reafons 
by  the  exactly  oppofite  courfe,  fhould  have to  tlle 
proceeded  all  the  efforts  that  were  made  to 
force  on  the  divifion  at  an  earlier  hour.  But 
the  firft  thing  to  fettle,  in  difputes  of  this  kind, 
is  the  authenticity  of  the  point  in  difpute. 
We  commonly  are  at  li  What's  the  reafon 
ff  of  it,"  as  Selden  fays,  before  we  are  fure 
of  the  thing  ;  and  he  interpofes  an   excellent 

*  Hift.  ii.  44- 

f  "  The  fitting  up  all  night  caufed  many  through  weak- 
"  nefs  or  wearinefs  to  leave  the  Houfe,  and  Sir  B.  R.  to  com- 
"  pare  it  to  the  verdict  of  a  ftarved  jury  "  (Memorials,  51,  ed.  White- 
1732).        In  reading  the  Memorials,  however,    valuable    as  locke's 
they  are,  it  is  always  neceflary  to  keep  in  mind  not  only  the  Memo- 
faft  that  they  were  compiled  at  a  time  not  very  favourable  to  rials. 
the  caufe  which  the  author  had  once  ftrongly  fupported,  and 
that  great  portions  of  them  confift  of  paragraphs  taken  not 
very  difcriminatingly  from  Journals  and  Newfpapers,  but  the 
fufpicion  which  there  is  good  ground   for  entertaining  that  Not  reij. 
they  were  very  greatly  interpolated  before  publication.     The  ^hXt. 
publication  took  place  in  Charles  the  Second's  reign,  twenty- 
two  years  after   the   reftoration,    feven    after    Whitelocke's 
death. 


3 16  The  Grand  Remonfirance. 

queftion  of   my    Lady  Cotton's,    fC  when  Sir 

cc  Robert  was  magnifying  of  a  fhoe,   which 

cc  was  Mofes's  or  Noah's,  and  wondering  at 

Truth  of    tc  the  ftrange  fhape  and  fafhion  of  it,  but,  Mr. 

the  cafe.      <c  Qotton,  fayS  me>  arg  y0U  Jure  //  js  a  J]-,oe  ?  " 

The  real  truth  in  this  cafe  appears  to  be,  that 

there  is  no  fhoe.     The  evidence  difproves  the 

aflertion  that  a  number  of  "old  and  infirm 

Cf  oppofers  "  had  been  driven  away  before  the 

Numbers   v°te  by  the  latenefs  of  the  hour.     Very  few 

on  firft      indeed,   and  thofe   only  occasional  ftragglers, 

m  ion .     j^acj  qUjttec^  tjie  jjoufe  before  the  great  divifion. 

Two    divisions  on  minor  points  preceded  it, 

as  we  have  feen,  with  fome  interval  interpofed; 

yet    upon  the    firft,   three    hundred   and    ten 

members  divided,  and  upon  the  fecond,  three 

On  fecond  hundred  and  eight ;    and    thefe,   being   more 

divifion:    than  three  fifths  of  the  entire    Houfe,   were 

certainly  as  large  an  aflemblage  as  had  been 

muftered  fince  the  Recefs  within  its  walls.* 

What,  then,  were  the  numbers  on  the  third 
and  moft  important  divifion  ?  They  had  been 
reduced  by  fimply  one  vote,  and  this  in  all 
probability  the  vote  of  Secretary  Nicholas. 
I  quote  the  entry  from  the  Journals,  j*     cf  The 

*  This  point  has  already  been  adverted  to  ante,  163-4; 

and  I  will  only  add  that  in  a  debate  reported  by  D'Ewes  on  the 

Numbers     T3*^  °^  the  month  following  that  in  which  the  Remonftrance 

commonly  was  Pa^e<^>  'f  appears  that  the  exaft  number  abfent  on  the  latter 

prefent        occafion  were   abfent  ftill.     The    expreffion   ufed    is,    "  200 

"  members  ftill  abfent  after  our  recefs."  And  in  this  particular 

debate,  "  Sir  John  Evelyn  of  Surrey"  undertook  to  fliow  that 

that  number  "  had  not  been  here  fince  this  fecond  meeting." 

On  this  fame  occafion  it  was  that  Strode  made  the  propofition, 

already  referred  to,  to  fine  a  member  50/.  or  expel  him,   if  he 

quitted  town  without  leave.    "It  was,"  faysD'Ewes,  "much 

"  debated,  but  laid  afide." 

-f-  Commons'"  Journals:  ii.  322. 


§  xvii.    Queftion  Put,  and  Palmer's  Prot eft.  317 

tc  queftion  being  propofed,   whether  this  De- 
claration,   thus  amended,    fhall    pafs;     the 
if  queftion    was    put,    whether    this    queftion 
cf  mould  be  firft  put  ?  and  it    went  with    the 
<c  Yeas  :     And    then    the  queftion    was    put,  0n  third 
ct  whether    this    Declaration,    thus   amended,  divifion : 
<c  fhall  pafs  ?     The  Houfe  was  divided.     Sir  3°7' 
ff  Frederick  Cornwallis  and  Mr.   Strangways, 
"  tellers   for   the  Noe,  148  ;  Sir  John   Clot- 
fc  worthy  and  Mr.  Arth.  Goodwyn  tellers  for 
"the  Yea,  159.     Refolved,   upon  the    quef- 
<(  tion,   that  this  Declaration,  thus    amended, 
"fliallpafs." 

The  queftion  fo  long  and  defperately  de- 
bated had  hardly  thus  been  fettled,  however, 
when  that  new    queftion  arofe  which  was  to 
create  a  new  and  worfe  agitation,  and  to  carry  New  quef- 
almoft    to   the    pitch    of   frenzy    the   excited  ti0.n 
paffions    of  the   Houfe.      As  foon  as  the  vote 
was  declared,  Clarendon  proceeds  to  fay  in  his 
Hiftory,   "Mr.   Hampden  moved  that  there 
C£  might  be  an  order  entered  for    the  prefent 
<c  printing  it,  which  produced  a  fharper  debate 
"  than  the  former.     It  appeared  then"  (as  if 
this    had    not  been    avowed    all  through    the 
debate),   "  that  they  did  not  intend  to  fend  it  ciaren- 
tcup  to  the  houfe  of  peers  for  their  concur- dor}'sNar- 
"rence  ;  but  that  it  was  upon    the  matter  an  Hijj.Vi 
"  appeal  to  the  people,  and  to  infufe  jealoufies  42- 
cc  into  their  minds.     It  had  never*  been  the 
"cuftom    to  publifh   any    debates    or    deter- 

*  The  firft  editors  of  Clarendon  feem  to  have  been  fo 
ftartled  by  his  ufe  of  this  word,  in  dire6l  contradiction  of  a 
well-known  faft,  that  they  fubftituted  "feldom"  for  it.  The 
genuine  text  was  only  reftored  in  1826-7. 


3i8 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 


As  to 
Hyde's 
proteft. : 


as  to 
Palmer's 


as  to 
others 


as  to 
clofe  of 
debate : 


fc  urinations  of  the  Houfe,  which  were  not 
cc  regularly  firft  tranfmitted  to  the  houfe  of 
"peers;  nor  was  it  thought,  in  truth,  that 
"  the  Houfe  had  authority  to  give  warrant 
if  for  the  printing  of  anything ;  all  which 
iC  was  offered  by  Mr.  Hyde,  with  fome 
cc  warmth,  as  foon  as  the  motion  was  made  for 
"  the  printing  it:  and  he  said,  che  did  believe 
<c  c  the  printing  it  in  that  manner  was  not 
(C  f lawful;  and  he  feared  it  would  produce 
"  '  mifchievous  effects;  and  therefore  defired 
"  '  the  leave  of  the  Houfe,  that  if  the  queftion 
c<  c  mould  be  put,  and  carried  in  the  affir- 
<(  fmative,  that  he  might  have  liberty  to 
"  f  enter  his  proteftation  ;'  which  he  no  fooner 
"  faid  than  Geoffrey  Palmer  (a  man  of  great 
lc  reputation,  and  much  efteemed  in  the  Houfe) 
<c  flood  up,  and  made  the  fame  motion  for 
"  himfelf,  c  that  he  might  likewife  proteft.' 
<c  When  immediately  together,  many  after - 
cc  wards,  without  diftinclion,  and  in  some 
'c  diforder,  cried  out,  'They  did  proteft:' 
<c  fo  that  there  was  after  fcarce  any  quiet 
cc  and  regular  debate.  But  the  Houfe  by 
(C  degrees  being  quieted,  they  all  confented, 
"  about  two  of  the  clock  in  the  morning,  to 
"  adjourn  till  two  of  the  clock  the  next 
<c  afternoon." J'* 

So  did  the  chief  actor  in  a  very  memorable 
fcene,  writing  deliberately  in  his  exile  a  few 
years  after  the  event,  when  nothing  of  the 
dignities,  the  refponfibilities,  or  the  trials  in- 
cident to  his  later  life,  had  occurred  to  impair 
or  preoccupy  his  memory,  defcribe  the  clofe 
of  a  ftormy  debate  in  which  he   had    taken  fo 


§  xvii.    Queftion  Put,  and  Palmer's  Proteft.  319 

prominent  a  part.     We  fhall  fhortly  be  able 
to  tell  its  accuracy.     With  how  much  accu- 
racy the  fame  writer  had  before  defcribed  its 
commencement,  has    already  been  feen.*     Of 
the  fimilar  fpirit  in  which  its  progrefs  had  alfo 
been  narrated,    the  reader  who  has  here  had 
all  its  details  before  him  will  be  able  to  judge,  as  to 
when  he    is  further    informed,   ftill    on  Lord  !nc.^en^s 
Clarendon's  authority,f  that {C  the  debate  held  grefs. 
Cf  many  hours,    in  which  the  framers  and  con- 
ff  trivers  of  the  Declaration   faid  very  little, 
cf  nor  anfwered  any  reafons   that  were  alleged 
(i  to  the  contrary  :  the  only  end  of  pafTing  it, 
cc  which  was  to  incline  the  people  to  fedition, 
fC  being  a    reafon  not  to  be   given  :   but  ftill 
cc  called    for    the    queftion,   prefuming    their 
"  number,  if  not  their  reafon,  would  ferve  to 
cc  carry  it;   and  after  two  of  the  clock  in  the 
Cf  morning  (for  fo  long  the  debate  continued, 
<c  if  that  can  be  called  a  debate  where  thofe 
"  only  of  one  opinion  argued),  when  many  had 
ec  gone  home,  &c.  &c."      It  may  be  doubted  A  tiflue 
if  hiftory  contains    fuch    another    inftance  ofj^™1" 
flagrant  and  deliberate  falfification  of  the  truth,  ments. 
committed  by  one  to  whom  the  truth  was  per- 
fonally  known. 

Nor  unworthy  to  rank  befide  it  are  the  fen- 
tences  firft  quoted,    defcriptive   of  what   fol- 
lowed as  to  his  own  and  Palmer's  proteftation 
when  the  Remonftrance  had  pafled.     It  was  Real 
not  Hampden  who   moved  the  order   for  the  m?ve.r  of 
printing,  J    but    Mr.  Peard,  the    member  for pr" 

*  See  ante,  p.  214.  f  Hift.u,  594-5. 

\  It  is  ibmewhat  ftrange  that  this  particular  misftatement 
fliould  have   been  made  by  ^Clarendon,  whofe  habit  it  is  to 


3 


20  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Mr.Peard.  Barnftaple,  a  lawyer  of  the  Middle  Temple 
in  good  repute  in  his  profeffion,  and  who  had 
fat  in  the  laft  as  well  as  the  present  parlia- 
ment.    It   was    not   then  announced  for  the 

reprefent  Hampden  as  invariably,  on  fuch  occafions,  referving 
himfelf  in  the  background  and  putting  others  in  the  front.     I 
am  bound  to  add  that  Clarendon  feems  to  have  fliared  with 
others  this  habit,  which  I  once  thought  peculiar  to  himfelf. 
Hyde  and  For,  as  it  is  one  of  the  objects  of  this  Work  to  mow  how  en- 
Hampden.  tirely  untruftworthy  is  his  authority  for  any  ftatement  adverfe 
to  the  leaders  againft   Charles  I,  it  is  the  more  neceffary  not 
to  omit  any  inftance  in  which  fuch  ftatements  made  by   him 
find  unexpected  fupport.     Thus,    in  an  entry  of   D'Ewes's 
Journal  relating  to  the  debate  of  "  the  Bill  of  Epifcopacy," 
on  the   ioth  June,  1641,  after  mentioning  that  the  bill  was 
moved  by  Sir  Robert  Harley,the  member  for  Herefordfhire,  Sir 
D'Ewes      Simonds  adds:    "  Mr.  Pym,  Mr.  Hampden,  and  others,  with 
on  Hamp-  "  Mr.  Stephen  Marfhall,  parfon  ofFinchingfield  in  the  county 
den.  "  °f  EfTex,  and  fome  others,  had  met  yefternight  and  appointed 

"  that  this  bill  fliould  be  proceeded  withal  this  morning,   and 
"  the  faid  Sir  Robert  Harley  moved  it  firft  in  the  Houfe  :   for 
"  Mr.  Hampden,  out  of  his  ferpentine  fubtlcty,    did  ftill  put 
"  others  to  move  thofe  bufineffes   that  he  contrived."     It  is 
impofTible   not  to  compare  this  with  what   Clarendon    fays 
(Hiji.  iv.  93)  of  Hampden's  moderation  during  the  firft  year 
of  the   Long  Parliament,   "that  wife  and  difpafTioned  men 
Art  of        "plainly  difcerned  that  that  moderation  proceeded  from  pru- 
making       «<  dence,  and  obfervation  that  the  feafon  was  not  ripe,  rather 
ufe  of  "  than  that  he  approved  of  the  moderation  ;  and  that  he  be- 

others :  "  gat  many  opinions  and  notions,  the  education  whereof  he 
"  committed  to  other  men,  fo  far  difguifing  his  own  defigns, 
"  that  he  feemed  feldom  to  wifh  more  than  was  concluded." 
The  reader  will  at  the  fame  time  not  too  haftily  conclude, 
that,  even  afluming  the  feeling  reflected  in  thefe  paflages  to 
have  been  entertained  by  members  on  both  fides  of  the  Houfe, 
it  is  neceflarily  the  true  one.  Hampden's  was  a  character, 
more  than  moil  men's,  open  to  mifconception.  He  was  pecu- 
liarly felf-reliant  and  felf-contained,  and  in  a  remarkable  de- 
gree he  had  the  faculty  of  fdence.  Until  the  time  arrived  for 
fpeaking,  he  had  never  the  leaft  difpoiition  to  utter  what  lay 
within  the  depths  of  his  breaft — alta  mente  repoftum.  On  no 
man  of  this  great  period  is  fo  unmiftakeably  imprefled  the 
*•»  .  qualities  which  fet  apart  the  high-bred  Englifh  gentleman, 
t  °"  calm,  courteous,  reticent,  felf-pofTefled  ;  yet  with  a  perfuafive 
force  fo  irrefiftible,  and  a  will  and  energy  fo  indomitable,  lying 
in  thofe  filent  depths,  that  all  who  came  within  their  reach 
came  alfo  under  their  control.     Clarendon,   though  he  ftill 


§  xvn.    Que/Hon  Put,  and  Palmer's  Proteft.  321 

firft  time,  but  had  fubftantially  been  confefTed 
all  through  the  debate,  that  the  Declaration 
was  meant  as  an  appeal  to  the  people.     And  True 
fo  far  from  the  defire  to    Cf  proteft  "   having  °bJeft  ot 
arifen  naturally  and  fuddenly  out  of  that  an-  tellers." 
nouncement,  we  have  feen,  by  the  irrefragable 
evidence  unconfcioufly  afforded  in    Secretary 
Nicholas's  letter  to  the  King,  that  the  proteft 
had    been    concerted   as   a  party   move,  and 
made  known    to   the    King's    fervants  before 
the  Declaration    was  voted.      The    intention 
was  obvious.     It   was   meant  to  divide,    and  To  divide 
by  that  means  deftroy,   the  authority   of  the  *"^ 
Houfe  of  Commons.     It  was  a  plan  delibe-  authority 
rately   devifed    to    exhibit,    before    the    face of  Houre- 
of  the  country,  the  Minority  as  in  open  con- 
flict againft  the  Majority,  and  as  poffefled  of 
rights   to   be    exercifed   independently.     The 


imparts  his  own  colour  to  the  feeling,  gives  it  fairer  expreffion 

in  the  pafTages  where  he  fpeaks  of  his  poffeiTing  "that  iteming 

"  humility  and  fubmiffion  of  judgment  as  if  he  brought  no  Claren- 

"  opinion  of  his  own  with  him,  but  a  defire  of  information  and  don  :  Hiji. 

"  initruclion  ;  yet  had  fo  fubtle  a  way  of  interrogating,  and,  iv.  92. 

"  under  the  notion  of  doubts,  infinuating  his  objections,  that 

"  he  left  his  opinions  with  thofe  from  whom  he  pretended  to 

"  learn  and  receive  them."     And  again  he  fays  :  "  He  was 

"  not  a  man  of  many  words,  and  rarely  begun  the  difcourfe, 

"  or  made  the  firft  entrance   upon    any   bufinefs    that    was 

"  affirmed;  but  a  very  weighty  fpeaker,  and  after  he  had 

"  heard  a  full  debate,  and  obferved  how  the  Houfe  was  like 

"  to  be  inclined,  took  up  the  argument,  and  fhortly,    and 

"  clearly,  and  craftily,  fo  ftated  it,  that  he  commonly  con- 

"  dueled  it  to  the  conclufion  he  d'efired  ;  and  if  he  found  he  A  go- 

"  could  not  do  that,   he  was  never  without  the  dexterity  to  vernor  of 

"  divert  the  debate  to  another  time,  and  to  prevent  the  deter-  men. 

"  mining  anything  in  the  negative  which  might  prove  incon- 

"  venient  in  the  future."  Hiji.  i.  323-4.     Here  we  have  again 

the  craft  and  the  fubtlety,  but  it  is  lefs  "  ferpentine."     I  have 

enlarged  upon  this  theme  in  my  Arreft  of  the  Five  Members, 

§  xvii. 

Y 


322 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Why  fo 

refolutely 

refilled. 


Exlftence 
of  Houfe 
involved. 


Unex- 
ampled 
fcene. 


balance  would  be  thus  redrefTed;  and  the 
King's  party,  outvoted  in  the  Houfe,  would 
yet  be  a  recognifed  power  without  its  walls, 
and  would  carry  thenceforward  a  fhare  of  its 
authority.  Happily,  the  leaders  faw  the  inten- 
tion, and  on  the  inftant  met  and  defeated  it. 
The  right  to  proteft,  they  faid,  never  had 
been,  and  never  could  be,  admitted  there. 
The  Houfe  of  Commons  was  indivifible.  It 
acted  with  one  will,  and  one  power;  and  it 
exercifed  rights  with  which  individual  claims 
were  incompatible.  Its  authority  derived  from 
the  people,  its  privilege  to  addrefs  them,  its 
power  to  tax  them,  refted  upon  a  foundation 
that  would  at  once  be  undermined  and  over- 
thrown by  what  Hyde  and  his  friends  had 
afked  for. 

To  ufe  merely  the  language  of  Clarendon 
in  giving  account  of  what  followed  thereupon, 
and  fimply  to  fay  that  many  members  role 
to  fpeak  without  diftinction  and  in  fome  dif- 
order,  fo  that  there  was  after  fcarce  any 
quiet  and  regular  debate,  were  to  offer  a  faint 
verfion  indeed  of  the  truth.  Never  had  thofe 
walls  witneffed  fuch  a  fcene  as  now,  from  the 
report  of  eye-witnefles  lefs  prejudiced  and 
partial,  waits  to  be  defcribed. 


H 


§  xviii.     Valley  of  the  Shadow  of 
Death. 


Remon-  Hardly  had  announcement  been  made  of 
ftran"  the  divifion  which  carried  the  Remonftrance 
i  sg'to  y  by  a  majority  of  eleven  votes,  when  one  more 
!4-8-  ftrenuous  effort  was  made  to  have  it  addreffed 


§  xviii.     Valley  of  the  Shadozv  of  Death.  32? 

to  the  King.     This  was  fuccefsfully  refitted; 
Denzil  Hollis  expreffing  his  intention  to  move,  Pojl,  34.3. 
on  another  occafion,  that  it  mould  be  referred 
to  a  committee  to  give  effect  to  the  modified 
fuggeftion  already  thrown  out  by  Pym.      Mr. 
Peard  then  moved  that  the  Declaration  might  Peard 
be  printed,  which  was  oppofed  with  the  greater!;  m?v" 
warmth  and  vehemence  by  Hyde  and  Culpeper; 
Hyde  again  giving  utterance  to  the  extraordi- 
nary opinion  he  had  ventured  to  exprefs  in  the 
debate,  that  the  Houfe  of  Commons  had  no  Hyde, 
right  to  print  without  the  Lords'  concurrence.  °PPofes- 
Wherefore,  he  added,  if  the  motion  were  per- 
flated in,  he  fhould  afk  the  leave  of  the  Houfe 
to    have    liberty  to   enter   his   proteft.     Cul- 
peper's  fpeech  in  the  fame  ftrain,  replying  to 
the  determined  objection  made  upon  this,  firft  Confufed 
very  calmly  by  Pym,  and  then  more  excitedly  debate- 
by  Denzil  Hollis,  carried  the  excitement  ftill 
higher;  and  in  the  midft  of  it  were  now  heard 
feveral   voices,   and    among    them    very   con- 
fpicuoufly  that  of  Palmer,  crying  out  that  they 
alfo    protected.     Some    one    then    rofe,    and 
moved  that  the  names  of  the  protefters  might  Members 
be  taken ;  but  this,  being  declared  againft  the  Protefting- 
forms   and    orders,  was  not    at    the   moment 
preffed.   cc  So,"  according  to  D'Ewes's  account, 
derived  from  Sir  Chriftopher  Yelverton,  <f  this 
<l  matter  was  underftood  to  be  laid  afide  until 
"  a  further  time  of  debate,  when  everybody 
cc  thought  the  bufinefs  had  been  agreed  upon, 
<c  and  that  the   Houfe   mould  have   rifen,   it 
"  being  about  one  of  the  clock  of  the  morning  Palmer 
Cf  enfuing,    when     Mr.    Geoffrey    Palmer,    a  1T1°V" t0 
"  lawyer  of  the  Middle  Temple,  flood  up."  names 

Y  2 


324 


The  Grand  Remonjirance . 


of  all 
claiming 
to  protelh 


Cries  of 

"All! 

All!" 


Palmer 
protefts 
for  "  all. 


Sudden 
fury  of 
excite- 
ment. 


"  I 

thought 
we  had  all 
fat  in  the 
Valley  of 
the  Sha- 
dow of 
Death." 


He  fhould  not  be  fatisfied,  he  faid,  for  himfelf 
or  thofe  around  him,  unlefs  a  day  were  at  once 
appointed  for  difcuflion  of  whether  the  right  to 
proteft  did  not  exift  in  that  Houfe;  and  mean- 
while he  would  move,  with  reference  to  fuch 
future  difcuflion,  that  the  Clerk  fhould  now 
enter  the  names  of  all  thofe  whofe  claim  to 
proteft  would  then  have  to  be  determined. 
At  thefe  words  the  excitement  broke  out 
afrefh;  loud  cries  of  "All!  All!"  burft  from 
every  fide  where  any  of  Hyde's  party  fat;  and 
Palmer,  carried  beyond  his  firft  intention  by 
the  paflion  of  the  moment,  cried  out  unex- 
pectedly that  he  did  for  himfelf  then  and  there 
proteft,  for  himfelf  and  all  the  reft — f<  of  his 
"  mind,"  he  afterwards  declared  that  he  meant 
to  have  added,  but  for  the  ftorm  which  fud- 
denly  arofe. 

The  word  All  had  fallen  like  a  lighted 
match  upon  gunpowder.  It  was  taken  up, 
and  pafled  from  mouth  to  mouth,  with  an 
exafperation  bordering  on  frenzy ;  and  to  thofe 
who  in  after  years  recalled  the  fcene,  under 
that  fudden  glare  of  excitement  after  a  fitting 
of  fifteen  hours, — the  worn-out  weary  aflem- 
blage,  the  ill-lighted  dreary  chamber,  the  hour 
founding  One  after  midnight,  confufed  loud 
cries  on  every  fide  breaking  forth  unexpectedly, 
and  ftartling  geftures  of  violence  accompanying 
them, — it  prefented  itfelf  to  the  memory  as  a 
very  Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death.  "  All ! 
c<  all  !  "  fays  D'Ewes,  was  cried  from  fide  to 
fide  ;  "  and  fome  waved  their  hats  over  their 
"  heads,  and  others  took  their  fwords  in  their 
<c  fcabbards  out  of  their  belts,  and  held  them  by 


§  xviii.      Valley  of  the  Shadow  of  Death.  325 

cc  the  pummels  in  their  hands,  fetting  the  lower  Swords 
Cf  part  on  the  ground;  fo,  as  if  God  had  notre^[.f°|" 
cc  prevented  it,  there  was  very  great  danger 
<c  that  mifchief  might  have  been  done.     All 
<c  thofe  who  cried  All>  all,  and  did  the  other 
<c  particulars,   were  of  the   number   of  thofe 
<f  that  were  againft  the  Remonftrance."     And 
among  them  was  the  promifing  young  gentle- 
man of  the  King's  houfe,  Mr.  Philip  Warwick, 
the  member  for  Radnor,  who  bethought  him, 
as  we  have  feen,  of  that  brief  fcriptural  com- 
parifon  from  the  wars  of  Saul  and  David,*  parallel 
his    application   of  which  comprifed   all  that,  from 
until  now,  was  known  to  us  of  this  extraordi-  J^J 
nary  fcene.     He  thought  of  what  Abner  faid 
to  Joab,  and  Joab  to  Abner,  when  they  met 
on  either  fide  of  the  pool  of  Gibeon ;  and  how, 
having  arifen  at  the  bidding  of  their  leaders  to 
make  trial  of  prowefs,  their  young  men  caught 
every  one  his  fellow  by  the  head,  and  thruft 
his  fword  in  his  fellow's  fide,  and  fo  fell  down 
together  ;  a  refult  which  might  have  followed  Calm- 
here,  had  not  the  fagacity  and  great  calmnefs  of  nds  oi 
Mr.  Hampden,  by  a  fhortfpeech,  prevented  it^.  (^?  e 

It  is  not  perhaps  difficult  to  imagine,  from 
what  D'Ewes  goes  on  to  fay  of  the  fhort  but 
memorable   fpeech,   with    what  exquifite  tact 
and  felf-control  this  profound  matter  of  debate 
calmed  down   the  paffions  of  that  dangerous 
hour.     He  faw  at  once  that  the  motion  for  shows 
printing  could  not  then  with  fafety  be  perfifted  Palmer's 
in  ;  and,  reminding  the  Houfe  that  there  might  P;on"mp~ 
be  many  who,  having  fupported  the  Remon- 

*  Samuel  11.  Chap.  ii.  v.  12-16.     And  feeante,  p.  112. 


i6 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


How 
fhould  he 
anfwer 
for  "  all.' 


The 

Houfe 

calmed. 


Printing 
to  be  left 
nnfettled. 


Fourth 
Divifion  : 

I24tOIOI, 


ftrance,  might  yet  be  oppofed  to  the  printing 
of  it,  he  afked  how  any  one  could  fo  far  know 
the  minds  of  fuch  as  to  prefume  to  enter  a 
proteft  for  them  ?  cc  Some  who  were  againft 
<f  the  printing  of  the  Remonftrance,"  fays 
D'Ewes, cc  yet  difavowed  Mr.  Palmer's  defiring 
"  to  have  a  proteftation  entered  in  their  names; 
'  t(  and  Mr.  Hampden  demanded  of  him  how  he 
ce  could  know  other  men's  minds?  To  whom 
cc  Mr.  Palmer  anfwered,  having  leave  of  the 
u  Houfe  to  fpeak,  that  he  having  once  before 
"  heard  the  cry  f  All,  AH,'  he  had  thereupon 
<c  defired  to  have  the  faid  proteftation  entered 
"  in  all  their  names." 

The  mere  queftion  and  anfwer  had  quelled 
the  unnatural  excitement,  and  brought  the 
Houfe  again,  as  Hampden  anticipated,  within 
government  and  rule.  Agreement  was  then 
come  to,  that  the  queftion  as  to  the  printing 
of  the  Declaration  fhould  for  the  prefent  be 
left  undetermined,  with  the  understanding  that 
it  was  not  to  be  printed  without  fpecial  leave. 
Hyde's  party  would  further  have  reftricted  this 
order,  by  introducing  the  word  "publifhed" 
into  it ;  but  Pym,  refufing  to  confent  to  that 
addition,  divided  the  Houfe  once  more,  and 
carried  the  original  propofal,  tc  that  this  Decla- 
11  ration  fhall  not  be  printed  without  the  par- 
fC  ticular  order  of  the  Houfe,"  by  a  majority 
of  twenty-three  :  thus  leaving  the  publication 
free,  and  reftraining  the  printing  only  until 
further  order.  The  numbers  were  1 24  to 
10 1  ;  Sir  Edward  Dering  and  Sir  Robert 
Crane,  D'Ewes's  colleague  in  the  reprefentation 
of  Sudbury,  being  tellers   for  the    minority  ; 


§  xix.    Sitting  of  Tuefday,  the  13rd  Nov.  327 

and  for  the  majority,  Sir  Walter  Earle  and 
Mr.  Richard  Knightly,  the  member  for  North- 
ampton. Between  the  laft  divifion  and  the 
prefent,  thirty-five  of  Pym's  party  and  forty- 
feven  of  Hyde's  had  quitted  the  Houfe.  And  Houfe 
fo,  fays  D'Ewes,  "the  Houfe  arofe  juft rifes s AM- 
tc  when  the  clock  {truck  two  the  enfuing 
tc  morning." 

In  the  rufh  to  the  door  after  their  weary 
fitting  of  eighteen  hours,  Falkland  and  Crom- 
well parted  out  together  ;   and  Hyde  afterwards 
reported,    on  the  relation  of  his  friend,  that 
even  the  member  for  Cambridge,  ufually  fo 
<c  tempeftuous  "  in  behaviour,  mowed  no  ex- 
ultation at  the  victory  his  party  had  gained. 
Not  as  of  a  triumph  won,  but  as  of  a  danger  what 
narrowly  efcaped,  was  Cromwell's  reference  to  Cromwell 
the  vote  which    had    clofed    this   momentous  t^e  v°  te 
debate.      If  it  had  gone  againft  them  in  that 
vote,   he  faid,  he  and  many  other  honeft  men 
he  knew  would  have  fold   all  they  had    this 
very  morning,  and  never  have  feen  England 
more.     And  though  the  fpeaker  is  not,  per- 
haps, likely  in  exprefs  terms  to  have  faid  this, 
any  more  than  to  have  acted  in  any  fuch  fafhion, 
the    anecdote    doubtlefs    reprefents  what  fub- 
ftantially  was  not  untrue.     The  turning  point  Turning 
of  freedom   or   defpotifm   for  two  more  cen-  Point  ot 
turies    in  England  was  probably   pafTed    that  defpotifm. 
night. 

§  xix.    Sitting  of  Tuesday,  the  23RD 
November. 
Clarendon  fixes  as  late  as  three  o'clock  the  Tuefday, 
hour  of  meeting   on  the    day  following   the 23R     ov" 


328  The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 

famous  fitting  of  which  I  have  thus,  for  the 
Houfe       firft    time,    given   all    the    impreflive   details. 
™"os        But   in    reality  the    Houfe   afTembled  only  a 
o'clock,     little  later  than  the  ufual  hour.     Much   im- 
portant bufinefs,  not  admitting  of  delay,  was  in 
hand  ;  and  the  further  loan  of  fifty  thoufand 
pounds  from  the  City  for  the  Irifh  affairs,  to 
bear  interefr.  at  eight  per  cent.,  had  this  day 
to  be   completed.     A  little   incident   marked 
the  temper  of  the  Houfe.     Early  in  the  month 
the  Queen's  confeifor,  Father  Philips,  had  for 
contumacious  conduct  been  committed  by  the 
Bufinefs     Lords  to  the  Tower,  and  no  order  was  to  be 
m  hand.    gjven  for  njs  re]eafe  without  the  knowledge  of 
the  Commons.     He  had  now  made  fubmirTion, 
and  in  deference  to  an  urgent  meffage  from 
the  Queen,  the  Lords  had  ordered  his  releafe ; 
but  on  their  meffenger  bringing  this  intimation 
to    the    Commons,  a  peremptory  refufal  was 
fent  back,  and  Father  Philips  had  to  return  to 
the  Tower.     This  incident  had  paffed,  and  it 
Four  p.m.  was  nearly  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  when 
toy!afteferS  -^ym  aro^e3   and  made  allufion  to  the  fcene  of 
night's      the  night  before.     He  lamented  the  diforder 
fcene.        on  that  occafion,  which,  he  faid,  might  pro- 
bably have  engaged  the  Houfe  in  blood.     It 
proceeded   principally,   he   continued,    by  the 
offering  a  proteflation,  which  had  never  before 
been  offered  in  that  affembly  ;  and  was  a  tranf- 
grefTion  that  ought  to  be  feverely  examined, 
that  mifchief  hereafter  might  not  refult  from 
Mif-         the  precedent.     He  therefore  propofed  that  the 
chievous    j-joufe  mould  the  next   morning;  enter  upon 

claim  put  .  .  o  t       x 

forward :   that   examination  :    and  in    the   meantime  he 
advifed  that  men  might  recollect  themfelves, 


§  xix.    Sitting  ofTuefday,  the  23rd  Nov.  329 

and  they  who  ufed  to  take  notes  might  perufe  to  be 
their  memorials ;  to  the  end  that  the  perfons  dlicufl"ed 
who  were  the  chief  caufers  of  the  diforder 
might  be  named,  and  defend  themfelves  the 
beft  they  could.  "And  with  this  refolution," 
adds  Clarendon,  "  the  Houfe  rofe ;  the  vex- 
<c  ation  of  the  night  before  being  very  vifible 
"  in  the  looks  and  countenances  of  many."* 

How  far  the  further  ftatement  made  herein  The  truth, 
by  Clarendon  is  to  be  believed,  muft  be  judged  and  Co- 
upon the  facts.      He  fays,  as  we    have    feen,  verfionof 
that  the  Houfe    did    not   meet   till    three    in  it. 
the  afternoon  :  But  the  ftatement  in  D'Ewes's 
Notes  (and  this  is  borne  out  by  the  Journals) 
leaves  no  doubt  that  the  Houfe  was  in  debate 
foon  after  ten  o'clock.      He  alTerts  that   the  As  to 
moft  part  of  the  day  had  been  paffed  by  the  j^ffels 
leading  men  in  private    confutations,    having 
for  their  object  how  to  chaftife  fome  of  thofe 
who  moft  offended  them  the  night  before,  and 
how  to  punifh  the  attempt  to  introduce  the 
dangerous  and  unheard-of  precedent  of  pro- 
tefting  againft  the  fenfe  of  the  Houfe  :    But 
the  private  confultations  muft  in  that  cafe  have  Impoffible 
been    held  during    the   open    fitting,   for  the as  ftated- 
leading  men  on  Pym's  fide  were  unquestionably 
engaged,  in  public,  upon  the  bill  for    deter- 
mining   parliamentary    privilege,     upon     the 
Committee  of  Irifh  affairs,  upon    the  bill  of 
tonnage    and  poundage,  upon  the  City  loan, 
and  upon  the  cafe  of  the  Queen's  confeflbr. 
He  explains  that  the  fubject  of  private  conful- 

*  Hi/i.  ii.  46.  D'Ewes  fimply  fays  of  the  rifing  of  the 
Houfe,  that  "  they  appointed  to  meet  to-morrow  at  ten,  and 
"  rofe  between  four  and  five  of  the  clock." 


23°  The  Grand  Remonfirance. 

tation  was  all  the  more  grateful  to  the  c<  leading 
ft  violent  men  who  bore  the  greateft  fway," 
As  to  a     becaufe  they  mould  thereby  take  revenge  upon 
againft'     Mr-    HYde    (himfelf),  whom    they  perfectly 
himfelf:    hated  above  any  man,  and  to  whofe  activity 
they  imputed  the  trouble  they  had  fuftained 
the  day  before ;  only  they  encountered  an  un- 
expected difficulty  from  an  important  fection 
of  their  fupporters,  the  Northern  men  as  they 
re'ededb   were   called,    led   by  Sir  John   Hotham,    Sir 
Northern   Hugh   Cholmondeley,  and   Sir  Philip  Staple- 
men.         tonj  members  for  Beverley,  Scarborough,  and 
Boroughbridge,     who    were    fo    grateful    to 
Mr.   Hyde  for   his   fervices  in   overthrowing 
the    monftrous    oppreflion    of    the   Court    of 
York,  that  they  refufed  to  join  againft  him, 
though  very  eager  to  make  others  refponfible  ; 
As  to        and  he  adds  that  this  difpute,  which  broke  out 
difputes     m  trie  private  council  in  the  morning;,  occupied 

a.mon°"  the 

leaders.      aU  that   day  and  night,   and  was  only  termi- 
nated  by  the  compromife  of  felecting  another 
perfon,   Palmer,  to  bear  the  brunt  of  punifh- 
ment :  But  if  all  this  were  fo,  it  is  ftrange  that 
neither   Sir   Simonds  D'Ewes  nor  Sir  Ralph 
Verney,  in  Notes  ftill  preferved  exactly  as  they 
Not  con-    were  taken  at  the  moment,  mould  in  any  form 
firmed  by  conf]rm  or  make  allufion  to  it;  and  ftill  more 
or  Vemey.  ftrange  that  the  leaders  fhould  have  propofed 
to  make  Hyde  refponfible  for  the  minor  offence 
of  afking  leave  to  proteft,  which  had  led  to 
no  disturbance,  and  to  pafs  by  the  real  offence 
of  Palmer,  who  reopened  the  queftion  that  had 
been  laid    afide,    did  actually  proteft  without 
afking  leave,*  and  brought  on  the  fcene  that 

*  Clarendon  is  obliged  to  admit  this  diftin&ion,  even  where 


§  xx.      Debate  on  Palmer's  Protefl.  331 

followed.     It  will  be  perhaps  the  more  natural,  why  not 
and   certainly  no   unfair,  conclufion  to  form, credlble- 
that  the  writer  who  deliberately  had  mifrepre- 
fented    and    mifftated   every    fingle    fucceffive 
incident  in  thefe  memorable  debates,  has  mif- 
reprefented  this  alfo.     Happily  the  means  of  Refuted 
refutation    are    at   hand ;    and    from    records  ^y  MS. of 
taken  at  the  moment,  and  quite  above  fufpi- 
cion,  the  account  given  by  Clarendon  can  be 
corrected,  and  the  ftory  of  the  Grand  Remon- 
ftrance  be  faithfully  carried  to  its  clofe.     It  is 
but  another  chapter  of  the  fame  great  theme 
that  prefents  itfelf  in  the  Debate  on  Palmer's 
Proteft. 


§.  xx.     Debate  on  Palmer's  Protest. 

On   Wednefday,   the   24th   of  November,  Ninth 
the  Speaker  arrived  at  the  Houfe  at  about  ten  ^bfte; 
o'clock,  when,  after  prayers  were  read,  certain  day,  24th 
neceffary  bufinefs  of  no  great  intereft  was  done,  Nov- 
and    Pym    moved    the   appointment  of  fome 
committees.      He  then,   producing  a  printed 
pamphlet,  purporting  to  be  Articles  of  Accu- 
fation    preferred  againft:   Father    Philips,   and 
containing  matters  of  fcandal  againft  the  French  Pym  de- 
Ambaffador,  pointed  out  the  grave  offence  of  "ou"c" 
diffeminating  fuch  falfehoods,    and  called  the  prints. 
printer   to    the   bar.     Hereupon    Mr.  Ralph 
Goodwin,   the  member  for  Ludlow  (he  who 

he  is  doing  his  beft  to  exaggerate  the  caufe  of  offence  he  had  Claren- 
himlelf  given.  "  He  was  the  firft  "   (he  is  fpeaking  of  himfelf )  don  : 
"  who  made  the  proteftation,  that  is,   ajked  leave  to  do  it  ,•  #j/?.ii.  45. 
•*  which   produced  the  other  fubfequent   clamour,    that   was 
"  indeed  in  fome  diforder." 


2^1  'The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

was  afterwards  fecretary  to  Prince  Rupert), 
took  the  fame  opportunity  of  complaining,  that 
a  pamphlet  fcandalous  to  the  King  himfelf 
had  alfo  juft  been  printed,  purporting  to  be 
the  account  of  a  duel  between  Sir  Kenelm 
Com-        Digby  and  a  French  Lord,    as  to  which   he 

plaints  o    J  * 

ofPam-  moved  that  the  printer  thereof  might  alfo  be 
phleteers.  queftioned.  To  whom,  with  a  flmilar  com- 
plaint of  unauthorifed  printing,  fucceeded  Mr. 
Robert  Reynolds,  who  fat  for  Hindon  in 
Wiltfhire,  and  was  afterwards  one  of  the  King's 
judges,  and  who  brought  before  the  Houfe  the 
fact,  that  the  examination  of  a  delinquent  prieft, 
taken  by  one  of  their  committees,  flill  remain- 
ing in  his  own  porTeffion,  and  not  yet  reported 
f  to    the  Houfe,    had    been    fuddenly  iflued  in 

to  Com-    print;  an  offence  which  alfo  called  for  punifh- 
mitteefbr  ment.     "  Upon  all  which  motions,"  D'Ewes 
printing.    adds,  "  it  was   ordered  that  the  former  com- 
<c  mittee  for  printing   (of  which  I  was  one) 
<f  mould  meet   to-morrow  morning   at  feven 
"  of  the  clock,  in  the  Inner  Court  of  Wards, 
cc  and    mould     examine    thefe    abufes     now 
<c  complained  of,  and  all  other  abufes  of  the 
(c  kind,   and  to  confider  of  fome  way  for  the 
<c  preventing  thereof." 
Pym  Then  fucceeded  the  more  interefting  bufinefs 

fpeaks       of  the  day,  introduced  as  ufual  by  the  member 
"Sproteft  "  f°r  Taviftock.     He  called  the  attention  *  of 

*  This  opening  of  the  proceedings,  down   to  the  appear- 
ance of  Hotham  in  the  debate,  is  taken  from  Clarendon.     It 
Hill.  ii.        is  here  given  becaufe,  although  neither  in  the  notes  of  D'Ewes, 
.  6-  nor  thoie  of  Vernty,  is  there  any  mention  of  it, — both  begin- 

ning their  account  with  Hotham's  fpeech, — it  is  not  only 
quite  poflible  that  Hyde  may  have  ipoken  what  he  here  attri- 
butes to  himfelf,  but  it  is  even  likely  that  he  fo  endeavoured 


§  xx.     Debate  on  Palmer's  P rot  eft.  333 

the  Houfe  to  the  offence  which  had  been  com-  Shows  its 
mitted  on  Monday  night.     He  enlarged  upon   anger* 
the  mifchief  it  was  then  like  to  have  produced, 
and  which  would  unavoidably  be  produced,  if 
the  cuftom  or  liberty  of  individuals  protefting 
againft  the  fenfe  of  the  Houfe  mould  ever  be  ad- 
mitted.  That  was  the  firft  time  it  had  ever  been 
offered  there,  and  care  ought  to  be  taken  that  it 
mould  be  the  laft,  by  fevere  judgment  upon 
thofe  who  had  begun  the  prefumption.  Where- Hyde 
upon  Hyde  rofe  and  faid,   that  it  concerned   e  en  Slt: 
him  to  juftify  what  he  had  done,   being  the 
firft    man    who    mentioned    the    proteftation. 
But  he  was  interrupted  by  a  general  noife  and 
clamour,  one  half  the   Houfe  crying  to  him  amid  cla- 
to  <c  withdraw,"  and  the  other  half  to  "  fpeak."  mour- 
He  waited    awhile,   and    then    renamed.     He 
was  not  old  enough,   he   faid,   to    know  the 
ancient  cuftoms  of  that   Houfe  ;    but  he  well 
knew    it   was   a    very  ancient  cuftom   in  the 
Houfe  of   Peers.     Leave   was    never   denied  Why  not 
there  to  any  man  who  afked  that  he  might  pro-  Com™ons 

ii-vrr  •    n  •      i  as  well  as 

teft,  and  enter  his  dilient,  againlt  any  judgment  Lords? 
of  the  Houfe  to  which  he  would  not  be  under- 
ftood  to  have  given  his  confent ;  and  he  did 
not  understand  any  reafon  why  a  commoner 
fhould  not  have  the  fame  liberty,  if  he  defired 
not  to  be  involved  in  any  vote  which  he 
thought  might  poftibly  be  inconvenient  to  him. 
He  had  not  offered  his  proteftation  againft  the 
Remonftrance,  though  he  had  oppofed  it  all  he 

to  put  himfelf  forward,  when  he  found  that  his  friend  Palmer  Hyde  and 
was  to  be  called  to  account.     The  matter  of  the  fo-called  Palmer, 
private  difpute  raifed  as  between  Hyde  and  Palmer,  which  I 
altogether  difbelieve  in,  is  not  affected  by  it  either  way. 


334 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


Repeats 
proteft 
againft 
printing. 


Suggef- 
tion  by 
Strode: 


difre- 
garded. 


Mr. 

Hotham 

fpeaks. 


Attacks 
Palmer: 


as  leader 


could,  becaufe  it  remained  ftill  within  thofe 
walls.  He  had  only  defired  leave  to  proteft 
againft  the  printing  it ;  which,  he  thought, 
was  in  many  refpects  not  lawful  for  them  to 
do,  and  might  prove  very  pernicious  to  the 
public  peace. 

This  was  liftened  to  with  fome  impatience  ; 
and  at  its  clofe  the  member  for  Beeralfton, 
always  impetuous  and  forward  on  fuch  occa- 
fions,  was  for  having  the  Houfe  to  call  upon 
Mr.  Hyde  to  withdraw,  fince  he  confefTed  that 
he  firft  propofed  the  proteftation ;  but  Mr. 
Strode's  fuggeftion  was  difregarded,  and  not 
the  leaft  notice  appears  to  have  been  taken  of 
Mr.  Hyde's  own  propofal  to  make  a  martyr 
of  himfelf. 

Mr.  Hotham,  the  member  for  Scarborough, 
familiarly  called  Jack  Hotham,  the  fon  of  Sir 
John,  and  fo  foon  to  periih  with  him  on  a 
public  fcafFold  for  treafon  to  the  Parliament, 
rofe  now  and  faid  that  the  offence  committed  on 
Monday  night  which  the  Houfe  was  called  to 
vifit  with  its  fevereft  cenfure,  was  committed 
by  Mr.  Geoffrey  Palmer,  the  member  for 
Stamford.  A  gentleman  on  that  occafion  had 
offered,  with  the  leave  of  the  Houfe,  to  make 
a  proteftation,  and  another  had  feconded  him  ; 
upon  which  the  faid  Mr.  Palmer  had  without 
leave  cried  out,  /  do  proteft  ^  and,  further  en- 
couraging men  to  cry  out  every  man  the  fame, 
had  faid  that  he  protefted  "  for  himfelf  and 
"  the  reft."  Many  voices  here  interrupted 
Hotham,  fhouting  out  that  Palmer's  words 
were  "all  the  reft."  The  fpeaker  proceeded, 
and  fhowed  that  fuch  words  in  the  mouth  of 


§  xx.     Debate  on  Palmer's  Proteji.  335 

any  member,  tended  to  draw  on  a  mutiny  ;  of  a  mu- 
and  that  if  this  were  permitted  in  the  Houfe, tiny' 
any   one   might  make  himfelf  the  head  of  a 
faction  therein,  and  there  would  foon  then  be 
an  end  of  the  liberty  and  privileges  of  Parlia- 
ment,   and  they  might  fhut  up  their  doors.  Moves  to 
He  therefore  defired    that  Mr.   Palmer,   not have  him 
being  in  the  Houfe,  might  be  fent  for. 

Several  members  of  Hyde's  party  next  rofe, 
and  objected  to  Palmer's  being  fent  for  ;  and 
fome  wiihed  to  know  by  what  right  Mr. 
Hotham  had  applied  the  word  "faction"  to 
any  fection  of  members  in  that  Houfe.  But, 
adds  D'Ewes, iC  whilft  we  were  in  debate  about  Palmer 
"  fending  for  him,  Mr.  Palmer  came  in ; enters- 
"  and  then  Mr.  Hotham  laid  the  fame  charge 
"  againft  him  which  he  had  done  before,  for 
£f  the  fubftance  thereof."  Hereon,  he  con- 
tinues, fome  would  have  had  Mr.  Palmer  to 
make  his  anfwer,  and  then  to  withdraw  into 
the  Committee  Chamber,  that  fo  they  might 
proceed  to  cenfure  ;  but  others  faid,  that 
either  he  had  committed  no  fault  to  which  he 
was  to  anfwer,  or,  if  he  had  fpoken  anything 
amifs,  he  was  to  have  been  queftioned  for  it  at 
the  time  when  he  fpake  it,  and  not  at  this  time,  Conflict 
which  was  two  days  fince  the  pretended  words  of  friends 
were  uttered.  cc  And  this  was  maintained," 
fays  D'Ewes,  {i  with  great  vehemence  by  thofe 
<f  who  fpake  for  Mr.  Palmer." 

Hyde  and  Culpeper  were  as  ufual  the  moll 
vehement.  Speaking  to  the  orders  of  the 
Houfe,  Hyde  faid  *  the  charge  againft  Palmer 

*  Clarendon's   own  account  of  his  fpeech   is,  that,  upon 
Mr.  Palmer  being  called  upon  to  explain,   "  Mr.  Hyde  (who 


336  The  Grand  Remonfirance. 

Hyde        was  againft    the    orders,    being   he  was   only 
fupports     cliargeci  vvith  words,  not  with  any  ill  carriage. 
This  being  fo,  and  the  words  not  having  been 
excepted  againft  at  the  time  they  were  fpoken,  it 
was  now  no  orderly  charge.      For,  in  that  cafe, 
Too  late    a  man  might  be  queftioned  for  words  fpoken  a 
to  require  month  or  a  year  ago,  as  well  as  for  thofe  fpoken 
anfJve?.      on  Monday  laft.     Words  might  be  forged,  too, 
and  then  how  could  a  man  anfwer  for  himfelf  ? 
It  would  take  away  the  great  privilege  of  free- 
dom of  fpeech.      Culpeper  went  ftill  further. 
Alfo  fpeaking  to  the  orders  of  the  Houfe,  he 
took  the  objection,  that  the  members  afTembled 
Culpeper   on  that  day,  Wednefday  the  24th,  could  not  be 
on  iame     competent  judges  of  words  fpoken  on  Monday 
the  22nd,   becaufe  divers  were  on  this  occa- 
fion  prefent  who  en  the  former  were  abfent; 
although    he   did  not   deny  that    the    Houfe 
was   the  fame  in  refpeci  of  the  power  of  it. 
And  what  could  be  more  dangerous  than  for  a 
man  to  be  queftioned  for  words  fpoken  in  the 
Members   Houfe  after  the  time  he  mould  fpeak  them  ; 
tobequef-  for  might  he  not  in  fuch  cafe  be  alfo  queftioned 

tioned  °.  ,.  r        3 

only  at      M  another  parliament  alter  r 
fpeaking.        Thefe    confident   opinions   appear   to   have 
fhaken    fome   of   the   members  prefent;    the 

"  loved    him  much,   and  had    rather  have  fuffered   himfelf, 

"  than  that  he  mould)  (poke  to  the  order  of  the  Houfe,  and 

"  laid  that  it  was  againft  the  orders  and  practice  of  the  Houfe 

"  that  any  man  mould  be  called  upon  to  explain,  for  anything 

"  he  laid  in  the  Houie  two  days  before  ;  when  it  could  not  be 

"  prelumed  that  his  own  memory  could  recollect  all  the  words 

14  he  had  ufed  ;  or,  that  anybody  ell'e  could  charge  him  with 

Hyde  "  them  ;  and  appealed  to  the  Houfe  whether  there  was  any 

reported      "  precedent  of  the  like — and  there  is  no  doubt  there  never  had 

by  him-       "  been  ;    and   it  was  very  irregular."     The  account  of  the 

felf:  Hift.    fpeech  in  the  text,   however,  is  manifeftly  more  correct  than 

ii.  48.  this  notice  of  it  pieferved  by  its  author. 


§  xx.     Debate  on  Palmer's  Proteji.  337 

debate  went  on  with  increafing  heat ;  and  three 
hours  had  been  To  pafTed,  when  Denzil  Hollis  Denzil 
got  up,  and   declared   that  he  would  charge  Ho!lls 

a  ..      -pf5,  .  .  &     makes 

Mr.  Palmer  with  a  new  charge,  in  making  a  new 
pernicious  motion.  But  now,  Sir  Simonds  charge- 
D'Ewes,  fortified  with  precedents,  advanced  to 
the  refcue ;  undertaking  to  prove  that  the 
original  proportion  to  make  Palmer  refpon- 
fible  for  the  words  he  had  uttered,  was  ftriclly 
in  accordance  with  the  ufage,  and  no  violation 
of  the  orders,  of  the  Commons. 

He  began  by  faying  he  was  forry,  with  all  D'Ewes 
his  heart,  that  the  Houfe  mould  already  have  pea  s" 
loft  fo  much  time  about  this  bufinefs,  and  the 
more  becaufe  it  concerned  a  gentleman  whom 
he  had  long  known,  and  knew  to  be  learned  in 
his  profeflion.      But  he  wondered  to   fee  any  Replies  to 
member   of    that    Houfe,    and    much    more  Hyde- 
(alluding  to   Hyde)   any  of   the  long   robe, 
affirm    that    they    could    not    queftion    words 
fpoken  therein  any  day  after  they  were  fpoken, 
unlefs  exception  to  the  words  were  taken  at 
the   time  of  fpeaking.     "I  dare  be  bold  to 
fay,"  continued  Sir    Simonds,    warming    into 
confidence,    as   his  well-beloved    records   and 
precedents    came    to    him    at    need,    "  there 
"  are   almofl  precedents  in  every  Journal  we  Exhibits 
"  have  of   the  Houfe  of  Commons.      Some  Pre"_ 

dents. 

"  I  can  remember  upon  the  fudden,  as  Mr. 
iC  Copley,  in  the  time  of  Queen  Mary;  Mr. 
"  Peter  Wentworth,  in  35th  Elizabeth  ;*  and, 
li  in  43d  and  44th  of  the  fame  Queen,  either 

*  "  I  was  miftaken  in  the  year,"  notes  the  particular 
D'Ewes  in  the  margin  of  his  Journal,  "for  it  was  in — " 
but  alas  !  the  correction  is  not  legible  to  me. 


33%  The  Grand  Rem onjl ranee. 

<c  one  Haftings  took  exception  at  Mr.  Francis 

"  Bacon,  or  he  to  Haftings,  for  I  dare  not 

<c  truft  an  ill  memory  with  the  exact  relation 

Members   cc  of  it  upon  the  fudden.     And  all  thefe  were 

not  quel-   cc  queftioned  in  this  House  after  the  day  was 

elfewhere:  "  paffed   in  which   the   words  were   fpoken. 

cf  This,  indeed,  is  the  true,    ancient,  funda- 

Cf  mental  right  of  parliament,  that  we  ihould 

cc  not  be  queftioned  anywhere  elfe  for  things 

cc  fpoken    within   thefe   walls.     But   that   we 

Cf  mould  not  have  power  here  to  queftion  our 

"  own  members  for  words  fpoken  within  thefe 

"  walls,  either  at  the  time  when  the  faid  words 

cc  were  fpoken,  or  at  any  time  after  alfo,  were 

but  by  the  <<  to  deftroy  thofe  very  liberties  and  rights  of 

fny^me.   "  parliament/' 

Having  laid  down  thus  clearly  and  boldly 
the    undoubted    parliamentary    rule,    D'Ewes 
went  on  to  apply  it  to  Palmer's  cafe.     Pre- 
miflng  that  the  words  fpoken,  and  matter  of 
fact  in  iffue,  muft  be  ftated  exactly,  he  fhewed 
that  to  refift  any  propofal  to  queftion  the  fame, 
Judgment  whether  at  the  moment  of  delivery,  or  at  any 
of  Houfe   time  after,  would  be  to  decline  the  juftice  of 
avoidable.  tne  Houfe ;  which  for  his  part  he  fhould  never 
do,  but  fhould  always  be  ready  to  anfwer,  at 
any  prefent   or   future  time,   to  anything  he 
fhould  there  fay.     As  for  that  which  was  ob- 
jected, he  continued,  by  the  gentleman  on  the 
other  fide  (and  he  pointed  to  Sir  John  Cul- 
peper),  that  it  were  a  dangerous  thing  for  them 
to  admit  that   a  fucceeding  parliament  might 
Error  in     queftion  what  was  done  in  a  former,  there  was 
CuI,Pe"      nothing  more  ordinary  or  more  ufual.     There 

per  s  o  J  , 

argument,  was  no  doubt  whatever  but  that  a  fucceeding 


§  xx.     Debate  on  Palmer's  Proteft.  339 

parliament  might  not  only  queftion  any  par-  Future 
ticular  thing  done  by  them,   as,  for   example,  Parlia- 

,  9  r  \  l        ment  may 

what  was  in  progrels  at   that   moment,    but  qUeftk>n 
might  alfo  revoke  and  repeal  all  the  acts  and  Paft- 
ftatutes  which  they  had  parTed.     And  the  rea- 
fon  thereof  was  evident  and  plain.     For  they 
fat  not  there  in  their  own  right,  but  were  fent 
thither,  and  entrufted  by  the  whole  kingdom  ; 
the  knights  being  chofen  by  the  feveral  coun- 
ties, and  the  reft  by  the  feveral  cities  and  towns. 
And,  for  that  which  was  objected  by  the  fame 
worthy  gentleman  oppofite,  that,   there  being 
divers  others  in  the  Houfe  who  were  not  there 
when  the  words  were  fpoken,   therefore  the  Houfe  un- 
Houfe  was   not  the   fame,    he    (Sir  Simonds  ^abftnce 
D'Ewes)  faid  confidently  that  the  Houfe  wasormem- 
the  fame  to  all  intents  and  purpofes,  not  only  bers- 
quoad  pot 'eft 'at em ,  but  quoad  notionem  alfo;  for 
of  courfe  he  affumed  there  muft  be  a   perfect 
agreement  as  to  what  the  words  were  that  were 
fpoken,  before  they  could  proceed  to  a  cenfure 
of  them.     Whereupon,  as  though  remember- 
ing his  own  abfence  at  the  extraordinary  fcene, 
he  thus  proceeded  : 

"  And  truly  they  may  well  be  excufed  that  D'Ewes's 
<c  were  abfent  out  of  this  Houfe  at  midnight,  awLce  at 
<f  for  it  was  about  that  time  on  Monday  night  midnight 
"  laft  when  thefe  words  were  fpoken;  and  I°fMon" 
iC  do  as  much  wonder  that  fo  many    in  this 
"  Houfe  mould  object  that    the   fpeaking  of 
<c  words  is  not  an  action,  when  that  old  verfe 
ic  affures   us    of  the  contrary — c  Quatuor    et 
fC  c  dentes  et  duo  labrafimul,  &c.'    And  more 
"  ftrange  it  feems   to  me  alfo,  that  when  this 
"  worthy  gentleman  himfelf  (and  I  pointed  to 


34° 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


Would 
have 
Palmer 
fpeak. 


D'Ewes 
proud  of 
his  logic. 


Palmer's 
friends 
prevent 
his  riling. 


A  divilion 
called  for. 


Hyde 
moves 
addition 


"  Mr.  Palmer)  hath  fo  often  flood  up,  him- 
"felf,  to  fpeak,  fo  many  fhould  hinder  him  ; 
"  for  if  they  will  not  let  him  fpeak  by  way  of 
"  anfwering,  yet  let  him  fpeak  by  way  of 
"  fpeaking. — Some  laughed  at  this,  thinking  I 
"  had  been  miftaken  ;  but  I  proceeded  and 
<f  told  them,  that  I  mould  be  forry  to  fpeak 
"  anything  in  that  Houfe  which  I  could  not 
<fmake  good  logic  of;  and  therefore  I  ftill 
u  prefTed,  that  if  we  would  not  let  him  fpeak 
tc  by  way  of  anfwering,  that  is  by  coacliion 
<c  and  as  a  delinquent,  then  let  him  fpeak  by 
"  way  of  fpeaking,  that  is  Jermoni  libero  et/pon- 
"  taneo.  And  who  knows,"  concluded  the 
precife  and  learned  orator,  u  but  that  he  may 
<c  give  much  fatisfaction  to  this  Houfe  by  his 
"  fpeaking  ?  And  therefore,  Sir,  I  defire  that 
"  he  may  be  heard." 

The  defire  of  the  worthy  SirSimonds,  how- 
ever, failed  to  convince  Mr.  Palmer's  friends 
of  the  expediency  of  yielding  thereto.  In  vain 
the  Speaker  renewed  the  proportion  that  the 
member  for  Stamford  mould  be  heard.  In 
vain  was  it  urged  that  no  man  was  entitled  to 
object  becaufe  none  knew  what  he  would  fay. 
The  objectors  flood  fo  firm,  that  it  became 
clear  it  would  have  to  come  to  a  division,  and 
Hyde  and  Culpeper  violently  called  out  to 
divide.  Palmer  withdrew  into  the  Committee 
Chamber,  and  the  Speaker  put  the  queftion — 
As  many  as  are  of  opinion  that  Mr.  Palmer 
fhall  be  required  to  anfwer  to  the  charge  laid 
againfl  him,  let  them  fay  Aye.  "But  then," 
interpofes  D'Ewes,  "  Mr.  Palmer's  friends 
"  would  have  had  thefe  words  to   have  been 


§  xx.     Delate  on  Palmer  s  Prolefi.  341 

<f  added  to  the  queftion,  namely,  c  for  words  t?  quef- 
(C  f  by  him  fpoken  on  Monday  night  laft;' 
"  but  we  that  thought  Mr.  Palmer  deferved 
<c  to  be  queftioned,  would  not  agree  to  that 
<c  addition.  Whereupon  it  came  to  a  divifion 
ic  upon  the  queftion." 

The  tellers  appointed  on  the  one  fide  were 
Hyde  and  Sir  Frederick   Cornwallis,  and  on 
the   other   Sir   Thomas    Barrington    and    Sir 
Martin  Lumley,  the  member  for  Eflex.     The 
Ayes  went  out,  and  proved  to  be  but  146  ;  the  Defeated 
Noes  (of  whom  D'Ewes  was  one)  fat  ftill,  and^^2 
were  192.     It  being  directed,  upon  this,  that 
Hyde's  addition  mould  not  be  made,  Sir  Robert 
Hatton,  the  member  for  Cattle  Rifing,  and  a 
determined  royalift,  jumped  up  to  fpeak  againft: 
the  other  queftion  ;  but  Mr.  Speaker  interrupted 
and  told  him  he  was  out  of  order,  for  he  could 
not  now  fpeak  until  the  queftion  had  been  put. 
It  was  put  accordingly,  the  fame  tellers  being  original 
appointed  on  both  fides;  and  the  Ayes   (of queftion 
whom  D'Ewes  was  one)  going  out,  were  1 90,  "r"te0    Y 
whereas  the  Noes,  fitting  ftill,  were  but  142.  14*- 
It  was   thereupon   immediately   ordered,   that 
Mr.  Palmer  fhould  be  required  to  fpeak  ;  and 
being  called  down  from  the  Committee  Cham- 
ber, in  which  he  had  remained  fince  before  the 
firft  divifion,  he  was  informed  by  the  Speaker  Palmer 
that  the  Houfe  required  him  to  make  anfwer  required 
to  the  charge  laid  againft  him.  °  pe 

He  prefently  arofe,  and,  profefling  his  inno- 
cency  as  to  the  particular  matter  alleged, 
made  relation  of  fome  foregoing  pafifages. 
That  when,  upon  the  vote  being  determined 
that  the  Declaration  fhould  pafs,  a  motion  was 


342.  The  Grand  Remonftrance . 

His  de-      made  by  Mr.  Peard  that  it  fhould  be  printed, 
fence.        divers   protected  againft  it ;  and  that  himfelf 
defired  alio  to  have    his  proteftation  entered, 
againft  the  printing  but  not  the  paffing ;  and 
that  when,  afterwards,  it  was  moved  that  the 
names  of  fuch  as  had  protected  might  be  entered, 
he  being  unfatisfied,  and  defiring  it  might  be 
debated  firft  whether  fuch  a  proteftation  might 
be  made  or  not,  wifhed  a  day  to  be  appointed 
for  that  end,  and  thereupon  defired  that  his 
own  name,  and  the  names  of  the  reft  who  had 
protefted,   might    be   entered    by    the    Clerk. 
And  that,  Mr.  Hampden  thereupon  afking  him, 
den's         how  he  knew  other  men's  minds,  he  anfwered, 
queftion.    becaufe  he  had  heard  others  defire  their  names 
to  be  entered,  and  heard  them  cry  "  All,  all." 
But  for  the  other  words  charged  upon  him,  that 
he  had  protefted  cc  in  the  name  of  himfelf  and 
fc  the  reft,"  he  declared  he  did  not  remember 
that  he  had  fpoken  them.     But  he  was  very 
Apology,  fenfible  of  his  own  misfortune,  and  forry  for 
having  given  that  occasion  to  the  Houfe  to  quef- 
tion him.     And  fo,  having  ended,  he  withdrew 
again  into  the  Committee  Chamber. 
White_  Bulftrode  Whitelocke,  member  for  Marlow, 

locke        and  a  perfonal  friend  of  Palmer's,  though  him- 

Palmer5  ^  a  ^*uPPorter  °f  ^Q  Remonftrance,  rofe 
immediately  after  to  confirm  generally,  by  his 
own  recollection,  the  fubftance  of  the  ftatement 
juft  made  :  but  the  hour  was  now  late,  it  hav- 
ing long  ftruck  four,  and  it  had  grown  fo  dark 
Mr.  that  the  Speaker  was  no  longer  able  to  difcern 

Speaker     wj10  fj-00d  up#     Cries  from  both  fides  became 

cannot  lee   ■>        ,    r  r    ,.  ,1 

hon.         loud  for  an  adjournment,  and  order  was  accor- 
members.  dingly  made  that  the  further  confideration   of 


§  xxi.     Palmer's  Punijloment  and  SubmiJJion.  343 

Mr.  Palmer's  offence  mould  be  renamed  at  tti\  Subjeft 
o'clock  the  next  morning.     Dark  as  it  was,  torbe    , 

._    relumed 

however,   the  Houfe  was  not  allowed  to  rue  to- 
until  the  indefatigable  Mr.  Pym  had  obtained  morrow, 
direction  for  a  committee,  confiding  of  him- 
felf,   Mr.   Denzil  Hollis,  and  others,  to  take 
examinations  of  divers  Irifhmen*  then  in  the 
ferjeant's  cuftody,  fufpected  of  privity  in  the 
late  horrible  defign  ;    and  his  purpofe  in  fo 
demanding    this   immediate    committee    was, 
that  thofe  who  on  examination  might  be  found 
not  fairly  obnoxious  to  fufpicion  might  at  once 
be  difmilTed.     Through  all  the  frequent  con-  Adjourn- 
fpiracies  and  dangers  of  this  troubled  time,  the  ™e^  at 
reins  of  authority  feized  by  the  Houfe  were  4-3o! 
held  with  a  firm,  yet  wife  and  temperate,  hand  ; 
and  no  {train  upon  the  liberty  of  the  fubject 
that  could  be  fafely  fpared,  was  countenanced 
or  permitted  by  its  great  leader  % 


h 


§  xxi.     Palmer's  Punishment  and 
Submission. 

On  Thurfday,  the  25th  of  November,  the  Tenth  ^ 
Speaker  took  the  chair  at  ten  o'clock  ;  but  Mr.  Thurfday, 
Solicitor  St.    John  interpofed  before   the  re-25thNov- 
fumption  of  Palmer's  bufinefs,  to  obtain  leave 
to  bring  in  a  fhort  bill  for  the  levy  of  tonnage 
and  poundage,  and  after  him  Denzil  Hollis 
rofe  to  remind  the  Houfe  of  that  fuereeftion  of  Petl 

op  to  a^ 

the  worthy  member  fitting  below  him  by  the  pany 

*  "  He  hoped  alfo,"  the  liberal  leader  told  the  Houfe  on 
this  occafion,  "  that  they  had  the  woman  in  hold  who  had 
"  conveyed  letters  into  Ireland." 


tion 
to  accom- 


544 


T/ie  Grand  Remonftrance . 


Remon- 
itrance. 


Referred 
to  Com- 
mittee. 


Tonnage 
and 

Poundage 
bill. 


Palmer's 
debate 
called  for. 


bar  (defignating  Pym)  which  had  found  favour 
on  Monday  night,  to  accompany  the  Remon- 
ftrance by  a  Petition  to  his  Majefty  ;  as  to 
which  he  moved  accordingly  that  fome  might 
be  appointed  to  draw  this  Petition,  in  fuch 
manner  as  to  mow  what  had  neceffitated  them 
to  make  their  Declaration.  Some  little  debate 
enfued  hereon,  and  ended  in  the  adoption  of 
Hollis's  motion  that  the  Petition  mould  be 
prepared  and  prefented  by  the  fame  committee 
that  had  drawn  the  Declaration ;  to  which  was 
added  an  order,  on  the  motion  of  Sir  Gilbert 
Gerrard,  member  for  Middlefex,  that  they 
mould  include  in  the  faid  Petition  a  form  of 
congratulation  for  his  Majefty's  fafe  return 
from  Scotland,  which  mould  alfo  be  prefented 
to  him  in  the  name  of  the  Houfe. 

D'Ewes  had  left  his  place  while  Hollis  was 
fpeaking,  and  when  he  returned  to  it,  between 
eleven  and  twelve  o'clock,  he  found  the  Solici- 
tor-General preffing  his  bill  of  tonnage  through 
the  neceffary  ftages  to  obtain  its  enactment 
before  the  exifting  bill  mould  expire.  After 
this,  fome  other  bufinefs  of  moment  prefented 
itfelf,  but  members  grew  impatient  for  the 
conclufion  of  the  debate  refpecting  Palmer; 
and  on  the  motion  of  Sir  Robert  Cook,  who 
fat  for  Tewkefbury,  and  who  urged  with  fome 
vehemence  the  propriety  of  not  delaying  cen- 
fure  in  a  matter  affecting  the  high  privileges 
of  the  Houfe,  that  fubjecl:  was  refumed.  <f  We 
<c  then,"  fays  D'Ewes,  <c  proceeded  before 
c<  twelve  of  the  clock  with  the  debate  and 
<f  confederation  touching  Mr.  Palmer's  offence. 
11  .That  held  till  about  three  of  the  clock  in 


§  xxi.    Palmer's  Punifhment  and  Submijfion.  345 

cc  the  afternoon,  before  we  proceeded  to  debate 
"  of  his  punifhment." 

The  fubftance  of  the  fpeeches  on  either  fide 
will   fufficiently   indicate  the  character  of  the 
early  part  of  the  debate.     In  aggravation  it  Speeches 
was    infifted    on,    that    as    to    the    particular  °*j either 
matter,  Palmer's  great  ability  in  his  profeffion, 
his  very  temperatenefs  of  nature  in  the  general, 
and  the  fact  of  his  being  a  gownfman,  much 
increafed   his  offence.     "  That  after  the  firft 
"  diftemper  of  the    Houfe  was  well  pacified 
"  which  arofe  about  the  proteftation-making, 
"  he,  by  his  new  motion  to  have  a  protefta- 
<c  tion  entered  in  his  own  name  and  the  name 
cc  of  all  the  reft,  did  again  raife  the  flame  to  in  aggra- 
<c  fuch  an  heighth,  as,  if  God  had  not  pre-  va*10n  ol 

offence 

iC  vented  it,  murder  and  calamity  might  have 

(C  followed    thereupon,    and    this    parliament 

<c  with  our  pofterity  and  the  kingdom  itfelf 

cc  might   have    been    deftroyed.      For,    upon 

<c  Mr.  Palmer's  faid  motion,  fome  waved  their  scene  it 

IC  hats,  and  others  took  their  fwords  with  the  had  occa- 

<c  fcabbards  out  of  their  belts  and  held  them 

cc  in    their  hands."     On    the    other    fide,   in 

extenuation,  it  was  urged,  that  Palmer  had  in 

no  refpect  forfeited  his  reputation  as  a  fober, 

learned,  and  moderate  man.     That  his   only 

intent  in  the  motion  he  made  was  to  put  an 

end  to  the  particular  night's  debate,  it  being 

fo  far  fpent ;  and  to  put  off  to  a  further  day  in  ex- 

the  difpute  of  the  queftion  whether  the  mem-  tenuation 

,  V     1  tt       r  •    1  n  or  ortence. 

bers  or  that  Houie  might  protelt  or  not. 
There  had  been  an  earneft  offer  to  proteft  on 
the  part  of  Mr.  Hyde,  then  a  motion  to  take 
names  by  others,  and  then  Palmer  moved  in 


346 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Inter- 
ference of 
Hampden, 


Palmer's 
previous 
fervice. 


Delays 
reforted 


Refolu- 
tion  of 
majority 
to  punilh. 


Gravity 
of  the 
aft  at- 
tempted ; 


the  name  of  himfelf  and  all  others  of  his  mind ; 
but  whether  this  was  to  proteft,  or  to  take 
names,  was  yet  a  queftion.  Afterwards,  in- 
deed, Palmer  was  questioned  by  Mr.  Hampden, 
and  he  flood  up,  and  the  Houfe  cried,  "All, 
cc  all."  But  there  was  no  proof  that  he  had 
an  intention  to  raife  any  heat  or  combultion. 
He  had  done  very  good  fervice  in  the  Houfe, 
and  particularly  in  the  enquiries  into  foreft 
abufes,  where  he  occupied  the  chair  ;  and  he 
was  entitled  to  have  that  remembered  now. 
Some,  however,  went  ftill  further  in  extenua- 
tion, and  others  even  juftified  what  he  had 
done  to  be  no  offence  at  all. 

The  afternoon  wore  away  in  fuch  debate, 
but  it  was  in  vain  that  Palmer's  friends  ex- 
hausted every  refource  to  avert  what  they  too 
plainly  felt  muft  inevitably  come.  The  popu- 
lar leaders  were  not  to  be  turned  from  their 
purpofe.  The  offence  committed,  and  the 
perfon  committing  it,  were  of  no  ordinary 
kind.  The  offence  {truck  at  the  very  fource 
and  foundation  of  the  power  of  the  Houfe, 
breaking  down  all  the  barriers  which  old  ufage 
and  cuftom  had  thrown  up,  to  keep  before  the 
people  fole  and  intact:,  no  matter  what  their 
internal  divifions  might  be,  the  authority  and 
influence  of  the  Commons.  The  offender  in 
himfelf  reprefented  a  new  and  powerful  party, 
bred  within  the  Houfe  itfelf,  who  would  have 
entered  through  the  breach  fo  made,  and  turned 
that  very  influence  and  authority  to  the  fecret 
fervice  of  the  King.  Palmer's  fuccefs  would 
have  divided  the  Houfe  againft  itfelf;  into  a 
Minority  claiming  to  be  free  from  undue  {train 


§  xxi.     Palmer's  Puni/Jmient  and  Submijfion.  347 

and  prefTure  upon  their  conferences,  oppofed  to  place 
to  a  Majority  claiming  predominance  incom-  ™°"2- 
patible  with  the  exercife  of  individual  rights,  jority. 
and  coercing  free  deliberation.     Once   admit 
fuch  division,  all  the  votes  of  the  part  year 
would  lofe  their  claim  to  continued  refpect,* 
and  the  Sovereign  would  again  be  uncontrolled. 
No  jot  would  Pym  and  Hampden  confent  to 
abate,  therefore,  from  what  was  ftrictly  necef- 
fary  to  fingle  out  and  fet  aiide  what  Palmer 
had    done,  as   matter   of  high   and   weighty 
cenfure.     But    they    did    not    go   beyond  it.  Punifh- 
Thev  demanded  his  committal  to  the  Tower  menjd,e" 
until    due   fubmiffion    and    retractation   were 
made. 

Some  indeed  were  eager  to  have  gone 
farther,  demanding  his  expulfion  ;  but  none 
of  the  great  names  on  the  liberal  fide  appear 
among  thefe,  who  were  in  truth  led  by  the 
very  man,  Sir  John  Hotham,  whom  Claren-  H°tha™ 
don  reprefents  as   moft  oppofed  to  what  the  f( 


tor  ex- 


leading  men  defired  as  to  himfelf.     Sir  Robert  puliion. 


'£> 


Cook,   the    member    for  Tewkefbury,  would 

*  Clarendon  occafionally,  to  \ife  an  expreffion  of  his  own,  Clarendon 
"  lets  himfelf"  loofe"  {Hift.  i.  7  :  as  if,  to  quote   Warburton's  "  letting 
Ihrewd  comment  on  the  phrafe,  he  were  fpeaking  againft  his  himfelf 
duty  when  he  cenfures  the  Crown) ;  and  there  is  a  remarkable  loofe." 
and  moft  weighty  paffage  in  his  Hijlory  (ii.  252),  in  which  he  Hijl.  ii. 
diftinclly  admits  that  it  was  the  King's  habit  to  confent  to  252. 
particular  meafures  (in  this  cafe  he  is  lpeaking  of  the  bill  for 
taking  away  the  legiflative   power  of  the  bifhops)  from  an 
opinion  that  what  he  held  to  be  the  violence  and  force  ufed 
in  procuring  them,  rendered  them  abfolutely  invalid  and  void, 
and  "  made  the  confirmation  of  them  lefs  confidered,  as  not 
"  being  of  ftrength  to  make  that  acl:  good,  which  was  in 
"itfelf  null.     And  I  doubt,"  he    adds,  "  this   logic  had  an 
"  influence  upon  other  a£ts  of  no   lefs  moment  than  thefe." 
Thofe  are  furely  very  fignificant  and  pregnant  words.     See 
ante,  p.  155. 


of  Palmer. 


Strang 


348  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

have  had  the  offender  not  only  fentenced  to 
Speeches    the  Tower,  but  turned  out  of  the  Houfe  as 
by  friends  well :  whereupon  Sir  John  Strangways  got  up 
and  reminded  that  worthy  member,  that  as  he 
had  been  fworn  fince  the  laft  Lord  Steward 
fur-rendered  his  ftaff,  fome  doubts  exifted  how 
far  there  was  any  legal  commiflion  to   fwear 
him,*  and  perhaps  he  might  himfelf,  by  the 
ftatute   2 1  ft  of  James,  be  turned  out  of  the 
Houfe  before  Mr.  Palmer.     The  member  for 
ways  and   Southwark,  Mr.  Bagfhaw,  rofe  next,  and,  as  a 
Bagmaw.  brother  barrifter  of  Palmer's,  took  the  liberty 
to    doubt   whether,    having    denied    the    fadt 
charged,   he  was  fit  to   be  fentenced ;  feeing 
that  the  charge  had  really  not  yet  been  proved 
by  any    one  man,  and  all  judges  mould  go 
Jeciindum    allegata    et   -probata.      But    Palmer 
found  a  more  effective  advocate  in  Mr.  John 
Crew,  the  member  for  Brackley. 
Crew  Crew,  a  man  of  great  fortune,  and  of  prin- 

ciple as  firm  and  unaffailable  as  he  was  gene- 
rally moderate  in  fpeech  (it  was  by  his  help 
chiefly  that  Vane  and  Cromwell  were  able 
fubfequently  to  pafs  the  Self-Denying  Ordi- 
nance), had  voted  uniformly  with  Pym  and 
Hampden  throughout  the  debates  on  the 
Remonftrance,-)-  and  he  now  thought  that  the 

Pembroke        *  Three  days   fubfequent  to   this,  an  order  was  made  to 

Lord  move  the   Lords  to  join  with  the  Commons   in  moving  his 

Steward.      Majefty  "  to  appoint  the  Earl  of  Pembroke  Lord  Steward  of 

"  his  Majefty's  houfehold  :  for  that  this  Houfe  is  deprived  of 

"  certain  members,  by  reafon  there   is  no  Lord   Steward,  to 

"  give  or  authorife  the  giving  of  the  oaths  of  allegiance  and 

"  iupremacy." 

Crew  at  f   ^  's  worth  mention,  perhaps,  that  in  the  famous  treaty 

Uxbridee.  °^  Uxbridge,  nearly  four  years  after  this  date,  Crew  was  one 

of  the  commiflioners  on  the   fide  of  the    Parliament,    with 


comes  to 
rescue 


§  xxi.    Palmer's  Punifhment  and  Submijfion.  349 

juftice  of  the  cafe,  which  he  considered  to  have  Suggefts 
been  fully  admitted,  would  be  fatisfied  fuffi-  beyp^riand 
ciently  by  fuch  admonimment  as  the  Speaker  Speaker, 
{landing  in  his  place    might    then  and   there 
adminifter.     For  himfelf,  he  would   interpret 
things  doubtful  ever  in  the  beft  fenfe  ;   and  he 
could  not  forget   fuch  fervice  as  Mr.   Palmer 
had  heretofore  rendered  to  the  caufe  which  in 
this    late  matter  had   received    fome    offence 
from  him.     "  Sir,"  continued  this  difcreet  and 
temperate  advocate,   "though  none  can  plead 
fc  his  merits  to  excufe   a  fault,  yet  if  I   have  Reminds 
"received  many   favours   from   a  man   that  p7wr\f 
u  now    doth    me   injury,   I    fhall   not  forget  fervices. 
cc  thofe  benefits,  but  be  the  willinger  to  for- 
"  get  the  injury,  and  the  rather  in  this  place, 
<c  becaufe  we  have    power  to  punifh  our  own 
cc  members   when    they    offend,    but  not   to 
cf  reward  them  when  they  do  well."     It  was 
impoffible  that  fuch  an  appeal  as  this  fhould 
fail  of  effect ;  but  the  effect   was  in  a  great 
degree  removed  by  a  fpeech  in  which  Waller  Waller 
meant  to  have  followed  up  the  advantage,  but,  °,^elame 
in  his  lively    audacious  way,  feeking  to  pleafe 
both  fides,  fatisfied  neither,  and  almoft  wholly 
loft  what  Crew  had  gained.     He  de/ired  the 
Houfe  not  to  permit  a  man's  fuccefs  to   be  lefs  d;f 
the   proof    of    his    delinquency.       All    their 
punimments  were  but  the  Tower  and  the  Bar, 
and  thofe  were  great  punimments,  when  they 
were  inflicted  for  great  offences.      But  the  cuf- 
tom  had  arifen,  both  within  and  without  thofe 


Geoffrey  Palmer  oppofed   to  him  on  the  King's  fide.     See 
Clarendon,  Hift.  iii.  37,  76,  and  90. 


creet. 


35° 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Too  many 
penalties 
for  {mail 
offences. 


Do  not 
punifli 
temper- 
ance. 


Anger  of 
Hotham. 


Suggef- 
tion  by- 
Sir  Ralph 
Hopton. 


walls,  of  punifhments  difproportioned  to  the 
offence.  In  former  days,  while  Queen  Eliza- 
beth reigned,  a  check  from  the  Council  Table, 
or  a  fentence  in  the  Star  Chamber,  was  of 
fuch  repute  that  none  efteemed  men  who  were 
fo  checked  or  fentenced :  but  what  was  it 
their  Remonftrance  had  juftly  taken  exception 
to  ?  Of  late  thefe  punifhments  had  been  in- 
flicted for  fuch  fmall  offences,  that  all  men 
did  rather  value  and  efteem  thofe  as  martyrs 
who  fuffered  in  that  way,  than  difefteem  them 
for  it.  He  adjured  them,  therefore,  to  let 
no  man  be  punifhed  for  temperance,  left  they 
fhould  feem  to  punifh  virtue. — The  refult  of 
which  homily,  by  one  whofe  great  wit  and 
parts  had  brought  Rimfelf  fuch  fmall  efteem, 
may  perhaps  be  meafured  by  what  followed 
immediately  after.  Sir  John  Hotham  declared 
that  if  by  the  rules  of  the  Houfe  any  greater 
cenfure  than  expulfion  and  the  Tower  could 
be  laid  upon  the  offender,  he  would  gladly 
go  higher  than  even  thofe.  Happily  the  ma- 
jority were  not  of  that  opinion. 

"This  laft  debate,"  fays  D'Ewes,  "held 
<c  till  paft  four,  at  which  time  I  withdrew  out 
"  of  the  Houfe.  When  I  returned  again,  the 
cc  debate  was,  which  of  the  two  queftions 
"  fhould  be  put  firft  :  whether  for  his  fending 
iC  to  the  Tower,  or  for  his  being  expelled 
"  out  of  the  Houfe."  Upon  this,  Sir  Ralph 
Hopton,  member  for  Wells,  afterwards  fo 
confpicuous  on  the  King's  fide  in  the  war 
as  <{  Hopton  of  the  Weft,"  appears  to  have 
taken  the  lead.  He  moved  that  the  queftion 
of  fending  to  the  Tower  fhould  be  firft  put ; 


§  xxi.     Palmer's  Punifliment  and  Submiflion.  351 

becaufe,  he  argued,  if  that  for  expulfion  were 
put  firft,  being  the  greater,  the  judgment  of 
the  Houfe  would  be  paffed  by  it,  and  then  the 
leffer  queftion  could  not  be  put.  Such  a  point  Replied 
mooted  as  this  rarely  failed  to  call  up  D'Ewes.  J?,ty 
He  rofe  accordingly,  and  craved  leave  rather 
to  fpeak  to  the  orders  of  the  Houfe  than  to 
the  order  of  putting  the  queftions.  In  refpect 
of  the  remarks  which  had  been  laft  made,  he 
wondered  to  hear  fuch  from  an  ancient  parlia- 
ment man  ;  for  it  was  not  the  putting  and 
voting  of  one,  two,  three,  or  four  queftions 
there,  that  made  the  judgment  of  the  Houfe. 
ce  That,  Sir,"  continued  the  precife  SirSimonds,  ufages  of 
<c  is  to  be  pronounced  by  yourfelf,  our  Speaker,  theHoufe. 
cc  to  whom  we  direct  our  fpeeches ;  and  then, 
cc  and  not  till  then,  is  the  judgment  of  this 
"  Houfe  pad."  He  added  that,  if  they  could 
not  agree  which  of  the  two  queftions  fhould  be 
parTed  firft,  for  his  part  he  fhould  be  content  to 
have  them  parTed  together. 

The  refult  is  thus   fuccinctly  recorded   by 
the  fame  veracious  and  confcientious  witnefs. 
"  Others  fpake  after  me,  and  the  contention  Queftions 
"  which  queftion  fhould  be  firft  put  was  again  Put: 
cc  fet  on  foot :   till  at  laft  it  was  refolved,  by 
"  queftion,    that    the    matter    touching    Mr. 
<c  Palmer's  going  to  the  Tower  fhould  be  firft 
tc  determined;   and  thereupon  the  Speaker  did 
<c  firft  put  this  queftion — As  many  as  are  of  shall 
"  opinion  that  Mr.  Palmer  fhould  be  fent  to  Palmer  be 
"the    Tower,    there    to    remain    during    the  Tower  ? 
<c  pleafure   of  the  Houfe,  let  them  fay  Aye. 
<c  Upon  which  followed  a  great  affirmative  ; 
cc  and  the  queftion  being  put  negatively,  there 


3 $2  The  Grand  Remonji 'ranee. 

"  were  many  Noes  :  whereupon  there  followed 

et  a  divifion  of  the  Houfe,  and  the  Speaker 

<f  appointed  Sir  Thomas  Barrington  and  Sir 

Yes:  by    <c  John  Clotworthy  tellers  for  the  Ayes,  of 

169  to       <<  which  I  was  one,  and  we  went  out  and  were 

tc  in  number  169  ;  the  tellers  appointed  for 

"  the  Noes,  who  flayed  in  the  Houfe,  being 

"  the  Lord   Falkland   and    Mr.    Strangways" 

(the  member  for  Bridport),  "and  the  number 

(C  of  them  was  128.     Then  the  Speaker  put 

<f  the  fecond  queftion,  namely — As  many  as 

"  are  of  opinion   that  Mr.   Palmer  mail  be 

"  expelled  from  being  a  member  of  this  Houfe 

l(  during  this  parliament,  let  them  fay  Aye. 

Shall  he     "  Upon   which   followed   a   lefTer    affirmative 

be  ex"       <(  than  formerly;  and  upon    the  negative,  a 

"  greater  number  of  Noes.     The  Houfe  was 

cc  again  divided,  and  the  fame  tellers  appointed 

<c  both  for  the  Ayes  and  Noes  as  before.     I 

"  was  an  Aye,  and  the  Ayes  went  out  again, 

cc  and  were  in  number  131.     The  Noes  that 

No:  by     {<  continued  in  the  Houfe  were  163.     And  fo 

163  to       cc  jyrr>   palmer   efcaped  expulfion  out  of  the 

Cf  Houfe,  which  his  offence  had  defer ved  in  a 

<c  high  meafure.     We  appointed  to  meet  to- 

Houi'e       c<  morrow  morning  by  ten  of  the  clock,  and 

adjourns,    <<  {Q  t[ie  Houfe  rofe  between  fix  and  feven  of 

"  the  clock  at  night." 

On  the  next  day,  Friday  the  26th  of  No- 
vember, Palmer,  "in  his  barrifter's  gown," 
Friday,  appeared  at  the  Bar  to  receive  fentence ;  and, 
26th  Nov.  kneeling  there,  was  informed  by  Mr.  Speaker 
fppTareat  tnat  the  judgment  awarded  to  his  offence  was 
Bar.  committal  to  the  Tower  during  the  pleafure 
of  the  Houfe.     To  the  Tower  he  was  com- 


§  xxi.     Palmer's  Punifhment  and  SubmiJJion.  353 

mitted  accordingly,  and  there  remained  until  is  com- 
Wednefday    the   8th  of  December;    on    the mitted- 
morning  of  which  day  "the  humble  petition 
"  of  Geoffrey   Palmer  was   read,  wherein  he 
ff  did  acknowledge  his  offence  and  the  juftice 
1  c  of  the  Houfe,  and  his  forrow  that  he  had  8th  Dec. 
cc  fallen  into  its  difpleafure  ; "  upon  which  an  Sei?d.s  In 
order  paffed  for  the  difcharge  of  Mr.  Palmer  ^jd  j° 
from  his  imprifonment  in  the  Tower.  releafed. 

As  to  this  fubmiffion  of  his  friend,  Claren- 
don is  wholly  filent ;  and,  in  fo  far  as  the  fin  of 
fuppreffion  may  be  lefs  than  that  of  deliberate 
falfification,  the  circumftance  fhould  perhaps 
be  mentioned  to  his  praife.     He  alfo  uncon-  Refults  of 
fcioufly  renders  tribute   to   the    fagacity   and  Pa'mer's 
fteadinefs  of  purpofe  with  which  the  leaders  ^ent. 
had  purfued  and  obtained  their  object  in  thefe 
long  and  paffionate  debates,  when  he  fays,  that, 
having  compaffed  their  main  end,  they  found 
the  fenfe  of  the  Houfe  more  at  their  devotion 
from  that  time,  and  admits  that  the  minority 
grew  fo  caft  down  and  dejected,  that  the  lead- 
ing men  ever  after  met  no  equal  oppofition  ciaren- 
within  its  walls.     But  in  every  other  point  of  4°"'s.. 
thefe  later,  as  of  the  earlier  proceedings,  every  61-62. 
fingle  fentence  he  utters    is  a   misftatement. 
He  fays  there  was  not  the   leafl  doubt  that 
there  never  had  been  any  precedent  for  calling  series  of 
a  member  to  account  for  words  fpoken  except  misftate- 
at  the  moment  of  their  utterance :   Whereas mer 
D'Ewes's  precedents  have  been  feen.     He  fays 
that,  after  two  hours'  debate,  additional  delays 
and  bitternefs  were  only  fpared  by  Palmer's 
own  voluntary  offer  that  to  fave  the  Houfe 
farther  trouble  he  might  anfwer  and  withdraw  : 


354 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


Whereas  the  anfwer  was  only  given  upon  com- 

pulfion,  after  a   formal   divifion  had  left  no 

Alleged    alternative.     He  fays  that  the  real  fecret  of 

ground  of  the  hoftility  difplayed  to  Palmer,  and  the  reafon 

hoftihtyto       ,         .  J         *      J  rr    i       •   i       11     i     • 

Palmer.     wrly  tne  angry  men  preiied  with  all  their  power 

that  he  might  be  expelled  the  Houfe,  was  that 

they   had   borne  him   a  long  grudge  for  the 

civility  he  mowed  as  one  of  the  managers  in 

the  profecution  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford,  in 

that  he  had  not  ufed   the   fame    reproachful 

language  which  the  others  had  done :   Whereas 

No  truth  the  men  mofl  eager  to  protect  Palmer  were 

t  erem.     notorioufly  thofe  who,  like  Culpeper,  Falkland, 

and  even  Hyde  himfelf,  had  mown  lead  mercy 

or  forbearance  to  Strafford.      Finally  he  fays,* 

that  in  the  clofe  of  the  day,  when  the  divifion 

was  taken  againft  Palmer,  and  on  the  rifing  of 

the  Houfe,   an  order  was  obtained,   without 

much  oppofition,  for  the  printing  of  the  Remon- 

Falfe        ftrance :   Whereas  two  days  were  occupied  by 

averment   the  Palmer  debate,  and  not  even  an  attempt  was 


*  I  give  the  entire  paffage,  taking  it  up  from  where  the 
paffage  previously  quoted   (ante,  p.  336)  ends.     As  he  there 
mentions,  he  had  appealed  to  the  Houfe  whether  there  was 
Clarendon  any  precedent  of  the  like  :  "  and  there  is  no  doubt,"  he  con- 
HiJI.  ii.       tinues,   "  there  never  had  been  ;  and  it  was  very  irregular. 
48-9.  "  But  they  were  too  pofitively  refolved  to  be  diverted  ;  and, 

"  after  two  hours  debate,  he  himfelf  defired,  '  that  to  fave  the 
"  '  Houfe  farther  trouble,  he  might  anfwer  and  withdraw' — 
M  which  he  did.  When  it  drew  towards  night,  after  many 
"  hours  debate,  it  was  ordered  that  he  mould  be  committed 
"  to  the  Tower  ;  the  angry  men  preifing  with  all  their  power, 
"  that  he  might  be  expelled  the  Houfe  :  having  borne  him  a 
"  l°.ng  gnidge,  for  the  civility  he  mowed  in  the  profecution 
"  of  the  Earl  of  Strafford  ;  that  is,  that  he  had  not  ufed  the 
"  fame  reproachful  language  which  the  others  had  done  .  .  . 
"  And  in  the  clofe  of  that  day,  and  the  rifing  of  the  Houfe, 
"  without  much  oppofitidh,  they  obtained  an  order  for  the 
"  printing  their  Remonfirance." 


§  xxn.     Debate  on  Petition.  35  c 

made  during  either  to  fmuggle  in  any  order  for  as  to 
the  printing.  When  it  was  done,  it  was  done  PnntinS- 
openly,  butthe  time  for  it  was  even  yet  not  come. 
Such  are  the  deliberate  averments  of  Cla- 
rendon ;  and  fuch  in  each  cafe  the  complete 
difproof  which  a  fimple  statement  of  the  fad: 
enables  me  to  give. 

3i  ' 

xxn.     Petition  to  accompany  Remon- 
strance. 

Saturday,  the  27th  of  November,  was  the  Eleventh 
day  named  for  reception  of  the  report  of  the  ^  thNov 
Committee  appointed  to  draw  the  Petition  to 
the  King  ;  defigned,  in  accordance  with  Pym's 
fuggeftion,  to  accompany  the  Remonftrance. 
It    was    ufhered    in    by    threatening    omens. 
Charles  was  now  arrived  from  Scotland,  and  had  King's 
been  received  with  magnificent  entertainment  arrival, 
in  the  City,  on  the  previous  Thurfday.    He  had 
returned  afterwards  to  Whitehall  in  fuch  elation 
and  excitement  as  rarely  was  witneffed  in  him ; 
between  that  evening  and  the  following  day, 
when  he  proceeded  to  Hampton  Court,  had 
given  Nicholas  the  feals  which  were  held  by  impolitic 
Windebank  ;  had  deprived  old  Vane  (whofe  a<5ls- 
Treafurer's  ftafF  had  been  taken  from  him  at 
York)  of  his  Secretaryfhip  ;  had  feen  privately 
Culpeper,  Falkland,  and  "Ned  Hyde;"  had 
directed  a  proclamation  to  be  ifTued  for  more  Order  as 
implicit  obedience  to  the  laws  eftablifhed  for  ^°  Reh" 
the  exercife  of  religion  ;   and  had  given  order 
for  the  immediate  difmiflal  of  thofe  Trained 
Bands  employed  upon  guard  at  the  twoHoufes, 
which,  as  we  have  feen,  upon  the  receipt  or 

A   A   2 


356 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 


ment 
difmified 


Excite- 
ment in 
Houfe. 


Guard  to  Hampden's  difpatch  out  of  Scotland  an- 
nouncing the  plots  againft  the  leaders  of  the 
Covenant,  had  been  ordered  up  for  their  pro- 
tection, and  fince  had  guarded  them  by  night 
and  day.*  He  had  alfo  taken  the  refolution, 
though  the  act  was  deferred  for  yet  a  few  days, 
to  remove  Col.  Balfour  from  the  command  of 
the  Tower,  and  to  appoint  Col.  Lunsford  in 
his  place.  The  temper  of  the  Houfe  at  fuch 
report  as  had  reached  them  of  thefe  incidents 
was  not  flow  in  revealing  itfelf. 

Prayers  had  juft  been  faid  when  Hampden 
rofe  in  his  place ;  made  a  ftatement  as  to  a 
Buckinghamfhire  papift,  one  Adam  Courtney, 
fufpecled  of  connivance  in  the  plot  now  proved 
againft  the  King's  officers  to  bring  up  the 
Hampden  Army  to  overawe  the  Parliament ;  and,  pro- 
fpeakmg.  Cueing  the  minute  pieces  and  fragments  of 
certain  letters  which  Courtney  had  torn  up 
on  his  arreft,  defired  that  they  mould  be 
deciphered  by  the  army  committee  then  fit- 
ting, by    whom  alfo  the  delinquent  could  be 

Queftion  *  The  order  had  been   given  by  the  King  on  the  evening 

as  to  of  his  arrival,  Thurfday,  the  25th.      Early  on  Friday  morning 

Guard.  Pym  reported  to  the  Houfe  that,  whereas,  heretofore,  a  Guard 
had  been  fet,  at  the  defire  of  the  Commons,  in  refpecl  of  the 
multitude  of  foldiers,  and  other  loofe  perfons,  infefting  the 
precinfrs  of  Weftminfter,  and  was  afterwards  continued  by 
both  Houfes,  and  the  Lord  Chamberlain  [EfTex],  who  had  a 
commiflion  to  be  Lord  General  on  this  fide  Trent,  took  a  care 
concerning  the  fame ;  but  now,  upon  His  Majefty's  return, 
he  hath  furrendered  his  commiflion,  and  the  Lords  have  re- 
ceived a  meflage  from  his  Majefty,  to  be  communicated  to 
King's  both  Houfes,  "  that  the  Guard,  that  had  been  let  in  his  ab- 
meflao-e,  "  fence,  perhaps  was  done  upon  good  grounds,  but  now  his 
"  prefence  is  a  furhcient  guard  to  his  people  ;  and  therefore 
"  it  is  his  pleafure  they  lhould  be  difcharged  ;  and,  if  need  be 
"  to  have  a  Guard  hereafter,  his  Majelty  will  be  as  glad  to 
"  have  a  Guard  as  any  other," 


§  xxii.   Petition  to  accompany  Remonjlrance.  357 

brought    up    from    Aylefbury    gaol  and   ex- 
amined.    After  him  rofe  Mr.  Oliver  Crom-  Oliver 
well,  to  call  attention  to  a  grofs  flander  againft  Cromwe11- 
the  Houfe  of  which  he  held  the  proofs  in  his 
hand,  and    by  which   it     feemed    that  <{  one 
"  whom  he    named  not  left  he   mould  with- 
li  draw    himfelf "    had    given    out    that    the 
principal  members  had  been  alarmed  on  feeing 
the  intended  City  entertainment  to  his  Majefty 
announced,     and    had  fent    privately  to    the 
faid  City  to    induce    them    not  to    entertain 
him.     After  Cromwell,  Mr.  Strode  prefented 
himfelf,   to  move  that  fome   courfe  might  be  Suggeftion 
taken  for  putting  the  kingdom  in  a  pofture  !-or      c 

•  i*ii  r  ill         r>-     *ence  °* 

of  defence,  in  which  he  was  feconded  by  Sir  kingdom. 
Thomas    Barrington   and  Sir   Walter  Earle ; 
and,  upon  the  fuggeftion  of  the  fame  active 
member,  a  committee  of  feven  was  named  to 
draw  up  the  whole  proof  of  the  firft  defign  to 
bring  up  the  Army   to  overawe  the  Houfe, 
and   to  prepare   for  introduction  at  the  next 
lifting  a  bill  for  the    "future  commanding  of 
"  the  Arms  and   the  Trained    Bands  of  the 
"kingdom."      The   member  for    Beeralfton  Referred 
alfo  moved  that  reafons  mould  at  once  be  pre- toCom- 
fented  to  his  Majefty  for   the   continuance  of 
the  Guard  over  both  Houfes,*  and  that  thefe 

*  This  was  on  Saturday  ;  and  on  the  morning  of  the  fol-  Tuefday,, 
lowing  Tuefday,  the  30th  of  November,  Pym  prefented  thofe  20thNov. 
reafons  in   a  remarkable  report  which  fliows  how  thoroughly 
exifting  dangers  were  appreciated,   and  how  much  was  thus 
early  fufpefted  of  the  King's  moft  cherifhed  defign.     Already, 
in  a  fecond  reply  to  a  further  petition  on  the  fubjecl:  of  the  con-  Kind's 
tinuance  of  the  Guard,  his  Majefty  had  all  but  confeffed   his  cJefia-n  as 
purpofe  of  gathering  an  armed  force  around  his  perfon.     So  to  Guard, 
tender  was  he  of  the  Parliament's  fafety,  he  protelted,  "that  to 
"  fecure  them,  not  only  from  real,  but  even  imaginary  dangers, 


358  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

mould  be  drawn  by  the  fame  committee  to 
whom  it  had  been  referred  to  prepare  the 
Petition    to    accompany    the    Remonftrance. 

Perfonal      "  lie   had  commanded  the  Earl  of  Dorfet  to  appoint  fome  of 
reafons.        "  the   Trained  Bands  to  wait  upon  the  Parliament  for  a  few 
"  days;  in  which  time,  if  he  mould  be  fatisfied  that  there  is 
"  jult  reafon,  he  would  continue  them,  and  likewife  take  l'uch 
"  a  courfe  for  the  fafety  of  his  own  perfon  as  mould  be  fit." 
Qmetly  dilregarding  this  intimation,    Pym's  report  was  an 
elaborate   expofition  of  reafons  for  continuing    the   exifting 
Pym's         Guard,  under  their  own  officers.     It   adverted  to  the  great 
counter       number   of  diforderly,    fufpicious,    and    defperate    peribns, 
reafons         elpecially  of  the  Irifh  nation,  lurking  in  obfcure  alleys  and 
victualling  houfes  in  the  fuburbs  and  other  places  near  Lon- 
don  and   Weftminfter.     It  defcribed   the  jealoufy  conceived 
upon  difcovery  of  the  defign  in  Scotland,  for  the  furpriiing  of 
the  perfons  of  divers  of  the  nobility,  members  of  the  parlia- 
ment there,   which   had  been  spoken  of  here,  fome  few  days 
before  it  broke  out,  not  without  fome  whifpering  intimation 
that  the  like  was  intended  againjl  divers  perfons  of  both  Houfes  : 
which  had  found  the  more  credit,  by  reafon  of  the  former 
attempt  of  bringing  up  the  army,  to  difturb  and  enforce  this 
Plots  in       parliament.     It  enlarged  upon  the  confpiracy  in  Ireland,  and 
pro°refs.     indicated  the  alarming  evidence  exifting  that  fomething  of  the 
like  was  defigned  in  England  and  Scotland.   It  hinted  at  divers 
advertifements  coming  at  the   fame  time  from    beyond  fea, 
"  that  there  fliould  be  a  great  alteration  of  religion  in  England 
"  in  a  few  days,  and  that  the  necks  of  both  the   parliaments 
"  fhould  be  broken."     It  inftanced  the  recent  divers  examina- 
tions and  dangerous  fpeeches  of  the  popifh  and  difcontented 
party ;    and    the   fecret   meetings   and   consultations    of  the 
papifts  in  feveral  (hires  and  diftricts.     And  its  authors  con- 
cluded  that  for  thefe  considerations  a  Guard  was  neceflary ; 
for  they  did  conceive  there  was  juft  caufe  to  apprehend  that 
there  was  fome  wicked  and  mifchie<vous  praclice  fill  in  hand 
Attack  on  to  interrupt  the  peaceable  proceedings  of  the  parliament.     Nor 
Parlia-         lefs  neceflary  did  they  coniider  it  that  the  Earl  of  EiTex  fliould 
ment  be  continued  in  the  command.     "  For  preventing  whereof  it 

expected.  "  is  fit  the  Guard  fliould  be  continued  under  the  fame  com- 
u  mand,  or  fuch  other  as  they  fliould  choofe;  but  to  have  it 
"  under  the  command  of  any  other,  not  chofen  by  themfelves, 
"  they  can  by  no  means  confent  to  ;  and  will  rather  run  any 
"  hazard,  than  admit  of  a  precedent  fo  dangerous  both  to  this 
"  and  future  parliaments.  And  they  humbly  leave  it  to  his 
"  Majefty  to  confider  whether  it  will  not  be  fit  to  fuffer  his 
Unfafe  "  High  Court  of  parliament  to  enjoy  thatprivilege  of  providing 
without      "  for  their  own  fafety,  which  was  never  denied  other  inferior 


§  xxii.    Petition  to  accompany  Remonftrance.  359 

After  this  the  Houfe  went  into  committee  on 
the   Tonnage   and  Poundage   bill,  with  Mr. 
Lifle,   the  member  for   Winchester  (he  who 
afterwards  fat   on    the  King's  trial),    in    the 
Clerk's  chair  ;  and  on  the  Speaker's  refump-  Remon- 
tion  of  his  feat,  between  one  and  two  o'clock  ftrance 
mid-day,  Pym  entered  with  the  Petition  juft  brought 
named  in    his  hand.     He  craved  permiffion  in. 
at  once  to  be  permitted  to  read  it ;  and  hav- 
ing done  this,  it  was  handed  over  to  the  Clerk, 
who  "  loudly   and  deliberately  "  read  it  over 
again. 

It  was  to  the  effect  that  his  Maiefty's  faith-  Abftraft 
ful  Commons  did  with  much  thankfulnefs  and  contents. 
joy  acknowledge  the  great  mercy  and  favour 
of  God,    in    giving  his    Majefty    a    fafe   and 
peaceable  return  out  of  Scotland  into  his  king- 
dom of  England,  where  the  preffing  dangers 
and  diftempers  of  the  State  had  caufed  them, 
with  much  earneftnefs,  to  defire  the  comfort 
of  his  gracious  prefence,   to  help  the   endea-  Why^ 
vours  of  his  Parliament  for  the  averting  of    '";fn^e 
that  ruin  and  difafter  with  which   his  king-  defired. 
doms    at  this    time    were    threatened.       For 
having  convinced  themfelves  of  the  existence 
of  a  malignant  party  who  had  accefs  to  his 
perfon  and  councils,  and  whofe  unceafing  en-  Zeal  of 
deavours  were  to  difcredit  his  Parliament  and  ™}  coun" 

r  1  •  1  u        lellors. 

to   create  a  faction  among   his    people,  they 
had,  for  the  prevention  thereof,  and  the  better 

"  Courts  :  and  that  he  will  be  pleafed  gracioufly  to  believe,  their  own 
"  that  they  cannot  think,  themfelves  fafe  under  any  Guard,  of  Guard. 
"  which  they  (hall  not  be  allured  that  it  will  be  as  faithful  in 
"  defending  his  Majefty's  fafety  as  their  own;  whereof  they 
"  lhall  always  be  more  careful  than  of  their  own." 


360  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

information  in  fundry  important  particulars  of 
Declara-    his  Majefty,   the  Peers,  and  all  other  his  fub- 
tionpre-    je(5];Sj  been  neceffitated  to  make  a  Declaration 
of  the  ftate  of  the  kingdom  as  well  before  as 
after   the    meeting    of    the    parliament    now 
afTembled.      Before    fubmitting   which,    they 
to  point     defired  frankly  to  point  out  with  what  danger 
out  dan-    to  the  country,  and  grievous  affliction  to  all 
state  and  loyal   dwellers    therein,   the    practice   was  at- 
King.       tended  of  placing  in  employments  of  truft  and 
nearnefs  about  his  Majefty,   the    Prince,    and 
the  reft  of  his  Royal  children,  active  members 
of  the    malignant    party    before    mentioned, 
favourers  in  all  refpects  of  popery,  and  mere 
engineers  or  factors  for  Rome ;  fince  it  was 
by  fuch,    to  the  fore  difcontent  of  his  loyal 
fubjects,  that  divers  of  his  bifhops,  and  others 
in  prime  places  of  the  Church,  had  been  cor- 
rupted.      They  juftified    their    right  to   give 
this  warning,   by   the   diftractions  and  fuffer- 
Why  fuch  ings  fo  caufed ;  by  the  continual  tamperings 
necefiuv    Wlt^  tne  army  m  England ;  by  the  miferable 
incidents   and  jealoufies  in    Scotland ;   by  the 
papift  infurrection,  and  moft  bloody  maflacre, 
in  Ireland  ;   and  by  the  great  necefTities  which 
had  in  confequence  arifen  for  the  King's  fer- 
vice,    impofing    upon    themfelves   the  talk  of 
burdening  the  fubject  for  contributions  to  the 
extent  of  a  million  and  a  half  fterling.     Not 
diftantly  pointing    at    the  Queen,    they    then 
urgently   entreat    his     Majefty    not  to   fuffer 
any  folicitation  to  the  contrary  "  how  power- 
Three        t{  ful  and  near  foever,"  to  turn  afide  the  three 
doling      requefts    with  which    they    concluded. — (1.) 
That  for  the  preferving  the  kingdom's  peace 


§  xxii.   Petition  to  accompany  Remonftrance.  361 

and   fafety  from   the  defigns    of  the    popifh 
party,  his    Majefty   will,     in    regard    to    the 
bifhops,*  concur  with  and  fecond  his  people's        -u 
humble    defires  in  a  parliamentary   way  f  to  To 
abridge  their  immoderate  power  ufurped  over  bifhopV 
the    clergy ;  to   deprive   them  of  their  tern-  power, 
poral  jurisdiction  in  parliament ;  to  take  away 
fuch  opprefhons  £  in  religion,  church  govern- 
ment,  and  difcipline,  as  had  been  brought  in 
and  fomented  by  them  ;    and  to   abate  their 
prefiure  upon  weak  confciences  by  removing 
thofe  oppreffions  and  unnecefTary  ceremonies.        n. 
(2).  That  the  malignant  and  ill-affected  be To  re; 
removed  from  their  places   of  influence,  and  counfei_ 
that  in  future  his  Majefty   vouchfafe  to  em-  lors. 
ploy  near  him,  and    in  great   public  offices, 
only  fuch  perfons  as  his  parliament  had  caufe 
to  confide  in.     (3).  That  fuch  lands  in  Ire-      "i. 
land   as    may    be    forfeit    to    the    Crown    in  J^fo?- 
confequence  of  the  Rebellion,  be  not  alienated  feitures  to 
from  it,  but  applied  to  the  public  neceffities.  Publlc 
— Which    humble   defires   being  fulfilled,  the 
authors    of  the  Remonftrance  undertook,  by 
the  bleffing  and  favour  of  God,§   moft  cheer- 
fully 4o  undergo  the  hazard  and  expenfes  of 
the  war  againft  the  Irifti  rebels,  and  to  apply 
themfelves  to  fuch  other  courfes  and  counfels 

*  A  great  attempt  was  made,  as  ftated  in  the  text,  but  un- 
fuccefsfully,  to  limit  the  expreffion  here  to  "  divers  of  the 
"  bifhops,"  as  in  a  previous  paffage. 

f  Thele  words,  "  in  a  parliamentary  way,"  were  moved 
to  be  added  after  the  Petition  was  brought  in. 

X  The  word  "oppreffions"  had  originally  flood  " corrup-  Changes 
"  tions,"  and  feems  to  have  been  changed  on  Mr.  Coventry's  propoied 
fuggcftion.  in  Peti- 

§  "  By  the  bleffing  and  favour  of  God  "  were  words  added,  tion. 
upon  fpecial  motion,  during  the  debate. 


362  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

as  might,  with  honour  and  plenty  at  home, 
with  power  and  reputation  abroad,  support 
the  Royal  eftate,  and,  by  their  loyal  affec- 
tions, obedience,  and  fervice,  lay  a  fure  and 
lafting  foundation  for  the  greatnefs  of  the 
King,  and  the  happinefs  of  his  pofterity  in 
future  times. 
Pym  After  the  Clerk  had  fmifhed  his  reading, 

aniwers     fevera}    members  of  Hyde's  party  ftated  ob- 

objections.  .        .  '  *1       J 

jechons  ;   "to  whom,"   fays  D'Ewes,   "Mr. 
"  Pym  anfwered.     Then  Sir  John    Culpeper 
tc  anfwered  much  of  that  Mr.  Pym  had  faid, 
<f  and    made    fome    new    objections.       Mr. 
A  point    Cf  Pym  flood  up  again."       But   he   was  not 
of  order,    permitted  to  fpeak.     Mr.  Strangways  rofe  to 
order,  many  others  rofe  to  order,  and  the  inter- 
ruption was  long  and  vehement.     Hampden's 
Hampden  authority  at  length  again  reftored  fome  quiet, 
quiet.        upon  his    fuggefting  that  it  would  probably 
be  found  within  the  rules  of  the  Houfe  that 
Mr.  Pym,   being  the  reporter  from  the  com- 
mittee which    prepared   the   Petition,    might 
fpeak  more  than  once,  and  might  anfwer  all 
objections,     Here  was  opportunity  made  for 
D'Ewes  ;  and  that  great  matter  of  precedents, 
and  voucher  of  records,  was  not  flow  to  take 
D'Ewes     advantage  of  it.     He   got  up  and  faid  that  it 
explains     was  very  true  that  the  worthy  gentleman  at 
the  Bar  (indicating  Mr.  Pym),  being  the  re- 
porter, might  fpeak  as  often  as  occafion  mould 
ferve ;  and  yet  it  was  as  true,  alfo,  that  he 
might  fpeak  out  of  order.     For,  though   he 
was   at  liberty  to   anfwer  new  objections  that 
were  made,  yet,  if  thofe  anfwers  of  his  were 
replied  upon,  he  was  not  at  liberty  to   fpeak 


ufage  of 
Houfe 


§  xxn.   Petition  to  accompany  Remonfirance.  363 

again  to  thofe  particular  points  to  which  he 
had  fpoken  before,  by  way  of  mere  anfwer  to 
him  that  did  reply  upon   him.     There  was, 
however,  no  queftion  but  that  the  gentleman  Culpeper 
on  the  other  fide  who  firft  interrupted  him,  did  „not  p  ^ 
himfelf  break  the  orders  of  the  Houfe  in  doing 
fo ;  becaufe  it  did  not  then  appear  whether  the 
gentleman  at  the   Bar  would  have    anfwered 
any    new    objection,    or   would    fimply    have 
fpoken  again  to  any  of  thofe  particulars  whereto       <?  * 
he  had  formerly  fpoken. 
•  <c  The  distinction  I  gave/'  continues  D'Ewes,  "  Well^ 
fC  being  well  approved  by  the  Houfe,  and  fome  move 
'c  few  having  fpoken  after   me,  the  Speaker 
"  directed   Mr.  Pym   to  fpeak  again  to  any 
'c  new  objection,  but  not  to  touch   upon  any 
<c  thing  to  which    he    had   formerly   fpoken. 
"  And  fo  he  fpake  again,  and  anfwered  thofe  pym 
<c  new  objections  Sir  John  Culpeper  had  made.  Culpeper. 
<c  Others  fpake  alfo,  after  him,   to    the    faid 
"  Petition  in  general.     Then    others   moved 
<c  that  it  might  be   read  over  again,  that  fo 
"  every  particular  might  be  debated  ;  which 
<c  was  at  length  agreed  unto.     So  the  Clerk 
<c  read    it    again,    and    ftaid    at    every    claufe  Petition 
"awhile;  and  fo   fome   claufes   were  fpoken  *";n . 
cc  againft,  and  others  were  agreed  unto  without 
"  any    oppofition.     In    one   part    of  it,    we 
"  alleged  that  the  popifh  and  malignant  party 
<c  had  corrupted  divers  of  the  bifhops  with 
<c  popery.    In  another  part,  that  all  the  bifhops 
cc  had  exercifed  ufurped  authority.      Where-  J"^  jej" 
<l  upon  it  was  moved,  by  one  or  two,  that  we  detail. 
"  would   not    make    the    crimination    general 
"  here,  but  that  we  would  put  in  the  word 


3^4 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


D'Ewes 

attacks 
bifhops. 


Houfe 
adopt  his 
views. 


Further 
objections 
by  Hyde : 


and  Mr. 
Coventry. 


f  c  divers '  as  we  had  done  in  the  former  place. 
f  To  which  I  flood  up  and  anfwered,  that 
c  though  fome  of  the  bifhops  were  of  them- 
1  felves  fo  corrupt  and  bad  as  they  could  not 
c  well  be  made  worfe,  yet  the  word  '  divers ' 
c  was  necefTarily  added  in  that  claufe,  becaufe 
c  they  were  not  all  fo  :  this  being  but  a  per- 
c  fonal  crimination.  But  in  the  other  claufe, 
f  the  complaint  having  reference  to  their  pre- 
c  latical  jurifdiction,  which  was  equally  exer- 
f  cifed  by  them  all  and  defended  and  main- 
f  tained  by  them  all,  we  mould  as  much  err 
c  on  the  other  hand  to  add  the  word  f  divers  ' 
f  in  this  place,  as  we  ihould  have  done  to 
c  omit  it  in  the  former  place." 

This  lucid  argument  of  the  correct  and 
learned  baronet  was  doubtlefs  very  favourably 
received,  for  the  word  fo  much  defired  by 
Hyde  and  his  friends  was  not  allowed  to  limit 
the  force  of  the  fentence.  But  a  further  fland 
was  attempted  to  be  made  againft  the  ufe  of 
the  words  "corruptions"  and  "  unnecefTary 
te  ceremonies,"  in  fpeaking  of  the  neceffity  of 
abating  the  immoderate  power  of  the  bifhops  ; 
Hyde  urging  ftrongly  that  fuch  words  laid  a 
fcandal  upon  the  law  itfelf,  in  fo  characterizing 
a  church  difcipline  it  had  eftablifhed.  His 
friend  Mr.  Coventry  alfo  put  another  objec- 
tion, whether,  feeing  the  intention  was  to  have 
thofe  particulars  in  the  difcipline  of  the  church 
altered  by  law,  it  was  not  quite  out  of  rule  to 
<(  preoccupate  "  his  Majefty  with  it  beforehand. 
Surely,  when  the  new  church-regulation  acts 
ihould  have  once  parTed  both  Houfes,  then  it 
would  be  feafonable,  and  not  before,  to  move 


§  xxii.   Petition  to  accompany  Remonjirance.  365 

his  Majefty  about  it.     This,  however,  again 
called  up  D'Ewes.     He  could  not  admit  the  Replied 
force  of  the  objection  taken.     It  was  an  old,  p'Ewes. 
and  he  thought  a  wife  ufage,  when  the  means 
offered,  to  move  the  fovereign  beforehand  as 
to  particulars  propofed  to  be  paffed  by  act  of 
parliament.    For,  if  the  gentleman  on  the  other 
fide  who  laft  preffed  it  (c<  and  then  I  looked 
<f  towards    Mr.    Coventry "),    had    but   had 
time  to  perufe  the  Parliament  Roll  de  an0.  2do.  Ul'ges 
H.  IV.  no.  23,  he  would  have  found  that  the  rq^0 
fame  courfe  was  then  advifed  upon  :  to  the  end 
that  fo,  by  knowing    the  King's    inclination 
beforehand,   they  might  fave  much    time    in 
avoiding  to  treat    of  particulars  which  there 
was    no    hope    of  obtaining    his   affent  unto. 
And,  holding  that  if  it  were  ever  needful  to 
take  that  courfe  to  gain  time,  it  was  fo  at  this 
moment,  he  thought  the  word  cc  corruption  " 
might  very  well  fland.     On  the  whole,  how- 
ever, Pym  feems  to  have  thought  differently  ;  Pym's 
whether  or  not  from  fome  feeling  of  diftafte  to  modera- 
the  logic  employed,  or  to  the  fentiments  ex- 
prefTed,  by  Sir  Simonds :   and  "corruption"* 

*  Nevcrthelefs,   and  notwithstanding  the  change  of  this 
word,  it  is  remarkable  that  in  the  anfwer  which  the  King  fent 
to  the  Petition  (in  which  he  ftigmatifes  the  Remonftrance  as  IT     , 
"unparliamentary,"   and    intimates  his  furprife   that   "  our  !,.  fe 
"  exprefs   intimation  by  our   Comptroller  to  that  purpose,"  ^e  '  10n 
mould  not  have  rellrained  them  from  the  publifhing  of  it  till  ~n 
fuch  time  as  they  mould  have  received  his  anfwer),  he  quotes,     0Ul  ' 
not  from  the  Petition  as  amended,  but  from  fome  copy  of  it 
which   he   had   received  in  its  original   form.     "  Unto  that 
"  claufe,"  he  fays,  "  which  concerneth  Corruptions  (as  you 
"  ftyle   them),  in  Religion,  in  Church  Government,  and  in 
"  Difcipline,    and  the    removing  of  fuch  unneceffary  cere- 
"  monies,  &c."     Again  he  fays,  "  We  are  very  forry  to  hear 
"  in  fuch  general  terms,  Corruption  in  religion  objecled,  &c." 


366 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


having    been    withdrawn,    and    <c  oppreffion  " 
fubftituted,  the  Petition  palled. 


Tuefday, 
30th  Nov 
Petition 
engroffed. 


Com- 
mittee 
named  to 
wait  on 
King. 


Secret 
commu- 
nication 
with  the 
Kincr. 


§  xxiii.     The   King  receives    Remon- 
strance and  Petition. 

It  now  remained  to  prefent  the  Petition, 
and  with  it  the  Remonftrance  it  was  defigned 
to  accompany,  to  the  King  ;  and  with  this 
view  it  was  ordered  to  be  engrofTed  :  direction 
being  given  that  the  Clerk  mould  alfo  caufe 
two  copies  of  the  Remonftrance  itfelf  to  be 
fair  written,  one  for  his  Majefty  to  be  prefented 
with  the  Petition,  the  other  for  the  Lords  ; 
and  that  the  Committee  for  prefentingit  fhould 
be  named  at  the  next  fitting  but  one.  On 
Tuefday,  the  30th,  it  was  accordingly  moved 
that  this  committee  fhould  confift  of  twelve 
members ;  and  the  twelve  felected  were,  Sir 
Simonds  D'Ewes  ;  Sir  Arthur  Ingram,  mem- 
ber  for   Kellington ;  Sir  James  Thinne,  who 

Now,  in  the  Petition  as  published  by  the  Houfe,  it  will  be  found 
that  the  claufe  (lands  expreflly  as  concerning  "  Oppreflions  in 
"  Religion,  Church  Government  and  Difcipline,"  and  again 
as  referring  to  "  fome  Oppreflions  and  unneceflary  cere- 
"  monies  ;"  bearing  out  and  confirming  exactly  the  narrative 
given  in  my  text.  This  clearly  exhibits  that  fecret  communi- 
cation between  the  King  and  his  friends  in  the  Houfe  which 
is  the  fubjecl  of  frequent  allufion  by  D'Ewes.  So,  in  a  fubfe- 
quent  debate  in  reference  to  the  King's  complaint  of  certain 
exprefllons  in  one  of  Pym's  publifhed  fpeeches  (on  Thurfday 
24th  March,  1641-2),  Sir  Edward  Bainton,  member  for  Chip- 
penham, who  had  been  one  of  a  deputation  to  the  fovereignto 
prefent  a  meifage  from  the  Houfe,  "  flared  that  he  had  gathered 
"  from  fome  exprefTions  of  his  Majefty  that  he  had  feen  the 
"  faid  meflage  before  they  gave  it  him."  For  further  proofs 
on  this  point  fee  Arrejl  of  the  Five  Members,  §  xxii.  The 
member  of  the  Houfe  to  whom  fuch  unauthorifed  communi- 
cations with  the  Court  were  brought  molt  directly  home,  was 
undoubtedly  Mr.  Edward  Hyde. 


$  xxiii.  King  Receives  Remonftrance  &  Petition.        367 

fat  for  Wiltshire  ;   Mr.   Henry   Bellafis,   and  Its  mem- 
Lord  Fairfax  (Ferdinando),  who  both  fat  for 
Yorkshire ;  Lord  Grey  of  Groby,  member  for 
Leicefter,  Earl  Stamford's  fecond  fori,  and  here- 
after to  fit  among  the  regicides ;  Sir  Christo- 
pher Wray,  who   reprefented  Great  Grimfby, 
father-in-law  of  the  younger  Vane  ;   Sir  John 
Corbet,  member  for  Shropshire;  Sir  Richard 
Wynne,  member  for  Liverpool,  who  held  an 
office    in   the  King's  houfe ;    and  Sir  Ralph 
Hopton,  Sir  Edward  Dering,  and  Sir  Arthur 
Hafelrig.     There  was  here  a  liberal  apportion-  Several 
ment   of  thofe  who,    being   known    to    have  fr/enndss. 
oppofed  the  Declaration,  were  lefs  likely  to  be 
unwelcome  to  the  King ;  and  that  the  fame 
tendernefs  on  this  point  determined  Pym  to 
withdraw   his    own    name,    which    appeared  Pym 
among  thofe  firft  felecled,*  hardly  admits  of  a^na^s 
doubt.     The  fame  deference  to  the  feelings  of 
the  Sovereign  feems  alfo  to  have  fuggefted  a 
refolution  moved  the  next  morning  (when  the 
Committee  were  in  waiting  in  the  Houfe  to 
receive  the  Petition  and  Remonftrance,   and 
repair  therewith   to  Hampton  Court)  to  the 
effect  cc  that  Sir  Edward  Dering  mould  prefent  Dering 
< f  and  read  the  Petition  unto    his  Majefty."  *°t^  to 
The  Petition  only  was  to  be  read,  after  which  King. 
the  Remonftrance    was    to    be  placed    in   his 
hands.      Sir  Edward   Dering,   however,  pro- 
bably fufpecling  that  into  much  consideration 
for  the  King  in  this  matter  had  entered  not  a 
little  want  of  consideration  for  himfelf,  quietly 
withdrew  from  the  Houfe  while  the  refolution 

*  See  RuJJivuortk,  vol.  i.  part  iii.  4S6. 


:68 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Declines, 
and 

Hopton 
chofen. 


Thurfday, 
2nd  Dec. 
Hopton's 
report. 


Reception 

by 

Charles. 


Hopton 
reading 
Petition. 


was  in  hand  ;  and  upon  difcovery  of  his  ab- 
fence  another  order  had  to  be  fubftituted, cc  that 
"  Sir  Ralph  Hopton,  in  the  abfence  of  Sir 
cf  Edward  Dering,  fhall  read  the  Petition  and 
u  prefent  that  and  the  Declaration  unto  his 
cc  Majefty." 

And  fo,  the  Speaker  calling  to  Sir  Simonds 
D'Ewes  to  receive  Petition  and  Remonftrance, 
to  which  Sir  Simonds  refponds  by  advancing 
from  the  lower  end  to  the  table,  making  three 
congees  as  he  moves  along,  the  Committee  get 
pofleftion  of  their  important  charge,  and  betake 
themfelves  to  Hampton  Court. 

The  next  day,  Thurfday  the  2nd,  Sir  Ralph 
Hopton  reported  to  the  Houfe  what  had 
palTed  at  the  interview.  "With  the  exception 
of  Sir  Edward  Dering,  all  the  deputation  affem- 
bled  ;*  and  on  arrival  at  the  palace,  the  member 
for  Liverpool,  who  had  familiar  entrance  there- 
in, having  announced  them,  they  had  to  wait 
but  a  quarter  of  an  hour  before  the  King 
invited  them  to  his  chamber.  Here  they  fank 
upon  the  knee,  and  in  this  pofture  Sir  Ralph 
began  to  read  the  Petition.  But  Charles 
would  not  have  it  fo ;  and,  making  them  all  rife, 
liftened  attentively  as  Sir  Ralph  proceeded; 
until  he  came  to  the  paffage  charging  the  ma- 
lignant party  with  a  delign  to  change  the  efta- 
blifhed  religion,  when  his  Majefty  fuddenly 
interrupted  him,  exclaiming  with  a  great  deal 
of  fervency,   ic  The  Devil  take   him,  whom- 

*  D'Ewes  has  fubfequent  occafion  to  refer  in  his  Journal 
to  the  Remonftrance  "  prefented  at  Hampton  Court  by  my- 
"  felf  and  ten  other  members  of  the  Houfe,"  which  mows 
that  the  only  defaulter  in  attendance,  out  of  the  twelve 
named,  was  Sir  Edward  Dering. 


§  xxin.  King  Receives  Remonftrance  &  Petition.        369 

<c  foever  he  be,  that  hath   a  defign  to  change  interrup- 
"  our  religion  !  "     Then  Sir  Ralph  refumed  ;  ^sby 
but,  juft  after  reading  the  fentence  towards  the 
clofe  about  referving  the  difpofal  of  the  rebels' 
lands  in  Ireland,  his  Majefty  again   broke  in 
and  was  pleafed  to  fay,  cc  We  muft  not  difpofe 
tc  of  the  Bear's  fkin  till  the  Bear  be  dead."  The  Bear 
His  Majefty,  in  fhort,  was  in  excellent  fpirits ;  #^c 
fhowed  none  of  his   ufual  fhort  fharp  ways  ;  (kin. 
and,  after  they  had  finifhed   reading  the  Peti- 
tion and  had  placed  the  Remonftrance  before 
him,    feemed  entirely  difpofed  to  have  fome 
familiar  talk  with  the  Committee.     Its  object,  Commit- 
however,  fpeedily  revealed  itfelf  on  his  defiring  ^oned- 
merely  to    alk    the   worthy    members    a   few 
queftions  touching  this  Remonftrance  and  the 
Petition  they  had   read.     Royalift  as  he  was, 
Sir  Ralph  Hopton  faw  the  danger,  and  made 
reply  refpectfully  that  they  had  no  commifTion 
to    fpeak    anything    concerning    the    bufinefs. 
<c  Then,"  the   King   quickly  rejoined,   cc  you 
"  may  fpeak  as   particular    men.     Doth   the"D°y°u 
'c  Houfe  intend  to  -publijh  this  Declaration?  " pubUfli?" 
But  not  fo  were  thofe  ancient  parliament  men 
to   be  thrown  off  their  guard ;  and  they  an- 
fwered  limply  that  they  could  give  no  anfwer  to 
it.      "  Well  then,"  faid  the  King,   "  I  fuppofe 
<c  you  do   not  expect  me  to  anfwer  now  to  fo 
4C  long  a  Petition.     But  this  let  me  tell  you,  I 
'c  have  left  Scotland  well,  and  in  peace;  they  are  King's 
"  all  fatisfied  with  me,  and  I  with  them ;  and  anfwer  to 
"  though  I  flayed  longer  there  than  I  expected, 
"  yet  I  think,  if  I  had  not  gone,  you  had  not 
<c  been  rid  fo  foon  of  the  army.     And  as  to 
<{  this   bufinefs  of  yours,   I  fhall  give  you  an 


37°  The  Grand  Remonft ranee. 

Clofeof     cc  anfwer  with  as  much  fpeed  as  the  weighti- 
interview.  cc  nefs    of  the  bufmefs  will  permit."     With 

which  he  gave  them  his  hand  to  kifs  ;  commit- 
ting them  to  the  entertainment  of  his  comp- 
troller, and  the  lodgment  of  his  harbinger  ; 
both  being  of  the  worthier!:.  And  Sir  Ralph 
craved  to  conclude  his  report  with  faithful  re- 
petition of  the  royal  meflage  which,  juft  as 
they  were  on  the  point  of  leaving  the  palace, 
Meflage  was  brought  to  them  with  requeft  for  its  imme- 
departure.  diate  delivery  to  the  Houfe  of  Commons  : 
"  That  there  might  be  no  piblijliing  of  the  De- 
<e  claration  till  the  Houfe  had  received  his  Ma- 
'  c  jefiy ' s  Anfwer. ' ' 

The  reader   will  now  judge  to  what  extent 
the  facts  juftify    Clarendon    in  itating,  that, 
when  it  was  finally  refolved  to  publifh  the  Re- 
monftrance,   this  was  done  in  violation  of  a 
compact  or  underftanding  againft  any  fuch  ftep 
until  the  King's  anfwer  was  received.     On  the 
No  pledge  one  ^e  there  was  a  ftrong  wifh  exprefled  un- 
not  to        doubtedly,  but  on  the  other  this  wifh  was  met 
pu    '   '      by    neither    compact    nor  underftanding.       If 
indeed  there  were  any  violation  in  the  cafe,  it 
might  more  fairly  be  charged  upon  the  King. 
He  told  the  Committee  that  he  did  not  at  that 
time  defign  to  anfwer  their  Remonftrance,  yet 
there  was  hardly  an  act  at  this   moment  con- 
templated by  him,  or  to  which  he  had  fet  his 
Incite-      hand  fince  his  arrival  in  London,  which  did 
ments  to    not  prac^jcally  exprefs  his  anfwer.      It  was  in 

publica-  r  /         r 

tion.  ins  proclamation  for  obedience  to  the  Jaws 
regulating  worfhip ;  in  his  order  for  the  dif- 
mifTal  of  the  City  Guard  over  the  Houfes  ;  in 
his   direction  that  they    mould  in   future    be 


§  xxiii.  King  Receives  Remonftrance  13  Petition.        37 1 

guarded    by    the    bands    of  Weftminfter   and 
Middlefex,  officered  by  his  own  fervants  ;   and 
in  his  propofed  removal  of  Balfour  from  the 
command  of  the  Tower.    Already  he  had  ended 
all  doubt  as  to  the  temper  in  which  he  had  re-  Hoftile 
turned  ;  and  many  to  whom  even  the  voting  afts. 
of  the  Remonftrance  had  appeared  of  doubtful  Houfe. 
expediency,  now  faw  and  admitted  theneceffity 
of  publishing  it    to    the  people.     Manifestly 
had  its  promoters  Succeeded  in  its  firft  defign 
at  leaft ;  for  the  challenge  it  threw  down  had 
been  promptly  taken  up.     If  the    King   had 
been  Sincere  in  his  former  profeffions  of  an  in- 
tention  to  govern  for  the  future  within  the 
limits  of  the  laws  he  had  himfelf  afTented  to, 
there  was  nothing  in  the  Remonftrance  to  de- 
feat that  intention ;  but  if  he  had  any  other 
deflre  or  purpofe  as  yet  mafked,  fuch  was  no  King's 
longer  maintainable.     He  never  had  a  better  purpofe 
opportunity  than  the  prefent  for  betaking  him-  unma 
felf  to  parliamentary  ways  of  aSTerting  his  power 
and  prerogatives,   but  events  were  fpeedily  to 
mow  with  what  far  other  views  he  was  now 
inviting  into  office  two  out  of  thofe  three  of 
the  Houfe  of  Commons  (calling  alfo  into  fecret 
council  the  third)  who  had  organifed  and  led  Hyde  and 
the  new  party  of  his  friends  within  its  walls,  friends 
Something  lefs  than  twelve  days   are  to  pafs  0^ce- 
before  the  debate  which  is  to  put  finally  before 
the  people  the  Grand  Remonftrance,   and   if 
the  wifh  ftill  lingered  with  Hampden  or  with 
Pym  to  have  been  faved,  if  poffible,  the  necef- 
fity  of  that  appeal,  each  day  Supplied  its  argu- 
ment againft  fuch  a  poffibility.     I  will  felect 
but  a  few,  from  the  manufcript  records  before 


37  2  The  Grand  Remon ft  ranee. 

me,  to  mow  with  what  refiftlefs  march,  as  day 
followed  day,  the  crifis  came  on. 

§  xxiv.    Retaliation  and  Revenge. 

Tamper-        The  rumoured  removal  of  Balfour  from  the 
command  corrimand  of  the  Tower   was  the  firft  direct 
of  To^er.  challenge  to  the  Houfe.    Balfour  flood  high  in 
their  confidence  for  his  unfhaken   fidelity    in 
preventing   the  efcape    of  Strafford,    whereas 
Clarendon    himfelf  admits  *    that    Lunsford, 
felected  to  replace  him,  was  a  man  of  no  edu- 
cation,  of  ill    character,  and  of   decayed  and 
defperate  fortune,  who  had  been  obliged,  but  a 
few  years  before,  to  avoid  by  flight  into  France 
the  penalty  of  punifhment  for  a  grave  mifde- 
meanour.     Such  indeed  was  the  feeling  in  the 
City  aroufed  by  his  appointment  when,  in  lefs 
than  three  weeks  from  this  time,  it  actually 
Popular     took  place,   that  under  the  prefTure  of  very 
commo-     alarming  indications  of  riot,  the  King  had  to 
tlon*  withdraw  it.      Even  already,  a  certain  uneafy 

feeling  in  the  City  connected  itfelf  with  a  fenfe 
of  the  infecurity  of  the  Tower  ;  and  the  report 
of  Balfour's  removal  led  to  fome  tumultuous 

Preparing  *  Though  of  courfe,  as  with  all  the  acls  of  the  King 
for  acl  of  which  had  immediately  difaftrous  ilTue,  he  makes  Lord  Digby 
violence,  the  fcapegoat,  and  charges  the  ill  counll-1  upon  him.  Hift. 
ii.  123.  The  King's  object,  as  Clarendon  frankly  admits, 
was,  that  having  now  fome  fecret  reafon  to  fill  the  place  with 
a  man  who  might  be  fruited,  he  feltcled  Lunsford  as  one  who 
would  be  faithful  to  him  for  this  obligation,  and  execute  any- 
thing he  fliould  defire  or  direcL  In  other  words,  as  is 
remarked  by  Warburton  (vii.  547),  who  puts  in  plain  fpeech 
Clarendon's  laboured  periphrafis,  "  to  keep  the  fii>e  Members 
"  fc'fe  <vjhctn  it  *was  determined  to  arrcjt."  This  lubjeel:  is 
treated  in  detail  in  my  Arrejl  of  the  Five  Members. 


§  xxiv.     Retaliation  and  Revenge.  373 

gatherings  on  the  Monday  after  the  King's 
return,  and  fpread  great  alarm  among  the  well- 
affected. 

That  was  on  the  29th  of  November.     On  New 
the  morning  of  that  fame  day,  the  new  Guard  q^Jj 
to  the  Houfes  was  fent  under  the  command  of 
Lord  Dorfet  by  the  King,  by  way  of  reply  to 
the  reafons  drawn  up  by  Pym'::"  and  prefented 
in  the  name  of  both  Houfes  ;  and  before  the 
day  had  clofed,  fwords  were  drawn  and  mufkets  People 
fired  upon  the  people.f     It  was  thus  faft  com-  fireduPon- 
ing  to  an  iffue  outfide  the  walls  of  parliament, 
upon    the    fuggeftion    or   incitement    of    the 
fovereign  ;  invitations  were  going  out  to  the 
people,   to  throw  on  either   fide  their  weight 
into  the  fcale  ;   and  foon  perforce  the  queftion 
muft   arife,  to  which  of  the  contending  parties 
that    power    would  mod    freely    lend    itfelf, 
to    uphold     monarchical     pretenfion,     or    to 
ftrengthen  and  eftablifh  parliamentary  privilege. 

On  the  morning  of  the  30th  of  November,  3°thNov. 
Pym,  Hampden,  and  Hollis  went  up  to  the  £^'res 
Lords  with  a  melTage  for  the  difcharge  of  the  difraifs 
trained-bands  which  the  King  had  fo  fubfti-  *Sing's 

j     r  1     •  a       /->i  1  •      Guard. 

tuted  for  their  own.  As  Clarendon  puts  it, 
fc  fince  they  could  not  have  fuch  a  guard  as 
<c  pleafed  them,  they  would  have  none  at  all. "J 
And  fo,  the  Peers  confenting,  Lord  Dorfet  and 
his  followers   were  difmifTed ;    the  Commons 

*  See  ante,  p.  357-8. 

f  "The  Earl  of"  Dorfet' s  indifcreet    rafhnefs    this   day,"  Lorci 
writes  D'Ewes,  on  the   29th,    "  might  have  occafioned   the  Dorfet. 
"  fhedding   of  much    blood — he    commanded    fome    or    the 
"  guard  to  give  fire  upon  fome  of  the  citizens  of  London  in 
"  the  Court  of  Requefts  or  near  it." 

%  Hift.  ii.  86. 


374  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

Ominous   at  the  fame  time  declaring  that  it   mould   be 
tion.  U       lawful,  in  the  abfence  of  a   Guard  duly  ap- 
pointed, for  every  member  to  bring  his   own 
fervants  to  attend  at  the  door,  armed  with  fuch 
weapons  as  they  thought  fit.*     No  needlefs  or 
unprovoked  precaution  ;  for  the  danger,  and 
the  direction  it  would  take,  were  now  not  dif- 
The  end    tantly  revealing  themfelves.     What  fecretly  was 
approach-  already  refolved  upon  could  not  much  longer 
jns"#  be  concealed.      As  Selden  wittily  puts  it  in  his 

Table  Talk  (and  a  calmer  or  lefs  partial  witnefs 
of  the  events  now  rapidly  moving  to  their 
ifTue  could  not  be  named),  t{  the  King  was 
lc  ufing  the  Houfe  of  Commons  in  Mr.  Pym 
iC  and  his  company,  that  is,  charging  them  with 
"  treafon  becaufe  they  charged  my  lord  of 
Witty  "  Canterbury  and  Sir  George  RatclifFe,  with 
remark  by  Cf  juft  as  much  logic  as  the  boy  that  would  have 
Selden.  a  ]ajn  wjtn  j^s  grandmother  ufed  to  his  father  : 
Cf  You  lay  with  my  mother,  why  mould  not  I 
"  lie  with  yours  ?  "  f  Thus  early  were  people 
talking  of  his  purpofe,  almoft  openly.  On 
this  very  day  (the  30th),  when  the  Commons 
difmirTed  Lord  Dorfet  and  his  band,  DEwes 
tells  us  cc  upon  Mr.  Pury's  motion,  that 
cc  one  William  Chillingworth,  doctor  of  divi- 
Cf  nity,  had  faid  that  fome  members  of  this 

Com-  *  Such  is  Clarendon's  account  (Hi/I.  ii.  86),  but  the  notice 

mans*  m  tne  journals  limply  fays  :   "  Ordered  that  the  Guard  fliall 

Journals:   "  be  dii'mifled  ;    and   that  Mr.    Glyn   and   Mr.  Wheeler  do 
30th  Nov.  "  require  the  High   Conftable  of  Weftminfter  to   provide  a 
"  ftrong  and  fufficient  watch  in  their  fteads." 

f  Table  Talk,  p.  96.  The  fubftitution  of  Ratcliffe  for 
Strafford,  in  this  report  by  Selden  of  the  plea  or  pretence  of  the 
Court  party,  is  highly  chara&eriilic.  Strafford  could  not  in 
decency  be  put  forward,  with  lb  many  who  had  perfecuted 
him  to  the  death  now  ranged  on  the  fide  of  the  King. 


§  xxv.  Alleged  Intimidation  of  Parliament.  375 

"  Houfe  were  guilty  of  treafon,  and  that  they  J?.0^or 
cc  fhould  be  accufed  within  a  day  or  two,  it  was  woJth>ss 
cc  ordered  that  the   ferjeant's   deputy    fhould  difclofure. 
<c  bring  him  forthwith  to  the  Houfe,  and  if  he 
cc  fhould  refufe   to   come,  then  to   apprehend 
(c  him  as  a  delinquent,  and  bring  him."     So 
rapidly  were  the  lifts  clofing  up  on  both  fides, 
and  fo  narrowed  the  opportunities  on  either  for 
efcaping  a  fatal  iffue. 

§  xxv.  Alleged  Intimidation  of 

Parliament. 

The   next  move  in  the  perilous  game  was  Hyde's 
made  by  Hyde  and  his  party,  bent  upon  effect.-  p    ' 
ing   fome  diverfion   from    the    fufpicions  and 
agitations  let  loofe   by  Doclor  Chillingworth's 
difclofure,   and   to  whom  the  popular  riot  of 
Monday  offered  good  pretence  for  complaint 
of  fuch  prefTure   and  coercion   as   cc  confided 
cc  not  with  the  freedom  of  parliament."     In  parj;a_ 
that  exprefiion  their  whole  policy  revealed  it- merit' "not 
felf ;   its  entire  aim  and  end  lay  there  ;  and,  in  tree- 
the  fame  temper  which  had  now  fupplied  the 
occafion,  it  was  eagerly  followed  up.      It  is  not, 
I  think,  pofiible  to  doubt,  that,  from  the  day 
when    Charles   had  left    for    Scotland  in    the 
autumn,    his    cherifhed    and    fteadily   purfued 
purpofe  was  to  find  ground  for  revoking  what- 
ever had  been  done  that  was   unpalatable  to  King's 
him  during  the  paft  year  ;   and  fuch  ground  ^lea  ?* 

u   1        r         -n       11  1  1        •  i«        coercion. 

would  be  furnifhed  by  the  pretence  that  parlia- 
ment had  not  been  free,  but  that  coercion  had 
been  put  upon  it  by  certain  leading  members, 
by  whom  penalties  of  treafon  to  the  State  had 


376 


The  Grand  Remonfirance. 


Minority 

againft 

Majority. 


30th  Nov 

P.M. 
Charge 
againft 
citizens. 


Charge 
again  it 
members. 


Shall  we 
not  give 
votes 
freely  ? 


otherwife  alfo  been  incurred.  Every  act  ofhim- 
felf  or  his  partizans,  therefore,  afTumed  now 
that  fpecific  form  and  direction.  The  cafe  of 
the  protefters  againft  the  Grand  Remonftrance 
he  took  where  they  left  it,  and  made  his  own. 
Not  they  who  patted  it,  but  they  who  protefted 
againft  it,  were  his  faithful  Commons.  But 
they  were  under  a  tyranny  both  within  and 
without  the  Houfe  which  prevented  fair  expref- 
fion  of  opinion. 

On  the  return  of  the  leaders  to  their  feats 
after  removal  of  Lord  Dorfet's  men,  in  the  after- 
noon of  the  30th  of  November,  Hyde  rofe, 
and  craving  leave  to  advert  again  to  the  inci- 
dent  of  the  Guard,  taxed  the  London  citizens 
and  apprentices  with  having  come  on  the  pre- 
vious day  armed  with  fwords  and  ftaves  to 
Weftminfter,  fpecially  to  overawe  particular 
members  from  voting  as  they  wifhed.  He 
was  interrupted  by  the  demand  for  inftances  ; 
upon  which  Sir  John  Strangways  faid  afide  to 
thofe  who  fat  near  him,  that  he  could  extinguifh 
fome  loud  talkers  and  interrupters  in  that  Houfe 
perhaps,  were  he  to  tell  what  he  knew.  <c  Tell 
"  it,  then,"  was  the  cry  of  one  who  overheard 
him  ;  and  the  member  for  Weymouth  rofe, 
nothing  loath.  He  wifhed  Mr.  Speaker  to 
inform  him  whether  the  privilege  of  parliament 
was  not  utterly  broken  if  men  might  not  come 
in  fafely  to  give  their  votes  freely  ?  Well, 
then,  he  muft  tell  them  that  he  had  received 
information  of  a  plot  or  confpiracy  for  the 
deftruction  of  fome  of  the  members  of  that 
Houfe,  which  he  conceived  to  be  little  lefs 
than  treafon  ;  and  he  had  moreover   grounds 


§  xxv.   Alleged  Intimidation  of  Parliament.  377 

to  believe  that  fome  other  of  the  members  of 

that  Houfe  were  either  contrivers  of  it,  or  had 

con  fen  ted  to  it ;   and  he  therefore  defired  that 

the   Lord  Falkland,    Sir  John  Culpeper,  and  Strang- 

fome  three  others,  might  be  appointed  a  felect  ways  a(ks 

'        .&         ,        rr  TT  for  com- 

committee  to  examine  the  matter.  Upon  mittee. 
which  not  very  impartial  propofal  arofe,  not 
unnaturally,  great  murmurs  ;  ending  in  a  pe- 
remptory order  that  Sir  John  mould  prefently 
declare  the  whole  matter  in  particulars,  and  not 
lay  fufpicion  and  charge  indifcriminately  upon  is  required 
members   of  the  Houfe.     Authority   for  the t0  ft;l[e. 

n  1         j    j     •  i-i  j  complaint. 

itatement    was    nandea    in    accordingly ;    and 
proved   to    be    to    the  effect*  that  a    certain 
"  Jufty  young  man,"  a  haberdamer's  apprentice 
in  Diftaff  Lane,  had  boafted  to  certain  parties 
of  having  been  one  among  a  thoufand  or  fo, 
who  with  fwords  and  ftaves  had  betaken  them-  story 
felves  to  Weftminfter  Palace  Yard ;  his  mafter,  of  an  ap- 
who  was  a  conftable,  having  given  him  a  fword  p'en  lce' 
and  ordered  him  to  go ;  in  fact,  that  fome  parlia- 

*  I  furnilh  thefe  curious  details  from  the  Journal  fo  often  T)'Ewes's 
referred  to  ;  the  paper  produced  by  Strangways  being  entitled  iyjc 
"  A  brief  of  the  Difcourfe  had  between  one  Cole,  an  appren- 
"  tice  to  Mr.  Mansfield,  an  haberdafher  in  Diflaff  Lane,  and 
"  one   John   Nicholfon,     DD,     in  the  prefence  of   Stephen 
"  Tirrett,  uncle  to  the  laid  Cole,  and   John   Derivale,    both 
"  Chelmsford   men."     The  Rev.  Doclor    is    the    informant, 
and  appears  to   have  been   fitting  converfing  with    the  faid 
Tirrett  and  Derivale,  probably  on  theological  fubjecls,   "  in 
"  his    lodgings    in    Gracious  [Gracechurch]  Street,  between 
"  nine  and  ten  of  the  clock,"  when  that  very  refpeftable  lad,  f*  i°ene 
Stephen,  came  in  fomewhat  elatedly  to  tell  his  uncle  the  news  in       ,,ra" 
above  mentioned.     Mr.    Kirton's   respeclable  citizen,  on  the  C10us 
other  hand,  whofe  man  came  to   him  when  he  was  fmoking  Street, 
with  his   friend   Mr.   Fallow  of  Wood  Street,  was  one  Mr. 
Lavender  ;  and  the  witneffes  who  figned  the  relation  averred 
that  when  Mr.  Lavender  heard  what  his  man  told  him.  he 
inftantly  departed,  "  and  the  reft  of  the  company  were  much 
"  troubled." 


37 8  'The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

Some        ment  men  had  fent  for  them  ;  and  that  the 
members    intent  0f  their  going;  was  becaufe  of  news  of 

to  be  over-  &        & 

awed  by  lome  certain  chviiion  among  the  members  or 
others.  the  lower  Houfe,  in  which  the  beft- affected 
party,  whom  they  were  to  a  (lift,  were  likely  to 
be  overborne  by  the  others  ;  but  that  finding 
all  quiet,  and  both  fides  agreeing  well  together, 
they  had  come  home  again. 

Yes,  well,   and  is  this  all  ?  became  the  cry 
when  Sir  John  Strangways'  relation  was  ended. 
"  Name!   Where,  then,  is  the  evidence  againft  members 
"Name!    of  this  Houfe,  and  who  are  the  members  im- 
pugned ?       cc  That  /  can    anfwer,''  cried   an 
active   partizan  of  Hyde's,    Mr.  Kirton,  the 
member  for  Milborn    Port ;    who    thereupon 
handed  in  a  further  piece  of  evidence,  to  the 
effect  that  a  worthy  London  citizen,  being  in 
Wood  Street  taking  tobacco  with  fome  friends 
Kirton      on  tne  ^ay  m  queftion,  there  came  his  man  to 
names       him  and  brought  him  word  that  a  mefTage  was 
en-         arrived  from  Captain  Ven  (member  for  Lon- 
don, he  who  afterwards  fat  on  the  trial  of  the 
King)    to  defire  him    to   come  away  fpeedily 
armed  to  the  Houfe  of  Commons,  for  fwords 
were  there  drawn,  and  the  well-affected  party 
was  like  to  be  overborne  by  the  others.   During 
the  reading  of  this  paper,  Captain  Ven  came 
into  his  place,  and  would  at  the  moment  have 
Houfe       anfwered  to  it ;  but  the  Houfe  thought  it  not 
prevents    fit  till  fomewhat  were  proved,  and,  as  to  the 
preceding  relation,    conceived    that    Sir    John 
Strangways  had  confiderably  overftated  him- 
felf,  and  had  ventured  upon  an  accufation  which 
his  information  in  no  refpect  warranted.     On 
which   Pym,  rifing  with    unufual    gravity   ot 


Ven' 
anfwer. 


§  xxv.     Alleged  Intimidation  of  Parliament.  279 

manner,  put  this  very  fignificant  queftion  to 
Mr.  Speaker  :   <c  Whether,  though  the  worthy  Pym's 
"  member  had  failed  to  prove  his  charge  of  queft1011 

r  •  •   i  -j  r  j  t0  Mr- 

tc  a  conlpiracy,  either  contrived  or  coniented  speaker. 

Cf  to  by  members  unnamed,  for  the  deftruc- 

ce  tion  of  other  members  more  plainly  referred 

cc  to,  he  had  yet  not  fucceeded  in  proving  very 

Cf  fully,   that   there  was  a  con/piracy  by  Jome 

<c  members  of  this  Houfe  to  accufe  other  members 

tc  of  the  fame  of  Treafon  ?  " 

On  the  fecond  of  December,  and   on  the  2nd  &  3d 
third,  the  fubject  of  thefe  out-of-door  demon-  J^.  ^ne~ 
fixations  continued  ftill  under  debate.    Edmund  popular 
Waller  inveighed  much  againft  the  Londoners  gather- 
for  coming  to  Weftminfter  in  fo  tumultuous  a       ' 
manner  and  crying   openly,  No  Bifhops  !   No 
Bifhops !     and    boldly    juftified   the    Earl    of 
Dorfet  in  the  courfe  he  had  taken,  faying  he 
had  done  nothing  but  what  he  was  neceflitated 
unto.     Strode  took  the  other  fide  as  warmly,  Waller, 
declaring  that  the  citizens  had  not  come  in  any  Strode, 
tumultuous  or   unlawful    manner.      Culpeper  peper. 
anfwered  him,  and  in  rough  overbearing  fpeech 
reiterated  the   charge  that  there  had  been    a 
very  unjuftifiable  tumult.     To  him  fucceeded 
D'Ewes,  who  declared  himfelf  of  Mr.  Strode's  ?'Ew.es 

.    .  j  r  derends 

opinion,  and    that  it    was    matter    for    grave  the 
inquiry  that  the  Lord  Dorfet  mould  have  ad-  citizens, 
vifed  his  mufqueteers  to  moot  the  citizens,  and 
his  pikemen  to  run  them  through,  when  they 
came  fimply,  with  all  afFeclion  and  faithfulnefs 
to  the  Houfe,  to  attend  the  iiTue  of  their  peti- 
tions to  the  high  court  of  Parliament.   Where- 
upon   again    ftarted    up   Sir    John    Culpeper,  Culpeper 
fpeaking  to  order,  and  calling  upon  Sir  Simonds  interrupts. 


33o 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


Earle  and 
D'Ewes 
to  order. 


Culpeper 
explains. 


D'Ewes 

replies. 


Houfe 
fup  ports 
D'Ewes. 


D'Ewes  to  explain  what  he  meant  by  talking 

of But  then  Sir  Walter  Earle    rofe   to 

order  from  the  other  fide,  and  faid  that  no  in- 
dividual had  the  right,  except  with  authority 
of  the  whole  Houfe,  to  take  exceptions  to  what 
had  fallen  from  any  member.  Culpeper  hereon 
refumed  his  feat,  and  D'Ewes  himfelf  was  heard 
to  the  point  of  order.  He  fimply  defired  the 
gentleman  on  the  other  fide  of  the  way  might 
be  allowed  to  fpeak,  and  to  name  the  words  he 
would  except  againft.  On  which  Culpeper 
flood  up  again  and  faid,  more  mildly,  that  what 
he  intended  to  have  remarked  was  out  of  a 
great  deal  of  refpect  to  the  worthy  member 
who  had  juft  fpoken,  well  knowing  he  had  no 
ill  intention,  whatever  words  might  flip  from 
him.  But,  what  did  he  mean  by  mentioning 
the  citizens'  <:  loyalty"  to  that  Houfe  ?  Was 
loyalty  due,  and  to  be  paid,  there  or  elfewhere  ? 
<c  Which  very  words,"  interpofes  D'Ewes  in 
his  Journal,  "  I  either  certainly  fpake  not  at 
<(  all,  or  not  in  one  common  claufe  together." 
(In  his  own  report,  in  the  fame  manufcript 
record,  the  words  are  "  affection  and  faithful- 
"  nefs,"  not  loyalty.)  fc  Wherefore  I  ftood  up 
(<  myfelf,  not  one  man  calling  on  me,  to  ex- 
"  plain  ;  and  I  faid  c  For  the  words  themfelves, 
<c  '  I  do  not  remember  that  I  fpake  them, 
i(  c  and  for  that  I  appeal  to  the  whole  Houfe  ' 
cc  (upon  which  there  followed  a  great  filence, 
"  and  I  did  not  hear  one  man  fecond  Sir  John 
cc  Culpeper's  charge).  '  But  if  I  had  fpoken 
iC  '  the  words,  I  conceive  that  gentleman  would 
<c  c  take  no  exception  to  them  if  he  will  but 
ic  c  perufe  Littleton  in  his  chapter  of  Homage, 


§  xxv.    Alleged  Intimidation  of  Parliament.  381 

'c  c  where  he  will  find  that  one  fubjecl:  may  owe 

Cf  '  loyalty  to  another  without  breach  of  his 

"  f  loyalty    to    the    King.'      Whereupon    the  Culpeper 

C(  Houfe  refted  fatisfied.     Sir  John  Culpeper  menced* 

ct  fat  filent ;  and  many  laughed  at  the  imperti- 

"  nence  of  his  exception,  hearing  how  fully  I 

"  had   anfwered   him    upon    the  fudden.     In 

cc  which,"    adds   the    good    Sir    Simonds    in 

parenthefis,  "  I  did  very  much  acknowledge 

"  God's  affiftance  in  furnifhing  me  with  fo  apt 

"  and  prefent  a  reply." 

The  temper  of  the  Majority  of  the  Houfe,  Pym's 
in  clofe  iuxtapofition  and  contraft  with  that  of  mot.10" 

■tut'         '  r  ^•n  •  ■      agamft 

its  Minority  or  royalilt  oppontion,  appears  in  upper 
thefe  curious  and  valuable  records  ;  and  flill  Houfe- 
more  unmiftakeably  was  it  mown  in  the  after- 
noon of  that  fame  3d  of  December,  when  Pym 
rofe  and  called  attention  to  the  ftoppage  of  all 
legiflative  bufinefs  by  the  rejection  of,  or  refufal 
of  the  Lords  to  proceed  with,  various  bills  that  Stoppage 
had  been  fent  to  the  upper  Houfe.    He  moved  g^*111 
for  a  committee  to  review  what  bills  the  Com- 
mons had  pafTed  and  the  Lords  had  rejected, 
and  the  reafons  why  ;  and,  if  the  Lords  would 
not  join  with  them,*  then  let  them  go  to  the 


*  It  was  but  a  few  weeks  after  this  that  Pym  fummed  up  Obftruc- 
thefe  and  fimilar  obftruclions  made  by  the  Lords,  at  a  confer-  tions  in 
ence  with  that  Houfe,  and  clofed  his  lpeech  in  thefe  very  upper 
memorable  words  :  Houfe. 

"  We  have  often  fuffered  under  the  mifinterpretation  of 
"  good  actions,  and  falfe  imputation  of  evil  ones  whicli  we 
"  never  intended  ;  fo  that  we  may  juftly  purge  ourfelves  from 
"  all  guilt  of  being  authors  of  this  jealoufy  and  mifunder- 
"  Handing.  We  have  been,  and  are  ftill,  ready  to  lerve  his 
"  Majefty  with  our  lives  and  fortunes,  with  as  much  cheer- 
"  fulnefs  and  earneftnefs  of  affection  as  ever  any  fubjefts 
"  were  ;  and  we  doubt  not  but  our  proceedings  will  fo  mani- 


382 


Will  mi- 
nority of 
Lords  join 
majority 
of  Com- 
mons in 
a  proteft. 


Counter 
propofi- 
tion  by 
Godol- 
phin. 


Pym's 
appeal  to 
Lords : 


Do  not 
leave  ns  to 
fave  the 
country 
alone. 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

King  ;  having  firft  put  their  Declaration  before 
the  people,  which  would  enable  them  to  fee 
where  the  obftructions  lay.  cf  We  may  have 
"  our  part  in  the  mifery  occafioned,"  he  faid, 
c<  let  us  be  careful  that  we  have  no  part  in  the 
c<  guilt  or  the  dishonour."  Fie  further  threw 
out  the  fuggeftion,  that,  fince  the  Lords  pof- 
feffed  the  undoubted  right  to  proteft  in  their 
individual  capacity,  and  were  not  conftitution- 
ally  involved  by  the  major  part,  it  would  be 
well  that  they  fhould  take  thofe  protefting 
Lords  with  them,  and  reprefent  jointly  to  the 
King  the  caufes  of  obstruction.  A  propofal 
which  called  forth  inftantly  a  retort  from  the 
quarter  where  Hyde's  party  fat ;  for,  up  fprang 
Mr.  Francis  Godolphin,  Edmund  Waller's 
colleague  in  the  reprefentation  of  St.  Ives,  and 
afked  Mr.  Speaker  to  inform  him,  whether,  if 
the  majority  of  that  Houfe  went  to  the  King 
with  the  lefTer  part  of  the  Lords,  iC  the  greater 
tc  -part  of  the  Lords  might  not  go  to  the  King 

"  feft  this,  that  we  fhall  be  as  clear  in  the  apprehenfion  of  the 
"  world,  as  we  are  in  the  teftimony  of  our  own  confciences. 
"  lam  now  come  to  a  conclufion.  I  have  nothing  to  pro- 
"  pound  to  your  Lordfhips  by  way  of  requeft  or  defire  from 
"  the  Houfe  of  Commons.  I  doubt  not  but  your  judgments 
"will  tell  you  what  is  to  be  done  :  your  conlciences,  your 
"  honours,  your  interefts,  will  call  upon  you  for  the  doing  of 
"  it.  The  Commons  will  be  glad  to  have  your  concurrence 
"  and  help  in  laving  of  the  kingdom  ;  but  if  they  fail  in  it, 
"  it  fhall  not  difcourage  them  in  doing  their  duty.  And 
"  whether  the  kingdom  be  loft  or  laved,  (but  I  hope,  through 
"  God's  bleihng,  it  will  be  laved!)  they  fhall  be  lorry  that 
"  the  ftory  of  this  prefent  parliament  fhould  tell  pofterity, 
"  that  in  lb  great  a  danger  and  extremity  the  Houfe  of  Com- 
"  mons  fhould  be  enforced  to  fave  the  kingdom  alone,  and 
"  that  the  Peers  fhould  have  no  part  in  the  honour  of  the 
"  prefervation  of  it ;  having  fo  great  an  intereft  in  the  good 
"  luccefs  of  thofe  endeavours,  in  refpect  of  their  great  eftates 
"  and  high  degrees  of  nobility." 


§  xxv.  Alleged  Intimidation  of  Parliament.  383 

ff  with  the  lejfer  part  of  us"    Mr.  Godolphin's 
fuggeftion   was    ftartling,    and  he  was    repri- 
manded and  had  to   make  due  fubmiffion  for 
it  ;*  but  nothing  could    more  perfectly  have 
revealed  all  that  at  this  time  filled  the  minds  Hopes  of 
and  hopes  of  the  King  and  his  friends.     If  the    °"" 
right  blow  could  only  be  aimed,  at  the  right 
time,  againft  the  leaders  of  the  Commons,  the 
way  to  its  accomplifhment  feemed  not  remote. 
And  what  view  Lenthal  himfelf,  the  Speaker  views  of 
of  the  Commons,  feems  now  to  have  been  dif-  ^r- , 

1  T7-'  t-»      i-       speaker. 

poted  to  take,  as  between  King  and  .Parlia- 
ment, of  the  fide  to  which  victory  was  likely  to 
incline,  is  expreffed  by  a  fervile  letter  he  wrote 
privately  on  this  very  third,  of  December  to  the 
King's  new  Secretary  of  State,  Sir  Edward 
Nicholas,  praying  to  be  relieved  of  the  too 
onerous  dignity  of  the  Chair,  and  to  be  fuffered 
to  become,  once  more,  the  meaner!;  fubjecl:  of 
the  beft  of  fovereigns.f 

That  was  on  Friday,  the  day  of  Godolphin's 
ftartling  propofal  to  piece  out  the  minority  of 
the  Commons  by  a  majority  in  the  Lords.     On  ^I]°nT^ay' 
Monday  the  6th,  Cromwell  brought  forward  a  Cromwell 

*  "  Ordered  that  on  Tuefday  next  the  Houfe  mail  take  into  Qom_ 
"  confideration  the   offence  now  given   by  words  fpoken  by  monf 
"Mr.    Godolphin."     The   offence    is   not  further  fpecified.  journa\s . 
On  the  Tuefday  named,  an  order  appears  "that  the   Houfe       .  p£C 
"  do  take  into  confideration,  on  Thurfday  next,  fuch  words 
"  fpoken  by  members  of  this  Houfe,    to  which  formerly  ex- 
"  ception  hath  been  taken."     Alas!  however,  on  the  Thurf- 
day named  (the  1 6th),  occurred   the   King's  great  breach  of  and 
privilege   in    taking   notice  of  a  Bill  while  in  progrefs ;   and  7th  Dec. 
the  matter  was  again  deferred.     I  have  not  cared  to  purfue 
it  further. 

f  See  Arreft  of  the  five  Members,  §  iii.  I  have  fince  found, 
however,  that  Nalfon  had  anticipated  me  in  printing  {Colleclions, 
ii.  713),  alfo  from  the  State  PaperOffice,  this  letter  of  Lenthal. 


3H 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


on  breach 
of  pri- 
vilege. 


Peers' 
inter- 
ference 
with  elec- 
tions. 


Tuefday, 
7th  Dec. 


A  flatt- 
ing 
propofal. 


cafe  of  interference  by  a  peer  with  Houfe  of 
Commons  privileges,  which  had  no  tendency 
to  abate  the  prevailing  excitement.  He  charged 
Lord  Arundel  with  having  fought  unduly  to 
influence  and  intimidate  burgeffes  of  the 
borough  of  Arundel  in  regard  to  new  elections. 
This  appears  to  have  raifed  an  animated  debate, 
in  the  courfe  of  which  a  doctrine  laid  down  by 
Hyde  and  Culpeper,  to  the  effect  that  Lords 
might  lc  write  commendatory  letters  "  during 
the  progress  of  an  election,  was  fomewhat 
roughly  handled.  But  Tuefday  the  7th  faw  a 
ftill  more  ftartling  proportion  launched  from 
the  other  fide  ;  a  proportion  fo  notable  indeed, 
that  Clarendon  in  his  Hiitory  is  difpofed  to 
fingle  it  out,  and  fet  it  apart,  as  the  fole  caufe 
and  ground  of  all  the  mifchiefs  which  enfued. 
Neverthelefs  it  will  probably  feem  to  us,  after 
watching  the  courfe  of  events  immediately  be- 
fore and  fince  the  return  of  the  King,  but  as  an 
advance  or  ftep  onward,  hardly  avoidable,  in  the 
hazardous  path  which  had  been  entered.  The 
neceffity  of  greatly  increasing  the  forces  of  the 
realm  was  not  more  obvious,  than  the  danger 
of  entrusting  to  an  executive  in  whom  no  con- 
fidence was  placed,  the  uncontrolled  power  of 
difpofing  thofe  forces.  The  difaffected  fpirit 
of  the  army,  as  now  officered,  and  in  themidft 
of  a  frightful  rebellion  raging  in  one  of  the 
three  kingdoms,  was  no  longer  matter  of  doubt. 
Irrefragable  proofs  of  the  fecond  army  plot  had 
been  completed  ;  and  refolutions  were  at  this 
time  prepared,  to  take  effedt  on  the  day  after 
that  to  which  my  narrative  has  arrived,  dis- 
abling four  of  thofe  officers  (men  high  in  the 


§  xxvi.    An  Ominous  Propofal,  385 

King's  confidence  and  to  whom  he  afterwards  Dangers 
gave  peerages")  from  their  feats  in  the  lower  from 

o  r  d    m  j  m  army 

Houfe,  as  guilty  of  mifprifion  of  treafon  ,  by  intrigues. 
name  Wilmot,  Pollard,  Afhburnham,  and 
Percy,  members  for  Tamworth,  Beeralfton, 
Ludgermall  (Wilts),  and  Northumberland. 
The  diftruft  felt  by  the  Commons  on  the 
King's  removal  of  their  Guard,  and  the  refolu- 
tions  as  to  the  defence  of  the  kingdom  which 
they  paffed  on  that  troubled  Saturday  after  his  Diftruft  of 
return,  receive  only  their  full  explanation  from  °' 

keeping  fuch  facts  in  view ;  and  they  led, 
aim  oft  unavoidably,  to  the  more  momentous 
ftep  now  waiting  to  be  detailed. 

§  xxvi.  An  Ominous   Proposal. 

ONTuefday,the  7  th  of  December,  Sir  Arthur  Tuefday, 
Hafelrigrofe  in  hisufual  place  in  the  gallery  of  g^    "' 
the  Houfe,  and  prefented  a  Bill  for  fettling  the  fented  by- 
Militia  of  the  kingdom  by  fea  and  land,  under  a  HafelnS : 
Lord  General  and  a  High  Admiral,  to  whom  it 
gave  great  powers  to  raife  and  levy  forces.   It  was 
ftyled  An  Act  for  the  making  of  (Blank)  Lord 
General  of  all  the  forces  within  the  kingdom  of 
England  and  dominion  of  Wales,  and  (Blank) 
Lord  High  Admiral  of  England.  Clarendon  fays  for  fettling 
that  this  bill  had  been  privately  prepared  by  Militia. 
the  King's  folicitor,  St.  John  ;  and  that  his  in- 
fluence as  a  lawyer,  on  his  declaring  the  exifting 
law  to  have  been  fo  unfettled  by  difabling  votes 
of  the  two  Houfes  that  a  fpecial  enactment  was 
become  abfolutely  necefTary,  mainly  led  to  the 
bill  being  permitted  to  be  read.     But,  while  his 
ftatements  here  are  to  be  taken  with  even  more 


386 


The  Grand  Remonjirance, 


Account 
in  the 
D'Ewes 

MS. 


Bill 

angrily 

received. 


Culpeper 
moves  its 
rejection. 


Barring- 
ton 
againft  : 


Strode 
and 

D'Ewes 
for. 


Cook 
cites  pre- 
cedent 
againft. 


than  the  ufual  caution,  it  is  to  be  remarked 
that  D'Ewes,  though  he  fays  nothing  abfolutely 
inconfiftent  therewith,  does  not  expreffly  con- 
firm them  ;  and  D'Ewes's  account,  of  which  I 
proceed  to  give  an  abftract  from  his  manufcript, 
is  the  only  other  on  record,  fo  far  as  I  am 
aware,  of  this  memorable  debate. 

Hafelrig  had  fcarcely  named  the  provisions 
of  the  bill,  when  a  great  many  members  cried, 
cc  Away  with  it ! "  and  others,  that  they  mould 
cc  Cart  it  out ! "  Sir  John  Culpeper  ftarted 
up  on  the  inftant  of  Hafelrig's  renaming  his 
feat;  and,  after  wondering  that  the  gentleman 
in  the  gallery  mould  bring  in  fuch  a  bill, 
moved  that  it  be  at  once  rejected.  Sir  Thomas 
Barrington,  though  he  had  voted  with  the 
majority  in  all  the  Remonftrance  debates, 
regretted  that  he  could  not  fupport  the  par- 
ticular meafure,  and  wifhed  it  might  be  thrown 
out ;  but  he  thought  another  lefs  objectionable 
mould  be  brought  in  with  fimilar  defign. 
Strode  "  and  others  "  fpoke  for  it  ftrongly ; 
and  then  D'Ewes  hirnfelf  rofe  and  made  a 
lengthy  fpeech  in  its  favour,  duly  felf-reported, 
but  with  which  the  reader  need  not  be  troubled. 
Divers  followed  him,  fpeaking  on  either  fide, 
fome  for,  and  others  againft  the  bill,  and  many 
ufing  violent  expreffions  againft  it.  Mr. 
Thomas  Cook,  for  example,  the  member  for 
Leicefter,  declared  that  one  Hexey  in  Richard 
the  Second's  time,  for  introducing,  in  the 
twentieth  year  of  that  reign,  a  bill  againft  the 
King's  prerogative  of  far  lefs  confequence  than 
this,  had  been  condemned  as  a  traitor.  Nor 
did  Mr.   Mallory,  the   member   for   Ripon, 


§  xxvi.    An  Ominous  Propqfal.  387 

fpeak   lefs  violently  on  the    fame    fide.     He 
denounced  the  bill  as  fit  to  be  burned  in  Weft-  Mallory 
minfter  Palace  Yard,   and  the  gentleman  who  roul(!.„ 

o  #  nave  bill 

brought  it  in  as  deferving  to  be  questioned,  burnt. 
On  the  other  hand,  feveral  rofe  and  excepted 
againft  Mr.  Mallory's  fpeech,  as  rather  think- 
ing it   more   worthy  to    be   questioned ;  but 
thereupon  Strode  got  up  and  remarked  that  he 
thought  Mr.   Mallory's   fpeech  in  fome  fort 
excufable,  as  having  been  occafioned  by  the 
fpeech    of    a    gentleman    that   fat   near   him 
(alluding  to  Mr.  Cook),  who  had  once  before 
cited  in  that  Houfe  a  highly  dangerous  pre-  Cook 
cedent.     Great   cries  of  affent  followed  this  called  UP : 
remark,  and  many  rofe  in  fucceflion  to  enforce 
it,  until,  in  fpite  of  diffentients,   Mr.   Cook 
was  called  up  to  explain.     But,  what  he  faid 
not  fatisfying  the  Houfe,  he  was  ordered  to  ordered  to 
withdraw,   while   fome   would   have   had   his  withdraw. 
further  attendance  fufpended.     Meanwhile  a 
fudden  thought  had  occurred  to  D'Ewes,  which 
he    had    immediately   proceeded   to    execute. 
<c  During  this  debate,"  he  fays,   fC  I   retired 
<f  out  of  the  Houfe  to  my  lodging  in  Goats- 
<f  alley,   near  the  Palace,   and  there  fearched 
"  out  the  precedent.     On  my  return,  I  faid 
cc  that  the  gentleman  now  withdrawn  was   a  Had  mif- 
<c  young  man,  and  a  man  of  hope,  and  there-  quoted 
<c  fore  I  defired  that  he  be  not  too  much  dis-  pre 
<c  heartened.     I  thought  him  more  punifhable 
<c  for  mis-reciting  than  for  citing  precedents. 
<c  The  precedent  in  queftion  was  not  againft 
<c  the    King's    prerogative,    but    againft    the 
<c  exceffive  expenfes  of  the  King's  houfehold ;  „,_ 
<c  and  though  Hexey  was  fentenced,  he  was  expofes 


388 


The  Grand  Remonjirance. 


and  laughs c<  afterwards  cleared  by  Parliament.     There- 
at him.      <c  fore  tjie  greatefl;  cenfure  I  would  have  laid 

cc  upon  this  gentleman  is,  that  he  would  cite 
cc  no  more  records  till  he  mail  have  ftudied 
<f  them  better.  At  which  divers  of  the  Houfe 
<c  laughed;"  and  Cook  having  been  called  in, 
Cook  ad-  and  admonifhed  by  Mr.  Speaker,*  Hafelrig's 
monimed.  bill  palled  to  a  divifion.  Sir  John  Culpeper 
and  Sir  Frederick  Cornwallis  were  tellers  for 
the  Yeas,  which  were  125,  to  reject  it;  and 
Denzil  Hollis  and  Sir  William  Armyn,  mem- 
ber for  Grantham,  for  the  majority  of  158  in 
its  favour  :  and  the  bill  was  read  a  firft  time. 
And  now  let  me  append  to  this  truftworthy 
account,  taken  from  the  notes  of  a  member 
prefent  while  the  debate  was  in  progrefs,  the 
narrative  of  the  fame  incident  as  related  by 
Clarendon.  Perhaps  no  more  remarkable 
warning  could  be  given  of  the  fcrupulous  care 
with  which  his  Hijiory  fhould  be  read,  and  of 


Bill  read 
a  firft 
time :  158 
to  125. 


Same  in 
cident : 


Commons* 
Journals. 
"•  334- 


Verney's 
Notes, 
p.  132. 


*  The  only  notices  hitherto  given  of  this  incident  appear 
in  the  Journals  and  in  Verney's  Notes.  "  Some  exceptions 
"  were  taken  to  Mr.  Coke  for  the  mifalleging  of  precedents; 
"  and  after  he  had  explained  himfelf,  he  was,  according  to 
"  the  order  of  the  Houfe,  commanded  to  withdraw.  Refolved 
"  upon  the  queftion,  That  Mr.  Coke  mail  be  called  down, 
"  and  in  his  place,  have  an  admonition  for  the  words  that  fell 
"  from  him.  The  Speaker  told  him  in  his  place  that  he  was 
"  commanded  to  admonifh  him,  that  he  mould  take  a  care 
"  hereafter,  how  he  did  allege  or  apply  precedents  in  this 
"  Houfe."  Verney  fays  in  his  Notes  :  "  Sir  Arthur  Hafelrig 
"  did  bring  in  a  bill  to  dilpofe  all  the  Militia  of  England 
"  into  two  generals  for  life.  This  bill  was  thought  fit  by 
"  fome  to  be  rejected,  and  Mr.  Thomas  Cook  laid,  it  was  in 
"  his  judgment  worfe  than  the  bill  brought  in  by  Hexam  in 
"  Richard  the  Second's  time,  by  which  he  was  accufed  of 
"  high  treafon.  For  this  fpeech  he  was  queftioned  and  taxed, 
"  for  citing  but  half  the  precedent,  for  Hexam  was  atterwards- 
"  cleared  by  parliament.  For  this  offence  he  received  an 
"  admonition  in  his  place,  by  the  Speaker." 


§  xxvi.    An  Ominous  Propofal.  389 

the  danger  of  trufting  to  its  ftatements  even  told  with 
where  there  is  no  fufpicion  of  bad  faith,  than  va^^0DS 
is  afforded  by  the  manner  in  which  he  recounts 
the  firfr.  introduction   of  this  Bill  for  putting 
the  power  of  the  Militia  fubftantially  into  the 
hands  of  the  Houfe  of  Commons. 

In  his  Fourth  Book,  fpeaking  of  the  exact  Claren- 
period  to   which    reference  already  has    been^s.. 
made,   he  fays  that   there  was  "  at  this  time,  76-8o. 
or     thereabout,"    a    debate    ftarted    in    the 
Houfe,    as    if  by    mere  chance,  which   pro- 
duced   many    inconveniences    thereafter,    and 
indeed,    if  there    had    not  been    too     many 
concurrent  caufes,  might  be  thought  the  fole 
caufe  and    ground  of  all  the  mifchiefs  which 
enfued.     And  then  he  defcribes  "  an  obfcure  Motion 
"  member  "  moving  unexpectedly  c<  that  the  mz.^e. as  to 

o  r  J  militia : 

fe  Houfe  would  enter  upon  the  confederation 
6C  whether  the  Militia  of  the  kingdom  was  fo 
"  fettled  by  law  that  a  fudden  force,  or  army, 
<c  could  be  drawn  together  for  the  defence  of 
<f  the  kingdom,  if  it  mould  be  invaded,  or  to 
"  fupprefs  an  infurrection  or  rebellion,  if  it 
tc  mould  be  attempted."  He  goes  on  to  fay 
that  the  Houfe  kept  a  long  filence  after  the 
motion,  the  newnefs  of  it  amazing  (until  the 
edition  of  1826,  this  word  had  been  printed 
"  amufing  ")  moft  men,  and  few  in  truth  un-  how 
derftanding  the  meaning  of  it ;  until  fundry  treated- 
other  members,  not  among  the  leading  men, 
appeared  to  be  fo  moved  by  the  weight  of  what 
had  been  faid,  that  it  grew  to  the  propofition 
of  a  committee  for  preparing  fuch  a  bill,  where- 
upon Mr.  Hyde  fo  ftrongly  oppofed  it  as  en- 
croaching on  the  royal  prerogative,  that  the 


390  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

Houfe  appeared  fatisfied  to  take  up   another 

fubject :  when  the  King's  Solicitor,  St.  John, 

"  and    the    only    man   in    the    Houfe  of  his 

(c  learned  council,"  got  up  and  difputed  Mr. 

Hyde  re-    Hyde's  law,  obferving  that  the  queftion  was 

Solicitor-   not  about  taking   away  power  from  the  King 

General,    (which    it  was  his    duty  always  to    oppofe), 

but  to   inquire  if  the  fufficient  and  necefTary 

power  exifted  at  all.     This  he  regretted  to  fay 

he  did  not  believe,  fupporting  his  opinion  by 

the  many  adverfe  votes  which  that  Houfe  had 

pafTed  againft  the  ordinary  modes  of  levy  in 

the  King's  name,  by  means  of  commifTions  to 

Lord  Lieutenants  and  their  fubordinates  ;  and 

the  refult  of  his  difplay  of  learning  was,  that 

in  the  end  he  was  himfelf  requested  to  introduce 

fuch  a  bill,  which,  within  a  few  days  after,  was 

actually  brought  in,  enacting  Cf  that  hencefor- 

St.  John    "  ward  the  Militia,  and  all  the  powers  thereof, 

brings  in    «  mould  be  vetted  in ;  "  and  then  a  large 

a  bill  .  .  . 

blank  was  left  for  inferting  names,  in  which 
blank,  the  Solicitor  urged,  they  might  for 
aught  he  knew  infert  the  King's,  and  he  hoped 
it  would  be  fo.  This  bill,  Clarendon  con- 
cludes, not  withftanding  all  oppofition,  was 
read,  <f  they  who  had  contrived  it  being  well 
<c  enough  contented  that  it  was  once  read  ; 
c<  not  defiring  to  profecute  it,  till  fome  more 
"  favourable  conjuncture  fhould  be  offered  ; 
cc  and  fo  it  retted." 
Clarendon  Now,  having  proceeded  fo  far,  let  the  reader 
i/l.  i.  turn  back;  to  the  Third  Book  of  the  fame 
Hiftory,  and  he  will  there  find  that  the  fame 
hiftorian,  profefling  to  fpeak  of  the  period  im- 
mediately before  the  King's  departure  for  Scot- 


§  xxvi.    An  Ominous  Propqfal.  391 

land,  antedates  the  whole  of  the  tranfaction  juft  Same  in- 
defcribed ;  and  narrates  quite  differently,  and  "de-nttolj> 
as  though  impelled  by  motives  and  inducements 
altogether  different,  events  precifely  the  fame. 
His  object  now   is  to  mow  that  the  leaders  of 
the  Houfe  were  anxious  to  prevent  the  King's 
departure  by  warning  him  that  he  was  leaving 
affairs  in  a   dangeroufly  unfettled    ftate,    and 
without  fufficient  powers  inherent  in  the  laws 
and  conftitution  to  meet  the  danger.     cc  And  Quite 
ff  therefore,"  he  continues,  <c  one  day  Sir  Ar- dltferent  ,. 

*  nccount  ot 

c<  thur  Hafelrig  (who,  as  was  faid  before,  was  fame  fa&s. 
cc  ufed  by  the  leading  men,  like  the  dove  out 
fc  of  the  ark,   to  try  what  footing  there  was) 
cc  preferred  a  bill  for  the  fettling  the  Militia  of 
cc  the  kingdom  both  by   fea  and  land  in  fuch 
11  perfons  as  they  mould  nominate."    He  adds 
that  there  were  in  the  bill  no  names,  but  blanks  Bill 
to  receive  them,   when  the  matter  mould  be  ^°^llt 
paffed ;  and  that  when  the  mere  title  of  the  Hafelrig : 
bill  was  read,  it  gave  fo  general  an  offence  to 
the  Houfe  that  they  feemed  inclined  to  throw 
it  out,  without  fuffering  it  to  be  read  :  not 
without   fome  reproach,  to   the   perfon    that 
brought  it  in,   cc  as  a  matter  of  fedition  :  "  till 
Mr.  St.  John,  the  King's  Solicitor,  rofe  up  and 
fpake  to  it,   and  ("having  in  truth   himfelf  drawn  b 
"drawn  the  bill")   defended    its   provifions,  st.  John : 
declaring  his  belief  as  a  lawyer,  that  the  power 
it  propofed  to  fettle  was  not  yet  by  law  vefted 
in  any  perfon  or  in  the  Crown  itfelf,  the  Houfe 
by  their  votes  having  blafted  the  former  modes 
of  proceeding  by  the  ordinary  royal  commif- 
fions  to  Lord  Lieutenants  and  their  deputies  ;  wh 
that  fuch  a  bill   therefore  was  neceffary ;  and  defends 


391 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


and  ex- 
plains it. 


Never 
read 
fecond 
time. 


Alleged 
rejection. 


Error  as 
to  firft 
reading. 


Carried  by 

158  tOI25. 


that  for  the  nomination  of  perfons  under  it, 
this  was  a  matter  not  requiring  to  be  fettled  on 
the  reading  of  the  bill,  for  if  it  feemed  too 
great  for  any  fubject  it  might  be  devolved 
upon  the  Crown.  cc  Upon  which  difcourfe," 
Clarendon  concludes,  <{  by  a  perfon  of  the 
ic  King's  fworn  council,  the  bill  was  read  ; 
<c  but  with  fo  univerfal  a  diflike,  that  it  was 
<c  never  called  upon  the  fecond  time,  but  flept, 
fc  till,  long  after,  the  matter  of  it  was  digefted 
cc  in  ordinances."  * 

Great  of  courfe  has  been  the  confufion,  to 
readers,  confequent  on  thefe  two  verfions  of  the 
fame  incident,  dated  at  different  times,  and 
having  objects  quite  diffimilar ;  and  it  has 
been  further  increafed  by  a  ftatement  of  Nal- 
fon's,j-  that  Hafelrig's  bill  was  rejected  indig- 
nantly on  its  introduction,  by  a  majority  of  1 58 
to  105.  But  the  one  point  on  which  Claren- 
don is  not  inaccurate  is,  in  affirming,  in  both 
narratives,  that  the  bill  was  read.  The  error 
in  this  refpect  has  arifen  from  a  too  hafty  read- 
ing of  the  Journals, J  where  the  Yeas  at  the 
divifion  appear  undoubtedly  as  125  (not  105), 
and  the  Noes  as  158  ;  but  it  has  been  over- 
looked that  the  divifion  was  taken  not  on  the 
queftion  whether  the  bill  mould  be  read,  but 
whether  it  mould  be  rejected.  The  names  of 
the  tellers  are  quite  decifive,  Culpeper  and 
Cornwallis  being  for  the  Yeas,  and  Denzil 
Hollis  and  Sir  Wm.  Armyn  (member  for 
Grantham,  and  afterwards  a  king's  judge)  for 
the  Noes.     Even  that  generally  accurate  and 

*  Hi/},  i.  486-8.  f  Nalfon's  ColleSiions,  ii.  719. 

J  Commons1  Journals,  ii.  334. 


§  xxvii.     The  City  Petition.  393 

reliable  writer,  Mr.  Bruce,  has  fallen  into  error  Miftakes 
on  this  point,*  and  fuppofes  the  bill  to  have  f1} con" 
been  rejected.     Mr.  Hallam  alio  has  been  led 
into    fome   confufion  f    from    not   examining 
Clarendon's  text  with  fufficient  minutenefs.     I  Hiftorians 
take  the  opportunity  of  adding  that  Nalfon's  milled. 
Collections,  which,  by  fome  extraordinary  chance 
in  the  fortunes  of  books,  has  been  too  com- 
monly accepted  as  an  authority  on  thefe  times, 
is    an   utterly  untruftworthy  gathering  of  the 
moft  violent  party  pamphlets  and  libels,  got 
together    towards    the   clofe    of   Charles   the 
Second's  reign  for  the  fpecial  delectation  of  his 
Majefty  and  as  an  antidote  to  Rufhworth,  by  ^ority! 
a  compiler  who  had  himfelf  no  perfonai  know- 
ledge of  the  men  or  the  events,  over  which 
he  exercifed  an  unlimited  right  of  the  groffeft 
abufe  and  moft  unwearied  mifreprefentation. 


§  xxvii.     The  City  Petition. 

On  the  day  following  Hafelrig's  introduc-  Wednef- 
tion  of  the  Militia  Bill,  Wednefday  the  8th,  ^y.  8th 
Geoffrey  Palmer  made  his  fubmifTion  and  was 
releafed  from  the  Tower.     The  day  following, 
the  expulfion  of  the  officers  convicted  of  com- 
plicity in  the   fecond  army-plot  took  place ; 
and  on  the  morning  after,  Friday  the  ioth  of  Friday, 
December,;}:  the    members   were  ftartled,   on  Ioth: 


*  See  Verney's  Notes,  p.  132.  f  Conjl.  Hift.  ii.  128,  9. 

X  On  the  fame  morning  I  find  a  point  of  order  and  reverence 
fettled  by  Mr.  Denzil  Hollis.  "On  Mr.  Hollis'  motion," 
fays  D'Ewes's  Manufcript,  "  it  was  declared  the  ancient  order  Points  of 


394  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

New         coming  to  take  their  feats,  to  find  a  new  Guard 
Houf"es°n  °^  Halberdiers  fet  upon  the  doors.     A  debate 
upon  the  report  as  to  the  Public  Debt  handed 
in  by  Sir  John  Hotham  the  previous  day,  and 
upon  the  immediate  neceflity  of  raifing  men 
and  money  for  the  requirements  of  the  Iriih 
Rebellion,   was  in  progrefs,  when   Sir  Philip 
Stapleton  flood  up  and  called  attention  to  the 
fact  that  there  was  a  new  Guard  fet  upon  the 
Houfe    of  two   hundred  men  with    halberts. 
Agitation  Much  agitation  enfued  upon  this,  the  bufinefs 
thereat,     immediately  in  hand  was  dropped,  and  fome 
fear  and  trouble  found  expreflion.     Upon  par- 
ticular inquiry  it  was  difcovered,  that  the  plea 
for  fuch  new  fhow  or  threatening  of  force  was 
a  report  which  had  gone  abroad  of  a  great  Peti- 
tion coming  from  the  City  again  ft  the  Bifhops' 
By  whom  votes,  and  againft  the  obitruction  by  the  Lords 
placed.      Qf  other-  matters  whereof  the    fettlement    was 
much  to  be  defired,  which  Petition,   accom- 
panied by  large  numbers  of  citizens,  was  to  be 
prefented  the  following  day.    "  Then  we  were 
ic  informed,"    fays    D'Ewes,    <c  from    feveral 
"  hands,  that  the  original  ground  of  thofe  men 
<c  afTembling  was  upon  a  writ  from  the  Lord 
Wnt  from  a  Keeper  pretended  to  be  warranted  by  the 
Keeper.     "  ftatute  of  Northampton  (13  Henry  IV.)  for 
"  the  better  fupprefting  of  Routs  and  Riots  :" 
in  obedience   to  which  writ  the  under-fheriff 
and  magiftrates  of  Middlefex  had  iftued  order 

form  and     "  of  the  Houfe  that  when  men  came  in  and  went  out  of  the 

order.  "  Houfe,  they  ought  to  make  three  reverences;  and  that  if 

"  any  were  fpeaking  on  the  lower  form,  they  ought  to  go 

"  about,  and  not  to  come  up  towards  the  table" — interrupting 

honorable  fpeakers  ! 


§  xxvii.     The  City  Petition.  295 

for  the  placing  of  the  Halberdiers.  The  matter 
was  debated  with  unufual  gravity  and  earned-  Voted 
nefs  ;  and,  upon  the  motion  of  Pym,  not  only  breadi  of 
was  a  refolution  palTed  that  the  placing  of  fuch 
a  Guard  without  confent  of  the  Houfe  was  a 
breach  of  privilege,  but  orders  were  iiTued  for 
bringing   before  them   at  nine  o'clock  on  the 
following  morning  the  various  magistrates  by 
whom  the  warrants  had  been  iigned.     Inftant 
fteps  were  at  the  fame  time  taken  for  removal  Halber- 
of  the  Halberdiers  ;*   and  while  thefe  were  in  moved, 
progrefs,  at  about  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon, 
Sir  Christopher  Yelverton  entered,  and    faid 
that  divers  of  the  Lords  were  now  come,  know- 
ing nothing  at  all  of  the  fetting  of  this  new 
Guard,  and  were  Startled  at  it  "  as  much  as  Lords 
fc  ourfelves."     A  characteristic  incident  of  the  J^rjjled  as 
debate,   as   related  in    D'Ewes's    manufcript,  Commons 
fhould  not  be  omitted.     One  of  Hyde's  party, 
Mr.  Francis  Newport,  the  member  for  Shrewf- 
bury,  "  during  our  debate  offered  to  go  out 
fC  of   the    Houfe,    and  there  was   great  cry, 
<f  f  Shut  the  door!  Shut  the  door!'  and  yet  ^Jf,?16 
<c  he  would  go  away.     The  Serjeant  not  being 

*  The  fubjoined  order  and  refolutions  appear  upon   the  Commons 
Journals,  "  Ordered  that  the  ferjeant  mall  require  fome  of  the  journalsl 
**  Halberdiers,  or  fome  of  thole  that   have  the  command  ot  j;    ,,g 
"  them,  to  come  hither  to  the  bar.     The  bailiff  of  the  Duchy 
"  of  Lancafter  being  called  in,  was  demanded  by  what  au- 
"  thority  he  brought  down  men  armed:  He  faid  the  Sheriff 
"  received  a  writ  from  the  Lord  Keeper,  and  that  the  Under- 
' '  fheriff  gave  him  warrant  to  do  it.   .   .   .  Refolved  upon  the 
11  queftion,  That  the  fetting  of  any  guards  about  this  Houfe, 
"  without  the  confent  of  this  Houfe  is  a  breach  of  the  privi- 
u  lege  of  the  Houfe:   And  that  therefore  fuch  guards  ought 
"  to  be  difcharged.     Refolved  upon  the  queftion,   That  this 
"  Guard  fhall  be  immediately  dilcharged  by  the  command  of 
"  this  Houfe." 


396 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


Member 

quits 

Houfe 

without 

leave. 


Rebuked 
by  Pym. 


nth  Dec, 

Sheriff 
and  Ma- 
giftrates 
repri- 
manded. 


The  City 
petition. 


cc  in  the  Houfe,  Mr.  Rufhworth,  the  clerk's 
tc  afliftant,  was  fent  after  him  ;  who  called  him 
"  back.  He  being  come  into  the  Houfe,  the 
"  Speaker  declared  to  him  that  when  the  fenfe 
<f  of  the  Houfe  was  that  the  door  mould  be  (hut, 
cc  no  member  ought  to  go  out.  Mr.  New- 
"  port  faid  he  knew  of  no  order  that  had  been 
"  made  to  that  end  :  but  Mr.  Pym  mowed, 
£c  that,  befides  the  general  fenfe  of  the  Houfe, 
"  expreffed  by  fo  many  calling  out  to  have  the 
Cf  door  fhut,  the  greatnefs  and  weight  of  the 
<c  agitation  might  perfuadeany  man  to  forbear 
"  gonig  out." 

The  next  morning,  Saturday  the  iith  of 
December,  the  under-fheriff  and  Weftminfter 
juftices  appeared,  and,  having  been  duly  ex- 
amined and  reprimanded,  and  the  under-fheriff 
having  been  committed  to  the  Tower,  there 
fhortly  afterwards  arrived,  at  the  Houfe,  the 
Petition  upon  whofe  prefentation  the  King  had 
been  fo  eager  to  impofe  that  check  of  armed 
men.  The  intention  of  its  originators  had  been 
to  difabufe  his  Majefty  of  the  fatal  notion  which 
feems  to  have  been  fuddenly  engendered  in  him 
by  his  recent  grand  entertainment  in  the  City, 
and  by  the  eager  royalift  tendencies  of  the  Lord 
Mayor,  that  there  was  any  real  defection  from 
the  popular  caufe  in  that  its  moft  powerful 
ftronghold  ;*  and  fo  eagerly  had  it  been  figned 


*  I  venture  here  to  fubjoin  a  paffage  from  my  Arreji  of  the 

Five  Members  (§  xxiv.),   in   explanation  of  what  the  City  at 

this  time  reprefented  and  was.      "  Of  the  power  and  the  im- 

"  portance  of  the  City  of  London  at  this  time,  it  is  needlefs 

The  City     "  to  fpeak.      It  reprefented  in  itfelf  the  wealth,  the  ftrength, 

^20  years    "  and  the  independence  which  had  made  England  feared  and 

ago.  "  honoured  throughout  the  world.      Within  its  walls,  and 


§  xxvii.     The  City  Petition.  397 

by  all  clafles  with  this  view,  that,  up  to  that 
date  in  the  world's  hiftory,  no  petition  of  equal 
fize  and  dimensions  had  yet  been  feen.     One 
of  the  members  for  London,  Alderman  Pen-  its  ar- 
nington,  who  afterwards  fat  as  one  of  the  King's  nval  anT 
judges,  announced  its  arrival.     He  faid  that 
divers   able  and    grave  citizens  were  waiting 
without,  to  prefent  the  Houfe  with  that  for- 
midable Petition  of  which  they  had  been  told 
that  ten  thoufand  perfons  were  coming  to  pre- 
fent it ;  but  a  fmall  number   only  had  come 
with  it,  and  in  a  humble  and  peaceable  manner. 
To  avoid  all  pofTibility  of  commotion  or  un- 
due excitement  in  connection  with  it,  it  had  Brought 
been  brought  by  twelve  leading  citizens.  Upon  b.y  twelve 

d  j  o  1         citizens. 

this   the  Houfe  laid  afide  all  other  bufinefs ; 
the  Speaker  called  in  the  deputation  ;  and  Mr. 

"  under  the  fhadow  and  protection  of  its  franchifes,    flept 

"  nightly  between  three  and  four  hundred  thoufand  citizens. 

"  The  place  of  bufinefs  of  the  merchant  in  thofe  days,  was 

"  alio  his   refidence  and   home.     The  houfes  then   recently 

"  built  by  nobles  beyond  its  precincls,  along  the  Strand  of  the 

"  magnificent  river,  fcarcely  tranfcended  in  extent  or  fplen- 

J<  dour  thofe  palaces  of  its  merchant  princes,  which  lurked 

"  everywhere  behind  its  bufy  wharves  and  crowded  counting- 

"  houfes.     But,  beyond  every  fuch  fource  of  aggrandifement,  Source  of 

"  its  privileges  were  its  power.     From  its  guilds,  charters,  its  power. 

"  and  immunities,  wrefted  from  the  needs,  or  beftowed  by  the 

"  favour,  oflucceflive  princes;  from  its  own  regulation  of  its 

"  military  as  well   as  civil   affairs  ;    from  its   complete  and 

"  thoroughly  organifed  democracy,  governed  and   governing 

"  by  and  within  itfelf;  it  derived  an  influence  which  made  it 

"  formidable  far  beyond  its  wealth  and  numbers To 

"  its  honour,  be  it  faid,  that  from  the  hour  when  the  caufe  of  Its  fup- 
"  public  freedom  was  in  peril,  the  City  of  London  caft  in  its  port  of 
"  fortunes  unrelervedly  with  the  oppofition  to  the  Court.     Its  popular 
"  refolute  refufal  to  join  the  league  againft  the  Scottifh  Cove-  caufe. 
"  nant,  had  baffled   the  counfels  and   wafted  the  energies  of 
"Strafford;  and   its  Trained    Bands,  under   Skippon,   were 
"  deftined   largely  to  contribute  to  the  final   defeat  of  the 
"  King." 


398  The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 

Fouke,   a  merchant  dwelling  in    Mark-lane, 
appeared  at  their  head,  and  prefented  it    as 
the  humble  Petition  of  Aldermen,  Common 
Councilmen,   Subfidymen,  and  other  inhabit- 
ants of  the  City  of  London  and  fuburbs  there- 
Received   of.       Then,    fays   the    precife    Sir    Simonds 
by  clerk.  D'Ewes,  "  the  Clerk  of  the  Houfe  did  there- 
Cf  upon  go  down  to  the  bar,  and  received  it  of 
cc  him,  and  brought  it  up,  and  laid  it  on  the 
"  table.     The  faid  Petition  was  not  very  long, 
"  but  there  were  fome  fifteen  thoufand  names 
fc  fet  to  it.     It  was  about  three-quarters  of  a 
*tsdunen" tf  yard  in  breadth,  and  twenty-four  yards  in 
"  length."     Nor  did  it  feem  that  even  thefe 
unufual  proportions  had  quite  fatisfied  its  pro- 
moters ;  for  the  worthy  citizen  at  the  head  of 
the  Deputation,  having  liberty  to  addrefs  the 
Houfe,  informed  them  that  they  mould  have 
got  before  that  day  many  thoufand  hands  more 
Addrefs     to  it,  but  that  they  found  many  obstructions 
°vhf  f    an<^  mucn  oppofition  from  the  Lord  Mayor, 
Deputa-     and  others.     And  fuch,  faid  Mr.    Fouke   in 
tion.         conclufion,  was   the  feeling  excited   by   thefe 
difficulties  interpofed,  that  it  was  God's  mercy 
the  petitioners  had  not  come  in  numbers  yefter- 
day,  when  the  Halberdiers  were  affembled,  and 
when  there  muft  have   been  bloodfhed.     To 
Reply  of   which  Mr.  Speaker  replied  with  gracious  words, 
Speaker     telling  the  citizens  of  London,  through    the 
worthy  gentlemen  then  {landing  at  their  bar, 
that  the  Houfe  gave  them   thanks    for   their 
readinefs  on  all  occafions  to  comply  with  fup- 
plies  for  the  public  ;  that  they  would  take  into 
confideration,    in    due    time,    the    particulars 
defired  in  the  Petition  ;  and  that  they  hoped  to 


§  xxvii.    The  City  Petition.  399 

bring  things  to  fuch  refult  as  would  give  them 
fatisfaction. 

When  the  Deputation  left,  a  debate  arofe  as  Debate 
to  the  neceffity  for  immediate  provifion  of  the  ij.e5°nd. 
fupplies  which  had  been  voted  for  Ireland,  and 
as  to  the  beft  mode  of  providing  fuch  fatisfac- 
tion  for  the  people  as  had  juft  been  promifed 
to  the  London  petitioners  :  and  again  the  de- 
bate pointed  in  the  old  direction,  which  was 
that  of  printing,  and  circulating  through  the  Queflkm 
countrv,    their    Grand    Remonftrance.       The ot.    . 

r  1  1  1         tr'        ■>  J     T  •     J       J     Prlnting 

courle  taken  by  the  King  s  advilers,  indeed,  Remon- 
had  fo  far  gone  in  the  fame  direction,  that  even  ftrance 
fome  royal  partizans  among  the  members  had 
been  conflrained  to  admit  the  unlawfulnefs  of 
the  recent  attempt  to  put  external  prefTure  on 
the  Houfes  by  means  of  armed  watches  and 
guards.     The  refult  of  the  prefent  deliberation, 
therefore,  appears  to  have  been  a  kind  of  filent 
or  unoppofed  underftanding,  that  the  printing 
of  the  Remonftrance  mould  be  confidered  as  Refolve 
foon  as  the  bill  then  depending  for  the  preffing*  ereon" 
of  foldiers  to  ferve  againft  the  Irifh  Rebellion 
mould  have  been  difpofed  of. 

But  again  the  ill-advifed  monarch  precipi- 
tated this  determination.     The  bill  for  raifing 
fuch  foldiers  by  ImprefTment  was  under  debate 
on  the  morning  of  Tuefday  the  14th  of  De-  Tuefday, 
cember,    when   a    meffage   was    unexpectedly  it4^- 
brought  in,  to  the  effect  that  his  Majefty  deflred  from  & 
the  Commons  to    attend  him    in  the  Lords'  King : 
Houfe.    There,  in  brief  intemperate  phrafe,  he 
adverted   to  the  ImprefTment  bill  which  they 
were  then  difcuffing  ;  warned  them  that,  in  the 
event  of  its  pafling,  he  mould  give  his  confent 


400 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


refpecling 
bill  under 
difcufiion. 


Voted 
breach  of 
privilege. 


Proteft 
carried  to 
King. 


to  it  only  with  an  exprefs  faving  of  his  prero- 
gative ;  and  fignificantly  added,  that  he  was 
little  beholding  to  "  him  whoever  at  this  time 
"  began  this  difpute."  The  Commons  imme- 
diately returned  to  their  Houfe  ;  voted  it,  upon 
the  motion  of  Pym,  a  breach  of  all  the  ancient 
privileges  both  of  Lords  and  Commons  that 
his  Majefty  mould  fo  have  taken  notice  of  a 
bill  whilft  in  progrefs  ;  demanded  a  conference 
with  the  Lords ;  and,  before  the  day  clofed, 
had  obtained  their  full  co-operation  in  drawing 
up  cc  a  declaratory  Proteftation  "  of  their  privi- 
leges and  liberties,  and  lc  a  petitionary  Remon- 
"  (trance"*  againft  his  Majefty 's  violation  of 
them.  Eighteen  of  the  Lords,  and  double  the 
number  of  the  Commons,  went  at  once  with 
this  Proteftation  to  Whitehall  ;t  and  on  tne 


Charge 
againft 
St.  John. 


Not 
credible. 


Curious 
notices 


*  The  petitionary  Remonftrance  further  requires  that  "  his 
"  Majefty  will  be  pleafed  to  difcover  the  parties  by  whofe 
"  information  and  evil  counfel  his  Majefty  was  induced  to 
"  this  breach  of  privilege,  that  fo  they  may  receive  condign 
"  punifhment  for  the  fame."  In  the  face  of  which,  Clarendon 
neverthelefs  hazards  the  ftatement  in  his  Hiftory  (ii.  70-1)  that 
the  man  who  had  advifed  this  breach  of  privilege,  was,  ot  all 
men  in  the  world,  Mr.  Solicitor  St.  John  !  As  if,  fuppofing 
this  were  fo,  the  King,  who  hated  no  one  fo  much,  would  not 
thereon  have  been  eager  to  give  him  up  as  his  advifer  in  fo 
direct  an  attack  upon  his  own  party  !  From  the  account  of 
the  matter  I  find  in  D'Ewes's  Journal,  I  am  convinced,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  the  perfons  fufpe&ed  were  Culpeper  and 
Hyde,  and  that  the  claufe  requiring  the  King  to  furrender 
the  names  of  his  ill  advifers  was  directed  fpecially  at  them. 
D'Ewes  would  have  had  the  claufe  rejected,  on  the  ground 
that  it  was  "  very  pofiible  that  his  Majefty  received  his  in- 
"  formation  and  ill  counfel  from  fome  third  perfon  and  from 
"  no  member  of  either  Houfe ;"  but  Pym  ftrongly  oppofed 
this,  and  the  claufe  was  retained. 

-f-  D'Ewes  attended,  as  one  of  the  Deputation  of  the  Com- 
mons, both  on  the  occafion  of  the  prefenting  of  the  Protefta- 
tion, and  on  that  of  receiving  the  King's  Anfwer,  and  his 
notices  of  both  are  highly  curious  and  interefting.     I  quote 


§  xxvii.     The  City  Petition.  401 

day  following  the  King's  churlim  reception  of  Refolve 
them,  the  flep  was  taken  from  which  no  further 
retreating  was  poflible,  and  the  Remonftrance 
was  committed  to  the  people. 

from  his  manufcript  Journal.    "  I  departed  with  divers  others  from  the 

"  to  the  Court  at  Whitehall,  being  one  of  the  felecl  commit-  D'Ewes 

"  tee  of  thirty-fix  appointed  by  the  Houfe  of  Commons  to  MS. 

"  attend  his  Majefty  there  this  afternoon  at  two  o'clock,  with 

"  a  felecl:  committee  of  eighteen  of  the  Lords'  Houfe,  with 

"  that  petitionary  Remonftrance.     The  eighteen  Lords  were 

"  at  Whitehall  before  us  ;  and  having  ftaid  awhile  in  the 

"  Privy   Chamber,  the  Earl  of  EfTex,  Lord   Chamberlain  of  Deputa- 

"  his   Majefty's  houfehold,  came  out  to  us,  and  told  us  that  tion  pre- 

"  the  Kingexpecled  our  coming  to  him.   Whereupon  divers  of  fent 

"  the  Lords,  and  we  of  the  Houfe  of  Commons,  followed  him  Proteft. 

"  in  through  two  or  three  rooms,  into  a  fair  inward  chamber 

"  where  the  King  was.     Dr.  Williams,  Archbifhop  of  York, 

"  was  appointed  to  read  the  faid  Petition  or  Remonftrance. 

"  He,  palling  from  the  lower  end  of  the  room  towards  the 

"  King,  made  three  reverences,  as  moft  of  us  alfo  did  with 

"  him  ;  and  then  he,  coming  near  the  King,  kneeled  down, 

"  and   Ihowed  his  Majefty  that  he  had  a  Petition  or  Remon- 

"  ftrance  from  both   Houfes  to  be  prefented  to  him.     The 

*'  King  then  caufed  him  to  ftand  up,  and  fo  he  read  the  faid 

"  Petition.     I   ftood  all  the  while  clofe  to  him  on  his  left 

"  hand.     After  he  had  read  it,  he   kneeled  again,  and   pre-  a   t 

"  fented  it  to  his  Majefty,  being  fairly  engroffed  in  parchment.  'Williams 

"  The  King  fpake  fo  low  as  I  could  not  hear  him  ;  but  the  rea(js  :t 

"  Archbifhop  of  York  told  me  after  we  were  come  out  'that 

"  '  he  would  take  fome  time  to  advife,'  &c.    And  fo,  making 

"  like  reverence  at  our  going  out  as  we  did  at  our  coming  in, 

"  we  departed."    In  like  manner  he  defcribes  the  more  ftriking 

fcene  of  receiving  the   King's  Anfwer.      Between  the  two 

occafions  the  reader  will  remember,  the   Commons  had  not 

only  voted  the  printing  of  their  Grand  Remonftrance,  but 

had  iffued  it  in  print ;  a  circumftance  which  may  account  for 

the  increafed  fharpnefs  of  the  King's  manner.     "  Went  to 

"  Whitehall,"  fays  D'Ewes,  "  to  receive  the  King's  Anfwer. 

"  We  were  admitted  into  the  fame  room  again  (being  a  fair 

"  chamber  within  the  privy  gallery)  where  we  had  delivered 

"  the   faid  Petition.      The   King,   looking  about,   alked  to 

"  whom  he  mould  deliver  his  Anfwer;  becaufe  he  faw  not  King's 

11  the  Lord  there  from  whom  he  received  our  Petition.     But  it  anfwer  : 

"  was  anfwered  his  Majefty,  that  he,  being  to  preach  before  the 

"  Lords  at  the  Faft  on  Wednefday  next,  was  now  abfent  on 

"  that  occafion.    His  Majefty  demanded  further  to  what  other 

"  Lord  in  his  abfence  it  was  to  be  delivered  ?     It  was  an- 


402 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Twelfth 
and  laft 
Debate  : 
15th  Dec 


Purefoy 

moves 

printing. 


A  great 
iilence. 


Argu- 
ment for 
printing  : 


read   by 
Nicholas. 


Anger  of 
the  King 


§  xxviii.     The  Last  Debate. 

On  Wednefday  morning,  the  15th  of  De- 
cember, an  unufual  number  of  members  were 
in  attendance  at  an  early  hour  in  the  Houfe  of 
Commons,  and  a  fupprefled  excitement  mowed 
itfelf,  as  of  fome  undertaking  of  weight  in 
hand  as  yet  not  generally  known.  Then  Mr. 
Purefoy,  the  member  for  Warwick,  who  after- 
wards fat  upon  the  trial  of  the  King,  flood  up 
and  faid,  that  they  did  now  ftand  forely  in  need 
of  money,  and  he  conceived  that  any  propo- 
rtion for  the  bringing  in  of  money  would  be 
very  feafonable  and  acceptable.  "  Whereupon," 
fays  D'Ewes,  <c  there  enfued  a  great  filence." 
Mr.  Purefoy  then  proceeded,  and  faid  he 
conceived  that  there  was  but  one  mode  of 
obtaining  what  they  deflred  in  this  refpect, 
and  that  was  by  imparting  to  their  constituents, 
and  the  people  generally,  fome  ground  for 
greater  confidence  than  they  could  derive  from 
recent  and  exifting  events.  He  pointed  out 
that  all  men's  minds  were  unfettled  by  the 
many  flanders  which  had  freely  gone  abroad, 

"  fwered,  to  the  chief  of  the  Lords  who  were  prefent.  His 
"  Majefty  then  calling  to  Sir  Edward  Nicholas,  lately  made 
"  Secretary  of  State,  delivered  to  him  his  Anfwer  written  on 
"  a  meet  of  paper,  which  the  faid  Sir  Edward  received  kneel- 
"  ing,  and  then,  (landing  up  again,  read  it  ;  and  his  Majefty, 
"  after  the  delivery  of  it  to  the  faid  Earl  (Briftol),  juft  as  we 
"  were  all  making  reverences  and  departing  forth,  parted 
"  through  the  midrt  of  us  with  a  confident  and  feveie  look, 
"  and  fo  went  into  the  privy  gallery,  where  he  ftood  looking 
"  towards  us,  as  we  came  forth  and  made  our  obeifances  to 
"  him." 


§  xxviii.   The  Laft  Debate.  403 

and  that  if,  as  a  worthy  member  had  faid  on  a  wil1  re- 
former occafion,  it  was  defirable  to  recover  and  °Jto 
bind  to  that  Houfe  the  hearts  of  the  people,  Houfe. 
now  was  the  time  and  the  opportunity.     In 
a  word,   he  conceived  there  were  no  readier 
means  to  bring  in  money  than  to  caufe  their 
Declaration  to  be  printed;  that  fo  they  might 
fatisfy  the  whole  kingdom.   At  this  there  were 
loud  cries    of  agreement ;    but   upon  feveral 
even  of  the  majority  the  propofal  fell  with  a 
furprife,  and  D'Ewes  was  one  of  them.     <c  It 
"  feems,"  he  fays,  "  that  many  members  were         . 
"  privy  to  this  intended  motion,  which  I  con-  D'Ewes 
"  fefs  feemed  very  ftrange  to  me;   for  they  and  others. 
"cried    Order  it!    Order   it!"      Then    the 
Speaker  rofe,  and,  as  if  to  fhow  that  he  at  any 
rate  had  been  no  party  to  the  preparing  of  the 
motion,  afked  the  member  who  had  fpoken, 
what  Declaration  he  meant,  for  (alluding  to 
the  declaration  as  to  breach  of  privilege  voted 
the  preceding   day)    there   were   two.     This 
called    up   Mr.   Purefoy  again,   who  faid  he Peard 
meant  the  Declaration  that  had  been  prefented  ^con°s 
to  the  King,  the  great  Remonftrance ;  and  he 
was  feconded  by    Mr.   Peard,  who  had  firft 
moved  the  printing  on  the  memorable  night 
of  the  22d  November,  and  who  now  moved 
that  the  Petition  accompanying  it  might  alfo 
be  printed:  to  which  again  refponded  loud  cries 
of  Order  it!  Order  it!    Edmund  Waller  next  Waller 
took  the  lead  in  a  defperate  attempt  to  pro-  °PPoks- 
tract  and  delay  the  vote,  which  in  fo  much 
was  fuccefsful  that  it  lafted  far  into  the  after- 
noon ;    but    of    which,    unfortunately,    fmall 
record  remains,  for  in  the  midft  of  it  D'Ewes, 


404  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

apparently  in   fome  dudgeon  at  the  want  of 

confidence  in  him  difplayed  by  the  leaders,  left 

the  Houfe  for  fome  time.     Then  the  putting 

Debate      of  the    Refolution    having    been    fought   off 

prolonged  until  daylight  began  to  decline,    the  coming 

inffVen"     on  °f  dark  was  made  the  excufe  for  a  further 

attempt    to    prevent    its    being    put   at    all. 

So  dark  it  became,  that  the  Clerk  could  no 

longer  fee  to  read  ;     but,   on  a   propofal  for 

Candles     bringing   in    candles,  Sir  Nicholas    Slanning, 

called  for.  trie  member  for  Penryn,  made  urgent  repre- 

fentation  of  the  propriety   of  adjourning   the 

debate,    reminded   the    Houfe    of  the    fcene 

which  had  been  witneffed  when  this  queftion 

was  before  difcufled  in   the  night,  and  threw 

out  warnings    of  fome    fimilar   danger   now. 

Sir  Againft  any  poffible  recurrence  of  that  danger, 

Nicholas    the  majority  was  on  this  occafion  thoroughly 

oppoies.  guarded ;  but,  if  it  had  not  been  fo,  few 
were  better  entitled  than  Slanning  to  give 
the  warning.  Himfelf  one  of  thofe  who 
early  and  eagerly  expofed  and  loft  their  lives 
in  the  war,  he  was  alfo  ever  at  the  head 
of  the  young  and  ardent  fpirits  of  the  Houfe 
of  Commons,  with  whom  it  was  matter  of 
chivalry  to  refent  every  encroachment  on  the 
power  and  pretentions  of  the  fovereign  ;  and 
Clarendon  (in  one  of  thofe  charming  character 
An  eager  pieces  of  his  Hiftory  which  will  furvive  to 
Royalift.    ke£p  -t  fl.;u  tjie  mofl.  delightful  reading  in  the 

world,  long  after  the  conviction  of  its  untruft- 
worthinefs  and  bad  faith  mail  have  entered  into 
every  mind)  has  celebrated  his  youth,  his 
fmall  but  handfome  perfon,  his  lovely  counte- 
nance, his  admirable  parts,   and  his  courage 


xxvirr.    The  haft  Delate.  405 

"  fo  clear  and   keen."  *     He    failed   for    the  Forces 
prefent,   however,  to   turn    the  Houfe    from  clm"on : 
their  purpofe,  though  not  till  he  had  forced 
on  a  divifion. 

*  See  Hiflory,  iv.  150,  and  612-13.     Slanning  was  one  of  Great  men 
the  little  men  :  "  and  it  was  an   age,"   fays    Clarendon,    "  in  of  little 
"  which  there  were  many  great  and   wonderful  men  of  that  fize. 
"  fize"  (Life,  i.  62),  among  the  men  of  learning  as  well  as 
of  action.     One  of  the  leaft  men  in  the   kingdom  he  cele- 
brates as  one  of  the  greateft  fcholars  of  Europe,  in  the  perfon 
of  the  ever  to  be  remembered  Mr.   Hales  of  Eton — "  who 
**  would  often  fay  that  he  would  renounce  the  religion  of  the  Hales  of 
"  Church  of  England  to-morrow,  if  it  obliged  him  to  believe  Eton. 
"  that  any   other   Chriftians  mould   be    damned ;    and    that 
"  nobody  would  conclude  another  man  to  be  damned,  who 
"  did   not   wifh    him    fo  ; — than  whom   no    man  was  more 
"  ftricl  and  fevere  to  himfelf,  yet  to  other  men  fo  charitable 
"  as  to  their  opinions,  that  he  thought  that  men  not  erring 
"  were  more  in  fault  for  their  carriage  towards  men  who 
"  erred,  than  the  men  themfelves  were  ; — and  who  thought 
"  that  pride   and  paflion,   more  than  confcience,  were   the 
"  caufe  of  all  feparation  from  each  other's  communion  ;   and 
"  frequently  faid,  that  that  only  kept  the  world  from  agreeing 
"  upon  fuch   a  liturgy  as  might  then  bring  them  into  One 
"  communion"  (Life,  i.  60-1).     Chillingworth  was  another  ^'"'"g" 
of  the  very  little  men.     Sidney  Godolphin,  alfo  belonging  to  wortl1- 
the  fame  diminutive  clafs,  amazed  the  tall  and   well-formed 
Mr.  Hyde  by  prefenting  fo  large  an  underftanding  and   fo 
unreftrainedafancyin  fo  extremely  fmallabody  as  he  poffeffed:  Sidney 
the  fmalleft  indeed  of  all,   as  it  would  feem,   for  Falkland  Godol- 
ufed  merrily  to  fay  that  he  thought  what  charmed  him  moft  phin. 
to  be  fo  much  in  Godolphin's  company  was  the  fenfe  of  find- 
ing himfelf  there    "the   properer  man."     But  the  prince  of 
the  little  men  was   Falkland   himfelf.     Obferve  with  what 
exquifite   art   Clarendon   puts  forward   his   difadvantages  of 
perfon  limply  to  make  more  lovable  the   attractions  of  his 
mind.      "  His  ftature  was  low,  and   fmaller  than  moft  men  ;  jr^]^,^ 
"  his  motion  not  graceful;  and  his  afpect  fo  far  from  inviting, 
"  that  it  had  fomewhat  in  it  of  fimplicity ;  and  his  voice  the 
"  worft  of  the  three,  and  fo  untuned,  that  inftead  of  recon- 
"  ciling,  it  offended   the  ear,   fo   that  nobody  would   have 
"  expected  mufic  from  that  tongue  :  and   fure   no  man  was 
"  lefs  beholden  to  nature  for  its  recommendation  into  the 
"  world.     But  then  no  man  fooner  or  more  difappointed  this 
"  general  and  cuftomary  prejudice.     That  little  perfon   and  Picture  by 
"  fmall  ftature  was  quickly  found   to  contain  a  great  heart,  a  Claren- 
"  courage  fo  keen,  and  a  nature  fo  fearlefs,  that  no  compofi-  don: 


406  The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 

on  quef-         D'Ewes  returned  to  his  feat  juft  as   they 

candlel     were    a^out    to    divide   on    the   queftion    for 

candles,  and  by  the  very  found,  he  fays,  the 

Ayes  declared  themfelves  to  be  far  more  than 

the  Noes;  but  the  Noes  perfifted  in  dividing, 

and  "fitting  ftill"  in  the  Houfe  with  Sir  Robert 

Hatton  and  Mr.  John  Ruflell  (who  had  fuc- 

ceeded  Lord  William  on  the  old  Earl's  death, 

1 52  to  53.  aS  Pym's  colleague  in  the    reprefentation  of 

brou °-ht.    Taviftock)  for  tellers,  proved  to  be  only  53 

in  number,  whereas  the  Ayes  who  went  out, 

with  Denzil  Hollis  and  Sir  John  Clotworthy 

as  tellers,  were  152.     Upon  this,  candles  were 

brought;  and  again  the  debate  went  on,  not 

lefs  warmly  than  before.     For  more  than  two 

hours  longer,  fays  D'Ewes,  it  was  argued  with 

Divifion     great  vehemence  pro  and  con  ;   until  at  laft  the 

iSLprmt"  queftion    was    put    for   the   printing.     Then 

went  forth  the   Yeas,   in  number  135,  with 

Denzil  Hollis  and  Sir  Walter  Earle  for  tellers; 

the  tellers  for  the  Noes,  who  flayed  in  the 

Houfe,  being  Sir  John  Culpeper  and  Mr.  John 

.  ,      Amburnham,  the  member  for  Haftings,  and 

135  to  83.  their  numbers  83.     Amid  considerable  excite- 

'  tion  of  the  ftrongeft  limbs,  and  moft  harmonious  and  pro- 
'  portioned  preience  and  ftrength,  ever  more  difpofed  any 
'  man  to  the  greateft  enterprife,  it  being  his  greateft  weaknels 
'  to  be  too  fblicitous  for  fuch  adventures ;  and  that  untuned 
'  tongue  and  voice  eafily  difcovered  itfelf  to  be  fupplied  and 
Life  i.  "  governed  by  a  mind  and  underftanding  fo  excellent,  that 

43.4.  "  the  wit  and  weight  of  all  he  faid  carried  another  kind  of 

'  luftre  and  admiration  in  it,  and  even  another  kind  of  ac- 
'  ceptation  from  the  perfons  prefent,  than  any  ornament  of 
'  delivery  could  reafonably  promife  itfelf,  or  is  ufually 
'  attended  with ;  and  his  dilpofition  and  nature  was  fo  gentle 
'  and  obliging,  lb  much  delighted  in  courtefy,  kindnels,  and 
'  generofity,  that  all  mankind  could  not  but  admire  and  love 
'  him." 


§  xxviii.   The  Laji  Debate.  407 

ment,  the  order  was  then  given  for  immediate  Printing 
printing  of  the  Remonftrance  concerning  the  ordered- 
ftate  of  the    kingdom  ;    the   Grand  Remon- 
ftrance, as  thereafter  it  came  to  be  called,  to 
diftinguifh  it  from  the  many  other  fimilar  State 
Papers  of  lefs  importance,   and    lefs    intereft 
for  the  people,  which  were  ifiued  during  the 
war.      Even  now,  however,  it  required  all  the 
temper  and  control  of  the  leaders  to  avoid  a 
mutiny.     The  claim  to   proteft  was,  at   this  Slanning 
point,  once  more  revived;  and  Sir  Nicholas  ^;'^est0 
Slanning,  heading  the  protefters,  did  his  beft  proteft. 
to  bring  his  own  warning  true.     Some  fixty 
members   having  joined   him,   they   formally 
demanded    that    their   proteftation    might   be 
entered  by  order  of  the  Houfe;  but  the  grow- 
ing excitement  was  happily  allayed  by  the  art 
with  which  Pym,  in  appearing  to  yield  to  that 
propofal,    in    reality    yielded    nothing.     The 
demand   was   turned    into    an    order    for   an Storin 
adjournment  tc  to  take  into  confideration  the  Pya^c    y 
"  matter  touching  proteftations  in  this  Houfe ;" 
and,  the  following  Friday  having  been  fixed  for 
the  purpofe  of  fuch  confideration,  the  Houfe 
rofe  at  feven  o'clock. 

So  clofed  the  laft  debate  on  the  Grand  Re- 
monftrance, which  then  found  its  way,  after  a 
fucceflion  of  fcenes  and  ftruggles  as  worthy  of 
remembrance,  though  not  until  now  remem- 
bered, as  any  in  our  hiftory,  to  the  audience 
for  whom  it  was  defigned.  Neither  Hampden 
nor  Pym  fpoke  further,  when  the  day  for  dif-  Monday, 
cuflion  of  the  right  of  protefting  came.*  They  20t 

*  The  Friday  originally  fixed  was  changed  to  the  follow- 
ing Monday,  when  the  three  principal  fpeakers  were  Hyde, 


408  The  Grand  Remonjirance. 

Debate  on  left  it  to  the  King's  ex-fecretary,  old  Sir  Henry 
right  to     Vane,  to  point  out  how  irreconcileable  any  fuch. 
right  would  be  with  the  precedents,  the  ufages, 
and  the  proceedings  of  the  Commons'  Houfe. 
They  liftened  without  replying  to  a  long  fpeech 
from  Hyde,  who,  admitting  there  was  no  pre- 
cedent for  the  claim,  yet  urged  that  neither  was 
there  a  precedent  for  the  printing  of  a  Declara- 
tion, and  that,  a  precedent  in  a  cafe  unpre- 
cedented being  nothing  to  the  purpofe,  they 
Ominous   muft  act  according  to  reafon.     They  liftened, 
remark  by  ftill  unmoved^  to  the  fignificant  allufion  of  Mr. 
'  Holborne,  who,  putting  the  cafe  of  an  order 
having  pafled  the  Houfe  which  might   carry 
grave  confequences,  enlarged  upon   the   hard 
pofition  of  thofe  who,  having  no  right  to  pro- 
teft,  would  be  involved  in  fuch  confequences, 
"  and  perhaps  lofe  their  heads  in  the  crowd 
fc  when  there  was  nothing  to  fhow  who  was 
Refolu-     "innocent."  Their  part  in  the  affair  was  done, 
againft      their  weapon  thrown,  and  none  of  thofe  con- 
Hyde's      tingent  or  poffible  events  had   any  alarms  for 
party.        them.     They  called  upon  the  Speaker  to  put 
the  Refolution,  that  in  no  circumftances  (hould 
a  proteftation  be   defired  in  that    Houfe,    or 
admitted  if  defired ;  and  they  voted  and  car- 
ried it. 

§  xxix.  Impossibility  of  Compromise. 

The  incident  too  furely  fhadowed  forth  in 
that  allufion  of  Holborne,  the  blow  which  fo 

Holborne,  and  Vane,  and  it  was  finally  "  refolved  upon  the 
Right  to  "  queftion,  That  in  no  cafe  a  Proteftation  ought  to  be 
proteft  "  defired  by  any  member  of  this  Houfe,  or  admitted  by  this 
rejected.      "  Houfe,  being  defired." 


§  xxix.  Impoffibility  of  Compromise.  409 

foon  was  levelled  at  the  heads  of  the  five  lead-  Refult  of" 
ing  men  in  thefe  debates,  and  which  was  but  ftrance  " 
the  natural  and  legitimate  fequel  to  the  proceed-  Debates, 
ings  in  connection  with  them  here  detailed,  clofed 
all  further  legitimate  difcuflion,  and  rendered 
civil  war  inevitable.      But  before  concluding 
this  Work  I  may  paufe  to  mow,  by  fome  brief 
extracts  from  letters  lately    difcovered,*    that 
the  fame  honourable  good    faith,    abfence  of 
mere  perfonal  animofity,  and  honefr.  defire  for 
a  fettlement  within  the  limits  of  the  Conftitu-  ££" 
tion,  which  had  characterifed  the  Remonftrance  averfe  to 
Debates,  continued  to  animate  leading  men  in  war- 
the  Parliamentary  Party  up  to  the  hour  when 
the  fword  was  drawn. 

The   letters    were    written    to    Charles  the 
Firft's  Attorney-General,  who  had  become  his 
Chief  Juftice  of  the  Pleas,  and,  upon  the  very 
eve  of  the  unfurling  the  ftandards,  had  inter- 
pofed  his  good  offices  to  mediate  in  the  quarrel.  indecifion 
The  attempt  was  unfortunate  ;  yet  he  frankly  ofCharles. 
admits  that  it  might  have  had  other  iffue,  but 
for  the  fatal  indecifion  of  the  King.     <f  I  have 
c£  adventured  far,"    writes    the    well-meaning 
Chief  Juftice,    "  to  fpeak    my    mind    freely, 
tc  according  to  my  confcience,  and  what  hazard? 
<c  I  have  runne  of  the  King's  indignation  in  a  Bankes 
"high  meafure  you  will   heare  by  others;  all  (c-  J-)  at' 

.  .  tempts  to 

"  men  give    not   the  fame  advice.''     Among  mediate 
the  remarkable  men,  high  in  the  councils  of  wI.th 
the  popular   party,   who    perfifted   in  a    final     '  s' 
effort  to  keep  the   fword  ftill  fheathed,  were 

*  Publifhed  by  the  late  Mr.  George  Bankes  of  Dorfetfliire, 
delcendant  of  Charles  the  Firft's  Chief  Juftice,  in  a  book 
entitled  Corfe  Cajlle. 


4io 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Like 

attempts 
of  leaders 
in  both 
Houfes. 


Lord 

Wharton. 


Denzil 
Hollis. 


Lord   Say 
and  Seale 


Lords  Northumberland  and  Wharton  ;  Denzil 
Hollis,  one  of  the  five  members  who  were 
the  object  of  the  King's  fatal  attempt ;  Lord 
Say  and  Seale,  leader  of  the  Puritans  ;  and 
even  the  fubfequent  leader  of  the  Parliamentary 
Armies,  Lord  EfTex.  None  of  thefe  men 
viewed  with  other  than  a  fad  reluctance  the 
ftrife  which  was  about  to  begin;  none  of 
them  was  eager  to  exaggerate  or  precipitate 
the  quarrel.  But  their  frank  and  unreferved 
exprefTions  elicited  no  return. 

In  a  letter  of  Angular  earneftnefs,  Lord  Whar- 
ton warns  Sir  John  Bankes  that  he  is  intimate 
with  many  popular  leaders,  cc  and  I  do  ferioufly 
<c  profefs,  I  dare  not  in  my  private  thoughts 
Cf  fufpecl;  or  charge  any  of  them  for  having 
"  difloyal  hearts  to  his  Majefty,  or  turbulent 
"  hearts  to  this  State."  In  a  letter  written 
from  that  very  place  in  the  Houfe  of  Commons 
which  he  occupied  in  clofe  vicinity  with  Pym 
and  Hampden,  Denzil  Hollis  tells  the  Chief 
Juftice  that  the  Houfe  of  Commons  only  waits 
"  the  firfb  appearance  of  change  in  his  Majefty 
(c  that  he  will  forfake  thofe  councils  which 
"  would  divide  him  from  his  Parliament  and 
cc  people,  and  make  them  deftroy  one  another," 
to  return  in  duty  and  affection  to  his  perfon. 
In  reply  to  a  letter  from  the  Chief  Juftice 
foliciting  his  opinion,  Lord  Say  and  Seale 
more  fternly  warns  him  tf  that  your  cavaliers 
<f  (as  they  are  called)  do  much  miftake  in  per- 
cc  fuading  themfelves  or  others,  that  there  is 
<c  any  fear  among  thofe  who  defire  the  King's 
"  wealth  and  greatnefs  as  it  may  ftand  with 
(C  their  own  rights  and  liberty,  and  the  end  of 


§  xxix.  Impojfibility  of  Compromise.  411 

<c  his  government."     In  rough  and  unlettered 

but  manly  phrafe,  Lord  EfTex  communicates  Lord 

thus  to  Sir  John  Bankes  the  grief  with  which  Effex- 

he  is  about  to  unfheathe  his  fword  :   cc  The  great 

cc  misfortunes  that  threaten  this  kingdom,  none 

"  looks  upon  with  a  fadder  heart  than  I ;    for 

cc  in  my  particular,  my  confcience  aflures  me  I 

cc  have  no  ends  of  my  own,  but  what  may  tend 

"  to  the  public  good   of  the    King  and  the 

"  kingdom."  And  finally,  in  two  as  impreffive 

fentences  as  were  ever  written  on  the  caufes  of 

the  conflict,    Lord  Northumberland  tells   Sir  Lord 

John  Bankes,  that  Parliament  is  arrayed  againft  {^f^}"1" 

the  King  becaufe  of  the  peril  of  <(  lofing  that 

"  liberty  which  freeborn  Subjects  ought  to  en- 

tc  joy,  and  the  laws  of  the  land  do  allow  ;    and 

c<  becaufe  thofe  perfons  who  are  moft  power- 

<c  ful  with  the  King,  do  endeavour  to  bring  objefts  of 

<f  parliaments  to  fuch  a  condition   that   they  Court 

cc  mail  only  be  made  instruments  to  execute  par  y' 

ct  the  commands  of  the  King." 

That  laft  remark  is  the  finking  and  fufficient 
comment  upon  the  fcenes  which    have   been 
defcribed  in  thefe  pages.     The  continued  feries 
of  efforts  herein  prefented  were  the  prelude  to 
yet  another,  a  more  defperate,  and  a  final  en- 
deavour, to  bring  parliaments  to  fuch  a  condi-  To  weak- 
tion  that  they  mould  be  made  only  instruments  en  and 
to  execute  commands  of  the  King.      Happily  p^l^f 
for  us,  this  laft  attempt  fucceeded  no  better  ments. 
than  its  fore-runners ;  and  it  might  have  be- 
come the  Chief  Juftice's  defcendant  to  remem- 
ber, as  he  ftudied    thefe  letters   before  giving 
them  to  the  world,  that  it   mainly  had   arifen 
from  the  failure  of  the  King  which  apparently 


412  The  Grand  Remonjl ranee. 

he   fo  much  deplores,  that  he  found  himfelf 
indebted  for  the  liberty  he  has  not  very  gene- 
roufly  employed  in   exalting  his   anceftor   as 
unduly  as  he  depreciates  unworthily  the  greater 
men   who    baffled   the    King's  defign.      The 
Small  part  part  allotted  to  Sir  John  Bankes  in   the  mo- 
in  a  great  mentous  fcene  was  in  reality  a  very  fmall  one, 
though  he  played  it  creditably.      He  was  a 
refpectable  lawyer  of  honefl  intentions  and  very 
limited  views,  who  interfered  occafionally  with 
creditably  good    effect   to  moderate  both  parties,   until 
played.      b0th   became   committed    to    extremes ;    but 
when  the  fword  flamed  out  as  arbitrator,  he 
turned   afide  helplefs  and  ufelefs,  and,  dying 
while  yet  the  victory  neither  way  inclined,  he 
feems  to  have  died  in  the  perfuafion  that  the 
disfavour  of  Heaven  muft  fall  heavily  on  both, 
and  that  both  would  be  deferving  of  overthrow. 
There  is  always  much  to  be  faid  for  a  temper 
fuch  as  this,  even  when  mod  unfitted   to  its 
Charaaer  occafions  ;    and  undoubtedly   a  difpofition  in 
of  Bankes  itfelf  fo  kindly  and  pleafing  might,  at  any  other 
(C.  JO      time  than  one  of  neceflary  conflict,  have  done 
even    ufeful  public  fervice.      Sir  John's  de- 
fendant   was  quite  entitled  to  refer  to   him, 
therefore,  as  a  favourable  fpecimen  of  a  lawyer 
in  that  age  :   but  it  was  lefs  difcreet,  as  well  as 
lefs  generous,  to  contraft  his  alleged  upright 
afcent  to  worldly  rank,  with  the  'c  unfeemly 
"  intrigues  and  courtly   ftruggles "  by  which 
unwifely    ^ir  Edward  Coke  is  declared  to  have  clambered 
compared  thither.       Allufions  not  ftrictly   untrue   may 
Ck         yet   convey    an    impreflion    fingularly    falfe. 
(C.  J.)       Whatever  his  former  failings  may  have  been, 
to   the  ftudent  of  our  Civil  Wars  the  Lord 


§  xxix.     ImpoJJibility  of  Com-promife.  413 

Chief  Juftice   Coke    prefents   himfelf   in  one  Coke's 
afpect  only.    So  far,  his  age  redeems  his  youth 
and  his  manhood.     It  was  he  who  gave  to  the 
opening  of  the  ftruggle  that  ftamp  of  ancient 
precedent  and  legal  right,  of  which  it  never 
afterwards,  in  all  its  varying  fortunes,  loft  the 
trace ;  and,  in  the  prefence  of  any  attempt  to 
compare  fuch  a  man  difadvantageoufly  with 
one  immeafurably  his  inferior,  it  is  impoflible 
not  to  remember  that  while,  in  the  Petition  of  The 
Right,  Sir  Edward  Coke  has  left  a  monument  inftitutes 
of  his  exertions  for  Englifh  liberty  as  impe-  tion  of  ~ 
rifhable  as  that  which  the  Inftitutes  contain  of  Right, 
his  knowledge  of  Englifh  law,  Sir  John  Bankes 
has  left  no  more  durable  record  of  either  than 
an  elaborate  argument  againft  Hampden  in  the 
cafe  of  fhip-money. 

Let  me  fimply  repeat  in  this  place  what  I 
have  formerly  hinted,*  that  to  renew  anything  Part 
like  the  vehemency  of  the  old  Civil  War  dif-  views  for 
putes,  maintained  with  unhefitatino-  and  unin-  and.  a 

.   .  .  &       -  againft 

quiring  zeal  while  yet  the  authority  of  Claren-  Charles, 
don  was  implicitly  accepted,  it  is  now  become 
needful  to  pafs  to  a  Cf  more  removed  ground" 
than  that  which  preceded  the  war.     Sir  John 
Bankes  was  in  his  grave,  and  his  correfpondents  A  PIa!n 
diverfely  and  fadly  fcattered  ;  my  Lord  North-  thVwar.  ° 
umberland  was  fulking  at  his   country-houfe, 
Mr.  Denzil   Hollis  was  fretting  that  he  had 
ever  fo  largely  helped  to  turn  out  the  Stuarts, 
and    my  Lord  Eflex  had  been  borne  in   fu- 
neral pomp  to  the  Abbey  of  Weftminfter  ;  be- 
fore that  greater  and  fterner  figure  had  fully 

*  See  ante,  p.  14.7. 


4*4 


The  Grand  Remonjlrance. 


A  cafe 
more  per- 
plexing. 


emerged,  whofe  {f  rude  tempeftuous "  quali- 
ties, perplexing  in  early  days  to  Mr.  Hyde, 
were  hardly  lefs  to  perplex  and  trouble  all 
future  hiftorians.  And  it  is  lefs  with  the  hope 
of  contributing  anything  to  its  iiluftration  that 
mould  be  entirely  worthy  of  the  fubject,  than 
to  confefs  how  much  in  former  years  it  per- 
plexed and  troubled  myfelf,  that  I  have  lately 
taken  occafion  to  exprefs*  to  what  extent 
the  views  I  once  held  have  fuffered  change 
in  regard  to  the  conduct  and  character  of 
Cromwell. 


Limited 
fcope  of 
prefent 
work  : 


to  reftore 
an  effaced 
page  in 
Hiftory. 


§  xxx.  Conclusion. 

The  confequences  hinted  at  by  Holborne 
(in  the  debate  of  the  20th  December  on  the 
right  of  the  Minority  on  the  Remonftrance  to 
proteft  againft  the  decifion  of  the  Majority), 
which  had  fo  fatal  a  recoil  upon  the  King,  do  not 
fall  within  the  fcope  of  this  work.  The  Arreft 
of  the  Five  Members  is  a  fubject  too  large  in 
itfelf  to  be  treated  as  a  portion  of  that  theme 
which  I  now  bring  to  a  clofe.  My  object  was 
to  reftore  a  page  of  the  Englifti  hiftory  of  fome 
importance,  which  time  had  been  permitted  to 
efface  ;  and  this  has  been  accomplished.  It  is 
for  the  reader  to  apply  the  details  here  given 
to  their  further  ufe,  in  iiluftration  of  already 
exifting  records,  and  determination  of  their 
value.     It  would  lead  the  writer  too  far  from 


*  In  the  Edinburgh  Review,  January,  1856.  See  Bio- 
graphical Effays  (Oliver  Cromwell,  Daniel  De  Foe,  Sir 
Richard  Steele,  Charles  Churchill,  and  Samuel  Foote),  now 
published  by  Mr.   Murray  in  a  feparate  volume. 


§  xxx.     Conclufion.  415 

the  defign  to  which  he  had  purpofely  reftricted 
himfelf,  to  attempt  in  this  place  any  fuch  appli- 
cation.    Every  one  may  do  it,  within  the  range 
of  his  acquaintance  with  the  general  hiftory  of  Obje&of 
the  time  ;  and  to  help  to  extend  this  range  for  note*  *P" 
all,  fome  pains  have  here  been  taken  to  render 
the  notes  appended  to  the  Abftract  of  the  Re- 
monftrance,  as  well  as  to  the  Debates,  both  a 
guide  to  refearch  out  of  the  common  track  of 
hiftories,  and  a  warning  againfl:  too  ready  or 
implicit  belief  in  the  moft  refpected  authorities. 
It  is  not  defirable,  even  if  it  were  poflible,  that 
Clarendon's  Hiftory  of  the  Rebellion  mould  be  ciaren- 
depofed  from  the  place  it  holds  in  our  literature.  do.n's 
Its  rare  beauties  of  thought  and  charm  of  ftyle,    *  or^' 
the  profound  views  of  character  and  life  which 
it  clothes    in  language  of  unfurpaffed  variety 
and  richnefs,  its  long  line  of  noble  and  death- 
lefs  portraits  through  which  its  readers  move 
as  through  a  gallery  of  full-lengths  by  Vandyke 
and  Velafquez,  have  given  and  will  afTure  to  Jts  beau_ 
it  its  place  as  long  as  literature  remains.     But,  ties. 
for  the  purpofe  to  which  it  has  mainly  been 
applied  by  many  party  writers  fince  Clarendon's 
death,  as  well  as  by  writers  not  prejudiced  or 
partial,  it  mould  never  have  been  ufed.     The 
authority  of  its  writer  is  at  no  time  fo  worth-  jts  de_ 
lefs,  as  when  taken  upon  matters  in  which  he  merits. 
played  himfelf  the  moft  prominent  part ;  and 
his  imputations  againfl;  the  men  with  whom 
he  was  once  leagued  as  clofely  as  he  was  after- 
wards bitterly  oppofed  to  them,  are  never  to 
be  fafely  relied  upon.     With  the  very  fads  he 
laboured  to  mifreprefent,  he  has  been  here  con- 
fronted ;  and  with  the  antagonifts  to  whom  he 


416 


The  Grand  Remonftrance. 


Its  author 
confront- 
ed with 
contempo- 
raries. 


Refult 
decifive 
againft 
him. 


Misftate- 
ments  no 
longer 
poflible. 


Ludicrous 
errors. 


flood  actually  oppofed  upon  the  floor  of  the 
Houfe  of  Commons,  he  has  been  here  again 
brought  face  to  face.  The  Grand  Remonftrance 
has  itfelf  been  heard  after  long  and  unmerited 
oblivion,  and  Sir  Simonds  D'Ewes  has  fpoken 
to  us  after  a  filence  of  more  than  two  centuries. 
The  refult  is  decifive  againft  Clarendon.  It  is 
not  merely  that  he  turned  King's  evidence 
againft  his  old  aflbciates,  but  that  his  evidence 
is  completely  difproved. 

An  opinion  has  been  exprefled,  in  the  courfe 
of  this  Work,  upon  the  importance  of  the 
Grand  Remonftrance  merely  as  a  contribution 
to  hiftory,  and  upon  the  improbability  of  its 
being  again  difplaced  from  the  pofition  here 
afligned  to  it.  Certainly  it  is  impoflible  that 
any  one  fhould  fpeak  of  it  hereafter  as  it  has 
been  defcribed  heretofore.  In  Mr.  D'Ifraeli's 
Commentaries ,  for  example,  a  book  which  after 
his  death  was  with  final  and  fcrupulous  cor- 
rection republifhed  by  his  fon,  it  is  characler- 
ifed  as  an  hiftorical  memoir  of  all  the  infelici- 
ties of  the  reign,  <f  with  a  very  cautious  omijjion 
"  that  all  thofe  capital  grievances  had  no  longer 
f(  any  exiftence."*  That  fuch  an  affertion 
fhould  be  hazarded  again  is  at  leaft  not  con- 
ceivable. Amid  much,  too,  that  in  the  fame 
book  is  as  gravely  pafled  off  for  truth,  the 
Remonftrance  is  faid  to  have  been  fmuggled 
through  the  Houfe  of  Commons  by  a  trick. 
Its  authors,  we  are  informed,  tc  aflured  the 
"  moderate  men  that  its  intention  was  purely 


*  Commentaries  on   the   Reign   of  Charles   I.       By   Ifaac 
D'Ifraeli.     Ed.  1851,  ii.  290. 


§  xxx.    Conclufion.  417 

<c  prudential ;    it  was  to  mortify   the  Court, 
"  and  nothing  more  ;   after  having  been  read, 
"  it  would  remain  in  the  hands  of  the  Clerk, 
tc  and  never  afterwards  be  called  for;  and  fo,  D'ifraeli's 
"  when  it  was  brought  forward,  to  give  it  the  Commen- 
"  appearance  of  a  matter  of   little  moment,  \\.  294. 
<c  the  morning  was  fuffered  to  elapfe  on  ordi- 
"  nary  bufinefs,  and  it  was  produced  late ;  but 
<c  they   overfhot    the   mark,"   &c.    &c.    with 
much  more  to  the  fame  incredible  purport ! 
Surely  not  again  can   Clarendon  lead  his   fol- 
lowers into  fuch  a  quickfand  of  "  hiftory  "  as 
that  ;     nor,  with   the    Remonftrance  itfelf  in 
evidence,  can  the  fignal  mifreprefentation    he 
left  of  its  contents,  and  of  the  conduct  and  ^ffe<a  of 
objects  of  its  authors,  be  in  future  accepted  ftrance  on 
againft  his  own  frequent  and  unconfcious  tefti-  the  people: 
mony  to  its  deep  and  ineradicable  imprerTion 
upon  the  mafs  of  the  Englifh  people. 

That,  after  all,  is  its  final  and  lading  vindi-  its  vindi- 
cation.    It  had  become  a  neceflity  fo  to  make  catlon  : 
appeal  to  the  people.     It  may  be   true,  or  it 
may  be  falfe,  that  Cromwell  would   have  fold 
all  he  had  the  next  morning  if  the  Remon- 
ftrance had  been  rejected,    and  would    never 
have  feen  England  more  :   but  that  Falkland 
heard  him  fay  fo  would  feem  to  be  undoubted, 
and  the  fact  is  a  Angular  proof  of  the  gravity 
of  the  conjuncture  which  had  arifen.   Meafured  and  mea- 
alfo  by  the  effects  produced,  the  fame  conclu- fure  oflU 
fion  is  forced  upon  us  ;   though  in  the  prefence  ance. 
of  the  document  itfelf,  thefe  may  well  appear 
lefs  furprifing.     To  do  Clarendon  juftice,  he 
never  affects  to  conceal  the  momentous  influ- 
ence exerted    by   the   Remonftrance  over  the 


4 1  8  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

Its  fubfe-  fubfequent  courfe  of  affairs.     He  puts  it  in 
quent  m-   ^jg  own  language  indeed  :   but  when  he  refers 
to    "that    dreadful,"    "that    fatal,"    Remon- 
ftrance ;  when  he  fpeaks  of  it  as  having  li  poi- 
"  foned  the  heart  of  the  people  ;  "   when  he 
recurs  to  it  as  "  the  firft  inlet  to  the  inunda- 
"  tions  that  overwhelmed  "  his  party;    when 
again  and  again  he  dwells  upon  it,  as  "the  firft 
Confeffed   "  vifible  ground  and  foundation  of  that  rage 
by  Hyde.    "  and  madnefs  in  the  people  of  which  they 
cc  could  never   fince  be  cured;"  no  glofs  or 
comment  is  needed  for  fuch  expreflions.    They 
are  fo  many  tributes  to  the  vigour  and  capacity 
of  his  opponents,   and    to   the  largenefs  and 
Recruit-    wifdom  of  the  outlook  they  had  taken  when 
ing-fer-     they  launched  that  Great  Remonftrance.     Par- 
cm"  war.  liament  had  no  fuch  recruiting-fergeant  through 
the  after  years  of  civil  war.     It  might  have 
fallen,  indeed,  comparatively  without  effect,  if 
Charles  the  Firft  had  been  able  at  any  time  to 
accept  honeftly  the  confequences  of  his   own 
acls ;  but  its  authors  knew  that  this  was  not 
in  his  nature,  and  if  we  would  condemn   in 
Motives     that  refpect  their  policy,  we  muft  have  fatisfied 
of' its         ourfelves,  that,  with  a  man  fo  effentially  and 
deliberately  falfe  as  the  King  was  to  all  the 
engagements   made  with  him,  it  was  in  any 
manner  poftible,  without  direct  appeal  to  the 
People  as  a  part  of  the  State,  to  bring  about  a 
in  ro         lafting  adjuftment  of  right  relations  between 
pealing      the  Commons  and  the  Crown.     The  Remon- 
to  thf  ■      ftrance  conftituted  that  appeal  ;   and  not  the 

people  .  .    \  *  . 

leaft  of  the  claims  which  in  my  judgment  it 
poffeffes  to  the  attention  and  refpect  of  all 
ftudentsof  hiftory,  is  the  proof  which  it  affords 


§  xxx.    Conclufion.  419 

that  Englifh  Puritanifm  had  in  itfelf  no  necef- 
fary   antagonifm   to  Englifh  Institutions    and 
Government.     The  ancient  limited  monarchy, 
and  a  reformed  church  eftablifhment,  would  To  fove 
have  fatisfied  its  authors.     They  were  devout,  an^ent 
religious  men,  who  claimed  free  exercife  for  monarchy, 
their  religion  ;   but  infeparable  from  the  Pro- 
teftant    Reformation,    and    its    overthrow    of 
Roman  Catholic  bondage,  to  whofe  immediate 
infpiration  they  owed  their  greatnefs,  was  the 
paffion    for    civil    freedom    no    lefs    than    for 
religious    liberty.       The    writers    who    would 
feparate  the  religious  from  the  political  move-  Civil  and 
ment  in  the  feventeenth  century,  and  fo  ftrive  j;el,g10us 
to   underrate  the  earneftnefs .  of  the  effort  it  not 
included   for    political     as    well    as    religious  Sparable, 
emancipation,  have  their  anfwer   in  the  Grand 
Remonftrance.      Liberty  of  confcience  and  of 
worfhip  has  its  leading  place  therein,  but  only 
as  the  very  bails  and  condition  of  fuch  other 
claims,  constituting  civil  government,  as  the 
right    not   to  be  taxed  without  con  fen  t,  the  Rights 
right  to  enjoyment  of  what  is  lawfully  poileiTed,  demanded 
the  right  to  petition,  the  right  to  choofe  repre-  Remon- 
fentatives,  the  right  of  thofe  reprefentatives  to  ftrance. 
freedom  of  debate,  the  right  to  pure  adminif- 
tration  ofjuftice,  the  right  to  individual  freedom 
under  protection  of  the  laws. 

Of  the  men  by  whom  thefe  great  rights  were 
fo  afTerted  in  the  old  Englifh  houfe  of  legif- 
lature,  and  to  whofe  exertions  and  facrifices  in 
the  Long  Parliament,   their  ultimate  though  t^Lon  ° 
lefs  complete  acceptance   by   the   Convention  Parlia- 
Parliament  is  due,  perhaps  a  nearer  view   is  raent 
afforded  in  this  Work  than  hitherto  has  been 


420  The  Grand  Remonftrance. 

attainable  in    any  printed    record.     It  might 
indeed  have  been   too  near  if  the  men   had 
been  lefs  great.      But  they  do  not   fuffer  by 
that  clofer  infpection.     Their  greatnefs,  too, 
is  a  (Turned  fo  eafily  and  fo  naturally  exerted, 
Their       as  to  raife  no  feeling  of  furprife  but  that  in  an 
genius  and  age   which    produced    them    fuch   a    tyranny 
g   '       ''  mould   have   been  poflible.     To  find,  in  the 
party  druggies  of  two  hundred  years  ago,  a 
full  and  perfect  anticipation  of  parliamentary 
conflicts  of  more  modern  days,  may  probably 
aftonifh  not  a  few  ;  but  ftill  more  ftartling  is  it 
to  reflect,  that,  during  the  whole  fifteen  years 
defcribed    in  the  Grand  Remonftrance,  while 
England  lay    gagged,   imprifoned,    mutilated, 
Their       and  plundered,  under  the  moft  vexatious  and 
patience     intolerable    tyranny   that  ever    tortured    body 
durance.    an<^  ^ou^  at  once,  me  yet  contained  thefe  men. 
But  they  had  profoundly  ftudied  her  hiflory; 
and  they  had  an  immovable  faith  that  her  civil 
conftitution,  outraged  as  it  was,  yet  held  within 
itfelf  the  fufficing  means  of  recovery  and  retri- 
bution.    Nor,  happily  for  us,  did  they  quite 
lofe  this  patient  belief,   until  the   fword  was 
Their  re-  a<^ua^y  drawn ;  and  hence  it  was  that  all  the 
lpeclfbr     old   laws  and  ufages  of  the  land,  all  the  old 
old  pre-     Ways  and  precedents  of  parliament,   all    the 
and  laws,  ancient  traditions  of  the  rights  of  the  three 
eftates,    fucceffively    drawn    forth    from    their 
refting-place  in  records,   charters,  old  books, 
and    parchment   rolls,    were    appealed   to    on 
either  fide,  were  claimed  by  both  fides,  were 
tried,  tefted,  and  made  familiar  to  all,  in  fuch 
debates  and  conflicts  in  the  Houfe  of  Com- 
mons as  thefe  pages  have  defcribed.     It  was 


§  xxx.     Conclufion.  42 1 

for  later  generations  to  enjoy  what  thus  was 
toiled  for  fo  gallantly,  and  only  with  infinite 
fuffering,  and  terrible  drawbacks,  won  at  laft. 
But  the  Leaders  of  the  Long  Parliament  have  Reverence 
had  their  reward  in  the  remembrance  and  theem° 
gratitude  of  their  defendants ;  and  it  will 
bode  ill  to  the  free  institutions  of  England, 
when  honour  ceafes  to  be  paid  to  the  men 
whom  Bifhop  Warburton  truly  characlerifed 
as  the  band  of  greater!  geniufes  for  govern- 
ment that  the  world  ever  faw  leagued  together 
in  one  common  caufe. 


INDEX. 


Abbots. 

Abbots  feafting  and  Monks  fad- 
ing, 48. 

A'Becket,  Thomas.     See  Becket. 

Agricultural  Labourers,  condition 
of,  under  Henry  VI,  57. 

Alfred,  feudal  inftitutions  in  the 
reign  of,  5. 

Alford,  Sir  Edward  (Arundel),  a 
note-taker,  124  note.  Ordered 
to  give  up  his  notes,  ibid. 

America,  firft  expedition  to,  71. 
Its  fruits,  ibid. 

Anglo-Saxon  ibvereignty  not  he- 
ritable, 11.     See  Saxons. 

Anne,  Queen  of  James  I,  and  her 
hulband,  95.  "  Some  affection  " 
between  her  and  Gowrie's  bro- 
ther, 96. 

Aquinas,  difciples  of,  73. 

Argyle  and  the  Hamiltons  (Cove- 
nant leaders),  propofed  affaifina- 
tion  of,  165.  Implication  of  the 
King  in  the  plot,  165  note.  167. 
The  incident  turned  to  account 
by  Pym,  197. 

Ariftocracy  of  England,  flare  of, 
on  acceflion  of  Henry  VII,  68. 

Ariftotle,  ftudied  by  D'Ewes,  120. 

Army  not  to  be  depended  on  by 
Parliament,  1 54.  Tampered 
with  by  Charles's  party,  155. 
263.  Diibanding  of  troops  in 
the  North  prevented  by  Charles, 
164.  Hyde's  motion  relative  to 
undifbanded  troops,  166.  Germ 
contained  in  Cromwell's  refolu- 
tion,  199.  Ordinances  minus  the 
King,  200.  Refolution  as  to 
fecond  army  plot,  210.    Nicho- 


AJliburnham. 
las's  fear  on  this  head,  ibid. 
Billeting  grievances,  218.  221 
note.  251  note.  Wentworth's 
paflionate  fpeech  thereon,  218, 
219  notes.  Monthly  pay  of  the 
two  armies,  254.  259.  Plot  in 
which  Courtney  was  implicated, 
356.  Suggeftion  for  defence  of 
kingdom,  357.  385.  King's  de- 
fign,  357  note.  Proof  ot  dif- 
affecied  fpirit  and  of  fecond  army 
plot,  384.  Refolution  for  dif- 
ablement  of  officers  implicated 
therein,  384,  385.  Their  expul- 
fion,  393.  Confequences  of 
King's  interference  with  Im- 
preffment  Bill,  399,  400.  See 
Militia .     Trained  Bands . 

Armyn,  Sir  William  (Grantham), 
Teller  on  Militia  Bill  Divifion, 
388.  392. 

Arran,  Lord,  95.  « 

Arreft  of  the  Five  Members.  See 
Forjier. 

Arthur,  Prince,  not  entitled  to 
Crown  as  of  mere  right,  1 1 . 
Why  John  was  preferred,  12. 

Arundel,  Lord,  Cromwell's  charge 
againft,  384. 

Amburnham,  John  (Haftings), 
Teller  in  laft  Remonftrance  de- 
bate, 406. 

Afliburnham,  William  (Ludger- 
fhall),  and  Percy,  Pollard,  and 
Wilmot,  members  of  Houfe  and 
army  officers,  why  difabled  from 
their  feats,  384,  385.  How  re- 
warded by  the  King,  385.  Ex- 
pelled the  Houfe,  393. 

F    F    2 


4-4 

Bacon. 

Bacon,  Francis,  Lord,  character 
of  Richard  III  by,  62.  The 
tres  magi  celebrated  by  him,  64. 
His  character  of  Henry  VII 
6<?>  70-  77-  78.  82.  His  firft 
interview  with  James  I,  100. 
His  fuggeftion  to  James  for 
railing  money,  105.  Referred 
to  by  D'Ewes,  338. 

Bagfhaw,  Edward  (Southwark), 
denounces  Ecclefialtical  Courts, 
237  note  *.  His  fubfequent  de- 
fection, ibid.  His  fpeech  againft 
the  Remonftrance,  299.  Pym's 
reply  thereto,  304.  Defends 
Palmer,  348. 

Bainton.     See  Baynton. 

Balfour,  Col.  SirW.,  Tower  Go- 
vernor, fuperfeded  by  Charles, 
356.  371.  Why  difplaced,  372 
and  note. 

Ballads,  Political.  See  Political 
Ballads. 

Baltimore,  Ireland,  Turkiih  man- 
ftealing  at,  228  note. 

Bancroft,  Bifhop  of  London,  adu- 
lation of  James  I  by,  107. 

Bankes,  George,  Privy  Council- 
lor, unwife  comparifons  and  con- 
trafts  of,  in  his  Story  of  Corfe 
Cajlle,  126  and  note,  127. 
His  mifreading  of  Clarendon's 
doings,  137.  129.  His  extrava- 
gant parallel,  146.  Inftance  in 
which  the  parallel  fits,  176. 
Reference  to  letters  printed  by 
him,  409  and  note.  Reflection 
which  fhould  have  occurred 
to  him  while  compiling  his 
book,  411,  412.  Indifcreet  in 
pitting  his  anceftor  againft  Sir 
E.  Coke,  412,  413. 

Bankes,  Sir  John,  Chief  Juftice, 
126  note.  Oppofed  to  procla- 
mation for  call  of  Houle,  164. 
Attempts  to  mediate  between 
King  and  parliament,  409. 
Letters  to  him  from  popular 
leaders,  410.  411.  Manner  in 
which  he  played  his  part,  412. 


Index. 


Baxter. 
His    character,    ibid.       Unwife 
comparifon    between  him     and 
Sir   E.    Coke,   412,    413.     His 
moft  memorable  a6t,  41 3. 

Barbary  corfairs  in  Englifh  waters, 
228  note. 

Barere,  no  parallel  in  Englifh  Re- 
volution to,  146. 

Barnardifton,  Sir  N.,  affection 
of  D'Ewes  for,  121. 

Baronetcies  invented  to  raife  money, 
105.  D'Ewes  a  purchafer, 
120. 

Barons,  new  relations  between  the 
throne  and  the  (temp.  Ric.  I), 
10.  Source  of  their  increafed 
ftrength,  ibid.  What  their  tri- 
umph over  John  involved,  14, 
15.  Caufe  of  their  indifference 
to  John's  lofs  of  his  French  pof- 
feflions,  1 5.  Growth  of  national 
feeling  in  them,  15,  16.  25. 
Make  common  caufe  with  the 
citizens,  16.  What  brought  the 
people  over  to  them,  ibid.  Their 
difputes  with  Peter  des  Roches, 
24,  25.  Knights  of  fhires  affo- 
ciated  with  them,  37,  38.  Royal 
boroughs  created  to  combat  their 
influence,  40.  Their  fliare  in 
depofing  Richard  II,  43,  44. 
Commons  often  deferted  by 
them,  61.  Their  pofition  after 
Bofworth  fight,  67.  68.  See 
Lords,  Houfe  of. 

Barrington,  Sir  Thomas  (Colchef- 
ter),  an  "  ancient  parliament 
man,"  283  note.  Divifions  on 
which  he  was  a  teller,  209.  257. 
note.  309  note.  341.  352.  Sup- 
ports motion  for  defending  the 
kingdom,  357.  Oppofes  Hafel- 
rig's  Militia  Bill,  386. 

Baftwick,  Burton,  and  Prynne, 
brutal  treatment  of,  236  notef. 
May's  comment  on  their  mutila- 
tions, 237  note. 

Battle,  ftyle  of  living  of  the  Ab- 
bot of,  48. 

Baxter,  Richard,  miftake  of,  rela- 


Baynton. 
tive  to  Strafford's  attainder,  1 53, 
154,  notes. 

Baynton,  Sir  Edward  (Chippen- 
ham), complains  of  furreptitious 
communications  to  King,  366 
note. 

Beaumont,  M.  de,  on  pofition  of 
James  I  in  his  people's  eyes, 
109. 

Becket,  Thomas  si,  theocratical 
fcheme  contended  for  by,  7,  8. 
His  conflicts  with  Henry  II,  8. 
Their  ultimate  refult,  9. 

Bedford,  Earl  of,  joins  in  Lords' 
petition  for  a  parliament,  251 
note. 

Beecher,  Sir  William,  why  com- 
mitted to  Black  Rod's  cuftody, 
245  note. 

Bellafis,  Henry  (Yorkfhire),  named 
on  Remonftrance  prefentation 
committee,  367. 

Benevolences  tried  by  James  I, 
105.     See  Loans. 

Bennet,  one  John,  "  a  Poet,"  fa- 
bricates a  fpeech  in  D'Ewes's 
name,  289  note. 

Berkley,  or  Berkeley,  Sir  Robert, 
Judge,  taken  from  the  Bench  to 
prifon,  182  and  note.  Rebukes 
Holborne  for  pleading  againft 
Ship-money,  227  note.  In  the 
Tower,  256. 

Bible  brought  within  reach  of  the 
people,  85. 

Billeting  grievances.     See  Army. 

Bills  in  Parliament,  how  originally 
dealt  with,  50.  Evafions  of  the 
Sovereign  in  regard  thereto, 
ibid.  Abandonment  of  the  fyf- 
tem,  51.  Enactment  on  the  oc- 
cafion,  52.  Order  of  Commons 
as  to  reading  them,  206  note. 

Bifhops.     See  Church. 

Blacknall,  Mrs.  Mary,  and  her 
relatives  fubjecled  to  Wardihip 
extortions,  225  note. 

Blany,  Mr.,  ill-reported  of,  274. 

Bolingbroke,  Henry  Plantagenet 
Earl  of.    See  Henry  W. 


Index.  425 

Buckingham. 

Bolingbroke,  Henry  St.  John, 
Lord,  views  of,  regarding  Henry 
VII,   66. 

Bolingbroke, Oliver  St.  John,  Earl 
of,  refufcs  to  fubfcribe  to  loan  to 
Charles  I,  220  notes.  Joins  in 
Lords'  petition  for  a  parliament, 
251  note. 

Book  of  Sports,  303. 

Bofworth,  lbcial  condition  of  Eng- 
land after  battle  of,  67,  68. 

Braclon  on  the  limits  to  kingly 
power,  28. 

Bramfton,  Sir  John,  on  Ship- 
money,  227  note. 

Bridgman,  Orlando  (Wigan),  a 
feceder  from  Strafford's  attain- 
der, 154  note.  Heads  oppofition 
againft  Pym,  198.  His  fpeech 
in  Remonftrance  Debate,  305, 
306.  His  pofitions  combated 
by  Hollis,  310. 

Briltol,  Earl  of,  joins  in  Lords' 
petition  for  a  parliament,  251 
note.  Receives  King's  anfwer  to 
Proteft  of  Lords  and  Commons, 
402  note. 

Brooke,  Lord,  pockets  of,  fearched 
by  King's  order,  245  note.  Joins 
in  Lords'  petition  for  a  parlia- 
ment, 251  note. 

Bruce,  John,  on  value  of  D'Ewes's 
MSS,  118,  note  %.  Sir  R. 
Verney's  Notes  edited  by  him, 
130  note.  219  note.  228  note. 
235  note.  290  note.  His  erro- 
neous inference  on  Militia  Bill 
divifion,  393  and  note. 

Buchanan,  George,  and  his  pupil 
James  I,  92. 

Buckhurft,  Lord,  feized  for  wages 
due  by  James  I,  104. 

Buckingham,  George  Villiers, 
Duke  of,  James's  favourite,  95. 
101.  311.  Caule  of  his  rile 
to  royal  favour,  102,  103.  His 
antics  how  rewarded  by  the 
King,  103.  His  extravagance, 
105.  His  late  fecretary,  167 
note.      Coft    and  luxurious  inci- 


426  Index. 

Building. 

dents   of   a    banquet  given   by 

him,  220  note. 
Building  in  London,  extortionate 

interferences  with,  230. 
Burghley,  Lord,  entertains  James 

I,  100. 
Burke,  Edmund,  on   the   fpirit  of 

Englifh  freedom,  1.   2. 
Burnet,  Bifhop,  on  Chureh  covet- 

oufnefs,  48. 
Burton.     See  Bajl-ivick. 

Cabots,  expedition  and  difcove- 
ries  of  the,  71. 

Cade's  Rebellion  contrafted  with 
.  Wat  Tyler's,  56. 

Cage,  Mr.  (Ipfwich),  "  My  old 
neighbour,"  283  note. 

Cambridge  Univerfity  character- 
ifed  by  D'Ewes,  119,  120.  Firft 
appearance  of  the  town's  M.P. 
130. 

"Candles  called  for," 205.  D'Ewes 
thereon,  206. 

Capel,  Arthur  Lord,  laft  remem- 
brance of  on  the  fcaffold,  128. 

Car,  Earl  Somerfet.     See  Somerfet. 

Carlyle,  Thomas,  113.  Ufe  in- 
tended to  be  made  by  him  of 
D'Ewes's  MSS.  118.  Teftifies 
to  their  value,  ibid,  note  f . 

Cartwright's  Cambridge  Lectures, 
Puritan  zeal  kindled  by,  87. 

Cary,  Sir  Robert,  entertains 
James  I,   99. 

Catholics,  Roman.     See  Papijis. 

Caxton,  William,  dilcovery  of 
Broadfide  printed  by,  66.  How 
employed  by  Henry  VII,  77. 

Cecil,  Robert  Earl  of  Salifbury. 
His  Coach  mobbed,  89.  His 
warning  to  the  Commons,  90. 
His  fervices  in  feating  James  on 
the  throne,  90,  91.  Oppor- 
tunity then  loft  by  him,  91.  His 
firft  interview  with  James  I, 
100, 10 1.  ImprefTion  then  made 
upon  him,  101.  Exclamation 
uttered  by  him  at  a  later  period, 
ibid.      His     complaint    as     to 


Charles  I. 
James's  lavilh  expenditure,  104. 
James   at   a    Mafque   given  by 
him,  108. 

Chambers,  Richard,  Star  Chamber 
perfecution  of,  229. 

Charles  the  Firft,  preliminaries  to 
due  underftanding  of  pofition 
taken  up  by  opponents  of,  1. 
Why  he  imprilbned  Selden,  2. 
Anti-confcription  Statutes  cited 
during  conflicts  with  him,  41. 
Anceltors  of  the  men  of  his  day, 
86.  Rumours  antecedent  to  his 
birth,  95.  His  infirmities  in  in- 
fancy, 96.  Their  poffible  in- 
fluence on  his  after  career,  ibid. 
Sir  P.  Warwick  on  refult  of 
propofed  City  entertainment  to 
him,  1 12.  Grand  Remonftrance 
a  Juftification  of  Rebellion 
againft  him,  114.  His  interfer- 
ence a  death-blow  to  Strafford's 
hopes,  127  note.  Clarendon's 
ftrategy  in  his  behalf,  129. 
When  Culpeper  entered  into  his 
fervice,       141.  Parliament's 

A6ls  prior  to  war  juftified  by 
his  character,  147.  Condition 
of  England  during  war  between 
Commons  and  him,"'  148. 
Greateft  man  on  his  fide,  149, 
1 50.  Intrigued  againft  his  own 
viceroy,  151.  Policy  adopted 
by  his  friends  after  Strafford's 
death,  153.  Caufe  of  rea&ion 
in  his  favour,  153,  154.  Pretext 
on  which  he  was  prepared  to 
revoke  his  own  acts,  155.  Points 
which  toldin  his  favour,  156,1 57. 
Warning  of  intention  of  Parlia- 
mentary Leaders  given  him, 158, 
159.  Bifhop  Williams's  advice 
to  him,  159.  His  fcheme  how 
baffled,  159.  160.  Differences 
between  him  and  Parliament 
deepened,  160.  Remonftrance 
againft  him  taking  fhape,  161. 
Departs  for  Scotland,  ibid. 
His  fignificant  interview  with 
Hyde,  161,    162.     Hopes  bafed 


Charles  I. 


on  his  Scottifh  journey,  162. 
163.  Prevents  difbanding  of 
Northern  army,  164.  His  im- 
plied toleration  of  Montrofe's 
Affaffination  plot,  165  note.  iGj. 
Falkland's  loyalty  to  him  bafed 
on  the  law,  172.  Secederswon 
over  to  him  by  no  amendment 
on  his  part,  183.  His  hopes  from 
reappearance  of  the  Plague,  184. 
Plots  of  himfelf  and  Queen 
againft  Pym,  185,  186.  Mixed 
up  with  abettors  of  Irifli  Rebel- 
lion, 190.  What  Pym  would 
have  told  to  him,  190,  191. 
His  fupporters  recommended  to 
him,  193.  His  thanks  to  Hyde, 
193,  194.  Infills  on  inveftiture 
of  new  Bifhops,  195.  Recep- 
tion of  his  fcheme  by  the  Com- 
mons, ibid.  Other  queftions  on 
which  his  views  were  thwarted 
by  the  Commons,  197.  Hopes 
infpired  by  Irifh  Rebellion,  198. 
Interim  power  over  Army  given 
by  him  to  EfTex,  199.  Claim  of 
both  Houfes  to  make  ordi- 
nances during  his  abfence,  ibid. 
Correfpondence  of  Nicholas  and 
Queen  thereon,  199.  200.  Re- 
ceives news  of  introduction  of 
Remonftrance,  201,  202.  Im- 
portunities of  his  Secretary,  ibid. 
His  commands  to  his  "  Serv- 
ants," 202.  203.  Effect  of 
Pym's  Relblution  as  to  fecond 
Army  plot,  210.  Nicholas's 
fears  hereon,  and  on  the  Re- 
monftrance, 210,  211.  Appeal 
of  his  friends  in  the  Houfe,  212. 
Loan  demanded  in  1 626  by  him, 
220  note.  Projects  for  plunder- 
ing his  fubjects,  221  note.  Straf- 
ford's fatal  advice,  243,  244. 
Ride  through  Royfton,  243 
note.  Subfcriptions  for  his  aid, 
why  ineffectual,  250.  People 
imprifoned  for  refufing  loans  to 
him,  ibid,  note  *.  Nobility's 
petition  to  him  for  a  parliament, 


Index*  427 

Charles  1. 
250 — 252  and  notes.  His  flrft 
refolve  on  receivingthe  petition, 
252  note.  His  fcheme  for  fet- 
ting  up  his  own  church  by 
Popifh  aid,  271  note.  What 
the  Commons  required  of  him 
refpecting  Popery,  271,  272. 
And  as  to  removal  of  evil 
counfellors,  272,  273.  Final 
prayer  of  the  Remonftrants  to 
and  for  him,  273.  Why  lb  anx- 
ious to  be  back  from  Edin- 
burgh, 274.  Objection  taken 
to  his  indorfement  of  Moniers' 
petition,  274,  275.  In  Weft- 
minfter  Hall,  277.  Informed 
of  Royalift  tactics  for  im- 
peding Remonftrance,  313. 
Congratulated  by  Commons 
on  his  return  from  Scot- 
land, 344.  Clarendon's  fignifi- 
cant  remark  on  his  "logic," 
347  note.  His  reception  and 
acts  on  his  return,  355,  356. 
Plot  proved  againft  his  officers, 
356.  His  meffage  for  difmiffal 
of  Trained  Bands,  ibid.  note. 
Proceedings  of  Commons  there- 
on? 357-  357—359  notes'  Re- 
monftrance petition  to  be  pre- 
fented  to  him,  359.  Abftract 
of  its  contents,  359  —  362. 
Proofs  of  furreptitious  commu- 
nication of  fame  to  him,  365, 
366  notes.  Deference  to  hir. 
feelings  in  the  matter,  367. 
Petition  and  Remonftrance  pre- 
fented,  368.  His  exclamation 
at  claufe  relating  to  religion, 
ibid.  His  pleafantries  on  the 
occafion,  369.  His  infinuating 
queftions,  ibid.  Meffage  re- 
turned by  him,  370.  Acts 
fhowing  his  hoftile  intents,  370, 
371.  His  admitted  object  in 
appointing  Lunsford  Tower  Go- 
vernor, 372  and  note.  Con- 
fequences  of  his  giving  com- 
mand of  guard  to  Dorfet,  373 
and  note.     Selden  on  ufe  made 


4^8 


Index. 


Charles  II. 


by  him  of  "  Pym  and  his  com- 
pany," 374  and  note  f.  Plea 
for  his  intended  revocation  of 
unpalatable  parliamentary  a£ts, 
375,  376.  Taftics,  towards  that 
end,  of  his  party  in  the  Houfe, 
376 — 378.  Godolphin's  novel 
l'uggeftion  in  fame  direction, 
382,  383.  Breach  of  privilege 
by  Charles  himfelf,  383  note. 
Allufions  to  him  and  his  rights 
in  Eighth  Debate  on  Grand 
Remonftrance,  287.  292.  294, 
295.  301.  302.  303.  304.  305. 
311.  312.321.  His  Queen. — 
See  Henrietta  Maria. 

Charles  II  when  Prince,  165  note. 

Charter,  Great.  See  Great  Char- 
ter. 

Charter  of  Henry  I  a  precedent  for 
the  Great  Charter,  2. 

Charters  and  royal  conceflions 
difficult  to  fupprefs,  2,  3.     Vio- 

"    lations  under  Charles  I,  225. 

Chatham,  Lord,  on  "  Nullus  liber 
homo,"  21. 

Chaucer,  the  Poet,  rife  of,  43. 

Chillingworth,  Dr.  William,  omi- 
nous difclofure  made  by,  374. 
Refolution  of  Houfe  thereon, 
375.  Sufpicions  let  loofe  thereby, 
ibid.  One  of  Clarendon's  great 
little  men,  405  and  note. 

Cholmley,  or  Cholmondeley,  Sir 
Hugh  (Scarborough),  teller  on 
claufe againft  Bifhops, 209. Why 
grateful  to  Hyde,  330. 

Chriftianity  and  the  Crufades,  6. 

ChrilHe,  Mr.  Shafteibury  Papers 
publifhed  by,  253  note. 

Church,  ufurpations  of,  refilled  by 
Henry  II,  7.  Seizure  of  its 
temporalities  propofed  by  the 
Commons,  48.  Its  luxurious 
Abbots  and  ftarved  Monks,  ibid. 
Grounds  of  propofed  feizure,  48, 
49.  Revenge  taken  by  its  dig- 
nitaries, 49.  Failure  of  projecl: 
a  fource  of  regret,  ibid.  Bifhops 
and  Bishopries  in  danger,  155. 


Church. 
Hiftorian  May  on  this  topic, 
156  note.  Hyde's  fervices  and 
promife  in  relation  thereto,  162, 
163.  Anti-Epifcopacy  Bill  un- 
der difcumon,  167.  195.  De- 
fection of  its  previous  fupporters, 
168.  Thirteen  Bifhops  im- 
peached, 194.  King's  pro- 
pofal  for  inveftiture  of  new 
Bifhops,  195.  How  received  by 
the  Commons,  ibid.  Debate 
on  Bifhops'  demurrer  to  im- 
peachment, 195,  196.  Confer- 
ence with  the  Lords  demanded, 
196.  Altered  views  of  Dering 
and  Falkland  regarding  Bifhops, 
207,  208.  Divifion  on  claufe 
againft  Bifhops,  209.  Falk- 
land's Speech  on  Laud's  pro- 
papift  experiments,  217  note. 
Ecclefiaftical  tyranny,  237  and 
notes.  Enormities  of  Laud's 
proceedings,  238.  239.  Relult 
of  Epifcopal  Perfecutions,  238, 
239.  PafTports  to  Preferment, 
239.  What  was  preached  as 
Gofpel,  ibid,  notes.  Attempt 
to  force  Liturgy  on  Scotland, 
242.  247.  Unuiiial  Prayer  for 
the  Sick,  243  note.  Continued 
obftinacy  of  Laud  and  the 
Bifhops,  246.  Clergy  taxed  for 
King's  fupply,  247.  Harbottle 
Grimflon  thereon,  ibid,  note  *. 
Abfence  from  Church  more 
heinous  than  attendance  at 
Mafs,  ibid,  note  %.  Lord  Falk- 
land on  this  grievance,  248 
note.  ReprefTive  meafures  of 
Long  Parliament,  257.  Re- 
forms introduced,  258.  Reply 
of  Commons'  Leaders  to  their 
flanderers  on  Church  matters, 
266,  267.  What  their  real  de- 
figns  were,  267 — 269.  Struggles 
and  divifions  on  the  Bifhops' 
Bill,  267  notes.  Papift  help 
invoked  to  fet  up  Proteftant 
Church,  271  note.  Divifion  on 
Bifhops'  claufe  in  Remonftrance, 


Index. 


429 


Circuits. 


309,  310.  Proclamation  of 
King  on  return  from  Scotland, 
355-  37°-  Further  on  abridg- 
ment  of  Bifhops'    power,    361. 

363.  What  D'Ewes laid  thereon, 

364.  365.  Mr.  Coventry's  fug- 
geftions,  361.  note  364.  Q_uef- 
tion  raifed  by  King's  ufe  of 
words  not  in  "  Religious  Oppref- 
fions"  claufe,  365,  366,  notes. 

Circuits  of  Judges  appointed,  9. 

City,  alleged  counter-projefts  to 
entertainment  of  Charles  I  by, 
112.357.  Indication  of  its  tem- 
porary lukewarmnefs  in  popular 
caufe,  156.  Train-bands  or- 
dered to  guard  Houfes  of  Par- 
liament, 166.  One  year's  Ship 
Money,  227  note.  City  loan  for 
Irifh  exigencies,  328.  329.  En- 
tertains the  King,  355.  Uneafy 
feeling  of  Citizens,  372.  Citi- 
zens fired  on  by  King's  Guard, 
373,  and  note.  Unconftitutional 
plea  grounded  on  expected  City 
Petition,  394.  Intention  of  ori- 
ginators  of  petition,  396.  AfpecT: 
of  City  220  years  ago,  ibid.  note. 
Arrival  of  petition  at  Houfe  of 
Commons,  397.  Deputation 
with  fame  called  in,  397,  398. 
Dimenfions  of  petition  and 
number  of  figners,  398.  Ad- 
drefs  of  deputation,  and  Speak- 
er's reply,  ibid. 

Civil  War.     See  Great  Civil  War. 

Clare,  Earl  of,  refufes  to  fublcribe 
to  loan  to  Charles  I,  220,  note. 

Clarendon,  Edward  Hyde  Earl  of, 
on  rife  of  Villiers,  102.  His 
miueading  account  of  Debates 
on  Grand  Remonftrance,  m, 
113.  Pifture  drawn  by  his 
friend  Sir  P.  Warwick,  112. 
Teft  for  his  honefty,  117.  His 
votes  on  Strafford's  Attainder 
and  Parliament  Perpetuation 
Bill,  126,  127.  Signed  the  Pro- 
teftation,  127.  His  fliare  and 
afTociates  in  Strafford's  deftruc- 


Clarendon. 


tion,  128.  Himfelf  the  caufe 
of  the  confufion  hitherto  exifting 
on  this  fubje6l,  128,  129.  His 
reafons  for  declining  office,  129. 
Duplicities  confefTed  to  by  him, 
129,  130.  His  firft  encounter 
with  Cromwell,  130.  Hisdifin- 
genuoufnefs  relative  toFalkland's 
lupport  of  Strafford's  attainder, 
142.     What  excufe  for  himfelf  ? 

142,  143.  Inference  deducible 
from  his  only  difagreement  with 
Falkland,  ibid,  note  f.  What 
emboldened  him  to  falfify  fa£r.s, 

143.  A6r.s  of  Charles  con- 
demned by  him,  155.  Among 
the  traitors  to  the  Commons, 
156.  Ready  to  counfel  decep- 
tive courfes  to  the  King,  157. 
Surprifed  at  being  fent  for  by 
Charles,  161.  His  account  of 
the  interview,  162.  His  pro- 
mife  to  the  King,  163.  On 
abfence  of  Members  from  the 
Commons,  ibid.  Attempts  to 
turn  debate  on  plots  againft 
Parliament,  165.  What  he  fays 
on  Montrofe's  afTaflination  plot, 
ibid.  note.  Outvoted  on  his 
propofition,  166.  His  charac- 
ter of  Secretary  Nicholas,  ibid, 
note  *.  On  complaints  of  "  in- 
direct way  of  the  Court,"  167 
note  * .  His  tribute  to  Falkland, 
170  and  note.  Effect  of  his  in- 
fluence over  him,  172.  Sir  E. 
Verney's  reply  to  him,  172, 
173.  Anecdote  told  by  him  of 
Falkland,  175,  176.  On  Falk- 
land's charities  and  hofpitalities, 
178,  179  &ndnotes.  Chofen  by 
Falkland  as  his  new  leader, 
181.  His  party  no  waverers 
originally,  182.  Their  defer- 
tion  never  accounted  for,  182, 
183.  His  low  eftimate  of  Strode 
and  Hafelrig,  187  note.  Ad- 
vantage taken  by  himofStrode's 
violence,  189,  190.  Another 
Hyde   more   Royalift   than  he, 


430  Index, 

Clarendon. 
189,  note.  Check  to  his  eager- 
nefs  in  the  King's  dt fence,  190. 
His  reply  to  Pym  s  ipeech  on 
evil  counsellors,  191.  Recom- 
mended to  the  King  for  "en- 
couragement," 193.  King's 
thanks  communicated  to  him, 
193,194.  His  fneer  at  Dering: 
the  Ovid  Story,  207,  208  notes. 
His  urgent  appeal  againft  theRe- 
monftrance,  212.  Pym's  home- 
thruft  reply,  212,  213.  Charge 
made  by  him  againft  Pym,  214. 
His  fpeech  againft  the  Judges 
on  Ship  Money,  229,  note.  On 
Rule  of  conduct  at  the  Council 
Board,  235  note.  How  Com- 
miffions  interpreted  the  "  discre- 
tion "  permitted  to  them,  239 
note.  In  trouble  at  York,  240, 
241  notes.  Another  fling  at 
Strode  and  at  South  wark  Rioters, 
245  note.  Right  in  his  fact, 
but  wrong  in  his  inference,  246 
note.  On  favours  granted  to 
Papifts,  248  note.  On  Maflacre 
of  Proteftants  in  Ireland,  265 
note.  On  authorlhip  of  Re- 
monftrance,  268  note.  A  de- 
vice to  gain  time,  275,  276. 
His  conversations  in  Weftmin- 
fter  Hall,  276.  Still  waiting  to 
fpeak,  282.  At  Pym's  dinner 
parties,  282  note.  Fiennes'  at- 
tempt to  convert  him,  ibid.  His 
place  in  the  Houfe,  284.  His 
Ipeech  in  eighth  debate  on  Re- 
monftrance,  286,  287.  His 
wordinefs,  286  note.  His  in- 
correct quotation  of  paftage  re- 
lating to  Eliot,  287  note.  On 
Culpeper's  manner  and  charac- 
ter, 300  and  note.  Pym's  reply 
to  his  fpeech,  302.  Tactics 
of  his  Party  communicated  to 
Charles,  313.  His  ftatements 
as  to  how  the  Remonftrance  was 
carried,  314,  315.  His  mifftate- 
ment  relative  to  Hampden,  317. 
Protefts  againft  printing  of  Re- 


Clarendon. 
monftrance,  318,  323.  Other 
milftatements  of  his,  319.  Point 
in  his  eftimate  of  Hampden  Sup- 
ported by  D'Ewes,  320  note. 
Further  paflage  from  his  Hiftory 
on  fame  Subject,  321  note.  On 
Cromwell's  words  to  Falkland  at 
clofe  of  Debate,  327.  Wrong  as 
to  time  of  HouSe's  next  meeting, 
327.  329.  His  charge  againft 
Pym  and  party  in  connection 
therewith,  329,  330.  Why  the 
"  Northern  Men "  refufed  to 
join  againft  him,  330.  Reafons 
for  di/believing  his  ftatements, 
330,331.  Distinction  admitted 
by  himfelf,  ibid,  notes.  Alleged 
diSpute between  him  and  Palmer, 
333  note.  His  Speech  in  defence 
of  theProteft,  333,  334.  Strode's 
fuggeftion  regarding  him,  334. 
His  defence  of  Palmer,  335,  336 
and  notes.  Calls  for  a  divi- 
fion,  340.  Teller  thereon,  341. 
"  Lets  himfelf  loofe,"  347 .  note : 
His  Significant  admifllon  relative 
to  Charles's  "  logic,"  ibid.  Re- 
futation of  his  milftatements  re- 
lative to  treatment  of  Palmer, 
353 — 355.  His  ftatements  ver- 
batim, 354  note.  Sees  the  King 
privately,  355.  His  objections 
to  Remonftrance-Petition,  364. 
Discreditable  acls  brought  di- 
rectly home  to  him,  366  note. 
His  charge  of  violation  of  com- 
pact againft  Remonftrants,  370. 
Taken  into  King's  Secret  coun- 
cil,371.  His  admifllon  of  Lunf- 
ford's  evil  antecedents,  372. 
And  of  Charles's  object  in  Select- 
ing him,  ibid.  note.  His  obser- 
vation on  Commons'  diSmiflal 
of  King's  Guard,  373.  His 
doctrine  on  Peers'  interference 
at  elections,  384.  His  mil- 
ftatements and  lelf-contradictions 
concerning  Hafelrig's  Militia 
Bill,  385.  389 — 392.  Point  on 
which  he  was  right,  392.     His 


Index. 


43 l 


Clergy. 


text  miiread  by  Hallam,  393. 
His  charge  againft  St.  John, 
400.  His  character  of  Slanning, 
404.  His  pictures  of  great  men 
of  little  fize,  405,  406  notes. 
Speaks  on  right  of  proteft,  408. 
Merits  and  demerits  of  his  Hif- 
tory,  415.  His  contemporaries 
and  himfelf  brought  face  to  face, 
416.  Remit  thereof,  ibid.  His 
eftimate  of  the  Grand  Remon- 
ftrance,  417,  418.  See  alfo,  199. 
208.  237  note.  262  note.  271 
note.  zjj.  285.  317  note.  322. 
362.  374  note  f.  407  note.  413. 
414. 

Clergy,  why  difaffecled  to  Parlia- 
ment, 156  note  *.    See  Church. 

Clerk  of    the   Market    extortions 

abolifhed,  257. 
Clotworthy,  Sir  John  (Maiden), 
takes  part  in  Grand  Remon- 
ftrance,  203.  Amendments  on 
Remonftrance  by  "  J.  C",  220 
note  *.  On  gunpowder  mono- 
poly, 232  note.  On  lands  be- 
tween high-water  and  low-water 
mark,  233  note.  Divifions  on 
which  he  was  atelier,  257  note. 
309  note  f.  317.  352.  406. 

Coat  and  Conduct  money  extor- 
tions, 225  and  note.  251  note. 
Abolifhed,  254. 

Cockpit  fports  revived  by  James 
I,  104.  One  Mafter  of  the 
Cocks  equal  to  two  Secretaries 
of  State,  104. 

Coinage,  projected  debafement  of 
the,  231  and  note. 

Coke,  Sir  Edward,  Chief  Juftice, 
23.  24.  Contrafted  with  Sir 
John  Bankes,  412.  Services  of 
his  later  days,  413.  His  Infti- 
tutes  and  the  Petition  of  Right, 
ibid. 

Cole,  the  haberdafher's  apprentice 
in  DiftaffLane,  377  and  note. 

Coleridge,  S.  T.,  opinion  of,  re- 
lative    to    war    with    Charles, 


Commons. 


Colet  afTociated  with  Erafmus,  74. 

75-  77- 

Comines,  Philip  de,  why  England 
the  belt  governed  ftate,  58. 

Commerce,  feeds  of,  lbwn  by  the 
Crufades,  6.  Rife  of  merchants 
and  tradefmen,  25.  Rights  and 
privileges  infured  to  them  by 
guilds  and  charters,  25,  26. 
Effect  of  commerce  on  focial 
diftinclions,  57.  Its  condition 
during  the  wars  of  the  Rofes, 
62,  63.  Growth  of  guilds,  63. 
Effect  of  Charles's  opprefhve 
extortions,  226.  Defenceleffnefs 
of  merchant  fhips  in  the  Channel, 
226 — 228  and  note.  Effect  of 
Star  Chamber  perfecution,  mo- 
nopolies and  reftraints  on  enter- 
prife,  229 — 231. 

Commiffions  of  Inquiry  under 
the  Norman  Kings  and  their 
fucceffors,  33.  Set  Cottagers.  De- 
populations. High  Commijfion. 
Se-ujers. 

Commonalty,  pofition  gained  by 
the,  38.  A  recognifed  power 
in  the  State,  39.  Ill-fupported 
by  the  Commons  under  Henry 
VII,'66.  See  Commons ,Houfe  of. 
Parliament.     People. 

Common,  poor  deprived  of  their 
rights    of,      233    and    note    +. 

Commons,  Houfe  of,  origination 
of  the,  29.  Vague  formation  of 
its  authority,  34.  Knights  of 
Shires  fummoned,  34,  35. 
Writs  iffued  for  firft  Houfe,  38. 
Gradual  growth  of  power  of 
Commons,  39.  Statutory  re- 
cognition of  their  legiflative 
equality,  40.  Bearing  of  Ed- 
ward III  towards  them,  42. 
Courfe  taken  by  them  on  depo- 
fition  of  Richard  II,  44.  Their 
demands  on  Henry  IV  relative 
to  the  fucceffion,  46.  Condi- 
tions annexed  by  them  to  fup- 
plies  granted  to  him,  47.  They 
compel  him  to    change  his  offi- 


43  2 


Index. 


Commons. 


cers,  ibid.  Their  propofal  to 
him  refpecling  Church  Tempo- 
ralities, 4.8,  49.  Advantages 
derived  from  neceflities  of  Henry 
V,  51.  Further  rights  and  ex- 
emptions gained,  52,  53.  Their 
privilege  afTerted  in  Thorpe's 
cafe,  53.  Source  of  their 
ftrength,  61.  Their  neglect  of 
the  people's  interefts  under 
Henry  VII,  66,  67.  What 
made  them  his  inftrumenr, 
68.  Their  pofition  under  the 
Tudors,  82.  Concefiions  by 
Henry  VIII,  83.  Powers  ex- 
clulively  their  own,  84.  Peter 
Wentworth's  declaration,  ibid. 
Reduction  of  their  authority  by 
Elizabeth,  85.  Puritan  leaders 
in  the  Houfe,  87.  A  preroga- 
tive-loving ferjeant  filenced, 
89.  Cecil's  warning  and  its 
fequel,  90.  What  took  place 
when  the  "  Proteftation,"  was 
drawn  up,  1 27  notes.  Confufion 
hitherto  prevailing  as  to  their 
conduit  on  Strafford's  attainder, 
128.  Verney's  report  of  debate 
thereon,  and  queftion  thence  arif- 
ing,  130 — 132.  Difpute  of  10th 
April,  134.  Sitting  of  12th 
April,  136,  137.  D'Ewes's  re- 
port of  fame,  137 — 141.  Side 
on  which  moft  wealth  was 
ranged,  148.  Deferters  from 
the  popular  fide,  163,  164. 
Strode's  propofition  for  enforc- 
ing attendance,  163.  Report 
laid  before  Houfe  by  Pym,  1 64. 
Proceedings  thereon,  165,  166. 
City  train-bands  ordered  up  to 
guard  Houfe,  166.  Deferters 
ontheBifhops' Bill,  168.  Break 
up  of  the  Liberal  phalanx,  182. 
SecefTion  of  fupporters  never  ac- 
counted for,  182,  183.  Effect 
of  threats  againft  Pym,  185. 
Waller's  unparliamentary  efca- 
pade  and  its  refult,  191,  192. 
Journal  entry  thereof,  192  note. 


Commons. 
Debates  about  the  Bifhops,  194 
— 196.  About  evil  counfellors, 
197 — 199.  About  command  of 
Army,  and  levying  of  Volun- 
teers, 199.  200.  Proceedings 
on  Grand  Remonftrance,  201  et 
feq.  [See  Grand  Remonftrance, ] 
Candles  moved  for,  205,  206. 
Shilling  fines :  Procedure  on 
Bills,  ibid,  note  -f-.  Unautho- 
rised reports  fuppreffed,  209. 
Refolution  as  to  fecond  army 
Plot,  210.  Imprifonment  and 
maltreatment  of  members  com- 
plained of,  222,  223.  Slanders 
levelled  againft  the  Houfe,  261, 
262.  Reply  of  its  leaders  to 
their  affailants,  266,  267.  What 
they  contemplated  in  their  deal- 
ings with  Church  abufes,  267 — 
269.  Their  intentions  relative 
to  learning,  269.  The  old 
Commons  Chamber,  276.  Aver- 
age number  of  Members  prefent 
during  Debates  on  Remon- 
ftrance, 316  and  note.  Attacks 
on  authority  of  Houfe  contem- 
plated, 321.  323.  Scene  occa- 
iioned  by  Palmer's  Proteft,  323 
— 326.  345.  [See  Palmer\ 
King's  Guard  under  Dorfet 
difmifled,  373.  Members  to 
bring  their  own  fervants  armed, 
374.  Selden  on  King's  ufe  of 
Pym  and  Party,  ibid.  Dr.  Chil- 
lingworth'sdifclofure,  374,  375. 
Charges  againft  Members  .by 
Strangways  and  Kirton,  376, 
377  note,  378.  Pym's  fignifi- 
cant  queftion  to  Speaker,  379. 
Strode,  Waller,  and  Culpeper's 
altercation,  ibid.  Difpute  be- 
tween D'Ewes  and  Culpeper, 
380,  381.  Pym's  complaint  of 
the  Lords,  381,  382  and  notes. 
Godolphin's  retaliatory  fuggef- 
tion  and  reprimand,  382,  383, 
and  note.  Mr.  Speaker  defponds, 
383  and  note.  Cromwell  on 
breach  of  privilege  by  a  Peer, 


Index. 


433 


Comus. 


383,  384.  Hyde's  defenfive  re- 
joinder, 384.  Apprehended  dan- 
gers, 384,  385.  Scene  on  intro- 
duction of  Hafelrig's  Militia 
Bill,  385,  386.  Cook's  way  of 
citing  precedents,  386.  His 
blunder  expofed  by  D'Ewes, 
387.  Admonifhed  by  Mr. 
Speaker,  388  and  notes.  Hafel- 
rig's Bill  read  firft  time,  388. 
Divifions  thereon  and  confuiion 
relative  to  fame,  388.  392.  Cla- 
rendon's mifftatements  and  felf- 
contradictions  on  this  fubjecl, 
385.  389 — 392.  Hollis's  mo- 
tion as  to  the  "  three  reverences," 
393 »  394  notes.  New  guard  of 
Halberdiers  placed  at  door  of 
houfe,  394.  Alleged  grounds 
for  fuch  guard,  ibid.  Their  in- 
ftant  difmiffal  refolved  on,  395. 
Text  of  order  for  same,  ibid, 
note.  A  "fliut  the  door  "  inci- 
dent, 395,  396.  Punifhment  of 
underfheriff  andmagiftrates,  396. 
Arrival  of  City  Petition,  396. 
397.  Deputation  therewith 
called  in,  397,  398.  Dimen- 
fions  of  petition  and  number  of 
petitioners,  398.  Mr.  Speaker's 
reply  to  the  deputation,  ibid. 
Houfe  fummoned  before  the 
King,  399.  Unconftitutional 
courie  taken  by  him,  399,  400. 
Refolve  of  Houfe  thereon,  400. 
Proteftation  of  Lords  and  Com- 
mons carried  to  King,  ibid. 
His  reception  of  and  anfwer  to 
their  deputation,  400,  401  notes. 
See  Grand  Remonjlrance.  Long 
Parliament.  Parliament.  Saint 
Stephen's  Chapel. 

Comus  and  his  crew,  James's  court 
likened  to,  103. 

Conceflions  not  refumable,  3. 

Confcription  for  military  fervices, 
a£ts  againft,  41,  42.     See  Army. 

Cook,  Sir  Robert  (Tewkefbury) 
would  expel  Palmer,  347.  Liable 
to  expulfion  himfelf,  348. 


County  Courts. 

Cook,  or  Coke,  Thomas  (Leices- 
ter) cites  precedent  againft  Hafel- 
rig,  386.  Ordered  to  withdraw, 
387.  D'Ewes  makes  merry  with 
him,  387,  388.  Admonifhed 
by  Mr.  Speaker,  388.  Record 
of  the  incident  from  Commons 
Journals  and  Verney,  ibid, 
note. 

Corbet,Sir  John  (Shropfhire)  named 
on  Remonftrance  Prefentation 
Committee,  367. 

Corn,  foreign,  importation  pro- 
hibited under  Edward  IV,  62. 

Cornwall,  children  carried  off  by 
Turks  from,  229  note. 

Cornwallis,  Sir  F.  (Eye)  teller  on 
important  divifions,  257 note.  309 
note.  310  note.  317.  341.388.392. 

Cottagers,  object  of  Commiffion 
againft,  233  note. 

Cottington,  Francis  Lord,  im- 
plicated in  Strafford's  Treafon, 
135.  138.  139.  140.  141. 

Cotton,  Sir  Robert,  24.  Story 
told  of  him  and  his  lady,  316. 

Cottrell,  Elizabeth,  capital  con- 
viction of,  235  note.  How 
brought  about,  236  note. 

Council,  Great.  See  Great  Council. 

Council  of  the  North,  or  Court  of 
York,  182.  Hyde's  fpeech  on 
its  indifcreet  '  difcretion,'  239, 
note.  How  the  Court  brought 
him  into  trouble,  240  note. 
Abolifhed,  256. 

Council  Table,  abominations  of 
the,  235.  238.  239.  245.  250. 
Hafelrig's  recollection  of  its 
vagaries,  235  note.  Character 
of  thofe  who  fat  at  it,  241.  Not 
Councillors  but  Countenancers, 
242.  Deprived  of  its  powers, 
257.  Effect:  of  its  fentences  in 
Elizabeth's  days,  350. 

County  Courts,  26.  Had  power 
to  iffue  Commiffions  of  Inquiry, 
33.  Leaft  feudal  remnant  of 
modified  Feudality,  37.  Of 
whom  comprifed,  ibid. 


434 


Index. 


County. 


County  rates  as  connected  with 
county  reprefentation,  36,  37. 

County  reprefentation,  beginning 
of,  33.  Statutes  for  regulating 
elections,  47.  54,  55.  See 
Eleilions.    Parliament. 

Court  of  the  North.  See  Council 
of  the  North. 

Court  of  Requefts  Divifion,  257  n. 

Courts  of  Law  degraded  into  Courts 
of  extortion,  231.  See  Council 
Table.  High  Commiffion.  Houfe- 
hold.  Judges.  Jujlice.  Star 
Chamber. 

Courtenay,  Sir  William,  houfe  of, 
robbed  by  pirates,  228  note. 

Courtney,  Adam,  charged  with 
participation  in  army  plot,  356. 

Coventry,  John  (Evemam),  place 
in  the  Houfe  of,  284  and  note. 
His  fpeech  in  debate  on  Remon- 
ftrance, 312.  Suggeftion  of 
his  adopted,  361  note.  Ob- 
jection raifed  by  him,  364. 
D'Ewes  "  looks  towards"  him, 
365. 

Cowley,  the  poet,  and  Lord  Falk- 
land, 170  note. 

Cox,  Sir  Henry,  entertains  James 
I,   100. 

Crane,  Mr.,  Victualler  of  the  Navy, 

275- 

Crane,  SirRobert  (Sudbury),  teller 
in  Remonftrance  Debate,  326. 

Cranmer,  Edward  VI  an  inftru- 
ment  in  the  hands  of,  80,  81. 

Crew,  John  (Brackley),  pofition 
and  principles  of,  348.  His 
conciliatory  Ipeech  on  Palmer's 
cafe,  348,  349.  His  million  at 
Uxbridge,  348  note. 

Crewe,  Sir  Randall,  Chief  Juftice 
of  England,  caufe  of  displace- 
ment of,  220  note. 

Cromwell,  Oliver  (Cambridge 
Town),  86.  His  firft  fight  of 
James  I,  100.  His  firft  en- 
counter with  Clarendon,  130. 
His  coufin  Waller,  191.  Carries 
refolution  againft  inveftiture  of 


Cru fades. 


new  Bifhops,  195.  His  fignifi- 
cant  addition  to  Pym's  refolu- 
tion, 199.  Moves  amendment 
on  Grand  Remonftrance,  203. 
His  queftion  to  Falkland,  213. 
His  rejoinder  to  Falkland's  re- 
ply, 214.  Clarendon's  deduc- 
tions from  the  anecdote,  214 
note.  Claufe  in  Remonftrance 
inferted  on  his  reprefentation, 
234.  Notice  given  by  him, 
ibid.  note.  His  place  in  the 
Houfe,  285.  Carries  refolution 
to  burn  Dering's  Book,  289 
note.  His  deportment  and  alleged 
expreffions  at  clofe  of  debate 
on  Remonftrance,  327.  417. 
Complains  of  (lander  againft  the 
Houfe,  357.  His  charge  againft 
Lord  Arundel,  383,384.  His 
"  greater  and  fterner  figure," 
41 3.  Perplexing  features  of  his 
character,  414.  Change  of 
author's  views  in  regard  to  him, 
ibid,  and  note.  See  alfo  182. 
274.  348. 
Cromwell,     Sir     Oliver,    regales 

James  I,  100. 
Crooke,  Judge,  on  Ship   Money, 

227. 
Crown,  oppofition  of  the  Barons 
to  the  (temp.  Ric.  I),  10.  Not 
heritable  property,  1 1.  Prin- 
ciple on  which  the  Norman 
kings  received  it,  11,  12.  Same 
confirmed  on  John's  coronation, 
12.  Bracton's  enumeration  of 
powers  fuperior  to  it,  28.  Power 
of  the  people  to  difpofe  of  it, 
44.  Amenability  of  its  officers 
to  the  Laws,  59.  Evafions  and 
encroachments poflible,  60.  Con- 
trol over  the  public  purle  yielded 
by  it,  ibid.  Long  Parliament 
not  defirous  permanently  to 
abolifh  its  Prerogatives,  147. 
Crufades,  injurious  effects  of  the, 
5.  Their  redeeming  features,  6. 
Their  influence  on  commerce 
and  literature,  ibid. 


Culpeper. 

Culpeper,  Sir  John  (Kent),  an 
eager  fupporter  of  Strafford's 
attainder,  128.  134.  154.  note. 
Why  Clarendon  declined  to 
take  office  with  him,  129. 
Againft  hearing  Strafford's 
Counfel,  131.  Why,  144.  Ad- 
vocated conference  with  Lords, 
140.  His  courfe  after  Strafford's 
death,  141.  His  afpe£l  at  the 
Commons'  bar,  177.  How  the 
Queen  joined  his  name  with  that 
of  Pym,  186  note.  Added  to 
Remonftrance  Committee,  209. 
267  note.  His  denunciation  of 
Ship  Money,  227,  note.  On  the 
Gunpowder  Monopoly,  232 
note.  His  characleiiftic  fpeech 
on  monopolies,  255  note.  His 
place  in  the  Houfe,  284  and  note. 
His  manner  of  fpeaking,  300. 
Hyde  and  Warwick  on  his 
character,  ibid.  note.  His  fpeech 
in  eighth  debate  on  Remon- 
ftrance, 301.  Pym's  replies  there- 
to, 303.  304.  His  pofitions  com- 
bated by  Hollis,  310.  Oppofes 
printing  of  Remonftrance,  323. 
Claims  leave  to  proteft,  ibid. 
Againft  calling  Palmer  to  ac- 
count for  his  Proteft,  335,  336. 
Clamorous  for  divifion  thereon, 
340.  Sees  the  King  privately, 
355.  Objects  to  Pym's  rea- 
fons,  362.  Anfwered  by  Pym, 
363.  Reiterates  charge  againft 
citizens,  379.  Interrupts  Sir  S. 
D'Ewes,  ibid.  Proved  to  be  in 
the  wrong,  380,  381.  His 
doctrine  on  Peers'  interference 
with  elections,  384.  Moves  re- 
jection of  Haielrig's  Militia  Bill, 
386.  Teller  on  divifions,  388. 
392.  406.  See  alfo  199.  354. 
376. 

Cumberland,  Lord,  entertains 
James  I,  100. 

Curia  Regis — the  King's  Cabinet 
— how  conftituted,  28,  29. 


Index.  43  5 

D'E-ives. 

Danton  and  Falkland,  parallel 
traits  of  character  in,  176. 

Dean  Foreft,  public  lofs  by  break 
up  of,  233  and  note. 

Depopulations,  Commiffion  for, 
234  note. 

Dering,  Sir  Edward  (Kent),  joins 
the  King's  party,  168.  His 
change  of  tactics  regarding 
Bifhops,  207,  208.  His  Ovidian 
motive  for  oppofing  them,  ibid, 
notes.  Divifions  on  which  he 
was  a  teller,  209.  326.  Cha- 
rafteriftic  paffage  from  a  fpeech 
of  his,  211  7iote.  His  prophecy 
relative  to  Grand  Remonftrance, 
215.  His  place  in  the  Houfe, 
285.  His  fpeech  in  eighth  de- 
bate on  Remonftrance,  289. 
Confequences  of  his  printing 
fame  ibid,  and  note.  Character 
of  the  fpeech,  290,  291.  What 
his  conftituents  wanted,  291. 
His  views  on  church  matters, 
292,  293.  Spoon  and  moon 
fimiles,  293.  Sydney  Smith's  debt 
to  him,  ibid.  note.  Final  reafon 
for  his  adverfe  vote,  293,  294. 
His  colleague's  fpeech,  300,  301. 
Pym's  reply  to  his  fpeech,  303. 
His  moon  fimile  difpofed  of,  307, 
308.  Named  on  Remonftrance 
Prefentation  Committee,  367. 
Evades  an  honour  intended  for 
him,  367,368.  D'Ewes's  con- 
firmatory entry,  368  note. 

Deri  vale,  John,  and  the  "  Gra- 
cious" ftreet  fcene,  377  note. 

D'Ewes,  Paul,  father  of  Sir  Si- 
monds,  1 19.  120. 

D'Ewes,  Sir  Simonds  (Sudbury), 
defcription  of  MS  Journal  of, 
117,118.  Mr.  Carlyle  and  Mr. 
Bruce  on  its  hiftorical  value, 
118  notes.  His  parentage  and 
education,  119.  His  ftudies : 
What  he  deemed  the  ''  moft  ra- 
vilhing "  part  of  knowledge, 
120.  Marries:  buys  a  baron- 
etcy, ibid.     Why  Laud  put  him 


436 


Index. 


D'Eaves. 


into  the  Star  Chamber,  121. 
Elected  M.P.,  ibid.  Renders 
good  fervice  with  his  Records  : 
his  full  fpeech,  121,  122.  Fruit 
of  his  love  for  note-taking,  122, 
123.  How  he  took  his  notes, 
123.  Condition  or  his  original 
MS.  123,  124.  Confufed  pre- 
fent  ftate  thereof,  124,  125. 
His  reply  to  an  objector  to  note- 
taking,  124  note.  Character  of 
pages  felected  for  fac-fimile, 
125.136.  His  account  of  what 
led  to  the  Proteftation,  127, 
128  notes.  His  evidence  deci- 
five  as  to  pre  fumed  difagree- 
ment  between  Pym  and  Hamp- 
den, 133.  136,137.  His  minute 
on  procedure  againft  Strafford, 
134.  His  notes  of  fitting  of 
12th  April  (pages  in  fac  fimile 
fet  out)  137 — 141.  His  own 
fpeech  on  that  occafion,  140. 
His  notes  a  corrective  of  Cla- 
rendon's fal  fine  at  ions,  143.  Re- 
ports Pym's  fpeech,  145.  Acts 
and  motives  of  parliamentary 
leaders  firft  difcernible  from  his 
notes,  149.  On  Strode's  pro- 
pofal  for  fining  abient  members, 
163.  316  note.  His  zoological 
parable,  166.  His  portraiture 
of  Falkland  at  the  Commons' 
bar,  177.  His  allufions  to 
Strode  as  a  young  man,  188. 
189  notes.  Terrifies  to  earneft- 
nels  of  debate  on  Bifhops'  in- 
veftiture,  195.  How  he  raifed 
a  laugh  at  Holborne's  expenfe, 
196.  On  Strode's  motion  for  a 
milling  fine,  205  notef.  Sup- 
ports motion  for  candles,  206. 
Not  over-refpectful  to  Mr. 
Speaker,  280  note  t-  Lectures 
Mr.  Speaker  on  point  of  order, 
281  note.  His  feat  and  deport- 
ment in  the  Houfe,  283,  284. 
How  referred  to  there,  283  note. 
His  opinion  of,  and  fenfible  ob- 
jection   to   calling    in    Dering's 


D^Enves. 

book,  289  note.      On    publica- 
tion   of  fabricated   and  falfified 
fpeeches,  ibid.     On  forged  Roy- 
alift  petitions,  289  note.     Why 
he    left    Houfe    during    debate 
on   Remonltrance,     308.       His 
remark  on  Yelverton's  commu- 
nication, 309   note.     On  rule  of 
precedence  in  debates,  311  note. 
On  number  of  members  abfent 
from    Houfe,    316    note.        On 
Hampden's    "  ferpentine     fub- 
"  titty,"  320  note.   On  Palmer's 
motion  to  take  down  proteflers' 
names,   323.     Defcribes  excite- 
ment which  followed,  324,  325. 
On      Hampden's      conciliatory 
fuggeflion,    326.      On  rifing  of 
Houfe,  327.     On  time  of  meet- 
ing  next   day,    329    and    note. 
Inference    from    his  filence  on 
matters  made  much  of  by  Clar- 
endon,   330.     Named  on  com- 
mittee   for   abufes  of   printing, 
332.   On  vehemence  of  Palmer's 
friends,  335.     His  fpeech  in  de- 
bate on  Palmer's  Proteft,  337 — 
340.     On  addition  propofed  by 
Palmer's  friends,  340,  341.   His 
votes  in  the  two  divifions  there- 
on, 341.     Further  notes  on  the 
Palmer  difpute,  344.    345.    350. 
On  ufages  of  Houfe  in  reference 
thereto,   351.      On  final  divifion 
thereon,  351.  352.   Settles  point 
of  order  in  Debate  on  Remon- 
flrance  Petition,  362,  363.     His 
notes  of  the  debate,    363.     De- 
fends claufe  relating  to  Bifhops, 
364.     His  views  adopted,  ibid. 
Suggeftion  of  his  not  agreed  to 
by  Pym,  365.     Named  on  Re- 
monftrance    prefentation    Com- 
mittee, 366.      Receives  Petition 
and  Remonftrance  from  Speaker, 
378.     His   Journal  Entry,  ibid, 
note.     On  Dorfet's  "  indilcreet 
ralhnefs,"   373  note.     On  Chil- 
lingworth's      difclofure,      374, 
375.         On    the     "  Gracious" 


Digby. 

ftreet  fcene,  376  note.  On 
Dorfet's  order  to  fire  on  citizens, 
379.  Called  to  account  by  Cul- 
peper,  ibid.  About  what?  380. 
How  he  difpofed  of  Culpeper's 
explanation,  3S0,  381.  His 
notes  of  debate  on  Hafelrig's 
Militia  Bill,  386.  Speaks 
in  iupport  of  bill,  ibid. 
Chuckles  over  Cook's  mif-cita- 
tion  of  a  precedent,  387,  388. 
His  minute  of  Hollis's  motion  on 
form  of  entering  and  leaving 
Houfe,  393,  394  notes.  On 
Newport's  attempt  toquit  Houfe 
without  leave,  395,  396.  On 
dimenfions  and  number  of  figna- 
tures  to  City  Petition,  398. 
Named  on  deputation  with  pro- 
teft  to  King,  400  note.  His 
account  of  King's  reception  of 
and  aniwer  to  fame,  401,  note. 
"  Great  Silence"  in  the  Houfe, 
402.  His  furprife  at  Purefoy's 
propofal,  403.  Leaves  Houfe 
in  midft  of  debate,  403,  404. 
Returns  in  the  nick  of  time, 
406.  Refult  of  his  confronta- 
tion with  Clarendon,  416.  213. 
331  margin,  332  note.  400  note*. 

Digby,  George  Lord  (Dorfet),vote 
of,  on  a  refolution  relative  to 
Strafford,  131.  Not  yet  Straf- 
ford's friend,  ibid.  A  feceder 
on  queftion  of  attainder,  153, 
note.  His  principal  fellow  fe- 
ceders,  154  note.  Firft  mover  of 
a  Remonftrance,  158.  161. 
Goes  over  to  the  King,  158. 
His  convenient  elevation  to  the 
peerage,  279.  Selden  thereon, 
280  note.  Made  a  fcapegoat  by 
Clarendon,  372  note. 

Digby,  Hon.  John  (Milborne 
Port),  guilty  of  difrefpecl  to  the 
Houfe,  279.  Rebuked  by  Mr. 
Speaker,  280.  Selden's  farcafm 
on  his  conduct,  280  note. 

Digby,  Sir  Kenelm,  332. 

Difraeli,   Ifaac,    character   of    his 


Index.  437 

Edxvard  I. 
notice  of  Grand  Remonftrance, 
113.     His  mifftatement  regard- 
ing it,  416,  417. 

Diftaff  Lane,  haberdafher's  appren- 
tice of,  377  and  note. 

*  Divine  Right,'  death-blow  given 
to,  44. 

Dorfet,  Earl  of,  command  laid  by 
King  on,  358  note.  373.  Him- 
felf  and  guard  difmifled,  373. 
His  "  indifcreet  rafhnefs,"  ibid, 
note.  What  followed  on  his 
difmifTal,  374.  376.  His  con- 
duel  juftified  by  Waller,  379. 
Blamed  by  D'Ewes,  ibid. 

Drake,  Sir  Francis,  85. 

Dudley  and  Empfon.  See  Emp- 
fon  and  Dudley. 

Durham,  biihop  of,  entertains 
James  I,  100. 

Dutch,  ftiips  taken  in  Englifh 
Channel  by  the,  228  note. 

Earle,  Sir  Walter  (Weymouth), 
complains  of  note-takers,  124 
note.  Supports  motion  for  con- 
ference, 166.  Drags  Strode  out 
of  Houfe,  188  note.  His  refolu- 
tion on  bufmefs  of  Houfe,  208 
note.  His  place  in  the  Houfe, 
285.  Moves  to  call  in  Dering's 
book,  289  note.  Supports  mo- 
tion for  defence  of  kingdom, 
357.  Defends  D'Ewes  on  point 
of  order,  380.  Divifions  in 
which  he  was  a  teller,  310.  327. 
406. 

Eden,  Sir  Frederick,  on  diftinclion 
between  demands  of  Wat  Tyler 
and  Jack  Cade,  56. 

Education,  popular,  endowments 
for,  temp.  Henry  VI,  63.  Im- 
petus given  by  labors  of  Erafmus 
and  his  aflbciates.   See  Erafmus. 

Edward  I,  important  ftatutes  pafled 
in  reign  of,  39.  40.  Foiled  in 
attempts  to  impofe  taxes  inde- 
pendently of  parliament,  41. 
Decline  of  feudal  tenures  with 
his  acceflion,  55. 

G   G 


438 


Index. 


Ednuard  II. 

Edward  II,  royal  boroughs  cre- 
ated by,  40.  Conditions  an- 
nexed to  fupplies  granted  to 
him,  41. 

Edward  III  foiled  in  attempts  to 
impofe  taxes  without  parlia- 
mentary fanftion,  41.  Statutes 
of  conititulional  import  patted 
in  his  reign,  41,  42.  His  cha- 
rafter:  Intellectual  influences  of 
his  reign,  42.  Chaucer  his  con- 
temporary, 43.  Length  of  his 
reign  and  number  of  his  parlia- 
ments, ibid. 

Edward  IV,  commercial  reftric- 
tions  impofed  under,  62.  For- 
malities on  his  daughter's  mar- 
riage, 65,  66. 

Edward  VI  the  inftrument  of 
Cranmer,  80.  Confequences  of 
his  forcing  on  Cranmer's  de- 
fign,  81. 

Eldred,  M.,  a"penner"  of  forged 
Royalift  petitions,  290  note. 

Election,  Statute  of  Edw.  I  for 
fecuring  freedom  of,  39.  Sta- 
tute of  Henry  IV  for  regulating 
county  elections,  47,  54.  Sta- 
tute of  Henry  VI,  54,  55. 
Peers'  interference  complained 
of,  384.      See  Parliament. 

Eliot,  Sir  John,  fufferings  of,  223. 
287.  Pym's  refentment  at  his 
fate,  ibid.  note.  References 
thereto  in  Verney's  Notes  and 
Grand  Remonftrance,  287  note. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  68.  71.  Her 
affigned  talk,  81.  Direction  in 
which  (he  gave  way,  82.  What 
Peter  Wentworth  faid  in  her 
reign,  84.  Authority  of  Par- 
liament reduced  by  her,  85. 
fpirit  in  which  (he  treated  the 
people,  ibid.  Influences  needed 
to  infure  downfall  of  her  fyftem, 
85,86.  Even  partiality  of  her 
religious  perfecutions,  86.  Dan- 
gers of  her  repreflive  fyftem,  86, 
87.  Refult  of  her  attempts  to 
Jubdue  Puritan    leaders   in    the 


Eraftnus. 
Commons,  87.  Extent  of  her 
antipathy  to  Puritanifm,  88. 
Fate  of  the  Reformation  in  her 
hands,  89.  Her  mifapprehen- 
fion  of  Puritanifm,  ibid.  Views 
of  her  Minifters  as  to  monopo- 
lies, 89,  90.  Her  laft  appearance 
in  Parliament  and  final  aft  there, 
90.  Her  death,  90.  97.  Her 
court  contrafted  with  that  of 
James,  103.  Cruel  fports  pro- 
hibited by  her,  104. 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Bohemia,  birth 
of,  95.  Caufe  identified  with 
her  name,  ibid. 

Ellefmere,  Chancellor,  on  union  of 
prieft  and  king,  107. 

Ellyng,  Henry,  clerk  of  Houfe  of 
Commons,  278. 

Empfon  and  Dudley,  extortioners 
for  Henry  VII,  78.  Means 
reforted  to  by  them,  78,  79. 
Their  fate,  79. 

England  contrafted  with  France, 
temp.  Henry  VI,  58.  Its  ftate 
during  Wars  of  Rofes,  62, 
63.  Free  from  influences  po- 
tent in  France  and  Spain,  64. 
Social  changes  confequent  on 
Battle  of  Bolworth,  68,  69.  Its 
condition  during  war  between 
Charles  I  and  the  Commons,  148. 

Englifh  language  adopted  in  Par- 
liamentary Rolls,  43. 

Englifh  laws,  Sir  John  Fortefcue 
on  the,  58,  59. 

Englifh  Revolution  compared  to 
French  Revolution,  146.  Folly 
of  the  companion,  146,  147. 

Erafmus   brought   into    England, 

71.  His  ftudies  at  Oxford,  71, 

72.  Quaint  mention  of  his  po- 
verty, 73.  His  part  in  the 
downfall  of  the  fchoolmen,  73, 
74.  Source  of  his  power,  74. 
Luther  on  his  cavilling  and 
flouting,  75.  His  title  to  re- 
fpeft,  75,  76.  What  he  accom- 
plished: England's  obligation 
to  him,  76.  85. 


EJfex. 

Effex,  Robert,  Earl  of,  Lord  Cham- 
berlain, 129.  Parliamentary 
guard  placed  underhim,  166.  On 
"indirect  wayof  the  Court,"  167 
note.  Cromwell's  motion  for  in- 
veiling  him  with  command,  199. 
Chara6lerof  the  power  thus  given 
to  him,  ibid.  Refufes  to  fub- 
fcribe  to  loan  to  Charles  I,  220 
note.  Joins  in  Lords'  petition 
for  a  Parliament,  251  note.  Sur- 
renders command  of  guard,  356 
note.  His  continuance  in  com- 
mand infilled  on,  358  note. 
Writes  to  Sir  John  Bankes,  410. 
Impreflive  paflagefrom  his  letter, 
4.1 1.     His  end,  413. 

Evelyn,  Sir  John  (Bletchingley) 
"my  very  worthy  friend,"  283 
note.  On  number  of  members 
attending  the  Houfe,  316  note. 

Exchequer  Chamber,  235. 

Fairfax,  Ferdinando,  Lord, named 
on  Remonftrance  Prefentation 
Committee,  367. 

Falkland,  Lucius  Cary,  Lord 
(Newport,  Hants)  a  refolute 
promoter  of  Strafford's  attainder, 
128.  134.  143  note.  154  note. 
Why  Clarendon  did  not  take 
office  with  him,  129.  Suppofed 
motive  for  his  animofity  to 
Strafford,  142  and  note  *.  Cla- 
rendon's untenable  llatements  on 
this  head,  142,  143.  Why  he 
objected  to  hear  counfel  for 
Strafford,  144.  Baxter's  mil- 
take  relative  to  feceders  from  the 
attainder,  153  note.  Attempts 
(with  Hyde)  to  turn  debate  on 
Pym's  motion,  165.  Outvoted, 
166.  Changes  fides  in  the 
Houfe,  168.  His  rejoinder  to 
Hampden's  expreffion  of  fur- 
prife,  ibid.  Popular  mifappre- 
henfion  as  to  his  character,  169. 
Why  more  of  an  apoftate  than 
Strafford,  170.  Clarendon's 
tribute  to  his  memory,  ibid,  note. 


Index.  439 

Farloiv. 
Specimens  of  his  eclogue  on  Ben 
Jonfon,  170,  171  notes.  Hyde's 
influence  over  him,  172.  War- 
burton's  remark  on  him,  ibid, 
note.  Source  of  admiration  fur- 
rounding  his  name,  173.  Lord 
Macaulay's  eftimate  of  his  cha- 
racter, 1 74  and  note.  Inllances 
of  excitability  of  temper,  175. 
Anecdote  told  by  Clarendon, 
175,  176.  Refemblances  and 
contrails,  176.  His  lafl  appear- 
ance in  the  Houfe  of  Commons, 
177.  His  poflible  reflections  at 
that  time,  177,  178.  Nobler 
fide  of  his  character,  178.  Cla- 
rendon's happy  eulogy,  ibid, 
notef.  405,  406  notes.  His 
unfeclarian  holpitality,  179  and 
note  *.  Special  cliaraclerillics 
entitling  him  to  highell  eulogy, 
180,  181.  Defertion  of  him- 
felf  and  party  never  accounted 
for,  182,  183.  Recommended 
to  the  King,  193.  His  former 
attack  on  and  prefent  defence 
of  Bilhops,  208.  288.  Added 
to  Remonftrance  Committee, 
209.  267  note.  His  dialogue 
with  Cromwell,  213,  214.  De- 
duction therefrom,  417.  His 
fpeech  againft  Laud,  217  note. 
Speech  on  brafs  coinage,  231 
note.  Objects  to  paffage  in  Re- 
monftrance, 247  note  f.  On 
encouragement  to  papifts  and 
perfecution  of  proteftants,  248 
note.  On  large  hate  and  little 
love  for  Bilhops,  z%z  note.  His 
place  in  the  Houfe,  284.  His 
fpeech  in  eighth  debate  on  Re- 
monftrance, 287 — 289.  Pym's 
reply,  302.  Cromwell's  words 
to  him  at  clofe  of  Remonftrance 
debate,  327.  Teller  on  Palmer 
punifhment  divifion,  352.  Sees 
the  King  privately,  355.  See 
alfo,  199.  292.  300.  354.  377. 
Farlow,  Mr.,  ftory  told  by  Kirton 
of,  377  note.  37?. 

a  a  2 


44°  Index. 

Ferdinand  of  Spain. 

Ferdinand  of  Spain,  64. 

Ferrers,  cafe  of,  83 

Feudal  Syftem,  origin  of  the,  4. 
Its  progrefs  under  the  Saxons, 
4,  5.  Its  development  under 
the  Normans,  5.  Vaffalage  ex- 
tinguished, 5.  7.  Effect  of  the 
Crufades  on  Feudalifm,  6.  Its 
condition  at  acceffion  of 
Edward  I,  55.  Villenage  no 
part  of  it,  56.  Its  tendency  to 
decay,  ibid.  Its  rapid  fall,  57. 
Doomed  before  Wickliffe's 
preaching  began,  61.  Revival 
of  feudal  Statutes  under  Charles 
I,  224,  225  and  notes. 

Fiennes,  Nathaniel,  (Banbury) 
Commifiioner  on  Scotch  affairs 
with  Hampden,  165.  167  and 
notef.  His  evening  ride  with 
Hyde,  282  note. 

Finch,  John,  Lord,  C.J.  in  Eyre 
and  Lord  Keeper,  againft  pro- 
clamation   for    call    of    Houfe, 

164.  Driven  into  exile,  182, 
256.  His  opprefllve  conduct, 
226  note.  His  rule  of  conduit 
at  Council  Board,  235  note. 
Unconftitutional  writ  iffued  by 
him,   394.  395  note. 

Florida  coafted  by  the  Cabots,  71. 

Foreft  of  Dean  broken  up,  233 
and  note. 

Foreft  Laws,  complaint  againft 
rigid  execution  of,  225  and  note . 
226  note.     Reformed,  257. 

Forfter's  Arrejl  of  the  Five  Mem- 
bers,  references    to,   124.     160. 

165.  185.  188.  197.  206.  281. 
289.  321.  366.  372.  383.  396, 
397  notes.  St  at  ef men  of  the 
Common-wealth,  119.  Biogra- 
phical EJ/ays,  414  note . 

Fortefcue,  Sir  Faithful,  Pym  pre- 

fents  petition  of,   275. 
Fortefcue,    Sir  John,  on  fpirit  of 

Englifh  Laws,  58.  59.  81. 
Fouke,  Mr.,  heads  deputation  with 

City  Petition  to  Commons,  398. 

His  addrefs  to  the  Houfe,  ibid. 


Godolphin. 

Fouquier-Tinville,  not  paralleled 
in  Englifh  Revolution,  146. 

France,  violation  of  neutrality  by, 
228  note. 

Freedom  frequently  outraged  but 
not  loft,  53,  54. 

Freeholders,  elective  rights  exer- 
cifed  by,  temp.  Henry  III,  37. 
Limit  put  on  their  rights  by 
ftarute  of  Henry  VI,  54,  55. 

French  and  Englifh  governmental 
fyftems  contrafted,  58. 

French  Revolution,  See  Englifli 
Revolution. 

Frobenius,  74. 

Fuller,  Thomas,  fallacious  deduc- 
tion of,  57. 

Garrard,  Mr.,  (Strafford's News- 
letter writer)  fet  at  40J.  for  fhip 
money,  227  note.  On  plunder 
of  the  poor,  233  note.  On  enor- 
mities of  foap  monopoly,  248 
note. 

Gerrard,  Sir  Gilbert  (Middlefex) 
moves  to  congratulate  King  on 
fafe  return  from  Scotland,  344. 

Glanvile,  Ranulf  de,  fervice  ren- 
dered to  Henry  II  by,  9. 

Glaftonbury,  ftyle  of  living  of  the 
Abbot  of,  48. 

Glenham,  Lady,  confideration  for 
bribe  taken  by,  103. 

Glyn,  John  (Weftminfter),  mode 
of  procedure  againft  Strafford 
advocated  by,  133.  134.  On 
Lord  Cottington's  complicity, 
141.  His  treachery  towards 
Vane  at  the  Reftoration,  ibid. 
His  place  in  the  Houfe,  285. 
His  fpeech  in  favour  of  the  Re- 
monftrance,  311,1  312.  Houfe's 
requeft  to  him  and  Wheeler  rela- 
tive to  guard,  374  note. 

Godolphin,  Francis  (St.  Ives), 
ftartling  fuggeftion  of,  382. 
Reprimanded,  383.  Entry  from 
Commons'  Journals,  ibid.  note. 

Godolphin,  Sidney,  one  of  Claren- 
don's great  little  men,  405  note. 


Godwin. 

Godwin,  William,  Grand  Remon- 
ftrance  paffed  over  by,  113. 

Goodwin,  Ralph  (Ludlow),  com- 
plains of  a  fcandalous  pamphlet, 

33i>332- 

Goodwin,  Robert  (Eaft  Grinftead), 
moves  refolution  for  fupervifion 
of  King's  appointments,  186, 
187. 

Goodwyn,  Arthur  (Bucks),  teller 
on  divifions,  310  note.  317. 

Goring,  Geo.  (Portfmouth)  Plot 
of,  discovered,  164. 

Gowrie  Confpiracy  and  its  ante- 
cedents, 96. 

"  Gracious "  ftreet,  a  fcene  in, 
377  note. 

Grammar  Schools,  rife  of,  63. 

Grand  Remonftrance,  moft  excit- 
ing and  moft  neglected  incident 
before  the  Great  Civil  War, 
1 10.  Means  for  forming  judg- 
ment thereon,  1 10,  1 11.  Effect 
of  Clarendon's  mifftatements, 
in.  Sir  Philip  Warwick's 
animated  account,  112.  Relults 
of  Hampden's  influence,  ibid. 
References  of  previous  hiftorians 
to  the  fubject,  113.  Clarendon 
generally  followed,  ibid.  Pur- 
pole  and  fource  of  this  Work, 
113,  114.  What  the  Remon- 
ftrance was,  114.  Character  of 
its  contents,  115,  116.  Its 
length:  difficulty  of  reproducing 
it,  116,  117.  Clarendon's  hon- 
efty  tefted  by  it,  117.  Its  origin, 
158.  Formally  brought  for- 
ward, 160.  Extent  to  which  it 
was  openly  dilcuffed,  161.  Its 
firft  fubmiffion  to  the  Houfe, 
30i.  Troubles  of  Nicholas  and 
commands  of  his  mafter  thereon, 
201,  202.  203.  Its  progrefs  in 
the  Commons,  203,  204.  Im- 
peded by  Irifh  Rebellion  neceffi- 
ties,  204.  Its  ultimate  deftina- 
tion,  204,  205.  Fight  on  Claufe 
againft  Bifhops,  207 — 209.  310. 
Preparations  for  final  vote,    210 


Index.  44 1 

Grand  Remonftrance. 
— 213.   Engroffed  :  final  debate 
fixed,    213,  214.      Mifftatement 
of  Clarendon  on  this  point,  214 
note.     Dering's  prophecy,  215. 

Abftratl  of  Remonftrance  :  1.  Pre- 
amble :  Purpofe  aimed  at,  215 
— 218.  2.  Firft,  fecond,  and 
third  parliaments  of  Charles, 
218 — 223.  3.  Government  by 
Prerogative  :  Third  parliament 
to  pacification  of  Berwick,  224 
— 244.  4.  Short  Parliament 
and  Scottish  in valion,  244 — 253. 
5.  Acts  of  Long  Parliament, 
253 — 258.  6.  Practices  of  the 
court  party,  559 — 265.  7.  De- 
fence of  popular  leaders,  265 — 
269.  8.  Remedial  mea lures  de- 
manded, 269 — 273. 

Speeches  on  Eighth  Debate  :  Sup- 
porters :  fee  Glyn,  Hampden, 
Hollis,  Maynard,  Pym,  Rudyard. 
Opponents:  fee  Bag/lia--w,  Bridg- 
man,  Clarendon,  Coventry,  Cul- 
peper,  Dering,  Falkland,  Palmer, 
Waller.  Members  calling  for 
refumption  of  debate,  275. 
Hyde's  motion  to  gain  time, 
275,  276.  Authorities  for  re- 
port of  eighth  debate,  290, 
note.  Divifions  on  verbal  al- 
terations and  on  Bifhops'  claufe, 
309,  310.  Precedents  for  Re- 
monftrance, 311.  Nicholas 
communicates  Royalift  tactics 
to  the  King,  313.  Which 
fide  gained  by  protraction  of 
debate?  314,  315  and  note. 
316  andtfcte.  Numbers  on  final 
divifions,  316.  317.  Debate  on 
printing,  317,  318.  Protefting 
members,  318.  Clarendon's  mif- 
ftatements thereon,  319.  Real 
mover  of  the  printing,  319,  320. 
323.  True  object  of  "  Proteft- 
ers,"32i,322.  Excitement  con- 
fequent  on  *their  proceedings, 
323,  324.  'D'Ewes's  Memoranda 
of  the  fcene,  324,  325.  War- 
wick's Old  Teftament  parallel, 


442 

Grand  Kemonflrance. 
325.  Hampden's  pacificatory 
fpeech,  325,  327.  Divifion  as  to 
poftponement  of  printing,  326. 
Houfe  up  at  laft,  327.  Crom- 
well's deportment  and  alleged 
expreflions,  ibid. 

Petition  tc  accompany  Remcnjlrance 
agreed  on,  343,  344.  Referred 
to  committee  to  prepare,  344. 
Report  ready,  355.  Petition 
brought  in,  359.  AbftracT:  of 
its  contents,  559  —  362.  Ob- 
jections by  Hyde's  party,  362. 
Queftion  raifed  as  to  Pym's 
right  to  anfwer  fame,  ibid. 
Ufage  of  Houfe  explained  by 
D'Ewes,  362,  363.  Petition 
read  again,  363.  Claufes  im- 
pugning Bifhops'  conduct,  dif- 
cuffed,  ibid.  .D'Ewes's  views 
adopted,  364.  Stand  made  by 
Hyde  and  Coventry,  ibid.  Pre- 
cedent cited  by  D'Ewes,  365. 
Moderate  courle  taken  by  Pym, 
365,  366.  Proof  of  unauthor- 
ifed  communication  of  Petition 
to  the  King,  ibid,  notes.  Ar- 
rangements made  for  prefenta- 
tion  to  King,  366 — 368.  Re- 
ception of  deputation  by  Charles, 
368.  His  queftions  parried  by 
Hopton,  369.  King's  anfwer 
and  dimiflbry  meffage,  369, 
370. 

Lajl  Debate.  Motion  for  print- 
ing Remonftrance,  402 — 405. 
Numbers  on  divifion,  406.  Re- 
vival of  claim  to  proteft,  407. 
Remit  of  adjourned  debate 
thereon,  408  and  note.  Import- 
ance of  Grand  Remonftrance 
as    a    contribution    to    hiftory, 

416.  How  characlerifed  by 
Ifaac  Difraeli,  416,  417.  Cla- 
rendon's opinion  of  its  influence, 

417,  418.  Its  effect  on  the 
Civil  War,  418.'  The  onenefs 
of  civil  and  religious  freedom 
proved  by  it,  419.  Rights 
demanded  by  it,  ibid. 


Index. 

Grievances. 

Great  Charter,  precedent  adduced 
by  Langton  for  the,  2.  Lang- 
ton's  fervices  in  obtaining  lame, 
17,  18.  Points  conftituting  its 
great  value,  18.  Principles 
latent  in  it,  18,  19.  Its  re- 
medial provifions  and  gua- 
rantees, 19.  Hatefulnefs  to  fuc- 
ceeding  princes  of  its  provifions 
for  Great  Council,  20.  Lord 
Chatham's  appreciation  of  its 
"  nullus  liber  homo  "  claufe,  21. 
Its  effects  in  later  times,  22. 
Expanfivenefs  of  its  provifions 
unforefeen  by  its  framers,  22, 
23.  Great  truth  embodied  in 
it,  23.  Number  of  its  viola- 
tions and  reaflertions,  ibid. 
Boons  fecured  by  it  to  the 
middle  claries,  26.  Its  confir- 
mation 9  Henry  III,  32.  Its 
provifion  for  inquiring  into 
foreft  abufes,  33.  Confirma- 
tions and  additions  under  Ed- 
ward II  and  III,  40,  41. 

Great  Civil  War,  moft  exciting 
incident  prior  to  the,  1 10.  How 
it  was  conducted,  148.  Its 
real  character,  149. 

Great  Council,  part  borne  by  the, 
in  the  beftowal  of  the  crown, 
12.  Its  memorable  meeting  in 
May  1258,  29.  Its  conftitution 
under  the  early  Norman  kings, 
29,  30.  Break-up  of  its  ele- 
ments, 30.  Writs  of  fummons, 
how  regulated,  30,  31.  Pecu- 
liarities of  feudal  reprefentation, 
31,  32.  Compofition  of  Coun- 
cil on  gradual  withdrawal  of 
inferior  tenants  in  chief,  32. 
Its  initiation  of  county  repre- 
fentation, 33. 

Greenfmith,  John,  alleged  forger 
of  Royalift  petitions,  290  note. 

Grey  of  Groby,  Lord  (Leicefter), 
named  on  Remonftrance  Prefen- 
tation  Committee,  367. 

Grievances  leading  to  Grand  Re- 
monftrance,   famples    of,  220 — 


Grimjlon. 
222  notes.   224,  225  notes.      See 
Ship-money.     WardJJiips. 

Grimfton,  Harbottle  (Colchefter), 
on  denials  of  juftice,  231  note, 
234.  note  \.  On  lynodical  med- 
dlings with  taxation,  247  note. 

Grocyn  aflbciated  with  Erafmus. 
75,  77- 

Guilds  and  Charters,  25,  26,  63. 
See  Charters.  Commerce.  Great 
Charter. 

Gunpowder  monopoly,  effects  of, 
232.  Clotworthy  and  Cul- 
peper's  protefts,  ibid.  note. 

Hales,  Mr.,  of  Eton,  eftimable 
character  of,  405  note. 

Hallam,  Henry,  on  articles  for 
regulation  of  King's  affairs, 
49.  On  condition  of  agricul- 
tural labourers  under  Henry  VI, 
57.  Character  of  his  notice  of 
Grand  Remonftrance,  1 13.  Ver- 
ney's  notes  ufed  by  him,  130 
note.  291  note.  In  error  on 
Hafelrig's  militia  bill,  393. 

Hamilton,  Duke  of,  and  Lord 
Strafford,  ftory  told  by  iff.  Lord 
Shaftefbury  of,  252,  252  notes. 

Hamiltons,  the.  See  Argyle. 

Hampden,  John  (Bucks),  efcapes 
a  purchafed  Peerage,  106.  His 
influence  in  debate  on  Grand 
Remonftrance,'  112.  Queftion 
raifed  by  a  fpeech  of  his  in  the 
Strafford  debates,  131.  Lord 
Macaulay's  interpretation,  132. 
Line  really  taken  by  him,  133. 
Courfe  advocated  by  himielf 
and  Pym,  133,  134.  Outvoted 
on  propofed  Conference  with 
the  Lords,  135,  136.  Suppofed 
dilagreement  between  himfelf 
and  Pym  fet  at  reft  by  D'Ewes's 
notes,  137.  Sent  with  meffage 
to  the  Lords,  141.  Confiftencyof 
courfe  taken  by  him  and  Pym 
143,  144.  Point  on  which  his, 
fpeech  (in  Verney's  notes)  was 
made,  144.     Stands  his  ground, 


Index.  443 

Hanoverian  fuccejjion. 
ibid.  His  fuggeftion  relative  to 
the  lawyers,  144,  145.  Oppofes 
Charles's  Scottifh  vifit,  159. 
Offices  with  which  he  was  to  be 
tempted,  159.  160.  Communi- 
cates difcovery  of  aflaffination 
plot,  165.  His  return  from 
Scotland,  167.  181.  His  leader- 
fhip  difowned  by  Falkland,  168. 
181.  182.  His  coufin  Waller, 
191.  Miftake  of  court  lawyers 
in  felecting  him  for  fhip  money 
fight,  227  note.  Oppofed  fhip 
money  not  as  a  light  grievance, 
228  note.  At  Pym's  dinner- 
parties, 282  note.  His  place  in 
the  Houfe,  285.  His  fpeech  in 
eighth  debate  on  Grand  Remon- 
ftrance, 306,  307.  Difpofes  of 
Dering's  moon  fimile,  307, 
308.  State  of  Houfe  at  his 
fitting  down,  308.  Alleged 
mover  of  order  for  printing 
Remonftrance,  317.  Proof  of 
this  allegation's  untruth,  319. 
Reafons  for  wonder  at  Claren- 
don's fo  alleging,  319,320  notes. 
What  Clarendon  and  D'Ewes 
fay  as  to  his  "  ferpentine  fub- 
tlety,"  320  note.  Why  he  was 
likely  to  be  miljudged,  ibid.  His 
character  further  analyfed  by 
Clarendon,  321  note.  How  he 
quelled  ftorm  raifed  by  pro- 
tefters,  325,  326.  His  queftion 
to  Palmer,  326.  342.  Extent 
to  which  he  would  punifh  Pal- 
mer, 347.  Brings  charge  againft 
Adam  Courtney,  356,  Defends 
Pym  on  point  of  order,  362. 
Joined  in  meffage  to  Lords  for 
difcharge  of  King's  guard,  373. 
See  alfo,  178.  195.*  231.J  274. 
296.  348.  371.  407.  410. 

Hampton  Court,  Conference  under 
James  I  at,  106,  107.  Remon- 
ftrance prefented  to  Charles 
there,  367 — 370. 

Hanoverian  fucceflion,  precedent 
for  the,  46. 


444  Index. 

Harley. 

Harley, Sir  Robert  (Herefordlhiie), 
follows  Hampden's  bidding. 
320  note. 

Harold,  beftowal  of  the  Crown 
after  defeat  of,  11. 

Harrington,  Sir  John,  entertains 
James  I,  100.  Defcribes  the 
King  at  a  mafque,  108. 

Harrifon's  libel  on  Judge  Hutton, 
227  note. 

Hafelrig,  Sir  Arthur,  (Leicefter- 
fhire),  354.  Clarendon's  eftimate 
of  him,  187  note.  His  lpeech 
on  the  tyranny  of  the  Council 
table,  235  note.  Encounter 
with  Lenthal,  281.  His  place 
in  the  Houfe,  285.  Named  on 
Remonftrance  Prefentation  Com- 
mittee, 367.  Introduces  Mili- 
tia Bill,  385.  Reception  given 
to  it,  386,  387.  Divifion  on  firft 
reading,  388 — 392.  Simile 
applied  to  him  by  Clarendon, 
391. 

Hat,  Servandony's,  176.  Bag- 
fhaw's  ftory,  237  note. 

Hatton,  Sir  Robert  (Caftle  Ril- 
ing), out  of  order,  341.  Teller 
for  adjournment  of  laft  Remon- 
ftrance  Debate,  406. 

Hawes,  Jofeph,  Prayer  of  Petition 
of,  273  note. 

Heath,  Chronicler,  Rudyard  libel- 
led by,  296. 

Henri  Q^uatre,  epithet  beftowed 
on  James  I  by,  92,  93.  On 
effecl;  of  contempt  on  a  King, 
109.  Caufe  of  his  murder, 
271  note. 

Henrietta  Maria,  Queen  of  Charles 
I,  unauthoriled  vihts  of  Prince 
Charles  to,  165  note.  Plots  of 
herfelf  and  the  King  againft 
Pym,  185,  186.  Stratagem 
adopted  by  her  towards  that  end, 
186  note.  Her  communication 
relative  to  parliamentary  ordi- 
nances, 200.  Scheme  for  ob- 
taining Papift  help  to  let  up  the 
Proteftant     Church,     271   note. 


Henry  W. 
Her  confeffor   in  trouble,  328. 
[See  Philips,  Father.}     Pointed 
at    in     Remonftrance    Petition, 
360. 

Henry  I,  (Beauclerc)  Charter  of, 
a  precedent  for  the  Great 
Charter,  2.  Futility  of  his  fub- 
fequent  attempts  to  deprefs  the 
people,  ibid.  His  chief  jufti- 
ciary's  appreciation  of  his  com- 
mendations, 2,  3.  Judicatory 
fyftem  initiated  by  him,  9. 

Henry  II,  advance  of  civilization 
under  7.  His  refiftanee  to 
Beclcet's  Church-aggrandizing 
fchemes,  ibid.  Interefts  involved 
in  the  ftruggle,  8.  Character 
of  Henry,  ibid.  Ultimate  re- 
fultsofthe  conflict,  8.  9.  His 
aflbciate  in  legal  adminiltration, 
9.  Enduring  character  of  the 
judicatory  fyftem  eftablilhed  by 
him,  9.  10.  His  policy  unfettled 
by  his  fons,  13. 

Henry  III,  Great  Charter  violated 
by  guardian  of,  23,  24.  His 
appeal  to  the  people,  24.  Refu- 
fal  of  parliament  to  aflemble  at 
his  bidding,  26.  Difmiflal  of 
his  favourite  and  minifters,  27. 
Confirmation  of  Great  Charter, 
32.  Knights  of  the  fliire  fum- 
moned  by  his  Queen,  34.  Lan- 
guage of  the  writ,  34,  35.  Year 
of  his  reign  in  which  the  prin- 
ciple of  reprefentation  became 
part  of  the  conftitution,  35,  36. 

Henry  IV,  of  Lancafter  (Bcling- 
broke),  43.  Share  of  the  people 
in  his  elevation  to  the  throne, 
44,  45.  Shakefpeare  on  his 
"crafty  courtelies;'  to  the  peo- 
ple, 45.  His  politic  coniultation 
of  popular  feelings,  46.  Prece- 
dent of  luccefiion  to  the  Crown 
agreed  to  by  him,  ibid.  Condi- 
tions annexed  to  liipplies  granted 
to  him,  47.  Seizure  of  church 
temporalities  propoied  to  him, 
48,    49.        Articles   prefcribing 


Henry  V, 
mode  of  government  to  him,  49. 
His    legiflation   contracted  with 
that  of  Henry  VI,  54. 

Henry  V,  50.  Advantages  of  his 
wars  to  the  Commons,  51.  Dis- 
tinction of  his  reign  in  conftitu- 
tional  hiftory,  51,  52. 

Henry  VI,  legiflation  of,  con- 
trailed  with  that  of  Henry  IV, 
54.  ObjecT:  of  his  County 
Elections  Statute,  54,  55.  Com- 
forts of  labouring  dalles  in  his 
reign,  57.  Condition  of  Eng- 
land and  its  laws,  58,  59.  See 
alfo  pages  62.  93. 

Henry  VII,  fteps  taken  to  confirm 
fucceflion  of,  65.  Inducements 
to  his  marriage  with  Elizabeth 
of  York,  ibid.  Pope's  refcript, 
and  life  made  of  fame,  65,  66. 
Dilcovery  of  the  Caxton  broad- 
fide,  66.  Lord  Bolingbroke's 
defcription  of  him,  ibid.  His 
defpotifm,  how  achieved,  67. 
Social  refults  of  his  victory  at 
Bofworth,  67,  68.  Scantinefs 
of  his  firft  Houfe  of  Lords,  68. 
His  motive  in  creating  the  Star 
Chamber,  69.  Confequences 
then  unfeen  by  him,  ibid.  Lord 
Bacon's  eftimate  of  his  charac- 
ter, 69,  70.  77.  78.  82.  Lead- 
ing acls  of  his  reign :  Per- 
fecutes  Wycliffe's  followers,  70. 
Characlieriftics  of  his  reign,  71. 
An  equivocal  friend  to  com- 
merce and  learning,  76,  77. 
Nobles  disfavoured  by  him,  77. 
ClafTes  from  which  he  chofe  his 
friends,  ibid.  Caufe  of  the  in- 
creafe  of  his  revenues,  77,  78. 
His  extortioners,  their  devices, 
and  their  fate,  78,  79. 

Henry  VIII,  ftate  of  exchequer  at 
acceffion  of,  79.  His  appointed 
talk,  80.  His  religious  perfe- 
ctions and  confiscations,  ibid. 
Direction  in  which  he  met  with 
checks,  81.  Privileges  won 
from  him,  83. 


Index.  445 

I  Hollis. 

Henry,  fon  of  James  I,  109. 

Henry  III  of  France,  why  mur- 
dered, 271  note. 

Henry  IV  of  France.  See  Henri 
Quatre. 

Herbert,  Sir  Edward,  Attorney- 
General  (Old  Sarum),  perni- 
cious notion  inftilled  into  Charles 
by,  155.  His  place  in  the 
Houfe,    284. 

Herefy,  confequences  of  perfec- 
tion of,  70. 

Hertford,  W.  Seymour,  Marquis 
of,  166  note.  Joins  in  peti- 
tion for  a  parliament,  251  note. 

Hexey's  cafe  cited  as  a  precedent, 
386.    387.   3S8  note. 

Heyle,  Queen's  Serjeant,  coughed 
down  by  the  Commons,  89. 

High  Commiffion  Court  abolifhed, 
182.  256.  260.  Confequences 
of  its  enormities,  238.  Barren 
of  revenue,  fruitful  in  oppref- 
fion,  261. 

Hildebrand's  definition  of  Papal 
authority,  7. 

Hiftory,  imperfect  judgments  in,  3. 

Holborne,  R.  (St.  Michael's), 
fpeech  of,  minuted  by  D'Ewes, 
124  note.  A  feceder  from  Straf- 
ford's attainder,  1 54  note.  Re- 
commended to  the  King,  193. 
Supports  the  biffi-ops'  demurrer, 
195.  Laugh  railed  againft  him 
by  D'Ewes,  196.  Pleads  againft 
Ship-money,  227  note.  His 
place  in  the  Houfe,  285.  Speaks 
on  right  to  proteft,  408  note. 
Hard  cafe  put  by  him,  408.  414. 

Holland,  Englifh  flag  infulted  by, 
228  note. 

Holland,  Earl  of,  complains  of 
"  indirecl:  way  of  the  Court," 
167  note  *. 

Hollis,  Denzil  (Dorchefter),  defig- 
nated  for  office,  159.  A  "wor- 
thy gentleman,"  283  note.  His 
place  in  the  Houfe,  285.  His 
fiery  fpeech  in  favour  of  Remon- 
ftrance,   310,  311.      Further  on 


446 


Index. 


Homer. 
fame  fubje£t,  323.  His  charge 
againft  Palmer,  337.  On  Pym's 
Irifh  Committee,  343.  His  re- 
minder to  the  Houfe,  ibid.  His 
motion  adopted,  344.  Joined  in 
meflage  to  Lords  for  difcharge 
of  King's  guards,  373.  Teller 
in  divisions,  388.  392.  406. 
Motion  carried  by  him  as  to 
points  of  form  and  order,  393, 
394  notes,  Corref ponds  with 
Sir  John  Bankes,  410.  Paffage 
from  his  letter,  ibid.  A  glance 
at  him  in  later  days,  413.  See 
182. 

Homer,  revival  of  ftudy  of,  72. 

Hopton,  Sir  Ralph  (Wells),  an 
"  ancient  parliament  man,"  283 
note.  How  he  would  have  the 
Palmer  punifhment  queftions 
put,  350,  351.  Replied  to  by 
D'Ewes,  351.  Named  on  Re- 
monftrance  Prefentation  Com- 
mittee, 367.  Deputed  to  read 
it  to  the  King,  368.  How  he 
performed  his  talk,  368,  369. 
Parries  the  King's  queftions, 
369.  Reports  King's  meflage 
to  Houfe,  370. 

Hotham,  Sir  John  (Beverley), 
courfe  taken  on  Strafford's  at- 
tainder by,  134.  Why  grate- 
ful to  Hyde,  330.  His  ultimate 
fate,  334.  For  expulfion  of 
Palmer,  347.  350.  Hands  in 
report  on  public  debt,  394. 

Hotham,  John  (Scarborough), 
courfe  taken  on  Strafford's  at- 
tainder by,  134.  139.  His  ulti- 
mate fate,  141.  334.  His  fharp 
attack  on  Palmer,  334.  His 
motion  on  the  fubjecT:,  335.  Re- 
peats his  charge,  ibid. 

Houlehold,  Court  of  the,  235. 
Cafe  reported  in  the  Verney 
papers,  ibid  note  f,  266  note . 

Howard,  Lord  Thomas,  on  James's 
manner  towards  his  favourites, 
102. 

Howard  of  Efcrick,  Lord,  joins  in 


Ireland. 
Peers'  petition  for  a  parliament, 
251  note.      Danger  incurred  in 
prefenting  fame,  252  note. 

Hulbert,  T.,  a  fabricator  of  forged 
Royalift  petitions,  290  note. 

Hume,  David,  his  fource  of  infor- 
mation on  Grand  Remonftrance, 
in.  His  falfe  diftinclions  re- 
futed by  the  document  itfelf, 
114,  115. 

Huntingdon,  Earl  of,  refufes  to 
fubfcribe  to  loan  to  Charles  I, 
220  note. 

Hutton,  Judge,  libelled  for  oppo- 
fing  Ship-money,  229. 

Hyde,  Edward  (Saltafh).  See  Cla- 
rendon. 

Hyde,  Robert  (Salifbury),  fome- 
times  miftaken  for  Edward 
Hyde,  189  note. 

Impeachment,  right  of,  won  by 
parliament,  53. 

Impreffment,  horror  induced  by 
fear  of,  258  note.     See  Army. 

Ingram,  Sir  Arthur  (Kellington, 
now  Callington),  named  on  Re- 
monftrance Prefentation  Com- 
mittee, 366. 

Innocent  III,  Pope,  Refcript  of, 
to  Henry  VII,  65,  66. 

Ireland,  character  of  Strafford's 
government  of,  150 — 152.  Re- 
ferences in  Commons'  debates 
to  Irifh  rebellion,  190.  191.  197. 
204.  205.  King's  hopes  as  to 
"  this  ill  news  of  Ireland," 
198.  Irifh  levies  raifed  againft 
the  Scots,  244.  Difcovery  of 
intended  maffacre  of  Proteftants 
in  Dublin,  263.  Extent  of 
maflacres  in  other  parts  of  Ire- 
land, 264.  May  and  Rufh- 
worth's  narratives  thereof,  264, 
265  notes.  Irifh  bufinefs  in 
Pym's  hands,  575.,  City  loan, 
328,  329.  Committee  obtained 
for  examination  of  fufpecled 
perfons,  343.  Defperate  Irifh 
in  London,  358  note.    NecefTity 


Italy. 
for  men  and  money,  394.  De- 
bate on  immediate  provifion  for 
Ireland,  399.  Bill  for  impreffing 
foldiers  againft  rebellion,  ibid. 
King's  unconftitutional  conduit 
with  regard  thereto,  399.  400. 
Italy,  confequences  of  enrichment 
of  ports  of,  6. 

James  I,  ground  of  imprifonment 
of  Selden  by,  2.  Sir  J.  White- 
locke's  comment  on  claim  made 
by  him,  54.  His  acceflion  to 
the  throne,  90.  Evil  of  feating 
him  without  exacting  guaran- 
tees, 91.  His  delight  on  learn- 
ing the  extent  of  his  prerogative, 
ibid.  Effect  of  his  abufe  thereof, 
91,  92.  Singularities  of  his 
mental  conftitution,  92.  Ufes 
to  which  he  put  his  acquire- 
ments, 93.  What  he  regarded 
as  the  climax  of  fin,  ibid.  His 
early  career  in  Scotland,  94. 
Circumftances  under  which  his 
character  was  formed,  94,  95. 
His  children.  [See  Elizabeth  of 
Bohemia  :  Charles  /.]  Rumours 
of  dilagreements  between  him 
and  his  wife,  95,  96.  Circum- 
ftances attending  birth  of  his 
fon  Charles,  96.  Effect  on  his 
Scottifh  fubjects  of  his  near  fuc- 
ceflion  to  the  Englifh  throne, 
97.  Starts  to  take  poffeffion, 
97,  98.  Rufh  of  courtiers  on 
the  occafion,  98.  His  peribnal 
characteriftics :  face,  figure, 
fpeech,  and  walk,  98,  99.  Ef- 
fect: of  his  appearance  on  the 
courtiers,  99.  His  progrefs  to 
London  and  reception  by  the 
way,  99,  100.  His  interview 
with  Cecil,  100,  101.  Cecil's 
fervices  and  feeling  towards  him, 
101.  Rife  of  his  favourite  Car, 
101,  102.  [See  Somerfet.~\  Re- 
pulies  Raleigh's  wife,  102.  His 
favourite  Villiers,  ibid.  [See 
Buckingham.^      Afpect   of    his 


Index.  447 

Jonfon. 
Court,  103.  Revives  brutalities 
prohibited  by  Elizabeth,  104. 
Straits  to  which  his  extravagance 
reduced  him,  ibid.  His  difcre- 
ditable  expedients  for  raifing 
money,  105.  Sale  of  monopo- 
lies and  honours,  105,  106.  His 
theological  affumptions,  106. 
How  he  difpofed  of  a  conference 
between  Churchmen  and  Puri- 
tans, 106,  107.  Adulations  of 
Church  dignitaries  thereon,  107. 
His  religious  perfecutions :  de- 
dicates a  book  to  the  Saviour, 
ibid.  An  African  parallel  to 
his  creed,  108.  His  alleged 
complicity  in  deeper  crimes  con- 
troverted, 108,  109.  Affailed 
in  the  pulpit,  caricatured  on  the 
ftage,  109.  Henri  Quatre's  dic- 
tum how  verified,  ibid.  How 
he  ufed  his  parliaments,  154. 

Jermyn,  Sir  Thomas  (Bury  Saint 
Edmunds),  284. 

Joanes,  Judge,  on  Ship-money, 
227  note. 

John,  King,  refults  of  ill  perform- 
ance of  his  viceregal  duties  by, 
10.  His  nephew  not  entitled 
to  the  crown  as  of  right,  11. 
Important  principle  confirmed 
at  his  coronation,  12.  Points 
in  the  difcuffion  overlooked  by 
fome  critics,  ibid.  Why  he  was 
probably  preferred  to  Arthur, 
12,  13.  Alternately  fupported 
and  oppofed  by  the  people,  13. 
His  character,  14.  Deferts  both 
fides,  ibid.  How  the  Barons 
regarded  his  lofs  of  his  French 
poffeffions,  15.  Conduct  of  the 
people  on  his  furrender  to  the 
Pope,  1 6.  Freedom's  debt  to  him 
on  this  occafion,  16.17.  Lang- 
ton's  (hare  in  compelling  him  to 
grant  the  Great  Charter,  17,  18. 
See  alfo,  23.  30.  31.  33. 

Jonfon,  Ben,  extracls  from  Falk- 
land's eclogue  on,  170,  171 
notes.       His    eulogies    on     Sir 


443 


Inde> 


Judges. 
Benjamin    Rudyavd,    296,    297 
notes.  ( 

Judges  prohibited  from  pleading 
King's  orders,  47.  Degrading 
meaiures  of  Charles  I,  234. 
Confequences  of  upright  con- 
duel,  ibid.  Anecdote  of  a 
judge,  ibid,  note  \. 

Jury  fyftem,  39.  Helpleffhefs  of 
juries  under  Henry  VII,  79. 
Packed  under  Charles  I,  226. 

Juftice,  denial  of,  under  Charles  I, 
229.  234.  and  note  \.  Abufe 
and  enlargement  of  old  judica- 
tories, 235,  236.  See  Council 
Table.  High  CommiJJion  Court. 
Houfehold.     Star  Chamber. 

King,  regulations  for  council  of 
the,  49. 

King  Richard  (Melcombe  Regis), 
attacks  Speaker  Lenthal,  279. 
210. 

Kirton,  Mr.  (Milborn  Port),  and 
his  reipeclable  citizen,  377  note. 
ftory  told  by  him,  378. 

Kingcraft  in  England,  France  and 
Spain,  64. 

Knighthood,  money  raifed  by 
grants  of,  105.  Extortions  un- 
der Charles  I,  224. 

Knights  of  the  (hire  under  the 
Plantagenets,  34  —  37.  Not 
commoners  but  reprefentatives 
of  the  Commons,  38.  See  Par- 
liament. 

Knightly,  Richard  (Northamp- 
ton), teller  in  divifion  on  Re- 
monfrrance,  327. 

Lacklearning  parliament,  48. 

Lancafter,  houfe  of,  evidence  of 
popular  impulfe  favoured  by 
acceflion  of,  49.  Its  final  pre- 
dominance favourable  to  po- 
pular liberty,  54.  Its  laft  living 
reprefentative,  65.  See  Henry 
IF.     Henry  V.     Henry  VI. 

Land,  excels  and  variety  of  charges 
upon,  225.      How  alleged  flaws 


Lenthal. 
in  titles  were  judged,  225,  226. 
proclamation   for  curing  fame, 
234  note  \. 

Langton,  Stephen  de,  precedent 
for  the  great  Charter  adduced 
by,  2.  His  character  and  fer- 
vices  to  Englifli  freedom,  17. 
His  (hare  in  wrefting  the  Great 
Charter  from  John,  17.  18. 
Prefentment  of  national  griev- 
ances by  his  fucceflbr,  27. 

Laud,  William,  Archbifhop  of 
Canterbury,  D'Ewes  put  into 
Star  Chamber  by,  121.  Im- 
plicated in  Strafford's  treafon, 
135.  138.  139.  Lodged  in  the 
Tower,  182.  Falkland's  charge 
againft  him,  217  note.  "  Souls 
put  on  the  rack"  by  him,  235 
note.  Transforms  Star  Cham- 
ber into  an  inquifition,  238. 
Refults  of  his  attempts  to  im- 
pofe  liturgical  yoke  on  Scot- 
land, 242,  243.  Still  moving 
towards  Rome,  246.  In  the 
Tower,  256. 

Laundrefs's  huiband  knighted, 
105. 

Lavender,  Mr.  ftory  told  by 
Kirton  of,  377  note.  378. 

Law  and  lawyers  degraded,  235. 

Legat,  Bartholomew,  fent  to  the 
ftake  by  James  I,  107. 

Leighton's  perfecution  only  a 
type  of  others,  237. 

Lenthal,  William  (Woodftock), 
Commons'  fpeaker,  on  bufinefs 
of  Houfe,  208  note.  Pleads  for 
refpite  from  hard  work,  213. 
His  feat  in  the  Houfe,  278, 
279.  Richard  King's  attack 
upon  him,  279.  Incident  which 
led  to  his  rebuke  of  John  Digby, 
279,  280.  Seidell's  account  of 
fame,  280  note.  Unruly  lpirits 
he  had  to  deal  with,  280,  281. 
His  altercations  with  D'Ewes 
and  other  members,  ibid,  notes. 
Scolds  thole  who  "  run  forth 
for    their    dinners,"  282.      Pre- 


Linacre. 

cedence     in    debate     ruled     by 

fpeaker's  eye,  311  and  ?iote.     In 

an  unquiet  ftate  of  mind,  383. 

His    letter     to     Nicholas,    ibid. 

and  note. 
Linacre,  77. 
Lincoln,    Earl  of,    refufes  to  fub- 

fcribe  to  loan  to  Charles  I,    220 

note. 
Lingard,    fmall    notice    taken  of 

Grand  Reinonftrance  by,  113. 
Lifle,John  ( Winchefter),  chairman 

on  tonnage  and   poundage   bill, 

359-  . 

Literature,  and  Learning  :  feeds 
i'ovvn  by  the  crufades,  6.  Re- 
vival of  learning,  70.  Alarms 
thereat,  72.  Old  Englifh  gen- 
tleman's condemnation  of  it,  73. 

Littleton,  on  loyalty  from  fubjeft 
to  fubjecl,  380,  381. 

Loans  and  Benevolences,  60.  Sta- 
tute of  Richard  III,  againft 
forced  loans,  62.  Penalty  of 
refufing  obedience  to  Charles's 
demands,  219,  250  note.  In- 
ftances  of,  (1)  getting,  and  (2) 
fquandering,  220  note.  Country 
gentlemen  fined  for  living  in 
London,  221  note.  Coat 
conduct:  money  required 
loans,  225. 

Locke's    Common-Place    Book 
Lord  Shaftefbury,  252  note. 

Lollards,  (followers  of  Wickliffe), 
let  alone  during  the  wars  of  the 
Rofes,  62.  Perfecuted  bv  Henry 
VII,  70.   76. 

London.     See  City. 

London  and  Paris  in  revolutionary 
periods,  146,  147. 

London  and  York,  inftance  of 
fait  journeys  between,  241  note. 

Long  Parliament,  37.  Not  deiir- 
ous  to  ftrip  the  Crown  of  its 
prerogatives,  147.  261.  Spirit  in 
which  it  carried  on  the  conflict: 
with  the  King,  148.  Charles's 
intent  to  repudiate  its  meafures, 
155.  Its  acts  during  firft  twelve 


Index.  449 

Lunsford. 
months  of  its   exiftence,  253 — 
258.     Reproached  with  having 
done  nothing  for  the  King,  260. 
Its  defence  of  its  meafures,   260, 
261.  Comparifon  between  it  and 
former  parliaments,  262.      Cha- 
racter  and    antecedents    of    its 
flanderers,    263.      Character    of 
its   leaders,   419,    420.      Their 
genius,  greatnefsand  endurance, 
420.     Their  refpe£t  for  law  and 
precedent,  ibid.     Reverence  due 
to  them,  421. 
Lords,  Houfe  of,  fhare  of,  in  depo- 
fition  of  Richard  II,  44.    Their 
interference   with    taxation    re- 
fitted by  the  Commons,  49,  50. 
Their   reduced   number   at  ac- 
ceflion    of    Henry     VII,      68. 
Theirdefection  from  the  popular 
caufe,    154.    156.       Conferences 
with  the   Commons,  195.     196. 
198.      Molt  popular  member  of 
the  Houfe,  199.    Peers'  petition 
to    the  King  for  a  parliament, 
251.    Copy  of  the  petition,  251, 
252  twtes.       Alleged  murderous 
refolve  of  the  court  on  its  pre- 
fentation,  252.  2*53  notes.  Pym's 
complaint  of   their    obftructive 
conduct,    381,     382.     Clofe   of 
his    fpeech,  ibid,  notes.     Godol- 
phin's  propofal  as  to  Commons 
and     Lords,     382,     383    note. 
Their  furprife  at   the  fetting  of 
the  new     guard,    395.       They 
join     Commons     in    proteft    to 
King,  400.       Account   of  pre- 
fentation   thereof  by  joint  depu- 
tation,  401  note.     See    Barons. 
Commons.     Parliament. 
Louis  XI,  of  Fiance,  64. 
Lumley,  Sir  Martin  (Effex),  teller 
on    claufe  againft  bifhops,  209. 
On  Palmer's  proteft,  341. 
Lunsford,  Col.  Sir  T.,  defignated 
for    Tower  Governorfhip,    356. 
His  character  and  antecedents, 
372.     King's  objecl  in  appoint- 
ing him,  ibid.  note. 


and 


and 


45°  Index. 

Luther. 
Luther,  way  prepared  for,  75.    His 
complaint  of  Erafmus,  ibid. 


Macaulay,  Lord,  on  facility  of  en- 
croachments by  the  executive, 
60.  His  mention  of  Grand  Re- 
monftrance,  113.  His  con- 
ftruclion  of  Sir  R.Verney'sNote, 
132,133.  Point  not  noticed  by 
him.  133.  His  eftimate  of 
Falkland,  174  and  note. 

Machiavelli,  64. 

Magdeburg  Singing  boy,  the  75. 

Magna  Charta.  See  Great  Char- 
ter. 

Mallory,  Mr.  (Ripon),  386.  What 
he  would  have  done  with  Haf- 
elrig's  Militia  Bill,  387. 

Mandeville,  Lord,  joins  in  Peers' 
petition  for  a  parliament,  251 
note.  Danger  incurred  by  him 
in  prefenting  fame,  252  note. 

Manly,  Sir  Richard,  282  note. 

Mansfield  of  Diftaff  Lane  and  his 
apprentice,  377  and  note. 

Marshall,  Stephen,  Parfon  of  Fin- 
chingfield,  320  note. 

Marten,  Henry  (Berkfhire),  courfe 
taken  by,  in  proceedings  againft 
Strafford,  134.  141.  His  place 
in  the  Houfe,  284.  285. 

Mary,  Queen,  fhare  in  the  talks 
affigned  to  the  Tudors,  81. 
Where  fhe  failed,  82.  Indo- 
cility  of    her  Parliaments,    82, 

S3- 

Mary  Qu_een  of  Scots  (James's 
mother),  93.  Rizzio's  murder, 
96.  98.  Her  chief  executioner 
and  her  fon,  10 1. 

Maxwell,  Mr.,  no  comfort  in  com- 
forting words  of,  127  note. 
Takes  Judge  Berkley  into  cuf- 
tody,  182  note. 

May,  Thomas,  parliamentary  hif- 
torian,  on  caule  of  clerical  ani- 
mofity  to  Parliament,  156  note*. 
On  ficklenefs  and  impatience  of 
the  people,  ibid,  note  f.  On 
perfections  for  confcience'  fake, 


Monks. 

237  note.  On  maffacre  of  Irifh 
proteftants,  264  note.  On  Sir  B. 
Rudyard's  character,  294  and 
note. 

Maynard,  John  (Totnefs)  courfe 
taken  by,  in  proceedings  againft 
Strafford,  133.  Recites  points 
requiring  fettlement,  137 — 139. 
Shows  what  may  be  done,  139. 
Eager  for  the  attainder,  141. 
His  treachery  towards  Vane  at 
the  Reftoration,  ibid.  Oppofes 
Strafford's  right  to  be  heard  by 
counfel,  144.  How  he  met 
Hampden's  fuggeftion,  145. 
His  place  in  the  Houfe,  285. 
Controverts  Palmer's  law  in  Re- 
monftrance  Debate,  312. 

Merchants.     See  Commerce. 

Middle  Ages,  break-up  of  fyftem 
of,  64. 

Middle  claffes,  privileges  and  rights 
conceded  to  the,  26. 

Militia,  Hafelrig's  Bill  for  fettle- 
ment of,  385.  Scene  in  Houfe 
on  its  introduction,  386 — 3S8. 
Read  firft  time,  388.  Claren- 
don's mifftatements  and  felf- 
contradiftions,  385,  389 — 393. 
Errors  of  other  writers  due 
thereto,  393. 

Military  fervices,  acls  palled 
againft  confcription  for,  41,  42. 
See  Army. 

Minifterial  refponfibility  to  Par- 
liament, earlieft  record  of,  10. 
Further  advancement  of  the 
principle,  27.  Its  effectual  ef- 
tablifhment,  49.  Infilled  on  in 
Grand  Remonltrance,  272,  273. 
Receipt  of  foreign  penfions  pe- 
titioned againft,  273  note. 

Money,  unconftitutional  fchemes 
for  raifing.  See  Wardjhips,  Ship 
Money,  Loans,  Monopolies. 

Moniers,  exemption  from  taxation 
claimed  by  the,  274.  Remark 
made  on  their  petition,  275. 

Monks,  poverty-ftricken  condition 
of  the,  48. 


Monopolies. 

Monopolies,  public  outcry  againft, 
89.  "  God  profper  thofe  that 
"  further  their  overthrow,"  90. 
Abandoned  by  Elizabeth,  ibid. 
Multiplied  by  James  I,  105.  Re- 
vived wholeiale  under  Charles  I, 
225720^.230.  Papiftmonopolifts, 
248  note.  Enumeration  of  mat- 
ters fubject  to  monopoly,  ibid. 
Petitioned  againft  by  Peers,  252 
note.  Abolifhed,  254,  255.  Cul- 
peper's  ipeech  on  their  univer- 
fality,  2 5  5,  note.  Pym  on  folly 
of  railing  revenue  byfuch  means, 
ibid. 

Montfort,  Simon  de,  demands  a 
parliament,  38. 

Montgomery,  Lord,  barber  of, 
knighted,  105. 

Montrofe's  affaffination  plot  and 
Charles  I,  165  note. 

More,  Sir  Thomas,  77. 

Morton,  Lord,  poor  plundered  for 
benefit  of,  233  note. 

Moundeford,  Sir  Edmund  (Thet- 
ford  and  Norfolk),  illuftrations 
furnifhed  by  family  papers  of, 
221  notes. 

Mountjoy,  Lord,  brings  Erafmus 
to  England,  71. 

Mulgrave,  Earl  of,  joins  in  Peers' 
petition  for  a  parliament,  251 
note. 


Nalson,  John,  the  collector,  119 
note.  Lenthal's  letter  printed 
by  him,  383  note.  His  mifread- 
ing  of  diviiion  on  Haielrig's 
Militia  Bill,  329.  General  cha- 
racter of  his  ColleSiions. 

Neville,  Sir  Henry,  purport  of  let- 
ter of,  95,  96. 

Newcaftle  taken  by  the  Scots,  253. 

Newfoundland  difcovered,  71. 

Newport,  Francis  (Shrewibury), 
quits  Houfe  without  leave,  395. 
Fetched  back  and  rebuked,  396. 

New  Teftament,  alarm  of  the 
monks  at  Erafmus's  publication 
of  the,  74,  75. 


Index.  45 1 

Norman. 
Nicholas,    Sir    Edward   (Newton, 
Hants)  on  distribution  of  offices, 

1 59.  Date  of  his  announcement, 

160.  His  wife  fidelity  to  the 
King,  166  note.  "  Well  affiled 
"  Parliament  men  "  in  trouble, 
167,  168.  When  made  Secre- 
tary of  State,  167  note.  Sub- 
mits names  of  feceders  to  Charles, 
183.  Hopes  derived  from  re- 
appearance of  the  Plague,  184. 
Reports  attempt  on  Pym's  life, 
185.  Recommends  Hyde  and 
his  party,  193.  His  interview 
with  Hyde,  193,  194.  Informs 
Charles  of  impreffion  made  by 
his  New  Bifhop  fcheme,  195. 
Hopes  expreffed  to  him  by  the 
King,  198.  Sends  tidings  of 
Remonftrance  to  Charles,  199, 
200.  Written  to  by  the  Queen 
on  fame  fubject,  200.  Sends 
news  of  introduction  of  Grand 
Remonftrance,  201.  His  per- 
plexities and  fears  concerning 
fame,  201,  202.  King's  futile 
reply,  202.  Reports  further 
progrefs  of  Remonftrance,  203. 
206.  211.  His  fears  as  to  effect 
of  Pym's  Army  Refolution,  210. 
His  place  in  the  Houfe,  285. 
Informs  Charles  of  tactics  of 
Royalift  party  for  defeat  of  Re- 
monftrance, 313.  What  paffed 
after  he  left  the  Houfe,  314. 
Abfent  from  divifion,  316.  Ap- 
pointed to  office,  355.  Lenthal's 
fervile  letter  to  him,  383  and 
note.  Reads  King's  anfwer  to 
Lords'  and  Commons'  Proteft, 
402  note. 

Nicholfon,  John,  D.D.,  difcourfe 
of,  with  a  haberdalher's  appren- 
tice, 377  and  note. 

Norman  Kings  of  England,  fafety 
how  purchafed  by  the,  3.  Saxon 
jurifprudence  adopted  by  the 
Conqueror,  4.  Forms  deferred 
to  by  them  at  their  coronations, 
1 1 .     Conftitution  of  their  Great 


45 2  Index. 

North. 
Council,  29.  Extent  to  which  re- 
prefentation  exifted  under  them, 
32,   33.      Conftitutional  maxim 
fometimes  ufed  by  them,  37. 

North,  Court  and  Council  of  the. 
See  Council  of  the  North. 

Northampton,  Great  Council  at 
(temp.  Hen.  II),  9. 

Northampton,  ftatute  of,  394. 

Northern  Counties,  votes  by  Long 
Parliament  for  relief  of,  259. 

Northumberland,  Lord,  a  corre- 
fpondent  of  Sir  John  Bankes, 
410.  ImprefTive  fentences  from 
his  letter,  411.  A  glance  at 
him  in  later  days,  413. 

Noy's    "new-old  way  "  227  note. 


Onslow,  Serjeant  (notD'Oyley), 
Verney's  notes  ufed  by,  130,  note. 
131.   291  note. 

Oratory  value  of  preparation  in, 
191   note. 

Overbury,  Sir  Thomas,  Car,  Earl 
of  Somerfet,  convicted  for  mur- 
der of,  102.  James  no  party 
to  the  crime,   108,  109. 

Ovid's  lines  and  Dering's  oppofi- 
tion  to  the  Bifhops,  207,  208 
notes. 

Oxford,  Erafmus  at,  71.  72.  73. 
Greek  Profefforfhip founded,  72. 
Accomplifhment  of  Erafmus's 
work,  85. 

Pace,  Richard,  quaint  complaint 
quoted  from,   73. 

Paget,  Earl,  joins  in  Peers'  peti- 
tion for  a   parliament,  251  note. 

Palmer,  Geoffrey  (Stamford),  part 
taken  in  Strafford's  Impeach- 
ment and  in  Grand  Remon- 
ftrance  by,  203.  222  note.  His 
feat  in  the  Houfe,  284.  His 
fpeech  againft  the  Remonftrance, 
312.  Protefts  againft  printing 
it,  323.  Uproar  created  by  his 
conduct,  324.  Debate  on  his 
proteft,  332 — 334.  Hotham's 
attack    upon    him,    334,    335. 


Papijls. 
Defended  by  Hyde,  335,  336 
and  note.  Hollis's  charge  againft 
him,  337.  Precedents  cited 
againft  him  by  D'Ewes,  337 — 
339.  D'Ewes  would  have  him 
fpeak,  340.  Divifions  called 
thereon,  340,  341.  Required 
to  fpeak,  341.  Speaks  accord- 
ingly and  withdraws,  341,  342. 
"What  took  place  after  his 
withdrawal,  342,  343.  Re- 
fumption  of  debate,  344.  Points 
urged  in  aggravation,  345.  Ex- 
tenuatory confiderations,  345, 
346.  Reafon  for  punifhing  him, 
346,  347.  Extent  of  punifti- 
ment  defired  by  Pym  and 
Hampden,  347.  Severer  Mea- 
fures  demanded  by  Hotham  and 
others,  347,  348,  350.  Bag- 
ihaw's  argument,  348.  Crew's 
fpeech  and  admonitory  fuggef- 
tion,  348,  349.  Waller's  lefs 
difcreet  harangue,  349,  350. 
Hopton  and  D'Ewes  on  points 
of  order,  350,  351.  Tower  or 
Expulfion  ?  Queftions  put,  351, 
352.  Receives  fentence  at  Bar 
of  Houfe,  352.  His  committal 
and  fubfequent  releafe,  353. 
393.  Mifltatements  of  Claren- 
don on  this  topic,  353,  354,  and 
note. 

Palmer,  "  one  Mr.,"  plundered  by 
royal  proclamation,  221  note. 

Palmes,  Guy  (Rutlandftiire),  222 
'  note. 

Pamphlets,  fcandalous,  com- 
plained of  in  Houfe,  331,  332. 

Papifts,  reafons  for  Falkland's  dif- 
like  of,  179  note.  Favours  and 
monopolies  granted  to  projectors 
profeffing  their  creed,  233.  247 
and  note  J.  248,  note.  Defign  for 
affimilating  Romifti  and  Angli- 
can Churches,  242.  246.  247. 
Their  fecret  meetings  and  pre- 
parations, 248,  249.  Their  en- 
couragement petitioned  againft 
by  the   Peers,   251  note.     Need 


Index. 


453 


Paris. 


■  for  curbing  their  power  to  do 
hurt,  270,  271.  Meafures  re- 
quired by  Pym,  ibid,  notes. 
Falfe  conformifts  to  Englifh 
Church  for  place  fake,  272. 
Their  known  favourers  how  to 
be  dealt  with,  ibid.     See  Pope. 

Paris  and  London  in  revolutionary 
periods,  146,  147. 

Parker,  Archbilhop  of  Canter- 
bury,  put  on  his  mettle,  87. 

Parliament,  earlieft  recorded  autho- 
rity for  refponfibility  of  Minif- 
ters  to,  10.  Its  refufal  to  meet 
on  fummons  of  Henry  III,  26. 
Its  meafures  when  affembled 
proof  of  its  control  over  Minis- 
ters, 27.  Uniformity  of  its 
exercife  of  fuch  control,  27,  28. 
Securities  for  public  faith  ex- 
acted by  the  city  of  London,  28. 
Braclon's  diclum  in  favour  of 
fame  principle,  ibid.  Origina- 
tion of  the  Houfe  of  Commons, 
29.  [See  Commons,  Houfe  of]. 
What  the  Great  Council  really 
was,  29,  30.  [See  Great  Council], 
Parliamentary  attendance  of  in- 
ferior tenants  how  difpenfed 
with,  31.  Phafes  of  Reprefen- 
tation  under  the  Norman  Kings, 
32,  33.  Beginning  of  County 
Reprefentation,  33.  Knights 
of  Shires  fummoned,  34,  35. 
Separate  voting  of  each  order  a 
needful  condition,  35.  When 
principle  of  Reprefentation  be- 
came  part  of  the  Conftitution, 

36.  Why  Knights  of  Shires 
were  paid,  ibid.  Their  wages 
how  levied,  37.  How  and  by 
whom  elected,  ibid.  Their  fta- 
tion  and  privileges  while  fitting, 

37,  38.  Refult  of  Simon  de 
Montfort's  demand,  38.  Addi- 
tional provifions  for  affembling 
parliaments,  40.  Refult  of 
royal  attempts  to  impofe  taxes 
without  its  ianclion,  41.  Eng- 
lish   language    adopted    in   its 


Peachem. 


Rolls,  43.  Its  (hare  in  depofition 
of  Richard  II  and  elevation  of 
Henry  IV,  43,  44.  And  in  the 
fettlement  of  the  Crown,  46. 
The  "lack-learning  Parlia- 
ment," 48.  Original  mode  of 
procedure  with  refpect  to  bills, 
50.  Abandonment  of  fuch  pro- 
cedure, 51.  Privilege  of  par- 
liament gained  and  afferted,  53. 
Right  of  Impeachment  won, 
ibid.  Conftitution  of  parlia- 
ment under  Henry  VI,  59. 
Recognition  of  its  checks  by 
the  Crown,  60.  Its  acts  on 
acceffion  of  Henry  VII,  65. 
Its  neglect  of  the  people  during 
his  reign,  66,  67.  Obftinacy  of 
Mary's  parliaments,  83.  Effect 
of  Elizabeth's  domination,  85. 
Debates  on  Grand  Remon- 
ftrance,  no,  156  et  feq.  [See 
Grand     Remonjlrance]-  On 

Strafford's  Attainder,  126 — 152 
[See  Strafford].  Reaffembling 
of  Houles  in  Oct.  1641.  163 — 
168.  Claim  of  both  Houfes 
for  ordinance  during  King's 
abfence,  199,  200.  Incidents 
of  Charles's  firft  parliament, 
218,  219.  The  like  of  his 
fecond  parliament,  219,  220. 
The  like  of  his  third  parlia- 
ment, 220—223.  Parliaments 
a  forbidden  topic  of  talk,  224 
and  note.  Its  reaffembly  peti- 
tioned for  by  the  nobility,  251, 
252  and  notes.  Bill  for  its  con- 
tinuance paifed,  258.  260.  Ob- 
ject of  the  bill,  261.  Character 
of  the  party  hoftile  to  parlia- 
ments, 263.  Alleged  intimida- 
tion of  parliament,  375 — 385. 
See  Commons,  Houfe  of.  Long 
Parliament.    Lords,  Houfe  of. 

Party  ftruggles,  beginning  of,  10. 

Patents    and    Monopolies.        See 
Monopolies. 

Peachem,    the     puritan,    tortured 
and  martyred,  107 

H   H 


454 

Peard. 

Peard,  George  (Barnftaple),  moves 
printing  of  Remonftrance,  319. 
323.  342.  403.  His  focial  pofi- 
tion,   320. 

Peerages  put  up  to  fale,  105. 
Price  of  each  grade,  106. 

Peers'  interference  with  elections 
complained  of,  384. 

Pembroke,  William  Earl  of,  re- 
gent, 23.  Standard  of  rebellion 
raifed  by  his  fon,  27. 

Pembroke,  Philip  Earl  of,  ap- 
pointment of  as  Lord  Steward 
demanded,  348  note. 

Pennington,  Aid.  Ii'aac  (London), 
introduces  the  city  petitioners, 

Penny-a-lining,  origin  of,  289  n. 

People,  Royal  Charters  and  con- 
ceffions  to  the,  not  refumable, 
2,  3.  Always  on  the  track  of 
their  rulers,  3.  Sides  alternately 
taken  by  them  in  John's  reign, 
13.  Their  gain  in  the  Barons' 
triumph,  14.  What  carried 
them  over  to  the  Barons,  16. 
Eftabliftiment  of  their  power  to 
alter  the  fucceffion,  44.  Ac- 
knowledgment of  their  influence 
by  Henry  IV  (Bolingbroke), 
45.  Shakeipeare's  reading  of  his 
demeanour  towards  them,  ibid. 
Their  advance  as  gauged  by  the 
Statutes  of  the  time,  46.  Their 
condition,  temp.  Henry  VI,  58. 
59.  Their  fidelity  to  the  Com- 
mons, 61.  Expedients  to  keep 
them  at  reft,  ibid.  Lels  at  fault 
than  their  representatives  under 
the  Tudors,  66,  67.  Martial 
duties  impoled  upon  them,  83, 
84.  Their  power  through  the 
Commons,  84.  Their  polition 
under  Elizabeth,  85.  Their 
ficklenefs  and  impatience  during 
ftruggle  with  Charles,  1 56  and 
note\.  Robbed  of  their  right 
of  common,  233.  Fired  on  by 
Charles's  guards,  373  and  note. 
See  Commonalty.     Commons, 


Index. 


Privilege. 

Percy.  Henry  (Northumberland). 
See  Ajhburnham,  William. 

Petition  of  Right,  an  affirma- 
tion of  old  time  precedents,  2. 
Violated  by  Charles  I,  220.  222. 
226.  230.  Securities  required  for 
its  due  obfervance,  272.  Coke's 
fervices  in  regard  to  it,  413. 

Petitions,  enactment  againft 
tampering  with,  52. 

Philips,  Father,  Queen's  Confeflbr, 
conflict  of  Lords  and  Commons 
relative  to,  328.  329.  Articles 
of  accufation  againft  him,  331. 

Plague,  appearance  of  the,  184. 

Plantagenets,  political  ftruggles 
under  the,  1 — 64.  See  Henry 
I.  Henry  II.  Richard  I.  John. 
Arthur.  Henry  III.  Ed-ward 
I.  Edward  II.  Edward  HI. 
Edward  IV.  Richard  II.  Henry 
IV.  Henry  V.  Henry  VI.  Richard 
III.  Commons,  Houfe  of.  Great 
Charter.  Great  Council.  Par- 
liament. 

Plunder  of  the  fubje6t,  oppreifive 
fcheme  for,  221  note. 

Political  Ballads,  26. 

Pollard,Mr.  (Beeralfton).  See  A(h- 
burnham,  William. 

Poor,  rights  of  common  taken 
from  the,  233  and  notef. 

Poor  Law,  how  neceffitated,  68. 

Pope,  Nuncio  from,  refident  in 
England,  248.  Terms  on  which 
Charles  required  help, 271  note. 

Prerogative,  reftraints  on  the,  51. 
59/lts  temporary  predominance, 
64.  How  abufed  by  Charles  I 
and  his  advifers,  224 — 244.  See 
Charles  I.  Council  of  the  North. 
Council  Table.  Crown.  High 
Commiffion.  Laud.  Monopolies. 
Star  Chamber.     Strafford. 

Price,  Herbert  (Brecon),  285. 

Price,  Sir  John  (Montgomery- 
fhire),  complaint  by,  274. 

Privilege  of  Parliament,  when 
achieved,  52,  53.  Eftablifhed 
againft  the  Courts,  53.   Invaded 


Index, 


455 


Proclamations. 


by  forgeries  and  unauthorifed 
printings,  289,  290  notes. 

Proclamations,  extortionate  and 
defpotic,  againft  living  in  Lon- 
don, 221  note.  Againft  fpeaking 
of  Parliaments,  224  and  note. 

Proteft,  royalift  party  in  Commons 
contend  for  right  of,  323 — 326. 
Debate  thereon,  331  —  343. 
Finally  rejected,  408  and  note. 
See  Palmer  Geoffrey. 

Proteftantifm,  vicilfitudes  of, 
under  the  Tudors,  80,  81.  86. 
Proteftanta  more  rigidly  dealt 
with  than  papifts  under  Charles 
I,  247  and  note\.  Defign  of 
the  Irifh  Rebellion,  263.  Maf- 
facres  of  Proteftants  in  Ireland, 
264,  265.  Narratives  of  May 
and  Rufhworth,  ibid,  notes. 

Proteftation  for  parliament  and 
religion,  127.  Signed  by 
Clarendon,  ibid.  D' Ewes' s  ac- 
count of  its  origin,  127,  128, 
notes. 

Prynne,  William,  37.  Detail  of 
cruelties  inflicted  on  him,  256, 
257,  notes.  Further  mutilations 
defired  by  fome  of  the  Lords, 
257  note.     See  Bajlivick. 

Purefoy,  William  (Warwick),  on 
need  of  money  and  how  beft  to 
bring  it  in,  402,  403.  Moves 
printing  of  Remonftrance,  403. 

Puritan  party  formed,  87.  Eliza- 
beth's attempts  to  fubdue  its 
leaders  in  the  Commons,  ibid. 
Extent  of  her  antipathy  to  Pu- 
ritans, 88.  Light  in  which 
their  leaders  regarded  her,  88, 
89.  Puritanifm  and  political 
difcontent,  89.  Conference  with 
churchmen  at  Hampton  Court, 
106.  James's  abule  of  the  Pu- 
ritans, 107.  Mr.  Carlyle's aban- 
doned project,  118.  The  party 
joined  by  D'Ewes,  121.  Up- 
holders of  right  nicknamed 
Puritans,  217.  To  be  rooted 
out  by  force  or  fear,  242.     Rud- 


Pym. 
yard's  characterise  definition  of 
a   Puritan,    ibid,    note. 

Pury,Thomas(Gloucefter),  motion 
of  relative  to  Dr.  Chillingworlh's 
difclofure,  374,  375. 

Pye,  Sir  Robert  (Woodftock), 
on  Sir  S.  D'Ewes,  283   note. 

Pym,  John  (Taviftock),on  Par- 
liaments without  Parliamentary 
liberties,  53.  Notes  taken  of  a 
fpeech  of  his,  124  note.  How 
fpoken  of  by  Privy  Councillor 
Bankes,  126.  Followed  by 
Clarendon  in  the  Proteftation, 
127.  His  alleged  difagree- 
ment  with  Hampden  in  the 
Strafford  bufineis,  132.  Lord 
Macaulay's  interpretation  of 
Verney's  Note,  132,  132.  Evi- 
dence of  D'Ewes  decifive  on  the 
point,  133.  136,  137.  Mode  of 
procedure  againft  Strafford  ad- 
vocated by  the  two  friends,  133. 
134,     Both   outvoted   thereon, 

136.  He  fuggefts  a  conference, 

137.  Why  he  objects  to  attain- 
der, 139.  Advocates  Strafford's 
claim  to  hearing,  145.  Refult  of 
his  appeal,  145,  146.  His  life 
threatened,  157.  His  fervant 
tampered  with  by  Bifhop  Wil- 
liams, 159.  161.  Effect  of  his 
oppofition  to  Charles's  Scottifh 
vifit,  159.  Not  to  be  won  over 
by  office,  160,  161.  Chairman 
of  Vigilance  Committee  during 
recefs,  163.  Reports  difcovery 
of  Goring's  plot,  164.  Produ- 
ces Hampden's  letter,  165. 
Traces  out  project .  of  confpi- 
rators,  165/zote.  DefeatsHyde's 
propofition,  166.  Secefllon  of 
Falkland  from  his  party,  168. 
182.  Will  not  poftpone  Parlia- 
ment for  the  Plague,  184. 
Further  attempts  upon  his  life, 
184,  185.  Plots  of  King  and 
Queen  againft  him,  185,  186, 
Queen's  artful  ufe  of  his  name, 
186  note.     Covenanter  Baillie's 

h  h  2 


456 


Index. 


Pym. 


tribute  to  his  powers  as  a  leader, 
ibid.  EffecT:  produced  by  his 
fpeech  on  evil  counfellors,  190, 
191.  Waller's  parallel  between 
him  and  Strafford,  191,  192. 
Waller  ordered  to  apologife, 
1 92  and  note.  Heads  conference 
with  the  Lords  on  the  Bifhops' 
demurrer,  196.  Defeats  all  the 
Royalift  moves,  197.  Evidence 
of  his  prudence  and  fagacity, 
ibid.  Baffles  King's  hopes  from 
Irifh  Rebellion,  198.  Divifion 
on  his  Refolution,  ibid.  Steps 
taken  fubfequent  thereto,  198, 
199.  What  followed  his  Reib- 
lution,  200.  Carries  a  Refolu- 
tion as  to  a  fecond  army  plot, 
210.  His  vindication  of  courfe 
taken  by  himfelf  and  affociates, 

212.  A  homethruft,  212,  213. 
His  courtefy  to  Speaker  Lenthal, 

213.  Yields  a  point  to  his  op- 
ponents, ibid.  Charge  insinu- 
ated againft  him  by  Clarendon, 

214.  note.  His  refentment  of 
Eliot's  murder,  223  note.  His 
denunciation  of  Ship  Money, 
227,  228  notes.  On  folly  of 
railing  revenue  by  monopolies, 
255  note.  Authorfhip  of  Re- 
monftrance  afcribed  to  him,  268 
note.  His  confefflon  of  faith, 
ibid.  Requires fafeguards  againft 
popery,  270,  271  notes.  Hands 
full  of  Irifh  bufinefs,  275.  His 
Weftminfter  Hall  converfation 
with  Hyde,  276,  277.  His 
feffionaldinner-parties,282  note. 
Refpeclful  mention  of  him  in 
the  Houfe,  283  note.  His  place 
in  the  Houfe,  284.  Clarendon's 
remark  on  Culpeper  more  appli- 
cable to  him,  300,  note.  His 
fpeech  in  Eighth  debate  on  Re- 
monftrance,  301 — 305.  How 
he  and  his  party  carried  the 
Remonftrance,  314 — 316.  How 
their  propofal  to  print  it  was 
met,  323,  324.     Refolution  ul- 


Raleigh. 


timately  carried  by  him,  326. 
Bids  the  "  Protefters  "  prepare 
to  defend  themfelves,  328,  329. 
Clarendon's  imputations  againft 
him  and  his  party,  329,  330. 
Produces  accufation  againft  Fa- 
ther Phillips,  331.  His  fpeech 
againft  "  Proteft,"  332,  333. 
Obtains  committee  to  examine 
fufpefted  Irifhmen,  343.  His 
regard  for  the  liberty  of  the 
Subject,  ibid.  Extent  to  which 
he  would  punifh  Palmer,  347. 
Suggefts  Petition  to  accompany 
Remonftrance,  355.  Hisreport 
to  Houfe  concerning  diimilfal  of 
guard,  356  note.  Prefents  rea- 
fons  for  continuance  of  guard, 
357  note.  Summary  of  fame, 
358>  3  59  notes.  Brings  in  Re- 
monftrance Petition,  359.  An- 
fwers  objections  to  fame,  362. 
His  interrupters  filenced  by 
D'Ewes,  362',  363.  Anfwers 
Culpeper's  objections,  363. 
Point  yielded  by  him,  365. 
Why  he  was  not  one  of 
the  Remonftrance  Prefentation 
Committee,  367.  Joined  in 
meffage  to  Lords  for  difcharge 
of  King's  guards,  373.  His 
fignificant  queftion  to  Mr. 
Speaker,  378,  379.  His  com- 
plaint againft  the  Lords,  381, 
382.  Memorable  clofe  of  his 
fpeech,  ibid,  notes.  His  motion 
relative  to  guard  of  halberdiers, 
395  and  note.  Rebukes  Fran- 
cis Newport,  396.  His  motion 
on  King's  interference  with  Im- 
preflment  Bill,  400.  Claufe 
infilled  on  by  him,  ibid,  note. 
Allays  a  riling  ftorm,  407.  See 
alfo  194.  231  note.  234  note.  245 
note.  274.  285.  296.  298.  320 
note.  327.  343  note.  348.  371.406. 
Pym,  John  and  W.  recufants,  219. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  85.     His 
wife  repulled  by  James  I,  102. 


Index, 


Ratcliffe. 

Ratcliffe,  Sir  George,  in  Seidell's 
ftory,  374  and  note  f. 

Reading,  ftyle  of  living  of  the 
Abbot  of,  48. 

Recufants,  lilt  of,  from  the  Verney 
Papers,  219.  Hampden  a  re- 
cufant,  227. 

Reeve,  Judge,  uprightnefs  and 
humanity  of,  246  note. 

Reformation,  made  way  for  by 
Erafmus,  75.  Elizabeth  its 
champion,  81.  Begun  in  the 
Commons,  84.  Its  remits,  85. 
Its  impulfes  reftrained,  86. 

Remonftrance,  Grand.  See  Grand 
Remonjlrance. 

Reprefentation,  Parliamentary.  See 
Parliament. 

Reynolds,  R.  (Hindon),  complains 
of  unauthoriled  printing,  332. 

Richard  I,  minifterial  refponfi- 
bility  eftablifhed  in  the  reign 
of,  10.  Advantage  taken  by 
Barons  during  John's  vice- 
royalty,  ibid.  Queftion  of  fuc- 
cefllon  to  throne  at  his  death, 
11,  12.  Confequences  of  lavv- 
lefs  adminiftration  during  his 
abfence,  13. 

Richard  II,  conftitutional  princi- 
ples recognifed  in  the  depofi- 
tion  of,  43,  44.  Strengthening 
of  popular  rights  on  the  occa- 
iion,  44,45.     See  alio  p.  59. 

Richard  III,  forced  loans abolifhed 
by,  62.  Lord  Bacon's  eulogium 
on  him,  ibid. 

Rizzio,  David,  parallel  to  circum- 
ftances  connected  with  murder 
of,  96.  Influence  of  the  murder 
on  James,  98. 

Roberts,  Mr.,  Diary  of  Walter 
Yonge,  edited  by,  219  note. 
His  account  of  piracies  on  Eng- 
lifh  fea  and  foil,  228  note. 

Robefpierre's  Reign  of  Terror, 
Bankes's  parallel  to,  127.    146. 

Roches,  Peter  des,  Poitevin  Bi- 
ftiop  of  Winchefter,  guardian 
of  Henry  III,  2^.     Precipitates 


457 

RuJJi-worth. 
the  King  into  difputes  with  the 
Barons,    24.      Political  ballads 
made  againft  him,  26,  27.    Sent 
away  from  England,  27. 

Roman  Catholics.     See  Papifls. 

Rofes,  ftate  of  the  nation  during 
wars  of  the,  62,  63. 

Rous,  John,  extracts  from  diary 
of:  brafs  money,  231  note. 
Tubbing's  cafe,  237  note.  Cha- 
racter of  diary,  ibid.  John  Com- 
monwealthVman's  ficknefs,  243 
note.  Parliament  men's  pockets 
fearched,  245  note.*  Lambeth 
and  Southwark  riots,  ibid,  notef. 
246  note.  On  the  impreffment 
grievance,  258  note. 

Royalift  Party.  See  Clarendon. 
Culpeper.  Dering.  Falkland. 
Nicholas.  Protejl.  Strafford. 
Warwick,  Sir  Philip. 

Royalift  Petitions,  forged,  290  n. 

Rudyard,  Sir  Benjamin  (Wilton), 
part  taken  in  debate  on  Straf- 
ford's attainder  by,  131.  139. 
Moves  for  conference  with  the 
Lords,  166.  Defines  a  Puritan, 
242  note.  Noble  words  on  re- 
ligious matters,  246  note.  249, 
2  50, notes.  His  feat  in  theHoufe, 
285.  Character  given  him  by 
May,  294  and  note.  His  fpeech 
in  eighth  debate  on  Remon- 
ftrance, 294 — 296.  Chronicler 
Heath's  libel  on  him,  296. 
Poet  as  well  as  orator,  296,297. 
Ben  Jonfon's  poems  in  his  praife, 
ibid,  notes.  Weak  points  in  his 
character,  297.  His  fayings  and 
doings,  298.  Wifhing  for  com- 
promife  but  (till  of  Pym's  party, 
298,  299.  No  pattern  for  de- 
ferters,  299.  Pym's  reply  to  his 
objection,  304.  His  comparifon 
of  divifion  on  Grand  Remon- 
ftrance,  315  and  note. 

Runnymede,  14.  17.  20.  23.  See 
Great  Charter. 

Rupert,  Prince,  332. 

Rufliworth,  John,  Grand  Remon- 


458 


Index. 


Rufell. 
ftrance  printed  in  collections  of, 
m.  Number  of  pages  occu- 
pied by  it,  1 1 6.  Alarmed  by 
enclofure  in  threatening  letter  to 
Pym,  185.  His  feat  in  the 
Houfe,  278.  See  118  note  J. 
188  note.  393. 

RufTell,  J.  (Taviftock),  teller  on 
laft  Remonftrance  debate,  406. 

Ruthven  (Rizzio's  affaflln),  murder 
of  grandibn  of,  96. 

Sadler,  Sir  Thomas,  entertains 
James  I,  100. 

Saint  John,  Oliver,  Solicitor-Ge- 
neral (Totneis),  mode  of  pro- 
cedure againft  Strafford  advo- 
cated by,  131.  133.  134.  141. 
144  Suggestion  of  his  adopted 
by  Pym,  197.  His  confolation 
to  Hyde,  276.  His  feat  in  the 
Houfe,  284.  Brings  in  bill  on 
Tonnage  and  poundage,  343. 
Preffes  it  on,  344.  Draftfman 
of  Hafelrig's  Militia  Bill,  385. 
390.  391.  Clarendon's  charge 
againft  him,  400  note. 

Saint  Stephen's  Chapel  (old  Houfe 
of  Commons),  afpecl  of,  276. 
278.  Coftume  of  members  and 
fpeaker,  278,  279. 

Salifbury,  Earl  of.     See  Cecil. 

Salt,  patent  for,  "which  will  make 
"us  all  fmart,"  221  note. 

Sanford,  J.  Langton,  188  note. 

Sandys,  Sir  Edwin,  courageous  re- 
mark by,  54. 

Savage,  Sir  Arnold, Speaker,  heads 
the  Commons  in  carrying  com- 
plaints to  Henry  IV,  47. 

Saxons,  bafis  of  Constitution  of  the, 
4.  Their  jurifprudence  adopted 
by  the  Norman  kings,  ibid.  No 
ftrangers  to  feudalifm,  4.  5. 
Feudal  rights  claimed  by  their 
Kings,  5. 

Saye  and  Seale,  Wm.  Lord,  refills 
Ship  Money,  227  note.  His 
challenge  to  the  Judges,  ibid.  His 
pockets  fearched  by  royal  order, 


Ships. 
245  note.    Joins  in  petition  for  a 
parliament,    251  note. 

Schoolmen,  downfall  ofthe,  37, 74. 

Scotland  and  the  Scots  :  Refult  of 
Laud's  attempt  to  force  Liturgy 
on  them,  242,  243.  Strafford's 
levies  againft  them,  244.  Prayed 
againft  as  rebels,  247.  Their 
invafion  of  England,  252,  253. 
Sum  voted  by  Long  Parliament 
for  their  relief,  259.  "Well 
"  and  in  peace,"  369. 

Selden,  John  (Oxford  Univerfity), 
why  thrice  imprifoned,  2.  A 
feceder  on  Strafford's  attainder, 
1 54  note.  His  farcafm  on  Digby, 
280  note.  His  place  in  the 
Houfe,  285  and  note.  "What's 
the  reafon  of  it  ?  "  appofite  ftory 
told  by  him,  315,  316.  On 
King's  ufe  of  Pym  and  party, 
374  and  note  \. 

Separatists,  Pym  on  forced  exile 
of,  303.   Bridgman's  reply,  305. 

Servandony,firmasthe  hat  of,  176. 

Sewers  Commiffion,  notice  given 
by  Cromwell  about,  234  note. 

Shaftefbury,  Lord,  ftory  of,  relative 
to  prefentation  of  Peers'  petition 
to  Charles  I,   252,  253  notes. 

Shakefpeare,  45.   85.   297. 

Sheriff's  office,  when  elective,  39. 
Sheriffs  and  Ship  Money,  221 
note.  250.  252  note.  Nefarious 
lyltem  of  feleftion  under 
Charles  I,  239. 

Ships  and  Ship  Money  :  D'Ewes 
produces  evidence  of  illegality 
of  Ship  Money,  121.  Judges 
impeached  for  fanclioning  it, 
182  and  note.  Pretence  under 
which  it  was  levied,  226.  Its 
enormity  and  hardfhip,  227 
note.  Cafes  of  Hampden  and 
Lord  Saye,  ibid.  Pym's  denun- 
ciation of  it,  227,  228  notes. 
Englifh  fhips  at  the  mercy  of 
pirates,  228.  Cafes  of  piracy 
and  infults  to  our  flag,  228  note. 
Confequences  of  Judge  Hutton's 


Index. 


459 


S  hre-TvJbury . 


declaration  againft  Ship  Money, 
229  note.  Sheriffs  imprifoned 
for  not  raifing  enough,  250.  Pe- 
tioned  againft  by  the  Lords,  252 
note.     Abolifhed,  254. 

Shrewsbury,  Lord,  entertains 
James  I,  100.  Cecil's  note  to 
him  on  James's  expenditure,  104. 

Sidney,  Sir  Philip,  85. 

Simonds,  Richard,  119. 

Singleton,  Archdeacon,  293  note. 

Skippon  and  his  Trained  Bands, 
397  note. 

Slanning,  Sir  Nicholas  (Penryn), 
moves  adjournment  of  laft  Re- 
monftrance  debate,  404..  Cla- 
rendon's portraiture  of  him,  404, 
405  and  note.  Revives  claim  to 
Proteft,  407. 

Smith,  or  Smyth,  Henry  (Leicef- 
terfhire),  takes  part  in  Grand 
Remonftrance,  203.  Notices 
given  by  him,  236  note  *.  Sat 
on  Charles's  trial,  ibid. 

Smith,  Rev.  Sydney,  precedent  for 
Taxation  Diatribe  of,  255  note. 
Prototype  of  his  defence  of 
"  Prizes  in  the  Church,"  293  note. 

Soap,  monopoly  of,  granted  to  Pa- 
pifts,  248  note.  Complaints  of 
its  quality,  ibid. 

Soldiers,  A£ls  againft  compulfory 
prefling  of,  41,  42.     See  Army. 

Somerfet,  Car  Earl  of,  James's  fa- 
vourite, 95.  His  rife,  101. 
Honours  lavished  on  him : 
James's  manner  towards  him, 
102.  Caufe  of  his  fall,  ibid. 
James  no  accomplice  in  his 
crimes,    108,  109. 

Sophia,  Ele&refs  of  Hanover,  95. 

^Southwark   and   Lambeth    Riots, 

how  brought  about,  245.  Rous's 

diary  thereon,  ibid.  note.    Judge 

Reeve's  uprightnefs,  246  note. 

Spain,    Englifh  flag   infulted    by, 

228.     See  Ferdinand. 
Speaker,  Mr.   and  the  Commons 
in  Charles's  days,  279.  311  and 
note.     See  Lenthal. 


Strafford. 

Speeches,  fabrications,  fabrica- 
tions, and  unauthorifed  publi- 
cation of,  289,  290  notes. 

Speed,  the  Hiftorian,  on  feed-plots 
of  Treafon,  12. 

Spenfer,  Edmund,  85,  120. 

Spies,  Falkland's  hatred  of,  180. 

Stanhope,  Mr.  (Tamworth),  teller 
ondivifions,  i$jnote,  309  note  f. 

Stanhope,  Sir  Edward,  entertains 
James  I,  100. 

Stannary  Courts,  182.    Abolifhed, 

*57- 

Stapleton,  Sir  Philip  (Borough- 
bridge),  fellow  commifTioner  with 
Hampden,  165.  167  and  note  f. 
Why  grateful  to  Hyde,  330. 
Calls  attention  to  new  guard  at 
doors  of  Houle,  394. 

Star  Chamber  Court  created,  69. 
Abolifhed,  182.  256.  260.  Sam- 
ple of  enormities  pradtifed  by  it, 
229  and  note.  236,  237  and 
notes.  How  Laud  aggravated 
its  powers,  238.  Sheriffs  dragged 
before  it,  250.  Its  monltrous 
fentence  on  Prynne,  256,  257 
notes.  Fruitful  in  oppreffion 
when  barren  of  revenue,  261. 
Effect  of  its  fentences  in  Eliza- 
beth's days,  350. 

Statutes  of  conftitutional  import- 
ance paffed  under  the  Planta- 
genets.  See  Election.  Ireafons. 
Winchefter. 

Sterling,  Lord,  poor  plundered  for 
benefit  of,  233  note. 

Strafford,  Thomas  Wentworth, 
Earl  of,  125.  Folly  of  adopt- 
ing his  attainder  as  a  teft  of 
opinion,  126.  Mr.  Bankes's 
extravagant  comparifons,  127. 
146,  147.  His  laft  hopes  de- 
ftroyed  by  the  King's  inter- 
ference, ibid,  note.  Royalift 
fupporters  of  his  attainder,  128. 
Clarendon's  fhiftinefs  in  con- 
nection herewith,  128,  129. 
Difpute  railed  by  Verney's  re- 
port  of  debate  on   a  collateral 


460 


Index. 


Strafford. 
queftion,  131.  Debate  as  to 
mode  of  procedure  againft  him, 
J33 —  J37-  D'Ewes's  notes 
thereof  let  out,  137 — 141.  Sub- 
fequent  courfe  of  fome  of  the 
fupporters  of  the  attainder,  141. 
Prelumed  caufe  of  Falkland's 
animofity,  142  and  note.  Pym 
and  Hampden's  courfe  of  a£tion, 
143,  144.  His  right  to  be 
heard  by  counfel  inhfted  on  by 
them,  144,  145.  Himfelf  the 
greateft  man  on  the  King's  fide, 
149.  Character  of  his  ad- 
miniftration  in  Ireland,  150. 
Charles's  bad  faith  towards  him, 
151.  Moral  of  courfe  taken  by 
him,  152.  Pofition  of  parties 
after  his  death,  152,  153.  Rich- 
ard Baxter's  miftake  relative  to 
feceders  from  his  attainder,  153, 
1 54  notes.  Why  lefs  an  apoftate 
than  Falkland,  170.  His  name 
a  fignal  of  difunion,  190. 
Waller's  indifcreet  parallel  be- 
tween him  and  Pym,  and  its 
refults,  191.  192.  Innovation 
on  forms  of  Houfe  during  his 
attainder,  205.  His  fpeech  on 
billeting  grievances,  218,  219 
notes.  Piracies  on  Irifti  coaft, 
228  note.  Denounces  Royalift 
preachers,  239  note  -f-.  The 
Crown's  laft  and  beft  refource, 
243.  How  he  propofed  to  ufe 
it,  243,  244.  Wrefts  fubfidies 
from  Irifh  Parliament,  244. 
Colt  to  himfelf  of  his  advice  to 
the  King,  ibid,  note.  His  fick- 
nefs  a  foftener  of  harih  mea- 
fures,  245.  Story  told  by 
Lord  Shaftefbury, 252,253  notes. 
Strafford's  end,  256.  His  efcape 
prevented  by  Balfour,  372.  Why 
Selden  fubftituted  Ratcliffe's 
name  for  his,  374  notef .  See  alio 
176.  182.  183.  199.  227  note. 
233  n.  241.  248  n.  354  and  note. 
Strangways,  Giles  (Bridport),  teller 
on  diviiions,  310  note.  317.  352. 


Stuart. 
Interrupts  Pym  on  point  of  order, 
362.  Rebuked  by  D'Ewes,  363. 

Strangways,  Sir  John  (Weymouth), 
recommended  to  the  King, 
193.  His  motion  on  bufinefs  of 
Houfe,  206  note.  His  place  in 
the  Houfe,  284.  His  reminder 
to  Sir  R.  Cook,  348.  Charge 
brought  by  him  againft  the  Citi- 
zens, 376.  Story  of  the  "  lufty 
"young  man,"  377  and  note. 
Houfe's  opinion  of  his  ftatement, 
378. 

Stricklands  and  Wentworths,  87. 

Strode,  William  (Beeralfton),  pro- 
pofes  fine  for  abfent  Members, 
163.  316  note.  Gives  Hyde  the 
advantage,  187 — 189.  His  ante- 
cedents no  warrant  for  Claren- 
don's    low    eftimate     of    him, 

187  note.  Poffible  confufion 
between  two  Strodes,  187,  188 
notes.  Refufes  to  leave  the 
Houfe  with  his  accufed  friends, 

188  note.  D'Ewes's  allufions  to 
him  as  a  young  man,  188.  189 
notes.  Part  taken  by  him  in 
Grand  Remonftrance,  203.  204. 
His  blunt  avowal  as  to  Scotch 
army,  205  note  *.  His  motion 
for  fining  diforderly  Members, 
ibid,  note  f.  Addition  to  Re- 
monftrance propofed  by  him, 
221  note.  Venomous  alluiion 
by  Clarendon,  245  note.  Com- 
plains of  an  Order  of  the 
Houfe,  274.  His  place  in  the 
Houfe,  285.  His  fuggeftion 
relative  to  Hyde,  336.  Moves 
for  putting  kingdom  in  pofture 
of  defence,  357.  Alfo  for  con- 
tinuance of  guard  over  Houfes, 
ibid.  Defends  Citizens  againft 
Waller's  attack,  379.  Sup- 
ported by  D'Ewes,  ibid.  Sup- 
ports Hafelrig's  Militia  Bill, 
386.  His  opinion  of  Mallory 
and  Cook's  fpeeches,  387. 

Stuart,  Arabella,  bribed  to  intrigue 
for  a  peerage,  1 04. 


Indew 


461 


Stuarts. 

Stuarts,  grounds  of  refiftance  to 
tyranny  of  the,  1.  Influence 
of  earlier  records  on  the  ftruggles 
with  them,  2.  Preparative  for 
the  decifive  ftruggle,  68. 

Subfidies,  collection  of,  under  Plan- 
tagenet  Kings,to  whom  entrufted, 
33.  Amount  raifed  in  firft 
year  of  Long  Parliament,  254. 

Suckling,  Sir  John,  and  Lord 
Falkland,  170  note  f. 

Supplies,  ftipulations  for  control 
over,  28.  Made  conditional, 
41.  47. 

Tacitus,   feudalifm    exifting    in 

the  time  of,  4. 
Taxation,    interference    with    by 

Lords  refilled,  49,  50.     Reftored 

to  Commons,  256. 
Thinne,    Sir    James    (Wiltfhire), 

named    on    Remonftrance  Pre- 

fentation  Committee,  366. 
Thorpe,  Speaker,  privilege  alTerted 

in  cafe  of,  53. 
Timber  Grievance,  233. 
Tirrett,  Stephen,  his  nephew  Cole, 

and  Dr.  Nicholfon,  377  note. 
Titles  and  title-deeds,   how  made 

fubjecl:  of  extortion,  225,    226. 

234  note  f. 
Tomkins,  Mr.   (Weobly),   courfe 

taken  on  Strafford's  attainder  by, 

134.  139.     Why  expelled,  141. 
Tonnage  and  poundage,  226.  328. 

Bill  for  levy  thereof  brought  in, 

343.  PrefTed  on   by  St.   John, 

344.  Bill  in  committee,  359. 
Tower  of  London,    City    fear  of 

infecurity  of,  372.  Its  govern- 
ors. See  Balfour.  Lumford. 
Trained  Bands  of  London  ordered 
to  guard  Houfes  of  Parliament, 
166.  Cromwell's  motion,  199. 
Effect  of  gunpowder  monopoly, 
232.  King  orders  their  dif- 
miflal,  355,  356.  370.  Pym 
communicates  King's  melTage 
to  Commons,  356  note.  Bill 
for  their  future  command,  357. 


Vane. 


Reafons  to  be  fubmitted  to 
King,  357,  358.  Subftance  of 
report  embodying  reafons,  357 
— 359  notes.  King's  Trained 
Band  difcharged,  373. 

Treafons  the  feed-plot  of  liberty, 
12.  Conftitutional  value  of 
Statute  of  Treafons,  41 . 

Ires  Magi,  the,  64.  65.  68. 

Triennial  Bill  palled,  258.  260. 
Not  a  ftretch  of  power  on  the 
part  of  the  Parliament,  261. 

Tubbing's  mutilation,  237  note. 

Tudor,  Henry,  60.  64.  65.  See 
Henry  VII. 

Tudors,  peculiarity  of  defpotifm 
of  the,  67.  81.  Influence  of 
their  reigns,  71.  Their  cha- 
rafleriftics,  79.  Limits  to  which 
they  confined  their  tyranny,  80. 
Their  bearing  towards  the  peo- 
ple, ibid.  Talk  of  each  fove- 
reign  of  the  race,  80,  81. 
Feature  of  their  fyltem  relative 
to  Romanifm,  86.  Point  ar- 
rived at  by  the  fyftem  at  James's 
acceflion,  90.  See  Henry  VII. 
Henry  VIII.  EdvoardVI.  Mary, 
Queen.   Elizabeth,  Queen. 

Turks,  piracies  committed  in 
Englifh  waters  by,  228.  Their 
Englifh  emulators,  228  note. 

Tyler,  Wat,  and  Jack  Cade,  in- 
furreclions  of,  contrafted,  56. 

Unitarians  fent  to  the  ftake,  107. 
Univerfities  hard  at   work  againft 
the  Parliament,  155.  156  note  *. 
Uxbridge,  treaty  of,  348  note  f . 

Vane,  Sir  Henry,  the  elder 
(Wilton),  objects  to  note-taking, 
1 24  note.  Notes  taken  by  him- 
felf,  1 34.  Ufe  made  of  them  by 
the  Houfe,  135.  245  note.  His 
Secretary  examined  concerning 
them,  136.  Refufes  to  explain 
when  called  on,  140.  Requires 
time  for  deliberation,  141.  In- 
tercepts dilbanding  of  army  by 


462 


Index. 


Vane. 


King's  orders,  164.  His  refe- 
rence to  D'Ewes,  283  note. 
His  place  in  the  Houfe,  284. 
Deprived  of  office,  355.  Op- 
pofes  right  to  proteft,  408  note. 

Vane,  Sir  Henry,  the  younger 
(Hull),  hands  his  father's  notes 
to  Pym,  135,  245.  Speaks 
with  reference  thereto,  136. 
Treachery  by  which  he  was 
brought  to  the  fcaffold,  141. 
His  place  in  the  Houfe,  284. 
Self-denying  Ordinance,  348. 

Vaffals  and  vafTalage,  4.  5.  7. 
Effect  of  the  Wars  of  the 
Rofes,  68.     See  Feudal  Syflem. 

Ven,  Captain  John  (London), 
accufation  againft,  378. 

Verney,  Sir  E.  loyalty  of,  172. 

Verney,  Sir  Francis,  an  alleged 
Turkifh  pirate,  228  note. 

Verney,  Sir  Ralph  (Aylefbury), 
a  more  reliable  reporter  than 
Hyde,  1 3.  His  notes  publifhed, 
ibid,  note.  O^ueftion  raifed  on 
his  report  of  a  l'peech  of  Hamp- 
den, 131,  132.  144.  His  note 
on  excitement  as  to  Charles's 
Scottifli  Journey,  160  note  -f. 
Lift  of  recufants  from  his  papers, 
219  note.  On  wardfliip  extor- 
tions, 225  note.  Elizabeth  Cor- 
nell's cafe,  235  note  t.  236  note. 
Defcribes  Prynne's  punifhment, 
256,  257  notes.  Error  relative  to 
Sir  John  Eliot,  287  note.  Ufe 
made  of  his  notes  in  this  work, 
290  note.  Inference  from  his 
nonallufion  to  matters  dwelt  on 
by  Clarendon,  330.  Proceed- 
ings not  mentioned  by  him. 
332  note.  On  Cook's  mif-cita- 
tion  of  a  precedent,  388  note. 

Victoria,  O^ueen,  37. 

Villenage,  55.  56.  61.  See  Feudal 
Syflem. 

Villiers.  See  Buckingham,  Duke  of. 

Vintners  of  London,  l'um  paid  by 
the,  for  freedom  from  monopoly, 
248,  note. 


Warwick. 
Vorftius   perfecuted    to  the  death 
by   James    I,   107. 

Wales,  principle  enunciated  in 
giving  reprefentatives  to,  83. 

Waller,  Edmund  (St.  Ives),  170 
note  f.  Clarendon's  eftimate  of 
his  oratorical  powers,  191,  note. 
His  indifcreet  parallel  between 
Pym  and  Strafford  and  its  re- 
mits, 191, 192.  199.  Commons' 
journals  entry  of  the  incident, 
192  note.  His  new  allegiance  : 
recommended  to  the  King, 
193.  Objects  to  form  of 
Pym's  refolution,  197.  Caufe 
of  D'Ewes's  leclure  to  Speaker, 
281  note.  His  place  in  the 
Houfe,  285.  His  fpeech  on  the 
Remonftrance,  306.  His  defence 
of  Palmer,  349,  350.  Inveighs 
againft  citizens  of  London,  379. 
Oppofes  printing  of  Remon- 
ftrance, 403.  His  colleague  in 
the  Houfe,   fee  Godolp/iin. 

War  between  Charles  and  Parlia- 
ment.    See  Great  Civil  War. 

Warburton,  Bifhop,  on  a  feature 
in  Falkland's  character,  172 
note.  On  atrocities  of  the  Court, 
222  note.  On  an  expreffion  of 
Clarendon's,  347  note.  On  ob- 
ject of  Lunsford  s  appointment, 
372  note.  On  the  leaders  of  the 
Long  Parliament,  421. 

Wardfliip,  right  of,  claimed  by 
Saxon  kings,  5.  Opprefllvely 
exercifed  under  Charles  I,  224, 
225.  Inftances  of  extortion, 
ibid,  notes.  Court  of  Wards,  235. 

Warwick,  Earl  of,  refufes  to  fub- 
fcribe  to  loan  to  Charles  I,  220 
note.  His  pockets  fearched  by 
King's  order,  245  note.  Joins 
in  Lords'  petition  for  a  Parlia- 
ment, 251  note. 

Warwick,  Sir  Philip  (Radnor 
Town),  picture  of  Debate  on 
Grand  Remonftrance  by,  112. 
His  criticifm  on  Hyde,  286  note. 


Index. 


463 


Wenfivorth. 


On  Culpeper,  300  note.  His 
Old  Teftament  parallel,  325. 

Wentworth,  Peter,  declaration  in 
the  Commons  by,  84-  Unfub- 
duable,  87. 

Wentworth,  Thomas  Lord,  See 
Strafford. 

Weftminfter  Hall,  42.  44.  Its 
afpeft  and  occupants  in  Charles's 
days,  276,  277.  Incident  noticed 
in  Laud's  Diary,  277  note. 

Wharton,  Lord,  a  correfpondent 
of  Sir  John  Bankes,  410.  Ear- 
ned paffage  from  his  letter,  ibid. 

Wheeler,  Mr.  (Weftbury),  fubjeft 
of  report  by,  274.  Watch  duty 
impofed  upon  him,  374  note. 

White,  Mr.  catches  the  Speaker's 
eye,  311  note. 

Whitelocke,  Sir  James,  quaint 
obfervation  of,  54. 

Whitelocke,  Bulftrode  (Marlow), 
on  Judge  Berkley's  arreft,  182 
note.  Takes  part  in  Grand 
Remonftrance,  203.  Amend- 
ment carried  by  him,  230  note. 
What  he  fays  as  to  how  the 
Remonftrance  was  carried,  315. 
Why  his  "  Memorials  "  are  not 
entirely  truftworthy,  ibid,  note. 
His  plea  for  Palmer,  342. 

Whitgift,  Archbifhop,  fulfome 
compliment  to  James  I  by,  107. 

Wickliffe,  John,  61.  Burning  of 
his  followers,  70.  Their  in- 
creafe,  ibid. 

Wilde.    See  Wylde. 

William  the  Conqueror,  Saxon 
inftitutions  adopted  by,  4.  See 
Norman  Kings.    Saxons. 

Williams,  John ,  Bifhop  of  Lincoln, 
afterwards  Archbifhop  of  York, 
tampers  with  Pym's  fervant, 
159.  His  advice  to  the  King, 
ibid.  His  labour  loft,  161. 
Reads  Lords'  and  Commons' 
proteft  to  the  King,  401  note. 

Wilmot,  Mr.  (Tamworth),  285. 
See  AJliburnham,  William. 

Winchefter,    ftatute  of,  39,  40. 


York. 


Windebank,    Sir     Francis,    285. 

Driven    into    exile,    182.    256. 

Object   of    reprieve   figned    by 

him,  235  note.     Apt  agent  for 

the    Papifts,    248.       His   office 

given  to  Nicholas,  355. 
Windfor  Cattle,  42. 
Wingate,  Mr.  (St.  Albans),  203. 

224  note. 
Winwood,  Sir  Ralph,  purport  of 

Neville's  letter  to,  95,  96, 
Witan,  the  Saxon,  29. 
Wolfey,  Cardinal,  77. 
Worde,  Wynkyn  de,  77. 
Wray,  Sir  C.    (Great  Grimihy), 

named    on    Remonftrance    Pre- 

fentation  Committee,  367. 
Wrightman,  Edward,  fent  to  the 

ftake,  107. 
Writs  of  fummons,   varieties   in, 

3°,  31- 

Wycliffe.     See  Wickliffe. 

Wylde,  Serjeant  (Worcefterftiire), 
203.  On  deftru6f.ion  of  timber 
in  Dean  Foreft,  233  note. 

Wynne,  Sir  Richard  (Liverpool), 
named  on  Remonftrance  Pre- 
fentation  Committee,  367.  In- 
troduces his  colleagues,  368. 

Yelverton,  Sir  Chriftopher 
Boffiney),  communications  to 
D'Ewes  by,  308.  323.  Extract 
from  D'Ewes's  journal  relative 
thereto,  309  note.  On  feeling  of 
Lords  as  to  new  guard,  395. 

Yonge,  Walter, Diary  of,  zi 9 note. 
Extract  fhowing  how  moneys 
were  raifed  and  fquandered,  220 
note.  Cafe  of  land  piracy,  228 
notes.  Imprifonmentsforrefufing 
loans  to  the  King,  250  note. 

"Young  Man,"  ufe  of  the  term  as 
marking  identity  or  diverfity  in 
Strode's  cafe,  188,  189  notes. 

York  and  London,  rapid  travel- 
ling between,  241  note. 

York,  Court  of,  182.  See  Council 
of  the  North. 


THE    END. 


ERRATA. 

Page    47.   Third  marginal  note.     After  "  Officers"  infert  "  of." 

75.  Line  7  from  bottom.  For  "  Maa^eburg"  read  "Magdeburg." 
132.   Third  marginal  note.  For  "  Macauky"  read  "  Macaulay." 
255.  Second  marginal  note.  For  "  Culpepper  "  read  "  Culpeper." 
291.  Note.     For  "  D'Oyley  "  read  "  Onflow." 
363.  Firjl  marginal  note.  For  "  Culpeper"  read  "  Strangways." 
367.  Line  4.  For  "  Second  son"  read  "  Son  and  heir." 
377.  Note,  eight  lines  from  bottom.    For  "  Stephen  came  in  .  .  to 
tell  his  uncle"  read  "  came  in ,  .  .to  tell  his  uncle  Stephen." 


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