An historical view of the English government, from the settlement of the Saxons in Britain to the revolution in 1688

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AN

HISTORICAL VIEW

OF THE

ENGLISH GOVERNMENT,

FROM THE

SETTLEMENT OF THE SAXONS IN BRITAIN

TO

THE REVOLUTION IN 1688.

TO WHICH ARE SUBJOINED,

SOME DISSERTATIONS CONNECTED WITH THE
HISTORY OF THE GOVERNMENT,

FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE PRESENT TIME.

BY

JOHN MILLAR, ESQ.

Professor of Law in the University of Glasgow.

IN FOUR VOLUMES.
VOL. III.

LONDON:

FOR J. MAWMAN, NO. 3tf, I-UHGATF STREET

1812.

•

J. C. BAENARP, FMHTEB, SKINNEK STRBET, LONDON.

ADVERTISEMENT.

'>f> !>

THE Friends of Mr. Millar, to
whom he entrusted his Manuscripts, think
they would be wanting in their duty, were
they not to publish the following continuation
of his Historical View of the English Go-
vernment.

Jt was the intention of the Author, as will
be seen in the following pages, to divide the
history from the Accession of the House of
Stuart, to the present time, into two periods:
the first comprehending the history of those
contests between Prerogative and Privilege*
which, by the Revolution in 1688, terminated
in a manner so honourable to the spirit of the
nation, and so advantageous to the happiness
and liberties of the people : the second con-
taining the history of the rise and progress of

the Influence of the Crown : an influence,

7

which, though in some measure checked by
the general diffusion of knowledge and .the
advancement of the arts, was likely, in the
opinion of the Author, to become thes more
dangerous to the constitution, as its slow and

a

IV ADVERTISEMENT.

insensible advances are less apt to excite at-
tention.

Of these two parts of the general design, the
first was- left by the Author, in the state in
which he apparently meant to give it to the
public, and in which it now appears. — Great
part of the materials for the history of the
second period, as well as for an account of
the present state of the English Government,
had also been collected, and partly arranged
by him : but considerable alterations on the
manuscripts would be requisite, before these
very important parts of the work could be of-
fered to the public.

There were found, however, among Mr.
Millar's papers several dissertations on subjects
connected with the later history of the Go-
vernment, Manners, and Literature of Eng-
land, the substance of which, it would appear,
he had intended to introduce into his work;
these dissertations seem to contain so many
ingenious and interesting speculations, that it
has been judged proper to make them public,
notwithstanding the unfinished state of the
concluding Essay.

College, Glasgow.
14th March, 1803.

CONTENTS

OF rue

THIRD VOLUME

Page

INTRODUCTION ------ i

BOOK III. Of the English Government,
from the Accession of James I. to the
Reign of William III. ----- 9

CHAP. I. Review of the Government of
Scotland ----------9

SECT. I. Of the Government of Scotland,
from the Time when Britain was
abandoned by the Romans, to the reign
of Malcolm II. --------15

SECT. II. Of the Government of Scotland,
from the Reign of Malcolm II. to the
Union of its Crown with that of England 22

5

VI CONTENTS.

Page

SECT. III. Of the Government of Scotland,
from the Union of the Scottish and Eng-
lish Crowns, to that of the two kingdoms 73

CHAP. II. Changes in the Political State
of England from the Accession of the
House of Stuart — The Advancement of
Commerce and Manufactures — Institu-
tions for National Defence — Different
Effect of these in Britain, and upon
the Neighbouring Continent - - - -97

CHAP. III. In what Manner the Political
System zcas Effected by the State of Reli-
gious Opinions -------.* 126

CHAP. IV. Progress of the Disputes be-
tween the King and Parliament, during
the Reigns of James I. and of Charles I. 149

SECT. I. The Reign of James I. and that
of Charles I. from his Accession to the
Meeting of the Long Parliament - -151

SECT. II. Of the Reign of Charles I.
from the Meeting of the Long Parliament
to the Commencement of the Civil War 227

SECT. III. Of the Reign of Charles I.
from the Commencement of the Civil War
to his Death. 280

CONTENTS. .. Vll

Page

CHAP. V. Of Oliver Cromwell, and the
Protectorate ---------331

CHAP. VI. Of the Reign of Charles II.
and James II. -------- 373

CHAP. VII. Of the Revolution-Settlement;
and the Reign of William and Mary - 438

AN

HISTORICAL VIEW

OF THE

ENGLISH GOVERNMENT,

FROM THB

ACCESSION OF THE HOUSE OF STUART,

TO THE PRESENT TIME*.

INTRODUCTION.

Jb ROM the accession of James the First
to the English throne, we may date the com-
mencement of what, in a former part of this
inquiry, I have called the Commercial Go-
vernment of England. The progress of com-
merce and manufactures had now begun to
change the manners and political state of the
inhabitants. Different arrangements of pro-
perty had contributed to emancipate the

VOL. Ill, B

2 INTRODUCTION.

people of inferior condition, and to under-
mine the authority of the superior ranks. A
new order of things was introduced ; the feu-
dal institutions natural to a rude nation,
were, in great measure, abolished and for-
gotten ; and, upon the venerable stock of our
ancient constitution, were engrafted other
customs and regulations more consistent with
the genius and circumstances of a civilized
and opulent kingdom. The commercial im-
provements which about the same time took
place in other parts of Europe, were also at-
tended with great political changes. These,
however, were, in each country, accommo-
dated to the peculiar state of society, and
therefore exhibited very different combina-
tions and modes of government. According
as mankind have been more successful in
cultivating the arts of life, their political
systems are likely to be more diversified, and
to afford a more interesting picture. The
attention of a rude people is confined to few
objects ; and the precautions which occur to
them for preventing injustice, and for main-
taining good order and tranquillity, are
simple and uniform. By experience and ob-

ixf RobucxioN. 3

eervation, by the gradual expansioil of the
human understanding, hew measures are
discovered for the removal of particular
inconveniences : while j from the various
pursuits in which men are engaged j and the
wealth of different kinds which they accu-
mulate1, a variety of regulations are suggested
for the security and enjoyment of their seve-
ral acquisitions. Their systems of policy
are thus rendered more comprehensive, and,
to the eye of the philosopher j present a richer
field of instruction and entertainment.

The historical sera from which the present
inquiry sets out, is further distinguished by
an accidental event of great importance; the
union of the crowns of England and of Scot-
land. Bv the accession of the house of Stuart

w

to the English throne, the whole island of
Great Britain, which had long been divided
into two separate kingdoms, independent of
each other, and frequently engaged in mutual
depredations, was reduced under one sove-
reign, by whose authority their future ani-
mosities were effectually restrained, and their
military force invariably directed against
their common enemies. That this federal

B 2

4 INTRODUCTION.

union was highly beneficial to both nations,
by exalting their power and consideration
among foreign states, as well as by pro-
moting their security, together with their
trade and opulence at home, appears abun-
dantly manifest. How far it aifected their
political circumstances, and contributed to
improve the form of their government, I
shall afterwards endeavour to explain.

The whole period of English history from
the accession of James the First to the present
time, may be divided into two branches ;
the one comprehending the occurrences prior
to the revolution in 1688 ; the other the oc-
currences posterior to that great event. The
former contains the rise and progress of the
long contest between the king and parliament
concerning the extent of prerogative; a con-
test which, after involving the nation in a
civil war, and producing various political
changes and turns of fortune, was at last hap-
pily terminated by a judicious and moderate
correction of the ancient limited monarchy.
We have here an opportunity of considering
the condition of England and of Scotland,
after the union of the two crowns ; the cir-

INTRODUCTION. 5

cumstances in the state of society, which
encouraged the king to claim a despotical
power, and which, on the other hand,
prompted the people to demand an exten-
sion of privileges ; the views of the two great
parties, into which the whole kingdom was
naturally divided ; and the several events,
whether proceeding from local and tempo-
rary, or from general and permanent, causes,
which promoted or obstructed the success
of either party.

In the latter branch of this period, the po-
litical horizon assumed a different aspect.
By the revolution in 1688, the extent of the
prerogative was understood to be fixed in
such a manner as to preclude any future
disputes. The modes of arbitrary power,
with which the nation had formerly been
threatened or oppressed, were now com-
pletely restrained. The eminent advantages
of a constitution, which appeared effectually
to secure the most important rights of man-
kind, and which England enjoyed without a
rival, promoted, in a wonderful degree, her
commerce and manufactures, exalted her
power as a maritime nation, and enabled her

O INTRODUCTION.

to plant colonies as well as to establish her
dominion in distant parts of the globe.

The accumulation of wealth, arising, in
these prosperous circumstances, from a long
course of industry and activity, could not
fail to increase the expence of living to every
individual, and, of consequence, the expences
incurred in the management of public affairs.
Hence the necessity for a proportional in-
crease of taxes, and augmentation of the»
public revenue under the disposal of the so-
vereign. The patronage and correspondent
influence of the crown, which were thus ren-
dered more and more extensive, began to ex-
cite apprehension, that, if permitted to ad->
vance without controul, they might under-
mine and subvert the pillars of the ancient
constitution. Thus the two great political
parties were not extinguished at the revolur
tion ; though, according to the change of
times and circumstances, their object was
considerably varied. The Whigs, who had
formerly opposed the extension of the pre-
rogative, now opposed the secret influence
of the crown ; and the Tories, upon a similar
variation o.f the ground, still adhered tp th,e
interest of the monarch.

The operation of this influence was, in-
deed, retarded, for some time, by that warm
attachment to the exiled royal family which
prevailed through a part of the nation. While
a powerful faction in Britain supported the
claim of a pretender to the crown, those who
exercised the executive power were laid
under the necessity of acting with extreme
circumspection, and of keeping at a distance
from every measure which might occasion
suspicion or alarm. The greater diffusion of
knowledge, however, contributed, by de-
grees, to discredit and dissolve this foreign
connection, and, of course, to remove those
restraints which it had created; but, in the
mean time, the progress of liberal opinions,
and the growing spirit of independence, dis-
posed the people to examine more narrowly
the corruptions of government, and to reform,
the abuses of administration. In this man-
ner the popular and monarchical parts of
of our constitution have been again set at
variance ; a struggle between them has pro-
ceeded with some degree of animosity ; and
express regulations have been thought re-
quisite for limiting that ascendant which

8 INTRODUCTION.

the latter has gained, and is farther likely
to gain, over the former. The latter branch
of our history will exhibit the conduct of
political parties, in this critical situation, and
the various events and circumstances which
have tended to prevent, or delay, an amica-
ble conclusion of their differences.

•r ixmL. .

BOOK III.

OF THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT FROM THIS
ACCESSION OF JAMES THE FIRST, TO THE
REIGN OF WIIXIAM THE THIRD.

CHAPTER I.

Review of the Government of Scotland.

A.S the union of the two crowns placed
the administration of England and of Scot-
land in the same hands, we shall here turn
our attention to the history of the latter
country, and examine the leading features of
its government. In this review, without
entering into a long detail, it will be sufficient
to pointout the principal circumstances, from
which we may discover the general analogy,
and the most remarkable differences, in the
constitution and political state of the two
countries.

The armies of Rome never penetrated far
into Scotland, nor did they long maintain a
dominion over that part of the country which

10 REVIEW OF THE

they had subdued. While the inhabitants in
the southern part of Britain were disarmed,
and gradually civilized by that mighty power,
the Caledonians of the north retaining their
primitive independence, and warlike disposi-
tions, were little affected by the vicinity,
either of Roman arts, or of Roman manners.
Those high-spirited barbarians, therefore,
when the Romans were under the necessity
of withdrawing their forces from Britain,
found no enemy capable of resisting them,
and threatened to overrun and subdue the
whole of the island. They were afterwards
repulsed, however, by the Saxons, whom the
Britons called to their assistance ; and* after
various turns of fortune, were obliged to
contract the limits of their dominion, within
that southern wall which in later times had
formed the boundary of the Roman pro^
vince. Even within the territories of what
was called Scotland, the Saxons made fre-
quent inroads, more especially upon the
eastern side of the country ; where many
Saxon families were enabled to form a settle-
ment, and to acquire landed possessions.
Notwithstanding the original similarity

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 11

observable in all the governments of modern
Europe, they exhibit certain shades of dif-
ference, from which they may be divided
into two classes ; the first, comprehending
such as were founded upon the ruins of the
Roman provinces ; the second, such as arose
in the countries which had never been sub-
ject to the Roman empire. In both of these,
what is called the feudal system was in-
troduced ; but it was more completely and
rapidly established in the former than in the
latter. In those modern states which grew
up from the ruins of the western empire,
the inhabitants of so large a territory as that
which composed an ancient Roman pro-
vince, were naturally attracted to a kind of
centre, arjd formed a political union under
one sovereign. But the authority of this
monarch, over a people so barbarous, and so
little accustomed to subordination, was, ia
proportion to the extent of his dominions,
i'eeble and precarious : and the less capable
he was of restraining animosities and quar-
rels among his subjects, or of protecting them
from oppression, it became the more neces-
sary that they should take measures for de-?

12 REVIEW OF THE

fending themselves. For this purpose, every
chief, or proprietor of a landed estate, was
induced to maintain an intimate connection
with all his kindred and retainers, and to
distribute among them a great part of his
lands, upon condition of their being ready
to fight for him against all his enemies. It
>vas thus that Spain, France, England, and
a great part of Italy, soon after they had
been conquered by the Gothic nations, be-
came extensive rude kingdoms, in which the
free people were all united in separate feu-
dal dependencies, each under its own mili-
tary leader and protector.

The European countries which had never
been subjected to the Roman yoke, such as
Denmark, Sweden, and a great part of Ger-
many, were in circumstances a little dif-
ferent. The inhabitants, originally no less
rude and barbarous than the conquerors of
the western empire, were not incorporated
with any people more civilized than them-
selves, nor induced by any prior union sub-
sisting through an extensive territory, to
associate in very large communities. Their
different tribes, or families, accordingly, fol-

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 13

lowing the natural course of improvement,
advanced very slowly in their political as-
sociations ; and were collected in small
principalities, before they rose to consider-
able kingdoms. Bui in proportion as the
boundaries of any particular state were nar-
row, the prince was more powerful, and his
administration more vigorous ; in conse-
quence of which, the people, depending
more upon him for protection, resorted less
to private combinations for mutual defence.
The connection between the head of a tribe
and its members, between the proprietor of
a landed estate and his retainers, between a
superior and his vassals, could not fail to
subsist in all those nations, after they had
acquired a fixed residence; but this con-
nection was less extended in proportion to
the narrowness of each political commu-
nity ; and the services, or duties, to which
it gave occasion, were less multiplied, and
reduced into a regular system. Afterwards,
however, the feudal institutions and cus-
toms were promoted in those countries,
from an intercourse with such neighbouring

o o

states as, by settling in the Roman pro-

1

14 REVIEW OF THE

viuces, had made greater progress in that
system of policy.

Scotland appears to have been in a middle
situation between these different countries.
A part of it had fallen within the limits of a
Roman province, like the other countries in
the west of Europe. A part of it, likewise,
had received a number of Ano'lo-Saxon in*

o

habitants, who contributed to propagate
those institutions and customs which pre-
vailed in England. The remainder was in
the condition of those European countries,
where the dominion of the ancient Romans
afforded the people no peculiar motive to
extensive combination, or, of consequence,
to feudal subordination.

In tracing the history of the Scottish go-*
vernment, there are three great periods which
fall to be distinguished. The first reaches
from the time when Britain was abandoned
by the Romans to the reign of Malcolm the
Second. This comprehends the primitive
aristocracy ; and is analagous to the period
of the Ando-Saxon government in the south-

o o

ern part of the island. The second extends
from that reign to the time when James the
Sixth of Scotland mounted the1 English

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 15

throne. This corresponds to the reigns of
the Norman, Plantagenet, and Tudor princes
in England, and exhibits the circumstances
which, from the nature of the feudal policy,
contributed to exalt the power of the mo-
narch. The third contains the interval be-
tween the union of the crowns of England and
Scotland, to the union of the two kingdoms.
In this last period, the Scottish nation had
not made such advances in commerce as
could produce any great alteration in their
political system ; but the administration of
their government was then rendered subor-
dinate to that of England, a manufacturing
and commercial country.

, > » ^ <try v' ••?-.' ••' ..'

SECTION I.

OP THE GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND, FROM
THE TIME WHEN BRITAIN WAS ABAN-
DONED BY THE ROMANS, TO THE REIGN
OF MALCOLM THE SECOND.

DURING this early period, little is known
with certainty ; and we must be satisfied with
a delineation, from probable conjecture, of
the bare outlines and prevailing character of

16 REVIEW OF THE

the Scottish government. The appropriation
of land gave rise in Scotland, as well as in
the other countries of Europe, to several
.distinctions in the condition and rank of the
people. The owner of a landed estate ob-
tained universally an authority overall those
persons whom he maintained upon his pro-
perty. Those who acquired considerable
estates were led to distribute a part of them
among their kindred and followers, under
conditions of military service, and to put
the remainder under the management of ser-
vants employed in the several branches of
agriculture. The people subsisting upon
any estate came thus to be composed of the
master, or proprietor, of the vassals who
attended him in war, and of the peasants by
whose labour his household was supported.
.As the whole kingdom comprehended a
number of landed estates, disposed and re-
gulated in the same manner, and differing
only in the degrees of their magnitude, the
whole people, exclusive of the clergy, were
divided into these three orders of men,

It is probable, however, that in Scotland
the peasantry, in proportion to the collective
body of the nation, were less numerous than

GOVERNMENT OP SCOTLAND. If

in England : and that their condition was less
abject and servile. They were less numerous;
because agriculture was in a lower state, and

o *

a great proportion of the country was em-
ployed merely in pasturage. Their condition
was less abject and servile; because, as the
country had never been conquered, like the
provinces of the western empire, there had
been no opportunity, by captivity in war,
of reducing a great part of the inhabitants into
a state of absolute slavery.

In all rude countries, those who earn sub-
sistence by their labour are apt to feel much de-
pendence upon the person who employs them;
and there can be no doubt that in Scotland;, as
well as in the neighbouring feudal kingdoms,
the peasants were considered as inferior in rank
to the military tenants. But they appear to
have been less distinguished by peculiar marks
of inferiority; less disqualified from serving
their master in war ; and more capable, by their
industry and good behaviour, of bettering their
circumstances. It should seem, accordingly,
that the distinction between the villains and the
military tenants was earlier abolished in Scot-
land than in England. In the latter country, the

vou in. c

18 REVIEW OF THE

copy-holders, the remains of the ancient villains,
are still considered as inferior in rank to the
free-holders, or military tenants ; and are not,
even at this day, admitted to a full participa-
tion of the same political rights : whereas in,
Scotland, no such class of men as the copy-
holders, have any existence; nor in the pre-
sent laws and customs of that country are any
vestiges of the primeval villanage to be found.

As the state of property in Scotland was very
similar to that which took place in the other
countries of modern Europe, the form of go-
vernment resulting from it was in all probabi-
lity nearly the same. The proprietor of every
landed estate was the natural governor of the
district which it comprehended. He was the
military leader, and the civil magistrate, of all
the people who lived upon it. These pro-
prietors, originally independent of each other,
were led by degrees into a confederacy, or
political union, more or less extensive accord-
ing to circumstances.

I n England the proprietors in the same neigh-
bourhood were united in a town or village,

O '

commonly called a tything. Ten of these
villages are said to have been associated in form-

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 19

ing an hundred or centenary ; and an arbitrary
number of these hundreds formed a shire or
county. These districts were subordinate one to
another : and in each of them there was ap-
pointed a military leader ; by whom, with con-
currence of the several free proprietors, all its
political concerns were transacted. The pro-
prietors of the different shires were united un-
der a king, their great military leader; by
whom they were occasionally called to delibe-
rate, in the last resort, upon the legislative, ex-
ecutive, or judicial business of the nation.

It is highly probable that this political ar-
rangement, so natural and simple, took place
in Scotland, as well as in England, and in
other kingdoms upon the neighbouring conti-
nent ; though, from the deficiency and imper-
fection of the Scottish records, a complete
proof of it can hardly be adduced. The name
of ty thing is scarcely to be found in the an-
cient monuments or histories of Scotland ; but
there are clear vestiges of the most important
regulations connected with that institution. A
ty thing in England, as well as upon the conti-
nent of Europe, was in reality a town or vil-
lage divided into ten parts ; and in the towns

c j2

20 REVIEW OF THfc

or villages of Scotland, as I had occasion to
observe in a former part of this inquiry, the
whole of the inhabitants were liable to make a
pecuniary compensation for the crimes com-
mitted by any individual. This affords a dis-
tinct evidence of the intimate union subsisting
among the members of those little societies*

o

which were the basis of the more extensive
combinations.

The institution of hundreds can scarcely be
traced in Scotland : but the division of the
whole kingdom into shires, or counties, each
tinder its own governor, the alderman or earl,
and afterwards his deputy, the sheriff, seems
to be fully ascertained ; nor can there be any
reason to doubt, that the political business of
the nation was ultimately determined by u
great council, corresponding to theWitten age-
mote in England. This council was in all
probability composed of the free or allodial
proprietors of land ; was called by the king in
any important emergency ; and exercised an
authority which pervaded all the different
branches of government.

The Aristocratic al nature of this constitution,
Avhich placed the supreme power in the inde-

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. Ji

pendent proprietors of land, is abundantly
manifest. It is probable that, in the course of
time, it became gradually more aristocratical
than it had originally been. Upon the first
appropriation of land, it is natural to suppose
that the occupiers were numerous, and the
estates of individuals proportionably moderate.
But in the turbulent and disorderly state of
the country, men of small property were un-
able to defend theiy possessions; and therefore
found it necessary to resign their estates into
the hands of some powerful neighbour, and to
hold them for the future as his vassals upon
conditions of military service. In this manner
the number of independent proprietors was
gradually diminished; the foundation of poli-
tical influence was more and more contracted ;
and the right of sitting in the national assem-
bly was at length limited to a few individuals

. yrV c?c
who had accumulated great estates.

REVIEW OF THE

SECTION II,

OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND, FROM
THE REIGN OF MALCOLM THE SECOND,
TO THE UNION OF ITS CROWN WITH
THAT OF ENGLAND,

. '};!'!

THE same darkness which involves the first
period of the Scottish history, and which ren-
ders it, in great measure, a field of mere con-
jecture, hangs over a considerable part of the
second. The commencement of the second
period, however, is distinguished, according
to the testimony of all the historians, by the
reduction of the great lords, the remaining
allodial proprietors of land, into a state of
feudal dependence upon the king ; an event
similar to that which took place in England at
the Norman Conquest ; and in France, during
the reign of Hugh Capet and his immediate
successors. The fact is confirmed by a cok
lection of ancient laws, ascribed to king Mal-
colm the Second, in which it seems to be stated,
though in vague and general ternis, that this

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 23

monarch by a course of transactions with his
subjects, became the feudal superior of all the
lands in the kingdom.

As the account there given is contrary to the
opinion of many British antiquaries concerning
the origin of the feudal system, they have
generally disputed the authenticity, or at least
the date of that ancient record. We must ac-
knowledge, that the information which it con-
tains, with respect to an event of such import-
ance, is very lame and unsatisfactory ; and that,
in many other particulars, it seems to be replete
with blunders and inaccuracies. A conjecture
has thence been suggested, which is highly pro-
bable, that the compilation in question was not
made by public authority, in the reign to which
it refers ; but has been the work of a private
individual, in a later age: and contains the
ideas of the writer concerning the regulations,
introduced in the reign of Malcolm the Second.
Jn this view, with all its inaccuracies and de-
fects, it appears entitled to some regard. It
may be considered in the light of a very an-
cient and universal tradition, and, when sup-
ported by the general testimony of historians,
jnay be held of sufficient weight to counterba-

24 . REVIEW OF THJ& .

rtce any slender evidence which can, at this
<iay, be thrown into the opposite scale*.

Concerning the introduction of the feudal
4t&uves into Scotland, there occur twopp££icu~
lars which merit attention. In the first place, it is
the uniform doctrine of the ancient lawyers and
antiquaries who have written upon the subject,
that the feudal system in Europe arose from
the immediate act of the king, who, upon sub-
duing any country, laid hold of the land, and

* Lord Hales, an author whose acute researches concern-
ing ancient facts, and whose extreme caution in advanc-
ing any conjecture with respect to their causes, are equally
conspicuous, asserts that the collection of old laws as-
scribed to Malcolm the Second, is a plain and palpablp
forgery. In proof of this assertion he seems to depend
chiefly upon two arguments, 1. The improbability of the
fact stated in the collection, viz. That the king gave away
the whole land in Scotland to his men. " Dedit, et distri-
" buet totam terrain de Scotia hoininibus suis, et nihil sibi
** retinuit in proprietate, nisi regiam dignitatem, et
" montem Placid in villa de Scona." But it seems evi-
dent that the expression here made use of, is not meant
to be literally understood. The royal dignity cannot
be considered as a pit>c<> of land ; and yet it is said, that
the king gavo the vJiolv land, except the royal dignity. But
the roytil ' dignity seemrs in this passage to be meant those
royal demesnes by which the dignity of the crown was sup-
ported; and probably the lands distributed to his subjects,

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND.

reserving so much of it as he found requisite for
his own subsistence, distributed the remainder
among his great officers, to be enjoyed by them
upon condition of military service. A part of
what had thus been bestowed upon these lead-
ing persons, was by them distributed, upon si-
milar terms, among their dependants ; so that,
from one great stock, different orders of vassals,
in subordination one to another, sprung up in
various ramifications. To this account, when

under the conditions of feudal tenure, were these only which
they haxl previously resigned to the king for that purpose,
or which had fallen to him by forfeiture. The moot hill oj
Scone, the place where the national council held its meet-
ings, is mentioned as distinct from the ordinary demesnes
of the crown. 2. The other arguments against the authen-
ticity of this ancient record is taken from ihefees or salaries
mentioned as given to certain officers. These the author
thinks are in certain cases immoderately high; in others, in-
consistent with the respective ranks of those officers. But
before any argument from topics of this kind can have mucji
weight, it will be necessary to show distinctly the rate .of
money used in Scotland, both during the reign of MaJcolgn
the Second, and of Malcolm the Third, which this learned
author appears unable to do. In addition to this remark,
it may be proper to subjoin a note, which lord Hales has
the candour to insert at the end of his dissertation, and by
which it should seem, tliat his labours upon that subject are

2O REVIEW OF THE N. , . *

applied to the history of Scotland, it occurs as
an insuperable objection, that no such consi-
derable conquest ever took place in the coun-
ty, as could enable the sovereign to seize and
distribute the lands in the manner supposed.
There seems, therefore, to be a necessity for
admitting, that, in Scotland, at least, the feudal
system was propagated in a different course ;

that it began by the occupiers of land bestow*-

.

in some degree superseded. " A friend of mine," says he,
" distinguished in the literary world, observes, that the
" Leges Malcolmi are the composition of some private man
** who meant to describe the great outlines of the laws and
^ customs of his country, which he supposed, or had been
~" told by tradition, were first introduced by some ancient
" and famous king of the name of Malcolm, either Malcolm
** Mackenneth, or Malcolm Canmore; the former just as
" probably as the latter. It does not appear that the author
" himself ever meant that they should pass for the original
" statutes of that king. The whole book is a narrative or
" history of the regulations which he supposed had been
" made in times that were ancient in comparison of his own.
'* The style is every where not statutary, but historical.
" He called them the Laws of King Malcolm, because he
" supposed they had originally been instituted by some king
" of that name. The supppsition of their being the statutes
" of any king is a blunder, and a very gross one, of later
" writers, for which the author is not answerable." [See
Hales' Dissertation on the LL. Malcolmi;]

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND* 27

ing fiefs upon their kindred and followers ;
that it was extended by the poorer allodial
proprietors purchasing the protection, and be-
coming the vassals of the more opulent ; and
that it was at length completed by these opu-
lent proprietors falling, in consequence of the
numerous quarrels and difficulties in which
they were involved, under the immediate vas-
salage of the crown.

The other circumstance to which I alluded
is, that the passage, in this old collection of
laws concerning the introduction of the feudal
tenures, mentions the vassals of the crown only.
We are told that, in the reign of king Malcolm,
the great lords became the vassals of the crown;
but we have no information as to the period
when the inferior military people became the
vassals of the great lords. It is natural to con-

o

elude, therefore, that the feudal subordination
of the inferior people had immemorial ly existed
in the country: for otherwise, had it either
immediately preceded or followed theinfeuda-
tion of the great lords, it would probably have
been mentioned in stating that event, with
which it was so evidently connected.

It is the opinion of Sir Henry Spejman, and

, BEVIEW OF THE ^

has been followed by several respectable authors,
that the collection of laws abovc-mentionepl is,
by a mistake of the publisher, ascribed to the
reign of Malcolm the Second, and belongs in
reality to that of Malcolm the Third, about
fifty years posterior to the former. According
to this conjecture, the feudal system was comr
pleted in Scotland about the time of the N,Qf-
man Conquest, that is about the same time as in
England ; whereas, by the comnjon account,
that evrent was produced about fifty years eajr
lier. The completion of the feudal structure,
by exalting a king to be the feudal superior of
all the lands in his dominions., was, in all the
countries in Europe, a regular step in the pro-
gress of society and government; and that the
Scottish nation had become ripe for so great a
political change, at an earlier peric-d than the
English, is what we should not naturally have
supposed. But we seem scarcely entitled, from
.conjecture alone with respect .to a fact of this
nature, to set aside the evidence of tradition ;
• more especially when it is considered, that
accidental circumstances frequently concur, in
particular countries, to retard or accelerate the
operation of general causes.

GOVERNMENT Of SCO"ft,AND. £9

Malcolm the Second, though the lineal heir
of the crown, was obliged to enforce his right
bv the sword. He was afterwards eno-awd in

" . . O O

fierce and bloody wars with the Danes, at that
time masters of England ; and, after various
success, was at length so fortunate as to drive
those formidable invaders out of the kih£d6m.

O

It is not improbable, therefore, that the losses
sustained by the nobility, in this long and ob-
stinate contest, had considerably weakened
their power, while the continued military ope-
rations in which the people were engaged, to-
gether with the splendid victories and complete
triumph of the monarch, ih a quarrel so
national and popular, had, on the other hand,
increased the influence of the crown, so as to
produce, in the chief proprietors of land, a
disposition to purchase the king's protection
by submitting;; to his feudal authority.

•> O »

At any rate the alteration contended for does
not seem very material. To those who imagine
that the feudal tenures were introduced into
Scotland merely from an imitation of the prac-
tice in England, it must appear necessary to
Overthrow every monument, or account, which
trhds to shew their complete establishment in

30 REVIEW OF THE

the former country at an earlier period than iii
the latter. But if we suppose, what is now
generally admitted, that those institutions, both
in the southern and northern parts of Britain,
were derived from the general state of society
and manners, though afterwards, perhaps, pro-
moted and modified by imitation, the precise
date of their introduction will seem of little
moment ; and their occurring half a century
sooner or later will make no considerable dif-
ference in the political history of the country.
It is of importance, however, to observe,
that even after the sovereign had thus reduced
the great lords of the kingdom into a state of
military subordination, his authority was not
thence greatly augmented. Although, when
exposed to imminent danger, and eager to take
vengeance upon their enemies, the barons had
sheltered themselves under the protection of the
crown, and promised to support its authority ;
yet no sooner were they relieved from their
difficulties, than they naturally forgot their
promises, and resumed that independent spirit
which was habitual to them. The feudal su-
periority of the king came, therefore, in many
respects, to be more nominal than real ; and he

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 31

often found it extremely difficult, if not impos-
sible, to enforce that submission and obedience
which the tenure of a military vassal required.
The assistance and protection which he afforded
his vassals were understood, in all cases, to be
fully compensated by the regular services, and
by the incidental emoluments which he drew
from them, and the reluctance with which they
often performed their ordinary duties, left no
room to expect that they would acquiesce in
any additional demands. They had not only
the right of enjoying their estates during their
own life, but that of transmitting them to their
heirs ; and it was not more their interest to
obtain the favour of their superior, than it was
his interest to secure their fidelity and attach-
ment They were servants, in a word, who
punctually obeyed their master when his orders
were suited to their own inclinations ; but who
frequently required an extraordinary premium,
or inducement, if he wished they should serve
him with spirit and alacrity.
^fjFrom the slightest attention to the political
history of England and of Scotland, it will
appear that the progress of the regal power
was much more slow and gradual in the latter

32 REVIEW OF THE

country than in the former, and that the pri-
mitive aristocracy gained a more absolute and
lasting ascendant. For the slow advancement
of monarchy in Scotland, so far as it has not
proceeded from accidental occurrences, two
great, causes may be assigned.

1. The nature of the country, rugged, moun-
tainous, and in many parts hardly accessible,
produced a number of separate districts, in
which particular barons were enabled to esta-
blish and maintain an independent authority.
Within those natural barriers which divided one
territory from another, a great lord easily re-
duced all the small proprietors into subjection :
and, at the same time, residing in the midst of his
retainers and followers, was in a good measure
secured from any foreign invasion. Landed pro-
perty was thus quickly accumulated by a few
great nobles, whose power over their inferiors^
and whose influence in the government, became
proportionally extensive. While they lived at
home in rustic state and magnificence, the^y
had little temptation to court the favour of the
crown, and still less to purchase it by a sur^
tender of their privileges ; nor did the sovereign
ofti.-u find it advisable, however they tnight

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. S3

incur his displeasure, to run the hazard of
inarching against them in their fastnesses, and
of endeavouring by force to subdue them. In
this situation they continued for many centu-
ries to suffer little degradation, either from the
immediate power of the most warlike, or from
the secret intrigues of the most artful and poli-
tic princes;

2. The other cause which operated in retard-
ing the advancement of the crown, though, per-
haps, it may be considered as partly arising from
the former, was the slow progress of arts and
manufactures. From the state of society in
most of the countries of modern Europe, the
king had usually an interest in protecting the
peasantry, as well as the trading part of the
nation, and in promoting the extension of their
privileges ; for in that manner he infallibly
weakened their dependence upon their imme-
diate superiors, and of consequence under-
mined the power of his rivals, the nobility.
It was to be expected, also, that when the
inferior orders of the community had, by the
encouragement given to their industry, been
emancipated from their primitive bondage; and
had attained a degree of opulence and cont>i~

VOL. III. D

S3- REVIEW OF THE

deration, they Would naturally be prompted
to a return of good offices, and induced, by
motives of interest, as well as by habitual at-
tachment, to support the dignity of the crown,
and to throw their whole weight in opposition
to the aristocracy.

But in Scotland the barrenness of the soil
and coldness of the climate obstructed the pro-
gress of agriculture, and of course chilled the
growth of manufactures. The necessaries of
life must be had in plenty, before there can be a
general demand for its conveniencies. Accord-
ingly, though villages and towns employed in
some branches of traffic, arose in different
parts of the country, and though these, in con-
formity to the practice of other European
kingdoms, were incorporated by the king, and
endowed with various exclusive privileges, yet,
in spite of every encouragement, they continued
poor and despicable, and were for a long time
unabk, as political auxiliaries of the crown, to
perform any important service.

The Scottish parliament from the time of
Malcolm the Second, like that of England from
the Norman Conquest, appears to have been
composed of all the immediate vassals of the

GOVERNMENT OIF SCOTLAND* 35

crown ; and these were divided into two estates,
the one comprehending the ecclesiastical, the
other the lay-barons ; each of which claimed,
at least on some occasions, a separate voice in
the assembly. But after the creation of royal
boroughs the king was induced, from similat
circumstances in the northern as in the south-
ern part of the island, to require that these cor-
porations should send deputies for making a
general bargain with regard to the taxes or
duties demanded from them ; and hence those
deputies, whose consent was requisite for pro-i
curing a part of the national supplies, were by
decrees admitted into the national council.

O

. Concerning the time when this change in the
government was effected, as it proceeded ap-
parently from no public regulation, but merely
from the private interpositions of the sovereign,
we have no decisive information. It seems to
be admitted, that the representatives of the
boroughs were introduced into the national as-
sembly as early as the reign of Robert the First ;
though some authors, with no small degree of
probability, have placed this event at an earlier
period. But as the number of these repre-
sentatives was, for a long time, inconsiderable,

36 REVIEW OF TH£

and as they took little share in the public
transactions, their political existence appears
to have been in a great measure overlooked.

It is remarkable* however, that notwith-
standing the insignificance of the Scottish
boroughs, they formed, at an earlier period, a
peculiar court* composed of their own deputies*
to which nothing similar occurs in the southern
part of the island. Four of those communities,
probably the most opulent and • flourishing ;
namely, Edinburgh, Stirling, Berwick^ and
Roxburgh, were accustomed, by their delegates,
to hold meetings for the purposes of reviewing
the judicial sentences passed by the magistrates
of particular boroughs, and of deliberating
upon the concerns of the whole order. A meet-
ing of this kind received the appellation of the
Parliament of Boroughs. When Berwick and
Roxburgh had fallen into the hands of the
English, Linlithgow and Lanark were substi-
tuted in their place ; and we find that, after-
wards, all the royal boroughs, to the southward
of the Spey, were invited to send representa-
tives to this commercial council*.

* See the treatise intitled Curia Quatuor Bitrgoritm, in
the collection of old laws published by Skone. At what time

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 3?

Of the circumstances which gave rise to this
institution, or the period of its commencement,
no account is given by historians. It was na-
tural that the manufacturing and mercantile
people, like the clergy, or any other class of men
distinguished by their peculiar situation from
the rest of the community, should hold con-
sultations for promoting their common interest ;
but it is difficult to conceive that the towns in
Scotland were, at a very remote period, pos-r
ses«ed of such weight as could enable them, by
their joint meetings, to assume any considerable
jurisdiction or privileges. As the ancient par-
liament of boroughs \vas called and held by the
king's chamberlain, the officer employed in
superintending the royal revenue drawn from
that class of the people, it is probable that the

the meeting, called the Parliament of boroughs, was first
introduced, it seems impossible to ascertain. That part of
the collection above mentioned, intitled consmtudines bur'
gorw/H, and supposed by Skene to have been established in
the reign of David the First, is conjectured to have arisen
from the interpositions of this ancient court. The act of
the legislature substituting the boroughs of Lanark and
Linlithgow to those of Berwick and Roxburgh, which had
fallen into the hands of the English, was passod in the year
8. in the reign qf David the Second

38 REVIEW OF THE

authority acquired by this meeting had pro-
ceeded from the policy of the sovereign ; and
that it was calculated to answer the same pur-
pose which he had afterwards in view, by intro-
ducing the burgesses into the national assem-
bly. By subjecting the decisions and delibe-
rations of the inhabitants of the towns to a re-
presentative court of their own order, he secured
a degree of uniformity in their measures ; was
enabled, with greater facility, to overrule their
determinations, more especially with regard to
the contributions and duties which he levied
from them j and taught them, by the habit of
acting in their collective capacity, to discern
their common interest in opposing the nobles,
by whom they were frequently oppressed, and
in supporting the king, by whom they were
usually protected.

From the original parliament of boroughs,
augmented and modified by the attendance of
the delegates from other boroughs throughout
the kingdom, was at last suggested the idea
of a general meeting, composed of repre-
sentatives from all the towns under the im-
mediate patronage of the crown, and invested
\vith powers to regulate the concerns of aH

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 39

those trading; societies. Such was the conven-

o

tion of the royal boroughs, authorized by an
act of the legislature in the reign of James
the Third, and confirmed by another statute
in the reign of James the Sixth. The records
of its annual meetings have been preserved
from the year 1552 ; though its constitution
and forms of procedure have been somewhat
varied by subsequent regulations.

From the spirit and facility with which
the individuals who compose the trading part
of a nation are apt to unite in maintaining and
extending their privileges, it might be expect-
ed that this early institution would have be*
stowed upon them an extensive influence in
the government. But while Scotland remain-
ed an independent kingdom, the low state of
her commerce prevented any combination
whatever from raising her merchants to poli-
tical importance ; and in the present century,
since, by her union with England, and by
our own exertions, her circumstances in this
respect have been greatly improved, her opu~
Jent mercantile towns no longer think it au

o

object to associate with those inconsiderable
corporations which chiefly compose the con-

D 4

REVIEW OF THE

vention of royal boroughs ; but rather endea-
vour, by a voluntary association with the
larger commercial societies of Great Britain,
and by the formation of numerous commit-
tees, or chambers of commerce, to inforce
their demands, and advance their common
interests.

In the English parliament the knights of
the shires were introduced about the same
time with the burgesses ; but in Scotland the

o

greater poverty of the lower classes of the
gentry prevented them from aspiring to poli-
tical importance, and therefore obstructed a
similar improvement. It has been mentioned
in a former part of this treatise, that James
the First, about an hundred years after the
time of Robert Bruce, having been long de-
tained a prisoner in England, was disposed to
imitate the institutions of a country more ad-
vanced in regular government than his own :
and rinding, upon his return home, that
many vassals of the crown, from a variety of
circumstances which had contributed to dis-
member their estates, were averse from the
cxpence of attending in parliament; and at
the same time observing that these men of

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 4l

narrow fortunes, and of inferior rank, were
commonly, from their jealousy of the greater
barons, inclined to support the preroga-
tive, he endeavoured, first of all, by an
act of the legislature, to enforce their attend-
ance. As this injunction, however, was
disregarded, he soon after procured another
-statute, excusing the small vassals from that
duty, but requiring that, in the same man~
ner as in England, they should send represen-
tatives. The small vassals of the crown in
Scotland, probably less able to bear the ex-
pence than the people of the same description
in England, laid hold of the dispensation,
but neglected to fulfil the conditions ; so that
before the reign of James the Sixth, that is, a
full century after this period, the attendance
of the knights of shires had not been made
effectual.

Thus, during a period of two centuries at
least, the national council in Scotland was
composed of the barons who sat in their
own right, of the dignified clergy, and of a
small number of burg-esses. I" tne forms of

o.

its procedure it was further distinguished
from the correspondent council in England by
two remarkable peculiarities.

42 ,<t REVIEW OF THE

1. The Scottish parliament was never di-
vided, like that of England, into two houses.
In the parliament of England, the knights of
shires, and the burgesses, were, each of them,
a numerous body, not easily accommodated
in one apartment, and deriving suitable consi-
deration and importance from that large pro-
portion of the community which they repre-
sented. United, however, by their common
character of representatives, they, instead of
claiming distinct suffrages in the assembly,
were led naturally to act in concert with each
other; and, for the convenience of their joint
deliberations, were collected in a separate
place from the other members. But in the
parliament of Scotland there were no knights
of shires, and the few burgesses, the only
other species of representatives, were too in-
considerable to claim such marks of distinc-
tion ; and their pretension to sit and vote in
a separate house would have been held ridicu-
lous. Thrown into the common mass, they
rather found it comfortable to escape observa-
tion, and to cover their insignificance ; serv-
ing only, like the rubbish of a building, to fill
a corner unoccupied with more solid mate-
rials.

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 43

This union of all the different members of par-
liament in one house had a visible effect upon
the government. Though that assembly consist-
ed of three different estates, or orders, who had
each a separate interest, yet, in their promis-
cuous deliberations, it was to be expected that
the influence of the nobility would greatly pre-
dominate. The ecclesiastical and mercantile
orders became unavoidably subordinate to that
more powerful body ; and their measures were
deeply tainted with the prevailing leaven of
aristocracy. The delegates of the boroughs
were more especially affected by this mode of
deliberation. It was in vain to expect that a
set of tradesmen, but lately emerged from a
servile condition, would lay aside their native
habits, and speak or act with firmness and in-
trepidity. Voting under the immediate eye
of the great barons, men whom they had been
accustomed to treat with respect and reverence,
or whom they still wished to serve in the ex-
ercise of their professions, they were not like-
ly to stand forward in maintaining their own
opinions, or in pursuing any line of conduct
that might expose them to the resentment or
displeasure of. those eminent personages. To

REVIEW OF THE

•concur in silence with whatever should be pro-
posed by their superiors, or to avoid those
^meetings which threatened a violent contest,
was more agreeable to their circumstances, and
to fall in with every prevailing party became
naturally their temporizing system of policy.
The introduction of those delegates into the
legislature was therefore an event of Jittle im-
portance, and, for a long time, unproductive of
any interference upon the part of the commons,
either for exalting the prerogative, or establish-
ing the rights of the people.

2. Another peculiarity in the procedure of
the Scottish parliament consisted in the ap-
pointment of a committee, under the name of
the Lords of the Articles, for the purpose of pre-
paring and digesting the bills to be laid before
that assembly* This institution appears to
have arisen from the small number of members
who sat in the national council, and their im-
patience under the delays of business, the con-
sequence of their inexperience, which made it
commonly difficult to procure a decently full
meeting during the time requisite for the regu-
lar discussion of public affairs. To relieve
themselves from a tedious and disagreeable at?

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 45

tendance, they devolved upon a few of their
members the burden of putting the business
into such a form, that nothing more than the
mere assent or dissent of the meeting should be
requisite ; and that thus, in a day or two at the
most, its deliberations might be completely
ended.

This practice, which can be traced no high-
er than to the reign of David the Second*,
and which did not acquire a regular establish-
ment for some time afterf-, was indirectly
favourable to the prerogative; and therefore
was, no doubt, secretly promoted by the sove*,
reign. Though the lords of the articles ap-
pear to have been originally nominated by par-
liament itself'j, the nomination was likely, in
most cases, to fall upon those members, who,
by their experience in such matters, and by
residing about court, were the best qualified
for executing the business. Such persons,
however, were the usual ministers of the
crown, and most commonly devoted to its in-»
terest; so that, by their means, the king was

* See Annals of Scotland by Sir David Dalrywple.
t Sec "Wight's Inquiry into the Rise of Parliament,
i Wight's Inquiry. Ibid.

46 REVIEW OF T&E

frequently enabled to keep out of view all
those topics of discussion which he wished to
avoid, and to seize a convenient opportunity
for introducing those measures which he was
eager to carry. It appears, indeed, that the
lords of the articles had not an absolute nega-
tive upon the deliberations of parliament, but
that the members of that assembly were at li-
berty, of their own proper motion, to suggest
whatever subjects they might think proper.
But such a mode of proceeding was a devia-
tion from the usual course of business, uni-
formly discouraged and reprobated by the
king and his ministers, and was not likely
to be often proposed, or insisted on, by a set
X)frude barons, more distinguished for valour
in the field, than for address and penetration
in the senate.

Notwithstanding this expedient, however,
which bestowed upon the sovereign such a
manifest advantage in managing the delibera-
jtions of parliament, the super-eminent power
of the nobility is every where discernible in
the proceedings of that^assembty, and in all the
departments of government.

It was the practice in England, as I had for-
2

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 47

merly occasion to observe, that an act of par-
liament should proceed upon a petition from
the two houses to the sovereign, requesting
that some grievance might be redressed, or some
branch of the public administration altered.
This humble and respectful mode of proceed-
ing never had place in Scotland, where we see
the national council holding a very different
language. They assume a dictatorial- tone;
avow the enactment of laws by their own au-
thority ; and even frequently ordain, without
ceremony, that the king shall carry their mea-
sures into execution.

Thus, in a statute made in the reign of James
the First, it is said, " the parliament has deter-
" mined and ordained, that our lord the kino;

o

" shall gar (cause to) mend his money, and
" gar strike it in like weight and fineness to
" the money of England*/'

In another statute, the parliament ordains,
that the king shall command the judges to dis-
tribute justice impartially between the poor
and the rich, and that he shall rigorously punish
those who do otherwise^.

* Parl. 1. ch. 23. Black Acts.
t Hid. ch. 49.

48 HEVIEW OF THE

In the reign of James the Second, the thrct
estates order, that courts shall be held at certain
seasons throughout the kingdom ; and that the
king himself' shall be in each town when the
court is held, or near it, where his council thinks
fit. — The three estates have also concluded) that
the king shall ride through the realm when in-
formation is received that rebellion, slaughter,
or other attrocious crimes, have been com-
mitted, and shall cause immediate cognizance
thereof to be taken*.

In the reign of James the Third, the lords;
understanding that there has been great sloth in
the execution of the laws relative to bringing
in and keeping the bullion, so as to occasion
groat scarcity thereof, they require, that the
king shall put the statutes on that subject
sharply in execution, and shall appoint true
and able searchers for the time to come-f-.

The style of the legislature was gradually
softened and varied in later times ; but the cus-
tom of passing statutes in the name of the three
estates of parliament is continued occasionally

* Ja. II. ch. 5. and ch. G. Black Acts.
t Ja. III. ch. SO.

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 49

through the reigns of James the Third, of James
the Fourth, and of James the Fifth*.

The course of parliamentary business in
England, by which every bill passed through
both houses in the form of a petition to the
sovereign, produced, of necessity, a negative
in the crown ; for a petition would have no
force unless when granted by the person to
whom it was addressed. But in Scotland,
wiiere statutes were enacted by the general
authority of parliament, there was no founda-
tion for this controuling power of the mo-
narch. As parliament in that country was
not divided into two houses, the king does not
appear to have constituted a separate branch
of the legislature. He seems to have been ori-
ginally regarded as the president of that assem-
bly, and his voice to have been included in
its general determinations. In the early his-
tory of the Scottish parliament, we meet with
no traces of the interposition of the royal ne-
gative upon bills ; the style and tenure of
those transactions is, at the same time, utterly
repugnant to any such idea ; and there occur

* See instances of this, Ja. III. ch. 130. ch. 131. ch. 132.
Ja. IV. ch. 37. ch. 82. Ja. V. eh. 4. ch.
VOL. III. E

50 KEVIEW OF

instances of statutes which are known to have
been enacted in direct opposition to the will
of the crown. The religious reformation
which took place in the reign of Mary, de-
rived its authority from an act of the legisla-
ture, to which the assent of the queen, or of
her husband, the king of France, was never
obtained, but which does not appear, either
at that time or afterwards, to have been con-
sidered, on that account, as defective*. :§ ,
. The Scottish house of parliament had thus
.the uncontrouled power of legislation. It ex-
ercised also the exclusive privilege of imposing
taxes, together with that of directing their ap-
plication to the particular purpose, and of su-
perintending the expenditure of the money. It
.was accustomed to determine peace and war ;
to regulate the forces ; to appoint governors of
.the fortresses in the kingdom ; and to inake
provisions for arming the people, and for train-
ing them up to the use of arms -(•.

}o ,;*?>

, j * See the political publications about the time of the

Union.

t See particularly a discourse on the Union of Scotland
and England, published 1702; also an historical account

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 51

In most of the European governments the
national council was held regularly at particu-

of the ancient rights of the parliament of Scotland, pub-
lished 1703.

In the parliament held 1481, during the reign of Ja. III.
the three estates, considering the design of the ricfar,
(robber) Edward, to invade Scotland, of their own free
Kill, grant and promise to remain in defence of the king's
person and realm, according to the practice of their ances-
tors. And they appoint a certain number of armed men
to be employed at their expence, as a garrison in the town
of Berwick, and as guards in different parts of the borders.
It is also ordained in the same act, that an ambassador shall
be sent to solicit aid from the king of France. Ja. III.
ch. 100. Black Acts.

In the statutes of William, the people are required, ac-
cording to their wealth, to provide themselves with arms
of a certain description, and to appear with these at the
stated times of rendezvous. See Stat. Will, regis. c. 23.
Black Acts.

That parliament took upon itself the care of causing the
people to be provided with arms, and to be instructed in
the use of them, appears from a multiplicity of statutes. See
Statutes, Ja. I. ch. 20. ch. 48. ch. 67. Ja. II. ch. 71.
Ja. III. ch. 106. Ja. IV. ch. 53. Ja. V. ch. 61. Black
Acts.

By act of parliament, in the reign of James the Fourth,
orders are given for renewing the alliance of Scotland with
Franco, with Spain, and with Denmark ; and for sending,
on that account, an embassy to Denmark. See Ja. IV. ch.
22. ch. 23. Black Acts.

E2

52 REVIEW OF THE

lar seasons. It came afterwards to meet more
frequently, according to the increase of its bu-
siness ; and the power of calling, or of dis-
missing their occasional meetings, which were
at length substituted altogether in place of the
former, was generally assumed by the king.
In England this power was uniformly exer-
cised by the crown ; and the legislature inter-
fered no farther in that matter than by ordain-
ing that the king should call meetings of par-
liament once a year, or oftener if the business
of the nation should require it. But in Scot-
land this branch of the prerogative seems to
have been treated with little ceremony ; and
we find the parliament, by its own authority,
putting an end to its meetings, and appoint-
Even the naval force of Scotland, however inconsider-
able, seems to have. fallen under the immediate regulation
of parliament. See act Ja. I. eh. 140. Black Acts.

By an act in the reign of James IV. the parliament ap-
points a governor to the castle of Edinburgh, and orders
the castle of Dunbar to be demolished. By another act,
in the reign of James VL the order for the demolition of
the castle of Dunbar is repeated, with an additional in-
junction for demolishing the castle of Inch-kieth, ch. 25.
, Black Acts.

By an act, James VI. parl. 9. ch. 8. money is assigned
for keeping the castles of Edinburgh, Dumbarton, Stirling,
and Blackness, not to be applied to any other purposes.

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 53

ing others to be held at particular times and
places, either for the determination of particu-
lar points, or for the discussion of its ordinary
business*.

Even the domestic arrangements of the
royal family were not, in Scotland, exempted
from the interference of parliament ; and the
marriages of the sovereign were dictated by
such political considerations as had occurred
to that assembly. How far it is the duly of
a prince to sacrifice his own inclination, in a
matter of this kind, to artificial reasons of
state, and to convert the most important and
agreeable bond of private society into a pro-
stituted and disgusting connection; and how
far the alliances derived from such political

• :K? ••* > -

* Thus by Act James I. ch. 125, the parliament which
met April 1429, is, by its own consent, adjourned to the
Martinmas following. A similar adjournment, ch. 145.

By act James II. ch. 22, it is ordered that a parliament
shall, at a certain day, be held at Perth, for the discussion
of business particularly specified.

By act James II. ch. 38, passed in August 1442, a par-
liament is appointed to be held at Edinburgh in the March
following.

See other acts to the same purpose — James II. ch. 42,
eh. 52. James III. ch. 61. ck 75. Black Acts.

1

54 REVIEW OF THE

considerations are likely to be of much na-
tional benefit, and worthy the attention of a
spirited people, it may, perhaps, be difficult
to determine. By the old feudal system, the
vassals were obliged to marry with consent of
their liege lord ; but that the sovereign should
be* forced in this point to comply with the
will of the nobles, the superior to take a wife
by the direction of his vassals, may be thought
an unusual strain of aristocracy. We find
that in England, Queen Elizabeth treated such
interpositions of parliament with disdain, and
considered them as manifest encroachments
upon the prerogative. It must at the same
time be acknowledged, that the fetters thus
imposed on the sovereign, were probably
more vexatious, in those times of simplicity,
than they would be in ages of luxury and dis-
sipation, when, from different. modes of living,
the felicity of persons in high rank is less go-
verned by those principles which affect the
condition of their inferiors.

The authority assumed by the Scottish par-
liament, with relation to the distribution of
justice, which was no less extensive than in
the other branches of administration, will fell

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 55

more properly to be considered, in taking a
connected view of the judicial establishments
of Scotland.

The particulars above-mentioned, concern-
ing the aristocratic nature of the government
in Scotland, are proved by the most authentic
evidence, that of the statutes, collected from
the records, and published by authority.
It is remarkable, however, that a great part
of the statutes referred to, are to be found
in the first edition only of that collection, pub-
lished in the reign of Queen Mary, and,
from its being printed in the Saxon character,
known by the name of the Black Acts. In the
reign of James the Sixth, when the preroga-
tive had been greatly extended, a design was
formed of concealing, as far as possible, the
ancient state of the government ; for which
purpose an attempt was made to suppress
this edition : and another was published, in
which those acts which appeared to demon-
strate the high powers of parliament were
carefully omitted. This aiutilated collection
is copied in the last edition of the statutes
published in the reign of Charles the Second,
>vhich is now commonly used. The copies

56 REVIEW OP THE

of the Black Acts which remain at present are
not numerous, and the peculiar knowledge
to be derived from that ancient compilation is,
in some degree, limited to those who are
conversant in the legal antiquities of Scotland.
The glaring imposition upon the public, thus
attempted by the authority and direction of
the crown, affords a noted example of the un-
principled measures of that reign, and conveys
a strong presumption, that the old constitution
of Scotland was diametrically opposite to the
political views entertained by the sovereign,
and to that system of regal power which he
was labouring to realize.

Through the whole history of the period
now under consideration, we discover num~
berless events which mark the rivalship be-
tween the king and the nobility, as well as
the exorbitant power in the hands of the lat-
ter. In that famous manifesto drawn up by
.parliament in 1320, and addressed to the
pope, they plainly intimate, that by their au-
thority Robert Bruce had been advanced tu
the throne ; and they expressly declare, that
if e vet he should abandon their cause, and be-

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 5?

tray their privileges, they would expel him as
an enemy, and choose another king to rule
and protect them.

When the same Robert Bruce had, by his
persevering valour and prudence, delivered the
country from subjection to the English mo-
narch, and by a train of brilliant exploits, at-
tained universal admiration and popularity, he
ventured in parliament, a little inconsiderately,
to question some of the nobility, by what title
they held their estates? The tendency of this
question was immediately perceived ; and the
memorable answer given unanimously by the
barons is known to all the readers of Scottish
history. They drew their swords: " By
these/' said they, " we have acquired our
possessions ; and with these we will maintain
them/'

A late elegant writer, who, in his history
of Scotland, unites to the facts collected by
former historians such philosophical views and
discussions as the diffusion of knowledge in
the present age was able to supply, has ob-
served, that the disorders which prevailed in
the country, and the disasters which befel so
many of its monarchs, from the reign of

53 REVIEW OF THE

James the First, to that of James the Fifth,
proceeded, in great measure, from the eager-
ness of those princes to undermine and de-
stroy the exorbitant power of the ancient
aristocracy.

James the First, a prince of great abilities,
and of elegant accomplishments, was led, not
only to aim at the introduction of the supe-
rior good order and policy which he had ob-
served in England, but also to promote a
similar aggrandizement of the crown. For
this purpose he endeavoured gradually to
weaken the nobility, by seizing the estates of
particular barons upon pretence of defects in
their titles, and by procuring the condemna-
tion and forfeiture of others, upon a prosecu-
tion for crimes. His measures, however, at
length produced a general combination against
him, and gave rise to an insurrection, in which
he was cruelly murdered.

His son, James the Second, prosecuted the
same plan of humbling the nobles, but with
a brutal impetuosity and fierceness, and with
a. perfidy which paid no regard to the most
sacred engagements. His behaviour soon ex-

o o

cited a formidable rebellion ; from which he

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAKD. 59

found means to extricate himself by the trea-
chery of some of the rebels, and by the irreso-
lution and weakness of their leader. He had
proceeded, for some time, in improving the
advantages arising from the discomfiture of
his enemies, when a sudden death, by a
splinter from the bursting of a cannon, put a
stop to his career, and delivered the nobles
from so formidable an adversary.

He was succeeded by James the Third, a
prince totally destitute of the capacity and vi-
gour requisite for the government of a rude
and turbulent people ; but who paid some at-
tention to the fine arts, and to frivolous exhi-
bitions of mechanical dexterity. He endea-
voured to mortify and depress the nobles by
neglect, by excluding them from his councils,
and by depriving them of the offices and pri-
vileges with which they had formerly been in-
vested; while he suffered himself to be go-
verned by persons of mean birth, and passed
his whole time in the compan\r of those fa-
vourites, whose petty talents and accomplish-
ments afforded him amusement. The in-
dignation of the nobility was inflamed by
finding the favour and confidence of the so-

60 KEVIEW OF THE

vercign, to which they aspired, and which
they considered as their due, bestowed upon
such unworthy and contemptible objects.
Taking advantage, therefore, of an invasion
from England, which required that they
should assemble their vassals, they formed a
conspiracy to rid themselves of these despica-
ble rivals, broke into the king's apartment,
seized his principal minions, and, without any
form of law, hanged them over a bridge near
the town of Lauder. The infatuated mo-
narch was not rendered wiser by this humi-
liating check. Persevering in the same sys-
tem of favoritism, he afterwards established
a body guard, and debarred the nobility from
all access to his person. This at length pro-
duced a rebellion, in which he was slain at
the battle near Bannockburn, and which by its
fortunate issue, augmented, for a time, the
power of the aristocracy *.

* Concerning this prince, there is mentioned an oc-
currence, which may appear too ludicrous for the gra-
vity of history, and which is too inconsistent with royal
dignity to he recorded by later historians. It is said that
James, having torn to pieces a charter of the Earl of Mor-
ton, on account of the privileges which it contained, the

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 61

The character of James the Fourth was
very different from that of his father ; and
he experienced a very different fortune. Full
of the ideas of chivalry, his great object was
military glory ; and, instead of entertaining a
jealousy of his nobles^ he regarded their fide-
lity and attachment as indispensably necessary
for promoting his own greatness, and admit-
ed them to that degree of intimacy which the
spirit of the feudal system introduced between
a military leader and his vassals. Their gra-
titude and affection corresponded to his open
and generous dispositions ; and their utmost
exertions and services were at his devotion. It
is observed, however, in the history of this
reign, that they suffered more from attachment
to the king, than they had ever suffered, on
former occasions, from the jealousy and ma-
nobility insisted that he should make satisfaction for the
outrage, and obliged his majesty, while sitting on the
throne, with a needle and thread, to sew together, care-
fully, the several fragments of the manuscript. There
may be some ground to question the authenticity of
this anecdote ; but it must be evident, that the authority
of the monarch could not be very exalted in a country
where such a report was believed or circulated. (See a
Discourse of the Union, published 1702.)

62 REVIEW OF THE

donations of the crown. In the fatal field of
Flowden^ the Scottish nobility, unwilling to
desert or to survive their beloved sovereign,

O '

received a blow which greatly impaired their
Strength, and from which, for a long time,
they did not perfectly recover.

Of the three estates in parliament, the great
superiority of the nobles created in the two
others a disposition, so far as they acted from
political considerations, to form a league in
their own defence, and even to unite their in-
fluence with that of the crown. The bo-
roughs were too insignificant to render their
aid of much consequence ; but the clergy were
possessed of great wealth, and many indivi-
duals among them, from their education and
professional habits, were distinguished by
learning, abilities, and political talents. The
higher benefices, at the same time, both of the
secular and regular clergy, were in the gift of
the crown, a circumstance which could hardly
fail to conciliate the favour of the church, and
to warm and enliven her zeal in supporting
the prerogative. James the Fifth, who is re-
presented as a prince of some abilities, but of a
gloomy and sullen temper, appears to have

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. (J3

been fully sensible of this natural connection,
and aware of the advantages to be derived

o

from it. He bestowed his confidence almost
exclusively upon ecclesiastics, appointed them
to fill the most lucrative offices in the state,
and employed them in the chief branches of
administration. By their dexterity, prudence,
and vigour, the public tranquillity was main-
tained, and the business of the nation, for some
time, prosperously conducted ; while the no-
bles were kept at a distance, and carefully ex-
cluded from every situation either of power
or emolument. The whole order of the no-
bility was thus depressed and weakened; at
the same time that no opportunity was neg-
lected, by accusations and punishments, to
accomplish the ruin of individuals.

These plans of the monarch had for some
time been prosecuted with success, when, from
the very system of policy to which he had
resorted, he was involved in difficulties which
could not easily be surmounted. Henry the
Eighth, in his attempts to deliver his dominions
from the authority of the Roman pontiff, was
naturally desirous of procuring the co-opera-
tion and countenance of neighbouring states ;

REVIEW OF THE

and, in paYticular, had proposed a treaty of
alliance with his nephew, the king of Scot-
land. By this proposal, the bigoted ministers
of James, foreseeing that,, from an intimate
correspondence between the two countries, the
spirit of religious innovation was, likely to be
propagated from the one to the other, were
thrown into the utmost consternation. They
exerted all their influence to defeat the pro-
jected alliance; employed every artifice to pre-
vent a communication with the heretics of
England ; and were even so far successful as
to persuade their master to reject a conference
with Henry, to which he had been invited.
The consequence of this measure, so contrary
to the interest of James and of the nation, but
so conformable to the views of the church-
men, whose advice he implicitly followed, was
an immediate war with England, which made
it necessary to convene the nobles for the pur-
pose of procuring a military force.

James had now the mortification to discover
that his prospects were totally blasted, and to
find himself without hopes of relief, under
the power of those haughty barons, whose
jealousy he had excited, and whose indigna-

GOVERNMENT 0£ SCOTLAND. 65

fioh arid resentment he had incurred. Unable
to bear the disappointment, he died of a sort
Of pet, iiito which he was thrown by the re-
peated disobedience of his orders, the contempt
shown to his authority, and the insults that
were offered to his dignity.

The most important event in the reign of the
unfortunate Mary, ah event which affected
the whole train of her public and private
transactions, was the religious reformation.
The new system which then took place in
Scotland was more democrat] c<al than, from
the state and circumstances of the country,
could, perhaps, be expected. It arose, no
doubt, from a Variety of causes, among which
the great power and influence of the nobles
was probably not the least remarkable".

1. The diffusion of knowledge over the

o

countries of modern Europe, and the conse-
quent disposition which appeared in many of
them to deliver themselves frorh the tyranny
of the Church of Rome, Arere gradual and
progressive. To pass over those theological
opinions, which, from their absurdity and
pernicious tendency, had given scandal td
Christians, and to consider the reformation

VOL. Ill* p

KEVIEW OF THE

merely in a political view, it is to be remarked,
that the first reformers were content with a
total emancipation from the papal power, and
with an entire abolition of those monastic or-
ders, the great nurseries of superstition, by
which that papal power had been chiefly sup-
ported. But, in the course of inquiries, and in
the heat of controversy upon that subject, the
number and variety of abuses in the old church
became gradually more apparent, and the
breach between the disputants was widened.
The rottenness of the ancient fabric being
more and more laid open, alterations of greater
extent and importance were thought neces-
sary for the security of the new edifice. To
strike at the root of superstition, and to pre-
vent mankind from being enslaved by their
spiritual guides, it appeared proper to many,
that the number even of the secular clergy
should be reduced ; that their opulence should
be diminished ; and that their subordination
iu rank and authority, by which they were
closely combined, and brought under the di-
rection, of one, or a few, leaders, should be
abolished.

In most of those countries, therefore, ii*

COVERS MENT OF SCOTLAND*

which the people began to think of renouncing
the errors of the church of Rome, after they
had lono- been the subject of examination and

C3 *J

censure, tlie ancient hierarchy came to be en-
tirely destroyed, a perfect parity among the
clergy introduced, and provision made by the
moderation of the livings bestowed upon them,
for preventing their future power and gran-
deur. As the reformation made its way, at
a later period, into Scotland than into most
other parts of Europe, it was likely to be
adopted by the Scottish nation in that higher
state, which a long continued ferment in the
minds of men had produced, and which
coincided with the ardent and exalted spirit
of the times. The doctrines and the model
of church-government which had been esta*
blished at Geneva by Calvin, the latest apos-
tle of the reformers, were thus imported into
Scotland by John Knox and his followers ;
and being received by the people with a warmth
of approbation suitable to the enthusiastic ar-
dour with which they were inculcated, pro-
duced an abhorrence of the hierarchy, and
of the pompous worship retained in England,
scarcely inferior to that which was excited by

F 2

68 REVIEW OF THE

the gross errors and abuses exhibited by the
cliurch of Rome.

2. The manner in which the reformation was
effected in Scotland, contributed also to the
peculiar modification which it received in that
country. As in England, the king was the
leading reformer ; he, of course, modelled the
new system in conformity to the interest of the
crown, and carefully preserved that ancient
hierarchy which was calculated for supporting
the power of the monarch. But in Scotland,
the mother of Mary, and her uncles, of the
powerful house of Guise, were bigotted Ro-
man Catholics ; and, by their authority in
the administration, together with their influ-
ence over the young queenygave such a direc-
tion and bias to the course of public affairs as
produced: an uniform and vigorous opposition
to every step of the reformation. As the peo-
ple, therefore, became the reformers, in open
defiance of those who conducted the machine
of government, they were led to establish a
popular system; and, as they had many and
great obstacles to surmount before they could
accomplish their ultimate object, their enthu-
siastic notions of religious purity swelled ia

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND.

proportion, and prompted them, by the com-
mon animosity which attends every violent
contest, to recede so much the farther from the
ancient establishment.

3. But the prevalence of aristocracy in
Scotland contributed, perhaps, more than any
other circumstance, to the destruction of the
hierarchy, and to the very limited provision that
was made for the ministers of the protestant
church. As the ignorance and superstition of
the Scottish nation was probably not inferior
to that of most other European countries, it
appears that the property accumulated in the
hands of the church, considering the general
state of wealth in the country, was not less
extensive. It is computed that, immediately
before the reformation, the collective body of
the secular and regular clergy possessed, in
tythes and landed estates, a yearly revenue
amounting to a full half of the landed rent in
the kingdom*. This opulence presented a
rich field of plunder to the nobles, who, at the
same time that their political resentment was
excited against an order of men which had of
late been the great pillar of the crown, had the
* See Forbes on Tvthes.

70 BEVIEW OF THE

prospect of stripping the church of her large,
benefices ; and, by their great influence and
authority, converting to their own use the
greater part of that immense revenue. They
united, therefore, most cordially with the
populace in promoting the presby terian system
of church government ; and, from strong mo-
tives of interest, adopted the same line of con-
duct which the latter eagerly pursued from
principle.

Thus we find that the nobility took a very
active share in the reformation; and having
obtained from the crown a great proportion
of what was called the spirituality, as well as
the temporality, of ecclesiastical benefices, con-
tinued afterwards to interest themselves in the
new establishment, and particularly to guard
against the future designs of the crown lor in*
creasing the power and revenue of the church.
For this purpose they became members of the
general assembly, or chief ecclesiastical council;
and continued to sit in it. for near thirty years
after its first institution. When James the
Sixth afterwards introduced a sort of episcopal
government, they took care to prevent the rjes-
titution of any part of those church-revenues

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND.

which they had appropriated ; and when, at a
subsequent period, the measures of Charles
the First threatened the more complete esta-
blishment of the hierarchy in Scotland, they
became active in forming with the people
that solemn league and covenant, by which the
whole power of the nation was exerted with
the most decisive effect in defeating the mea-
sures of that ill-advised and infatuated mo-
narch.

It may here be remarked, that, from a dif-
ference of circumstances, the presby terian reli-
gion came to be more deeply rooted, and sprung
up with more vigour in some parts of Scotland
than in others. In the north, the slower ad-
vancement of knowledge and the arts disposed
the inhabitants to retain the old superstition,
and produced a reluctance to those innovations
Avhich were so generally adopted in the other
parts of the kingdom. In the neighbourhood
of the capital, the influence of the crown was
more immediately felt, and counteracted, in
some measure, the natural bent of the people,
not only towards the reformation in general,
buUilso towards the destruction of the hierar*
chy in particular. It was in the western conn.

73 REVIEW OF THE

ties, at some distance from the seat of govern**
nient, though not so remote as to preclude a
strong tendency to improvement, that the pres^
byterian religion was embraced with a degree
of ardour and enthusiasm which nothing could
withstand, and which the most violent perse-
cution, in the reign of Charles the Second,
served only to augment. The puritanical prin-
ciples, and tfye fanaticism of those counties,
became a source of distinction ; and the pecur
liarity of aspect and manners observable in the
zealots from this quarter, is said to have pro-
cured from the courtly inhabitants of the east
the nick-name ofwhigs, a religious appellation,
which being afterwards applied to the political
opponents qf the crpwn, has had the fortune
to spread over the whole island, but which in
its original acceptation is still sometimes use4
in the western parts of Scotland.

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND, 73

'

SECTION III.

OF THE GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND, FROM
THE UNION OF THE SCOTTISH AND ENG-
LISH CROWNS, TO THAT OF THE TWO
KINGDOMS.

FROM the beginning of this third period, the
political history of Scotland is so interwoven
\rith that of England, that it would be incon-
venient to enter into a full examination of the
former, before we have also an opportunity of
considering the latter. At present, therefore,
a few preliminary observations concerning
what was peculiar in the state of Scotland,
will be sufficient.

The government of Scotland, by the acces-
sion of her sovereign to the English throne,
experienced a very sudden and important re-
volution. The monarch, from the sovereignty
of a petty state, was at once exalted to the
head of an opulent and powerful monarchy,
in which the greater part of .the feudal insti-
tutions had fallen into disuse ; and in which,
upon the ruins of the aristocracy, the prero-
gative of the crown, on the one band, had

74 REVIEW OF THE

risen to a considerable height ; while, on the
other, the people were beginning to lay the
foundation of their privileges. In these cir-
cumstances, the king of England found little
difficulty in extending to the northern part of
the island that authority which he possessed in
the southern.

But while the nobles in Scotland were thus
easily reduced under subjection to the crown,
the people at large were not raised to suitable
independence. In England, as well as in
many other European governments, where the
prerogative advanced gradually "and slowty, hi
consequence of the gradual advancement of
society, the king was under the necessity of
courting the lower orders of the community,
and of promoting their freedom, from the
view of undermining the power of the nobility,
his immediate rivals. But in Scotland, after
James the Sixth had mounted the English
throne, neither he, nor his immediate succes-
sors, had any occasion to employ so disagree-
able an expedient. They were above the level
of rivalship or opposition from the Scottish
vassals of the crown ; and had therefore no
temptation to free the vassals of the nobility

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 75

from their ancient bondage. A great part of
the old feudal institutions, in that country,
were accordingly permitted to remain, with-
out undergoing any considerable alteration ;
and the troublesome forms and ceremonies,
formerly used in the transmission or convey-
ance of landed property, continue, even at this
day, to load and disfigure the system of Scot-
tish jurisprudence.

The political changes, introduced by James
the Sixth, were such as contributed to depress
the aristocracy, without exalting the lower
classes of the people.

1. This prince enforced the regulation of
his predecessor, James the First, by requiring,
that the representatives of counties should give
a regular attendance in parliament. In Scot-
land, however, this measure, though profes-
sedly in imitation of the practice in England,
was adopted with peculiar modifications
agreeable to the views of the monarch. By
the practice in England, all who held lands
of a certain value, whether as vassals of the
crown or of a subject, and all who enjoyed
leases for life of lands to the same amount,
were entitled to vote for the knights of shires;
1

REVIEW OF THE

whereas in Scotland, none but the immediate
vassals of the crown, how extensive soever
their landed property might be, obtained a
right of suffrage. In England their elective
franchise had been brought so low as a yearly
rent of forty shillings ; and the same rule ap-
pears by the regulation of James the First, to
have been introduced into Scotland. By the
debasement, however, of the monev in Scot-

w •/

land, the qualification for voting, according
to this nominal rent, would have fallen a
great deal lower ; but it suited the purposes of
James the Sixth to explain this regulation, as
if it had required the voters to possess, not
toierely a real rent of forty shillings, but a rent
amounting to that sum, according to an old
valuation of all the lands in Scotland, which
had long been the rule to the vassals of the
crown for the payment of their taxes. This
valuation, from the low state of agriculture

o

when it was made, bearing no proportion to
the real value of estates, the right of electing
the representatives of counties, instead of be-
ing communicated, as in England, to peo-
ple of small property, was confined to a few

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 7?

of the gentry, who might easily be secured in
the interest of the crown.

2. The number of burgesses who sat in the

O

Scottish parliament had, from the time of their
first introduction, been gradually increasing
by the incorporation of additional boroughs.
The nobility, at the same time, living in the
neighbourhood of particular towns, had often
found means to °;am an influence over the in-

o

habitants, and to obtain the direction of such
incorporated bodies. In- all the royal bo-
roughs of Scotland, the distribution of justice,
and the management of their public affairs,
were committed to a set of magistrates, and a
town council, who, according to the primitive
regulations, appear to have been annually
chosen, in each borough, by the collective
body of the burgesses*.

By degrees, however, such individuals as
had obtained the patronage^ of particular bo-

* See Leges Burgorum, c. 77. Statute Gildae, c. 33.
c. 34.

This mode of electing the magistrates and town-council
was probably continued for along time in all the boroughs,
as may be concluded from a great number of their char-
ters. See state of the evidence contained in the returns ta
the house of commons, 1791.

78

roughs, whether the king or any of the great
barons, endeavoured to establish a permanent
influence, by substituting other modes of elec-
tion more favourable to their interest. Thus,
by a statute in the reign of James the Third,
it is provided, " that the old council shall an-
" nually elect the new; and that the old and
" new council jointly shall elect the officers of
" the boroughs*.*

It is probable that this regulation was dic-
tated by the nobility, who had procured an en-
tire ascendant in many of the boroughs, and
frequently held the principal offices in those
communities. It is, accordingly, further pro-
vided in the same statute, " that no captain,
" nor constable of the king's castles, shall bear
" an}' office in the town where he residcs-f-."

For securing still more effectually the inte-
rest which had been already established in a
borough, it was afterwards enacted by the le-
gislature, " that four persons only of the old
46 council should be changed each year;" a re-
gulation plainly intended to relieve the patron
from the embarrassment he might be under, in

* U69. c.SO. t Ibid,

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 79

substituting, all at once, an entire new set of
adherents to those who had been displaced.

We meet also with.othcr statutes, apparently
caleulated to limit the effects of the former,
and probably suggested by the crown, ordain-
ing that the officers of boroughs should be

o o

real inhabitants, and traders of the community ;
but the frequent repetition of these acts afford*
undoubted evidence that little regard had been
paid to them.

After James the Sixth was invested with the
authority of king of England, he ibund that
many of the regulations, introduced by the
nobility for the management of the boroughs,
were become hi«hlv subservient to the maintc-

O v

nance of that influence over them which had
then been transferred to the crown ; and there-
fore, instead of abolishing that system of policy,
he was disposed to encourage and make im-
provements upon it. From this time forward,
the members of those communities were, by
various alterations, more and more stript of
the administration and government of their own

O

affairs ; while their nominal administrators and
governors bcccame, in reality, the agents and
tools of the crown. This observation will ex-

80 fefcVIEW OF Tilt

plain a passage in the claim of rights, presented
by the estates of Scotland soon after the revo-
lution of 1688 ; in which it is said, " That
the abdicated family had subverted the rights'
of the royal boroughs, by imposing upon them
the magistrates, the town-council, and the clerks
and other officers, contrary to their liberties,
and their express charters."

3. Notwithstanding the introduction of the
presbyterian church-government into Scotland,
the king contrived to continue an appearance
of the ecclesiastical order in parliament. The
prelates, whom James retained in that assem-
bly, were a sort of bishops possessed of small
revenue, destitute of all authority, and loaded
with the contempt and censures of the church*
But after he became king of England, he found
means to increase their powers and emolu-
ments, and to lay the foundation of that epis-
copal government which was completed by his
son and his grandsons, but which was finally
abolished at the revolution*.

* Before the reformation, therex were in Scotland two
archbishoprics, 12 bishoprics^ 27 abbacies, and 13 priories*
Balfour's Pract. p. 34.

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 81

4. The parliament of Scotland was thus, after
the union of the crowns, composed of the same
orders with that of England ; the nobility, the
bishops, the knights of shires, and the bur-
gesses. To these different members, however*
were added the great officers of state, who sat
in parliament, not as in England by represent-
ing particular counties or boroughs, but merely
in consequence of holding their several offices.
It is probable that their admission into that as-
sembly had proceeded, not from any formal
regulation, but from the ordinary course of
business, which required that, as ministers of
the crown, they should make frequent proper
sitions to the legislature concerning those mea-
sures which called for its direction. In Eng-
land, where an act of parliament was passed in
the form of a petition to the crown, the king
had no occasion to interfere in the business be-
fore it was presented to him for his consent.
But in Scotland j where the three estates enact-
ed laws by their own authority, and where the
crown had no negative, it was necessary that
his majesty, if he was to give his opinion at
all, should mix in the deliberations of parlia-
ment, and take some share in its debases. The

VOL. III. 0

S2 REVIEW OF THE

dignity of the crown, however, seemed to re
quire that this communication with the na-
tional assembly should be made, not by the so-
vereign in person, but through those great of-
ficers to whom the ordinary administration of
government was delegated. At what time
these officers were first considered as invested
with this privilege, is unknown ; but in the
reign of James the Sixth, if not at an earlier
period, it appears to have been completely
established *.

5. The appointment of the lords of the ar-
ticles underwent a number of successive altera-
tions, all of them calculated to render it a more

*

effectual engine of parliamentary management.
When those commissioners were in the nomi-
nation of parliament, it became a natural prac-
tice that a certain number of them should be
named by each particular estate as its own re-
presentatives. At the reformation the suspi-

~ * By parl. 1617, the number of these officers who should)
fx ojficio enjoy a seat in parliament, was limited to the
eight following: 1. The high treasurer. 2. The deputy
treasurer. 3. '^lie secretary. 4. The privy seal. 5. The
master of requests. 6. The clerk register. 7. The jus-
•4ite clerk. 8. The adyoeate.

Of SCOTLAND. 83

cion entertained of the bishops seems to have
introduced a regulation that the spiritual com-
missioners, though chosen from the dignified
clergy, should be nominated, not by their
own order, but by nobles *.

James the Sixth obtained an act of the le-
gislature, ordaining, that, before the meeting
of parliament, four persons should be named
out of each estate as a committee previously to
consider and determine the business to be laid
before the lords of the articles ; and, as the
king appears to have assumed the nomination
of this committee, he was thus invested with
a previous negative upon those commissioners
themselves who prepared matters for the deli-
beration of parliament. Charles the First su-
perseded this regulation by bringing the ap-
pointment of the lords of the articles directly
under the guidance of the crown. He pro-
cured an act of parliament empowering the
peers to choose eight bishops, the bishops
eight peers ; and those sixteen persons to elect

* Some writers think that the same act which made this
regulation, provided also that the commissioners of th$
peerage should be named by the bishops ; but this appears
doubtful. See Wight on the Scottish parliament.

G2

&4 REVIEW Of THE

eight knights of shires and eight burgesses ; to
all of whom were added the eight great officer*
of state. It is observed by an acute author *,
that as at this time the bishops, from the man-
ner in which they were upheld in parliament,
were uniformly in the interest of the crown,
and as, from the ordinary state of the peerage
the bishops might easily find one or two com-
missioners of that class in the same interest, a
majority of the sixteen, and consequently of
the whole committee, would infallibly be the
adherents of the prerogative. Upon this
footing, unless during the usurpation of
Cromwell, the lords of the articles continued
until the revolution, when they were finally
Abolished.

By the union of the crowns of England and
Scotland, the capital city of the former became
the usual residence of the monarch ; and the
latter country was reduced into the situation
of a distant province. The baneful effects
of this change upon the administration of the
government in Scotland will be the subject of
a future examination. We may at present
take notice of its immediate consequences

fii
* See Essays oir British Antiquities by Lord Kames,

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 85

with respect to the character and manners of
the inhabitants, and with respect to their pro-
gressive improvements in arts and literature.

The removal of the king and of the court
to the southern part of the island, was follow-
ed by a correspondent migration of the Scot-
tish nobility and gentry, who naturally resort-
ed to the new seat of government in quest of
amusement, or in hopes of sharing the favour
of the prince. Deserted by these men of rank
and fortune, Scotland lost unavoidably that
market which formerly arose from supplying
them with the necessaries and conveniences of
life, and consequently that industry which it
had put in motion. She lost, in like manner,
some of the principal sources of emulation and
of exertion in theliberal^arts ; while the standard
of taste and fashion being transferred to a fo-

o

reign kingdom, her candidates for fame were
consequently withdrawn from the day-light of
honour and distinction. Her language, I

O O '

mean that used in the lower parts of the coun-
try, originally a branch of the Anglo-Saxon,
ceased to be considered as an independent dia^
lect, and was regarded merely as a corruption
of English. Her writers, of course, labouring

86 REVIEW OF THE

to express themselves in a tongue no longer
native to them, and struggling to become ac-
quainted with its idioms,, were no more the
competitors, but reduced to the humble irni-
tators of their southern neighbours.

From this change of circumstances, the in-
habitants of Scotland were greatly discou*
raged and retarded in the improvement of ma-
nufactures ; and remained for a long time in
that simple state of society which precedes the
minute division of labour among the different
kinds of artificers. They were also prevented
from cultivating those elegant arts which are
the natural offspring of luxury and refinement
more especially those branches of literary com-
position whose object is merely entertainment.

But though the Scots were left far behind
their neighbours of England, in the accumu-
lation of wealth, in the habits of industry,
and in those inventions which contribute to
shorten and facilitate labour, they had already
made some advances in knowledge, and they
were surrounded by other civilized nations,
from whom they could hardly fail to catch a
degree of science and literature. The revival
qf letters in modern Europe was attended by

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 87

a spirit of activity and exertion, which dif-
fused itself, more or less, over the whole;
and by imitation or emulation, by a corre-
spondence among persons of genius and enter-
prize, by the patronage of princes and men
of wealth, pushed on the people of every
country to a variety of useful and liberal pur-
suits. The inhabitants of Scotland were af-
fected by the same general causes of improve-
ment which operated upon the surrounding
nations ; though, in comparison with the
English, they lay under disadvantages. But
as their objects were varied, so their path was
a good deal different. The people of Scot*
land, so far as they cultivated letters, were
directed into the road of general science.
Despairing of reputation, either as poets, or
fine writers, they advanced by degrees in
those branches of learning and philosophy,
which had diffused themselves over the rest of
Europe.

The peculiar spirit with which the Scots
had overturned the Roman Catholic supersti-
tion* gave a particular modification to their
intellectual pursuits. The great ferment ex*
cited over the whole nation, and the rooted an-

08 REVIEW OF THE

tipathy to the former ecclesiastical doctrines,
produced a disposition to inquire, and to em-
brace no tenets without examination. The
energy requisite for the accomplishment of
the reformation, and the impulse which that
event gave to the minds of men, continued
after the new system was established ; and
produced a boldness and activity, not only
in examining religious opinions, which were
of great extent, but in the general investiga^
tion of truth. Even the common mass of the
people took an interest in the various points of
theological controversy ; became conversant
in many abstract disquisitions connected with
them ; and were led to acquire a sort of lite-
rary curiosity.

The activity and vigour of mind which had
thus been excited, produced a general atten-
tion to the propagation of knowledge, by a
liberal education. In the reign of James the
Sixth, public schools were established in every
parish, to teach reading in the vulgar tongue,
writing, and accounting ; and in those places,
where it was found requisite, the Latin, or even
the Greek language. This institution has
been frequently regarded as the cause of the

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 89

diffusion of knowledge among the lower
classes in Scotland ; but it seems, in reality,
to be the effect of a general demand for in-
struction, without which, any regulation of this
nature would have soon fallen into disuse.

The same circumstances which tended in
Scotland to multiply seminaries of education,
contributed also to model those institutions ac^
cording to utility and the conveniency of the
inhabitants. While the principal schools and
universities of England, from the remains of

o

ancient prejudice, confined their attention, in
a great measure, to the teaching of what are
called the learned languages, those of Scot-
land extended their views in proportion to the
changes which took place in the state of so-
ciety, and comprehended, more or less, in
their plan of instruction, the principles of
those different sciences which came to be of
use in the world.

While the Scottish nation in general re-
ceived an intellectual stimulus bv the violent

•/

impulse given at the reformation, the lower
and middling ranks of the people were pecu-»
Jiarly affected by the slow progress of manu-
factures. In England, g. great proportion of

90 REVIEW OF THE

the inhabitants, engaging in active employ-
ments, and having their attention fixed upon
minute objects, acquired, by their situation
and habits, great professional skill and dex-
terity ; but in every thing beyond their own
trade or profession, remained proportionably
destitute of experience and observation. In
Scotland, on the contrary, the great body of
the people were either idle, or slightly occu-
pied by a coarse trade or manufacture, in
which various branches of labour were united ;
so that the same persons, though less dexterous
or skilful in any one department, were not
prevented from attending successively to a
variety of objects, from applying themselves
to different pursuits, and consequently from
attaining different kinds of information. From
such a difference of circumstances, knowledge,
as well as labour, came, in the one country,
to be minutely divided ; and, though a great
quantity of this mental treasure was contained
in the whole aggregate, yet from the manner
of its distribution, a very small portion com-
monly fell to the lot of an individual : whereas
in the other country, though the sum total of
improvement was inconsiderable, yet that little

GOVERNMENT QF SCOTLAND. 91

was not appropriated in such diminutive par-
cels, but remained, in some measure, as a com-
mon stock, which every member of the com-
munity might bring at pleasure to market.

In all parts of the world it is accordingly
observable, that the great body of the people,
while they remain in a state of rudeness and
simplicity, are distinguished by their intelli-
gence, acuteness, and sagacity ; and that in
proportion to their advancement in commerce
and manufactures, they become ignorant, nar-
row-minded, and stupid. But in the period
of the Scottish history now under considera-
tion, the lower and middling classes of the
people were placed in the former situation ; at
the same time that, from the causes already
mentioned, the more enlightened part of the
nation was not altogether destitute of literature
and philosophy. While a great number of all
Tanks were neither immersed in business nor
engrossed by the early pursuit of gain, they
were at leisure to procure instruction, to go
through a regular course of education at
schools and universities, and to spread over
the community a relish for such parts of learn-
ing as were then fashionable. A strong pre-

92 REVIEW OF THE

dilection for what are called the learned pro-
fessions became thus very prevalent in Scot-
land ; and men of an active disposition, little
accustomed to an ordinary routine of employ*
i?ients, were easily induced to change their pro-
fessional objects, or even to migrate into fo-
reign countries for the purpose of advancing
their fortune *.

The intelligence, sagacit}r, and disposition
to learning, in the common people of Scotland*
were inseparably connected with that modesty
and reserve which make a distinguishing fea^
$ure in the manners of rude and simple na^

* Of all the common trades, in the hands of the vulgar,
lhat of gardening approaches the nearest to a liberal pro-
fession. A gardener, by the cultivation of fruits and ve-
getables acquires a considerable branch of the knowledge
in the department of a farmer; by collecting a number
of plants, by observing their analogies and differences.,
and by arranging and assorting them, he becomes a profi-
cient in botany; by studying their medical virtues, arid
by taking advantage of the credulity of his neighbours, ho
is exalted into a species of physician.

These advantges produced a powerful attraction to this
employment ; the same bias remains even to the present
times; and Scotland, it is well known, has the merit of
furnishing a large proportion of the gardeners over Great
Britain.

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 93

tions. These qualities proceed from the ne-1
cessitous condition of mankind antecedent to
the improvements of society, when, from the
difficulty of supplying their own wants, they
have little opportunity or disposition for exer-
cising a mutual sympathy or fellow-feeling
with each other ; and, consequently, are
ashamed and unwilling to disclose the secret
emotions and sentiments which they know will
meet with little attention or regard. That
style of distance and reserve which the Scots
possessed in common with all rude nations,
was confirmed, we may suppose, and pecu-
liarly modified by the nature of their govern-
ment and political circumstances. As the
common people were extremely dependent
upon the higher classes, they became necessa-
rily cautious of giving offence, and desirous ot
recommending themselves to their superiors
by an obliging deportment, by obsequious at-
tention, and by a studied expression of zeal
and affection. The habits produced by such
a situation are, doubtless, not very favourable
to plain-dealing and sincerit}r, however, they
may fit the possessor for the intercourse of the
world, and render him expert in smoothing

1

94 KEVIEW OF THE

the frowns or improving the smiles of for-
tune.

The national characters bestowed upon the
inhabitants of different countries, must be re-
ceived with large allowances for exaggeration
and prejudice ; though, as they proceed upon
general observation, they have usually a foun-
dation in truth. In this light we may view
the character of the Scottish nation delineated
by her English neighbours ; and so far as the
picture is genuine, it will, perhaps, be in some
measure explained by the foregoing remarks.

The shrewdness, cunning, and selfishness,
imputed to the people of Scotland, are merely
the unfavourable aspect of that intelligence
and sagacity by which they are distinguished
above the mere mechanical drudges in the

... o

southern part of the island, and by which
they are more able to discover their own inte-
rest, to extricate themselves from difficulties,
and to act, upon every occurrence, with deci-
sion and prudence.

They are accused of not being over-scrupu-
lous with respect to the dignity of those me-
thods by which they endeavour to better their
circumstances. It is to be feared that this ac-

GOVERNMENT OF SCOTLAND. 95

cusation has no very peculiar application to
the inhabitants of the north. If it has any
real foundation, it must undoubtedly be im-
puted to the debasing effects of the old Scottish
government, and to the long continuance of
that poverty and dependence, from which the
people, in our days, are but beginning to

emerge.

The national spirit of Scotchmen has been
much taken notice of; insomuch that they
are supposed to be all in a confederacy to com-
mend and extol one another. We may re-
mark, that, as candidates, either for fame or
profit, in the London market, they are greatly
the minority ; and it is not surprising,' that in
such a situation they should feel a common
bond of union, like that of strangers in a hos-
tile country*.

* It is said that the common people in Scotland never
give a direct answer. This may proceed, no doubt, from
habits of caution, concealment, and dissimulation ; but it
may also be derived from an habit of reflection, which leads
them to discern not only what you directly inquire, but
what farther information you may wish to obtain. " Pray,
" friend, am I in the right road to such a place ?" " What
" place did you come from, Sir ?" " What business have
" you, friend, with the place 1 came from ?" " None at

96 REVIEW 6$

The deficiency of Scottish authors, in every
department connected with wit and humour,-
has been universally admitted. This we may
ascribe to the sly and cautious temper of the
people, which is calculated to repress every
exertion of mirth and pleasantry. It may also
have proceeded,- in some measure, from the
difficulty they meet with in attaining such a
command of the English language as must be
requisite for the forcible and humorous deli-
neation of ordinary life and manners*.

" all. Sir ; but I have as little with the place to which you
" are going."

* A noted literary character has waggishly observed,
in speaking of the learning of Scotland, " That every
" one has a mouthful, but nobody a bellyful." The
amount of this criticism seems to be, that instead of con-
suming their whole life by a vain endeavour to become
adepts in two dead languages, they have divested them-
selves of a superstitious reverence for antiquity, and are
content to cultivate each branch of knowledge so far only
as they lind it useful or agreeable. Tke mouthful of the
Scot may be somewhat scanty, but it is fresh and whole-
some food; to him the English bellyful seems o

( 97 )

J .•;'<•," 'P:N* Jvr .iv^{ "H
( • ''

CHAP. II.

Changes in the Political State of England from
the Accession of the House of Stuart — The
Advancement of Commerce and Manufactures
•^-Institutions for National Defence — Different
Effect of these in Britainf and upon the Neigh-
bouring Continent.

THE accession of James the First to the
English throne, while it gave rise to such
remarkable changes in the state of his an-
cient hereditary dominions, became the source
of great advantages, in common to both
countries; from which, however, England,
as the ruling power, derived the principal
benefit. As far back as we can clearly trace
the history of the two kingdoms, we find them
engaged in a course of mutual depredation
and hostilities, during which, indeed, England
was commonly in the end victorious ; though,
at the same time, from her superior wealth,
VOL. in. H

98

she was usually the principal sufferer. Upon
the Norman conquest, when England was in-
volved in connections with the continent of
Europe, her enemies were of course incited to
cultivate the friendship of Scotland ; and after
the pretensions of the king of England to the
sovereignty of France had produced a rooted
animosity between the two countries, the mo-
narchs of the latter became the constant allies
of the Scottish princes. In this situation,
Scotland was commonly the dupe of French
politics ; and was found a convenient instru-
ment for creating a powerful diversion of the
forces in the southern part of the island. The
invasions of England by her Scottish neigh-
bours, being thus directed and assisted by a
foreign power, became in many cases alarm-
ing and formidable. In the reign of Eliza-
beth, France had an opportunity of retaliating
the vexation and embarrassment she had felt
from her ancient enemy, by supporting the
claim of Mary, Queen of Scots, to the crown
of England* The artful policy of the English
queen, in order to counteract and disappoint
the machinations practised against her, has
been supposed by many to throw an indelible

OF ENGLAN0* 99

stain upon her character; and even when re-
garded in the most favourable point of view,
can be justified only by its necessity. The in-
trigues of this wise princess, the expence in*
curred by her on that account, the extreme
vigour, not to say injustice, with which she
treated her unfortunate rival, a measure which,
she foresaw, was likely to draw upon her the
public censure and resentment : all these are
sufficient proofs of the danger to which she
found herself exposed, and of the mischief
which her dominions were liable to suffer
through the medium of Scotland.

By the union of the two crowns in the
person of James the First, England was com-
pletely delivered from every hazard of that
nature. The two kingdoms, having the same
sovereign, possessed of the power of declaring
war and peace, were reduced under the same
administration, and consequently destined for
the future to live in perpetual amity. As
their whole military force acted under one
head, and against their common enemies, they
were enabled to assume a superior rank in the
scale of Europe ; while the insular situation
of Britain gave her little ground to apprehend

u 2

100 POLITICAL STATE

any foreign invasion, and little reason to inter*
fere in the politics of the continent.
- The peace and security which England de-
rived from these favourable circumstances con-
tributed to the encouragement of industry, and
to the improvement of those commercial ad-
vantages which the peculiar situation of the
country had bestowed upon her. After the
accession of the house of Stuart, therefore,
the advancement of trade and manufactures
became still more conspicuous than it had been
under the princes of the Tudor family ; and
its consequences, in diffusing opulence and in-
dependence, were proportionably more exten-
sive. Towards the latter part of the reign of
Elizabeth, the woollen manufacture, which*
from the tyranny of Spain in the Netherlands,
had been transported into England, gave em-
ployment to a number of industrious hands,
and put in motion a correspondent amount jof
capital, which, upon the extension or varia-
tion of the demand for commodities, could
easily be diverted into other channels. Va-
rious branches of manufacture sprung up,
one after another; and found a market for
their productions. The prosperity of inland

OP ENGLAND.

trade produced an inclination, as well as a
capacity, for greater commercial enterprizes ;
and occasioned the formation of colonies in
distant parts of the world. To promote such
undertakings, the assistance of government
was given to the private adventurers; and a
number of trading companies, with various
exclusive privileges, which at that time proved
of general utility, were established.

By the progress of these improvements, a
greater proportion of the inhabitants, instead
of living as retainers or servants of the rich,
became engaged in various mechanical em-
ployments, or in different branches of traf-
fic, from which they could earn a livelihood
without the necessity of courting the favour
of their superiors. An artificer, whose labour
is enhanced by the general demand for it, or
a tradesman Avho sells his goods in a common
market, considers himself as his own master.
He says that he is obliged to his employers,
or his customers ; and he treats them with ci-
vility; but he does not feel himself greatly
dependent upon them. His subsistence, and
his profits, are derived not from one, but from
a number of persons ; he knows, besides, that

102

their employment, or their custom, proceeds
not commonly from personal favour, but from
a regard to their own interest; and conse-
quently that, while he serves them equally
well, he has no reason to apprehend the de-
cline of his business. Rising more and more
to this independent situation, artificers and
tradesmen were led by degrees to shake off
their ancient slavish habits, to gratify their
own inclinations or humours, and to indulge
that love of liberty, so congenial to the mind
of man, which nothing but imperious necessity
is able to subdue.

• The independence and the influence of this
order of people was farther promoted by the
circumstance of their being collected in towns,
whence they derived an extreme facility in
communicating their sentiments and opinions.
In a populous city, not only the discoveries
and knowledge, but the feelings and passions
of each individual are quickly and readily pro-
pagated over the whole. If an injury is com-
mitted, if an act of oppression is complained
of, it immediately spreads an alarm, becomes
the subject of clamour and censure, and
excite* general indignation and resentment,

OF ENGLAND, 103

Every one roused by the example of those
around him, loses the sense of his own danger
in the ardour and impetuosity of his compa-
nions. Some bold and enterprizing leader
acquires an ascendancy over their common
movements ; and while their first impressions
are yet warm, finds no difficulty in uniting
them to defend their privileges, or to demand
redress for their wrongs,

o

While the tradesmen, manufacturers, an4
merchants of England, were thus rapidly in-*
creasing in number, and advancing to such
comfortable situations, many individuals in
those classes were, by successful industry in,
the more lucrative branches of trade, and by a
rigid and persevering economy, the natural ef-
fect of their habits, enabled to acquire spiers
did fortunes, and to reflect a degree of lustre
upon the profession to which they belonged*
In this, as in all other cases, property became
the source of consideration and respect ; and,
in proportion as the trading part of the nation,
became opulent, they obtained more weight m
the community.

The progressive advancement to freedom
and independence of the manufacturing an4

104 POLITICAL STATE

mercantile people was followed, in the na-
tural course of things, by that of the peasan-
try or farmers, the other great class of the
commonalty, From the multiplication of the
trading towns, and their increasing population
and riches, the consumption of all the neces-
saries of life was promoted, fand the market
for every species of provisions proportionally
extended. The price of every article pro-
duced by the land was therefore enhanced by
a greater competition of purchasers ; and the
Jabour of those persons employed in agricul-
ture was called forth and rewarded by an aug-
mentation of profits ; not to mention, that
the activity and enterprizing genius of mer-
chants, arising from their large capitals, their
ex tensive dealings, and their mutual intercourse,
were naturally communicated to the neigh-
bouring farmers j who, from the limited na-
ture of their undertakings, and from their dis-
persed and solitary residence, trusting to the
slow experience and detached observations of
each individual, were likely, independent of
this additional excitement, to proceed with
great caution an<l timidity, and therefore to
advance very slowly in the knowledge of their

OF ENGLAND. 105

profession. In proportion to the general im-
provement of agriculture, it was expected that
farmers should undertake more expensive ope-
rations in manuring and meliorating their
grounds; and to encourage these undertakings,
the master found it necessary to give them a
reasonable prospect of indemnity, by securing
them for an adequate length of time in the
possession of their farms. l?y the extension of
leases of land, which became more and more
universal, the farmers of England not only
were emancipated from their primitive depend-
ence, but acquired a degree of rank and im^
portance unknown in most other countries.

The same causes which exalted the com-
mon people, diminished the influence of the
nobility, or of such as were born to great for-
tunes. The improvement of arts, the diffu-
sion of all those accommodations which are
the natural consequence of that improvement,
were accompanied with a change of manners;
the ancient plainness and simplicity giving
place by degrees to a relish for pleasure and to
a taste of luxury and refinement, which were
productive of greater expence in all the arti-
cles of living. Men of high rank, who found

106 POLITICAL STATE

themselves, without any exertion of their own,
possessed of great wealth, were not prompted
by their situation to acquire habits either of
industry or of economy. To live upon their
estates, to pass their time in idleness, or to fol-
low their amusement, was regarded as their
birth-right. Gaining nothing, therefore, by
their industry, and exposed by the growing
luxury of the times to the daily temptation of
increasing their expences, they were, of course,
involved in difficulties, were obliged to devise
expedients for raising money, and reduced to
the necessity of purchasing an additional rent,
by granting long leases, or even more perma-
nent rights to their tenants. The ancient re-

C3 .

tainers, whom every feudal baron had been
accustomed to maintain upon his estate for the
purpose of defending him against all his ene-
mies, were unavoidably dismissed ; and the
military services, which had been formerly ex-
acted from the vassals, were converted into
stated pecuniary payments. These conver-
sions, indeed, were at the same time recom-
mended from the change of manners and* the
alterations in the state of the country ; 'as, by
the suppression of private feuds among the

OF ENGLAND. 107

great lords, and the general establishment of
peace and tranquillity, the maintenance of
such retainers, on account of personal defence,
had become superfluous.

The nobility, or great barons, were thus
deprived of that armed force, and of that mul-
titude of adherents and dependents by which
they had formerly supported their authority
and dignity. Many individuals among them,
from the progress of dissipation and extrava-
gance, were at length obliged, upon the failure
of other resources, to contract debts, to mort-
gage, and to squander away their estates. The
frugal and industrious merchant, who had ac-
quired a fortune by trade, was enabled, in
such a case, to purchase what the idle and ex-
travagant proprietor found it necessary to sell.
Property in land, originally the great source of
influence, was in this manner transferred from
the higher to the lower classes ; the character
of the trader and that of the landed gentleman
were in some measure confounded ; and the
consideration and rank of the latter were* by
a change of circumstances, communicated to
the former.

These gradual changes in the state of the
1

108 POLITICAL STATE

country could not fail to affect the condition
of the monarch, as well as the authority of
parliament, and, in particular, the relative
weight of the two houses.

The improvement of arts, and the progress
of luxury and refinement, which increased
the rate of living to every nobleman, or pri-
vate gentleman, had necessarily the same effect
upon that of the sovereign. The additional
accommodations and pleasures, the various
modes of elegance or ostentation, which the
fashion of the times was daily introducing,
occasioned a proportional addition to the ex-
pence requisite for supporting the king's
household, and maintaining the dignity of
the crown. The different officers and ser-
vants employed in all the branches of public
business, finding their subsistence more ex-
pensive than formerly, required of course an
augmentation of salaries or emoluments.
From the advancement of society in civiliza-
tion, from the greater accumulation of pro-
perty in the hands of individuals, and from
a correspondent extension of the connections
and pursuits of mankind, a more complicated

of regulations became necessary for main-

OP ENGLAND. 109

taining good order and tranquillity ; and the
number of different officers and servants in
the various departments of administration was
unavoidably augmented. Upon all these ac-
counts, the king, who found his ancient revenue
more and more inadequate to his expences,
was laid under greater difficulties in support-
ing the machine of government, and obliged
more frequently to solicit the aid of parliament
for obtaining additional supplies.

These effects of the increasing trade and
opulence of the country had begun to be felt
in the reign of Elizabeth ; who, at the same
time, from her peculiar situation, from the
number and power of her enemies, and from
the intricate and artful policy to which she re-
sorted in order to frustrate their designs, was
involved in extraordinary expences. Wish-
ing, however, to preserve her popularity, and
having probably little regard to her apparent
successor, she was willing to alienate the
crown-lands, rather than impose new burdens
upon her subjects ; insomuch that, upon the
accession of James, when the state of the mo-
narchy demanded an augmentation of revenue,
the ancient patrimony of the crown had been

HO POLITICAL STATE

greatly reduced. From particular accidents*
therefore^ as well as from the operation of ge*
neral causes, there was opened at this period a
new source of influence, tending, in some de-
gree, to reverse the former channels of authori-
ty, and to render the monarch dependent upon
the national council. As the king had no or-
dinary funds for the execution of any impor-
tant measure, either house of parliament, by
withholding its assent to the taxes proposed,
might with the utmost facility arrest his most
favourite enterprizes, and even put a stop
to all the movements of administration.

It is manifest, however, that the circum-
stances which had thus contributed to extend
the authority of parliament, must have tended
in a peculiar manner to exalt the house of com-
mons. In consequence of the growing wealth
and independence of the people, the house of
commons, composed of the representatives of
the people, rose to superior eminence, and as-
sumed more extensive privileges. Its dignity
and power were, at the same time, promoted by
the king, who, in the long continued struggle
with the nobles, had endeavoured to undermine
their influence by exalting the lower orders of

OF ENGLAND. Ill

the community. For this purpose the interest
of the crown had been employed in bringing
the knights of shires into parliament, in se-
parating them from the great barons, and
uniting them in one house with the burgesses.
With the same view the kings of England,
more especially those of the Tudor family^
not only encouraged the frequent meetings of
parliament, but promoted the interference of
the house of commons in all the branches of
parliamentary business, and connived at those
tbrms of proceeding by which it acquired the
exclusive right of introducing all bills intended
to impose any tax or pecuniary burden upon
the people. Wherever the monarch was
afraid of hazarding the direct exertion of his
prerogative, he had commonly recourse to the
lower house of parliament, of whose aid, in
opposing the nobility, he seldom had any
reason to doubt.

But the time was now come when this union
of interest between the crown and the house of
commons could no longer subsist. The in-
ferior ranks having attained a certain pitch of
independence, had no longer occasion for the
protection of the sovereign ; while the nobi*

POLITICAL STAfB

lity, fallen from their ancient power and gran-
deur, had ceased to be the objects of terror.
The commons were now in a condition to de-
fend those privileges which they had invaria-
bly exercised, and which immemorial custom
had sanctioned. They represented by far the
greatest part of the landed property, and almost
the whole personal wealth of the kingdom ;
and in their measures for promoting their own
interest and that of their constituents, they
were likely to be supported by the great body
of the people. Their apprehension and jea-
lousy, instead of being excited by the peers,
was now more properly directed to the mo-
narch, whose power had of late become so ex-
orbitant, and of whom the peers, no longer
the rivals, were become, a great part of them,
the dependents and subordinate agents.

In the reign of queen Elizabeth this indepen-
dent spirit of the commons had begun to ap-
pear : but, from the accession of James the
First, becoming much more conspicuous, it
was productive of uniform and repeated exer-
tions for limiting the encroachments of the
prerogative, and for maintaining and ex-
popular part of the constitution.

Of -ENfcLA7ND.

OF all the innovations arising from the pro^:
gress of the arts, and the advancement of civi-.
lized manners, that which related to the national
defence was the most remarkable. The dis*
mission of the ancient retainers belonging to
the proprietors of land} and the employment
of a great proportion of the lower people in
arts and manufactures, made it no longer pos-
sible* in those emergencies when ft military*
force was required, to call out the feudal militia
into the field. The vassals of the crowhj there-
fore, unable to fulfil the engagements implied
in their original tenures, were obliged, in place
of military service, to offer a pecuniary com4-
position, from which a general contribution or
tax wfis at length introduced ; and with the
money collected in this manner, the king,
upon whom was devolved the care of defend-
ing the country, was put in a condition to hire
soldiers for the purpose* This alteration in
the system of national defence, which began
upon the dawn of improvement in the king-
dom, was gradually making advances till the
i*eign of James the First, when the attendance
of the vassals was totally relinquished ;>and the

^: VOL. HI. i.'*:«

POLITICAL STATE

Armies levied for the future came to be com-
posed entirely of mercenaries.

The introduction of mercenary forces was,
in different respects, attended with very dif-
ferent, and even opposite consequences. It
occasioned an immense addition to the former
expences of government; and, in proportion,
rendered the king more dependent upon that
power which had the disposal of the public
money. As he could execute no enterprize of
importance without obtaining from parliament
an adequate supply, he was under the necessity
of procuring the concurrence of that assembly
in. almost all his measures; and when money
was wanted, he could seldom find a decent
pretence for refusing a redress of grievances,
or any other compliance which either house
might require as the condition of the grant.
The house of commons, in which it was un-
derstood that all money-bills must originate,
stood forward on such occasions, and availed
itself of this privilege for guarding those ave-
nues of the constitution which the inexperience
or negligence of the former times had left open
to the attacks of the crown,.

The changes in the military system had, in

6£ ENGLAND.

another view, a tendency to aggrandize the
monarch* An army levied and maintained
by the crown, separated by their employment
from the rest of the community, and alienated
from the interest and pursuits of their fellow-
citizens, deriving not only their present sub-
sistence, but all their hopes of preferment from
the sovereign, accustomed to obey his orders,
and, by the peculiar spirit of their profession,
taught to place their punctilio of honour and
duty in the implicit strictness of that obe-
dience : a body of men so circumstanced be-
came a powerful instrument in the hands of a
master, ready to be moved at pleasure in the
execution of his designs. The employment
of mercenary troops, in place of the ancient
feudal militia, had thus a tendency to exalt
the crown in two different wa}rs. In the first
place, by affording a beneficial and reputa-
ble profession to a multitude of people, it held
up to a great proportion of the inhabitants,
in particular to the nobility and gentry, who
consider themselves as excluded from many
other professions, the prospect of attaining a
provision, and even rank and distinction, to
themselves and their families. It instilled into

i 2

116 POLITICAL STATE

all these persons the habit of looking invariably
to the sovereign as the dispenser of those ad-
vantages, and consequently disposed them to
adhere to his party in all political disputes, and
to distinguish themselves by their exertions in
support of the prerogative.

But, secondly, this new system of national
defence furnished the king with an armed
force, which he mio-ht commonlv govern at

o •> ~

his discretion, and which, therefore, if raised
to a certain magnitude, might be capable of
bearing- down and crushing all resistance or

o o

opposition to his will. The introduction of
mercenaries, which, from similar causes, took
place over a great part of Europe, was the
more likely to be attended with this fatal con-
sequence ; because, in the natural course of
filings, they were soon converted into .regular
standing armies. TV hen a body of troops had
been enlisted, and properly disciplined for war,
it was thought a prudent measure to retain, if
flot the whole, at least a part of them <ev£ n in
time of peace, that the country might not be
left totally defenceless ; and that, with the as-

* •

Distance of thosq veterans, the new levies might
the sooner be fitted for service. The farther the

Jii.it ,f vi.»J -••-

OF ENGLAND. 117

improvements of military discipline had been
pushed ; the more difficult it became, from the
progress of trade, to recruit the army upon any
sudden emergency; and the more that princes,
from their situation, found an interest in being
constantly prepared for war : the number of
standing forces, in particular countries, was
increased ; the trade of a soldier was more se-
parated from every other, and rendered more
permanent ; and the great body of the people,
unarmed and unwarlike, were consequently re*
duced under the power of that formidable class
who had come to be constantly and exclusively
paid for fighting.

In England, therefore, as well as in the other
European countries which had made consider-
able progress in arts and manufactures, we
may discover the operation of two principles
which had an opposite political tendency; the
independence and opulence acquired by the
lower classes of the people, which tended to
produce a popular government; and the intro-
duction of mercenary armies for the purpose
of national defence, which contributed to ex-
tend and support the power of the crown.
This gave rise, unavoidably, to a contest be-

H8 POLITICAL STATE

tween the king and the people ; while the
former was endeavouring to extend his prero-
gative, and the latter to maintain or augment
their privileges. In tracing the commence-
ment and progress of this contest, which forms
an interesting and critical period in the history
of those countries, it will be found that the
success of either party has frequently depended
upon peculiar and accidental circumstances*.
In most of the countries of Europe, the
practice of hiring troops was begun at an ear-
lier period than in England, and was pushed to
a much greater extent. The kingdoms upon
the continent were greatly exposed to the at-
tacks of neighbouring powers; and in those
disorderly times, when every ambitious prince
aimed at foreign conquest, were obliged to be
constantly in a posture of defence; so that
when the vassals of the crown began to decline
the military service, there was an absolute ne-
cessity to surmount every difficulty in procuring
a great body of mercenaries. Thus, before
the spirit of liberty had risen to a high pitch,

* This point J had formerly occasion to consider in
a treatise upon " The Origin of the Distinction of

OF ENGLAND. 119

the king had obtained an army devoted to his
interest, and easily diverted from its original
destination, to that of supporting and enlarging
his power.

We accordingly find, that, upon the conti-
nent of Europe, the disuse of the feudal mi-
litia, and the formation of mercenary armies,
enabled the sovereign, in most cases, to esta-
blish a despotical government^ This hap-
pened in France during the reign of Louis the
Thirteenth, and in Spain during that of Philip
the Second. In Germany, indeed, the inde-
pendence of the different states of the empire
had, long before this period, been settled upon
so firm a basis, that every attempt of the
crown to reduce them to subjection proved in-
effectual . But the vi porous efforts which were

o

made for this purpose by the emperor Ferdi-
nand the Second, sufficiently demonstrate that
the new system of military arrangements, in-
troduced about this time by the monarch, had
the same tendency here as in the other Euro-
pean kingdoms.

The circumstances of Britain, however, at
this critical period, were a good deal different
from those of the countries upon the neigh^

120 POLITICAL STATE

bouring continent. By the union of the crowns
of England and Scotland, an entire stop was
put to the inroads and hostilities, -between the
two countries ; which, at the same time, from
their insular situation, were little exposed to
the attacks of any foreign potentate. When
the vassals of the crown, therefore, had with-
clrawn their ancient military service, there was
no immediate necessity for employing any con-
siderable body of mercenary soldiers. The de*
fence of the country was devolved, in a great
measure upon its navy; which, without much
difficulty, could be rendered fully sufficient
for the purpose. By the maritime situation,
and the commercial improvements of Britain,
a great part of its inhabitants, becoming ac->
quajnted with the navigation and the arts de-,
pending upon it, formed a body of sailors
capable of manning such fleets as might be
necessary to repel any foreign invasion, and
requiring little additional discipline or instruct
tion to fit them for that species of military
service.

The sea and the land forces may, both of
them, no doubt, be properly ranked in the
class pf mercenaries ; yet, when we consider

OF ENGLAND. 121

i

their tendency to support the authority of the
crown, they must be viewed in a different
light. The soldiers of a land army have
usually no other employment, or at least none
which, upon being disbanded, they can exer-
cise with equal advantage. But the sailors of
the royal navy are usually drawn, and often
dragged by force, from the merchant service ;
to which, being less hazardous, and commonly
more lucrative, a great part of them are de-
sirous of returning. The officers, indeed, in
the sea and in the land service, are nearly in
the same situation, depending entirely upon
the crown for their professional advancement ;
and having no other employment from which
they can expect either distinction or emolu-
ment But the great body of the sailors, in
the pay of government, arc somewhat in the
condition of common mechanics ; deriving
subsistence from their labour and skill ; and
secure, that whenever they shall be dismissed
from their present service, their proficiency in
a collateral branch will afford them a com-
fortable livelihood.

Though sea-taring people, by being pecu-
liarly distinguished from the rest of the com-

POLITICAL STATE

munity, are usually animated with an uncom-
mon decree of the esprit du' corps, they are
not fitted, either by their situation or disposi-
tions, to act as the tools of a court in sup-
porting the encroachments of the prerogative.
From their precarious way of life, exposing
them to great and unexpected vicissitudes;
exempting them at some times from all care
for their own provision, and at others pro-
ducing such affluence as tempts them to ex-
traordinary dissipation, they become thought-
less about futurity, and little impressed by
motives of interest. Their disinterested cha-
racter, joined to their want of reflection, and
habitual contempt of danger, creates a spirit of
independence bordering upon licentiousness,
from which they are with difficulty recalled to
the obedience and submission consistent with
their duty. The fleets in the service of the
cro\\rn are, besides, at too great a distance, and
their operations of too peculiar a nature, to ad-
mit of their being employed occasionally in
quelling insurrections at home, or in check-
ing the efforts of the people to maintain their
privileges. They are confined to a different
element.

OF ENGLAND. 123

From these observations it will not appear
surprising that the fate of the English govern-
ment was different from that of most of the
other feudal governments upon the continent.
At the period when the commons had im-
bibed a higher spirit of liberty, and acquired
an increase of power and influence from the
increasing opulence and independence of the
people, the sovereign was not provided with
an army sufficient to maintain his pretensions.
James the First, and Charles the First, ap-
pear to have embraced the same political prin-
ciples with most of the other princes of Eu-
rope. They saw the absolute power of the
crown exercised in the neighbouring king-
doms, and were not willing to be left behind
by their neighbours. But the secure and
peaceable state of their dominions afforded no
plausible pretence for the imposition of such
taxes as would have been requisite for keeping
on foot a great body of mercenary troops; and
parliament, alarmed at die unusual demands
of money, upon the part of the crown, be-
came proportionably circumspect in granting
even the most moderate supplies. To accom-
plish their purpose, those monarchs, in the

124 POLITICAL STATE

extreme perplexity arising from their circum-
stances, were induced to practise a variety of
shifts, and to carry on a train of dissimulation
very unbecoming their station ; but having no
sufficient military force to support their claims,
they were laid under the necessity of making
such concessions, and of permitting the erec-
tion of such barriers against oppression, as the
awakened suspicion and jealousy of the nation
thought indispensable for securing the ancient
constitution, arid restraining the future abuses
of the prerogative, ^jj

The ocean with which Britain is enconv
passed, had thus, at two different periods, a
powerful and happy influence upon the course
of the English government. During the highest
exaltation of the feudal monarchy in modern
Europe, the safety which England derived
from its insular situation, and its remote con-
nection with the disputes and quarrels upon
the continent, gave the sovereign, as was obT
served upon the early part of our History, few
opportunities pf acting as the general of the
national forces; and, consequently, of acquir-
ing the popularity and authority which result
from that eminent station, As the great feu»

OF ENGLAND. 125

dal superior in the kingdom, he became, there-
fore, less absolute than the sovereign in any of
the great nations upon the continent. When,
in a later age, the improvements of commerce
and manufactures dried up the ancient sources
of the feudal dominion, and turned the course
of authority into different channels, the same
line of separation between Britain and the
neighbouring countries withheld, from the so-
vereign of the former, that new system of mi-
litary arrangement which was then introduced
into the latter, and which in them became the
great instrument of despotism. The feudal king
of England saw no other path to greatness than
by undermining the aristocracy; and was wil-
ling to barter the exaltation of the lower, for
the depression of the higher classes. Her
commercial sovereign found that he was unable
to set bounds to those liberties, which his pre-
decessors had endeavoured to promote, and was
thence induced, though with infinite reluctance,
to compound the disputes with his people, and
to relinquish a part of his prerogative in order
to retain the rest.

POLITICAL SYSTEM AFFECTED

CHAP. III.

In tvhat Manner the Political System was affected^
by the State of Religious Opinons.

AN those European countries which embraced
the doctrines of the reformation, religious dis-
putes continued for some time to agitate the
minds of men ; and the different sects which
became prevalent, or obtained consideration,
were allied with different parties in the state*
The latter, in such cases, derived a prodigious
advantage from the former, being supported
by that zeal which religion is wont to inspire*,
and by that animosity which is often the bitter
fruit of religious contention.

With those who endeavoured to pull down
the fabric of superstition and ecclesiastical ty-
ranny, erected in the dark ages, it was one of
the first objects to withdraw that exorbitant
power which the Roman pontiff, as the head
of the western church, had found the means of
usurping. It required but little reflection to
1

BY RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 127

discover the inconvenience and absurdity of a
foreign prince being permitted to obtain the
superintendence and government of religion,
in a country whose interest was not only dif-
ferent, but frequently opposite to that of his
own dominions ; that he should be allowed to
interfere in the distribution of justice, as well
as in the disposal of the most lucrative offices ;
and that he should exercise these privileges
without limitation or controul, and by virtue
of an authority paramount and superior to that
of the civil magistrate. In England, the pri-
vate controversy in which Henry the Eighth
was engaged with the court of Rome, led him
to view this point in a strong light ; and the
delivery c f himself and his kingdom from the
dominion of the holy see, together with the
gratification of his avarice, by acquiring pos-
session of the monastic revenues, may be re-
garded as the sole purpose for which he pro-
secuted the reformation. So great was the au-
thority possessed by this monarch, and so much
afraid was either religious party of pushing
him to extremities, that the new system came,
in a great measure, to be modelled by his di-
rection ; and, upon this account, it retained a

POLITICAL SYSTEM AFFECTEt)

greater affinity to the ancient establishment
than could otherwise have been expected. Th^
papal supremacy was not extinguished, but
only transferred to the king \ and in other re-
spects, the hierarchy suffered no material va-
riation.

This plan of church government, which
Henry had laboured with all his might to esta-
blish, Was far from being disagreeable to the
temper of Elizabeth ; and though not perfectly
suitable to the inclination of all that part of
her subjects who favoured the reformation, yet,'
being patronised by the sovereign, and having
obtained the sanction of two preceding reigns,
it was considered as the system most likely to
prevail over the ancient establishment, and was
therefore ad*nitted without opposition by every
denomination of pro testants.

Two great religious parties, at this time,
divided the whole nation ; the Protestants and
the Roman Catholics: the former, who, by
undaunted resolution and fortitude, and with
various success encountering severe trials and
bloody persecutions, had at length obtained a
decided superiority: the latter, who, though
defeated, were not broken; and who, though

fcE^IOIOUS OPINIONS. 129

they had quitted the open field, were still
powerful in number, connections, and re-
source^ and were only lying in wait for thp
first favourable opportunity to retrieve their
fortune. These two parties were animate4
by mutual hatred and resentments. The op-
pression to which the Protestants had been sub-
jected, and the barbarities which at the insti-
gation of the church, they had suffered from,
the secular arm, were still fresh in their me-
mory ; while they dreaded the machinations
of a party, with whose unrelenting dispositions
they were well acquainted, and whose activity
and power, seconded by the papal influence
and authority over a great part of Europe,
were still very formidable. The Roman Ca-
tholics, on the other hand, could not easily
forget the mortifying degradation which they
had suffered ; the complete overthrow of their
faith and worship ; the loss of their splendid
and lucrative establishment ; the insolence and
contempt of heretics, irritated by former bad
usage ; and the hardships which they had rear
son to expect from adversaries, now triumph^
ant, and supported by the civil magistrate.

VOL. III. K

ISO

POLITICAL SYSTEM AFFECTED

After the accession of the house of Stuart,
when the terror of popery began to subside,
the subordinate distinctions among Protestants
were brought more into notice, and their chief
differences of opinion gave rise to different sects.
According as the terms of the established reli-
gion had been limited and circumscribed by
"the influence of the crown, the sectaries be*
'came numerous and powerful. The tide of re-
ligious faith and worship, being turned from its
natural course, and forced into an artificial
channel* was the more likelv to overflow its

*/

banks, and to find a passage in various colla-
teral streams and currents.
• The presbyterians, who had gained the as-
cendancy in Scotland, were in England, about
this period, the most numerous body of secta-
ries. Their system appears to have arisen
from a natural progression of the same views
and opinions by which the religious reforma-
tion had been originally suggested. They
proposed to correct the abuses of the Romaa
Catholic church, and to guard against the cm-

O O

due influence and domination of the clergy, by
the abolition of ecclesiastical dignities, by esta-
blishing a perfect parity among churchmen,

RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 131

by restricting them to very moderate livings;
and by rejecting that pomp and pageantry of
Worship which is manifestly calculated to pro-
mote superstition, and to create in the people a*
blind veneration for their spiritual directors.; ~
While the prtsbyterians disapproved of the
ancient hierarchy, there1 arose another great
sect, who considered all ecclesiastical establish-
ments as incompatible with religious freedom!
To this description of religionists, the interfere
ence of government in favour of any one sect,
by maintaining its clergy at the public expence}
appeared a kind of persecution of every other",
and an encroachment upon the rights of private
judgment. As every man employs and pays his
own physician or lawyer, it seemed to them
equally proper and expedient that every one
should be left to choose his own rclisrious in-

o

structor, and to bestow upon him such a reward
for his labour as might be settled by an agree-
ment between them. In this manner the clergy,
it was thought, instead of acquiring an undue
influence over the people, would become depend-
ent upon them ; and, like men in other profes-
sions, prompted to exertion by a regard to their
own interest, would commonly be successful irt

132 POLITICAL SYSTEM AFFECTEP

proportion to their abilities and good behaviour.
The different modes of faith, as well as the
forms of public worship, would thus be placed
upon an equal and liberal footing; and the
community at large being freed, in matters of
religion, from the bias either of interest or of
authority, would be encouraged to follow the
dictates of reason and conscience. The poli-
tical advantages of such a regulation were sup-
posed to be not less conspicuous. By the sim-
ple expedient of leaving the people at liberty
to conduct their own religious concerns, the
charge of levying taxes, or providing any per-
manent fund for the support of the national re-
ligion, together with the hardship of obliging
any part of the inhabitants to pay for main-
taining the clergy of a different communion ;
not to mention the loss that must be sustained,
in that case, if the established pastors are de-
serted by their flock, and remain an useless
load upon the public ; all these inconveniences
would be entirely avoided.

Such was the general system of the indepen-
dents ; which, by a, natural progress of rea-
soning, seems to have grown up from that of
the presbyteriaris, us the latter was an obvious

BY RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 133

extension of the doctrines embraced by those
primitive reformers who continued the hierar-
chy. The Christian religion had been re-
duced into a monopoly, under the authority
of a governor, with extensive territories and
numerous forts commanded by regular offi-
cers to defend the trade and prevent interlo-
pers. For correcting the evils which had
arisen from such an oppressive establishment,
the first remedy went no farther than to cashier
the governor, to dismiss a number of useless
and expensive servants, and to cut off a mul-
titude of pernicious exclusive privileges. To
demolish the forts, to disband their opulent
and powerful commanding officers, and to
strip the corporation of its overgrown terri-
torial possessions, appeared, upon further ex*-
perience and reflection, an additional improve-
ment. To dissolve the company altogether,
and to lay the trade entirely open, was at
length suggested as the most effectual means
for promoting laudable industry, for discourag-
ing unfair practices, and for communicating an
equal benefit to a whole people.

These four religious parties, the Roman
Catholic, the Church of England, the Presby*

134 POLITICAL SYSTEM AFFECTED

terian, the Independent, which comprehended
nearly the whole nation, were led to embrac^
different political systems, and became allied
to different parties in the State. The two first,
in a political view, exhibited characters dia-
metrically opposite to those of the two last;
and though differing in some respects from
each other, their leading features were simi-
lar.

. The Roman catholic religion may be rer
garded as a deep-laid system of superstition,
•which took a firmer hold of the human mind
than any othef that has appeared in the world.
-ft was founded upon a more complicated and
rational theology than the rude systems of a
•former period ; and gave rise to a multiplicity
of interesting opinions and tenets, whjch exr
ercised and frequently perplexed the pious beT
liever, so as to lay him under the necessity of
resorting to the aid of a religious instructor for
the regulation and direction of his faith, It
represented the Deity as an omnipotent, but
an austere and vindictive being, capable of an-?
ger and resentment against those who trans?
gress his laws, and intending this world, not
fg/ the present comfort and satisfaction of

BY RELIGIOUS OPJNI6NS. 135

creatures, but as a place of preparation for a
future state of eternal happiness or misery. As
all men must be conscious of great weakness
and frailty, of not only deviating from the
standard of perfect virtue, but of being fre*
quently stained with numberless vices, and

* . " ,

even atrocious crimes, which excite self-con-
demnation and remorse, they could not fail,
upon conceiving themselves in the all-seeing
eye of this impartial and severe Judge, to be
covered with shame and confusion, and over-
whelmed with consternation and terror. Under
the impression of these feelings, it was natural
that they should endeavour to procure conso-
lation from the intercourse of some ghostly
father whom they should call upon to suppli-
cate the offended Deity in their behalf, and
whose advice and direction they should eager-
ly solicit in attempting to atone for their trans-
gressions, by submitting to voluntary penances
or mortifications, and by every expression or
demonstration of humility and abasement, of
Borrow aqd repentance. These dispositions
and circumstances of the people had produced
a clergy, opulent and powerful beyond e.xam*
pie, who had laboured to promote and regulate

139 POllTlfcAL SYSTEM AFFECTED

that superstition which was the original fouri*
elation of their authority; and Who, in their"
&dVahcerhent to riches and dominion, had,
like the officers of a regular army, fallen hito
a subordination of power and rank. The
doctrines and the practical conduct inculcated
by this clergy, were such as might contribute
most effectually to their own aggrandizement.
The people were taught to believe in mysteries
xvhich their pastors alone pretended to explain,
to approach and worship the Supreme Being
by superstitious rites and ceremonies, in which
the clergy presided, to discover to their spi-
ritual instructor all their secret thoughts and
actions, and, upon submitting to the discipline
prescribed by the church in such cases, to re-*
ceive fVorn him absolution and pardon for their
sins. In a word, the clergy were understood
to have in their possession the keys of heaven :
in Consequence of which, the treasures of the
earth, and the hearts of mankind, were laid
bperi to them.

In tlie exercise and extension of their power,
they were supported, not only by their ecclesi-
astical leader, the Roman pontiff, but also by
their temporal sovereign, who, though on some

BY HfctltHOUS OPINIONS. 1ST

he might quarrel with them for their
encroachments upon his prerogative) had com-
monly an interest to promote their influence
over the people ; as they, on the other hand,
from his having a great share in the disposal
of their livings, \vere induced to employ that
influence in promoting and. maintaining his
authority. Thus, between the great power of
the crown an4 that of the church, both of
which Were the offspring of ignorance and
prejudice, there arose a sort of family compact,
which being consolidated by length of time
and by mutual habits, proved no less advan-
tageous to either party than it was inimical to
the interest of the whole community.

Of all the systems of religion established at
the time of the reformation, the church of
England approaclied the nearest to that Roman
Catholic stock upon which it was engrafted.
It rejected, indeed, many absurd opinions
adopted by the church of Rome, and, from
the greater diffusion of knowledge, it acquired
a more limited influence over the minds of the
people. But so far as its authority extended*
its character and tendency were the same.
Though its features were a little softened, it

138 POLITICAL SYSTEM AFFECTED

presented the same aspect of superstition, the
same pomp and parade of worship, the same
dignitaries invested with jurisdiction and au-
thority, the same opulence and splendour in
the higher clergy, which tended to procure
them consideration and respect, the same train
of subordination in the ranks and orders of
churchmen, which united them in one com-
pact body, and enabled them, in promoting
their common interest, to act with unanimity
and vigour.

The constitution of the church of England
had even a stronger tendency than that of
Rome to render its clergy devoted to the in*
terest of .the crown. They were more uni-
formly dependent upon the sovereign, who,
by the annihilation of the papal supremacy,
became, without a rival, the acknowledged
head of the church, and obtained the entire
disposal of thje higher ecclesiastical dignities.
. The presbyterian and independent systems
were of a different spirit and complexion.
The adherents of the former, in correcting
the errors and abuses of the church of Rome,
had acquired a degree of ardour and enthu*.
siasm, which led them, in their acts of pvib-

BY RELIGIOUS OPINIONS.

lie worship, to reject with indignation all
forms and ceremonious observances, and to
consider their approaches to the Deity, by
prayer and supplication, as a mere sentimental
intercourse, calculated to demonstrate and
improve those feelings of the heart which
were due to their Creator. They regarded
the functions of a clergyman, therefore, as of
no further importance than to preserve good
order in the public exercise of religious WOP*
ship, to inspect the behaviour of the people
under his care, and to instruct them in the
great duties of morality and religion. It was
consistent with this moderate and rational es-»
timation of the clerical character, that the cler-
gy should be moderately provided in livings,
that they should not be exalted one above
another by any scale of dignities or jurisdio
tion, and that their authority-, upon the whole,
should be inconsiderable. By their activity,
indeed, and bv their attention to the duties of

V

their profession, they were capable of gaining
great influence and respect; but in order to
do this, it was necessary that they should re-
commend themselves to the people rather than
cultivate the patronage of men in power. They

140 POLITICAL *YSt£M AFFECTED

Could, therefore, be of little service to the so-
vereign in supporting his prerogative, and, of
consequence, had little to expect from his fa-
vour. On the contrary, as their interest and
habits connected them with the populace, they
entered with alacrity into the popular feelings
.And viexvs, beheld with jealousy and appre-
hension the lofty pretensions of the crown,
fcttd sounded throughout the kingdom the
alarm of regal usurpation.

As the system of the independents pro-
ceeded a step further than that of the presb}^
terians, by declaring against all ecclesiastical
establishments, and rendering the provision of
every religious instructor perfectly precarious,
their clergy becoming still more dependent upon
their employers, were proportionably more
interested in courting popular favour, and in
struggling for the extension of popular privir
leges.

The presbyterians, as they approved of a
permanent clergy, appointed and paid by the
public, and possessed of a certain jurisdiction,
so, in- their political system, they had no aver-
sion to a hereditary monarch, invested with per-
manent civil powers, aufl superintending all the

BY RELIGIOUS OPIKJONS. 141

ordinary brandies of executive government.
But the independents, who held that the aj>
pointment of the clergy should be left to the
discretion of those who thought proper to em-
ploy them, were led, in consistency with this
doctrine, to maintain that every civil officer,
whether supreme or subordinate, should like-
wise be elected by the community. The
presby terians, therefore, were the friends of li-
mited monarchy. The i ndependents preferred
a democratical constitution. The connection,
however, between these religious and civil
plans of government, though sufficiently ob-
vious, was not acknowledged, nor perhaps dis-
covered all at once ; but was gradually deve-
loped and brought to light, during the course
of the long contest between the king and the
commons. For some time after the establish-
ment of the reformation, the Roman Catholics
continued to be the object of hatred and re-
sentment to all denominations of protestants;
but their disposition to support the prerogative
did not escape the two first princes of the house
of Stuart, who secretlv favoured their interest,

•/

as much as they hated the presby terians and in-
dependents. Upon pretence of lenity to tender

1

POLITICAL SYSTEM AFFECTED

consciences, these two princes assumed thd
power of dispensing with the penal statute*
against non-confortnists; but the real purpose
of those dispensations was apparent to all, and
the nation felt equal alarm and indignation
from considering those exertions of the prero-i
gativeas no less direct and palpable violations
of the constitution, than they were decided
marks of predilection for a party, the appre-
hension of whose return into power still conti-
nued to fill the nation with terror'.

Of the two succeeding monarchs, Charles
the Second, it is now known, was a concealed,
as his brother^ James the Second, was an
avowed and bigoted Roman Catholic. The

o

constant favour shewn by the four princes of
the house of Stuart to the people of this per-
suasion, could not fail to procure for them re-^
turns of gratitude and affection, and to render
them zealous defenders of the prerogative ; as,
on the other hand, the dislike which those
princes invariably manifested to the presbyteri-
ansand independents, contributed to strengthen
the political bias acquired by those dissenters^
and to confirm the original principles by which
they were attached to the popular cause.

BY RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 14S

But although the different religious parties
in England were thus disposed to embrace
those opposite political systems, their natural
dispositions, in this respect, were sometimes
warped and counteracted by peculiar circum*
stances. For some time after the accession of
the house of Stuart, the terror of the restora*
tion of popery, which had been inspired into
every description of protestants, produced an
extreme jealousy of the king, on account of
his marked and uniform partiality to the Ro*-
man Catholics j and united the church of Eng*
land with the dissenters in opposing the designs
of the crown. This was visible through the

whole reign of James the First, and a con-

~ *

siderable part of the reign of Charles the First,
during which the nation, exclusive of the Ro-

o

man Catholics, and a few interested courtiers-,
acted with wonderful unanimity in restraining
the encroachments of the prerogative.

To form a proper notion of the effects aris-
ing from this union, we must consider the state
of religious differences in those times. How

o

inconsistent soever it may seem with the ge-
nuine principles of religious reformation, the
primitive reformers, of every denomination,

POLITICAL SYSTEM AF*ECT££>

were no. less destitute than the Roman Catho*
lies, of that liberality of sentiment which teache*
pien to indulge their neighbours in the same
freedom of opinion which they claim to them-
selves,. They were, all of them, so highly
impregnated with a spirit of bigotry and fana?
ticism as to regard any remarkable deviation
from their own tenets in the light of a damna-
ble error, which ought, by every possible means,
to be corrected or suppressed ; and for the at^
tainment of this object, they were easily exr
cited to brave every danger, and to submit to
any inconvenience or hardship. Their interr
ference, therefore, was always formidable to
the civil power, and became frequently the
chief cause of revolutions in government. At
a subsequent period, the harshness and asperity
attending the first exuberant growth of religi-
ous differences, have been gradually mellowed
and softened in their progress to maturity ; and
the prejudices contracted in the dawn of philo-
sophy, ha.ve been dissipated by the fuller light
of science and literature, and by that cool and
^dispassionate inquiry which is the natural fruit
pf leisure, tranquillity and affluence. It may,
pejrhaps, be considered as the strongest proof of

BY RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 145

those intellectual improvements which
kind have attajned in the present age, that;
we have beheld the most astonishing political
changes, to which religion has in no respec$
contributed, and which have been regarde4
by the ministers of the altar in no other light
but that of pecuniary interest.

In the latter part of the reign of Charles
the First, the disputes between the king an4
the commons began to assume a different
aspect. The apprehensions which were so
long entertained of the Romish religion, had
then, in a good measure, subsided ; and the
public attention was engrossed by the arbt»
trary measures of the crown, which produce^
a very general opinion, that certain precau,-
tions were necessary for guarding against the
future encroachments of the prerogative,.
Here the church of England appeared to
follow her natural propensity, and her clergy
almost universally deserted the popular stand-
ard. The presby terians and the independents,
on the other hand, stood forward as. the
supporters of the national privileges ; and
while they became powerful auxiliaries to |Ji£
cause of liberty, they derived a gve^t acces*

VOL. in. L

146 POLITICAL SYSTEM AFFECTED

sion of strength and reputation from the gene-
Tal tide of political opinions.

Of those two sects, the presbyterians were,
for some time, the most powerful, and by
their exertions, in conformity to their views
of government, many regulations, calculated
for securing a limited monarchy, were suc^
cessively introduced. But the progress of the
contest, by holding the minds of men in con-r
tinual agitation, contributed to push the peo^
pie to greater extremities, both in religion
and politics ; in religion, by overthrowing all
religious establishments ; and in politics, by
the entire abolition of regal authority. Such
was the aim of the independents, who at
length became the ruling party, but who, falU
ing under the direction of an extraordinary
genius, utterly devoid of all principle, were
made, in his hands, an instrument for the
destruction of the monarchy, for the purpose
of introducing an odious species of despotism.
Had Cromwell possessed less enterprize and
abilities, the crown would have been pre-
served : had his ambition been better di-
rected, England, which under his authority
assumed the name of a commonwealth, might

BY RELIGIOUS OPINIONS. 14?

have, in reality, obtained a "popular govern-
ment.

The restoration of Charles the Second, gave
rise to new religious combinations. The
church of England, having now recovered
her former establishment, could not fail to en-
tertain a violent jealousy of those dissenters
by whom her power had been overturned ;
and she was led, of course, to co-operate with
the Roman Catholics, in promoting the arbi-
trary designs of the monarch. The cry of
church and king, and the alarm, that the
church was in danger, were now sounded
throughout the nation, and were employed
on every critical emergency, to discredit all
endeavours for securing the rights of the peo-
ple.

The barefaced attempt of the infatuated
James the Second, to re-establish the Roman
Catholic religion in England, tended once
more to break down these arrangements, and
to produce a concert, between the leading
men in the church and the Protestant dis-
senters, for the purpose of resisting the un-
constitutional measures of the king. As this
concert, however, had arisen from the i

* 3

148 POLITICAL SYSTEM, &C.

diate fear of popery, it remained no longetf
than while that fear was kept alive ; and ac-.
cordjngly the revolution in 1688 was hardly
completed, before these loyal ecclesiastics be-!
gan to disclaim the part they had acted, and
returned with fresh ardour to their congenial
doctrines of passive pbediejice and
ance,

,».--j

vd

. fit

V,K rJlTli

:» _. .

Progress of the Disputes between the King and
Parliament , during the Reigns of James the tirstt

and of Charles the First*
If

THE Ions? contest between the king and

».

parliament, under the two first princes of the
Stewart family, forms a very interesting part
of the English history ; and its origin arid
consequences deserve the most attentive exa-
mination. The object in dispute Was no less
than to determine and establish the -political
constitution of a great nation ; arid the agi-
tation produced by so important a controversy
could not fail to rouse the passions of men,
to call forth and display their most eminent
characters, and to develope those combinations
and occurrences which tended to facilitate or
to obstruct the improvement of civil society.
We are not, however* to imagine that, from
the beginning to the end of this contest, the
same line of conduct was invariably pursued

150 DISPUTES BETWEEN

by either of the parties. They were some-
times actuated by the feelings of the moment;
changed their ground, according to the altera-
tion of times and circumstances ; and varied
their measures, according to the character and
views of those individuals by whom they were
occasionally directed. To distinguish the
most remarkable of these variations, the whole
period under consideration may be divided
into three branches: the first extending from
the accession of James to the meeting of the
long parliament, as it is called, in the year
1640 ; the second, from the meeting of the
long parlament to the commencement of the
civil war ; the third, from thence to the death
of Charles the First.

*vf* 1'i'U ; U<mi.,!l Jf/JT^ » l.tlJ1

;)t;iii-i

"'•

orlt ,t8

THE KING AND PARLJAMEN1V 151

r: .'xio'iri) ri •;>,.«•••:

' ot
.
SECTION 1;

jDVdVfOfi &'t !)'

THE REIGN OF JAMES THE FIRST; AND
THAT OF CHARLES THE FIRST, FROM HIS
ACCESSION TO THE MEETING OF THE
LOXG PARLIAMENT;

vfrv/txj MV.-I''« . ;./i oil-M

THE behaviour of James the First, after
he obtained the crown of England, might
seem surprising to those who remembered his
former circumstances, and who beheld the
sudden and remarkable change of his fortune.
Born and brought up amid civil dissentions ;
surrounded by nobles, many of whom pos-
sessed a power little inferior to his own ; ex-
posed to numerous plots, by which his life
was endangered) or which tended to lay a
restraint upon his person, and under his name,
to convey the exercise of government to his
rebellious subjects ; in such a situation he re-
ceived his political education, and his early
habits were formed. But no sooner was he

138

DISPUTES BETWEEN

seated upon the English throne, than he began
to hold a language, and to discover preten-
sions, that would have suited the most abso-
lute monarch upon the face of the globe.
There is, however, in reality, nothing un-
common or singular in this appearance. None
are so likely to abuse their power as those
who have recently obtained it; none so apt to
be guilty of extravagant profusion, as those
who have suddenly been raised from poverty
to great riches ; whether it be, that they are
intoxicated by the novelty of their situation ;
or, from a consciousness of their former in-
feriority, are jealous, lest they should not
appear with sufficient dignity in their new
station.

Though, in his private deportment, James
Tiad no tincture of arrogance, or supercilious-
"ness, he 'set no bounds to his authority as a
'icing, Me found that the aristocracy, by
whicHi he had been so inuch harassed in Scot-
land, was reduced in England from a state

• r • ^D

*tif nVal^h1j> to that of subordination "and de-
Bn't 'he 'overlooked the influence
ruflk 'which 'had at the same time been
fe' great bdcty of the people.

THE ftlNG AND PARLIAMENT. 153

He saw that the sovereigns in the principal
European kingdoms, exercised an arbitrary
and despotical power ; and, without examin-
ing the means by which it had been acquired,
or the circumstances by which it was main-
tained, he seems to have thought that, from
the extent and opulence of hi» own domi-
nions, he was entitled to follow their exam-
ple. In public, as well as in private, in his
letters and speeches to parliament, and in his
ordinary conversation, the divine, hereditary,
indefeasible right of kings to govern their
subjects without controul, was always a fa-
vourite topic. This was the fundamental
principle of that kingcraft, to which, as he
frequently declared, he had served so long
an apprenticeship, and which therefore he
pretended fully to understand. That his pre-
rogative was absolute and unlimited ; that the
'concurrence of parliament was not necessary
in any of the acts of government ; and that
' a!!* the privileges of the people, were mere
Voluntary concessions made by his ancestors,
which he might revoke at pleasure ; these were
propositions which he not only maintained,

I54f DILUTES BET\VfeE&

but which he would not suffer to be ques-
tioned. " As to dispute," says he, " what
" God may do, is blasphemy ; so it is sedi*
" tion to dispute what a king may do in the
" height of his power." Even the judges,
when called upon, in the execution of their
duty, to decide between the king and the
people, were prohibited from canvassing the
rights of the crown. " Deal not," says his
majesty, " in difficult questions, before you
*e consult with the king and council, for fear
" of wounding the king through the sides of
46 a private person. The absolute preroga*
" tive of the crown is no subject for the
" tongue of a lawyer, nor is it lawful to be
" disputed*."

We may easily suppose, that the same prin-
ciples and doctrines which were thus openly
avowed by the sovereign, were propagated at
court, and embraced by all who wished to
procure the royal favour and patronage.
" When Waller, the poet, was young, he had
" the curiosity to go to court ; and he stooiJL

* King James's Works.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 155

ic in the circle and saw James dine ; where,
" among other company, there sat at table
" two bishops, Neile and Andrews. The king
" proposed aloud this question, whether he
" might not take his subjects' money, when
" he needed it, without all this formality of
" parliament? Neile replied, God forbid you
" should not ; for you are the breath of our
" nostrils. Andrews declined answering, and
" said he was not skilled in parliamentary
" cases ; but upon the king's urging him, and
" saying he would admit of no evasion, the
" bishop replied pleasantly ; why then I think
" your majesty may lawfully take my brother
" Neile's money, for he offers it*."

That writers were easily found to inculcate
similar doctrines, cannot be doubted. In the
books published by Cowel and Blackwood, it
was roundly asserted, that from the Norman
conquest, the English government had been
an absolute monarchy ; that the king was not
bound by the laws, or by his coronation oath ;
and that, independent of parliament, he pos-

* Hume's History of England

1,56 JDISPt/T£S

sessed the power of legislation, and that of
imposing taxes.

j^iiWiddy different from this was the idea
of the constitution entertained by the house
of commons. They considered it as a mixed
form of government, in which the king was
merely the chief executive officer, and in
which the legislative power, together with
that of taxation, was vested in parliament.
So far from admitting the king to be above
the laws, or his being entitled to change the
form of government at pleasure* they look-
ed upon him as only the guardian and pro*
tector of the constitution ; placed in that
high station, not for his own benefit, but in
order to promote the happiness and prospe-
rity of his people. They well knew, that at
no period of the English history was the so-
vereign ever possessed of an unlimited au-
thority ; that, in the latter part of the An-
glo-Saxon government, and under the princes
of the Norman and Plantagenet race, the
chief power was in the hands of the nobility,
or great proprietors of land ; and that, when
the advancement of manufactures and of

TIJE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 15?

agriculture, in the reigns of the Tudor princes,
had contributed to dismember the estates,
and to diminish the influence of the nobles,
the same change of circumstances tended
to advance the middling and lower classes
of the people, and to bestow proportional
weight and authority upon that branch of
parliament composed of the national repre-
sentatives. Between the decline of the no-
bility and the exaltation of the people, there
had indeed occurred an interval, during
which the monarch had endeavoured to ex->
tend his prerogative; but his endeavours
had met with constant opposition, and had
proved ineffectual for destroying the funda-
mental privileges of parliament, or subvert*
ing, in any degree, the ancient fabric of the
constitution. Nothing could betray more
gross ignorance and misinformation, than to.
believe that the crown of England was en-r
joyed by a divine, indefeasible, heredita*
ry right; for nothing is more certain than
that, had it been transmitted upon that prin-
ciple, it never could have devolved upon the
house of Stewart; and that the lineal suc-
cession of the English royal family was fre*

158 DISPUTES BETWEEN

quently broken, in some cases by occasi-
onal usurpation, in others by the interpo-
sition of the national council. By an act
of the legislature, in the reign of queen Eli-
zabeth, it is declared to be high treason for
any person to assert that parliament has no
right to vary and settle the succession to the
crown.

Fortunately the talents of James were ill-
suited to the task of subverting the ancient
government. Whatever might be his abi-
lities as a scholar, or his proficiency in the
literature of the times, his understanding and
discernment in the conduct of life were
greatly below mediocrity. Nature had form-
ed him for a pedagogue, and intended he
should wield no better instrument than a
birch. Possessed with the lofty idea of ab-
solute monarchy in church and state, he
seems to have thought that, by mere dint
of argument, he could persuade the Eng-
lish nation to become slaves ; and he pro-
vided no ultimate resources for carrying his
design into execution. Mean and contempti-
ble in his amusements and pleasures, weak
and childish in his affections, Jiis behaviour.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 159

upon ordinary occasions, was not only unbe-
coming the dignity of a king, but incon-
sistent with common decorum and propriety.
Though obstinate and conceited, he was high-
ly susceptible of flattery; and though not
exempted from avarice, he was profuse in his
expences, and extravagantly liberal to his fa-
vourites. These were commonly chosen from
a regard to their beauty of person ; and as
they gained an entire ascendancy over him,
their incapacity and profligacy, joined to
his own folly and arbitrary views, rendered
his government equally odious and ridicu-
lous.

One of the chief sources of dispute, after
the accession of James the First, was the
money required for supplying the exigen-
cies of the sovereign. Many circumstances,
independent of the bad economy of the
prince, contributed to render this an ob-
ject of much greater magnitude than it had
formerly been. The difficulties in which
Elizabeth, from her peculiar situation, was
involved, had obliged her to alienate a great
proportion of the ancient revenue of the

BETWEEN

crown. The increase, on the other hand,
of the quantity of the precious metals, since
the discovery of America, had debased that
part of the ancient crown revenue which
was payable in money; while the influx of
pational wealth, from the advancement of
trade and manufactures, by increasing the
expence of living to each individual, had
also augmented charges attending the ad-
ministration of government. The demands
of the crown were thus daily increasing, at
puch a rate as to render its old patrimony
more and more insignificant, and. to give
room for expecting that the chief part of
the public revenue was for the future to be
derived from the taxes, imposed on the peo-
ple. So new, and so disagreeable a pros*
pect, excited alarm and discontent through-
out the nation. As the public supplies
granted in former periods were inconsi-
derable, and took place only in extraordi*
nary cases, it was of little consequence how
the money was bestowed ; but now, when
the ordinary funds of the crown were shrunk
almost to nothing, and when the exccu*

THE KINO AND PARLIAMENT. l6l

executive power was, in a great measure, to
be maintained by extraordinary contribu-
tions, creating a permanent burden upon the
nation, it behoved the parliament, and in
particular it was the duty of the lower house,
entrusted with the guardianship of the people,
to watch over the rising demands of the sove-
reign, and to be cautious of introducing
such precedents of taxation as might be hurt-
ful to the community.

The religious divisions of the kingdom
became another source of alarm and jea-
lousy, and the occasion of many disputes
between the king and parliament. The
adherents of the Romish religion, who still
were numerous and opulent, regarded the
protestants, not only with the abhorrence
produced by the most violent opposition of
theological tenets, but with the rage and
resentment of a losing party against those
who had stript them of their ancient power,
dignity, and emoluments. Of this the gun-
powder conspiracy, formed by persons of

some rank, and who had formerly borne
respectable characters, affords a shocking, and
a singular proof.

VOL. III. M

DISPUTES BETWEEN

Had the Roman Catholics in England
been merely a branch of the sectaries, de-
pending upon their own efforts for pro-
curing influence and popularity, it must be
admitted, that from the spirit now diffused
over the kingdom, the terrors of the growth
of popery would have been entirely ground-
less. But the influence and power of that
party were, at this time, regarded in a dif-
ferent light. The Roman Catholics in
England were zealously supported by those
of the same persuasion in all the countries
of Europe; and the restoration of popery
in this kingdom was one of the great ob-
jects, not only of the Roman pontiff, but
of all the princes who acknowledged his
jurisdiction. For this end, no pains nor
expence had been spared. . Seminaries for
the education of the English youth in the
principles of that religion were established
in different parts of Europe ; secret emis-
saries were spread over England, and in-
sinuated themselves among the religionists
of every sect and description ; and pecu-
niary, as well as other advantages, were
held put in order to make proselytes, or to

THE KING ANb i*ARtilABlENT. l63

Confirm and encourage the friends of the

o

party. In such a situation, it is not sur-
prising that, from the remembrance of their
former power, and the experience of their
tyranny and virulence, they should have ex-
cited a national apprehension, and that it
should have been deemed a salutary regular
tion to exclude them from offices of triist and
consequence*

The king, howevefj from causes which
have already been explained, discovered a
disposition to favour and indulge the Ro-
man Catholics, declaring^ that if they would
renounce their peculiar subjection to the au-
thority of the Pope, they ought to be ad-
mitted to the same privileges with the mem-
bers of the church of England; but he
was far from holding the same liberal opi-
nion with respect to the protestant dissen-
ters, who, about this time, on account of
their pretensions to austerity of manners,
came to be distinguished by the name of pu-
titans*. i*

These two articles, therefore, the obtain*

* See Rapin's History of England.
M2

DISPUTES BETWEEN

ing supplies, and the enforcing the penal laws
against the Roman Catholics, were, during
the reign of James the First, continual sub-
jects of contention between the king and par-
liament.

In calling his first parliament, an attempt
was made by James to over-rule the elec-
tions of the commons, which, had it proved
successful, would have rendered that house
entirely subservient to the will of the king.
He issued a proclamation, declaring what
particular descriptions of persons were in-
capable of being elected, and denouncing
severe penalties upon such as transgressed the
rules which he had prescribed. Sir Fran-
cis Goodwin having been elected member
for the county of Buckingham, it was pre-
tended that his election was void accord-
to that proclamation; and the question be-
ing brought before the court of chancery,
his seat was vacated , The county, upon
this, proceeded to c x>se another represent-
ative; but the commons paid no regard to
that sentence, and declared Sir Francis the
member duly elected. They justly consider-
ed themselves as having the sole right to de-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT.

termine the validity of the elections of their
own members; a privilege essentially requi-
site to secure the independence of their house.
Sensible of its importance, they resolutely
maintained this constitutional point, and
James, having urged them to a conference
with the peers, and afterwards demanded ia
a peremptory tone that they would consult
his judges, it was at last agreed, by a species
of compromise, that both competitors should
be set aside, and a writ issued for a new elec-
tion *.

* In a remonstrance to the king, the commons as-
sert, " That, until the reign of Henry the Fourth, all
" parliament writs were returnable into parliament ; and
" that though chancery was directed to receive returns,
" this was only to keep them for parliament, but not to
" judge in them." They conclude with observing, " that
" the inconvenience would be great, if the chancery
" might, upon suggestions or sheriff's returns, send writs
" for new elections, and those not subject to examination
" in parliament. For so, when fit men were chosen by
" the counties and boroughs, the Lord Chancellor, or thd
" sheriffs, might displace them, and send out new writs
** until some were chosen to their liking ; a thing dan»
" gerous in precedent for the time to come. Howsoever,"
" say they, " we rest securely from it at present, by tht

DISPUTES BETWEEN

In this parliament, which first met in the
year 1604, and was continued through five
different sessions to the year 1610, the sums
demanded by the king were several times
refused by the commons ; who repeatedly,
but in vain, petitioned the throne to exe-
cute the penal statutes against popish recu-
sants, and endeavoured to procure a relaxa-
tion of such as had been enacted against the
protestant dissenters. As the monarch found
so much difficulty in obtaining money from
the national assembly, he employed other
expedients for augmenting his revenue. The
advancement of trade suggested the customs,
as a growing fund, the profits of which, with-
out exciting much attention, and without
any application to parliament, might be gra-
dually enlarged. By his own authority, there-
fore, he ventured to alter the rate of those
burdens, arid to impose higher duties upon
various branches of merchandize than had
been formerly exacted. The illegality of these
exactions was indisputable ; at the same time

tl now Lord Chancellor's integrity." Parliamentary His-
tory,-vol. v.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 16?

they created an apprehension the more uni-
versal, because, from the necessities of the
crown, they were likely to be pushed to
a far greater extent, and because they were
plainly calculated to lay a foundation for
claiming the general power of taxation as a
branch of the prerogative. They gave rise,
therefore, to violent debates in the house
of commons, which, however, were cut short
by a sudden dissolution of parliament.

There followed an interval of three years,
in which the king endeavoured to supply
his wants by the regal authority, and in which,
among other contrivances for obtaining mo-
ney, loans and benevolences were indirect-
ly extorted from the people. But these
expedients having proved insufficient, James,
by the advice of his ministers, who under-
took to manage the elections, was persuaded,
in the year 1614, to make trial of a new
parliament. The experiment was without
success. In this house of commons there
appeared such a spirit, as made it evi-
dent that no supplies could be obtained un-
til the late abuses of the prerogative should

168 f>tS?tfffeS tffeTWEES

be corrected. With these terms this kins:

o

was not willing to comply; upon which ac-
count this parliament, after sitting a few
weeks j and without having finished any bu-
siness whatever* was, like the former, sud-
denly dissolved^ With strong marks of his
anger and resentment ; and several members
of the house of commons, who had been the
most active in opposing the measures of the
court, were committed to prison *.

James had now resolved, it should seem,
to call ho more meetings of parliament;
and in this resolution he persisted about
seVen years. But the loss of the Palatinate,
from which his son-in-laW, the elector, the
great supporter of the protestant interest
in Germany * Was expelled, afforded him
a plausible pretenc'e for demanding parlia-
mentary aid ; and he again had recourse
to that assembly ift the year 1621. The
measure proposed was highly popular through-
out the nation ; and parliament gave him two
subsidies with the utmost alacrity ; but find-
ing, soon after, that the money was di-

* Wilson — flume,

THE KING ANt) PARtlAMENT. 169

verted to other purposes, and most ineffec-
tually and foolishly squandered away, they
refused to give any more. The commons^
in the mean time, proceeded, as formerly -t
to an examination of grievances ; among which
the favour shewn to the Roman Catholics was
the principal. The terrors of the nation on
this head had been increased by two circum-
stances.

The first was the avowed intention of
James to marry his son, the prince of Wales,
to the Infanta of Spain; a rneasure which
gave rise to universal apprehensions that it
would be productive of dangerous conces-
sions in favour of the Romish religion. The

~

other was the apparent backwardness of the
king to make any vigorous exertion for the
recovery of the Palatinate, which was con-
sidered by the nation as the common cause
of protestants. Upon these topics the house
of commons took the liberty of presenting
to the king a petition and remonstrance,
which he regarded as an insult to the royal
dignity. Enraged at their presumption, he
commanded them not to interfere in these

170 DISPUTES BETWEEN

mysteries of government; threatened them
with punishment in case of disobedience, and
reminded them that all their privileges were
derived from the mere grace and permis-
sion of him and his ancestors. The commons
were neither intimidated by those threats, .nor
disposed to acquiesce in such arrogant pre-
tensions. They protested, " that the liber-
" ties, franchises, privileges, and jurisdic-
** tions of parliament are the ancient and
" undoubted birthright and inheritance of
" the subjects of England ; and that the de*
" fence of the realm, and of the church of
" England, the maintenance and making of
" laws, and the redress of mischiefs and
*' grievances, which daily happen within this
" realm, are proper subjects and matter of
" debate in parliament*/* With this pro-
testation the king was so incensed, that, at
a meeting of the privy council, he tore it,
with his own hands, from the journals of the
commons ; and having soon after dissolved
the parliament, he threw into prison several
^embers of the lower arid some also of the,

* Parliamentary History.

THE KIN(3 AND PARLIAMENT, 171

upper house. Among the former, Sir Ed-
ward Coke, and Sir Robert Philips, were
committed to the Tower; Mr. Selden, Mr.
Pym, and Mr, Mallory, to other prisons.
Some, as a lighter punishment, were sent out
of the kingdom, upon pretence of executing
public business, which employments they were
not permitted to refuse*.

In the fourth and last parliament of James,
which was called in the year 1623, there oc-
curred no dispute with the crown. The treaty
with Spain, to which neither the influence of
the national assembly, nor the voice of the
people, could produce the least interruption,
was at length broken off by the caprice of
his favourite, Buckingham ; and as this oc-
casioned a war with which the nation was
highly satisfied until the real ground of the
quarrel was discovered, the king found no
difficulty in procuring the necessary sup-
plies.

Besides the two leading articles above-
mentioned, there were other subjects of im-
portance which attracted the notice of par>

* Parliamentary History.

DISPUTES BETWEEN

Jiament, and became the ground of contro-
versy.

The king, as the superior of trading towns,
and the patron of their commerce and ma-
nufactures, had early assumed the power of
creating royal boroughs, and of erecting, in
each of those communities, inferior corpora-
tions of particular trades. By an easy tran-
sition, lie had thence been led to grant, in
particular branches of trade, exclusive privi-
leges to individuals, or to trading companies.
These monopolies, in the infancy of trade,
had been accounted necessary, or at least
beneficial, for carrying on extensive and
hazardous undertakings; but, in proportion
to the advancement of commerce, such extra-
ordinary encouragements, from the increase
of mercantile capitals, became less needful ;
at the same time that they were found more
inconvenient, by narrowing the field of free
competition among traders. The king was,
besides, under the temptation of abusing
his power of granting these monopolies, by
bestowing them for money, or obtaining a
share in the profit of the trade which they
were intended to encourage. Complaints of

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 173

such abuses had been made in the reign of
queen Elizabeth ; they became still more
frequent in that of James, when the wants of
the crown had left no expedient unattempted
for procuring money; but at length, by
the vigorous interposition of parliament, the
sovereign was prevailed upon to limit the
disposal of those grants, and several impor-
tant regulations upon this point were intro-
duced*.

From the manner in which the legislative
business was conducted, a bill, being ori-
ginally conceived in the form of a petition
to the king, required the approbation of par-
liament before it could be presented to his
majesty for the royal assent. Hence it be-
eame unusual, and was at length regarded as
irregular, that the king should take notice
of any bill, wrhile it was depending before
either house. At what time the uniformity
of practice, in this respect, may be considered
as having established an invariable rule in
the constitution, it is difficult to determine ;

i'S .; * Parliamentary History, vol. v. and w.

f)ISPtJTES BETWEEN1

though it is clear that queen Elizabeth did
not conceive herself to be precluded from
stopping bills in parliament at any stage of
their progress. In the year 1607, James ob^
jected to a petition laid before parliament
concerning popish recusants; and it was in-*
sisted that the petition should not be read :
to which it was answered » " that this would
" be a great wound to the gravity and liberty
" of the house/' The speaker replied, " that
*' there be many precedents in the late
'*' queen's time, where she restrained the
" house from meddling in petitions of divers
" kinds." Upon this a committee was ap-*
pointed, " to search and consider of such
" precedents, as well of ancient as of later
" times, which do concern any messages from
" the sovereign magistrate, king or queen of
" this realm, during the time of parliament,
" touching petitions offered to the house of
*' commons." Two days thereafter* the pe-
tition, by the king's consent, was read ; and
the following declaration appears on the re-
cord : " that his majesty hath no meaning to
" infringe OUT privileges by any message ; but

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 175

" -that his desire is, we should enjoy them with
" all freedom*." It should seem that hence*
forward no monarch of England has ven-
tured to dispute this privilege of parlia-
ment.

During the whole reign of James, the be-
haviour of the commons was calm, steady,
and judicious, and does great honour to the
integrity and abilities of those eminent pa-
triots by whom the determinations of that as-
sembly were chiefly directed. Their appre-
hensions concerning the prevalence of popery
were, perhaps, greater than there was any
good reason to entertain ; but this proceeded
from the prejudice of the times ; and to
judge fairly of the spirit with which, in this
particular, the members of parliament were
animated, we must make allowance for the
age and country in which they lived, and for
the occurrences which were still fresh in their
memory. Though placed in circumstances
that were new and critical, though heated by

* See the Journals of the house of commons, on the
16th and 18th of June, 1(507.

176

a contest in which their dearest rights werg
at stake, and doubtless alarmed by the danger
to which, from their perseverance in their
duty, they were exposed, they seem to have
kept at an equal distance from invading the
prerogatives of the crown, and betraying the
liberties of the people. They defended the
ancient government with vigour ; but they
acted merely upon the defensive; and it
will be difficult to shew that they advanced
any one claim which was either illegal or
unreasonable. The conduct of James, on
the other hand, was an uniform system of
tyranny, prosecuted according to the scale
of his talents. In particular, his levying
money without consent of parliament, his
dispensing with the laws against popish
recusants, and his imprisoning and punish-
ing the members of parliament, for declar-
ing their opinions in the house, were mani-
fest and atrocious violations of the constitu-
t,ion.

This last exertion of arbitrary power
fome authors have endeavoured to excuse,
pr palliate, by alleging that it was con-

KING AND PARLIAMENT. 177

fofmable to the practice of queen Eliza-
beth. But the apology, such as it is, must
be received with some limitations in point
of fact. Though in both cases the measure
was arbitrary and violent, the grounds upon
which it was adopted, by James and by
Elizabeth, were widely different. Elizabeth
imprisoned the members of the house of com-
mons, because they proposed to abridge
those powers which the crown indisputably
possessed. If the crown was at liberty ta
interpose a negative upon bills before they
had finished their progress in either house
of parliament (and, perhaps, in the days of
Elizabeth, the contrary had iiot become an
established rule) the behaviour of those mem-
bers, who, after the interposition of such ne-
gative, endeavoured to revive the debate, and
to push on the business, might be considered
as irregular, and as an invasion of the pre-
rogative. The ultimate aim of Elizabeth was
to prevent innovation, and to maintain the
form of government transmitted by her an-
cestors, though the measures employed for
that purpose could not be defended. But the

VOL. III. N

178 DISPUTES BETWEEN

imprisonment of the members by James,
was in support of a fixed resolution to over-
turn the constitution. This violent step was
taken in the year 16 14, because the com-
mons refused to grant the supply which he
demanded; and in the year 1621, because
they had asserted that their privileges were
their birth-right, and had remonstrated against
the dispensing power exercised by the crown
in favour of popish recusants. As they
had an undoubted right to act in that man-
lier, the king, when he punished them up-
on that account, cannot be regarded as de-
fending his prerogative ; his object was to
deprive the commons of their most impor-
tant privileges, and to convert the mixed
government of England into a pure despo-
tism.

The first fifteen years of the reign of
Charles presented nearly the same view of
political parties which had occurred in the
reign of his father, and particularly the same
objects of contention between the house of
commons and the sovereign. Charles had
thoroughly imbibed his father's arbitrary prin*

THE KINO AND PARLIAMENT. 179

Ciples; at the same time thaV by greater
steadiness and capacity, and by the superior
gravity and decorum of his deportment, he
was better qualified to effect his purposes*
During the controversy in the former reign,
both parties had become gradually more keen
and determined ; and from greater experience,
their measures had been rendered more sys-
tematic* They looked farther beyond the
points in agitation, and were less actuated
by their immediate feelings and passions,
than by the consideration of distant con-
sequences. In the original state of the con-
troversy it appears that parliament, in -de-
manding a rigorous execution of the laws
against popish recusants, had been stimulated
by the general apprehension concerning the
growth of popery ; and that the reluctance
expressed by the king to comply with these de-
mands, had proceeded from his belief of that
religion being favourable to the exaltation of
the crown, together with the views he had
formed of marrying his son, the prince of
Wales, to a Roman Catholic princess. But in
the reign of Charles, the parliament com-

N 2

DISPUTES BETWEEST

plained of abuses committed by the crown,
not so much from their own magnitude,
as because they seemed parts of a regular
system, and might afterwards become pre-
cedents of despotical power; and the king
refused to reform these abuses, chiefly be-
cause he was unwilling to admit, that the
redress of grievances might be extorted by
parliament as the condition of granting sup-
plies.

Money was wanted by Charles to carry
on the war with Spain ; and as this war had
been a popular measure, and undertaken with
consent of parliament, the king flattered him-
self that a liberal supply would readily be ob-
tained. But several circumstances concurred
to change, in this respect, the sentiments of
the people, and to render them now averse
from an undertaking which they had formerly
embraced with general satisfaction. The rup-
ture with Spain was at first beheld in England
with universal joy and exultation, because
it prevented the heir of the crown from
marrying a Roman Catholic princess ; and
because it produced an expectation that the

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 181

king would be induced to join the pro*
testant league in Germany. But the mar-
riage of Charles to a daughter of the house
of Bourbon, which happened soon after, de-
monstrated that, though James had varied
his measures, his object was invariably the
same; and that no regard to the religious
apprehensions of his people, or to the pre-*
serration of public tranquillity, could di-
vert him from his purpose of uniting the
prince of Wales with a Roman Catholic con-
sort.

The marriage treaty with France con-
tained even higher concessions to the Eng-
lish Roman Catholics than had been pro-
posed in the former stipulations with Spain.
In particular, it provided that the children
should be under the care and direction of
their mother, and consequently might be
educated in the Popish religion till the age
of thirteen; though by the projected Spa-
nish treaty, that maternal direction was
limited to the age of ten. Whatever dangers,
therefore, had been foreseen from the mar-
riage with the infanta, these were increased

182 DISPUTES BETWEEN

rather than diminished by the French al»
liance.

The blunders, too, which had been com-
mitted, the ignorance and incapacity dis^
played in the management of the war, con-
tributed to cool the ardour of the people,
and to disgust them with a measure which,
under such directors, had so little the ap-
pearance of producing any good effect. They
had even the mortification to observe, that one
of the first fruits of the treaty with France
was, the lending ships of England to the
French monarch, for the purpose of reducing
his protestant subjects* ; and that the English
forces were thus employed in ruining that
very cause which parliament, in advising the
war, had intended to support..

The secret transactions which had occa-
sionec} the rupture with Spain, and which
had now transpired, could not fail to co-
operate with the foregoing circumstances, and
to become a separate ground of dissatisfac-
fipn and distrust. The war with Spain was

* Rushworth, i. 174.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 183

undertaken upon pretence of the insincerity
and double-dealing of that court with re-
lation to the inarriage-treaty ; and parliament
had consented to this war in consequence of
the strong and solemn representation to that
purpose, given by Charles and the duke of
Buckingham. But the real ground of the
dispute was a private quarrel between that
favourite and the count Olivare^, the Spa-
nish minister ; and the account which had
been laid before parliament was an artful
system of falsehood, calculated at once to
take advantage of the national aversion from

o

the Spanish alliance, and to rouse the public
indignation and resentment for the unworthy
treatment which their prince was understood
to have suffered.

In a .matter of this kind, however, the
truth could not long be concealed. The
arrogant and supercilious behaviour of Buck-
ingham whih* in Spain, and the menaces
which he had been vain enough to throw out

o

against the Spanish minister, were not un-
known to Bristol, the English ambassador,
and to many other persons who had an in-

184 DISPUTES BETWEEN .,,

terest that the people of England should be
undeceived. It appears from lord Claren?
(don, that king James knew the real state
of the fact, at the very time when his
son and the duke were imposing their ficti-
tious narrative upon the parliament*; and
in the first year of the reign of Charles, we
find hints thrown out in the house of com-
mons, that Buckingham had broken the Spa-
nish match frpm spleen and malice to the count

It must have been highly mortifying to
an "English- parliament, to find that they
were made the dupes of a profligate minister,
and had involved the nation in a war to
gratify his vanity and resentment. They
could, at the same time, have but little conr
fidence in their present sovereign, who was
implicitly governed by that minion, and who
had shewn himself so unprincipled as to sar
criftce his own honour to the wicked designs
of his favourite.

Some authors have alleged as, an, apology

* History of the Rebellion, vol. i.'p. 22.

t RuslnvoruVs Collections. — Whitelock's Memorials.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 185

for Charles, that he himself might be de-
ceived, and that he might really believe the
story told by his minister. But this it seems
hardly possible to conceive. That prince
must be supposed a perfect changeling, not
to have discovered the particulars of a quar-
rel which was known to the whole court of
Spain, which by his peculiar situation he
had so many opportunities of observing,
and which Buckingham, under the im-
mediate impressions of resentment, had
been at no pains either to cover or dis-

guise.

In these particular circumstances, it is
not surprising that, upon the first meeting
of parliament, in the reign of Charles, that
assembly, though strongly urged to support
a war undertaken by its own recommenda-
tion, should testify no great zeal in prose-
cuting the views of the monarch. After
the house of commons had granted two

o

subsidies, which Charles regarded as very
inadequate to his necessities, they proceeded
to examine the mismanagement of the re-
icnue, and the unseasonable indulgence and

186 DISPUTES BETWEEN

favour shewn- by the crown to popish recu-
sants *.

The principal transactious in the two first
parliaments of Charles, present nearly the
same general aspect of the controversy be-
tween the crown and the people, which had
occurred in the reign of his father ; the king
eagerly demanding supplies; threatening that,
unless his demands are complied with, he
must have recourse to other methods of pro-
curing money; and declaring that, as the
existence of parliaments depends entirely
upon his will, they must expect, according
to their behaviour, either to be continued or
laid aside; Parliament, on the other hand,
with inflexible resolution, insisting upon the
previous redress of grievances ; .its members
imprisoned, and called to account tor their
behaviour^ in that assembly; repeated disso-
lutions of parliament for its perseverance in
refusing to grant the sums demanded ; and
tfadi dissolution followed- by the arbitrary ex-
action of loans and benevolences, and by such

* See Parliamentary History — RUSH worth's Collections
?— Whitelocke's Memorials.

% THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 187

other expedients as the crown could put in
practice for procuring money *.

The third parliament in this reign was
called on account of the extraordinary ex-
pences and difficulties in which the king was
involved by the war with France ; a war oc-
casioned partly by a misunderstanding be-
tween Charles and his queen, which had pro-
duced the dismission of all her French servants,
and partly by the levity, the insolence, and
precipitate rashness of Bukingham-f-. The
accumulation of abuses, in every department
of regal authority, now filled the kingdom
with indignation. To the same spirit which
had animated the two preceding houses of
commons, the members of this parliament
joined an experience of the measures which
the king had hitherto pursued ; and as, from
these, they could not fail to discern his de-
liberate purpose to establish an unlimited
power in the crown, so they were determined,
with firmness and unanimity, to stand for-

* See Parliamentary History — Rushworth's Collections
r— Whitelocke's Memorials,
t Whitelocke— Hume.

188 DISPUTES BETWEEN

ward in defence of their privileges. Through
the whole of their proceedings we may ob-
serve a regular system, planned with con-
summate wisdom, and executed with equal
steadiness and moderation. No menaces could
shake them ; no artifice could deceive their
vigilance; no provocation could ruffle their
temper, or make them forget either the dig-
nity of their station, or the decency of expres-
sion which became subjects in addressing their
sovereign.

The language held by the king, at the open-
ing of this assembly, was lofty and imperious.
He informed them, in direct terms, that " un-
" less they did their duty in contributing what
" the state required, he would be obliged to
" use the other means which God had put
" into his hand. He Desired they would not
" construe this into a threatening, as he scorn-
*4 ed to threaten ami but his equals* He pro-
** mised, at the same time, to forgive what
" was past, if they would leave their former
" distractions, arid follow the counsel which
" he had given them *.

* Parliamentary History, v. vii,

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 189

The commons entered immediately upon
the consideration of grievances. These had
become so numerous, and had acquired such
magnitude, that, for procuring redress in the
most effectual manner, it was thought proper
to collect them in one view, and to bring
them under the consideration of the legisla-

O

ture. This was done by the famous petition
of right, which, in the form of a bill, was
laid before parliament, and after a full dis-
cussion, having passed through both houses,
and obtained the royal assent, became a de-
claratory statute, ascertaining, in some of the
most essential points, the acknowledged limi-
tations of the prerogative, and the indisput-
able rights of the people.

This petition began with stating the an-
cient and most fundamental laws of the king-
dom, from the great charter downwards, by
which it is provided, that no tallage, aid, or
other charge, shall be levied by the king,
without consent of parliament; that no mo-
ney shall be extorted from the subject, by
way of loan or benevolence ; and that no
person shall be imprisoned, without being

190 DISPUTES

brought to answer by due process of law,
or be deprived of his freehold, or
otherwise suffer in his person or goods, but
by the judgment of his peers, or by the
law of the land. It afterwards enumerated
the many gross violations of these privileges
upon the part of the crown, by compelling
the subjects to lend, or to contribute money
to the king; by imprisoning individuals
without any cause being specified, and by
detaining them in prison without any charge
being made, to which they might answer
according to law ; by quartering soldiers
upon the inabitants, against the krws and
customs of the realm ; and by appointing
commissioners to proceed in the trial of
crimes according to the summary course of
martial law. And lastly, it humbly prayed
the king's most excellent majesty, that, for
the future, all these abuses might \ye removed
and prevented.

From the time when this petition was
understood to be in agitation, Charles em-
ployed every artifice that could be devised
for defeating its purpose. He procured nu-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT, 191

mcrous conferences between the two houses
of parliament, and proposed many different
schemes of accommodation. He acknow-
ledged the faults of his administration, and

o

promised of his own accord to remove all
grounds of complaint. lie represented the
absurdity of making a new law to confirm
an old one ; and he prevailed upon the house
of lords to move the addition of a clause,
that by this deed the sovereign power of
the king should be left unimpaired. But this
ambiguous limitation was rejected by the com-
mons.

When the petition had passed the house
of lords, and was presented to the king for
his concurrence, his presence of mind seemed
entirely to forsake him, and instead of the
simple expression used on such occasions, he
returned an evasive answer, importing merely
his will that the statutes of the realm should
be put in due execution. So unprecedented
a mode of speech, in that critical juncture,
was more likely to create fresh jealousy than
to afford satisfaction; and he found it ne-
cessary, soon after, though with a bad

1

192 DISPUTES BETWEEN

grace, to give the royal assent in common
form *.

It is remarkable* however, that to all the
copies of this deed which, by the king's
order, were dispersed over the kingdom,
the first answer, and not the second, was
annexed -f-. To such pitiful shifts was this
monarch reduced, and so strongly did he
evince his reluctance to acquiesce in this
important transaction. "When he could no
longer evade, he endeavoured to conceal and
to deceive.

The legislature, by declaring the essen-
tial parts of the constitution, precluded, in
appearance, all future disputes upon that
subject. A bill for five subsidies was now
passed through both houses of parliament,
and carried into effect. So large a supply
had, in the beginning of the session, been
held out to the kino; as the reward of his

O

consenting to the petition of right. The com-
mons, however, were not diverted by their
late success, from the further consideration

* Humo..

+ Parliamentary Hist- vol. viii. anno 1628,

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 193

of such grievances and abuses of admini-
stration as appeared still to require animad-
version and redress : the dissipation of the
revenue, the frequent dissolution of parlia-
ments, the sale of indulgences to popish re-
cusants, and the unlimited influence and
power of the duke of Buckingham, to whom
the public disgrace and mismanagement
were chiefly imputed* became successively
the objects of complaint and censure*

During a period when practical despo-
tism continued to be the avowed object of
the king, it is not surprising that a multi-
tude of speculative reasoners were found
willing to second his pretensions, and that
the labours of the press, for that purpose,
were openly employed and encouraged.
Wherever men of letters form a numerous
class, their ambition, the narrowness of their
funds compared with their ideas of elegance*
and their capacity of exercising many of-
fices in the gift of the crown, are likely to
produce a powerful body of mercenary writ-
ers, ready to enlist under the banner of pre-
rogative, and possessed of ingenuity to pal-
liate, even to their own minds, the mean

VOL. III. O

prostitution of their talents. Among these
literary, or rather political auxiliaries, the
first rank seems due to the clergy, on ac-
count of that peculiar zeal and good dis-
cipline which their professional education and
circumstances are wont to create. Two ec-
clesiastics, Sibthorpe and Manwaring, dis-
tinguished themselves by the preaching and
publication of sermons, in which they incul-
cated doctrines entirely subversive of civil
liberty ; maintaining that the king is not
bound to observe the laws ; that the authority
of parliament is not requisite in raising sub-
sidies ; that the sovereign has a right to de-
mand loans and contributions at pleasure;
that those who refuse payment of the taxes
imposed by him, incur eternal damnation ;
in fine, that an implicit' and unlimited obe-
dience to his will is an indispensable reli-
gious duty. Archbishop Abbot, whose po-
litical principles happened, it seems, not
to coincide with those of the court, refused
a licence to Sibthorpe's publication ; for
which he was suspended from the exercise of
his ecclesiastical functions, and confined to

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT.

one of his country seats. Manwaring's ser-
mon, upon inquiry, was found to have been
printed by the special command of the king.
The author was impeached by the commons,
and condemned by the lords to a high fine.
But he soon after received a pardon from
the king, and afterwards was made a bi-
shop.

Charles having felt the want of a stand*
ing army to enforce his measures, his at-
tention had been directed to the methods
of removing that inconvenience* Part of
the troops employed in the war abroad had
now returned home, and were kept in pay,
for the purpose of rendering his exactions
effectual. He had also remitted money to
levy a thousand German horse, and had
transported those foreign troops into Eng-
land. This body was doubtless too small
to perform any great service J but the pre-
cedent of introducing foreign mercenaries
being once established, their number might
easily be increased. Such a measure could
not fail to alarm the nation, and to call for
the interposition of parliament.

o 2

196 DISPUTES BETWEEN

After the petition of light had passed into
a law, there was ground to expect that all
disputes concerning the extent of the pre-
rogative would, at least for some time, be com-
pletely removed. But a misunderstanding,
with respect to the meaning of that declara-
tory statute, soon involved the king and the
commons in fresh contention, and threatened
to frustrate all the former labour for com-
posing their differences.

Tonnage and poundage were duties on the
importation and exportation of commodi-
ties, derived in early times from the pro-
tection and assistance which the merchant
received from the public, and which, from
the nature of his trade, was of the utmost
advantage, if not indispensably necessary
to him. When the amount of these duties
became so considerable as to appear worthy
of notice, they fell, of course, under the di-
rection of parliament, and, like all other
taxes, were imposed and regulated by that
assembly. The grant was renewed from
time to time, sometimes for a shorter, and
sometimes for a longer period; and as the

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 197

burden fell, at least in the first instance,
upon mercantile and sea-faring people, it
was generally allotted for the purpose of
guarding the seas, or of carrying on a fo-
reign war. Towards the end of the Planta-
genet race, a custom was introduced of grant-
ing these duties during the king's life ; and
under the princes of the Tudor family the
same custom was continued. None of those
princes, however, appear to have imagined
that they had a right to levy this tax by
virtue of their prerogative. The authority
of parliament had always been esteemed ne-
cessary to the imposition of this, as well as
of all other branches of taxation ; and upon
obtaining a grant for tonnage and poundage,
the form of words used by the sovereign
was the same as in all other subsidies : The
king heartily thanketh the subjects for their
good wills.

It is true, that in the beginning of several
reigns, the crown . officers were accustomed
to levy tonnage and poundage before the
first meeting of parliament, or before it was
convenient for that assembly to take the

198 DISPUTES BETWEEN

matter under their consideration. This ir-
regularity, in that rude age, was overlooked,
more especially as no claim of right in the
king had ever been founded upon the prac-
tice, arid as the subsequent application for an
act of parliament to authorize the tax, was
a clear acknowledgment of his own defect
of power to levy it by virtue of his preroga-
tive.

James was the first English monarch who
directly and openly claimed a right to im-
pose these duties, and who, by his regal au-
thority, ventured to advance the rates of the
customs upon merchandize, and to establish
these burdens as a permanent revenue of the
crown *. This measure had not failed in
that reign to be brought, among other griev-
ances, under the cognizance of the com-
mons, who had unanimously determined that
the king had no such right. Charles, how^
ever, had followed his father's footsteps,

* See the remonstrances on this subject, and the plead-
ings in the case of ship-money, preserved in Ruslnvorth's
Collections, vol. ii.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT,

and continued to levy the customs according
to the advanced rates which he found already
introduced. To ascertain this point, and put
a stop to such arbitrary and illegal exactions,,
the commons, in the first parliament of this
reign, had brought in a bill for granting
tonnage and poundage -for the very limited
period of one year. But this limitation was
not approved by the upper house. It was
not to be expected that a matter of so great
importance would be soon forgotten ; and
in the second parliament of Charles, we
find that the levying tonnage and pound-
age, by virtue of the prerogative, made a
principal grievance in the offensive remon-
strance, for which that assembly was dis-
solved.

It is not a little surprising that, notwith-
standing the proceedings in these two par-
liaments, the king, after he had, in the next
parliament, given his assent to the petition
of right, should still affect to consider ton-
nage and poundage, as in a different situation
from other taxes, and as not comprehended
under those regulations, with respect to

1

200

every species of taxation or public burden,
which had, with so great anxiety, been pro-
vided by that fundamental transaction. Could
it be supposed that, when parliament had
prohibited the levying of any tax whatever,
by the mere authority of the crown, they
tacitly meant an exception of one branch
of public revenue, in its consequences to
national prosperity the most important, and
the most liable to produce oppression and
injustice? If such a supposition were possi-
ble, the behaviour of the commons in the
two former parliaments must have been suf-
ficient to remove it, by shewing that this
branch of taxation had been so recently
under their view, and that they invariably
regarded it in the same light with other
taxes.

It is probable that Charles, having obtain-
ed a supply of money, and being freed from
those difficulties which had induced him to
consent to the petition of right, had now be-
gun to repent of his acceding to that deed,
and was willing, by any, the most frivolous
pretences, to evade the restrictions which it

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 201

imposed. However this may be, he continued
to levy tonnage and poundage without the
authority of parliament; and when the house
of commons complained of this measure,
considering it as a violation of the petiton of
right, he was highly displeased, and put a
stop to their proceedings by a sudden proro-
gation.

In the beginning of the next session, he
thought fit to assume a more moderate tone,
and to relinquish his former pretensions.
He declared that he had not taken these
duties " as appertaining to his hereditary
" prerogative ; but that it ever was, and still
" is, his meaning to enjoy them as a gift of
" his people ; and that if he had hitherto
" levied tonnage and poundage, he pretend-
" ed to justify himself only by the necessity
*' of so doing, not by any right which he
*' assumed." As the parties were now agreed
in their principle, the only question that
could remain, related to the mode of granting
this tax. The commons, considering the
former claims both of the king and his father,
and the powers which they had exercised in

202 DISPUTES BETWEEN

relation to these duties, thought it necessary,
for the future security of the people, that
there should be an immediate inter ruption
to the assessment before the new grant was
bestowed. They were willing that the king
should enjoy the tax to the same amount as
formerly, but they insisted that he should
receive it in such a manner as clearly to as-
certain that it proceeded from the gift of
parliament. But the king obstinately refused
to accept it upon those terms ; and he sud-
denly took the resolution of dissolving that
assembly, rather than admit of a compro-
mise apparently so unexceptionable. The
alarm spread in the house of commons, upon
receiving intelligence of this resolution, may
easily be conceived. They immediately framed
a remonstrance for the occasion. But the
speaker refused to put the question upon it ;
and being urged by several members, de-
clared, that he had express orders from the
king to adjourn, and to put no question. In-
dignation, anxiety, and resentment, gave rise
to unusual vehemence of speech and beha-
viour, and suggested a measure suited to the

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 203

exigency. The speaker was forcibly held
in the chair until a protest was read, and
approved by the general acclamation of the
house.

The dissolution of parliament, in these un-
usual circumstances, was a plain intimation
that Charles intended to keep no measures
with his people. He immediately gave or-
ders to prosecute those members of the house
of commons who had distinguished themselves
in the late violent proceedings. Sir John
Elliot, who had framed and read the last
remonstrance ; Mr. Selden, who had taken a
great share in conducting the petition of right,
as well as in the measures concerning tonnage
and poundage, and whose learning and abili-
ties gave him great weight with the party ;
Hollis and Valentine, who had by force de-
tained the speaker in his seat, with several
others, whose conduct upon that occasion
had rendered them obnoxious, were impri-
soned, and examined before the privy coun-
cil ; but they refused to answer the interroga-
tories of any person, or to give to any court
whatever an account of their behaviour in

204 DISPUTES BETWEEN

parliament. After an imprisonment of thirty
weeks, an offer was made that they should be
admitted to bail, upon finding sureties for
their good behaviour ; but they declined ac-
cepting their liberty upon terms which they
considered as inconsistent with their duty to
their country. Sir John Elliot, Mr. Hollis,
and Mr. Valentine, were brought to a trial
in the King's-bench, and subjected to a high
fine, and to imprisonment during the king's
pleasure. The first of these gentlemen, who
had distinguished himself as a leader in
the cause, died in prison. Several of the
members remained in confinement until the
meeting of the next parliament* in the year
1640*.

From the dissolution of parliament in the
beginning of the year 1629, Charles avowed
his purpose of ruling without a parliament,
and of raising the whole of the public supplies
by his own authority -)-. From this period

* See Pym's speech, Parliam. Hist. vol. viii. p. 427.
t See his proclamation, 1629. Parliam. Hist. vol. viiu
p. 389.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 205

we are no longer to look upon the monarch as
endeavouring secretly to undermine the con-
stitution, but as acting in open defiance of all
those maxims upon which it had been esta-
blished.

In the prosecution of this plan, however,
he did not neglect those arts of corruption,
which the experience of a later age has
brought to greater maturity, but which, even
at that time, were far from being unsuccess-
ful. A few of the leading members of the
last house of commons were now gained over
to the interest of the crown, and obtained a
distinguished rank in administration. Among
these, the most noted was Sir Thomas Went-
worth, who, from being one of the most able

o

and violent opposers of the prerogative, wa$
prevailed upon to desert his former principles,
and soon after became the confident and
prime minister of Charles.

It would be superfluous to enumerate the
instances of tyranny and oppression exhi-
bited in a period of more than eleven years,
during which this arbitrary system was pur-
sued. All the abuses which had formerly

206 DISPUTES BETWEEN

been complained of, and of which redress
had so often, and with so great solemnity
been promised, were now repeated, and di-
gested into a regular plan. All the powers
of government were now centered in the mo-
narch, and the rights and privileges formerly
claimed by either house, were sunk in the pre-
rogative.

Two of the measures which during this
period excited universal attention, and con-
tributed most remarkably to inflame the po-
pular discontents, may be worthy of particu-
lar notice. The first was the imposition of
ship-money ; an exaction which, from the
time of its first introduction, had been greatly
extended, and almost entirely altered in its
nature. According to the English consti-
tution, as well as that of the other feudal
governments, all the military people were
bound to assist in the defence of the king-
dom, and might be required by the sovereign
to attend him in the field with arms and
provisions, agreeable to the nature of their
service. Upon the same principle, the
maritime towns were liable to a peculiar

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 207

burden, corresponding to their circumstan-
ces; that of furnishing ships, with sailors
and naval stores, which, upon any foreign
invasion, or extraordinary exigence, might
be demanded by the king, and employed
under his direction. The mercantile part of
the nation were thus put upon an equal
footing with the rest of the community;
being subjected to a duty corresponding to
that kind of protection which they received
from government, and to the nature of that
support and defence which they were best
qualified to afford.

The mercantile towns, however, were not
obliged to build and prepare new ships, but
only to furnish those of which they were
already possessed ; for this obvious reason,
that if the extraordinary emergency which
had created the demand, admitted such a
delay as would be requisite for the building
of new ships, it might aiford unquestionably
sufficient leisure for calling a parliament,
and procuring its concurrence ; a measure
held, by the common law of England, and
by the uniform tenor of the statutes, to

208 DISPUTES BETWEEN"

be indispensably necessary in the imposition
of taxes *.

But the requisition made by Charles,
under the appellation of ship-money, now
assumed a very different form. It was
not limited to the maritime towns ; but ex-
tended also to the counties ; and to those
at a distance, as well as to those in the
neighbourhood of the sea. He demanded,

a

* See the proceedings in the case of ship-money, par-
ticularly the argument of Sir George Crooke, one of the
justices of the King's-bench. — State Trials.

It appears, that though the ships were commonly fur-
nished at the king's charge, yet, in some few cases, the
expence was laid upon the towns. Of this complaints
were made to parliament, and redress was given by a sta-
tute, 25 Edw. I. During the war with France, in the
reign of Edward III. the king renewed the practice of
requiring the maritime towns to prepare ships at their own
expence ; but this was again prohibited by a statute in the
14th of that reign. By an act of parliament [1 Rich. II.] it
was provided that such ancient cities, boroughs, or towns,
as chose to fit out a single ship for the defence of the king-
dom, should, without any fine or charge, obtain a confir
mation of their charters; and, with exception of the volun-
tary armaments referred to in that statute, it became an
established rule, that the maritime towns should not be
burdened with the expence of the shipping, which, by the
king's orders, they were bound to furnish.

THE -KING AND PARLIAMENT. 209

not a number of ships ; for of every thing
relative to shipping, the inland counties were
totally destitute ; but a sum of money, to be
employed at the discretion of the crown, for
the purpose of procuring a naval armament.
And, to crown the whole, he made this de-
mand, not on account of any foreign inva-
sion, or of any public calamity, or danger
requiring a sudden exertion of national force;
but in times of profound peace and tranquil-
lity, when he could find no other pretence
but that the sea had been infested with pi-
rates ; an enemy too insignificant surely, to
create any disturbance, and whose depreda-
tions might have easily been suppressed by
the ordinary vigilance of the royal navy, and
the ordinary supplies to be obtained by the
interposition of parliament. In this form,
ship-money became a general tax, imposed,
in direct terms, by virtue of the prerogative,
and subject to no controul from parliament ;
a tax which might be extended at pleasure,
and of which the profits might be applied to
any purpose whatever.

To smooth and prepare the way for this

VOL. III. P

210 DISPUTES BETWEEN

imposition, Charles took the precaution of
consulting the judges upon a fictitious case :
whether ship-money could be demanded by
the king when the necessities of the state
should require it; and whether the king
alone was the judge of such necessities ? To
the everlasting disgrace of the English courts
of justice, those corrupt and pusillanimous
guardians of the law returned an answer in
the affirmative. Fortified by that opinion,
the monarch was emboldened to pursue a
measure which seemed to promise inex-
haustible resources : and he ventured to em-
ploy the same methods for enforcing the pay-
ment of this duty, as if it had been levied by
act of parliament*.

About four years after ship-money had
bes;un to be enforced, Mr. Ilambden had

o

the courage to refuse payment ; and for the
sum of twenty shillings, in which he had
been assessed, brought the cause to a judi-
cial determination. Of the abuses which,
at this time, contributed to alarm the na-
tion, it was not the least, that the arbitrary

* Rushworth's Collections.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 211

spirit of the sovereign had perverted the
streams, and poisoned the sources of justice.
Upon a full hearing of all the judges, a very
great majority concurred in pronouncing a
sentence in favour of the crown ; " which
" judgment," says my lord Clarendon, " proved
" of more advantage and credit to the gentle-
" man condemned^ than to the king's ser*
" vice*i

The innovations introduced by Charles
m the forms of religious worship, and in the
government of the church, though, perhaps,
less directly subversive of the constitution*

* The two judges, Crooke and Hutton, gave their opi-
nion in favour of Mr. Hambden, upon the general merits
of the question. The argument of the former, as delivered
in the state trials, exhibits a clear view of the English
constitution with respect to the ancient power of the
crown in levying ship-money. Two othet judges, Daven-
port and Deuliam, spoke also upon the same side. The
former supported the right of the crowrt to levy ship-
money, but thought the action void upon a point of form ;
the latter, at first, gave his opinion for the crown, upon
mistaking the plaintiff for the defendant, but afterwards
corrected his mistake. He had from sickness been absent
during part of the pleadings, and seems to enter very
little into the matter.

P2

212 DISPUTES BETWEEN

were still more calculated to rouse and alarm
the people ; and had, in reality, an obvious
and powerful tendency to increase the autho-
rity of the crown. From the behaviour and
character of this monarch, some doubts have
arisen with respect to his religious opinions.
The gravity of his deportment, the sobriety
and regularity of his private life, together
with his apparent zeal in support of eccle-
siastical dignity, procured him the repu-
tation of piety and devotion ; while his pre-
possession in favour of ridiculous ceremo-
nies, and superstitious observances, in con-
sequence of the good sense attributed to him,
created a suspicion of artifice and hypo-
crisy. His friends havQ asserted his inva-
riable attachment to the church of England :
his enemies insinuate that he was a secret
abettor of popery. That both he and his
father were less adverse to the latter system
of religion than to that of the puritans,
cannot reasonably be denied. The fact
seems to be, that in religious matters, these
two princes were much guided by their po-
litical interest. As the hierarchy in England

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 213

was highly favourable to the regal autho-
rity, they endeavoured to extend and fortify
it with all their might. By the abolition of
the papal power in this country, the king,
becoming the head of the church, and pos-
sessing the gift of the higher church livings,
acquired a very absolute ascendancy over
the superior members of that great incor-
poration. The spirit of inquiry introduced
at the reformation, and the diffusion of
knowledge which followed it, contributed,
on the other hand, to relax the bands of ec-
clesiastical authority, and greatly to dimi-
nish that influence over the laity which
churchmen had formerly maintained. It ap-
pears to have been the great object of Charles
to repair, in these two respects, the ruins
which time had produced ; to renew and
invigorate the ecclesiastical machine, so as
to create a proper union and subordination
of its different wheels and springs, and to
render its movements more effectual in di-
recting and governing the people. For this
purpose, in conjunction with archbishop
Laud, his great spiritual minister, he ventured

214 DISPUTES BETWEEN

to new model the liturgy ; and, in the pub-
lic services of religion, introduced a multi-
tude of decorations and ceremonious observ-
ances, in imitation of those employed by
the Roman Catholics. Some authors ap-
pear to consider these as insignificant and
ridiculous mummery, the offspring of mere
folly and superstitious weakness ; but there
is no room to doubt that this pomp and
pageantry of religious worship was intended
to promote superstition among the populace ;
to exalt the clerical character, to create a
high veneration for the sacerdotal functions,
and a belief, with respect to the happiness
of men in a future state, of the efficacy and
indispensable necessity of the interposition
and good offices of the church. He also
established a new set of ecclesiastical canons,
by which a stricter discipline, and a more
absolute authority in the superior orders of
churchmen was introduced; and these regu-
lations were enforced with unremitting vigi-
lance and with inflexible rigour. It is not
impossible, that by these innovations Laud
gratified that vanity and love of power which

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT.

his rank and situation contributed to inspire ;
while the king viewed them in a political
light, as promoting his designs of managing
the church, and, through her, of governing
the nation. The court of star-chamber, and
that of high-commission, were employed in
punishing both laity and clergy who neg-
lected, in the smallest article, to comply
with these rules ; and the bishops admini-
stered an oath to the churchwardens, that
they would, without fear or affection, inform
against all offenders*.

It was impossible entirely to suppress the
indignation and clamour excited by these
proceedings ; but such as ventured openly
to censure them, were sure to encounter the
implacable resentment of an incensed and
bigotted churchman, armed with the whole
power of the state.

Some men of austere character, or of in-
temperate zeal, being found hardy enough
to venture upon the publication of books,
inveighing with great acrimony against the
usurpations of churchmen, and against the

* Rusluvorth.

216 DISPUTES BETWEEN

levities and vices of the age, or supposed
to contain insinuations against the measures
of government, were treated with a degree
of barbarity repugnant to the manners of a
civilized nation. These authors, though of
liberal professions, and in the rank of gentle-
men, were condemned not only to an immo-
derate fine, but to the pillory, and to whip-
ping in the severest manner, accompanied
with the loss of their ears, and the slitting of
their noses ; and this outrageous and shock-
ing punishment was, without the least miti-
gation, actually carried into execution*.

To prevent such publications as tended
to inflame the minds of the people, it was
ordained, by a decree of the star-chamber,
in the year 1637, that the printers in the
kingdom should be limited to a certain

o

number, and that no book should be print-
ed without a licence, or imported for sale
without the inspection of persons appointed

* See, in particular, the account given by historians, of
the punishment inflicted upon Dr. Leighton, a Scotch
presbyterian : on Pr^nne, a lawyer; on Burton, a divine ;
and on Bastwick, a physician.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT.

for the purpose. This regulation was en-
forced with similar punishments*. AVhat is
called the liberty of the press was, doubtless,
totally incompatible with the designs of ad-
ministration.

From the same views which led to the ex-
altation of the hierarchy in England, Charles
was equally solicitous of extending that fa-
vourite system of church policy to Scotland.
By a variety of steps, many of which were
highly arbitrary and illegal, James had al-
ready established a species of episcopal go-
vernment in that country; but from the in-
fluence of the nobles, and other very opulent
proprietors of land, who had obtained a
great part of the ancient ecclesiastical reve-
nues, he found it impossible to restore the
bishops to that wealth and dignity which
they enjoyed in times of popery, or which

* For printing and publishing without a licence, John
^Varton and John Lilburne were brought into the star-
chamber, and upon refusing to answer interrogatories,
were sentenced to a fine and the pillory. The latter,
though a man of family, was likewise whipped through
the streets, and pthqrwise treated with great
Jlushworth.

218 DISPUTES BETWEEN

they still held in England. The enthusiasm
of the Scottish nation in favour of that mode
of worship which they had established at
the reformation, and their prejudices against
the forms used in the English, as well as in
the Roman Catholic church, were well known
to Charles ; notwithstanding which he was
not deterred from the attempt of compel-
ling them to receive the new English canons
and liturgy. The obstinacy with which he
pursued this object, even after the people
had risen up in arms to oppose it, and had
formed that solemn association known by
the appellation of the national covenant, can
hardly be imputed to the pretended motives,
the mere love of order and uniformity in
the external worship of the two kingdoms ;
but, in all probability, arose from the desire
of subjecting the people in Scotland as well
as in England, to an order of men who, from
their dependence upon the crown, were likely
to be the zealous and constant supporters of
the prerogative.

The Scottish army having reduced the
king to great difficulties, he again found it
expedient, after an interval of more than

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 219

eleven years, to call a parliament. But this
meeting, which was held in April 1640,
having, like the three former parliaments,
insisted upon a redress of grievances previous
to the granting of supplies, was quickly dis-
solved by the king ; who, immediately after,
imprisoned two of the commons, for refusing
to answer interrogatories concerning their be-
haviour in the house.

Such, during the first fifteen years of the
reign of Charles, were the chief matters in
dispute between the king and parliament;
and such were the chief circumstances in the
conduct of either party.

From the whole behaviour of the king
during this period ; from numberless instances
in which he publicly declared his political sen-,
timents ; from the countenance and favour
which he shewed to the authors of doctrines
entirely subversive of civil liberty ; from his
peremptory demands of supply, accompanied
with menaces in case they should not be
complied with ; from his repeated dissolu^
tions of parliament, for persisting to inquire
into national grievances; and from his con-

DISPUTES BETWEEN

tinuing, in consequence of an avowed reso-
lution, for so long a period as that of eleven
years, to rule without the aid of any national
council, and to levy money, both directly
and indirectly, by his own authority ; from
all these circumstances it is manifest, that he
considered himself as an absolute monarch,
and that, although he made repeated applica-
tions to parliament for supplies, he was far
from admitting the necessity of such an expe-
dient, but claimed the power of imposing
taxes as an inherent right of the crown.

It appears, at the same time, indisputable,
that such doctrines and claims were incon-
sistent with the original constitution and fun-
damental laws of the kingdom. By the uni-
form series of statutes, from the reign of
William the Conqueror, and according to the
principles and maxims recognized and ad-
mitted in all public transactions, the legis-
lative power, and that of imposing taxes,
were exclusively vested in parliament. These
laws, indeed, had been sometimes violated
by particular princes, who had not always
been called to account for such violations.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 221

But these illegal measures of the crown were
neither so numerous, so uniform, nor so long
continued, as to make the nation forget
that they were usurpations, or lose sight of
those important privileges which had thus
been invaded. The king was no more un-
derstood to have acquired a right to such
powers, from his having occasionally exer-
cised them, than individuals become entitled
to commit rapine or theft, merely because
they have sometimes been guilty of those
crimes, and have had the good fortune to
escape with impunity.

It is worthy of notice, that although se-
veral kings of England exacted money from
their subjects without the authority of par-
liament, they never pretended to vindicate
those proceedings, nor alleged that, by virtue
of the prerogative, they had the right of im-
posing taxes. Henry VIII. the most power-
ful and arbitrary of all the Tudor princes,
disclaimed any power of this nature; and
upon one occasion, when cardinal Wolsey
had set on foot a project for levying a tax
by the regal authority, found it necessary

222 DISPUTES BETWEEN

to quiet the minds of the people by an ex-
press declaration, that he asked nothing more
than a benevolence or voluntary contribu-
tion.

When we examine, on the other hand, the
conduct of the four first parliaments of Charles,
there appears no good reason for suspecting
them of any design to alter the constitu-
tion. The circumstances of the crown were
such, at this time, as required particular at-
tention to every proposal for new taxes, and
rendered an extreme jealousy upon this point
not only natural, but proper. From the al-
terations which had gradually and almost in-
sensibly taken place in the state of society,
the circumstances of the people with respect
to taxation had been totally changed. The
old revenue of the crown was become very
inadequate to the expence of government;
and as the estates of individuals were liable
to supply the deficiency, the nation was
deeply concerned, not only to prevent ar-
bitrary impositions, but also to limit those
burdens which every member of administra-
tion had continually an interest in accu-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT.

mulating. Like sureties for a person in ha-
zard of bankruptcy, it was incumbent on
them to watch over the principal debtor, and
to prevent his extravagance. As from the
charges attending the civil and military esta-
blishments, the king could never be at a loss
for pretences to demand money from his sub-
jects, it was from this quarter that they were
most in danger of oppression, and had most
reason to guard against the encroachments of
prerogative.

The alterations, at the same time, in the
military state of the kingdom, were such as
rendered unusual care and vigilance necessary
to preserve the ancient constitution. While
the feudal vassals continued to perform the
military service, the people had the sword in
their own hands ; and, consequently, the
means of defending themselves from oppres-
sion. If after the substitution of mercenary
troops to the ancient feudal militia, the nation
became an unarmed and timorous multitude,
without discipline or capacity for any sudden
exertion, and seemed to be entirely at the
mercy of the king, who levied at pleasure,

1

DISPUTES BETWEEN

and directed the whole military force. Had
no new circumstance occurred upon the side
of the people, to counterbalance the addi-
tional weight thus bestowed upon the crown,
their liberties could not have been main-
tained. But the necessities of the king re-
quiring continual grants of money from par*
liament, afforded this countervailing circum-
stance, by rendering him dependent upon
the national representatives, and obliging
him to listen to the complaints of his people.
It was in this manner only that the pre-
rogative could be retained within its ancient
limits.

If parliament, however, had always been
ready to supply the wants of the king; if they
had never stood upon terms, and demanded a
rectification of abuses as the condition of their
consenting to taxes ; their power would soon
have dwindled into a shadow, and their con-
sent would have become a mere matter of
form. They would have soon found themselves
in the same state with those ghosts of na-
tional councils, who continued to hover about
the courts of some European monarchies,

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. £25

and were still called to give an imaginary
sanction to that will of the prince which they
had no longer the capacity of opposing. By
good fortune the imprudence of Charles, and
still more that of his father, by discovering
too plainly the lofty ideas they entertained
of the regal authority, alarmed the fears of
parliament ; and the house of commons, by
having the courage to refuse, preserved their
privilege of bestowing the public money at a
time when they had lost all other means of
compulsion.

In the history of the world, we shall per-
haps discover few instances of pure and ge-
nuine patriotism equal to that which, during
the reign of James, and during the first fifteen
years of the reign of Charles, was displayed
by those leading members of parliament, who
persevered, with no less temper than steadiness,
in opposing the violent measures of the court.
The higher exertions of public spirit are often
so contrary to common feelings, and to the or-
dinary maxims of conduct in private life, that
we are, in many cases, at a loss whether to
condemn or to admire them. It may also be
remarked, that in the most brilliant examples

VOL. III. Q

226 DISPUTES BETWEEN

of heroism, the splendour of the achieve-
ment, at the same time that it dazzles the be-
holder, elevates and supports the mind of the
actor, and enables him to despise the difficul-
ties and dangers with which he is surrounded.
When Brutus took away the life of Caesar, he
ran counter to those ordinary rules which bind
society together ; but, according to the notions
of his own age, he secured the applause and
veneration of the worthier part of his country-
men. To perform a great service to our coun-
try by means that are altogether unexception-
able, merits a purer approbation ; and if the
action, while it is equally pregnant with dan-
ger, procures less admiration and renown, it
affords a more unequivocal and convincing
proof of true magnanimity and virtue. When
Hampden, by an appeal to the laws of his
country, exposed himself to the fury of Charles
and his ministry, he violated no friendship,
he transgressed no duty, public or private;
and while he stood forth to defend the cause
of liberty, he must have been sensible that his
efforts, if ineffectual, .would soon be neglected
and forgotten ; and that even if successful,
they were less calculated to procure the ap-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 227

plause of his cotemporaries, than to excite the
admiration and esteem of a grateful posterity.
To the illustrious patriots who remained un-
shaken during this period, we are indebted, in
a good measure, for the preservation of that
freedom which was banished from most of
the other countries of Europe. They set the
example of a constitutional resistance to the
encroachments of prerogative ; accommodated
their mode of defence to the variations in the
state of society which the times had produced ;
and taught the house of commons, by a judi-
cious exercise of their exclusive right of taxa-

o

tion, to maintain and secure the rights of their
constituents.

SECTION II.

OF THE REIGN OF CHARLES THE FIRST,
FROM THE MEETING OF THE LONG PAR-
LIAMENT TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF
THE CIVIL WAR.

THE meeting of what is called the Long Par-
liament, towards the end of the year 1640,
presented a new aspect of public affairs, and

Q2

228 DISPUTES BETWEEN

seemed to require that the patriotic leaders of
that assembly should embrace a new system of
conduct. The designs of Charles had now
been prosecuted for such a length of time, and
displayed in such a variety of lights, as to be-
come perfectly notorious. From his beha-
viour during his three first parliaments, it ap-
peared, that though he condescended to pro-
cure money by parliamentary authority as the
smoothest and safest course, he was far from
acknowledging the necessity of this mode of
procedure, but claimed, and whenever his oc-
casions might require, was determined to ex-
ercise the prerogative of imposing taxes. In
his intercourse, at the same time, with those
assemblies, he had made no scruple to practise
every artifice in his power, to intimidate them
by threats, to work upon their hopes by tem-
porising professions, and even to deceive them
by direct promises. Of this there occurred
a remarkable proof in the circumstances re-
lating to the petition of right, a bill to which,
after many evasions, he at length solemnly con-
sented, but which he afterwards no less openly
violated ; a bill in which he plainly had re-
nounced the errors of his former conduct, and

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 229

had in particular admitted, by an express and
positive declaration, that the power of im-
posing taxes, or of levying from the people
any sort of contribution or duty, was exclu-
sively vested in parliament.

After the dismission of his third parliament,
he had thrown off the mask, had avowed the
resolution of reigning without the aid of those
national councils ; and for more than eleven
years, had continued to usurp all the supreme
powers of government, levying money, not
only by the indirect means formerly practised,
but also by the direct imposition of taxes, and
issuing royal proclamations, to which he re-
quired the same obedience as to acts of parlia-
ment. During this period he altered, both in
England and in Scotland, the established forms
of religious worship and the system of church
government ; and by the interposition of the
star-chamber, or by his corrupt influence over
the ordinary tribunals, he often inflicted the
most arbitrary and illegal, as well as barbarous
punishments upon those individuals who had
the courage to thwart, or in any shape to op-
pose his measures.

His behaviour to his fourth parliament

DISPUTES BETWEEN"

served only to show, that, while he remained
immoveable in his plans of despotism, he had
not relinquished his disposition to artifice and
duplicity.

Such had been the conduct of Charles, and
such was the character of that monarch, which
had been deeply impressed upon the great body
of the people, when the defeat of his forces
by the Scottish army obliged him to call
another parliament within a few months after
his angry and contemptuous dissolution of the
former. The indignation and resentment of
the nation were now raised to such a pitch as
to overbear the court influence in the greater
part of elections, and to produce in this assem-
bly a prodigious majority, resolutely deter-
mined to restrain the arbitrary measures of
the sovereign.

From the transactions of this and of the pre-
ceding reign, it was now become evident, that
the preservation of public freedom required
more effectual measures than had been pursued
by former parliaments. By refusing supplies,
the house of commons might occasionally ex-
tort from the king a promise to correct the
abuses of administration ; but experience had

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 231

shown that no practical benefit could result
from promises to which he paid so little regard,
and which he might so easily violate with im-
punity. Those difficult situations, in which
the king 'was obliged to solicit the parliament
for money, were now likely to occur but sel-
dom, since he had found that, by other methods
less disagreeable to himself, he was capable,
in ordinary cases, of supplying his wants.
These methods, indeed, were illegal and un-
popular, but they had been frequently repeated
with success, and had for a considerable pe-
riod been continued without interruption. The
danger of such precedents had now risen to an
alarming height ; and as, on the one hand, it
was hardly to be expected that the monarch
would stop short in that career which he
had hitherto maintained, so, on the other, it
was to be feared that the people, whose feel-
ings are but little affected by evils which do
not strike their senses, would be gradually
reconciled to these innovations, and that the
sanction of custom would at length be pleaded
in support of measures totally subversive of
the constitution.

Though the English government had im-

232

memorially exhibited the plan of a limited
monarchy > and had so distributed the chief
powers of the state as mutually to check and
controul one another ; yet, from want of ex-
perience and foresight, the workmanship Avas,
in several of its minuter parts, far from being
so complete and perfect as to preclude every
kind of irregularity or disorder. By commit-
ting the powers of legislation and taxation to
parliament, and the supreme judicial power to
the house of lords, it seems to have been
thought that the ministerial or executive power
of the king would be kept in proper subor-
dination ; and probably no suspicion was en^-
tertained of the numerous artifices by which
he might elude the superintendanee of his great
council, or of the different expedients to which
he might resort for establishing an indepen-
dent authority. But after the decline of the
aristocracy under the reign of the Tudor
princes, it was found that the precarious ap-
pointment of the inferior judges gave him an
absolute sway over the courts of justice ; and
upon the disuse of the ancient feudal service,
after the accession of the house of Stuart, the
direction of the mercenary forces, the number

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 233

of which was likely to be continually increas-
ing, afforded him an engine which was be-
coming daily more effectual for enforcing his
measures, and for controuling all opposition
to his will.

At this alarming crisis, therefore, when the
king had made such formidable advances to-
wards the introduction of despotism, it was
the indispensable duty of parliament to re-
double its efforts, and to study more effectual
measures for opposing his designs. It was no
longer sufficient, for this purpose, to repel
the encroachments made by the crown, and
to re-instate the government in the situation
which it had maintained before the late inno-
vations. The parliaments had hitherto stood
entirely upon the defensive; it seemed now
high time that they should attack in their
turn, and endeavour to disarm an adversary
so persevering, so watchful, and so powerful.
It was not enough that they should fill up the
breaches which had been made, and repair the
fortifications which had been demolished;
but in providing for future security, it was
necessaiy to fortify the constitution in those
and passes which had formerly been
4

234 DISPUTES BETWEEN

left most open and defenceless ; and at the
same time to dispossess the prerogative of
those particular stations, from which there
appeared the most imminent danger of in-
vasion.

Such appear to have been the leading views
of that celebrated parliament, which met in
the latter part of the year 1640, and of whose
conduct political writers, according to their
different inclinations and systems, have given
such opposite representations.

Their first measure was to attack those mi-
nisters who had been chiefly instrumental in
the late proceedings of the crown. That
these might with propriety be called to ac-
count for the part they had acted in the course
of their administration, was indisputable ; and
that they, rather than the sovereign, should
suffer punishment for the abuses or misde-
meanors which had been committed, was an
acknowledged maxim of the English govern-
ment. It was accordingly resolved, that
Strafford and Laud, the two persons who had
enjoyed the principal share of the king's con-
fidence, the one in civil, the other in eccle-
siastical matters, should be impeached ; and,

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 235

for this purpose, they were immediately taken
into custody.

Many circumstances contributed to render
Strafford the general object of popular odium
and resentment. He had been a distinguished
leader of the patriotic party ; and had been
seduced by the court to abandon his principles,
and join the standard of prerogative. In those
times, when the spirit of patriotism had risen
to so high a pitch, and when the minds of
men were so heated with an enthusiastic love
of liberty, a political renegado, who had be-
trayed the cause of his country, and had de-
scended to become a vile instrument of that
oppression, against which he had declaimed
and struggled with so much vehemence, could
not fail to draw upon himself a double portion
of that indignation which the measures of the
crown had excited ; and as this apostacy hap-
pened soon after the dissolution of Charles's
third parliament, that is, at the very period
when the arbitrary and despotical views of the
monarch had been, in the most unequivocal
manner, proclaimed to the whole nation, and
when attempts, by the court, for gaining
other eminent members in oppositioo, had been

236 DISPUTES BETWEEN

repulsed with disdain, it was beheld in cir-
cumstances of peculiar aggravation, and
marked with indelible characters of infamy.
The haughty and insolent temper of Stafford
contributed, at the same time, to procure him
many personal enemies ; not to mention, that
his known abilities and vigour, which had
raised him to the head of administration, gave
real apprehension to all such as were anxious
to guard against the encroachments of prero*
gative.

Against the condemnation of this minis-
ter, much has been said and written, which,
in the present age, will hardly be thought
worthy of a serious refutation. That the king
can do no wrong was, even at this time, un-
derstood, in the ordinary course of adminis-
tration, to be a constitutional maxim : From
which it follows, as a necessary consequence,
that his ministers must be responsible for all
the abuses committed by the executive power.
No person, according to this rule, could suffer
more justly than the Earl of Strafford, wha
had been confessedly the king's principal and
confidential minister, and whose administration
demonstrated a deep-laid and regular system

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 23?

to subvert the constitution. It may be asked,
what crime deserves a capital punishment, if
this does not ?

The clamour, therefore, which was raised
against the punishment of that nobleman could
have no foundation in the principles of mate-
rial justice. It could only relate to the forms
of procedure by which he was tried and con-
demned. And here it is remarkable, that the
chief handle for objection was afforded by the
extreme anxiety of the commons to proceed
with great circumspection, and to conduct
the trial in such a manner as would avoid any
ground of complaint.

With respect to the facts upon which the ac-
cusation was founded, instead of resting upon
a general statement of the arbitrary measures
pursued by the crown during the period when
Stafford was a principal and confidential mi-
nister, about which there could be no dispute,
the commons thought proper, for the satis-
faction of the public, to bring a specific charge
of particular violations of the constitution, to
which he had been accessary, either as an ad-
viser, or as an immediate actor ; and the proof

238 DISPUTES BETWEEN

which they afterwards adduced in support of
one of the chief of those articles, was alleged
to be defective. Stafford was charged with
having said, in council, that the king was now
absolved from all tide of government, and to
do whatever power would admit; and with
having advised his majesty to go on vigorously,
in levying ship-money, and to employ the
forces in Ireland for reducing this kingdom to
obedience. Other expressions of a similar
import were imputed to other members of
council. Sir Henry Vane, the secretary, had
taken short notes of this debate; and from
these, which were accidentally discovered by
his son, a copy was produced on the trial.
It appears from Lord Clarendon, that some of
the words alluded to, of a high nature, accord-
ing to his expression, were remembered by
the Earl of Northumberland, another member
of council ; but the rest were not recollected
by any person present, except Sir Henry Vane;
nor by him, till after repeated examinations.
It was contended, however, that the notes
added to this verbal testimony should be held
equivalent to two witnesses, which, by the

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 239

law of England, are necessary in proofs of
high treason*.

* See Clarendon's Hist. Vol. I. — Whitlock's Memo-
rials— Parliamentary History, Vol. IX.

The title of the notes was, No danger of a war vith
Scotland, if offensive, not defensive.

Then followed the opinions marked as below.

" K. C, How can we undertake an offensive war3 if we
" have no more money ?

" Lv L. Ir. Borrow of the city 100,0001. Go on vi-
" gorously to levy ship-money; your majesty having
" tried the affection of your people, you are absolved and
" loose from all rule of government, and to do what
a power will admit. Your majesty having tried all ways,
" and being refused, shall be acquitted before God and
" man : and you have an army in Ireland that you may
" employ to reduce this kingdom to obedience; for I am
" confident the Scots cannot hold out five months.

" L. Arch. You have tried all ways, and have always
" been denied ; it is now lawful to take it by force.

" L. Col. Leagues abroad there may be made for the
" defence of the kingdom : the lower house are weary
" of the king and church : all ways shall be just to raise
" money by, in this inevitable necessity, and are to be
a used, being lawful.

u L. Arch. For an offensive, not any defensive war.

" L. L. Ir. The town is full of lords. Put the com-
" misson of array on foot ; and if any of them stir, we
" will make them smart."

The evidence arising from these notes, however in-

240 DISPUTES BETWEEN

In prosecuting the impeachment of Straf-
ford, some doubts came to be suggested, whe-

OO '

ther the facts imputed to him, though cer-

formal, can hardly fail to produce conviction. They were
apparently taken when the debate happened, immediately
after the dissolution of the preceding parliament, and some
months before there could be any view of trying the Earl
of Strafford. Their authenticity is supported by the pa-
role testimony of Sir Henry Vane, the secretary, by
whom they were taken, and who, being present, as a
member of council, was an accomplice in the conspiracy,
and had therefore an interest to conceal the fact. This
circumstance, tog-ether with his oath, a3 a privy coun-
sellor, to secrecy, accounts for his reluctance to reveal
the truth. His testimony, at the same time, with respect
to some expressions of a high nature, in the foregoing
dialogue, appears, by the admission of Clarendon, to have
been confirmed by that of the Earl of Northumberland,
another privy counsellor, and an unexceptionable witness.
Thus a full proof being brought of some important
parts of the dialogue, though it is not ascertained which
these are, the credibility of the notes must be strongly
established as to other parts where we have only one
witness.

But what must contribute, above all, to remove any
doubt concerning the authenticity of the notes, is the
probability of their contents, from the situation and past
behaviour of the king and his ministers. The expressions
used by the different speakers tally exactly with their for-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 241

tainly deserving the highest punishment*
amounted, by the common or statute law of
England, to the specific crime of high treason
with which he was charged. According to
the rude conceptions introduced into all the
feudal monarchies of Europe, the crime of
high treason could only be committed against
the king ; and it was alleged, that a charge of
this nature was not applicable to the conduct
of Strafford, who had* indeed, invaded the
constitution, and subverted the fundamental
laws of the kingdom, but who had acted, all
along, with the perfect concurrence of the
sovereign, and in direct obedience to his will*
These doubts were, surely, very ill founded ;
since it is obvious that, by the presumption of

mer conduct. The measures proposed are nothing but
the continuation, and the natural consequence of those
which had been pursued by administration for eleven years
past ; and the embarrassment produced) immediately upon
the dissolution of the fourth parliament of Charles, was
likely to occasion a consultation of the nature that is re-
ported.

It is unnecessary to add, that the interlocutors referred
to are clearly King Charles, the Lord Lieutenant of Ire-
land, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Colling-
ton, and that the designs which they express are subversive
•f the constitution.

VOL. III. R

242 DISPUTES BETWEEN

law, the king, in pursuance of his duty, must
be supposed at all times ready to defend the
constitution, and consequently exposed to the
hazard of losing his life in its defence. Who-
ever, therefore, attempts to overthrow the
constitution, may be held, in the construction
of the law of Edward the Third, to compass or
imagine the death of the king ; and this al-
though in any particular case the king should
betray his trust, and, instead of defending the
government, should combine with its enemies
In promoting its destruction. But how ill
founded soever the opinions of those may be
who opposed the impeachment upon this
ground, it was thought advisable to comply
with their pretended scruples, and to carry on
the prosecution by a bill of attainder. This
mode of trial is, doubtless, very liable to
abuse, and ought never to be admitted, unless
in cases of extraordinary necessity. It does
not appear, however, that StrafFord was, in
consequence of it, subjected to any peculiar
hardship. The proof of the facts was inves-
tigated, not only by the commons, but also
by the lords, the same judges by whoin H
would have been determined in the case of an

THE IvlXG AND PARLIAMENT. 243

impeachment ; and before passing the bill* the
judges delivered their unanimous opinion,
that upon all which their lordships have voted
to be proved , the Earl of Str afford doth deserve
to undergo the pain and forfeitures of high
treason by law*.

The consent given by Charles to this bill,
and his yielding to the execution of his favo-
rite, could not fail to strike all his adherents
with consternation and astonishment, and have
been considered, even by those who view his
conduct with the most extreme partiality, as
a great blot upon his character. If we sup-
pose that Charles was now a real convert from
his former principles ; and that, weary of so
disagreeable a contest, he had relinquished
the system of establishing an absolute govern-
ment; it is natural to think that he would
have met with no difficulty in giving com-
plete satisfaction, both to parliament and the
nation, without abandoning the life of a mi-
nister whom he had seduced into his service,
and whose fidelity to him was his only crime.
But if this monarch still persisted in his ambi-
tious designs ; if his present concessions to
* Parliamentary History, vol. ix. p. 2.

244 DISPUTES BETWEEN

parliament were no more than temporary ex-
pedients for procuring the supplies which he
wanted ; and if the death of Lord Strafford
was merely a sacrifice, to avert the national
resentment, and, by a seeming atonement for
past offences, to deliver the king from his pre-
sent embarrassment; if this, as there is good
reason to believe, was the real state of the fact,
it is hardly possible for imagination to figure
a more glaring instance of meanness, of per-
fidy, and of barbarity.

It will throw light upon the feelings of this
monarch to recollect the terms of a letter which,
after he had given his consent to the bill of at-
tainder, he wrote, with his own hand, to the
house of peers, expressing a strong desire that
Stafford's life might be spared. The letter
concludes with this extraordinary postscript :
" If he must die, it were charity to reprieve
him till Saturday/' The only apology that
has been invented for this brutal indifference
is, that the postscript was probably dictated
by the queen, who, it seems, bore no good-
will to Strafford*.

* See Life of Charles I. by Williato Harris.— -King
Charles's Works, p. 138 ; Burnet's Hist, vol. i.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 245

The condemnation and execution of archbi-
shop Laud were delayed 'for some years ; and
in perusing the history of those times, the rigo-
rous punishment of this old and infirm eccle-
siastic, when the contest had come to be decid-

•

ed by force, is apt to be regarded as an unne-
cessary strain of severity. He had not the same
abilities with Stafford, to render him formid-
able; nor had his character been in the same
manner rendered odious by political apostacy.
He was, however, the firm associate and co-
adjutor of that nobleman, and was equally
guilty of a deliberate attempt to subvert the
constitution ; nor can it escape observation,
that, from the department in which he acted,
thesuperintendanceof the great machine of the
hierarchy, he was capable of doing more mis-
chief, by poisoning the minds of the people,
and sowing the seeds of a tyranny more lux-
uriant, more extensive, and more dt eply rooted.
The vigour, the activity, and the high senti-
ments of liberty which, from the beginning of
this parliament, had been displayed a great
majority of its members, were at the same
time warmly and uniformly supported by the
general spirit which prevailed throughout

DISPUTES BETWEEN

nation. Petitions against the arbitrary mea-
sures of the court pouring in from every quar-
ter, contributed to animate the commons in
their endeavours to reform abuses. The other
ministers and instruments of Charles were
either forced, by flight, to save themselves from
the terrors of an impeachment, or, if their ob-
scurity rendered them less obnoxious, they re-
mained in silent apprehension, lest, by oppos-
ing the popular current, they might provoke
their destiny.

The lower house proceeded unanimously to
declare, that the imposition of ship-money by
the king was contrary to the fundamental laws
of the kingdom ; and that the sheriffs, who
had issued the writs on that occasion, as well
as the persons who had been employed in levy-
ing the tax, were liable to punishment. In
this declaration they were joined by the unani-.
mous voice of the peers, who farther ordained
that the judgment given in Mr. Hambden's
case should be cancelled in their presence. A
similar judgment was passed upon the levying
of tonnage and poundage, without consent of
parliament, and upon the late collectors of this
duty, and, in order to ascertain, for the future,

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 24?

the exclusive power of that assembly, in this
respect, the tax was now voted for two months
only, and afterwards renewed for very short
periods. The enlargement of the forests, the
revival of monopolies, which had been lately
abolished by the legislature ; every illegal me-
thod of raising money, or unwarrantable ex-
ertion of prerogative ; the arbitrary interposi-
tion of the star-chamber, and high-commis-
sion, and the corrupt and oppressive decisions
of the ordinary judges, were subjected to severe
scrutiny, and stigmatized with strong marks of
disapprobation and censure*.

These resolutions and declarations were suf-
ficient to demonstrate the sentiments of parlia-
ment, and of the nation ; but hitherto- no pro-
vision had been made against the future en-

o

croachments of prerogative. The government
was not in a better condition than at the time
when the petition of right had passed into a
law ; and the public had no security against
the monarch, after being freed from his pre-
sent embarrassment, renewing his former pre-
tensions, and resuming that system of conduct
which he had been compelled to abandon.

* See Hume.

248 DISPUTES BETWEEN

From the time when the great body of the
people had acquired a degree of opulence and
independence, the frequent meetings of the na-
tional council had been deemed essential to the
preservation of liberty. During the sitting of
parliament the attention of the community was
awakened to political discussions; the proceed^
ings of the executive power were scrutinized,
and held up to public notice ; and the nation
was possessed of a great organ, by which its
grievances and its demands could be commu-
nicated to the monarch, with a force and energy
often irresistible. But, in the intervals between
those great councils, the voice of the legislature
was not heard ; there existed no superior power
to pontroul the abuses of administration ; no
monitor to warn and rouse the people in de-
fence of their privileges ; and the usurpations
of the crown, if cautiously conducted, and
artfully disguised, were likely in many cases
to pass unobserved. If the country was main-
tained in peace and tranquillity ; if arts and
manufactures were protected, and continued in
a flourishing condition ; if the inhabitants did
not feel themselves grossly oppressed or in-
jured in their private rights ; they were not,.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 249

apt to testify much uneasiness from the illegal
measures of government, or to complain even
of clear and palpable violations of the consti-
tution.

To avoid the meetings of parliament, there-
fore, became the great object of the crown ;
in the prosesution of which, Charles had been
so successful, as for a period of more than
eleven years to have avoided the necessity of
calling that assembly. The very mention of
parliaments, during this period, was regarded
as a kind of sedition, and upon that ac-
count strictly prohibited. It is not surprising
that, in the present emergency, when the king
had been obliged to renounce those heretical
doctrines, and to solicit once more the assist-
ance of his national council, it should have
been thought indispensably necessary to pre-
vent the recurrence of measures so completely
despotical, and effectually to secure this great
palladium of the constitution.

While the feudal aristocracy remained in its
vigour, the barons, who were the principal
part of this council, were not very anxious
about the regularity or frequency of its meet*
jngs. Relying upon the number and fidelity

250 DISPUTES BETWEEN

of their vassals, they trusted more to their
prowess in the field, than to their eloquence or
address in the cabinet. We find, however, so
early as the reign of Edward the Third, a pro-
vision by two several statutes, that parliaments
shall be held once every year, or oftener, if
need be*. This law had never been repealed,
though, from the state of the kingdom, for
several centuries, it had excited but little at-
tention. When the commons had acquired
some weight in the constitution, they generally
threw themselves into the scale of the prero-
gative; and it became as much the interest
of the king to call frequent meetings of par-
liament, as it was that of the barons to avoid
them. This was the case during the latter
part of the Plantagenet line, and under the
whole government of the Tudor princes ;
during which, it should seem that this point
had never become the subject either of dis-
cussion or controversy. But after the acces-
sion of the House of Stuart, when the in-
terest and views of the different branches of
the legislature underwent a total revolution, it

* 4 Edw. IU..c. 14. 30 Edw. III. c. 10.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 2

'was natural for the house of commons to look
back to those ancient statutes by which the
annual meetings of parliament were secured.
They did not, indeed, think proper to insist
upon a literal observance of that regulation ;
but making allowance for the difference of

o

times and circumstances, they were willing to
admit such variations as might render it con-
sistent with the ease and convenience of the
crown. Instead of calling parliaments annu-
ally, it was thought reasonable that the king
should, at least once in three years, be obliged
to convene those assemblies ; and a bill for that
purpose was introduced by the commons, and
passed through both houses. To secure the
observance of this regulation, it was provided,
that if the chancellor failed to issue writs every
third year, any twelve peers might exercise
that power ; that, in their default, the sheriffs
and other returning officers might summon the
electors ; and, lastly, that the voters, if not
summoned, might assemble of their own ac*.
cord and elect representatives. It was further
provided, that after the two houses of parlia-
ment had met, they should not, without their

252 DISPUTES BETWEEN

own consent, be either prorogued or dissolved
within the space of fifty days.

While this and other salutary regulations
were under the consideration of parliament,
there was good reason to apprehend, what had
happened on so many former occasions,
that their deliberations, however important,
might be cut short by a sudden dissolution.
Unless they could guard against this fatal in-
terruption, it was needless to propose a refor-
mation of abuses ; and while their members
exposed themselves to great personal danger
from the resentment of the crown, there was
nearly a certainty that their labours would be
rendered abortive. The necessity of the case,
therefore, appeared to justify an extraordinary
precaution, and a bill was carried through both
houses, importing, that until the present griev-
ances were redressed, they should not, with-
out their own concurrence, be dissolved *.

Among the various tools employed by
Charles for the execution of his measures, the
readiest, and the most subservient to his pur-

* Whitlock's Memorials, page 45.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 253

poses, were the courts of star-chamber and
high-commission.

The former of these tribunals arose from
an idea entertained by the lawyers of an early
age, that the rules of criminal justice could
not be extended to the numberless instances of
delinquency which occur in society ; and that,
of consequence, a discretionary power was ne-
cessary for taking cognizance of extraordinary
offences. This jurisdiction was naturally as-
sumed by the king and privy council, with
the assistance of his ordinary judges, or of
such individuals as he thought proper to call
in particular cases.

It is probable that, in the infancy of judi-
cial procedure, when the ordinary courts, from
their narrow experience, were extremely cau-
tious and timid in explaining the rules of jus-
tice, or when, from a suspicion of their par-
tiality, it appeared expedient to limit and cir-
cumscribe their decisions within the strict let-
ter of the law, this ultimate remedy, to supply
the defect of every other jurisdiction, a re-
medy which probably was applied very spa-
ringly, and with great moderation, proved of
signal advantage to the public. It is remark-

254 DISPUTES BETWEEN

able that, even in the days of Lord Bacon, the
interposition of the star-chamber, which had
then been rendered more extensive than for-
merly, are highly extolled by that eminent
lawyer and philosopher,

In the progress of society, however, the rules
of law were gradually enlarged and extended
to a much greater diversity of cases ; and
courts of an undefined and arbitrary jurisdic-
tion, as they were found highly inconvenient
and dangerous, became, at the same time, su-
perfluous and useless. But of all the tribu-
nals invested with discretionary powers, that
of the star-chamber appeared the most liable
to abuses. The particular crimes, or offences,
which chiefly fell under its cognizance, were
such as immediately affected the interest of
the crown ; so that while the court was con-
fessedly tied to no rule, the judges were either
parties, or, what amounts to the same thing,
under the direction of a party. It happened,
therefore, as might be expected, that whenever
the king adventured to stretch his prerogative
beyond the bounds of law ; when he wished
to levy money under the pretence of a loan or
benevolence ; when he wanted to enforce the

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 255

royal proclamations, and put them upon a level
with acts of parliament ; or when he was dis-
posed to punish any person who, by opposing
his measures, or by sounding an alarm to the
people, had incurred his displeasure; in all
such cases this was the court to which he ap-
plied, and in which he never failed to procure
a decision according: to his wishes. A tribunal

o

of this nature was a sort of excrescence, whose
polluted and cancerous fibres were likely to
contaminate the whole constitution, and which,
independently of the distempers of the present
reign, there was an urgent necessity to lop off
and eradicate.

The high-commission, as was mentioned
in a former part of this discourse, had obtain-
ed a similar province in spiritual, to that of
the star-chamber in temporal matters. Dur-
ing the first fervour of religious reformation,
it had been thought expedient that govern-
ment should controul and direct the faith of
individuals; and that a court should be ap-
pointed for the sole purpose of restraining he-
resies, as well as for punishing all offences
against the order and dignity of the church.
-This tribunal was at first levelled principally

1

256 DISPUTES BETWEEN

against the Roman Catholics; but came after-
wards to be a weapon, in the hands of the
clergy, and consequently of the sovereign,
for the support of the hierarchy, and for de-
pressing those branches of the sectaries which
had become eminent or obnoxious. Being in
reality a court of inquisition, unconfined by
rules, and actuated by the love of clerical do-
mination, as well as by that rancorous ha-
tred which is the offspring of religious contro-
versy, its proceedings in the department be-
longing to it, were, if possible, still more
oppressive and arbitrary than those of the star-
chamber ; at the same time, having assumed
the power of enforcing its decrees by fine and
imprisonment, it was enabled to acquire a
most extensive authority. The same observa-
tion, which already has been made with re-
spect to the star-chamber, is also applicable to
the court of high-commission ; that it pro-
ceeded from conjunctures which had now
ceased to exist. Whatever might be the
pretences, during the heat of controversy, at
the beginning of the reformation, for establish-
ing such an extraordinary jurisdiction, these
could have no place after the new system of

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 257

religion had obtained a complete victory, and
gained a full and peaceable establishment.
Amid the disorders which are apt to accom-
pany a violent revolution, there may be some
excuse for the exercise of such irregular and
arbitrary powers as would be altogether inad-
missible and intolerable in times of peace and
tranquillity.

It was thought proper, therefore, by the
unanimous voice of both houses of parliament,
to abolish those courts ; a measure, which
the changes in the state of society would have
recommended even at a time when no danger
was apprehended from the encroachments of
prerogative; but which, in the present cir-
cumstances of the nation, and under the im-
pression made by the conduct and temper of
the monarch, appeared immediately and indis-
pensably necessary.

To all these important bills the king was
prevailed upon to give the ro}'al assent ; and
if he had done nothing, in the mean time, to
call in question the sincerity of his compli-
ances, it is probable that parliament, and the
nation, would have been satisfied with the
redress which they had procured, and with

VOL. III. S

258 DISPUTES BETWEEN

the amendments on the constitution which had
been introduced. But they soon found rea-
son to believe, that, in these concessions, the
monarch was far from being sincere. When
Charles called this parliament, he must have
expected a good deal of clamour ; that griev-
ances would echo from every quarter ; and
that liberal promises of redress and amend-
ment, as a previous step to obtaining supplies,
would be unavoidable. For all this, it is not
unlikely, he was prepared ; and had made a
virtue of necessity. But when he saw that
the regulations proposed by parliament struck
at the root of all his projects ; carried their
defensive operations into all the departments
of the state ; and would effectually prevent his
recurring to those expedients which he had
formerly employed in the extension of his
prerogative, he was thrown into the utmost
consternation and perplexity. Parliament had
now shewn that they would grant no money
except upon their own terms ; and such was
the tide of popular opinion, that, without
their consent, no considerable supplies could
be expected. There seemed only to remain,
therefore, in his present situation, the alterna-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 259

tive of abandoning altogether his design to
change the constitution, or of endeavouring,
by some desperate enterprize, to extricate him-
self from the surrounding difficulties.

The Scottish army, which, after its success,
had penetrated into England, and still remain-
ed in the country, had not only been the cause
of summoning the present parliament; but
also, by its well known disposition to support
the popular party, had contributed to pro-
mote the vigorous and spirited resolutions of
that assembly. The English forces, on the
other hand, were not yet disbanded ; and
though their late discomfiture had been chiefly
imputed to their not being hearty in the quar-
rel, it was believed that, by sowing a national
jealousy between the two armies, and by re-
presenting parliament as partial to the Scots,
the English might be gained over to the interest
of the king. To this end a conspiracy was
formed by several military officers of distinc-
tion, together with certain agents employed by
the queen; and it was concerted, as there is
good reason to believe, that the English army
should be brought up to London, in order to
take possession of the tower, to overawe the

s 2

260 DISPUTES BETWEEN

parliament, and to procure a permanent settle-
ment of the king's revenue. As the plan was
never carried into execution, some doubts have
arisen concerning the precise view and inten-*
tion of the conspirators. But that they in-
tended, in some shape or other, to employ the
army for the purpose of preventing the two
houses of parliament from prosecuting the
measures in which they were engaged ; that
they meant to controul the deliberations of the
legislature, by the terrors, or by the actual in-
terference of a military force, there can be no
room to doubt. It appears also to be proved
beyond the shadow of controversy, notwith-
standing the awkward attempts of some au-
thors to conceal or disguise the fact, that this
project was communicated to the king, and
carried on with his approbation and concur-
rence*.

* The greater part of the conspirators made their escape.
Percy, one of the chief of them, wrote to his brother, the
Earl of Northumberland, a letter dated 14th June, 1641,
in which he confessed the principal facts alleged. Goring,
another conspirator, was laid hold of, and repeatedly exa-
mined by the commons. His deposition, though he en-
deavours to palliate his own conduct in the transaction,

THE KING AND PARXIAMENT. 261

The discovery of this plot, which happened
while the king was apparently pursuing a
system of conciliation with his great council,
and was pretending heartily to agree in the
schemes proposed for the redress of grievances,
opened up a scene of dissimulation and per-
fidy, which could not fail to excite the most
alarming apprehensions. What confidence
could be reposed in the professions of a prince
who solicited, in secret, the assistance of the
military power, to deliver him from those
regulations and measures with which he pub-
licly expressed his entire satisfaction ?

This incident was followed immediately by
the insurrection of the Roman Catholics in

tallies in good measure with Percy's letter. The draught
of a petition, from the army to the king and parliament,
had been privately communicated to Charles, and coun-
tersigned by him, with the letters C. R. in token of his ap-
probation. See the whole of the depositions relative to
this transaction, in Rush. Col. vol. IV.

It has been observed, upon this subject, that neither
Goring, upon his examination, nor Percy in his letter,
were thought by Charles to have said too much. Since
the former was continued in his government of Ports-
mouth, and the latter afterwards made a lord, and master
of horse to the Prince of Wales. See Harris's life of
Charles L

262

Ireland, and the massacre of their protestant
fellow subjects. Whether Charles had pro-
moted and instigated this insurrection, as was
pretended by the insurgents, appears not very
easy to determine. That he had any share in
the. bloody tragedy which was acted upon
that occasion, his bitterest enemies have
never alleged. But, considering the views of
this monarch, it was natural to suspect, that
he secretly wished the Roman Catholics, to
whom he had shewn so much favour, to
take up arms in defence of his prerogative ;
or even that he might propose to reap some
advantage, by having a pretence for setting
himself at the head of an English army to
march against the insurgents. The transac-
tions which he afterwards concluded with the
Irish rebels, or which were concluded in his
name, have rather a tendency to confirm this
unfavourable suspicion*. But whatever opi-
nion, upon this point, we may at present be
disposed to entertain, it is not surprising, that,

* See the facts respecting the accession of Charles to
the Irish insurrection — Rapin's history of England —
Macauley's history of England — Harris's life of Charles I.
— On the other hand, the vindication of Charles in Hume's
history of England.

THJB KING AND PARLIAMENT. 263

from the character of Charles, and his equivo-
cal behaviour, such reports to his prejudice,
which were then universally, and perhaps ma-
liciously circulated, should have made a strong
impression upon the public, and increased the
general anxiety and terror respecting the dan-
ger to which the constitution was exposed.

In their efforts to restrain the encroachments
of prerogative, the parliament had been con-
stantly opposed and obstructed by the votes of
the bishops in the upper house, and by the in-
terest of the clergy throughout the nation. The
puritans, on the other hand, had been uni-
formly distinguished by their zeal in opposing
the measures of the court, and in supporting
the claims of parliament. It is no wonder,
therefore, that the real friends of the constitu-
tion were irritated and provoked by the for-
mer, and warmed with sentiments of gratitude
and affection towards the latter. The pres-
byterians and independents in the house of
commons formed, at the same time, a nume-
rous party, whose political principles were
unavoidably warped by their religious tenets,
and who, doubtless, were glad of any pretence
for invading the hierarchy.

264 DISPUTES BETWEEN

But, independent of all party connections,
and party prejudices, the circumstances of that
critical period might naturally give rise to a
question, how far the secular power of the
bishops was consistent with sound policy; and
whether, considering their strong propensity^ to
support the arbitrary measures of the king,
their interposition, as members of the house of
peers, was not likely to prevent the establish-
ment of any permanent system of liberty.

According to the principles of the ancient
feudal system, the dignified clergy, being pos-
sessed of large estates, enjoyed an extensive
jurisdiction over their tenants and vassals, and
were, equally with the lay-barons, entitled to
vote in the great assembly of the nation. By
their situation they were, at the same time,
independent, in a great measure, of the civil
power; and having a separate interest from
that of the king or of the nobles, they claimed
a distinct voice in the legislature, and formed
one of the three estates of the kingdom.

But the revival of letters, and the religious
reformation which followed the improvement
of arts and manufactures, produced a great re-
volution in the circumstances of churchmen,

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 265

\

and in the rank and dignity which they held,
either as members of parliament, or of the na-
tion at large. The dissipation of the clouds
of superstition which formerly hung over the
minds of men had greatly diminished the
spiritual influence of those ghostly fathers.
The dignified clergy were now in the appoint-
ment of the crown, and the whole order looked
up to the sovereign as the great source of their
preferment. So far were the bishops from
constituting a separate estate and maintaining
a distinct negative in the national council,
that they were become subordinate to another
branch of the legislature ; and their weight
was now uniformly thrown into that scale
which it had been formerly employed to coun-
terbalance. Whatever was the original pur-
pose, therefore, of bringing the bishops into
parliament, this could no longer be served ; but,
on the contrary, was likely to be counteracted
and frustrated by their continuance in that as-
sembly. If they had formerly maintained a
proper balance between the different powers of
the state, it was evident that, by a reverse of
situation, their exertions were now calculated

266 DISPUTES BETWEEN

to produce the opposite effect, and to destroy
this equilibrium.

With equal reason it might be contended,
that the higher officers of the army and re-
venue, as that the dignified clergy should, in
virtue of their places, have a seat in parliament ;
since both of those classes depend equally
upon the crown for their emolument and rank ;
and since the former are not in more hazard
than the latter of being influenced by those
motives of private interest which govern the
greater part of mankind.

There is, at the same time, no pretence for
allowing the church, considered as a great cor-
poration, to send representatives to the national
council. Supposing the ecclesiastical to be
distinct from the temporal interest, and to re-
quire a separate management, an effectual pro-
vision was made in its favour by the right of
holding convocations; which, at the period now
under consideration, exercised, as will be ob-
served more fully hereafter, the exclusive pri-
vilege of taxing the clergy. But in reality
there is no ground for bestowing upon the
church, or any other societies, in their collec-
tive capacity, any peculiar share in the legisla-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 26?

tu re farther than is enjoyed by the individuals
of which they are composed. If the inhabi-
tants of a country are singly possessed of a due
proportion of political power in the election of
representatives, this will enable them to take
sufficient care of their interest, even so far as
they happen to be united in corporate bodies;
and it should seem that such corporations have
no just claim to any additional representation.
Had the bishops, on this great emergency,
behaved with common discretion ; had they
shewn, in the numerous important questions
which occurred, a decent regard to the public
interest ; had they not, in fact, shewn them-
selves to be the mere tools of the monarch, de-
termined to persist, without shame or scruple,
in promoting his designs ; it is highly probable
that their privileges, however inconsistent with
the present state of ecclesiastical livings, would
never have been invaded, and that no attempt
would have been made to deprive them of their
seats in parliament. But, as they had inlisted
under the banner of despotism, their political
power became a sacrifice to that limited mo-
narchy which parliament had resolved to esta-
blish.

268 DISPUTES BETWEEN

In this particular, however, the opinions en-
tertained by the real friends of the constitution
being more various, the attempts to diminish
the power of the bishops were prosecuted with
less unanimity than had appeared in relation to
the other measures for setting bounds to the
prerogative. A bill was first passed in the
house of commons to restrain persons- in holy
orders from intermeddling in secular affairs ;
but this was rejected in the upper house.
Another bill was introduced for abolishing en-
tirely the power of bishops, and of all other
ecclesiastical dignitaries : this was unsuccess-
ful among the commons themselves.

These attacks were followed by an accusa-
tion of high crimes and misdemeanours against
the bishops who had been concerned in the
establishment of the late ecclesiastical canons,
and in other innovations with respect to the
discipline of the church ; and this charge was
accompanied by a demand on the part of the
commons, that those prelates, during the de-
pendence of the trial, should be excluded from
the privilege of voting in parliament. The
resentment of the populace, in the mean time,
occasioned such tumults, that the bishops,

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 269

finding it unsafe to appear in public, had the
imprudence to present to the king and to the
peers a protestation that all proceedings in par-
liament, during their absence, should be held

7 O

null and void. This was considered by both
houses as a violent attempt to subvert the fun-
damental laws of parliament ; and was made
the subject of an impeachment for high trea-
son, upon which those prelates were taken into
custody.

By the progressive measures which had al-
ready been executed, or which were manifestly
in contemplation of the patriotic party, it
should seem that the patience of Charles was
entirely exhausted, and that he was no longer
able to maintain the temporising system of
dissimulation which he had hitherto practised.
In spite of every prudential consideration, and
throwing aside all regard to consistency of con-
duct, he now appears to have taken a resolu-
tion of yielding to the violence of his temper,
and attempting by force to subdue all opposi-
tion. Having suddenly given orders that Lord
Kimbolton, among the peers, and five mem-
bers of the house of commons, should be ac-
cused of high treason, and having sent to the

270 DISPUTES BETWEEN

commons to demand that these five members
should be delivered up to him, to which mes-
sage no positive answer was returned, he came
next day with an armed retinue into the lower
house; and having occupied the chair of the
speaker, he demanded to know whether any
of these members were present, declaring,
" that he must have them wheresoever he
" could find them*/'

The warmest friends of Charles have con-
demned this measure as the height of rashness
and folly ; but they would gladly overlook
the chief point of view in which it deserves to
be considered, as affording complete evidence
of the arbitrary principles by which he was
governed, and of the secret motives by which,
in all his transactions with parliament, he had
hitherto been actuated. The guilt imputed to
these individuals, it was well known, consisted
of the share they had taken in the deliberations
and resolutions of that assembly ; and with
equal reason the same charge might have been
brought against the majority of both houses.
So far was he, therefore, from regarding the

* See Whitlocke and Rush worth.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT.

late acts of parliament, which he had confirm-
ed by the sanction of royal authority, as bind-
ing either upon him or upon the nation, that
he held those regulations to be the most atro-
cious offences, and looked upon every person
who had been accessary to their introduction
as liable to a capital punishment.

The views and principles of Charles were
not more apparent from the nature of this ac-
cusation, than from the manner in which it was
conducted. That the king should not, in
any shape, interfere in the deliberations of par-
liament, was a maxim understood in the for-
mer reign to be fully settled. But that, with
an armed force, he should come in person into
the house of commons to intimidate its mem-
bers, and, without farther ceremony, to seize
and imprison those individuals who, by their
conduct in parliament, had incurred his dis-
pleasure, Avas an exertion of despotic power
and violence of which no precedent occurred
in the annals of parliament, and which plainly
intimated that the king, by his prerogative,
might at pleasure dispense with all the privi-
leges of that assembly.

DISPUTES BETWEEN

Thai the members of parliament were not
exempted from prosecutions, either for high
treason, or for other great crimes, was univer-
sally admitted ; but when an accusation was
brought against them upon points relating to
their conduct in that assembly, it was thought
requisite, as a preliminary step, that the house
of parliament to which they belonged, should
be satisfied concerning the grounds of the
charge, and should deliver up its respective
members to justice. If this form were not
held indispensably necessary, the freedom and
independence of parliament must be destroy-
ed ; as, in critical questions, it would always
be in the power of administration, by sudden
and groundless accusations, to deprive the
legislature of such members as had rendered
themselves obnoxious, and were most likely
to frustrate the measures of the crown. No
danger, on the other hand, could with reason
be apprehended from this privilege of parlia-
ment; for it never could be supposed that,
when a crime of an atrocious nature had really
been committed, the majority of either house
would be so corrupt, or so foolish, as to op-
pose the trial of its members.

THE KINO AND PARLIAMENT. 2?3

By the alarm and commotion which this
extraordinary measure excited in the city, and
through the nation, Charles was at length
convinced of its imprudence; but he found
that the impression which it had made was
not to be erased by appearances of repent-
ance, nor even by professions of future
amendment. The bill for depriving the bi-
shops of their seats in parliament now passed
the house of peers ; and to this the royal assent
was given without delay. According as the
behaviour of the king had created a stronger
suspicion of his designs, it seemed necessary
to lay a greater restraint upon his actions ; and
the commons accordingly rose in their de-
mands. Nothing less than the obtaining
some influence over the military force of the
kingdom was now capable of yielding them
satisfaction ; and as, notwithstanding the dis-
use of the feudal services in the field, there
still remained a shadow of the ancient militia,
under the command of the lieutenants of
counties, a bill was carried through both
houses, containing a nomination of those
officers, and rendering them accountable for
their conduct to parliament. The authority

VOL. III. T

274 DISPUTES BETWEEN

acquired by this regulation was intended to
counterbalance, in some degree, the direction
of the mercenary troops with which the so-
vereign was invested. But though Charles

o o

was desirous, by his concessions, to regain the
confidence of the nation, he could not be pre-
vailed upor> to relinquish a branch of prero-
gative so essential to his darling schemes; and
he rather chose to hazard a new rupture than
give his assent to the bilk

Both parties now began to despair of set-
tling their differences in an amicable manner ;
and looking forward to another, and what
seemed a more effectual method of decision,
endeavoured to collect a military force. The
king retired to York, where he was attended
by such of the nobility and gentry as were
disposed to support his pretensions. The par-
liament, wishing to secure a magazine of
arms, took possession, for that purpose, of
Hull, by appointing a governor of the place
under their own direction. The subsequent
remonstrances, or proposals of accommo-
dation, which passed upon either side, are of
little moment ; as no other benefit seems to
have been expected from them than merely to-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 2?5

procure delays, or to create an impression
throughout the nation, which might be fa-
vourable to the warlike preparations either of
the king or parliament*

Whoever examines with attention the pro-
ceedings of this parliament, from their first
meeting to the commencement of the civil
war, will easily perceive that their views were
somewhat different from those of the four
preceding parliaments ; and perhaps will
find reason to conclude, that they did not con-
tinue, throughout the whole of this period, in-
variably the same. It was the object of this
parliament to reform such parts of the consti-
tution as were grossly defective; but their
plan of reformation was necessarily varied and
extended according to the pressure of circum-
stances ; and in proportion to their discoveries
of the hazard to which they were exposed
from the temper and disposition of the king,
they were led to insist upon a greater limita-
tion of his powers. How far they were jus-
tified in all their demands, has been the subject
of much controversy. To judge candidly of
their behaviour, we must enter into the situ-
ation in which they were placed, and make

T2

276 - DISPUTES BETWEEN

Allowance for the difficulties with which they
were surrounded ; we must also make allow-
ance for the passions under which they were
obliged to form sudden resolutions ; for the
jarring opinions, the irregular influence, and
the. accidental humours of individuals ; for the
slippery ground of popular favour upon which
they stood, and for the errors and preposses-
sions from which, in an age when philosophy
was far from its meridian height, they could
not be exempted. With these allowances they
will not only be acquitted of any bad inten-
tion, but will appear entitled to a high degree
of approbation, even to the warmest gratitude
of posterity. However much they might be
tinctured with enthusiasm and religious preju-
dices, they seem to have acted from pure and
disinterested motives ; and were neither se-
duced nor intimidated, upon any occasion, to
swerve from those patriotic principles by
which they professed to be guided. It would
perhaps be difficult, even at this day, to point
out a line of conduct more eligible than that
which they pursued ; and which, with no
greater deviation from the former practice,
would be better calculated to frustrate the am-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT.

bitious designs of Charles, or to guard against
the attempts of any future monarch for sub-
verting the constitution.

That the parliament had, at this time, any
intention to overturn the monarchy, and to
establish a republican form of government,
there is no good reason to suppose. After all
the regulations which this parliament intro-
duced, the sovereign still remained in pos-
session of very ample powers. He still would
have enjoyed a voice in the legislature. He
would still have exercised the power of col-
lecting and disposing of the public revenue at
his discretion. He would still have remained
the fountain of honour; would have nomi-
nated all the judges during pleasure; and have
bad the sole privilege of declaring peace and
war, with that of levying and commanding
all the mercenary forces of the kingdom. In
a word, his direct authority would have been
more absolute than that of the British mo-
narch at present. The patriots of that day
overlooked a variety of limitations upon tlic
crown, which the more enlarged experience of a
later period has taught the English nation to
establish. They had no thought of a permanent

DISPUTES BETWEEN

provision to prevent extravagance and bad
economy in the expenditure of public money.
They suggested no restriction with respect to
the number of standing forces maintained in
time of peace. Though they prohibited the
king from extending martial law to the whole
community, they put no restraint upon him
in the application of that system to the army*
They made no attempt to secure the indepen-
dence of judges, by fixing their nomination
for life. Having no suspicion of any undue
influence which the king might obtain over
parliaments, they permitted him to continue
the same parliament as long as he pleased. In
all these particulars, it was found necessary to
make additional regulations upon the acces-
sion of William the Third; from which it
may with reason be inferred, that the parlia-
ment which met in the latter part of thq year
1640, instead of being liable to the censure of
doing too much, was rather exposed to that
of having done too little, for preventing the
encroachments of prerogative.

With respect to the conduct of Charles
during this period, we meet with no impor-
tant variation : The same arbitrary system in-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 279

variably pursued, and by the same unscrupu-
lous means of dissimulation and duplicity.
To those, indeed who look no further than
the immediate transactions, and who are un-
able to trace the intention and motives of the
parties, it may seem that the ground of the
dispute had been changed ; while parliament
was labouring to introduce a set of palpable
innovations ; and the king, who certainly con-
sented to these with reluctance, is presented to
us in the lio;ht of a secret friend to the old

O

constitution. This is the aspect of the con-
troversy, which those authors who attempt to
excuse or justify the monarch, are at great
pains to exhibit, and to which they would
willingly confine the attention of the reader.
They endeavour to conceal, or to keep out of
view, the former measures of the sovereign, by
which he had subverted the fundamental laws
of the kingdom, and the evidence which had
occurred of his obstinate resolution to persist
in the same designs. Thus they impute to
parliament the offences, in reality, committed
by the king ; and represent as violations of the
constitution the regulations which had be-

O

come absolutely necessary for its preservation ;

280 DISPUTES BETWEEN

that is, they consider as a poison the antidote
given to prevent its baneful effects.

SECTION III.

OF THE REIGN OF CHARLES THE FIRST,
FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE CIVIL
- WAR TO HIS DEATH.

THE progress of the civil war was pro-
ductive of many and great alterations, both in
the state of the contending parties, and in the
temper and disposition of the nation. After
the king and parliament had appealed to the
sword, as the sole arbiter of their differences,
they were no longer capable of retreating ; and
it was vain to shrink from a decision which
must render the one or the other party com-
pletely triumphant. Both became sensible that
their all was at stake ; and that nothing but a
decisive victory could either support their re-
spective claims, or ensure their personal safety.
From their mutual exertions in prosecuting the
quarrel, and from the dangers and bad treat-
ment to which they were continually exposed,

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 281

their passions were daily inflamed and rendered
more furious; while every new advantage,
upon either side, becoming the source of ex-
ultation and oppression in the one party, and
of provocation and resentment to the other,
contributed to widen the breach between them,
and afforded fresh fuel to their mutual animo-
sities.

The progressive measures which, during the
whole reign of James, and in the former part
of that of Charles, were gradually adopted by
parliaments, have already been pointed out.
Before the year 1640, those great councils ap-
pear to have stood altogether upon the defen-
sive, and to have aimed at nothing further than
barely to defend the ancient modes of govern-
ment. From the meeting of what is called the
Long Parliament, the abuses committed by
the king had given rise to different views, and
were thought to require more effectual pre-
cautions for securing the liberties of the peo-
ple. The various wheels and springs of the
constitution having, from negligence, gone
into disorder* or being, from the inexperience
of the original artificers, left, in some particu-
lars, inaccurate and imperfect, the opportunity

282 DISPUTES BETWEEN

which then offered was accounted highly fa-
vourable, for repairing the state machine, and
for removing its defects or imperfections.
Men who entertained this opinion were friends
to the monarchy, while they attempted to im-
pose new limitations upon the monarch ; and
were anxious to preserve the spirit and prin-
ciples of the constitution, though they con-
tended that, in several of its parts, a reforma-
tion was indispensably necessary.

How far the pruning hand of a reformer
should be permitted was a difficult question ;
about which even speculative reasoners might
easily differ ; and upon which men who had
opposite interests were by no means likely to
agree. When all hopes of accommodation,
upon this point, were completely blasted,
when both king and parliament had recourse
to arms, the popular party were pushed on to
greater extremities, and embraced a bolder
system of reformation. The opposition to the
crown had proved so ineffectual ; the power,
the influence, and the resources of the king
were so extensive; and the artifices by which
he mi Hit elude the controul of the legislature,

~ o

and undermine the privileges of the people,

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 283

had been found so numerous and so various,
that every attempt to confine the prerogative
within due bounds, was in danger of being re-
garded as desperate. To many it appeared
that the old constitution was no longer tenable,
and that the only method of preventing the
abuses of regal power was to abolish it al-
together. The exaltation, it was observed, of
an individual to the rank of a sovereign prince
proves commonly such an incentive to ambi-
tion, as renders him impatient of restraint,
and dissatisfied with any thing less than abso-
lute dominion. Accustomed to the high sta-
tion in which he is placed, and having receiv-
ed it through a long line of ancestors, he is
apt to look upon it as his birthright; and in-
stead of conceiving it to be an office derived
ultimately from the consent of the people, or
bestowed upon him for their benefit, he is
disposed to consider it in the light of a private
estate, intended for his own use, and to be en-
joyed at his discretion. By the natural order
of things, that is, by the disposition of Pro-
vidence, it appears to be his province to com-
mand, as it h that of his subjects to obey ;
and every effort, upon their part, to limit his

284 DISPUTES BETWEEN

authority, is regarded by him as an act of re-
bellion, which, in duty to himself and his pos-
terity, and in the capacity of the vice-gerent
of heaven, he is bound to elude by artifice or
repel by force.

To avoid these dangers to liberty, with
which recent events had strongly impressed
men's minds, it was by some thought requisite
to abolish the kingly office altogether, and
these republican doctrines came to be propa-
gated especially by men of knowledge and
speculation, who reasoned upon the general
principles of government, and compared the
different political systems which have taken
place in different ages and countries. Those
who consider the usual incitements to genius
will not be surprised to find, that, amidst all
the disorders of that period, the number of
speculative rcasoners upon government was
far from being inconsiderable. The impor-
tant disputes, and violent struggle in which
•a great part of the nation was engaged, by
awakening a spirit of activity and enterprise,
contributed to accelerate, instead of retarding
the pursuits of science and literature ; and by
opening to men of letters a wide field of am-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT, 285

bition, excited them to cultivate their talents,
and to bring forward their learning to the
public. To the operation of such causes we
may, in part at least, refer the political trea-
tises of Milton, which breathe that ardent
love of liberty, and that vehement spirit of in-
vective, to be expected from the sublime au-
thor of Paradise Lost ; at the same time that
they are apt, on some occasions, to disgust the
reader by an appearance of prejudice and
prepossession, and by an air of confidence and
arrogance which runs throughout those per-
formances.

During the horrors of the civil war, a
number of philosophers, men totally free from
the religious enthusiasm and party prejudices
of the times, are said to have employed them-
selves in conversing and reasoning upon poli-
tical subjects. After the death of the king,
these persons were formed into a regular so-
ciety, for examining and discussing the most
important questions concerning the best form
of a commonwealth, and the advantages or
disadvantages of such forms as had, in .dif-
ferent periods of the world, been reduced into
practice. The Oceana, and other discourses.

DISPUTES

published by Mr. Harrington, appear to have
been, partly, the fruit of those lucubrations.
These writings discover an extensive know-
ledge of history, the most liberal views with
respect to government, a thorough acquaint-
ance with the true principles of democracy,
and great skill and discernment in accommo-
dating those principles to the peculiar circum-
stances of the English nation.

The chief instances of popular government,
which had fallen under the experience of that
age, were the celebrated republics of Greece
and Rome ; which, for the most part, were esta-
blished among a handful of people inhabiting
a narrow district; in most cases, a single
town with its dependencies. In these very
limited states, there was little inconvenience or
difficulty in convening the whole people to
deliberate on public affairs, and to exercise the
supreme powers of government. The legis-
lative power, therefore, together with a con-
siderable part of the executive, was common-
ly lodged in the great body of the people ;
though the privilege of proposing the subjects
of deliberation to the legislative assembly was
often committed, exclusively, to a smaller

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 287

council or senate, composed of the higher or-
der of citizens, or elected by the ligislative
body itself. A constitution of this nature was
evidently impracticable in a large community,
the members of which were spread over an
extensive country. In a great nation, like that
of England, the assembling of the whole peo-
ple to make laws, or to deliberate upon na-
tional business, would produce a meeting so
numerous and disorderly, as must be incapa-
ble of any regular procedure, and liable to
endless disorders. But, fortunately, in Britain,
the custom of convening the representatives of
the people, as a constituent part of the legis-
lature, had been long established ; and upon
this principle Harrington, and the other spe-
culative politicians of that time, laid the foun-
dation of that commonwealth which they re-
commended to their fellow citizens. They
proposed that the supreme powers of govern-
ment should be committed to a body of repre-
sentatives, chosen by the nation at large, in
the manner which appeared the best calculated
to prevent the effects of bribery and undue in-
fluence upon the electors ; and in such a mo-
derate number as might enable them to main-
1

288 DISPUTES BETWEEN

tain the utmost regularity in their proceedings,
and to extend their care and superintendence
to every department of administration. By
this expedient it was thought, that the evils
incident to kingly government on the one
hand, and to pure democracy on the other, at
least in the shape in which it had been ex-
hibited in the ancient republics, might be
equally avoided. The dangers arising from
the ignorance, the prejudices, the violence,
and confusion, of a large tumultuary assembly
were effectually precluded ; while the interest
of the people at large was understood to be
sufficiently guarded by that controul and in-
fluence over their commissioners, which, from
the frequency of elections, they might be ex-
pected to retain.

The commencement and progress of the
civil war had an effect, no less remarkable,
with respect to the religious, than with respect
to the political sentiments of the nation.
From the increasing heat of controversy, and
according as the adversaries of the king had
-been more successful, the opposition to the
hierarchy became, of course, more violent.
For some time after the accession of James, the

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 289

Puritans, under which denomination were com-
prehended all the protestant dissenters, who
"were, for the most part, distributed into the
two great branches of presbyterians and inde-
pendents, were contented with liberty of con-
science, and with an indulgence in their pecu-
liar modes of worship. But the continuance
of the controversy suggested Other views to
those two orders of sectaries, and inspired
them with higher pretensions. After the
meeting of the long parliament, the pres-
byterians, whose doctrines were supported by
many leading members in that assembly, and
particularly by a great majority in the house
of commons, were encouraged to attempt the
subversion of the established religion, by de-
stroying all subordination in the rank and au-
thority of churchmen. But when the king
and parliament had come to decide their dif-
ferences by force, even this religious refor-
mation was held by many to be insufficient :
the opinions of men deviated still farther
from the old establishment; and the inde-
pendents, who rejected all interposition of
the public, either in the appointment of the
clergy, or in the care and direction of religion,

VOL. III. U

290 DISPUTES BETWEEN

advanced, with rapid strides, in consideration
and popularity.

The different principles of those two
branches of the sectaries produced a natural
conjunction, as was formerly mentioned, with
the respective systems of the two great poli-
tical parties now in opposition to the king.
The presbyterians, who, by abolishing the
several ranks and dignities of the church, pro-
posed to emancipate the clergy from their de-
pendence upon the crown, as well as to dimi-
nish their influence over the laity, were dis-
posed to support the system of those political
reformers, whose object it was to check the
abuses of prerogative, and circumscribe with-
out subverting the authority of the sovereign.
The independents, who advanced a step fur-
ther in relation to the church, pushed also
their political tenets to a proportional height,
disapproved of all ecclesiastical establishments,
and holding that every voluntary association
of Christians ought to have the liberty of
choosing their own religious teachers, they
were, in like manner, averse from every mo-
dification of monarchy, and were led to join
tjiose republicans who contended that all the

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT.

executive officers of the state should be under
the appointment of the people.

As these republican doctrines were thus
gaining ground in the nation, they made also
considerable advances, though with less ra-

* o

pidity, in parliament. The leading members
of that assembly, who had long acted in con-
sequence of their professed opinions in favour
of limited monarchy, were likely, the greater
part of them, to retain their former sentiments.
If some, during the violence of the struggle,
were induced to aim at greater innovations,
and to seek .the total abolition of kingly
power, there were others, corrupted by mo-
tives of interest, or alarmed by the ungovern-
able spirit of reformation which now disco-
vered itself, who either seized the opportunity
of joining the court, or thought proper to
retire from public business. In a situation so
new and hazardous, we need not wonder that
several persons, who had hitherto withstood
the encroachments of the prerogative, should
now shrink from a contest which threatened
to involve the kingdom in anarchy and blood ;
and should thus leave the field to men of
keener tempers, and of more persevering re-

u 2

292 DISPUTES BETWEEN

solution. Lord Falkland, and Mr. Hide,
whose abilities and personal character entitled
them to great consideration, and who, at the
beginning of the long parliament, had stood
forth in censuring the measures of the king,
and concurred in the important regulations
then introduced, deserted their former political
friends ; but though they were now enlisted
upon the side of the crown, they still professed
a regard to the ancient constitution, and a
disposition to moderate the violent councils of
Charles.

The proceedings of parliament were still
more affected by the death of some of its
principal members. Soon after the parties had
recourse to arms, Mr. Hampden, whose in-
flexible integrity, and sound understanding,
joined to his great modesty and vigour of mind *
had procured him almost equal influence in
war and in peace, and, without the appear-
ance, had rendered him the real leader of the
whole party, was killed in an action, while
he conducted the troops under his command
to repel a sudden attack of the enemy. The
loss of such a man in that cloudy and tem-
pestuous season, may justly be regarded as a

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 293

national calamity. He was, in religion, a
presbyterian ; and, in politics, a steady ad-
herent of the old constitution. His death was
followed, soon after, by that of Mr. Pym,
whose talents for public speaking, and whose
great experience in the business of parliament,
had raised him to a principal share in all the
important transactions of that period. His
eloquence distinguished him above all his co-
temporaries, and is said to have been produc-
tive of extraordinary effects. So far as we
can form a judgment from the specimens that
have come down to us, he seems to speak like
a man who labours to convince and to per-
suade, more than to entertain ; and though
liable, perhaps, to the imputation of some
formality and prolixity, he discovers great
ability in bringing many arguments to centre
in one point ; and presenting such views of
a subject as are calculated to lay hokj of the
prejudices, and to overpower the reason of his
hearers.

Notwithstanding the extreme simplicity of
manners and frugality for which Mr. Pym
was noted ; though, beside his private fortune,
he enjoyed a salary as master of the ordnance;

294

and though he acted in a high department, at
a time when parliament, in open war with the
king, had occasion to manage considerable
funds levied on that account ; he died in great
poverty, a satisfactory proof that he had served
the cause with disinterested fidelity. So sensi-
ble were the commons of his faithful services,
that they not only ordered a monument to be
erected to his memory, and his corpse to be
interred in Westminsteivabbey, but also voted
a considerable sum of money for the payment
of his debts.

While time and accidents were thus pro-
ducing great changes in the leading characters
who had hitherto appeared upon the stage, the
war opened a new scene of action, and • gave
birth to a new set of talents and accomplish-
ments, by which individuals, formerly obscure
and unknown, rose to consideration and im-
portance. Eloquence, and dexterity in ma-r
naging parliamentary business, were now de-
graded into a secondary rank ; and, in a great
measure, eclipsed by that courage and conduct
in the field, and by those peculiar virtues and
qualities displayed in the military profession,
Men who, by serving in a foreign country, had

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 295

already acquired experience and reputation in
war, were immediately placed in the higher
military departments ; while others, whose
disposition and genius peculiarly fitted them
for the service, found opportunities of signa-
lising their activity, valour, or capacity, and
were soon brought into notice.

The adherents of the king were chiefly
composed of the nobility and higher gentry,
men who, by their wealth and station, had
much to lose ; and who, in the annihilation
of monarchy, and in the anarchy that was
likely to follow, foresaw the ruin of their for-
tunes, and the extinction of their consideration
and influence. The middling and inferior gen-
try, together with the inhabitants of towns ;
those who entertained a jealousy of the nobles,
and of the king, or who, by the changes in
the state of society, had lately been raised to
independence, became, on the other hand, the
great supporters of parliament, and formed the
chief part of the armies levied by that assembly.
The differences in the character and situation
of the troops, which came, in this manner, to
be arranged upon the opposite sides, were very
remarkable. The forces of the king were

DISPUTES BETWEEN

commanded by officers whose rank in life had
led them frequently to serve in the wars upon
the continent, and who possessed a degree of in-
fluence over their followers, which, in some
measure, supplied the want of military disci-
pline. The armies of parliament, on the con-
trary, were composed of an unruly and disor-
derly multitude, under the direction of persons,
who, for the most part, had no natural autho-
rity corresponding to their stations, and who,
unless in a few instances, appear, at the be-
ginning of the war, to have been destitute of
military knowledge. Mr. Hume has, with
his usual discernment, pointed out the conse-
quences of these different situations, which are
such as might be expected. For some time
after the war broke out, the king was generally
successful, and in every struggle the forces of
parliament were either worsted or rendered in^
capable of improving those advantages which
fortune threw in their way.

It might easily be foreseen, however, that if
the operations of the war should be protracted
for any considerable period, the fortune and
circumstances of the parties would be reversed,
The nobility, who supported the cause of the

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 297

monarch, were too independent and too jealous
of each other to be reduced under proper sub-
ordination, and were fitter to act in separate
pillaging parties, at the head of their respec-
tive followers, than to unite and co-operate in
such a large body as the execution of a great
enterprise might require. The parliamentary
troops were in a different situation. Without
any previous attachment to particular leaders,
they acquired habits of submission to those
officers under whom they had fought ; men
who derived their preferment, not from their
birth or their opulence, but from their military
services ; and whom different degrees of expe-
rience, of capacity, and of success, had esta-
blished in their several stations. As the forces
of parliament comprehended the great mass
of the people, we need not wonder that when
they came to surpass those of the king in sub-
ordination and discipline, as well as in num-
bers, they should immediately obtain a decided
superiority.

Among all those who took part against the
king, it is natural to suppose that such as had
taken up arms in the cause, and had, through
the whole course of the contest, been retained

298 DISPUTES BETWEEN

in the service, would be distinguished by their
zeal, and by the extremities to which they
pushed their system of reformation. The
greatest part of these troops were, accordingly,
independents in religion, and in the state, re-
publicans. That original ardour which led
them to take so active a part in the contro-
versy, joined to the circumstances which, dur-
ing the progress of it, could not fail to inflame-
their passions, had confirmed their aversion to
all regal power, and to all ecclesiastical esta-
blishments, and had riveted their affections to
an opposite system, both of civil government
and of religious worship.

By a singular concurrence of accidents, the
command of the chief parliamentary army, to-
wards the conclusion of the war, was devolved
upon an officer* of great integrity and worth,
distinguished by his military talents, but other-
wise (which daily experience proves to be no
inconsistency) of slender capacity ; while the
real direction and management of those forces,
together with their commander, was acquired
by a leader of the most extraordinary abilities
which that, or perhaps any age, has produced.

* Fairfax.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT-.. 299

This was the famous Oliver Cromwell, whose
character is universally known.

During those parliamentary disputes which
preceded the commencement of hostilities,
Cromwell, though a member of parliament as
early as the year 1628, appears to have re-
mained in obscurity. It should seem that,
although the ardent enthusiastic spirit by which
he was possessed, could hardly fail to be re-
marked, and to gain him credit with the party
to which he was devoted, the inelegance and
rudeness of his manners, and his total defi-
ciency in public speaking, prevented his ac-
quiring much reputation or influence. But
no sooner had the war opened a new scene of
action, than he began to display that uncom-
mon genius with which he was endowed, and
to assume that consideration and importance
to which he was entitled. The troop which
he commanded was immediately distinguished
by superior discipline, and by good behaviour
in every engagement. The intrepidity, vi-
gour, and enterprising disposition of its leader
were no less conspicuous *. By his decisive

* It must excite amazement to find, in opposition to
every other account, that Oliver Cromwell is taxed with

300 DISPUTES BETWEEN

judgment in forming resolutions, and by his
rapidity and steadiness in the execution of
them ; by his penetration in discovering, and
his dexterity in managing the characters of his
adherents and associates, he quickly rose to
eminence, both as a partizan, and as a military
officer. That he was originally sincere in his
religious professions is extremely probable;
though he afterwards employed the mask of
piety to cover and promote his ambitious de-
signs. How far the characters of a hypocrite
and a fanatic are capable of being reconciled ;
or whether inconsistency be not frequently a
prominent feature of the human mind, I shall
not, pretend to determine ; but certain it is,
that the consummate hypocrisy of Cromwell
was the great engine by which he procured

cowardice, in the most pointed terms, by no less a person'
age than Denzil Hollis, a zealous presbyterian, and emi-
nent leader of the commons. If any credit could be given
to this charge, it would rather increase than diminish our
admiration of this extraordinary man ; since it would lay
us under the necessity of supposing that Cromwell, by his
dexterity, judgment, and political firmness, was capable of
concealing and counteracting the effect of a personal
weakness, apparently, of all others, the most adverse to a
military reputation. See Hollis's Memoirs, pub. 1699.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 301

the confidence of his whole party, and ob-
tained an ascendancy over all their move-
ments.

One of the first and most masterlv of all the

*/

stratagems employed by this arch politician,
after he had risen to a high situation, was the
new modelling of the army, by which he
secured to himself and his party the entire
direction of all the forces of parliament. To-
wards the conclusion of the war, although a
great proportion of those troops were of the
independent party, there were still among
them a number of presbyterians. The Earl
of Essex, Sir William Waller, the Earl of
Manchester, (formerly Lord Kimbolton,) with
many other distinguished officers, had shewn
an uniform attachment to the principles of
that sect; and, however they might think that,
in the present emergency, it was proper to limit
the prerogative, were still the friends of mo-
narchical government. While such persons
remained in the army, they could not fail to
be possessed of considerable influence ; and
Cromwell saw that it was necessary to get rid
of them, in order to accomplish his designs.
For this purpose his friends suggested a re-

302 DISPUTES BETWEEN

formation in point of military discipline: the
neglect of which became a topic of universal
complaint, and was considered as the imme-
diate cause of many important miscarriages.
A measure of this kind, so popular in itself,
was warmly supported by Fairfax, the general,
and by those who, not entertaining any sus-
picion of the secret motives by which it was
dictated, had been the most active and zealous
in the cause of the people. In the prosecution
of this plan, it was artfully represented, that
those who had a voice in parliament were pos-
sessed of authority and rank incompatible with
military subordination, and, by the attendance
in that assembly which their duty required,
were disqualified for the exercise of other em-
ployments. A self-denying ordinance was there-
fore proposed, by which members of parlia-
ment were declared incapable of civil and mi-
litary offices; and this regulation, by means of
the popular clamour which had been excited,
was carried through both houses. In this
manner the leaders of the presbyterian party,
who had long enjoyed seats in parliament, and
had been the chief conductors of parliamentary
business, were excluded from all share in the

THE XING AND PARLIAMENT. 303

direction of the forces. The army was im-
mediately new-modelled, and formed into dif-
ferent regiments and companies, under a new
set of officers ; with which measure many of
the presbyterian party, whom the late regula-
tion did not affect, were so disgusted as to
throw up their commissions. Cromwell him-
self, though a member of parliament, found
means, by the solicitation of the general, to
delay, for some time, and afterwards entirely to
evade the resignation of his command. The
decisive battle of Naseby, which was fought
soon al'ter the self-denying ordinance was car-
ried into execution, reflected no less credit
upon that measure than upon the personal abi-
lities of its contriver.

After the king's troops had been completely
defeated, and when his Majesty found it no
longer practicable to face his enemies in the
field, he seems to have placed his last refuge
in the opposition and discord between those
different parties into which the nation was di-
vided. He appears to have thought that, by
availing himself of their political animosities,
he might hold a balance among them, and
still, in some measure, maintain his authority.

1

£04 DISPUTES

With this view, he threw himself upon the
protection of the Scottish army, then at New-
ark ; thinking, perhaps, that the Scots, from
the concessions which he had made to them,
from their ancient hereditary connection with
his famil}', and from their being of late under
some discontent with the behaviour of the
English parliament, were most likely to afford
him a favourable reception. It must be ad-
mitted, however, that whether we consider
the principles of the Scotch covenanters, or
the strength which they could muster in op-
position to the English forces, there was no
ground to expect that, either from inclination
or from prudential motives, they would un-
dertake the defence of Charles, or attempt to
rescue him from the hands of his enemies.
Nor can it enter into the wildest imagination
to conceive that such an attempt would have
been either just or proper. They were the
most violent religious adversaries of the king ;
they were the allies of parliament ; they
had hitherto struggled with all their might,
and had been very instrumental in obliging
the former to submit to the demands of the
latter. Would it not have been the height of

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 305

absurdity, and even of bad faith, now that
their object was nearly accomplished, to change
sides all at once, and, by a vain effort in be-
half of the king, to assist or countenance him .
in refusing or delaying that submission? They
were, no doubt, highly censurable in deliver-
ing him up to parliament. It was incumbent
on them to take no advantage of the circum-

o

stance by which they had obtained a power
over his person. From a punctilio of deli-
cacy, they should rather have connived at the
escape than have agreed to the surrender of
their prince, who had fled to them for shelter.
But to make that surrender an expedient for
extorting the arrears of pay, which they could
not otherwise have procured, was unquestion-
ably a disgraceful transaction.

The leaders of parliament, meanwhile, had
penetrated the ambitious designs of Cromwell
and his associates ; and, upon the termination
of the war, thought it high time to free them-
selves from such unruly and turbulent ser-
vants. They had accordingly taken mea-
sures for that purpose. It was proposed that
a part of the troops should be sent to Ireland,
to assist in quelling the disorders in that coun-

VOL. III. X

306 DISPUTES BETWEEN

try; and that the remainder should be dis-
missed from the service. These proceedings
did not escape the notice of that powerful
. body against which they were directed ; and
their tendency was too manifest not to excite
universal commotion, and suggest precautions
for guarding against the danger. A petition
was drawn up by the army to their general, to
be laid before parliament, complaining of
grievances, requiring payment of arrears, re-
lief of widows and maimed soldiers, and an
indemnity for past irregularities committed
in the course of the war. To watch over
their interest, and to secure unanimity in their
future operations, they appointed a sort of mi-
litary parliament, composed of the superior
officers, corresponding to the house of peers,
and of representatives from each troop or com-
pany, under the name of agitators, in imita-
tion of the house of commons. To this body
all disputes with parliament, and the manage-
ment of all common concerns, was commit-
ted. The parliament afterwards voted that a
considerable part of the army should be dis-
banded ; and, to avoid the tumult apprehend-
ed on that occasion, gave orders that different

3

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT.

regiments or bodies of men should be sepa-
rated, and receive their dismission at different
times and places. But the military council
were too sharp-sighted to obey such orders ;
and too conscious of their power to pay any
regard to this resolution of parliament.

Upon the delivery of the king to the com-
missioners of the English parliament, a treaty
was immediately set on foot between his ma-
jesty and that assembly for composing the pub-
lic disorders, and settling the future exercise of
the government. The schemes of the repub-
lican party required that, without loss of time,
this agreement should be prevented ; and there-
fore, by the contrivance of Cromwell, with con-
currence of the military council, but without
the knowledge, it is said, of Fairfax, an officer,
with a party of soldiers, was dispatched to
seize the king, and bring him a prisoner to the
army. With this violence Charles was not
displeased ; as it coincided with his plans of
managing the different parties, and afforded
the prospect of another power, capable of con-
trouling or counterbalancing that of parlia-
ment.

The seizure of the king, in this manner,
x 2

308 DISPUTES BETWEEN

was an open declaration of war against the two
houses, and was followed, in a short time, by
the march of the arrny to London. Upon their
approach it appeared that all expectation of
resistance was vain. The city, after having
taken a decided part against the mutinous spi-
rit of the troops, was struck with a panic, and
surrendered without attempting any defence.
— The speakers of each house, attended by a
number of members, deserting their functions,
came to meet the army at Hounslow-heath,
and to solicit their protection. The remains
of parliament, confounded and dispirited by so
general a defection of their friends and parti-
zans, were, after a few fruitless attempts to
maintain their authority, obliged to surrender
at discretion, to repeal all their former offen-
sive resolutions, and to yield an implicit sub-
mission to the military force.

Charles was highly satisfied with these
'transactions, and did every thing in his power
to promote them. He had hitherto been
treated with the utmost respect by the military
leaders, and he believed that the exaltation and
triumph of the army over parliament would, in
the end, produce the re-establishment of regal

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 309

authority. He was, in fact, courted at this
time by all parties, which had such an effect
upon his spirits that he was heard frequently
to declare, " You cannot do without me ;
you will fall to ruin if I do not sustain you/'
Misled by this idea, he held a correspondence
with every party, while, expecting to procure
still better terms from their adversaries, he was
withheld from concluding an agreement with
any. But these delusive appearances did not
long remain. As soon as Cromwell and his
associates had completely answered the purpose
for which they got possession of the king's
person, they began to think of delivering them-
selves from that incumbrance ; and this they
accomplished without much difficulty, by
treating him with less indulgence, and instil-
ling apprehensions that he was in danger from
the soldiery. Charles, now intimidated, and
disgusted with the behaviour of those whom
he had so lately regarded as favourable to his
interest, took the first opportunity of making
his escape, and fled to the Isle of Wight, by
the governor of which he was detained a pri-
soner. y>fU

The late violent measures of the army had,

310 DISPUTES BETWEEN

in the mean time, stirred up a flame in the na-
tion, and by shewing, at once, the extent of
the military power, and the immediate purpose
of establishing a republican government, had
roused the presbyterians both in England and
Scotland, and induced them even to unite with
the royalists in opposing such violent innova-
tions. The commencement of a new civil
war interrupted, for some time, the operations
of the republicans in modelling the constitu-
tion, and gave leisure for new efforts to con-
clude a treaty between the king and parliament.
But the sanguine expectations of Charles,
which had been raised by this exertion in his
favour, prevented his acceptance of the terms
proposed, and retarded a final agreement till
the opportunity was lost. The raw troops
collected upon the part of the king were soon
defeated by Cromwell and Fairfax, who, at the
head of their veteran forces, found nothing in
the kingdom capable of resistance.

It now appeared that the republican party
were determined to lose no time in executing
their designs. The leaders of the army pre-
sented to parliament a remonstrance, in which
they painted the crimes of Charles in strong

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 311

colours, and demanded that he should be im-
mediately brought to trial. They, at the same
time, gave orders to lay hold of his person,
and to keep him under confinement. The
establishment of a commonwealth required
that the king's life should be made a sacrifice ;
for carrying which into execution it was ne-
cessary that parliament should be laid under
compulsion. By a military force, therefore,
under the command of a Colonel Pride, forty
commoners on one day, and on the day fol-
lowing ninety-one more of the presbyterian
persuasion were violently secluded from the
house. After this operation a clear majority
remained in the republican interest, and there
was no longer any difficulty in procuring from
them a resolution to authorize the trial of
Charles. This measure was, with disdain, re-
jected by the upper house; upon which the
commons declared that the peers were no es-
sential part of the legislature, and proceeded
to execute their own resolution. It was in vir-
tue of a commission, appointed by this junto
of the commons, that Charles was tried, con-
demned, and executed.

The character of this prince, as there was

312 DISPUTES BETWEEN

reason to expect, has been represented in such
opposite colours, by the writers of different
parties, that we can pay little regard, either to
the panegyric of the one set, or the invectives
of the other ; and if our object be the disco-
very of truth, we must fix our attention solely
upon that series of actions by which the event-
ful history of his reign is distinguished. At
the distance from which we now survey the
conduct of Charles, his misfortunes can hardly
fail to move our compassion, and to soften
that resentment which the whole tenor of his
conduct is apt to excite. It is impossible,
however, to overlook this glaring circum-
stance, that his misfortunes were, in a great
measure, owing to his crimes. Disregard-
ing the ancient constitution of the kingdom,
he formed the design of establishing an abso-
lute power in the crown ; and this design he
incessantly prosecuted, in spite of numberless
obstacles and disappointments ; notwithstand-
ing the determined resolution, displayed by
his subjects, to maintain their natural rights ;
and without being deterred by the immediate
prospect of involving his dominions in all the
calamities and horrors of a civil war. Nei-

THE KIXG AND PARLIAMENT.

ther can it be forgotten, that in the .execution
of his plan for exalting the regal authority,
Charles was ready to practise every artifice,
every species of dissimulation; that he paid
little regard to good faith ; and even scrupled
not to violate the most express and solemn en-
gagements. From the beginning of the dis-
pute with his parliaments, to the commence-
ment of the war, every concession to his peo-
ple seems to have been made with the view
of retracting; it, whenever he should find a

O '

convenient opportunity ; the same duplicity
is equally observable in those transactions
which, after his forces had been finally sub-
dued, he attempted to conclude with different
parties ; and through the whole of his life, we
often discover, in his public declarations, a
mean system of equivocation and mental reser-
vation, peculiarly unsuitable to the character-
istical gravity and loftiness of his deportment.
It has been the fortune of Charles to have
the history of his reign transmitted to posterity
by one of the first philosophers of the present
age ; whose favourite object seems to have been
to pull down the prevailing doctrines of the
whigs, and to represent the peculiar opinions

314 DISPUTES BETWEEN

of the two great political parties into which
the nation is divided, as equally erroneous,
and equally founded upon a narrow and par-
tial examination of human society. This has
given rise to a strong bias in favour of the
house of Stuart, which had formerly been
borne down by the tide of popular clamour,
and has produced, in particular, a laboured
apology for the misconduct of Charles ; in
which, it must be confessed, that the facts
are, for the most part, fairly stated, and the
general principles apparently just; but the
particulars agreeable to the author's hypo-
thesis are so amplified and brought forward,
and those in opposition to it are so contracted
and disguised, as to present, upon the whole,
a very artful picture, calculated to mislead an
incautious and superficial observer.

In vindication of Charles, it has been sug-
gested, that his misconduct proceeded from
the notions which he had imbibed of the
English constitution : that he followed merely
the footsteps of his father, by whom he was
taught to look upon himself as an absolute
prince, invested by heaven with an indefea-
sible hereditary dominion : that he found this

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 315

opinion supported by the example of many
of his predecessors, those especially of the
Tudor-family ; and that he was farther con-
firmed in it, by observing the absolute autho-
rity exercised by most of the cotemporary
princes upon the continent of Europe. That
the dissimulation which he employed, in the
pursuit of his plans, must be imputed to the
extreme difficulties and embarrassments of his
situation. Conscious of the rectitude of his
aim, and unable to accomplish it by direct
means, he was reduced to the necessity of pur-
suing it by crooked artifices and expedients.
In maintaining the sacred rights which, he
understood, were committed to him, as the
vice-gerent of God Almighty, he seems to
have thought that the temporising measures,
which he adopted, were imputable to his ene-
mies, by whom he was driven into those indi-
rect and fraudulent courses.

These observations, though delivered with
such address and eloquence as mark the in-
genuity and abilities of the author, are far
from appearing satisfactory. Who, that ac-
knowledges the happiness of society to be the
great end of all government, can enter so far
into the feelings of a tyrant as to listen to his

316 DISPUTES BETWEEN

justification ? when he says, " I mistook the
" nature of my office. I thought the people
" were created solely for my benefit, not I
" for theirs. I believed that they had no
" rights independent of my arbitrary will ;
" and that their lives and fortunes might be
" sacrificed at pleasure to my humour and ca-
" price. I supposed that I was entitled to
" maintain, either by foul or by fair means,
"by dissimulation and treachery, or by direct
" force, and by shedding the blood of my
" subjects, all those powers which have been
" assumed and possessed by my forefathers/'

This apology, such as it is, appears more
applicable to the leader of a band of Arabs,
or of Tartar freebooters, who subsist by rob-
bery and murder, than to the king of a civi-
lized nation, in which a regular system >of law
and government has been long established.
The barbarous chief is probably unacquainted
with any other mode of living, but Charles
must have known better. He had cultivated
his understanding by acquired knowledge,
was no stranger to the different forms of go-
vernment which had existed in different coun-
tries, nor probably to the professed purpose for
.which they were introduced, or to the respec-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 317

live advantages which have resulted from them.
He was no stranger to the history of his own
country, ard could not fail to know that it
never was, at any period, subjected to a des-
potical government. He could not overlook
those great charters which his predecessors
had so frequently granted to their subjects,
and which expressly ascertained the privileges
of the people and the limitations of the prero-
gative. If usurpations were occasionally com-
mitted by particular sovereigns, or their minis-
ters, these were always complained of; were
generally followed by a redress of grievances,
and sometimes by an exemplary punishment
of the offenders. Though some of the Tudor
princes exercised many arbitrary powers, and
stretched the prerogative beyond the pitch
which it had attained at any former period ;
yet even their example could give no counte-
nance to the principal usurpations of Charles ;
and there still were certain limits in the consti-
tution which those tyrants did not venture to
transgress. They never ventured to assume
the direct power of taxation, without the con-
currence of parliament, nor to carry on, for any
long period, the various branches of admini-
stration without the advice of that national
council.

318 DISPUTES BETWEEN

With respect to the governments upon the
continent of Europe, they were originally li-
mited like that of England, and had of late
been rendered absolute from circumstances pe-
culiar to themselves, which could never be
supposed to authorize an English monarch to
introduce a similar change in his own domi-
nions. If Charles, therefore, was misled from
the circumstances of the times, we cannot sup-
pose that this proceeded from an error in judg-
ment, but must believe that the deception was
produced, as is usual in such cases, by the
false lights arising from the irregularity of his
passions. It is unfortunate for the memory of
this monarch, that his ambition was not of
that brilliant kind which is fitted to excite ad-
miration. It was not connected with any
great view, either of public or of private ag-
grandizement, or accompanied with the dis-
play of great military talents, or of any splen-
did abilities. By overturning the constitution,
he neither proposed to acquire the eclat of a
conqueror, nor to extend the empire of his
country, nor to raise her importance in the
scale of nations. Stately and forbidding in
his deportment, obstinate in his opinions, and
inflexible in his measures, he seems to have
had no other object than to establish that po-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 319

litical system which coincided with his temper
and disposition ; to have aimed at nothing far-
ther than to obviate the hazard of contradic-
tion, and supersede the necessity of recom-
mending himself to his people by affability
and popular manners.

To estimate the degree of understanding or
abilities possessed by Charles is not very easy.
The talents and capacity ascribed to him by
his friends are supposed to have been chiefly
displayed in conversation and in his literary
compositions. But the authenticity of the
latter, which has been much questioned , can
hardly be ascertained in a satisfactory manner;
and the opinion entertained of the former is
liable to the suspicion of being tinctured by an
admiration of his high rank, and by compas-
sion for his misfortunes. During his con-
ferences with the commissioners of parliament
in the Isle of Wight, he is said to have acquit-
ted himself in a manner that impressed his
hearers with respect and veneration. That he
understood those topics, which had been tha
study of his whole life, may easily be con-
ceived ; and that his abilities were of a cast
which qualified him for speculation more than
for action, there is good ground to believe.

320 DISPUTES BETWEEN

Let it also be remembered that he was a king
whose crown " had not yet lost all its original
brightness," and we may account for this ve-
neration without supposing any thing extraor-
dinary. It is at least certain that the whole
course of his public conduct exhibits one con-
tinued scene of arrogance, meanness, incon-
sistency, and imprudence. His extravagant
claims were advanced with heat and precipi-
tation, and supported with eagerness and vio-
lence, until the nation was alarmed and thrown
into a ferment ; after which he had recourse
to apparent submission, to humiliating com-
pliances, and to hypocritical professions.
Those who endeavour to palliate the errors of
his government, observe that he suffered him-
self to be guided by persons of much inferior
capacity to his own. But this, in a temper so
little influenced by the warmth of affection,
affords a certain proof of the want of discern-
ment. There is no doubt that his measures
were frequently directed by ministers, whose
views he ought to have distrusted ; and by the
queen, whose religious principles both ex-
cited the jealousy of the English nation, and
subjected her to an influence of which he had
reason to be apprehensive.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 321

The private virtues of Charles have been
justly the subject of commendation. Sober
and temperate, he set before his people an
important example of decency and regu-
larity of manners ; while, by his taste in the
fine arts, and by his attention to reward the
exertions of genius, he was of signal service
in promoting useful improvements. Though
incessantly actuated by the love of power,
and much irritated by opposition, he was
not violent in his resentments, nor in his
temper, unforgiving and revengeful. Had
he been able quietly to obtain an unlimited
authority, it is not likely that he would have
been guilty of great excesses in the exercise
of it. Neither does he seem, on the other
hand, to have been animated with much
generosity towards his friends, or to have
felt a strong attachment to any of those
favourites, who suffered in his cause, and in
whose judgment he had placed an implicit
confidence. From his lofty ideas of the
sacred character with which he was invested,
he probably thought that his subjects, in
sacrificing their lives and fortunes to his
conveniency, did no more than their duty;

VOL. in. Y

BISPITTES BETWEEN

and that of consequence no returns of
gratitude, upon that account, were due to
them.

The enthusiasm inspired by an opinion of
his own dignity and self-importance, enabled
him to support with becoming decency, and
even with magnanimity, the sad reverse of
fortune which he experienced in the latter part
of his reign ; and contributed to the display
of that patience, resignation, and meekness,
with which he bore the insults and indignities
of his unfeeling enemies.

The death of Charles appears to have
struck all Europe with terror and astonish-
ment. The execution of a king upon a pub-
lic scaffold, and with all the forms of judicial
procedure, at a period when the state of so-
ciety had begun to mitigate the severity of
penal laws, and had also very generally intro-
duced a despotical government, was a measure
which ran counter to the ordinary course of
political events. It was beheld like that phe-
nomenon, which

Disastrous twilight sheds

On half the nations, and with fear of change
Perplexes monarch*.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 323

With regard to the justice of this measure,
it should seem, that at this distance of time,
when the animosities and prejudices of that
age have in a great measure subsided, there
isi little room, among such as are qualified to
judge, for any considerable difference of opi-
nion. Were we to consider this prince
merely in the light of a private individual,
and compare his conduct with that of other
criminals, there can, I should think, be no
doubt that he merited the highest punish-
ment. If rapine and murder are accounted
capital crimes, what shall we say of that am-
bition, which breaks down, at once, all the
barriers of personal security ; overturns the
whole fabric of the constitution ; establishes
the dominion of arbitrary will in place of legal
restraint ; and, in seeking to attain this ob-
ject, destroys the lives and fortunes of thou-
sands!

But the situation of a sovereign is so dif-
ferent from that of private individuals, and
an attempt to punish him is attended with
such complicated disorders, that the only
circumstance which oue;ht to regulate the

O fJ

Y 2

DISPUTES BETWEEN .

interference of government, in such cases,
must be the consideration of public utility.
Was the trial and condemnation of Charles
regulated by this consideration ? Was it a
measure of public expediency ? Was it cal-
culated to remove disorders ; to improve the
constitution ; to restore tranquillity ? That it
was not absolutely necessary for the preserva-
tion of the liberties of the people, must, I
think, be admitted ; for the spirit of the king
was so reduced by his misfortunes, that he
would, probably, have submitted to any re-
strictions ; he would even have consented, it is
said, that the crown should be directly trans-
mitted to the prince of Wales, under the ma-
nagement of a regency. By rejecting such
terms, it was manifest, that the leaders of the
prevailing party had abandoned every idea of
improving the old government, and had re-
solved, that monarchy, in every shape, and
under any limitations whatever, should be en-
tirely exploded. The trial and execution of
Charles was doubtless intended for the pur-
pose of introducing a republican form of go-
vernment; and according as we hold such a
revolution, to have been expedient, or the

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 325

contrary, we shall be led to condemn, or ap-
prove of that measure.

Concerning the general question, whether
a government of this nature was, at that
period, accommodated to the circumstances
of the English nation, it may be difficult to
form a decisive opinion. Many politicians
have asserted, that a republican constitution
is peculiarly adapted to a small state, and
cannot be maintained in a large community.
This doctrine seems to have arisen from a
view of the ancient republics, in which the
whole people composed the legislative assem-
bly ; and is evidently inapplicable to those
modern systems of democracy, in which the
legislative power is committed to national
representatives. Nothing is more common
than for philosophers to be imposed upon by
the different acceptation of words. The na-
tions of antiquity having no notion of a re-
presentative government, countries of large
extent were subjected universally to an arbi-
trary and slovenly despotism ; and it was only
in a few small states that it was thought
practicable for the mass of the people to re-
tain, in their own hands, the supreme powers

DISPUTES BETWEEN

•

of public administration. The expedient,
employed first in modern times, of substi-
tuting representatives, in place of the whole
people, to exercise the supreme powers in the
state, has removed the difficulty of communi-
cating a popular constitution to countries of
a great extent ; as it may prevent the legisla-
tive assembly from being too numerous, either
for maintaining good order in its deliberations,
or for superintending the conduct of the chief
executive officers.

If, by a republic, is meant a government
in which there is no king, or hereditary chief
magistrate, it should seem, that this political
system is peculiarly adapted to the two ex-
tremes, of a very small and a very great
nation. In a very small state, no other form
of government can subsist. Suppose a terri-
tory, containing no more than 300,000 inha-
bitants, and these paying taxes, one with
another, at the rate of thirty shillings yearly ;
this would produce a public revenue, at the
disposal of the crown, amounting annually to
450,000/. a sum totally insufficient for sup-
porting the dignity and authority of the
crown, and for bestowing on -the king an in-

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT.

fluence superior to that which might be pos-
sessed by casual combinations of a few of his
richest subjects.

Suppose, on the other hand, a territory so
extensive and populous as to contain thirty
millions of inhabitants, paying taxes in the
same proportion ; this, at the free disposal of
a king, would bestow upon him an annual
revenue, so enormous as to create a degree of
patronage and influence which no regulations
could effectually restrain, and would render
every attempt to limit the powers of the
crown in a great measure vain and insignifi-
cant. In such a state, therefore, it seems ex-
tremely difficult to maintain the natural rights
of mankind otherwise than by abolishing
monarchy altogether. Thus, in a very small
state, a democratical government is necessary,
because the king would have too little au-
thority ; in a very great one, because he would
have too much. In a state of moderate size,
lying in a certain medium between the two
extremes, it should seem, that monarchy may
be established with advantage, and that the
crown may be expected to possess a sufficient
share of authority for its own preservation,

328 DISPUTES BETWEEN

without endangering the people from the
encroachments of prerogative. How far Eng-
land was in these circumstances at the period
in question, I shall not pretend to deter-
mine.

But, even supposing a republic to have
been in itself, at that period, a preferable
form of government, it could not, in England,
be expected to produce beneficial conse-
quences ; because it was not supported by
the general voice of the community. The
death of the king, the preliminary step to the
establishment of that system, was neither au-
thorized by the nation at large, nor by its re-
presentatives. It had no other authority than
the determination of a house of commons,
from which a great proportion of the members
had been expelled by a military force. The
peers refused their concurrence with indigna-
tion. Cromwell, and his associates, the leaders
of the arrny, who had obtained the direction
of the Independents, were in reality the au-
thors of this transaction, which, Ave may safely
affirm, was diametrically opposite to the opi-
nions and sentiments of by far the greater
part of the nation.

THE KING AND PARLIAMENT. 329

In these peculiar circumstances, the execu-
tion of Charles cannot be approved of even
by the warmest admirers of a republican
constitution. The authority of every govern-
ment is founded in opinion ; and no system,
be it ever so perfect in itself, can be expected
to acquire stability, or to produce good order
and submission, unless it coincides with the
general voice of the community. He who
frames a political constitution upon a model
of ideal perfection, and attempts to introduce
it into any country, without consulting the
inclinations of the inhabitants, is a most per-
nicious projector, who, instead of being ap-
plauded as a Lycurgus, ought to be chained
and confined as a madman.

Though, from these considerations, an im-
partial and candid observer will be disposed,
upon the whole, to disapprove of the rigorous
punishment of Charles, it seems impossible
to deny, that it was productive of some inci-
dental advantages. As a conspicuous exam-
ple of the resentment incurred by the exer-
tions of arbitrary power, it contributed to in-
timidate succeeding princes, and to render
them less resolute in their violent measures.

330 DISPUTES, &C.

It was, probably, the memory of this event,
which made James II. shrink from his at-
tempts, and facilitated the accession of Wil-
liam III.

It is no less evident, however, that the
unfortunate issue of the contest between the
king and parliament, brought for some time
a discredit upon the laudable efforts of that
assembly to support the constitution, and sup-
plied the partizans of despotism with an ar-
gument in favour of their doctrine of passive
obedience, by shewing the disorders which may
arise from all resistance to the will of the mo-
narch.

CHAP. V.
Of Oliver Cromwell, and the Protectorate.

A HE boldness, the dexterity, and the dis-
simulation of Cromwell, had been eminently
successful in conducting those measures which
had ended in the death of the king, and in
bringing the whole kingdom under the power
of the Independents. But the talents of this
profound politician, his enterprising spirit,
and the extent of his designs, were yet far
from being completely unfolded. He had hi-
therto only set himself at tire head of his own
party ; and, by their assistance, at the head
of the military force of the nation. But a
more difficult and hazardous task yet re-
mained— to deceive this party; to render
them subservient to his private ambition;
and, after they had flattered themselves witl*
the near prospect of that political establish-
ment with which they were so much intoxi-
cated, to employ a great part of them, to-

332 OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

gather with the army which was devoted to
their interest, in seating; him on the throne

* - O

of England, with greater power than had
ever been enjoyed either by James or by
Charles.

To have a proper conception of the means
by which he was enabled to execute this
master-piece of dexterity and villany, we
must, in the first place, consider his popularity
in the army, whose power at that time, was
unbounded. The weakness and the undesign-
ing integrity of Fairfax, rendered him a mere
tool in the hands of Cromwell, who made
use of the name and credit of that general to
accomplish his own views, while he avoided
the odium and suspicion which their avowal
must have drawn upon himself. The great
body of the troops were devoted to Fairfax,
with a blind veneration produced by an opi-
nion of his military talents, and by a con-
fidence in the sincerity of his professions.
Possessed of little capacity or inclination to
scrutinize the conduct and motives of those
who acted the chief parts on the political
theatre, they were jealous of the interest and
rights of the soldiery, and gratified by every

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 333

event which contributed to the exaltation of
their favourite leaders. A few of the princi-
pal officers appear to have seconded the de-
signs of Cromwell, either from personal at-
tachment or considerations of private interest.
The rest were for the most part men of low
education, equally destitute of penetration to
discover the tendency of his measures, and of
capacity to prosecute any vigorous plan of
opposition.

The diversity of opinion among the Inde-
pendents themselves, concerning the nature of
that constitution which they had it in view to
establish, created at the same time innumera-
ble difficulties, and occasioned such delays as
afforded ample scope to Cromwell, for pre-
paring and ripening that peculiar system
which he meant to introduce.

A great part of those who concurred in
putting the late king to death, were men of
principle. Whatever fanaticism in religion,
or whatever prejudices in politics they had
imbibed, they appear to have been animated
with fervent zeal, and with sincere disposi-
tions, to promote the good of the public.

334 OF QL1VER CROMWELL,

They looked upon the tyranny of Charles as
inseparably connected with monarchy; and,
while the kingly office was permitted to re-
main, they regarded the punishment of the
king as a mere palliative, incapable of pro-
ducing a radical cure. But the idea of a re-
public was vague and general, admitting a
great diversity of modifications. The cele-
brated republics of antiquity, supplied on
this occasion, no models proper for imitation ;
forv as those governments were all established
in very small communities, the people at large
were in a capacity to exercise the legislative
power ; while in a large and populous country
like England, it was evidently necessary that
it should be committed to an assembly of re-
presentatives. From this radical difference
many others must follow of course ; and thus,
in a matter not ascertained by experience,
there was opened a boundless field to political
projectors, in which they might range at plea-
sure, and declaim without end or measure,
upon their different speculative improvements.
While the zealous and disinterested friends
of republicanism continued in a state of

4

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 335

uncertainty, with respect to the precise ob-
ject which was to terminate their labours,
the old house of commons, that meeting
which remained from the wreck of the long
parliament, after the violent expulsion of
those members who had disapproved of the
trial of Charles, and after the house of peers
had been declared no part of the legislature ;
this garbled house of commons endeavoured
to hold itself up to the public, as forming
the basis of the government in question. It
was composed of about ninety persons, de-
riving their authority, not from the voice
of the people, but from the direct interposi-
tion of that military force, by which they
had been encouraged and supported in all
their usurpations. They took upon them
to abolish the upper house, but reserved to
the peers the privilege of electing or being
elected knights of shires, or burgesses. They
ventured to declare, " that the office of a
king is unnecessary, burdensome, and dan-
gerous to the interest, liberty, and safety of
the nation." Assuming the title of the par-
liament of the Commonwealth of England,
they exercised the legislative and executive

336 OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

powers; and as an auxiliary for executing
the business of the latter department, they
appointed a council of state, composed of
thirty-nine persons. Not satisfied with the
supreme authority of England, they did not
hesitate to effect an union with Scotland and
Ireland, and to determine that from each of
those countries thirty representatives should
be admitted.

While this remnant of a national council
maintained a good understanding with the
army, its commands were easily enforced
throughout the nation. But things did not
long remain in this fortunate situation. Al-
though its members owed their present esta-
blishment to the violent interference of a
military force, they had no intention to con-
tinue in a state of dependence upon the
power which had raised them. They had
already, as was formerly observed, taken
direct measures, however ineffectual, for
disbanding the army, and had thus incurred
the strong resentment of every person con-
nected with that department. Their con-
tinuing to exercise all the functions of
government, and their claiming even the

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 337

power in that extraordinary emergency of
reforming and new-modelling the constitu-
tion, could not fail at the same time to
shock all the feelings and principles of the
real friends of liberty. It had, indeed, been
enacted, that the parliament called in 1640,
should not be dissolved without its own con-
sent ; but it surely was a wide interpretation,
of that statute, to contend that this enact-
ment should operate in favour of that mere
shadow of national representation, which had
been so recently made use of as a cover to
the tyranny of the military power. The
death of the king, according to the views of
all those who wished to effectuate a thorough
reformation of abuses, had produced an ex-
tinction of the old government ; and it would
be ridiculous to devolve the formation of
the new system upon that handful of obscure
individuals, who, by a train of accidents, had
been left in the possession of the political ma-
chine. A transaction so important and ex-
traordinary, seemed to require the concur-
rence of the whole nation ; but, undoubtedly,
could not with propriety be concluded, unless
in a full and comprehensive meeting of the
VOL. in. z

338 OF OLIVER CR03\iWELt,

national representatives. The existing mem-
bers of this house of commons were probably
not ignorant of what the public in this par-
ticular might expect from them. They had,
accordingly, sometimes talked of dissolving
themselves ; but on these occasions found they
had always pretences for delaying so dis-
agreeable a measure ; and at length they came
to a resolution of superseding it altogether, by
electing a set of new members to fill up their
number.

These two circumstances, the resentment
of the whole military order against that
assembly, and the vague uncertain notions
concerning that political system which the
sincere republicans had in contemplation,
were the main springs which Cromwell put
in motion for effecting his ambitious de-
signs.

His first object was to get rid of the old
house of commons ; a measure not altoge-
gether free from hazard ; for that house con-
tained the leaders of the independent and
republican party, who had been embarked
in the same cause with the army, in bringing
the sovereign to the block ; and however

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 339

these confederates were now embroiled tjj a
difference of private interest, a reconciliation,
from the recollection of their common sen-
timents, was far from being impossible.
Cromwell employed every artifice to inflame
this difference, and when the jealousy and
resentment of the army had been raised to a
sufficient pitch, he ventured, in concert with
the principal officers, by a military force to
turn that assembly out of doors. The cir-
cumstances with which he executed this bold
measure are well known. With a mixture
of rage, of religious cant, and of insolent
jocularity, he called upon a party of soldiers
whom he had provided for the occasion, and
ordered them to lay hold of those members
who appeared refractory ; declaring " that
they were no longer a parliament, and must
give place to better men/' — " I have been
wrestling/' says he, " with God, to excuse me
from this, but in vain." His purpose, no
doubt, was to intimidate ; but it is not im-
probable that he followed, at the same time,
the natural bent of his temper. We may
easily suppose that, however destitute of sensi-
bility ; how resolute soever in prosecuting

his plans ; jet, in this emergency, when he was
<9n a sudden to shift his ground, and to aban-
don his old friends and associates, all was not
quiet within ; and that he could not prevent
unusual perturbation. To stifle reflection, a
vigorous effort became necessary; and he was
obliged to work himself up to a degree of
passion and violence.

In whatever light this measure might be
viewed by the army, it was of too decided a
nature not to open the eyes of the nation,
and to discover his real designs. Such of
the republicans as were capable of discern-
ment, must now have been fully convinced of
the treachery of their leader, and have seen
with shame and indignation, the total over-
throw of a fabric which they had long been
endeavouring to rear. They had the addi-
tional mortification to find that they were too
insignificant to procure any attention to their
complaints ; and that the loss of their power
was beheld by the people at large with
exultation and triumph. The Presbyterians,
&s well as the adherents of the late king, must
have regarded this event with cordial satis-
faction ; the former, pleased with the ruin

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 341

of a party by whom they themselves had
been supplanted ; the latter, deducing a com-
plete vindication of their political tenets from
the unfortunate issue of the late attempts to
limit the prerogative, and rejoicing in the
prospect, that the present disorders would in-
duce men of all parties to seek the restoration
of public tranquillity by recalling the royal
family.

Even some of the military officers pene-
trated the sinister designs of Cromwell, and
immediately withdrew their support from
him ; but they possessed neither influence
nor dexterity to produce a desertion of the
forces under their command. The rest were
pleased with any arrangement which exalted
the military power, and were easily satisfied
with the dissolution of the late house of com-
mons, as a preliminary step to the calling of
a more suitable representation of the whole
community. The common herd of the troops,
viewing this crafty politician, either in the
light of a patron and protector, to whom
they were indebted for their situations, and
from whom they expected preferment ; or in
that of a saint, whose religious character and

342 OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

professions inspired them with full confidence
in his integrity, adhered invariably to his in-
terest, and were disposed, without examination
or suspicion, to promote and execute all his
measures.

The army, having in this manner swept
away the old government, became entirely
masters of the field, and possessed an unli-
mited power. They had obtained a clear
canvass upon which they might amuse them-
selves in designing future constitutions. As,
in their former disputes with parliament,
they had formed their several delegates into a
deliberative council, under such regulations
as enabled them, without confusion, to collect
their general determinations, they now pro-
ceeded, in the capacity of legislators, to make
trial of their political talents. One of their
first attempts of this nature was to call a con-
vention, the members of which, amounting to
about an hundred and twenty, were elected
by counties and towns in England, Scotland,
and Ireland. But as this meeting, which is
known by the name of Barebones parliament,
did not, it seems, answer the views of Crom-
well, he soon prevailed upon them, notwith-

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 343

standing a protestation by several members, to
resign their authority.

This crude experiment was followed by the
delineation of a system more full and complete
in all its parts. In a military council, there
was produced, and received with approbation,
what was called an instrument of government,
containing the outlines of the system proposed.
It provided that the chief powers of govern-
ment should be committed to a protector, a
council of state, and a parliament.

To the office of protector, bestowed, as we
might easily suppose, upon Cromwell himself,
were annexed the greatest part of those prero-
gatives formerly belonging to the monarchs of
England.

The council of state was to consist of not
more than twenty-one, nor of less than thir-
teen persons. The first members were named
by the instrument itself; they were to enjoy
their office during life or good behaviour; and
every vacancy was to be supplied by the
council naming a list of three persons, out of
which the protector was empowered to choose
the member. In the determination of peace
and war, and in the exercise of the executive

344 OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

power, the protector was to act with the ad-
vice and consent of the 'council.

The parliament consisted of 400 represen-
tatives for the whole of England and Wales ;
of whom 270 were to be elected by the coun-
ties, the right of election belonging to such
as possessed a landed estate, amounting to the
value of 200/. The small towns, known by
the denomination of the rotten borougfis, were
excluded from the privilege of sending repre-
sentatives. To the English members were
added thirty for Scotland, and the same num-
ber for Ireland.

That this national assembly might resem-
ble the ancient parliaments of England, pro-
vision was made, though at a subsequent pe-
riod, for a house of lords, to be composed not
of the old hereditary nobility, but of mem-
bers nominated by the protector, whose privi-
lege of sitting in that house should remain
during life. Their number was limited to se-
venty*.

, * Of those who actually sat in consequence of such
nomination sixty-five are specified in Memoirs of Crom-
well, vol. i. — The greater part collected from Tlmrlowe'g
list

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 345

The protector was empowered to summon
meetings of parliament ; he was required to
call them every three years at least ; and to
allow their deliberations to continue for
five months without interruption. He had
no absolute negative upon such bills as passed
through parliament; unless they were con-
trary to those fundamental laws contained in
the instrument of government. But by this
original deed he had secured a standing army
of 20,000 foot, and 10,000 horse ; for the
maintenance of which regular funds were pro-
vided.

Such was the famous plan of government,
by the establishment of which Cromwell ap-
pears to have attained the summit of power
and grandeur. It is unnecessary to examine
minutely the particulars of this new system ;
which, by not admitting its chief magistrate
to assume the title of king, has commonly
been considered as a species of republic.
In this respect, and by its extending, and
in some degree equalizing the national re-
presentation in the public assembly, it may
seem, from a superficial view, to favour die
great body of the people. But in reality it

346 OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

had an opposite tendency ; and subjected all
the branches of administration, all the exer-
tions of government, to the arbitrary will of
a single person. It established a standing
army of 30,000 men, under the direction of
the protector, and which could not be dis-r
banded without his consent. Such a force,
in the state of military discipline which he
had produced, was fully sufficient to over-r
come all resistance, and to govern the nation
at pleasure. By such a body of mercenaries
entirely at his devotion, he could easily sweep
away those cob-web laws which were spread
out to decoy and ensnare others, not to re-
strain his own conduct. We accordingly find
that the first parliament which was called, in
consequence of this new constitution, having
proved refractory by disputing the title of
the protector, he placed a guard at the door
of the house, and refused admittance to the
members, until they had subscribed an en*
gagement to acknowledge his authority. In
a future parliament, he employed a similar
violence to subdue the opposition of its mem-
bers.

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 347

To facilitate, however, the assumption of
that absolute authority which he intended to
exercise, he found it convenient to make
variations in the constitution which he had
introduced ; and in particular to enlarge the
department of the army, by allowing its
officers to interfere in the civil administration.
An insurrection of the partizans of the royal
family, which had been early discovered,
and easily quelled, afforded a pretence ibr
treating the whole party with extraordinary
severity. By a regulation of a most arbitrary
and oppressive nature, they were subjected to
a contribution amounting to a tenth of their

o

estates ; and for levying this imposition,
Cromwell divided the whole kingdom into

o

twelve military jurisdictions; each of which
was put under the government of a major-
general with exorbitant powers, and from his
determination there lay no appeal but to
Cromwell himself.

From the slightest attention it must be ob-
vious that this political system was not framed
for duration. It was such a mixture of op-
posite elements, such a combination of dis-
cordant and jarring principles, as could not

348 OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

fail to counteract one another, and to produce
disorder and commotion. The protectorate
of Cromwell was apparently a democracy,
but in reality a military despotism ; the most
arbitrary and oppressive species of absolute
monarchy. It held out to the people the
show of liberty and of privileges, by inviting
them to choose their own representatives, to
exert themselves in acquiring political inte-
rest, in a word, to consider themselves as
legislators, and to act accordingly ; while in
reality, their efforts were always to end in
disappointment; their ideas of self-importance
and dignity to produce only mortification ;
their pretended interference in the adminis-
tration of public affairs to be in perfect sub-
ordination to the will of a single person, by
whose hand, like puppets, all their movements
were guided and directed.

To render an absolute government palata-
ble to a whole nation, it must be confirmed
by inveterate usage. The attention of the
people must be turned away from the con-
duct of their governors, and diverted into
other channels. Occupied with their pri-
vate pursuits, they must be taught to look

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 349

upon the business of the magistrate as no
business of theirs, and to esteem it his pro-
vince to command, as it is their duty to yield
implicit submission : they must be habitually
convinced that they have nothing to do with
the laws but to obey them. The forms of
the constitution must be calculated to keep
out of view the rights of subjects, to present
continually the image of unbounded autho-
rity in the prince, and to inspire a veneration
for his person and dignity. The grandeur
of the monarch, the rank which he holds in
the scale of sovereigns, the facility with
which he collects an armed force, and pro-
vides resources for supporting it, the secrecy
and expedition with which he enters upon a
war, attacks the neighbouring states, or pro-
cures information with respect to their
designs, the tranquillity which he maintains
through the whole of his dominions, by re-
pressing the animosities, the turbulence and
faction so prevalent in popular governments ;
these advantages must be constantly held up
to the nation as the peculiar blessings of des-
potism, which, in the opinion of some, render
that political establishment upon the whole

OF OLIVER CROMWfeLL,

superior to every other. The people, in
short, must be made to exult in that power
by which they are kept in subjection, to re-
gard their own glory as involved in that of
their grand monarque, and their own debase-
ment and servitude, as compensated by the
splendor of his prerogative, and the extent
of his dominion. Experience has shewn
that by long custom, and by the influence of
example, such a national spirit is not unat-
tainable ; nay, that sentiments of loyalty and
affection to a despot, have, in the history of
the world, and even of civilized nations, been
more prevalent than a sense of liberty and
independence. But the union of the former
and the latter, in- one mass, is a mixture of
heterogeneous particles, which incessantly re-
pelling each other, must be frequently shaken,
and kept in continual ferment, to prevent
their separation. To introduce a despotism
under the guise of a popular government is to
dress an avowed and bitter enemy in the gar-
ments of a friend and benefactor : it is to
tantalize the people with a prospect of plea-
sures which they are never to enjoy ; to require
that they should banish from their thoughts a

AND THE PR6TECTORATE. Sol

Set of rights and privileges which are con-
stantly placed before their eyes.

To the native inconsistencies and contra-
dictions which tended to overthrow the
system of usurpation introduced by Crom-
well, we must add a circumstance of still
greater moment, that from the beginning it
had, in every shape, been opposed by a pro-
digious majority of the nation. Exclusive of
the army, every class or description of men,
whether political or religious ; the episcopal
party, the presbyterian, and the independent;
the friends of the royal family, the sup-
porters of limited monarchy, and of a com-
monwealth ; all united in their aversion to
the present constitution, and in their detesta-
tion of the means by which it had been esta-
blished.

These dispositions of the public mind had
not escaped the penetrating eye of Crom-
well. He knew that his government, as an
innovation which ran counter to all the for-
mer ideas and habits of the great body of the
nation, was highly unpopular ; he was willing,
as far as possible, to remove this prepossession ;
and, in the latter part of his administration, he

352

seems to have had a serious intention to restore
the monarchy. After the powers which he had
already assumed, he probably thought that the
army would have no objection to his obtain-
ing the title of king; and by the restoration
of the kingly office, provided it were settled in
his family, together with the re-establishment
of the ancient house of peers, there was reason
to expect, that a great part of the nation,
weary of the past disorders, and less adverse
to the new government, than to the dominion
of the imprudent and infatuated house of
Stuart, might be at length reconciled to his
authority.

With this view he secretly promoted au
address, intituled the humble petition and
advice of the parliament of England, Scot-
land, and Ireland, to his highness; by which
he was entreated to accept the title of king,
and to revive the practice of parliaments
consisting; of two houses. A committee was

o

appointed to hold a conference with him
upon the subject, and to urge the expediency
of the measure proposed. The farce of per-
suading Cromwell to accept of the royal
2

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 353

dignity was carried on for some time; but
the real difficulty lay in procuring the con-
sent of the army, who hated the name of
king; and more especially in procuring the
consent of the principal officers, who enter-
tained the hope of succeeding to the pro-
tectorship.

Many persons of moderate opinions,
throughout the nation, seem to have ap-
proved of this project, as most likely to
produce a permanent settlement*. The

* " The Protector," says ThurkxJ, in a letter to
Henry Cromwell, " has great difficulties in his mind,
" although he hath had the clearest call that ever man
" had ; and for ought I see, the parliament will not be per-
" suaded, that there can be any settlement any other way.
" The title is not in the question ; but is the office that is
" known to the laws and this people. They know their
" duty to the king, and his to them. Whatever else
" there is will be wholly new, and will be nothing else
" but a probationer, and upon the next occasion will be
u changed again. Besides,' they say, the name Protector
" came in by the sword, out of parliament, and will
" never be the ground of any settlement : nor will there
" be a free parliament so long as that continues ; and as
" it favours of the sword now, so it will at last bring all

VOL. in. A a

OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

^protector himself treated the proposal with
the utmost indifference; delivering his pub-
lic declarations in a jargon wholly unintelli-
gible ; and speaking of it in private as a
trifle, which he might comply with merely
to gratify the humour of others. " He had
" tried all possible means/' says Ludlow,
" to prevail with the officers of the army to
**: approve his design, and knowing that
*6 lieutenant-general Fleetwood, and colonel
" Desbrowe were particularly averse to it, he
" invited himself to dine personally with the
" colonel, and carried the lieutenant-general
" with him, where he began to droll with
.''them about monarchy, and speaking
." slightly of it, said it was but a feather in
** a man's cap, and therefore wondered that

" things to be military. These, and other considerations.
" make men, who are for settlement, steady in their reso-
'a lutions as to this government now in hand ; not that
" they lust after a king, or are peevish upon any account
<( of opposition ; but they would lay foundations of li-
:c berty and freedom, which they judge this the next way
u to. My Lord Deputy [Fleetwood] and General Des-
" browe, oppose themselves with all earnestness against
" this title, but think the other things in the petition and
" advice very honest,"

THE PROTECTORATE. 355

" men would not please children, and permit*
" them to enjoy their rattle. But he re-
" ceived from them, as Col. Desbrowe since
" told me, such an answer as was not at all
" suitable to his expectations or desires. For
" they assured him there was more in this
" matter than he perceived ; that those who
" put him upon it were no enemies to
" Charles Stuart ; and that if he accepted
" of it, he would infallibly draw ruin on
" himself and his friends. Having thus
" sounded their inclinations, that he might
" conclude in the manner he had begun, he
" told them they were a couple of scrupu-
" lous fellows, and so departed */'

His endeavours, however, were fruitless. A
petition from the officers of the army was pre-
sented to parliament, requesting " that the pro-
" tector might not be pressed to take upon him
" the title and government of a king ;" and
Cromwell, with great ostentation of humility,
and much profession of declining a load of
cares and difficulties, took the merit of refus-
ing the crown -f . But the office of protector

* Ludlow's Memoirs.

f On the 12th of May, 1657.

A a2

356 OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

was confirmed to him, with the privilege of
naming a successor.

It is probable that this attempt of Crom-
well to restore the regal title and dignity,
which, discovered an effrontery beyond ex-
ample, did not entirely proceed from the
mere vanity of wishing to possess the pagean-
try of a crown. To think otherwise would
be to suppose that he betrayed a weakness
not of a piece with the rest of his character.
The effect of this measure, had it been car-
ried into execution, is extremely doubtful ;
but there is ground to believe that it occur-
red to this bold and impudent usurper as- a
stratagem to be hazarded, perhaps the only
expedient by which he had any chance to
extricate himself from the surrounding dif-
ficulties.

The time now evidently drew near, which,
in spite of all his efforts, was to annihilate the
ill-gotten authority of- this extraordinary
personage. During the four years in which
he held the protectorate, he was exposed to
desperate attempts from all quarters; from
cavaliers, from presbyterians, from inde-
pendents and republicans; and he seems ta

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 357

have never enjoyed a moment, either of
quiet or security. That he escaped assassi-
nation, considering the continued ferment of

o

the nation, and the enthusiastic zeal of the
parties whom he had so highly irritated, is
wonderful. By his extraordinary vigilance,
by the uncommon intelligence which he pro-
cured, by a judicious mixture of lenity and
of severity towards those who conspired
against him, he broke and disconcerted the
schemes of his enemies, and reduced them to
the necessity of temporising and acting
with great circumspection. The obstacles,
however, to a final and permanent settle-
ment were daily increasing. Deserted by
every man of principle, unless perhaps, a
few low-bred fanatics in the army, whose
weakness rendered them unable to penetrate
his designs, he found himself destitute of a
friend in whose counsel he could repose any
confidence, or from whose credit or influ-
ence he could expect any assistance. Con-
cerning the desperate posture of his affairs,
Thurloe, with great simplicity exclaims,
4t Truely, I think nothing but an unex-

358 OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

" pected providence, can remove the present
" difficulties."

Towards the close of his life, he appears
to have become sensible of the folly and
vanity of those ambitious projects in which
he had been engaged ; and to have felt a
conviction, that the power which he had
attained was a mere shadow, likely upon the
first gathering of a cloud, to vanish in a mo-
ment. If not touched with remorse, for his
crimes, he was at least terrified by the pros-
pect of that vengeance which they had pro-
voked. He became dejected and melan-
choly. The face of a stranger gave him
uneasiness. He was haunted incessantly by
gloomy apprehensions, and never thought
himself secure in any situation. By conceal-
ing, and frequently changing the chamber in
which he slept, by the constant attendance of
a strong guard, by wearing a coat of mail
under his cloaths, by seeking indirect roads
when he performed a journey, and pursuing
a different way in his return home : by these,
and such unavailing precautions, he endea-
voured to prevent those attacks which his

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 359

anxious and tortured mind was continually
foreboding.

The load of cares and vexation with which
he was oppressed, at length affected his con-
stitution, and produced a distemper which
carried him off, in the forty-ninth year of his
age. The thoughts of a future state had,
for some time, suggested to him uneasy re-
flections; and the particulars which histo-
rians have transmitted upon that point,
present the curious but disgusting spectacle
of a violent enthusiast; conscious of having
deserted all those principles with which he
set out in life, and now covered with guilt,
and with infamy, endeavouring by the illu-
sions of fanaticism, to find religious consola-
tion in his last moments. He is said to have
asked Godwin, one of his preachers, whether
the doctrine was true, that the elect could
never fall, or suffer final reprobation?
44 Nothing more certain/' replied the preacher.
" Then I am safe/' said the protector, " for
" I am sure that once I was in a state of
" grace/' So much of the original leaven
remained, that he still was capable of being
wrought up to his former fervours.

360 OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

believed that an answer had been given to
his prayers, and to those of his chaplains,
promising that he should not die of the pre-
sent distemper.

Few characters have united more extra-
ordinary qualities, or afford more subject
for speculation, than that of Oliver Crom-
well. The ardour of his disposition should
naturally, it might be supposed, have ren-
dered him tenacious of any opinion or system
of conduct which he happened to embrace ;
and he seems from his infancy, to have ac-
quired a strong predilection for the peculiar
tenets both religious and political, embraced
at that period, by the independents. His at-
tachments, in this respect, were fortified by
early habits, and by the intercourse and ex-
ample of many kindred spirits, with whom
he lived in the strictest intimacy and friend^
ship. Yet this system he afterwards aban-
doned ; those friends he betrayed ; and all
those principles by which he had been dis-
tinguished, and upon which he appeared to
build his reputation, he scrupled not, for the
sake of temporary and precarious power
or emolument, openly to renounce. The

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 361

man who in the company of Pym and
Hambden, and other assertors of public
liberty, had formed the resolution of leaving
his native country rather than submit to the
usurpations of the crown, was not ashamed
to give the lie to all his professions ; and after
having put the king to death for tyranny, to
hold himself up to public view as one of the
most notorious tyrants and usurpers that the
world ever beheld.

To his original and genuine fanaticism he
was probably indebted for the success of his
projects. Had he not been at first sincere
in his professions, it is not to be supposed that
he could have gained the confidence of his
companions and associates, or that he would
have risen to much consideration with the
public. But being a real fanatic, and a real
republican, he became distinguished among
those of the same way of thinking ; and in
the subsequent progress of his mind towards
a full and complete apostacy, it was pro-
bably a long time before they, or even before
he himself, perceived the alteration. His
hypocrisy and dissimulation might easily be
considered as useful and excusable arts which

362 OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

he employed in a good cause ; and his own
aggrandizement might be regarded as a mere
collateral object, which was not incompa-
tible with the interest of the public. The
moment when he began, directly, and without
any subterfuge, to sacrifice the latter to the
former, when his irregular passions were no
longer able to justify themselves, and when
his conscience first avowed the naked truth
of his detestable villany, was doubtless a
point scarcely visible, which he would have
no pleasure in examining, but which, as soon
as discovered, he would most carefully con-
ceal.

It is at the same time observable, that
though Cromwell was tempted by his ambi-
tion to abandon those patriotic views, to
which his temper and early habits had
'strongly inclined him, his natural disposition
still appeared conspicuously in all cases
where it was not counteracted by the consi-
deration of his own interest. Though he
had set himself above the laws, and in the
exercise of those illegal powers which he had
assumed, was guilty of the most arbitrary
proceedings, yet in maintaining the police

AND THE PROTECTORATE.

of the country, and in the ordinary adminis-
tration of government, he displayed great
vigour and public spirit. " Westminster-
" hall," by the confession of Lord Claren-
don, " was never replenished with more
" learned and upright judges than by him ;
" nor was justice either in law or in equity,
'* in civil cases, more equally distributed
" where he was not a party." He is ad-
mitted, even by his enemies, to have eagerly
selected persons of ability and reputation to
fill the various departments of public busi-
ness ; to have been a zealous promoter of
science, and a munificent patron of genius
and learning.

With whatever disgust or indignation every
ingenuous mind will contemplate the suc-
cessful villany of this extraordinary person,
it is impossible to withhold a degree of ad-
miration from his uncommon abilities; the
boldness with which he planned, and the
steady resolution with which he executed his
measures ; the dexterity with which he availed
himself of the animosity, and the jealousies
prevailing among the different parties ; the
penetration with which he discovered the

364 -3 OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

foibles of his own partizans and the artful
policy by which he rendered them the dupes
of their own interested views. His situation
admitted of no regular system of operations,
but required such immediate exertions as were
instantaneously suggested by the occasion ;
and in these he seldom was guilty of any
oversight, or let slip any opportunity to for-
ward his designs. The characteristical and
prominent feature of his conduct was deci-
sion. Placed on a new ground, and frequently
on the brink of a precipice, without any
beaten path to direct him, he never hesitated
in choosing his course, and, in the pursuit of
his object, seldom committed any false step,
or met with any considerable disappoint-
ment.

His uncommon deficiency in elocution
must appear surprising to those who consider
the clearness of his judgment, and the quick-
ness of determination which he exhibited in
all his actions. This might arise from a
variety of causes ; from slowness of imagina-
tion, a quality not incompatible with sound
understanding ; from his early neglect to cul-
tivate this useful talent ; from the unintcllis;!-

AND THE PHOfECTORATfc.

ble jargon which his fanatical habits had
rendered familiar to him; and lastly, from
the necessity he frequently was under of dis-
guising and concealing his real intentions and
sentiments. Perspicuity is the foundation of
eloquence; but those persons can never be
perspicuous who are afraid of being under-
stood,

A strong propensity to sarcastic mirth, and
buffoonery, has been taken notice of as a
remarkable ingredient in the composition of
this wonderful character. The amusement
he found in putting burning coals in the
boots of his officers, or inviting them to a
feast, while the common soldiers were
directed at a certain signal, to rush in and
run away with the dishes ; his flinging a
cushion at the head of Ludlow, when they
were engaged in a conference upon a subject
of no less importance than the settlement of
the constitution : his taking the pen to sign
the warrant for tiie execution of Charles,
und bedaubing with ink the face of Martin,
who sat next him; his indecent suggestion,
that a person who saw him and his compa-
nions on their knees round the table, might

366

imagine they were seeking the Lord, while
they were only seeking a bottle-screw; these
and other instances of coarse and unseason-
able mirth are collected by his biographers,
as forming a manifest inconsistency in the
character of so great a man. In that violent
measure, when he dissolved the house of
commons, we find him indulging a most
absurd and whimsical vein of raillery and
sarcasm, and insulting the members, while
he put an end to their authority : " Thou
" art a whoremaster — thou art an adul-
"• terer — thou art a drunkard, and a glut-
" ton. — Take away this bauble (the mace.)
" O! Sir Harry Vane! Sir Harry Vane!
** The Lord deliver me from Sir Harry
" Vane!"

When things which appear important
and solemn to the rest of the world, are
from a singular disposition, beheld by any
individual with indifference or contempt,
they are apt from the contrast of his own,
emotions and sentiments with those of others,
to excite laughter and ridicule. Thus a
melancholy man who derives no pleasure
from the common enjoyments of life, is dis-

1

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 36?

posed to make a jest of the bustle created by
avarice or ambition, and of the idle pursuits
in which the bulk of mankind are engaged.
The hardened villain, whose mind has be-
come callous to the impressions of humanity
and virtue, is in the same situation with
regard to the sacred ties of honour and con-
science ; and is apt to hold in derision those
kind and generous feelings, those principles
of right and wrong, by which men are
bound together in society, and by which
they are determined in many cases to sacri-
fice their interest to their dut}r. He not
only beholds from the state of his own heart,
every appearance of generosity and virtue
under this ridiculous aspect, but is disposed,
in defence of his own conduct, and as a kind
of antidote to the censure and execration of
mankind, to cherish and hold up this view of
things, both to himself and to others. The
great painter of the human heart has, in the
character of Hamlet, exhibited a man of
sensibility, and of a melancholy cast, indulg-
ing himself in the fancy, that the conqueror
of the world might be employed to stop a
beer barrel ; and in such ludicrous views of

368 O* OLIVER

mankind as tend to demonstrate the vanity
and folly of their boasted accomplishments,
their eager desires, and their unwearied
pursuits. In the character of Richard the
Third, the same author has displayed the
sarcastic humour of a villain, who makes a
jest, not only of the follies and weaknesses,
but of the virtuous dispositions and consci-
entious scruples of mankind. The piety of
Saint Harry, the holy laws of Gray-beards,
the credulity of Lady Anne, in believing his
promises, the affection of his mother, and
her tender concern for his welfare, with
every quality that is commonly regarded as
valuable and praise-worthy, are the standing
objects of his derision and merriment.
Somewhat akin to this disposition, in the
dramatic character of Richard, is the rustic
jocularity of Cromwell which appears to
aim at laughing all virtue out of doors, at
the same time that it seems to convey the
expression of exultation and triumph in the
success of his hypocrisy. Upon reading the
treatise of Harrington, in which that author
thought proper to express a confident ex-
pectation that the protector would establish

AND THE PROTECTORATE. 369

a commonwealth, this facetious usurper is
reported to have said — " The gentleman
" had like to have trepanned me out of
" my power; but what I have got by the
" sword, I will not quit for a little paper
« shot.*"

When we examine the conduct of Crom-
well in all its parts, it may seem surprising
that his memory has been treated with more
lenity and indulgence than it certainly de-
serves. This may be explained from the
influence of popular feelings ; and still more
from the character and sentiments of politi-
cal parties. His great abilities, the success
of all his undertakings, and the respect
which he commanded from all the powers

* The same disposition to sarcastic humour has been
exhibited in our day, in a political character, resembling
that of Cromwell in many respects ; I mean the famous
Robespiere ; an enthusiast, though of a different species ;
of a temper more gloomy, and marked with deeper lines
of cruelty ; not more scrupulous in betraying his friends ;
but steady in supporting that system which he originally
professed to adopt, and as far as appears, uncorrupted
by motives of pecuniary interest. — See Dr.
Journal.

VOL. III. B b

OF OLIVER CROMWELL,

of Europe* seized the imagination of Eng~
lishmen, and were calculated to gratify
national vanity. The partizans of the house
of Stuart were, at the same time, induced
to hold up the favourable side of the policy
of Cromwell in order to blacken the memory
of those patriots who were not legs the ene-
mies of that usurper than of the absolute
power of the crown. They affected to con-
sider the usurpation of the protector as a
necessary consequence of the attempts to
restrain the prerogative, were better pleased
.with the protectorate thaji with a republican
system, and seem to have felt towards him a
sort of gratitude for overthrowing that form
of government to which they were most ad-
verse.

The death of Cromwell put an end to that
authority which, probably, even if he had
lived, he could not have upheld much longer.
His son Richard, whom he had nominated
\o the office of protector, had neither the am-
- • i**It •;.<;» J'itK|<ffli.'|H '';•''•

* While all the neighbouring potentates to you,
Jjike Joseph's sheaves pay reverence and bow.

Walters Verses to the Protector.

AND THE PROTECTORATE 371

bition to desire, nor the capacity to maintain,
it. The leaders of the army, whose influence
encouraged them to aim at the supreme
power, eould not be retained in subjection.
Richard was deposed. The remains of the
long parliament were recalled. Fleetwbod and
Lambert, who were at the head of the Ehgr
lish forces, attempted to give law to, this
assembly 5 but they wanted the transcendant
genius of Cromwell to effect their purposes.
General Monk, who commanded a smaller
but probably a better disciplined army in
Scotland, was immediately summoned to the
assistance of parliament. Having marched
up to London, he proceeded so far in obe-
dience to the commons as to carry military
execution into the city, for refusing to pay
tjie taxes imposed by parliamentary autho-
rity.

This attempt shews pretty clearly that he
intended to tread in the paths of Oliver Crom-
well ; but finding by the general voice of the
public, that the plot was not likely to suc-
ceed, he seems to have quickly changed his
ground ; and endeavouring without loss of
time to repair this unlucky step, he exerted

B b2

373 OF OLIVER CKOMWE^L, &C.

all his interest in recalling the royal family.
In this design he was seconded by a great
part of the nation; by all who had been
shocked and disgusted with the late violent
measures, and who saw no end to the-disor-
ders and calamities arising from the ambition
and sinister views of the military leaders.

CHAP. VI.

Of the Reigns of Charles the Second, and James
the Second.

JL HE restoration of Charles II. to the
throne of his ancestors, was produced in such
hurry and agitation of spirits as precluded
every attention and precaution which pru-
dence and deliberation would have suggested.
The different parties who united in this preci-
pitate measure, were too heterogeneous in
their principles, and too jealous of one ano-
ther, as well as too much afraid of the parti-
zans of the protectorate, or the supporters of
a republican system, to form any regular con-
cert, and thus to hazard the delay which an
attempt to limit the powers, and to regulate
the conduct of the sovereign, would have re-
quired. Having no leisure for entering into
particulars, they were satisfied with the pro-
fessions of Charles, conceived in vague and
general terms ; that, in matters of religion, he
would shew indulgence to differences of opi-

374 REIGKS of CHARLES THE SECOND

nion ; that he would grant a free pardon to
all offences committed against him by his
subjects, reserving to the consideration of
parliament the exceptions that ought to be
made; and that, in relation to the changes
lately introduced in the state of property, he
would refer all future claims to the determi-
nation of that assembly. None of those po-
litical points, therefore, which, after the ac-
cession of James I. had been the subject of
controversy, were, on this occasion, settled or
explained; and the monarch, assuming the
reins of government, without any limitations
or conditions, was understood to recover all
that extent of prerogative which, before the
commencement of the civil war, had been
vested in the crown.

The principal events in this reign exhibit
a disgusting repetition of similar struggles
to those which had occurred under the two
first princes of the House of Stuart, and
afford no prospect of that splendid success
with which, in a short time after, the
cause of liberty was fully crowned. The
great unanimity with which the nation had
concurred in restoring the royal family was

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 3?5

represented as an experimental proof of the
futility and imprudence of those pretended
improvements in the government* which had
of late been attempted ; but which had ended
in a new and most arbitrary species of despo-
tism, or rather in total anarchy and confusion.
The tide was now turned in favour of the
monarch; and his old adherents became the
governing party in the state. The shame and
disgrace attending the late measures were,
in some degree, communicated to all who
irad any share in their accomplishment, and
became the subject of exultation and tri-
umph to those who had followed the oppo-
site course. Men strove, by their services,
to compensate their former disaffection ; and,
in proportion to the severity with which they
had treated the father, they were warm in
their professions of attachment and loyalty to
the son.

The agreeable qualities and accomplish-
ments of the kingj joined to the memory of
the hardships which he had suffered, contri-
buted to improve those favourable disposi-
tions. Equally removed from the pedantic
vulgarity of his grandfather, and from the

376"

haughty reserve and formality of his father,
Charles II. possessed an affability and ease
of deportment, a fund of wit and pleasantry
in conversation, a knowledge of the world,
and discernment of the weaknesses of man-
kind, which qualified him to win the hearts
of his subjects, and to procure their indul-
gence even to the blemishes and vices of
his character. The popularity of the prince
was, in some measure, extended to all that
party who, having been his fellow-sufferers,
had acquired, by their fidelity and attach-
ment, a strong claim to his favour and con-
fidence. As they now filled the principal
offices of trust and emolument, the influence
and power, the consideration and rank,
which they now enjoyed, gave reputation
and consequence to their peculiar ways of
thinking and modes of behaviour. Those
who had followed the fortunes of Charles
were chiefly among the higher class of
gentry, who, by their situation in life, had
acquired that relish of pleasure and dissipa-
tion which affluence naturally bestows ; and
this original disposition was confirmed by
their long residence in France, where gaiety

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 37?

and elegance had made greater advances
than in any other part of Europe. Upon
returning to England, they propagated all
their own habits and prepossessions. The sour
and rigid sobriety of the puritans was now
laughed out of doors. All extraordinary
pretensions to devotion, all inward illumi-
nations of the spirit, were treated as knavery
and hypocrisy. Loyalty to the king ; gene-
rosity, frankness, and hospitality ; a taste
for conversation, and for the enjoyments of
society and good fellowship, were looked
upon as the characteristics of a" gentleman,
and the distinguishing marks of a liberal
education. Charles himself, from his indo*
lence, and the easiness of his temper, had
an utter aversion to business, and a strong
propensity to pleasure. Careless about reli-
gion and government, and studying only to
gratify his own inclinations, he was little at-
tracted by objects of ambition, or by the
pomp and pageantry of a crown; and set
no value upon any talents and accomplish-
ments but such as were subservient to his
amusement, or conducive to mirth and

2

378" REIGNS Oi' ChARtES THE SfcCONtJ,

festivity. The obsequiousness of the court
in adopting the manners of the sovereign,
and the effect of its influence and example
throughout the nation, may easily be con-
ceived. Thus the fashion of the times
passed suddenly from one extreme to ano-
ther; from fanaticism, and a cynical con-
tempt of the innocent enjoyments of life, to
irreligion and libertinism, to voluptuousness
and debauchery.

Upon the restoration of Charles, the first
national object was the procuring an act of
general indemnity and oblivion ; which the
king passed with great alacrity. The ex-
ceptkmsy in exclusion of such as had been
accounted notorious offenders, were not nu-
merous ; and even among those who had
sat upon the trial of his father, only ten
were put to death. To do justice to this
prince, it must be acknowledged, that a
revengeful temper was not in the number
of his vices. He had, besides, every reason
to court popularity ; and it was necessary*
for conciliating the affection and future loy-
alty of his subjects, to convince them that
their past offences were forgotten.

AND JAMES THE SECOND.

To procure a revenue, which might render
him in some degree independent, was, on the
other hand, the immediate object of the king.
In this he was not unsuccessful ; having ob»
tained from parliament not only 1,200,0001.
as an ordinary peace esstablishment, a reve-
nue much larger than had been enjoyed by
his predecessors; but also a variety of large
sums for occasional purposes ; in particular,
for enabling him to pay off and disband the
army, that army which had been the basis of
the late usurpation, and from which the na-
tion, we may suppose, was now anxious to
be delivered*.

The disputes and disturbances which
began early, and which continually clouded
and disgraced this unpropitious reign, may
be traced to two sources, which, however,
were intimately connected ; to the jealousy
and bigotry produced by religious differences ;
and to the designs of the crown, partly through
the medium of those differences, to establish
a despotism.

>Y • ' aonj*3;;q

* See Life of Charles II. by Win. Harris.

S80 REIGffS OF CHARLES THE SECOND

When Charles was recalled from poverty
and exile to the throne of his ancestors, it is
probable that, humbled in the school of
adversity, he had formed the resolution to
avoid any such contest as might endanger, a
second time, the loss of his crown. But
after he had been seated, with apparent
firmness, in the full possession of regal
authority, his thoughtless temper, easily
subdued by the counsel of friends and fa-
vourites, disposed him to forget the salu-
tary lesson inculcated by his misfortunes,
and betrayed him into measures no less arbi-
trary and unconstitutional than those which
had brought his father to the block.
Though not ambitious of power, he was
rapacious of money for the support of his
pleasures; and, from his extravagant dissi-
pation, feeling constantly the vexatious
pressure of wants, he was never contented
with those moderate supplies which he occa-
sionally obtained from parliament. Weary,
therefore, of continual, and often vain ap-
plications to that assembly, and impatient
of the mortifications to which he was fre-
quently subjected, he listened with avidity

AKD JAMES THE SECOND. 381

to every proposal for delivering him from
such restraints, and for enabling him to
supply his necessities by virtue of his own
prerogative.

With respect to religion, the jealousy,
the partialities, and prejudices of the court,
and of the people, operated in various direc-
tions. It is now sufficiently known, though
it was then only suspected, that the king,
while abroad, had been reconciled to the
church of Rome* ; a measure not, in all
probability, dictated by any religious im-
pressions, of which he was not very suscep-
tible ; but proceeding from political mo-
tives, or from the facility of his nature
which rendered him incapable of resisting
the importunity of his friends. His brother
the Duke of York, the presumptive heir of
the crown, was a bigoted Roman Catholic,
and with inferior abilities, but more obsti-
nacy and more talents for business, had
gained a complete ascendant over the mind
of Charles. But whatever desire these two
princes might feel to establish the Popish
religion, it was necessary to conceal their

* Dalrvmplc's Memoirs.

382 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

sentiments, and to accommodate their beha-
viour to the popular opinion. The parti-
sans of the church of England, who had
been the great supporters of the crown in
the reign of Charles I, and who formed the
most numerous and powerful body in pro-
moting the restoration, were justly entitled,
according to the views entertained in that
period, to claim the re-establishment of that
authority, and of those modes of worship
which they had formerly possessed. The
restoration of episcopacy, therefore, went
hand in hand with that of monarchical
government ; the bishops resumed their seats
in parliament ; and the lands of the church,
together with those of the crown, which had
been alienated under the protectorate, were
immediately restored to those public uses
for which they had anciently been appro-
priated. That no compensation was made,
in this case, to the purchasers, whose titles
had originated in an usurpation, now exe-
crated by all ranks of men, will not appear

surprising*.

* See Harris's Life of CInirles II.

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 383

In this peculiar state of things, there pre-
vailed universally, among the protestants
of every denomination, an apprehension of
the designs of the crown to promote the
establishment of the Romish religion ; aft
there existed, in the members of the church
,of England, a strong resentment against the
puritans, and a violent suspicion of their
future machinations. It may be observed,
at the same time, that these two branches
of Protestants felt reciprocally more jealousy
and hatred of each other, than they enter-
tained against their common enemy, the
Roman Catholics ; in proportion as their
systems were more a-kin, and as their mu-
tual animosities had been excited b}* more
recent hostilities. As the church of England
had been so lately overturned Jby the dissen-
ters, it was natural to look for similar at-
tempts from the same quarter, and to guard
against them with the utmost anxietv. Un-

«^ •/

happily, the means adopted for this pur-
pose, were equally illiberal and imprudent.
By requiring a strict uniformity in matters
of religion, and by inflicting severe penalties
against all non-conformists, it was proposed

384 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

to defend the church from the attacks of
the sectaries, and to secure her establishment
from the hazard of religious innovation.
To say nothing of the tyranny of domineer-
ing over the rights of conscience, by com-
pelling mankind to embrace, or profess opi-
nions which their understandings have
rejected ; the experience of all ages has
demonstrated that persecution, instead of
exterminating, is the most effectual instru-
ment for propagating systems of religion ;
and that the courage and resolution almost
universally displayed by those who are mar-
tyrs to their faith, enflames the enthusiastic
ardour of their adherents, and excites a
general admiration, whiqh becomes the
natural source of reputation and prosely-
tism. By a statute, it was declared unlaw-
ful for more than five persons, beside those
of the same family, to assemble for any spe-
cies of worship different from that established
by law ; and every transgressor was, for the
first oience, subjected to the payment of
five pounds, or three months imprisonment ;
.for the second, to the payment of ten
pounds, or six months imprisonment: and

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 385

for the third, to the payment of an hundred
pounds, or transportation for seven years.
Not content with these immoderate severi-
ties, the church procured a prohibition
against every dissenting teacher from coming
within five miles of any corporation,
or of any place where he had formerly
preached ; and this under the penalty of
fifty pounds, and six months imprison-
ment*.

Episcopal church government was intro-
duced also into Scotland ; and, being known
in that country to be extremely adverse to
the inclination of a great part of the inhabi-
tants, was enforced by regulations yet more
severe and oppressive. Meetings of the sec-
taries for public worship, or, as they were
called, conventicles, were prohibited t under si-
milar penalties as in England ; but those who'
frequented JIM conventicles, were punished
with death and confiscation of goods ; a large
pecuniary reward was offered to any who
should apprehend those offenders ; and high
penalties were inflicted upon such as, being

* Hume's Hist, of England,
tot. III. C C

386 HEIGtfS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

called upon oath, refused to give information
against them. A military force was em-
ployed to kill or disperse the people disco-
vered in those illegal assemblies ; and the
execution of these barbarous measures was
entrusted by the administration to men of un-
feeling and brutal tempers, who, endeavour-
ing to recommend themselves by their acti-
vity, were guilty of the most horrible enor-
mities*. Even those who absented them-
selves from church, were, upon the mere re-
port of the clergy, and without any trial,
subjected to arbitrary fines ; the payment of
which was enforced by quartering soldiers
upon the supposed delinquents -f.

The oppressive treatment of the Presby-
fians, which, i» consequence of these laws,
was continued in Scotland for a long period,
has riot been sufficiently held up to the pub-
lic by historians of credit, nor marked with
that indignation and abhorrence which it
ought to inspire. The sufferers, indeed, were

* Hume's Hist, of England,
f Hume,

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 387

a set of poor fanatics, whose tenets and
ners have become, in this age, the objects of
ridicule : but this consideration will, surely,
afford no apology for such acts of cruelty and
injustice; Charles appears to have conceived
a peculiar dislike to the Scottish covenanters^
by whom he had been much harrassed and
disgusted when under the necessity, in Scot-
land, of hearing their long prayers and ser-
mons, whose enthusiastic spirit had involved
his father in those difficulties which gave rise
to the civil war, and whose treachery had
finally delivered that unfortunate monarch
into the hands of his enemies.

But though the king had, probably, little
fellow-feeling with that obnoxious class of
Presbyterians, he was desirous of alleviating
the hardships to which the unreasonable jea-
lousy of the church had subjected the Catho*
lies, as well as the other sects of hoh-con-
formits ; and he seems to have been pleased
with an opportunity, upon plausible pretences,
of granting Such relief by means of the dis-
pensing power of the crown. It soon became
evident, that this monarch entertained the

388 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

same notions of the English government which
had been inculcated by his father and grand-
father ; and though cautious, at first, of ex-
citing any disgust in the nation, he was em-
boldened by successful experiments, and ven-
tured more and more to shake off those re-
straints which had been imposed upon him by
his fears. The convention which restored the
monarchy, and was afterwards turned into a
parliament, had contained a great proportion
of Presbyterians, and of such as entertained
very limited ideas of monarchy. It was,
therefore, dissolved in a few months after the
new settlement had been effected ; and gave
place to a new parliament, which, agreeably
to the prevailing spirit of the times, exhi-
bited opinions and sentiments, both in
church and state, more conformable to those
of the king.

In the year 1664, the triennial act, which
had passed in the reign of Charles I. and
which had effectually provided that there
should be no greater interval than three
years between one meeting of parliament
and another, was repealed ; and the regular

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 389

calling of those assemblies was again trusted
to the discretion, or rather to the occasional
necessities of the king. This parliament was
continued for about eighteen years; and,
during a considerable part of that long pe-
riod, shewed a pretty strong and uniform dis-
position to humour the inclinations of the so-
vereign ; but it seemed to imbibe a different
spirit, in proportion as the terror occasioned
by the late civil war had abated, and as the
arbitrary maxims of the crown were more
clearly discovered.

So early as the year 1662, Charles declared
his intention of dispensing with the penalties
contained in the act of uniformity ; at the same
time that he requested the concurrence of
parliament for enabling him, with more uni-
versal satisfaction, to exercise a power which
he conceived to be inherent in the preroga,-
tive*. But this purpose, however cautiously
expressed, and artfully recommended, was
far from being agreeable to the nation. It
was touching an old string which had for-
merly sounded an alarm to the people, and

* Hume.

390 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

reviving those apprehensions of popery
and arbitrary power, which had given rise
to the civil war. It produced, therefore, a
remonstrance from the two houses of par-
liament; and waSj for the present, laid
aside.

In the year 1670, Charles, with concur-
rence of his brother, concluded a treaty with
France, by which Lewis XIV. undertook to
assist the King of England in establishing
popery and absolute monarchy ; and, for
that purpose, to pay him a yearly pension
of 200,0001. and to supply him with an army
of 600Q men *. This scandalous transaction
was kept, as we may easily believe, a pro-
found secret from all but a few persons,
whose religion and political profligacy dis-
posed them to, promote its accomplishment.
The king, at this time, professed to be his
own minister ;' but in reality, was commonly
directed by a secret council, or cabal ; while
the great officers of state, who held the osten-

* See Dairy mple's Appendix to his Memoirs — Hume's
Hist, of England.

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 391

sible administration, were left without in*
fluence or confidence. The nation was in
this manner deprived of that security which,
by the constitution, they were entitled to ex?
pect from the responsibility of those indivi-
duals who filled the higher departments of
government, and who might with justice, and
without endangering the public tranquillity,
be called to account for the measures com-
mitted to their direction. Even of this cabal,
it is said, that none were made acquainted
with the French treaty but those who had
embraced the popish religion.

Having thus obtained the support of a mo->
narch so powerful, and so warmly interested
in the success of his measures, Charles thought
himself in a condition to act with more vi-
gour, and ventured, by his own authority, to
grant an indulgence to all nonconformists,
whether of the protestant or catholic persua-
sion. He issued, therefore, a proclamation,
suspending all the penal laws against those
two branches of the sectaries ; and allowing
to the former in public, tq the latter in pri-

392 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

vate, the free exercise of their religion *. By
this exertion of prerogative, the national
suspicion was awakened ; the jealousy among
different sects of protestants was overwhelmed
by the terror of their common adversary ; and
parliament, which had long connived at the
designs of the crown, was roused in defence
of its own privileges. The feeble mind of
Charles was overcome by the violent oppo-
sition of that assembly, together with the
clamour excited throughout the nation ; and
he retracted the measure with much profes-
sion of regard for the constitution, and of wil-
lingness to remove the grievances of the peo-
ple-f-. By this unsteadiness of conduct, he
encreased the confidence of his opposers,
without removing the suspicions by which
they were actuated.

From the animosity, hatred, and mutual
jealousy which, during the course of this reign,
prevailed among different sects and parties,
men were easily disposed to credit the reports

* Hume's Hist, of England,
t Hume.

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 393

of plots and conspiracies propagated to the
prejudice of one another; and hence encou-
ragement had been given to numerous crimi-
nal prosecutions, followed by the condemna-
tion of the supposed offenders upon insufficient
evidence. Thus in 1662, six persons of low
rank were charged with a design to restore
the commonwealth, and, being condemned
upon the testimony of two infamous witnesses,
four of them were executed. In the following
year, a similar charge was brought against no
less than twenty-one persons, who, upon the
evidence of one pretended accomplice, were
all convicted and put to death. Such ficti-
cious conspiracies, the fruit of groundless ap-
prehension and terror, were at first imputed
most frequently to the protestant secta-
ries and friends of republican government;
but, when the immediate fear of popery and
of arbitrary power had become prevalent, im-
putations of a similar nature were circulated,
and readily believed against the Roman Ca-
tholics.

That the king, and his brother the Duke of
York, had resolved to subvert the established
government, in church and state, and had en-

394 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

tered into a treaty with France for this pur-
pose, is now universally admitted. That many
Roman Catholics were looking eagerly to-
wards the same object; that they had sug-
gested particular schemes, and held consul-
tations for promoting and accelerating its
accomplishment; or that, impatient of de-
lays, they had even expressed, occasionally,
their wishes for the king's death, which might
raise to the throne his brother, their zealous
patron, who now openly professed the Ro*
mish religion, is highly probable. From a
few scraps of intelligence concerning such
vague intentions or expressions, Gates and
Bedloe, two profligates, no less ignorant than
shameless and unprincipled, with other as-
sociates who became willing to participate
in the same harvest, appear to have reared
the structure of the Popish Plot ; by which
they asserted, that a regular plan was laid,
not only for the establishment of popery and
despotism, but also for the murder of the king ;
and that several persons, at different times,
Jiad been hired to carry this latter purpose
into execution. The accusation was at first

AND JAMES THE SECOND.

limited to men of obscure and doubtful cha-
racters ; but afterwards, noblemen professing
the popish religion, and even the queen, were
involved as accomplices.

Though the story told by these witnesses
was, in many respects, full of contradiction
and absurdity, though it was varied mate-
rially in the course of the different trials,
and was not supported by any person of good
reputation, there occurred some remarkable
incidents, which contributed to bestow upon
it, at least in the main articles, an air of cre-
dibility.

Godfrey, an active justice of peace, before
whom Gates had made oath of the narrative
which he afterwards delivered to the privy
council, was,'.' in> a few days thereafter, found
lying dead rti a ditch, with his own sword
run through his" body, but with evident
marks of his having been previously stran-
gled. As he had not been robbed of his
money, his death was imputed to the re-
sentment of the catholics, or considered as an
attempt to intimidate the discoverers of their
practices.

396 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

When Coleman, secretary to the Duke of
York, one of the supposed accomplices in
this conspiracy, was apprehended, letters
were found in his possession, containing part
of a correspondence with Father La Chaise,
in the years 1674, 1675, and 1676, which
mentioned a design of the Roman Catholics,
in conjunction with France, to overturn the
established religion in England, It was con-
jectured that, if the subsequent parts of this
correspondence had been found, they would
have discovered also the later measures re-
lating to the murder of the king, with which
Coleman was charged.

After the popish lords had been impri-
soned, one Reading, their agent, or solicitor,
was clearly detected in tampering with the
witnesses, and endeavouring by an offer of
money, to make them soften their evidence.
There was no proof that he had any commis-
sion for that purpose from his clients ; but the
transaction could not fail to throw upon them
a suspicion of guilt.

• These different circumstances were far from
being conclusive as to the reality of the plot
in question ; but, concurring with the paqic

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 397

which had seized the nation, they created a
general belief of its existence. The verdicts
of jurymen were found in this, as in other
cases, to echo the national prejudice; and
many persons apparently innocent, at least
of any attempt to murder the king, were con-
demned and executed. The Viscount of Staf-
ford was, upon the same account, found guilty
by a majority of the peers, and suffered a ca-
pital punishment.

That the Popish Plot was a gross imposture,
can hardly, it should seem, at this day, be
disputed ; but that it was entirely a fabrica-
tion of the party in opposition to the court
for the purpose of promoting their political
interest, as has been alleged by some authors,
there is no room to imagine. Had it been

3

invented by a set of artful politicians, it would
have exhibited a more plausible appearance,
and have been less liable to detection from
its numerous inconsistencies. It was the off-
spring of alarm and credulity, propagated, in
all probability, from a small ground-work of
truth ; and, when it had grown to maturity,
employed by an interested policy, as a con-

398 REIGNS OF CHABLES THE SECOND,

venient engine for counteracting the perni-
cious measures of the crown *.

During the ferment which had thus been
excited in the minds of the people, it is not
surprising that the Roman Catholics had
recourse to a similar expedient, and endea-
voured by a counter-plot, not only to reta-
liate the sufferings they had met with, but
also to turn the tide in their own favour.
This undertaking was conducted by one
Dangerficld, a man in low circumstances,
and of infamous character, who offered to
make discoveries of a conspiracy for new-
modelling the government, and for driving
the king and the royal family out of the
kingdom. He was well received by the
Duke of York and the king ; but the impos-
ture was quickly detected, and even acknow^
ledged ; so as to recoil upon the inventors,
and produce consequences directly opposite

* See the State Trials relating to this subject. — Also
Burnet's History of his own Time ; in which there is an
impartial account of the particulars in this remarkable
fevent, with a candid picture of the impression which they
ftiade upon the author and some of his friends.

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 399

to those which were intended*. This pre-
tended conspiracy was, from the place where
DangerfiekTs papers were found, called the
Meal Tub Plot.

The alarm which, from the belief of a
popish.plot, had thus been excited and spread
over the nation, was now pointed more im-
mediately to the prospect, that, upon the
demise of Charles, the crown would devolve
upon the Duke of York, a professed Ro-
man Catholic, totally under the dominion of
the priests of that persuasion, and who, ia
the present reign, had, according to the ge-
neral opinion, influenced and directed all the
violent measures of the crown. Under such
a prince, conducting with his own hands the
machine of government, supported and as-
sisted by all the catholic powers of Europe,
and believing it highly meritorious to employ
either fraud or force to accomplish hi* pur-
poses, there was reason to apprehend that
neither civil nor religious liberty could be

maintained. For securing, therefore, the

4V

* Burnet.

400 REIGNS OP CHARLES THE SECOND,

most important rights of the community, for*
guarding the constitution and the protestant
religion, it was thought necessary that the or-
dinary rules of government should, in this
emergency, be superseded, and that, by an
act of the legislature, the lineal heir should, in
such particular circumstances, be excluded
from the throne. That the crown of Eng-
land was commonly transmissible by inheri-
tance, like a private estate, could not be
disputed; but that this regulation, 'intended
for the good of the people, by avoiding the
inconveniencies of an elective monarchy,
might be set aside in extraordinary cases,
was equally certain ; and, if ever there occur-
red a case of extreme necessity, demanding
imperiously a measure of that sort, the pre-
sent emergency, in which the nation was
threatened with the loss of every thing dear
and valuable, was, doubtless, a remarkable
instance *.

* See Coleman's papers ; from which the designs of the
Bdike of York, and of the Roman Catholic powers, to
establish popery and despotism in England are sufficiently
manifest.

AXD JAMES THE SECOND. 401

A bill for excluding the Duke of York
from the succession to the crown was accord-
ingly introduced into the house of commons,
and pushed with great violence in three seve-
ral parliaments. The king, instead of yield-
ing to the desires of the people with that fa-
cility which he had shewn on former occa-
sions, remained inflexible in opposing the
measure, and at length, when every other
expedient had failed, put a stop to it by a
dissolution of parliament. The bill, however,
was finally permitted to pass through the
commons, but was rejected in the house of
peers. To explain this, it may be observed,
that, beside the general influence of the
crown in the upper house, there had occurred
a change in the current of political opinions,
which had, probably, an effect upon the sen-
timents of the nobility, and more especially
of the bishops. In the course of the investi-
gations concerning the popish plot, the nu-
merous falsehoods and absurdities reported
by the witnesses could not fail, by degrees, to
shake the credit which had been at first given
to their testimony, and even to create in

VOL. III. D d

402 REI<"y?vyS Of CHARLES THE SECOND

many a total disbelief of that supposed con-
spiracy. In proportion as the terror of po-
pery subsided, the jealousy with the church of
England had long entertained of the dissenters
was revived ; and gave rise to an apprehension
that the hierarchy would be endangered by
such limitations upon the right of the crown.
This jealousy the King had the address to pro-
mote, by representing the exclmionem as a
combination of sectaries, who meant now to
overturn the government, both in church and
state, as they had done in the reign of his father.
The entire defeat of the exclusion bill was
followed by the complete triumph of the
rojralists, who, supported by the zealous friends
df the hierarchy, were now become the po-
pular patty. The church and the King were
ndW understood to be linked together by the
ties of mutual interest ; and they went hand
in hand, exalting and confirming the powers
of each other. In Scotland, great severities
wefe committed against the Presbyterians.
Iti England, the late behaviour of parliament
afforded the Monarch a pretence for neglect-
ing to call those assemblies ; and hi* con-

1

AND JAMES THE SECOND* 403

ducting every branch of administration with-
out their concurrence, occasioned less com-
plaint or uneasiness than might have been
expected.

To new-model the government of the city
of London, Charles issued a writ of quo war-
raiito, by which a forfeiture of the corporation
upon some frivolous pretence of delinquency,
was alleged ; and the city, to preserve its
privileges, was under the necessity of sub-
mitting to such conditions as the King
thought proper to impose. By the terror of
a similar process, most of the other boroughs
in the kingdom were induced to surrender

*^,

their charters, and to accept of such new
constitutions as the court thought proper to
grant The direction and management of
those corporations was thus brought entirely
into the hands of the crown ; and preparation
was made for establishing an unlimited au-
thority over the commons, if ever the calling
of a future parliament should be found ex-
pedient.

While the King was thus advancing with
rapid strides in the extension of his prero-
gative, we may easily conceive the

Dd 2

404 REIGSTS OF CHARXES THE SECOND,

pointment, indignation, and despair, of those
patriots who had struggled to maintain the
ancient constitution. That they should com-
plain loudly of these proceedings : that they
should vent their discontent and resent-
ment in menacing expressions ; and that, as
other methods had failed, they should even
think of resorting to violent measures in
defence of their natural rights, is not sur-
prising. It was likewise to be expected,
that government would have a watchful eye
over the conduct of these malcontents, and
would listen with avidity to every informa-
tion which might give a handle for bringing
them to punishment. In this irritable state
of the public mind, what is called the Rye-
-house Plot was discovered, and became the
subject of judicial investigation. It seems
now to . be understood, that the persons
engaged in this conspiracy had formed
various plans of insurrection, and had even
proposed the killing of the King; but that
none of their measures had ever been car-
ried into execution*. Such of them as

* Hume— -Burnet— The State Trials.

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 405

could be convicted were punished with the
utmost rigour. Every one knows that Lord
Russel, and the famous Algernon Sidney
suffered upon the same account. It seems,
however, to be now universally admitted,
that the proof brought against them was not
legal*. There is no reason to suspect, that
they had any accession to the Ryehouse Plot,
or that they had ever intended the King's
death. Though it is not improbable that
they had held discourses concerning insur-
rections, they do not appear to have taken
any specific resolution upon that subject ;
far less to have been guilty of any overt act
of rebellion : but they were the leaders of the
party in opposition to the crown ; the great
patrons and promoters of the exclusion bill ;
the irreconcileable enemies to the exaltation
of the Duke of York, and to those political
and religious projects which he was deter-
mined to pursue -f-.

* See Hume.

i See the Trials of Russel and Sidney — Burnet's Hist.
pf his own Time — Harris's Life of Charles II. — See also,
Secret History of Ryehou.se Plot. With respect to the
narrative of Lord Gray, contained in this publication, it

406 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

The public has of late been amused, and
several well-meaning persons have been dis-
turbed by the discovery of some particulars,
from which it is alleged that both Lord
Russel and Mr. Sidney, with other distin-
guished members of parliament, were en-
gaged by the intrigues of the French court
to oppose the English ministry, and that
Mr. Sidney received money from Lewis XIV.
for the part which he acted on that oc-
casion*.

Though the merits of the great political
questions which were agitated at that period,
t>r since, have no dependence upon the degree
of integrity or public spirit displayed by the
adherents of different parties, it is not only
a piece of justice, but a matter of some
importance in the political history of England,
to vindicate from such disagreeable aspersions
those highly celebrated characters, who have

can have little weight, if we consider the bad character of
the author, and that it was written under a sentence of
condemnation, with a view to justify the illegal measures
of the court.

* See the histories of Dalrvmple and M'Pherson, with
the papers referred to,

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 407

hitherto possessed the esteem and admiration
of their countrymen.

With respect to their co-operation with
the court of France, in opposing the designs
of Charles and his ministry, which is all
that is alleged against Lord Russel and some
others of the party, we must form our
opinion from the peculiar circumstances of
the times. About the year 1678, when the
designs of the English court to establish
an absolute government had become very
apparent, England, by the marriage of the
Prince of Orange to the daughter of the
Duke of York, had been driven into a tem-
porary connection with the States of Hol-
land, and, in that view, had raised a consi-
derable army to be employed against France.
The interest of the French court, therefore,
who dreaded the operations of this hostile
armament, coincided, at this time, with the
views of the Whig party in England, who,
from a jealousy of the crown, were eager
that the troops might be speedily disbanded;
and the latter could incur no blame in
making use of the incidental, and, perhaps,
unexpected assistance of the former, for

408 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

/

promoting their great object, the defence of
their liberties. It seems to be acknowledged,
that by doing so, this party reposed no con-
fidence in the French councils, and followed
no other line of conduct than would have
been adopted, if no such agreement had
taken place. They forfeited no advantage,
they sacrificed no duty to their own country,
but merely availed themselves of the tem-
porary policy of the French monarch, and,
whatever might be his motives, employed
him as an instrument to prop that consti-
tution which he had long been endeavouring
to undermine.

With respect to the allegation, that Mr,
Sidney was a pensioner of France, the proof
of this fact depends upon the letters and me-
morials of Barillon, the French agent, and
the accounts laid before his own court, in
which he states two several sums of 5001. each,
advanced to Mr. Sidney*.

The authenticity of these accounts, exa-
mined, it should seem, and transcribed with
little precaution, and produced, for the

* See Dairy m pie.

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 409

first time, at the distance of near one hun-
dred years, has been thought liable to suspi-
cion ; more especially when it is considered,
that the odium occasioned by the illegal
condemnation of Sidney, which fell una-
voidably on Charles and the Duke of York,
would have been in some measure alleviated
by the immediate publication of this myste-
rious (transaction with France. But, even
supposing the accounts to be genuine, there
may be some reason to doubt how far the
representation of this money-jobber, in a
matter where his own pecuniary interest, and
his reputation and consequence with his
constituents, were so nearly concerned, is
worthy of credit. Barillon himself acknow-
ledges, that " Sidney always appeared to
'* him to have the same sentiments, and not
" to have changed his maxims*." — "That
" he is a man of great views, and very high
" designs, which tend to the establishment
" of a republic -f-." That Sidney was known,
on that occasion, to be the steady friend of

* Dairy m pie's Appendix, p. 2(52.
f Ibid. p. 287,

410 REIGNS OF CHARLES CHE SECOND,

those measures which Barillon was employed
to promote, is not disputed. How, then,
came this French agent to be so lavish of
his master's money, as to throw it away upon
a person who had already embarked in the
same cause, and who, from this bribe, was
induced to do nothing which he would not
have done without it ? There seems to be
but one explanation which this will admit
of; that, if the money was actually given
to this eminent leader; it must have been
intended merely to pass through his hands,
for gaining those inferior persons, whose as-
sistance, in the present emergency, it might
be convenient to purchase. But that either
Lord Russel or Mr. Sidney betrayed the in-
terest of their own country to that of France,
or deviated in any particular, from their
avowed political principles, has never been
alleged, nor does there seem to be any colour
for supposing it*.

The death of Charles II. which happened
in the beginning of the year 1685, prevented
his completing that system of absolute go-

* See Ladv RusseTs Letters.

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 411

vernment, in which he had made such con-
siderable progress. Towards the end of his
reign he found himself involved in great dif-
ficulties from want of money ; and is said to
have been filled with apprehension, that his
late arbitrary measures would be attended
with fatal consequences. It is reported that,
in a conversation with the duke, he was over-
heard to say : " Brother, I am too old to go
*' again to my travels ; you may, if you
" chuse it." And it was believed, that he had
formed a resolution to give up ail further con-
test with his people, to change his counsellors,
to call a parliament, and to govern for the fu-
ture according to the principles of the ancient
constitution *.

The character of this prince is too obvious
to require any full discussion. He possessed
a sociable temper, with such an eminent
portion of the talents and accomplishments
connected with this disposition, as rarely falls
to the lot of a king. Here we must finish
his eulogy. In every other view we can
discover nothing commendable; and it is

* Burnet

412 REIGXS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

well if we can apologize for foibles by the
mere absence of criminal intention. His
open licentiousness and profligacy in the
pursuit of his pleasures, not only tended, by
example, to corrupt the national manners,
but occasioned an extravagance and profu-
sion in his expences, which drove him to
unwarrantable methods of procuring money
from his subjects. He had little ambition to
render himself absolute. He had no attach-
ment to any plan of despotic government.
The divine indefeasible right of kings was a
doctrine to which he was willing to sacrifice
neither his ease nor his amusement. But,
on the other hand, he was totally destitute
of that public spirit which excites an active
.and superior mind to admire, and to pro-
mote, at the expence of his own safety or
interest, the nice adjustment of parts in the
great machine of government. lie was no
less negligent of the national honour and dig-
nity, than indifferent about his own. His
extreme indolence, and aversion to business,
led him to devolve the weight of public affairs
upon others, and particularly upon the Duke
of York, who gained an absolute ascendant

AND JAMES THE SECOND.

over him, and pursued a regular system of
tyranny. Upon the whole, when we con-
sider how far the the misconduct of this caiv-
less monarch was'imputable to his ministers,
we shall, perhaps, be disposed to admit that,
with all his infirmities and vices, he had less
personal demerit than any other king of the
Stuart family.

The accession of James II. afforded a
complete justification of those who had con-
tended, that his exclusion from the throne
was necessary for securing the liberties of
the people. No sooner did he assume the
reins of government, than his fixed resolu-
tion to overturn the constitution, both in
church and state, became perfectly evident.
It was happy for the rights of mankind, that
he was actuated no less by the principle of
superstition than of civil tyranny; as the
former contributed much more powerfully
than the latter, to alarm the apprehensions,
and to rouse the spirit of the nation. It
was yet more fortunate that he proved to
be a prince of narrow capacity, of unpo-

414 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE

pular and forbidding manners, blinded and
misled by his prejudices, and though, to the
last degree, obstinate and inflexible, totally
destitute of steadiness and resolution.

One of the first acts of the administration
of James, after declaring in the privy coun-
cil his determined purpose to maintain the
rights and liberties of the nation, was to issue

O •

a proclamation, ordering that the customs and
excise should be paid as in the preceding
reign. By this arbitrary measure he assumed
the most important province of the legisla-
ture ; and though, for saving appearances, an
expedient had been suggested, that the order
of payment should be suspended until the
meeting of parliament, he rejected this pro-
posal, because it might seem to imply that the
authority of the national council was requisite
for giving validity to this exertion of the pre-

rogative.

From the power over the city of London,
and over the other boroughs in the king-
dom, which had been acquired in the late
reign, James had no reason to fear opposi-
tion from parliament, and was, therefore,
willing to make an early trial of the disposi-

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 415

tions of that assembly. At the first meet.
ing, he demanded, in a high tone of autho-
rity, that the revenue which had been en-
joyed by his brother should be settled upon
him during life ; and this demand he accom-
panied with a plain intimation, that their
implicit compliance was the only way to
secure their frequent meetings, and to pre-
vent his resorting to other methods for pro-
curing a revenue*. Instead of being alarmed
by such a declaration, the two houses ap-
peared to vie with each other in their alacrity
and readiness to gratify the monarch.

But, though James had good reason to
rely upon the uniform support of parlia-
ment, lie was not negligent of other precau-
tions for promoting his designs. It is im-
possible to withhold our indignation when
we discover that this king, like his brother,
had so far degraded himself and the nation,

o

as to become the abject pensioner of France,
and to render the national forces subservient
to the ambition of the French monarchy

* Hume.

41(> REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

upon receiving from him a regular subsidy,
with a promise of assistance in subverting
the English government. Soon after his
accession to the throne, we find him apolo-
gizing to Barillon, the French ambassador,
for summoning a parliament. " You may,
" perhaps, be surprised," says he, "but I
" hope you will be of my opinion when I
" have told you my reasons. I have re-
" solved to call a parliament immediately,
u and to assemble it in the month of May.
" I shall publish, at the same time, that I
" am to maintain myself in the enjoyment
** of the same revenues the king my brother
" had. AVithout this proclamation for a
" parliament, I should hazard too much,
" by taking possession directly of the revenue
" which was established during the life-time
u of rny deceased brother. It is a decisive
u stroke for me to enter into possession and
" enjoyment ; for, hereafter, it will be much
"more easy for me, either to put off the
" assembling of parliament, or to maintain
" myself by other means which may appear
* more convenient for me*/' Upon re-
* Dalrym pie's Appendix.

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 41?

ceiving from Lewis XIV. the sum of 500,000
Hvres, this magnanimous prince said to Ba-
rillon * with tears in his eyes : " It is the
*' part of the king your master alone, to act
u in a manner so noble, and so full of good-
" ness to me*/* From the subsequent dis-
patches of this ambassador, it is clearly
proved* that James was determined to render
himself independent of parliament, and was
totally engrossed by those t\vo objects, the
establishment of the popish religion, and that
of his own absolute power* With these views,
lie thought it necessary to court the protec-
tion of Lewis, from whom he was constantly
begging money with unwearied and shame-
less importunity -f-. Barillon, in writing to
his master, mentions the expressions used
by James in a conversation upon that sub-
ject : " That he had been brought up in
" France, and had eat your majesty's bread ;
" and that his heart was French %"

In pursuance of the plan which he had
laid, his immediate design was, according

* Dalrymple's Appendix,
i Dalrymple's Appendix, p. 1475
J Ibid.
TOL. III. B C

418 REIGNS OF CHARI/ES TI*E SECON0,

to the same testimony, to make the parlia-
ment revoke the test act and the habeas corpus
act ; " one of which," as he told Barillon,
" was the destruction of the Catholic reli-
" gion, and the other of the royal autho-
" rity*."

The precipitate and ill-conducted attempts
of the Duke of Monmouth in England, and
of the Earl of Argyle in Scotland, which
met with little encouragement, and were
easily crushed by the kings forces, contri-
buted to render this infatuated monarch
more sanguine with respect to the success
of his projects, and, by inspiring him with
greater confidence, prompted him to act
with less moderation and caution. The
shocking cruelty exhibited on that occasion
by the military, and the gross injustice com-
mitted, under the form of law, by the civil
courts, which could not have happened
without the approbation and countenance of
the king, convey a still more unfavourable
idea of his disposition as a man, than of his
abilities as a politician. Bishop Burnet

* Dairy mple's Appendix,

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 419

affirms, that regular accounts of those judi-
cial proceedings were transmitted to James,
who was accustomed to repeat the several
particulars with marks of triumph and satis-
faction. It is certainj that this king men-
tions, in a letter to the Prince of Orange,
the hundreds who had been condemned in
what he jocularly distinguishes by the appel-
lation of Jeffery's campaign ; and that, for
his services, this infamous tool was rewarded
with a peerage, and with the office of lord
high chancellor*.

Both Charles and James had been taught
by the example of their father and by their
own experience, that without an army it
was in vain to think of subjecting the English
nation to an absolute government. The
king, therefore, after the late insurrections
had been suppressed, informed the parlia-
ment, that he meant to keep up all the forces
which the state of the country had obliged
him to levy ; and he demanded an additional
supply for that purpose. Not satisfied with
as large an army in England, in Scotland,

* See Dalrymple's Memoirs.

420 REIG.NS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

and in Ireland, as his own revenue was ca-
pable of supporting ; he entered into a treaty
•frith the French king, who took into his
pay three English regiments, and, besides,
agreed to furnish James with whatever troops
might be necessary in the prosecution o'f his
designs *.

*• But the grand and favourite object of
James, which contributed more than any
other to alarm the people, was the dispens-
ing power which he assumed in favour of
popery. So far from concealing his inten-
tion in this particular, he thought proper,
near the beginning of his reign, to make an
open avowal of it in parliament; which
produced an address from the house of com-
mons, and a motion to the same effect in that
of the peers. These measures, being regarded
by the king as inconsistent with his dignity,
were followed by several prorogations of
"that assembly, and at length by a dissolu-
tion.

In examining the earlier part of our his-
tory, I had formerly occasion to consider

* Dalrymple,

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 421

the origin of the dispensing power ; which
arose from the interest of the sovereign, as
chief magistrate, in the condemnation and
punishment of crimes. As the king was the
public prosecutor, against whom all trans-
gressions of the law were understood to be
chiefly directed, and who, besides, drew the
pecuniary emolument from all fines and
forfeitures, which were anciently the most
common species of punishments, he came
by degrees to exercise, not only the privi-
lege of pardoning the offences which were
actually committed, but even that of pre-
viously excusing individuals from such pe-
nalties as might be incurred by a future
misdemeanor. It is commonly said, that
this power was borrowed by our kings from
the practice of the Roman Pontiff, who
claimed the right of granting indulgences
for every sort of religious transgression ;
but in reality, a privilege of this nature
seems to have resulted from the situation of
the chief civil, as well as of the chief eccle-
siastical magistrate; though, in Europe, it
was for obvious reasons carried to a greater

l_x

extent by the latter than by the former. In

422 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

England, however, the king having upon the
reformation, succeeded to the supremacy of
the bishop of Rome, he, of course, united in
his own person these different sources of
power.

As the dispensing power of the crown was
originally exerted in extraordinary cases
only, it probably was of advantage to the
community, by providing relief to such
persons as were in danger of suffering oppres-
sion from a rigid observance of the com^
mon rules of law. But the occasions for
soliciting this relief were gradually multi-
plied ; people who found it their inte-
rest, as in evading the restrictions upon
some branches of trade, were led to purchase
dispensations from the crown ; and the exer-
cise of this extraordinary privilege degene-
rated more and more into abuse. It can
hardly be doubted, that such dispensations as
were granted for money would be confined
to individuals, and not extended to classes or
general descriptions of people; for the
crpwn, we may suppose, receiving a profit
from this branch of the prerogative, would
seldom bestow an indulgence upon any but

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 423

those who had paid for it. But even in this
limited shape, the dispensing power, which
might lead to a shameful traffic upon the
part of administration, and interrupt the due
execution of the most salutary laws, was re-
garded as incompatible with the principles
of the English constitution, and was repro-
bated in direct terms by the legislature. In
the reign of Richard II. there was passed an
aet of parliament permitting the king, in
particular cases, and for a limited time, to
dispense with the statute of provisors, but de-
claring such dispensations, in all other cases,
to be illegal and unwarrantable. It must be
acknowledged, howevers that even after this
act the dispensing power was not abandoned ;
and that lawyers, under the influence of the
crown, were sufficiently ready in their judi-
cial capacity, to support all such exertions of
the prerogative.

The differences between the two great
religious parties which took place at the re-
formation, afforded a new inducement for
this extraordinary interposition of the crown,
and in a different form from what had

REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

hitherto been thought of. In particular, the
princes of the house of Stuart, from their
favour to the Roman Catholics, were di&?
posed to free them from the penalties to
which, by various statutes, they had been
subjected ; and to do this effectually, it was
necessary that the dispensations should be
granted not to single individuals ; but, at
one and the same time, to all persons of that
persuasion; that is, to all those who fell
under the penalties imposed by the statutes
in question. When the dispensing power of
the crown was exhibited in this new and more
extended form, it must have been universally
regarded as a repeal of the acts of parliament,
and as a direct assumption of legislative au-
thority.

In the petition of right, the dispensing
power is expressly enumerated among those
remarkable grievances, of which redress was.
claimed frpm Charles I. and which, on that
occasion, were declared to be violations of
the English constitution. As the petition of
right had passed into a law before the com-
mencement of the civil war, and had nevec

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 425

been repealed, it continued in force during the
reigns of Charles II. and of his brother.

In these circumstances, we cannot wonder
that the revival of the dispensing power by
James, a bigotted papist, with the avowed
purpose of admitting the Roman Catholics to
all offices, both civil and military, should be
regarded as an unequivocal declaration of his
firm resolution to subvert the religion and li-
berties of the nation.

As in the late rei<mj the exclusion bill was

o *

defeated by exciting the jealousy of the church
against the puritans, an attempt was now
made to unite the Roman Catholics in one
common cause with the Protestant noncon-
formists, by granting to both of them the
same relief from the hardships under which
they laboured. The artifice had in the begin-
ning some degree of success ; but was in a
short time detected by the dissenters, who
had too much penetration and foresight, to
sacrifice their ultimate safety to a mere tem-
porary advantage.

To reconcile the nation to the doctrine
of the dispensing power , a judicial determina-
tion was thought necessary, but could not

426 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

be procured without displacing several of the
judges, and appointing others over whom
the king had more influence. This pro-
duced a mock-trial, the issue of which might
easily be foreseen ; but, so far from removing
objections, it gave rise to new apprehen-
sion and disgust, by shewing, in strong co-
lours, the inclination, as well as the ability
of the crown, to poison the fountains of
justice.

For this exertion of the prerogative, James
alleged the most plausible motive — that of
securing liberty of conscience, and preventing
any person from suffering hardships on ac-
count of his religious principles. This was
the reason which he gave to the prince of
Orange; at the very time that, with unpa-
ralleled effrontery, he was dispatching an am-
bassador to Lewis XIV. expressing his ap-
probation of the barbarity inflicted on the
Protestants by the revocation of the edict of
Nantes. By this dissimulation of James, no
person could be deceived ; for that he was the
real author of all the persecution committed
against the Presbyterians in Scotland was
versally known.

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 427

But that none might mistake his meaning,
he took care that it should be illustrated by
his immediate conduct. The single purpose
for which he dispensed with the test, and with
the penal laws against non-conformists and
recusants, was evidently the introduction of
Roman Catholics into all offices of trust. To
accomplish this end he was indefatigable,
and had, in a short time, made far greater
advances than could have been expected.
Those who had no religion of their own
were easily persuaded to embrace that of
his majesty ; while many, whose consciences
did not permit them to take an active share
in the present measures, were unwilling, by
their opposition, to incur his resentment,
and endeavoured, by keeping themselves out
of public view, to avoid the impending
storm.

In Ireland, the Protestants were disarmed ;
the army was new modelled ; and a multi-
tude, both of private soldiers and officers
of that persuasion were dismissed. The
public administration, as well as the distri-
bution of justice, was placed in the hands of
Roman Catholics. A plan was formed of

428

revoking what was called the act of settlement,
by which, at the restoration of the late king,
the Protestants, in that country, had been
secured in the possession of certain estates ;
and as for this purpose it was necessary to
summon the Irish parliament, similar expe-
dients to those which had formerly taken
place in England, for securing elections in
favour of the crown, were upon this occasion
adopted. The charters of Dublin, and of
other boroughs were annulled ; and those com*
munities, by a new set of regulations, were
brought entirely under the management of
Roman Catholics*,

The government of Scotland was con>
mitted to men of the same principles. In
England, the king was not contented with
pushing the Catholics into offices in the
army, and in the civil department; he had
even formed the resolution of introducing
them into the church and the universities.
The violence with which he endeavoured to
force a popish president upon the fellows of
Magdalen College, Oxford, the public conse*

* Hume. Rapin.

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 429

cration of four bishops in the King's chapel,
with authority to exercise episcopal functions
in different districts; the royal permission
which was given them to print and circulate
their pastoral letters to the Roman Catholics
of England; the sending an ambassador to
Rome, to acknowledge the authority of the
Pope, and to make preparations for recon-
ciling the kingdom to the holy see ; these
events which followed one another in rapid
succession, plainly demonstrated that James
was not satisfied with giving liberty of con-
science to the professors of the Romish reli-
gion, but that he meant to invest them with
a legal jurisdiction. The church of Engv
land, who from opposition to the sectaries,
had supported the crown in the late usurpa-
tions of prerogative, was now roused by the
dangers which threatened her establishment :
and those -pulpits which formerly resounded
with the doctrines of passive obedience,
were employed in exciting the people to
the defence of their religious and civil
rights*.

* See Dalrymple. Appendix.

430 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

Among those who uttered inflammatory
discourses against the measures of the court,
Dr. Sharpe, a clergyman of London, dis-
tinguished himself by the severity of his re-
flections upon the late proselytes to popery.
The king enraged at this boldness, gave or-
ders to the bishop of London, that Sharpe
should be immediately suspended from his
clerical functions; but that prelate, who
seems to have entertained higher notions of
liberty than most of his brethren, excused
himself from proceeding in that summary
manner, which he alleged was inconsistent
with the forms of church discipline. James
was determined, not only to prevent Sharpe
from escaping, but even to punish this dis-
obedience of the bishop. With this view,
and for procuring an absolute authority
over the conduct of churchmen, he ventured
to revive the court of hioli-commission,

O

which, in the reign of Charles I. had been
abolished by the legislature, with an express
prohibition, that this or any similar tribunal
should ever be erected. Upon this new
ecclesiastical commission, the king, in open
defiance of the statute, bestowed the same

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 43i

inquisitorial powers which that court had
formerly possessed; and here he found no
difficulty in suspending both the delin-
quents*.

Armed with the powers of this tyrannical
jurisdiction, James was determined, not only
to overturn the church of England, but to
render her the instrument of her own destruc-
tion. He now issued a new proclamation,
suspending all the penal laws against non-
conformists, accompanied with orders that
it should be read by the clergy in all their
churches. The primate, and six of the
bishops, who, God knows, were not guilty
of carrying their principles of resistance to
any extravagant pitch, ventured, in the most
humble and private manner, to petition the
king, that he would excuse them from read-
ing this proclamation. This was followed
by a resolution of the king, which nothing
but an infatuation, without example, could
have dictated, to prosecute those prelates
for a seditious libel. Had this measure been
successful, the fate of English liberty would

* Hume. Rapin.

432 REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

have been decided. It was vain to seek
relief from oppression, if even to complain
of hardships, and to petition for redress*
though in terms the most respectful and sub-
missive was to be regarded as an atrocious
crime. This trial, the deep concern about
the issue of which appeared among all ranks*
the final acquittal of the prisoners in opposi-
tion to the utmost exertions of the crown*
and the violent demonstrations of joy and
triumph which followed that event, afforded
a decisive proof of the national spirit, and
served as a watch-word to communicate that
indignation and terror which filled the breasts
of the people*.

The situation and character of the prince
of Orange made the nation look up to him
as the person whom heaven had pointed out
for their deliverer. Applications accordingly
were made to him from every description of
Protestants, containing a warm and pressing
solicitation, to assist with an armed force, in the
rocstablishment of our religion and liberties >
an enterprise which was doubtless flattering

* Dalrymple. State Trials.

2

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 433

to his ambition ; while it coincided with those
patriotic views which he had uniformly dis-
covered, and which had produced the noblest
exertions in behalf of the independence of
his own country, and of all Europe.

When James had received information
concerning the invasion intended by that
prince, he was thrown into the utmost con-
sternation ; and endeavoured to avert the
resentment of his subjects by pretending to
relinquish the most unpopular of his mea-
sures. But the accident of a storm which
dispersed the prince's fleet, and was believed
to. have defeated the whole undertaking,
destroyed at once this temporising system of
concession, and exposed the insincerity of
his repentance*. A variety of circumstances
now co-operated in producing a revolution
of greater importance, and with less hurt or
inconvenience to the nation, than perhaps
any other that occurs in the history of the
world. It is observable, that the standing
army, overlooking the ordinary punctilios
and objects of their profession, deserted the

* Hume. Rapin.

j£-\L, HJi I.' -iT *r ,'.', Ji«. -!" i ',

VOL. III. f f

434 REICNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

sovereign when he became the declared enemy
of the constitution. The pusillanimity of
Jatnes, in forsaking his friends, and in quitting
the kingdom, gave rise to an easy settlement
where much difficulty was apprehended. He
had the weakness to imagine that his throw-
ing the great seal into the river would create
some embarrassment to the new administra-
tion.

As the character of this prince procured
no esteem, his misfortunes appear to have
excited little compassion. He possessed no
amiable or respectable qualities to compen-
sate or alleviate his great public vices. His
ambition was not connected with magnani-
mity ; his obstinacy and zeal were not sup-
ported by steadiness and resolution ; though,
as it frequently happens, they appear to have
been deeply tinctured With cruelty. The
gravity of his deportment, and his high pro-
fessions of religion, were disgraced by narrow
prejudices, and by a course of dissimulation
and falsehood. His fate was not more severe
than he deserved ; for, certainly, the sove-
reign of a limited monarchy cannot complain
of injustice, when he is expelled from that
1

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 435

kingdom whose government he has attempted
to subvert, and deprived of that power which
he has grossly and manifestly abused. Im-
partial justice, perhaps, would determine that
he was far from suffering according to his de-
merits ; that he was guilty of crimes, which,
in their nature and consequences, infer the
highest enormity ; and that, instead of for-
feiting his crown, he well deserved the highest

o o

punishment which the law can inflict.

There have lately been published several
extracts from the life of this prince, written
by himself, from which it is supposed that
the mistakes of former historians may be
corrected and much light thrown upon the
history of that period. What has already
been published is a meagre detail, destitute of
such particulars as might enable the reader
to form a judgment concerning the credi-
bility of the narration. From the character,
besides, and circumstances of the writer, it
should seem, that even if the whole work
were laid before the public, it would be intitled
to little authority. The writers of memoirs
concerning their own conduct are, in all

Ff2

REIGNS OF CHARLES THE SECOND,

eases, to be perused with caution, and allow-
ances for such embellishment, and such per-
version of facts, as may proceed from motives
of private interest or vanity. But of all men,
James, who appears to have written his life
with a view to publication, or at least of its
being produced in his own vindication, was
under the greatest temptation to exaggerate
or extenuate those particulars which might
affect the reputation, either of himself and his
friends, or of his numerous enemies. How is

7 :

it possible to trust the private anecdotes of a
writer, who, in a letter to the Prince of Orange,
could deny that he had any accession to a

treaty with France, after he had been for some

• ^

jnonths eagerly engaged in promoting it ; or
who gravely professed to the same person his
principles of universal toleration, while he was
conoTatulatins Lewis XIV. on the most into-

o o

lerant act of his reign, and expressing his great
satisfaction with the violent measure of that
monarch for the extirpation of heresy * ;

As James must have been sensible that he

.

•

, v j tiM CsiaJls U->

•* See his Letters. Dalrymple's Appendix.

s

AND JAMES THE SECOND. 337

was hated by a great part of the nation, and
that his views and conduct were severely cen-
sured, the relation which he gives of his trans-
actions must be considered as, in some mea-
sure, the representation of a culprit placed at
the bar of the public, which, though affording
good evidence against himself, yet when ad-
duced in his own favour, is worthy of belief
only according to its internal probability, and
to the degree of confirmation which it may
receive from collateral evidence.

438 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

•'tHuL'&rf

-

CHAPTER VII. ^

,

Of the Revolution- Settlement ; and the Reign of

William and Mary.

n i -j i / w^j

^

vJF all the great revolutions recorded in

the history of ancient or of modern times,
that which happened in England, in the year
1688, appears to have been productive of
the least disorder, and to have been conducted
in a manner the most rational, and consistent
with the leading principles of civil society.
When a sovereign has violated the fundamen-
tal laws of the constitution, and shewn a de-
liberate purpose of persevering- in acts of ty-
ranny and oppression, there cannot be a doubt
but that the people are entitled to resist his
encroachments, and to adopt such precautions
as are found requisite for the preservation of
their liberty. To deny this, would be to main-
tain that government is intended for the bene-
fit of those who govern, not of the whole com-
munity ; and, that the general happiness of

AND REI07ST QF WILLIAM AND MARY.

the human race, ought to be sacrificed to the
private interest, or caprice, of a few indivi-
duals. It cannot, however, be supposed,
that such resistance will ever be effected
without some disturbance, and without a
deviation from those forms and rules which
are observed in the ordinary course of ad*
ministration. When the machine is out of
order, it must be taken to pieces; and in
the repairing and cleaning of the wheels and
springs, there must be some interruption and
derangement of its movements. When a
general reformation of government has be-
come indispensible, it must be conducted ac-
cording to the exigency of times and cir-
cumstances; and few situations will occur,
in which it is practicable without many tem-
porary inconveniencies, or even without
violence and bloodshed. It is the part of
prudence and of justice, in those cases, to
adopt such measures as are likely to produce
the end in view with the least possible hard-
ship ; so that, although violent and irregular,
they may be justified by the great law of
necessity.

440 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

9 In consequence of a very general and
pressing invitation from the English nobility
and gentry, the prince of Orange, about the
end of the year 1688, landed, with an armed
force, in England ; and immediately publish-
ed a declaration, that the sole purpose of his
undertaking, -was to obtain the dismission of
Roman Catholics from those offices of trust
which they held contrary to law, and the
calling of a free parliament for the redress
of grievances. Though the nation was in
some measure apprised of this event, yet, in-
timidated by the unusual situation, they re-
mained, for a short time, irresolute and in sus-
pense ; but soon after, an universal approba-
tion of the enterprise was manifest from the
conduct of the people in all quarters, who
resorted to the prince, and formed an asso-
ciation to support his measures. The king
found himself deserted by those upon whose
fidelity he had most reason to rely ; even by
his own family, the prince and princess
of Denmark, and by a great part of that
army which he had provided to enforce his
authority.

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 441

In this alarming conjuncture, it might
have been expected that James, to extricate
himself from the difficulties in which lie was
involved, would have embraced one or other
of two different plans. By encountering the
present danger with firmness and resolution,
by collecting the forces that were still faithful
to him, and by endeavouring to scatter dis-
sension among his enemies, who, notwith-
standing their union in demanding a free par-
liament, were far from coinciding in their
political opinions, he might perhaps have been
successful, in defending his crown, at least,
ift protracting the war, till he might obtain
assistance from France. By conciliatory mea-
sures, on the other hand, by giving way to the
complaints of the people, by assembling a
new parliament, and submitting to certain re-
straints upon the prerogative, he might have
endeavoured to lull the nation in security,
trusting to some future opportunity of retract-
ing or evading those concessions. If either
of these plans, however liable to censure, had
been pursued, it is likely that the conse-
quences to the public would have been fatal.
But, happily, James was thrown into such

442 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

consternation as to be incapable of persisting
in any settled resolution. Yielding to the
impressions of fear and despondency, he
quitted entirely the field of action, and with-
drew, for the present, into a foreign country.
By this imprudent step, the remains of his
party became quite disheartened, and were
no longer in a condition to oppose the new
settlement.

The prince of Orange, having thus no
c;nemy to cope with, proceeded to execute
the task he had undertaken, by referring to
the people themselves, the redress of their
own grievances, and by employing the
power which he possessed, for no other pur-
pose than that of securing to them the pri-
vilege of settling their own government. As,
in the absence of the king, the ordinary
powers of the constitution could not be
exerted, the most rational and proper expe-
dients were adopted to supply the deficiency.
The prince invited all those who had been
members of any of the three last parliaments,
to hold a meeting for the purpose of giving
their advice in the present conjuncture.
By their direction, he called a convention,

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 443

composed of the usual members of the house
of peers, and of the representatives of the
counties and boroughs elected in the same
manner as in a regular parliament. This
meeting assembling at a time when the whole
nation was in a ferment, and when the people,
having arms in their hands, were capable of
making an effectual opposition, its deter-
minations, which passed, not only without
censure, but with strong marks of public
approbation and satisfaction, must be con-
sidered as the voice of the community at large,
delivered with as much formality, and in a
manner as unexceptionable as the nature of
things would permit. In this convention the
main articles of the revolution-settlement were
adjusted ; though to remove, as far as pos-
sible, every appearance of objection, they
were afterwards confirmed by the sanction of
a regular parliament.

That the King, who had shewn such a de-
termined resolution to overturn the religion
and government of the kingdom, and that
his son, then an infant, who, it was foreseen,
would be educated in the same principles,
and until he should arrive at the age of man-

444 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

hood, would be under the direction of his
father, and of his father's counsellors; that
those two persons, whatever might be the"
reverence paid to their title, should be
excluded from the throne, was, in the present
state of the nation, rendered indispensibly
necessary. In the convention, however, this
point was not settled without much hesitation
and controversy. The two great parties
who, since the reign of Charles the First, in
a great measure divided the kingdom, had
shewn themselves almost equally disposed to
resist the arbitrary measures of James for in-
troducing the popish religion. But though
a great part of the tories had, from the ter-
ror of popery, joined in the application to
the prince of Orange, that he would assist
them with a foreign army, to procure the
redress of grievances; no sooner were they
delivered from their immediate apprehen-
sions, than they seemed to repent of their
boldness, relapsed into their old political
principles, and resumed their former doc-
trines of passive obedience. They at least
Carried those doctrines so far as to maintain
that the people had no right, upon any

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 445

abuse of the regal power, or upon any pre-
tence whatever, to punish the sovereign, or
deprive him of the sovereignty; and that
even supposing the King to have resigned or
abandoned his royal dignity, the throne
could not upon that account, be rendered
vacant, but must immediately be filled by
the prince of Wales, to whom, upon the death
of his father, the crown must be instantly
transferred. According!; to this view, it was

o

contended, that, in the present emergency,
the administration should be committed to a
regency ; either in the name of James, if he,
was to be considered merely as absent ; or in
the name of his son, if the father had actually
abandoned the sovereignty.

The whigs, though they entertained more
liberal notions of government, were unwilling
to fall out with their present confederates,
and endeavoured by a temporising system,
to avoid unnecessary disputes upon abstract
political questions, and to render the new-
settlement, as much as possible, unanimous
and permanent.

It is a matter of curiosity to observe the
public debates on this important occasion ;

446 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT ;

jn which the natural spirit and feelings of
men, made up for the narrowness of their
philosophical principles ; and in which a
feigned and ridiculous pretence was employ-
ed to justify a measure which they did not
scruple to execute. They supposed that,
by leaving the kingdom, James had abdi-
cated the government; instead of boldly
asserting that, by his gross misbehaviour, he
had forfeited his right to the crown. That
James made his escape rather than comply
with the desires of his people, or assemble a
parliament to deliberate upon the redress of
grievances, was the real state of the fact. —
But that he meant by this to yield up, or re-
linquish his authority, there certainly was no
ground to imagine.- His flight was the ef-
fect of his obstinacy and his fear ; and was
calculated to procure the protection of a fo-
reign power, by whose aid he entertained the
prospect of being soon re-instated in his do-
minion. We cannot help pitying the most
enlightened friends of liberty, when we see
them reduced, on that occasion, to the ne-
cessity of softening the retreat of James, and
his attempt to overturn the government, by

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 447

regarding them as a virtual renunciation of
his trust, or voluntary abdication of his crown ;
instead of holding them up in their true
colours, of crimes deserving the highest pu-
nishment, and for which the welfare of society
required, that he should at least be deprived
of his office.

In Scotland, where a majority of the peo-
ple were presbyterians, arid felt an utter ab-
horrence, not only of popery, but of that
episcopal hierarchy to which they had been
forcibly subjected, and where the reforma-
tion, as I formerly took notice, had diffused
among all ranks, a more literary and in*
quiring spirit than was known in England ;
the convention, which Was likewise called by
the prince of Orange for the same purpose
as in the latter country, discovered, or at least
uttered, without any subterfuge, more manly
and liberal sentiments. " The estates of the
" kingdom found and declared, that James
" VII. had invaded the fundamental laws of
" this kingdom, and altered it from a legal
" and limited monarchy, to an arbitrary
" despotic power; and had governed the
" same to the subversion of the protestant

448 OF THE KEVOLUTION*SETTLE}VIENT;

" relioion, and violation of the laws and

o. *

" liberties of the nation, inverting all the ends
" of government; whereby he had forfeited
" the crown, and the throne was become
" vacant*."

But though the language employed by the
leaders in the English convention, was ac-
commodated to the narrow prejudices of the
times, their measures were dictated by sound
and liberal policy. Setting aside the king,
and the prince of Wales, in consequence of
the declaration already made, the right of
succession to the crown devolved upon the
princess of Orange, the king's eldest daugh-
ter, who had been educated in the protestant
religion, and was thought to be under no
disqualification from holding the reigns of
government. There was no intention of
converting the constitution into an elective
monarchy, or of deviating further from the
lineal course of inheritance than the present
V : : . hv d \ +At foo bsv ai • bsd 41 V" • M

* See continuation of Rapin, by Tindal, vol. 1C. This
declaration was made with only twelve dissentient voices;
a great number of the party in opposition having prevf-
ously retired from the meeting.

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 449

exigence required. The same circumstances,
however, which demanded the advancement
of the princess of Orange to the throne, made
it also necessary that the regal authority
should be communicated to her husband.
It would have been absurd to banish an ar-
bitrary and despotical prince, to break the
line of descent j by which the crown was
commonly transmitted, and for promoting
the great ends of society, to run the hazards
always attendant on the correcting of former
abuses, without making, at the same time, a
suitable provision for maintaining the new
settlement. But the state of Britain, and of
Europe, rendered this a difficult matter.
From the efforts of the popish party at home*
from the power of Lewis XIV. and the
machinations of the whole Roman Catholic
interest abroad ; not to mention the prepos-
sessions of the populace in favour of that
hereditary succession to the crown which old
usage had rendered venerable, there was
every reason to fear a second restoration, with
consequences more fatal than those which
had attended the former. Against those im-
pending calamities, nothing less than the

VOL. III. G g

450 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

abilities, and the authority of the prince of
Orange, the head of the protestant interest in
Europe, could be deemed a sufficient guard j
and it was happy for the liberties of mankind,
that the matrimonial connection of Mary
with a person so eminent, and so circum-
stanced, had, by suggesting his participation
of her throne, provided a barrier so natural,
and so effectual.

From these considerations, the prince and
princess of Orange were declared, by the
convention, to be king and queen of Eng-*
land; but the administration of the govern-
ment was committed solely to the prince*.
After determining this great point, the
convention, in imitation of the mode of pro-
cedure at the restoration* was, by a bill pass-
ing through the two houses, and obtaining the
royal assent, converted into a parliament; and
that assembly proceeded immediately to a re-
dress of grievances.

* Tindal. By a subsequent act in 1690, the crown,:
failing the king and queen, and their issue, and fail in*
the issue of Ann, and of the king, was settled upon the-
family of Hanover. — BURNE.

AKt> RfclGN OF WILLIAM AND MAKY. 451

Considering the disputes which, from the
accession of the house of Stuart, had been
the source of continual disturbance, and the
extravagant claims which had been repeat-
edly advanced by the princes of that family »
it was highly proper to lay hold of the pre-
sent occasion, for ascertaining the boundaries
of the prerogative, and for preventing, as
much as possible, all future controversy upon
the subject. The omission of this necessary
and obvious precaution, at the restoration of
Charles IL was an unpardonable neglect.
The parliament, therefore, after the example
of the petition of right, which had been
intended for a similar purpose in the reign
of Charles I. now prepared the famous bill
of rights; which, in the year 1689, was
passed into a law; and by which the con-
stitution, in several important articles, where
it had lately been invaded, was expressly
declared and established.

Of the violations of the constitution, which
had been the subject of complaint, the most
flagrant, perhaps, was the power assumed by
the crown of dispensing with statutes, and
of issuing proclamations in place of laws.

Gg2

452 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEME tf t-J

Other encroachments might contribute to
impair or disfigure our government ; this was
calculated to destroy the whole structure,
by completely undermining its foundations.
Had such a power been admitted, the king
would in reality have become a legislator;
the authority of parliament would have been
annihilated ; and the government changed
into an absolute monarchy. Though all such
exertions of the prerogative had been express-
ly reprobated and condemned in the petition
of right, they had not been abandoned by
the two succeeding monarchs ; but were more
especially renewed, and prosecuted with
great vehemence by James II. In the bill of
rights, therefore, it was thought necessary,
once more, to mark this procedure with the
express condemnation of the legislature ; and
to declare, " that the pretended power of sus-
" pending laws, or the execution of laws, by
" regal authority, without consent of parlia-
" ment, is illegal."

A similar declaration was made with re-
spect to another grievance ; that of levying
money by virtue of the prerogative, and
without the authority of parliament. That

AtfD REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 453

the national council had the sole right of im-
posing taxes, was an undoubted principle of
the constitution, reaching as far back as
the records of parliament. But as the crown,
when pressed for money, had invented a
variety of shifts for procuring supplies in a
clandestine and irregular manner, the legisla-
ture again interposed its authority to prohi-
bit, in all cases, those evasive and unwarrant-
able practices. No part of the constitution
had oftener than this attracted the eye of the
public, or, by repeated decisions, been ren-
dered more clear and indisputable. No
branch of parliamentary authority, we may
also observe, tends more effectually to secure
the liberties of the nation, by rendering the
king dependent upon the liberality of parlia-
ment, and laying him under the necessity of
calling frequent meetings of the national
representatives.

But little advantage could be expected from
the meetings of that assemblv, unless its mem-

^j *f *

bers, when called to deliberate on the business
of the nation, possessed an unbounded free-
dom of expressing their sentiments. Parlia-
jpents, originally, were composed of a few

454 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

great barons, who maintained this freedom by
their own opulence and power. Those distin-
guished personages were often in a condition,
singly, to defy their sovereign in the field, and
would have laughed at his pretensions to hin-
der them from speaking their minds in coun-
cil. But when the splitting of large estates,
and the introduction of representatives from
counties and boroughs, had extended the right
of sitting in parliament to many small pro-
prietors, their authority and weight came to
depend more upon their collective, than their
separate power ; and the greater weakness of
individuals obliged them to unite more in a
body for the defence of their parliamentary
privileges. The increase of their members, as
well as the greater extent of theip business,
introduced, at the same time, the practice of
arguing and debating, at more length upon
the different subjects before them, and render-
ed the eloquence, and the popular talents of
particular members, an engine of greater im-
portance in the determinations of every meet-
ing. Their speeches, calculated to make a
strong impression upon their hearers, became
frequently, as we may easily suppose, offensive

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 455

to the sovereign, and provoked him, in some
cases, to interrupt their proceedings, and even
to harass with imprisonment, and criminal
prosecution, those individuals who, by their
resolute opposition, or intemperance of lan-
guage, had incurred his resentment.

Such measures were, no doubt, arbitrary
and illegal. The English parliament, com-
posed of the immediate vassals of the crown,
formed originally the supreme court of justice
in the kingdom ; and its members could not,
on account of any alleged irregularity in de*
livering their opinions, be prosecuted before
an inferior judicatory. If they were guilty
of any indecorum in their speeches, or of any
misdemeanor in their senatorial capacity,
they were liable to the correction and censure
of their own tribunal, the members of which
had been witnesses of the offence, and were
the best judges of its demerit. But the pro-
secution of the offender before any other court,
or magistrate, was reversing the order of ju-
dicial establishments, by authorising a sub-
ordinate jurisdiction to review the conduct of
a superior, and rendering the lower officers

456 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

of justice, in some degree, paramount to the
highest.

As the members of the ancient parliament,
in questions relating to their behaviour in
their own court, were not amenable to any
other jurisdiction ; this privilege, which had
been established when that assembly con-
sisted of one house only, was not abolished
or altered when it came to be divided into two
houses : for though the judicial power was, in
general, appropriated to the peers ; the case
now under consideration was excepted. The
commons becoming sharers in the rank and
dignity of the national council, were led to
assume the same authority with the peers, over
the conduct of their own members, to judge
of their misbehaviour in the character of na-r
tional representatives, and to establish the
same exemption from every extraneous en-?
quiry or challenge.

It is manifest, at the same time, that an
unbounded freedom of debate is necessary for
enabling the members of either house to
perform their duty. If they have a right to
determine any measure, they must, of course.

be entitled to argue and reason upon it, to
examine its nature and consequences, and, by
placing it in a variety of lights, to prepare and
ripen their minds for a proper decision.
Unless they are permitted to do this, it surely
is impossible for them to exercise, with
national benefit, those important powers with
which they are intrusted. The super-eminent
authority of parliament is intended to con^
troul and limit the executive and judicial
powers ; to prevent those abuses which may
be expected from the ambition of the crown,
or from the rapacity and dishonesty of its
ministers. But how can we believe, that
members of parliament will take effectual
measures for this purpose, if they deliver their
opinions under the terrors of the rod, and are
sensible of being at the mercy of those power-
ful delinquents whom they ought to censure
and expose, or whose illegal proceedings it is
their duty to condemn and to restrain ?

Towards the latter part of the Tudor line,
and after the accession of the house of Stuart,
when the circumstances of the nation had
instilled a new spirit into the commons, and
disposed them to animadvert with greater

458 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

freedom and severity upon the measures of
the crown, the encroachments of the prero-
gative upon this parliamentary privilege, by
imprisoning members of parliament, and
subjecting them to heavy fines in the Star-
chamber, were carried to such a height as
threatened to destroy the independence of that
assembly. This, therefore, was a grievance
which, in the petition of right, the legislature
had endeavoured to redress ; and the bill of
rights contained a declaration, " that the
" freedom of speech, and debates, or pro-
" ceedings in parliament, ought not to be
" impeached, or questioned in any court or
" place out of parliament/'

Another great object which excited the
attention of parliament, in this famous bill,
was the power of the king to levy and main-
tain a mercenary army. In all the feudal
governments the king had a right to summon
at pleasure his vassals into the field ; where
they were obliged, for a limited time, to
serve him at their own expence. When the
stated period of their service, which was
generally forty days, had elapsed, they were
entitled to demand their dismission ; though

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 459

they sometimes were induced to remain
longer, upon the king promising to bear the
charges of this additional attendance. But
after mercenary troops had come to be sub-
stituted in place of the feudal militia, they
were engaged for an indefinite time ; and as
fighting became their profession, from which
they drew a regular subsistence, they were
commonly willing to continue it as long as
they could find employment. The king,
who, upon the immediate pressure of a war,
had been obliged to levy these troops, found
it commonly expedient, even after the con-
clusion of a peace, to be prepared for any
new enterprise, by retaining a part of them
in his pay ; and thus, in most of the coun-
tries upon the western continent of Europe,
standing armies were introduced and in-

O

creased. In Britain, however, from its insular
situation, there was little danger from any
foreign invasion, and mercenary and stand-
ing armies being less requisite for defence
than in other countries, the king had less
inducement to be at the expence of main-
taining them. Neither James I. nor Charles I.

460 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT ;

before the commencement of hostilities with
his parliament, had any considerable body of
mercenaries. At the conclusion of the civil
war, indeed, the ruling party found itself at
the head of a large and well-disciplined army;
and a great part of these troops were after-
wards maintained by Cromwell for the sup-
port of his government. The disbanding of;
Cromwell's army was one of the first acts of
the reign of Charles II. ; though this monarch,
when he avowed the purpose of governing
without a parliament, had also recourse to the
expedient of providing a military force ; which
his immediate successor endeavoured with all
his might, to increase. But exclusive of those
two instances, the English were hitherto unacr
quainted with mercenary standing armies,
and were not accustomed to consider a discre-
tionary power of raising and maintaining a
military force, in that shape, as a branch of
the prerogative. The few instances, besides,
in which the sovereign or chief magistrate,
had exercised this power, were su,ch, as clearly
to demonstrate its pernicious tendency, and
to point out the utility of subjecting in

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 461

this particular, the authority of the crown,
at least in times of public tranquillity, to the
controul of the legislature. With great pro-
priety, therefore, and in perfect conformity
to the spirit of the ancient constitution, it
was declared in the bill of ris;hts, " that the rais-

o *

" ing or keeping a standing army within the
" kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with
" consent of parliament, is against law/'

By another regulation, the maintenance of
a military force, whether in peace or war, was
rendered entirely dependent upon the autho-
tit.y of parliament.

The successful operations of an army
require that all its members should be under
the command of a single person, that they
should be compelled in the strictest manner
to obey his orders, and that they should be
subjected one to another in regular subordi-
nation. For attaining these ends, it is found
necessary, that all disobedience in the troops,
and every transgression of military duty,
should be punished with greater severity
and with more dispatch, than would be
expedient in delinquencies committed by the
rest of the inhabitants: As the king, the

462 OP THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

great feudal superior, was the supreme gene-
ral of the national forces, he was led, in that
capacity, to introduce a military discipline,
by inflicting such extraordinary penalties ;
and as, upon calling out his vassals into the
field, with their dependents and followers, he
might, at pleasure, convert all the free people
of the kingdom into an army, a foundation
was laid for the application of what was called
martial law to all the inhabitants. In early
times, this exertion of prerogative was pro-
bably little felt, and therefore overlooked ; but
when it had acquired such magnitude as to
become vexatious and oppressive, it excited
the attention of the public, and was consi-
dered as a grievance* The genius of the
English constitution demanded that any de-
viation from the common rules of punishment
should be subjected to the inspection and
controul of the legislature ; and there could be
no good reason, at any time, for extending
this peculiar system of penal law further than
to the forces actuallv in the. service of govern-

*• o

ment.

Another grievance, connected with the
former, arose from the power of the crowu

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 463

in marching and distributing the armies over
the country. As the inhabitants at large were
bound to supply the troops, in passing from
place to place, with lodgings and with various
articles of entertainment ; they were apt to be
more or less burdened with this duty, accord-
ing as by their compliance or opposition, they
merited the favour or incurred the resentment
of the Sovereign. Those who had refused him
a loan or a benevolence, were frequently ha-
rassed by the quartering of soldiers upon
them, until they found it expedient to acqui-
esce in the demand.

By the petition of right, both these griev-
ances were completely redressed, the exercise
of martial law by virtue of the prerogative,
and the quartering of soldiers on the inhabi-
tants without their consent, having been
totally prohibited. But as without some
extraordinary powers of this kind, the order
and discipline requisite for conducting and
regulating a military force can hardly subsist,
the king, ever since the revolution, has, by
special acts of parliament, been empowered to
authorise courts martial for punishing mutiny
and desertion, and to distribute the troops

464 OF TJIE REVOLUf lON-SETTLEMEtfT >

among the inn-keepers and victuallers of the
kingdom. The powers, however, conferred
upon the sovereign by these acts, have always
been regarded with a jealous eye> and have
therefore been granted only from year to
yean

To these articles Were subjoined several
others, of manifest utility, respecting the
illegality of the court of ecclesiastical com-
mission ; the right of the people to petition
the king, and the free election of their repre-
sentatives; together with some other immu-

o

nities and privileges, which were considered
as the birth-right of Englishmen, but which,
in the late reigns, had been either violated OF
disputed. Upon the whole, the bill of rights
contained no new limitations of the preroga-
tive. It is merely a declaratory statute, exhi-
biting the judgment of the legislature with
regard to some of the principal branches of
the English constitution ; and it accordingly
bears this express clause, " that all and sin-
" gular, the rights and liberties asserted and
" claimed in the declaration, are the true*
" ancient, and indubitable rights and liberties
" of the people of this kingdom/'

\ND REIGN OP WILLIAM AUD MARY. 465

jutAfter the revolution-settlement was com-
pleated, the same spirit which had given rise
to that great event was kept alive, and during
the reign of William III. became productive
of several regulations, tending to improve the
police of die kingdom, to secure the proper
distribution of justice, to guard against the
corruption of ministers, and to restrain the
abuses of prerogative.

Iii the bill of rights there was inserted a

O

general clause ; " that, for the redress of griev-
" ancts, 11 nd for the amending, strengthen-
" ing, and preserving of the laws, parlia-
" ments ought to be held frequently."
During the long controversy between the
people and the princes of the house of
Stuart, the regular meetings of that assembly
l>ecame the object of national concern ; and
in the reign of Charles I. it Avas provided,
that the interval between one meeting of
parliament and another, should not exceed
the period of three years, ; but no sooner
had the frequency of parliamentary assem-
blies been secured at the revolution, by the
impossibility of conducting the machine of
government without their concurrence, than

VOL. III. H h

466 or THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

there started up a new ground of suspicion,
which began to occupy the public attention.
As parliaments were now, of necessity, con-
sulted by the crown in all business of import-
ance, they became less afraid of its encroach-
ments, and consented more freely and rea-
dily to its demands. No longer engrossed
by the defence of their political rights, it
was apprehended that their members would
be more attentive to their private interest,
would endeavour to render themselves inde-
pendent of their constituents, or might be
improperly influenced by the executive
power. Before the revolution, the nation
was jealous of the crown only ; after it, they
became jealous of parliament. They be-
came apprehensive of the long continuance
of the same parliament, by which its mem-
bers mitht have leisure to form a regular
connection with ministry; and were eager
to establish the frequency of elections, by
which the representatives might be retained
under the authority and controul of the
electors. This gave rise to the triennial bill ;
by which it was provided that the same par-
liament should not be continued for more

AND REIGN OF WltLIAM AND MARY. 467

than three years ; a regulation to which, as
it contained a new limitation of the prero-
gative, the king was, not without some hesi-
tation and reluctance, prevailed upon to
give the royal assent*.

Among the different subjects of parlia-
mentary enquiry, the disposal of the revenues
which fell under the administration of the
crown was none of the least important. In
early times, when the ordinary ex pence of
government was defrayed out of the private
estate of the king, the nation seems to have
taken little concern in the administration of
the royal demesnes, but to have entrusted
the management of them to the prudence
and discretion of the person whom they re-
garded as the proprietor ; but, when the
advancement of national wealth had increased
the expence of administration much beyond
what the ancient patrimony of the crown
was able to discharge ; and when, of course,
every new enterprise was unavoidably the
occasion of new impositions upon the peo-
ple, it was considered more and more as the

Burnet.

H h2

OP THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT ;

duty of the national representatives to exa-
mine the expenditure of public money, and
to refuse their consent to taxes, unless they
were satisfied, both of the frugality with
which the former funds had been managed,
and of the expediency and propriety of the
purposes for which the new demand was
made. This, however, it may easily be
conceived, was likely to be the source of
endless -disputes; it was difficult, in every
case, to point out the exact line by which
the scrutiny of parliament should be directed,
or to determine the degree of latitude which,
in this respect, the sovereign ought to enjoy.
Though the examination of the public
expenditure was highly necessary, it might
undoubtedly be pushed to such a degree of
minuteness as would retard the movements
of government, and be equally inconsistent
with the dignity of the crown and with that
secrecy in the conduct of national business
which is often indispensable. To remove
these inconveniences, it was thought pro-
|?er, that there 'should be an allowance of .a
certain sum, for the support of the king's
household, and from the private exigencies

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY.

of the crown ; and that, concerning the
disposal of this, no account should, at least
in ordinary cases, be required. The re-
mainder of the public revenue, being mor$
immediately regarded as the estate of the
nation, was brought under the annual and
regular inspection of parliament. This re-
gulation was not a new limitation, but rather
an extension of the prerogative ; since it
restricted to a part of the national funds, that
parliamentary enquiry, which might for-
merly have been extended to the whole. It
appeared, at the same time, to steer in a due
medium between the interest of both pay-
ties, and was calculated to avoid contention,
by placing in the crown a reasonable pecu-
niary, trust, while it secured the nation from
the effects of gross mismanagement and
extravagance. About the end of the reign
of James II. the whole public revenue
amounted, at an average, to near two mil-
lions; and the civil list, settled upon Wil-
liam and Mary, including the hereditary
rents and duties, still drawn by the crown,
was fixed at about 700,0001. a year.

1

470 OF THE REVOLUTIOX-SETTLEMENT J

With respect to the internal government
of the kingdom, no circumstance appeared
more immediately to call for a reformation
than the distribution of justice. In all the
principal tribunals, the judges had been
hitherto appointed by the king during
pleasure. In such a situation, chosen from
the mercenary profession of the bar, where
a servile dependence upon the crown must
open the great road to preferment, and
being indebted to the sovereign for the con-
tinuance of those offices from which they
derived their livelihood and rank, it was not
to be expected that they should often bo
willing to distinguish themselves by sup-
porting the rights of the people, in opposi-
tion to the encroachments of prerogative.
Wherever the king was warmly interested
in a cause, or a political job was to be
served, they were laid under so great a
temptation to shrink from their duty, that
they had seldom the resolution to withhold
any decision which he wished to procure.
This observation may be extended from the
(lays of Tresilian down to those of Scroggs

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 471

and Jeffries ; and is applicable to the ordi-
nary courts of law, as well as to the star-
chamber and high-commission, which were
confessedly under the direction of the crown.
Witness the opinion of the judges, in the
case of ship-money, and in the question con-
cerning the king's dispensing power, in
which those grave interpreters of the law
were not ashamed to betray their trust, and
to become the mean tools of arbitrary
power. In the trial of the bishops, indeed,
there were found two justices of the king's
bench who spoke in favour of the defend-
ants ; for which they were immediately
deprived of their seats ; but this was a ques-
tion in which the basis of religion, as well as
that of the constitution, was now perceived
to be at stake ; and in which the popular
ferment had excited uncommon zeal and
spirit.

In the reign of William III. it was enacted,
that the judges in the three great courts of
common law, should hold their offices dur-
ing their own life and that of the king; a
regulation by which they became nearly as
independent as their professional character

472 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

and their appointment by the crown will
admit.

A provision for liberty of conscience in
matters of religion was another object of
great importance, which the king, much to
his honour, endeavoured, however unsuc-
cessfully, to accomplish.

The long contest between the church and

O * •

the dissenters, had been productive of nar-
row prejudices, and of mutual antipathy,
inconsistent with that liberality and candour
which might have been expected from the
rational system of religion professed, at that
time, by either of the parties. When roused
by the common danger of popery, to which,
immediately before the revolution, they
were both equally exposed, they had cor-
dially united in defence of the protestant
interest; but no sooner had that danger
been removed, than their former jealousy
recurred, and their mutual dissensions broke
out afresh. The apprehension which the
church entertained of the dissenters, was
increased by the reflection, that the king
had been educated in their principles, and
regarded them as t,hat part of the nation

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 473

which had been the most active in placing
him on the throne. But William had too
much prudence, and , too strong a sense of
justice, to make any attempt against the
national religion, which had received the
sanction of public authority, and was agree-
able to the sentiments of a great majority, both
in parliament and throughout the nation.
In conformity, however, to his enlarged
views of religious freedom, he was disposed
to remove those hardships to which the pro-
testant sectaries were subjected. His first
object was the repeal of the test act, by
which the non-conformists were excluded
from civil and military offices. Upon the
supposition that the dissenters are equally
good subjects as those who profess the esta-
blished religion, it will be difficult to assign
a plausible reason for excluding them from
the service of their country, or from a share
of her public honours and emoluments.
The national church has, doubtless, a title
to protection from every attack, whether
open or concealed, by which her establish-
ment may be endangered ; but why should
it be feared that the ecclesiastical establish-

474 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT ;

ment is in danger from the attacks of dissen-
ters, while these last have no assistance from
the magistrate, and are allowed to wield no

o *

other weapons but those of argument and
persuasion ? In gaining proselytes, every ad-
vantage is on the side of the church, whose
doctrines and forms of worship are confirmed
by ancient usage, and whose clergy are
maintained at the public expence. Those
who are indifferent about religion, or who
look upon modes of faith as of little conse-
quence, will generally adhere to that system
which is already established, and which costs
them nothing. The Roman catholics, how-
ever, were, at that time, considered, with
reason, as in a different situation from pro-
testant dissenters, having adopted political
prejudices which rendered them enemies to
the civil government.

The puritans, it is true, had, in the reign
of Charles I. overthrown the religious esta-
blishment; but this was owing to the inju-
dicious interference of the latter in support-
ing the arbitrary measures of the monarch ;
while the former zealously defended the
rights of the people. The church having

AND REIGX OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 4/5

embarked in the same cause with despotism,
she was overwhelmed, and justly shared the
same ftite with her ally ; whence arose the
triumph arid exaltation of her religious with
that of her political enemies.

But however groundless, at this time, the
terrors of the high-church party undoubtedly
were, they prevailed in parliament ; and the
measure of repealing the test act was re-
jected. William afterwards attempted a plan
of comprehension ; proposing to form, with
mutual concessions, a religious establishment,

o

which might include a considerable part at
least of the dissenters; but in this he was
not more successful. The two parties were
too heterogeneous to admit of such a coali-

O

tion ; and, like ingredients of opposite qua-
lities, discovered no less repugnance to a par-
tial, than to a total union. Having failed in
these liberal schemes, he suggested a bill of
toleration, by which the Protestant non-con-
formists, if not admitted to the same political
privi leges with their brethren of the church,
might yet be exempted from all penalties,
and authorized by law in the open profession
and exercise of their religion. Even this

476 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

indulgence, which was obtained without op-
position, marks, at that period, a considera-
ble enlargement of religious opinions ; and
may be regarded as forming a conspicuous
era in the history of ecclesiastical govern-
ment.

Notwithstanding the invaluable blessings
which this prince had procured to the nation,
his administration was never very popular, nor
free from disturbance. The two great politi-
cal factions, which, before he mounted the
throne, had almost entirely disappeared, were
in a little time revived ; and by their intrigues,
and party views, he was, in some cases, pro-
voked or deceived.

As the principles of the tories had led
them early to retard and oppose the revo-
lution-settlement, so their bad humour and
disappointment excited them afterwards to
practice every expedient for interrupting
and preventing that success and prosperity
which might otherwise- have resulted from
it. The situation of William, upon his first
advancement to the English throne, must
have naturally disposed him to place his
chief confidence in the whigs, by whom

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 4?7

his undertaking had been most warmly and
heartily promoted. But the subsequent
views and measures of this party contributed
by degrees to alienate his affections. They
betrayed a constant jealousy of the crown.
Their parsimony in granting supplies was
pushed to an extreme, altogether incompa-
tible with those patriotic, but expensive
enterprises, in which he was engaged. Their
aversion to a standing army, which was
earned so far as to require the dismission of
his Dutch guards, the old and favourite
companions of all his military operations,
appears to have been regarded by him as an
indication of personal enmity and distrust.
Though this prince discovered an invariable
attachment to the form of a limited mo-
narchy, it must not thence be concluded,
that he willingly submitted to all such

^? &

restrictions of the prerogative, and to all
such extensions of popular privilege, as
were aimed at by many of the whigs. He
probably entertained higher notions of the
regal authority than were found, even in
that age, to prevail among this description
of the inhabitants. It is not surprising.

4?8 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT ;

besides, that a monarch, however moderate
in his general principles, should, in the ordi-
nary course of business, be sometimes be-
trayed, like other men, into an impatience
of opposition, that he should be ruffled with
contradiction, or vent his displeasure against
those who had thwarted his measures. The
whigs becoming, on this account, ob-
noxious to the king, the torics endea-
voured to conciliate his favour by their
apparent assiduity and solicitude to humour
his inclinations. Though it is probable that
the sagacity of William penetrated the views
of this party, he took advantage of their
professed intentions, and made use of their
assistance in executing that great system of
European policy which he had long medi-
tated. He adopted the hazardous plan of
balancing the two parties, either by pro-
moting them jointly to offices, or by alter-
nately employing the one and the other. In
pursuing this line of conduct, so far from
gaining the friendship of either, he incurred
the resentment of both. The whigs, over-
rating their merit in accomplishing the
revolution, were highly dissatisfied with the

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 479

return made to their services; while the
tories considered the favours bestowed upon
them as the effects of interested and tempo-
rising politics, which afforded no proof of
any real confidence or affection ; and both
parties being thus, by turns, thrown into
opposition, were actuated by the animosity
and rancour arising from disappointed am-
bition, sharpened by the acrimony and
agitation, proceeding from the heat of con-
troversy and the triumph of their adversa-
ries. In this situation, many individuals of
high rank and consequence became desirous
of restoring the exiled family ; and, even
when employed in the service of govern-
ment, did not scruple to betray the secrets
of their master ; to correspond with the.
court of Versailles and that of St. Germains ;
and to promise their assistance to the late
king for the recovery of his crown. .What
is more surprising, it appears, that some
persons of distinction among the whigs
were induced to hold a correspondence in
the same quarter; but with what views, or
from what motives, whether from gross cor-
ruption, and the effect of discontent and

480 OF TUT, RETOLU TIOX-SE TTLEMEXT;

disgust, or from an opinion of the instability
of the present government, which led them
to provide for their own safety in case of a
counter-revolution, it is not easy to deter-
mine*.

While many of the leading men in the
kingdom were eni>a«:ed in such crooked and

d? cn >j

infamous transactions, the inferior partizans
of the late king were attempting a more
expeditious way to his restoration, by the
assassination of William ; but these detestable

-

* The evidence upon this point, adduced by Mr.
M'Pherson, in his collection of original papers, is not
very distinct. He rests, in a great measure, upon the
memoirs of James, and the reports of persons whom he
employed in the management of his affairs. But this
prince, and his agents, were so credulous and sanguine,
as to over- rate and magnify every circumstance in their
own favour, and to become the diipes of every impostor.
According to their accounts, it is a miracle that the
government of King William could subsist for a moment,
since both whigs and tories were equally zealous in over-
turning it, and were only vying with one another in the
execution of that enterprise. It is the privilege of every
unfortunate adventurer, to weary all his hearers with end-
less proofs that he has met with uncommonly bad usage,
and that his undertaking, in the natural course of things,
should have been successful.

AND REIGX OF WILLIAM AXD MARY. 481

conspiracies were fortunately disappointed
and produced no other consequence than to
exhibit fresh instances of the courage and
magnanimity so conspicuous in the character
of that prince, and to excite in the nation a
grateful sense of the dangers which he so
cheerfully encountered for the preservation

i3F»VJ| 'iir- ' * I

of English liberty.

j The extensive enterprises in which the
crown was involved immediately after the re-
volution; the settlement of Britain, the re-
duction of Ireland, the prosecution of the war
with France ; all these operations were pro-
ductive of much greater cxpence than the
nation expected, or than parliament could be
persuaded to defray. As ministers, therefore,
were unable, by the yearly produce of taxes,
to answer the demands of government, they
were forced to anticipate the supplies, by
borrowing money from individuals. To those
creditors they granted securities, both for the
interest and capital, on branches of the public
revenue, believed to be sufficient, in a few
years, to repay the loan, and so clear off the
incumbrance. Such were the necessities of
the crown, that the national debt, contracted
VOL. in. i i

V4f A IT CL * A. I/A i*.»«ji.

482 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

in this manner, had risen, before the peace of
Ryswick, to above twenty millions ; a burden
which, at that period, appeared so enormous,
that it was thought to threaten the nation
with immediate bankruptcy, and became a
topic of much clamour, and of bitter invec-
tive against the government.

Some politicians, by an over-refinement
affected to consider this national debt as an
advantage to the crown, by creating in the
monied interest a dependence upon govern-
ment for the security of their funds. And
hence it was inferred, that the procuring of
such effectual support had been the great ob-
ject of William in contracting those burdens.
But it is not likely that a king, any more than
a private man, is ever induced to borrow, from
the consideration that his creditor may become
his protector ; especially when he must expect
that his creditor, as the price of his protection,
will acquire over him the authority of a master
and governor. The practice of contracting
national debt arose from the same causes in
Britain, and in all the other opulent nations
of Europe ; from the dissipation and extra-
vagance which are, the usual effects of wealth
\

KEIGX OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 483

and luxury : from an increase of activity and
ambition, producing enterprises of greater ex-
tent than the ordinary revenues of the state
are capable of supporting; and, above all,
from the facility of borrowing, occasioned by
that great circulation of capital which is the
natural consequence of extensive trade and
manufactures.

When we contemplate, in every point of
view, the important revolution accomplished
by the prince of Orange, the hazardous nature
of the undertaking, the prudence and vigour
with which it was .conducted, the solid ad-
vantages which have resulted from it to Britain,
~

and to all Europe, we must ever look up to
our great deliverer with admiration and with
gratitude. It may be questioned who, among
statesmen and heroes, have displayed the
greatest genius and abilities : it is yet more
difficult, perhaps, to determine, who has been
actuated by the most pure and genuine prin-
ciples of patriotism : but who is the monarch
that has conferred the most extensive benefits
upon mankind, will hardly be doubted; while
the actions of William III. shall hold a place
in the annals of the world. Had it not been

1 1 2

OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

for the active, the persevering, and the single
exertions of this prince, it is more than pro-
bable, that Britain would have been subjected
both to an ecclesiastical and civil tyranny;
that Lewis XIV. would have subdued Holland,
and the estates in alliance with the Dutch ;
that the protestant interest would, in a short
time, have been annihilated ; and that the
greater part of Europe would either have been
reduced to a vast, unwieldy despotism, like
that of ancient Rome, or parceled out among
a few absolute sovereigns, who, in the general
struggle for dominion, had been able to retain
their independence. But the vigorous defence
of the United Provinces, against the attacks
of the French king, gave time for opening the
eyes of many European princes. The revo-
lution in England broke off at once the con-

O

nection of the kingdom with France, and with
the church of Rome ; it not only secured tier
a free government at home, but united her
under the same head with the other great
maritime state which had arisen in Europe,
and this powerful combination was followed
by such alliances, and by such military ope-
rations as .were sufficient to restore the balance
of power, and to fuistrate those ambitious de-

AXD REIGN OF WILLIAM AXD MARY. 485

signs that were so hostile to the peace and
tranquillity of Europe. In fine, the revolution
in England kept alive that spark which kind-
led the flame of liberty in other countries, and
is now likely to glide insensibly over the whole
habitable globe.

The character of William has been scruti-
nized and censured with a severity and malig-
nity, corresponding to the rage and disappoint-
ment of that royal family, and of their nu-
merous and zealous adherents, whose power
and projects he overthrew. From the cir-
cumstances however which his enemies have
laid hold of, as a handle for detraction, we
may discover the worst lights in which his
conduct was capable of being represented,
and thus obtain the most satisfactory evi-
dence of his real integrity and merit.

He obtained the crown of England by do
throning the person who was at the same time
his uncle and his father-in-law. Those who
form their ideas from tlie habits acquired in the
inferior walks of society are apt to conceive
that the domestic affections should have the
same influence in the government of kingdoms
as in the scenes of private life; not considering

486 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

that the situation of princes renders them fre-
quently strangers to their own kindred, and
that the cares of the public, in which they are
necessarily involved, not only exclude them
from those friendships, and from that mutual
intercourse of good offices which take place
-among the rest of mankind, but suggest the
consideration of peculiar duties which their
•station has rendered of superior obligation.
How seldom are kings prevented from going
to war with each other because they happen
to be relations ? How absurd would it be to
suppose that the public interest should yield
to so insignificant a motive?

But if ever an individual, in fulfilling his
duty to the public, was called upon to over-
look family connections, the prince of
Orange was undoubtedly the man. With-
out dethroning his kinsman it was impossible
to preserve the English constitution, or even,
perhaps, to attain another object which had
long engrossed his mind, the independence
and security of his native country. Nor
had he' ever received such treatment from
James as laid claim to any peculiar grati-
' tude or affection. In *he behaviour of that

AND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 48?

monarch he experienced nothing but enmity,
dissimulation, and falsehood.

Had William lived in the age of Roman
virtue, the sacrifice of a domestic relation,
in the cause of public liberty, would have
been accounted highly meritorious; or if
any part of his conduct had been thought
blameable, it would have been the sparing
of the tyrant's life, by which the country
was exposed to future danger. But the
manners of the age had introduced milder
sentiments of patriotism; and in surveying
this great revolution, we cannot overlook
one pleasing circumstance, that it was hardly
stained with a drop of blood. Though the
arbitrary and despotical measures of James
had rendered him unworthy of the crown,
and drawn upon him the indignation of the
people, he was treated with uncommon
lenity, and in the very critical period when
the popular ferment was raised to the
highest pitch, instead of suffering an exem-
plary punishment, he was merely deprived
of that sovereignty which he had shewn a
fixed resolution to abuse. It appears, at the
same time, that William was not destitute of
regard to the family of this unfortunate

488 -OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

kinsman. There is now sufficient evidence
that he was willing to pay the dowry which
had been stipulated to James's queen; and
that he even offered to' promote the succession
of the son, the late prince of Wales, to the
throne of England, if proper precautions were
xaken to secure his education in the protestant
religion ; a condition which the infatuated bi^
gotry of the father prompted him to reject*.

It has been said, that, in accomplishing
the revolution, William was actuated by his
ambition, not by motives of public spirit.
But such an aspersion, it is evident, may be
thrown indiscriminately upon every person
who pursues a line of conduct in which his
interest happens to coincide with his duty.
It would be happy for the world if the am-
bition of great men was always directed to
such actions as tend to the good of society ;
if the love of power was uniformly exerted
in rescuing the human race from slavery and
oppression. There can be little doubt, that
the prince of Orange, in marrying the eldest
daughter of James, who at that time had no
sons, considered the eventual succession to the
crown as an advantage which might result from

* Dalrymple's Memoirs, Vol. 1J.

A:ND REIGN OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 489

the connexion. "But that he was guilty of any
improper step to hasten or secure the acquisi-
tion of this object^ cannot with justice be as-
serted. In the violent political disputes which
clouded the reign of his two uncles, he appears
to have given some countenance to the party
in opposition to the court ; but this party was
composed of the friends of liberty and the pro-
tcstant religion, which those two princes, in
conjunction with France, had formed a league
to destroy. Upon the same account, he fa-
voured the enterprise of the duke of Mon-
mouth ; though he knew that this nobleman
aspired to the throne, and must therefore have
regarded him in the light of a rival.

A late author seems to believe that William
artfully suggested to his father-in-law, those
very measures which he afterwards took hold
of to ruin that unfortunate monarch. This is
a curious hypothesis, requiring no ordinary
portion of credulity. One sovereign counsels
the other to act the part of a tyrant, that ting
false friend and adviser may have the benefit
of deposing him ; and the simple king, fallin^
into the snare, is persuaded to forfeit his do-
minions by a person in whom, on no other oc-
casion, he had ever placed any confidence.

490 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

To depreciate the military talents of this
prince, it has been observed, that in most of
his battles he was defeated. But we must re-
member that he had numberless difficulties to
surmount ; that originally, with a handful of
troops, he was obliged to cope with the power-
ful and well-disciplined armies of France, and
with the able commanders, who had been
trained up in the most active and flourishing
period of that monarchy ; that, after he be-
came king of England, he was continually dis-
turbed by the treachery and the factious dis-
putes of the leaders in parliament, and was
neither supplied with money nor with men in
proportion to the magnitude of his undertak-
ings. When proper allowance is made for the
circumstances in which he was placed, instead
of reflecting upon his bad success, we cannot
help wondering that he was able to maintain
his ground ; and we must admire the fertility
of his resources by which, like the great ad-
miral Coligni, he rose more formidable upon
every defeat, and appeared to derive from it
all the advantages of a victory.

His temper and disposition have been repre-
sented as cold, haughty, and morose ; render-
ing him disagreeable in all the relations of pri-

VXD RF.IGN OF WILLIAM AXD MARY. 491

rate lite ; and proving aft' inseparable bar to
his popularity with the English nation. In rea-
lity, whether from natural constitution* or from
his beins: constantly ertgfafited in serious and

O " O O

important pursuits; ' htt 'was grave and stately
in his deportment, reserved and distant in his
ordinary demeanour. But that he was incapa-
ble of friendship or affection for those who had
obtained his good opinion' and favour, there is
no ground to suppose. Nor was the severity
of his adust complexion without intervals of
gaiety and cheerfulness. According to the re-
port of those who knew him intimately, he was
fond of relaxing from the cares of government,
and of dissipating the solitary gloom of a
throne by the pleasures of the table, and the
free conversation of a few select friends ; in
-whose company, it is said, he was neither des-
titute of good humour nor of a turn for plea-
santry. There can be no doubt, however, that
he was more distinguished by a solid undei%
standing and useful talents than by slight and
superficial accomplishments. Plain and simple
in his manners, he neither studied to disguise
his feelings, nor to practise upon the humours
and follies of others ; but, though an enemy to
dissimulation and falsehood, yet, wherever

492 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT;

secrecy was necessary, he was perfectly impe-
netrable. His success in the cabinet was
greater than in the field ; because he there de-
pended more upon himself, and was in great
measure his own agent in those public negoci-«
ations which he happily concluded. Through
the whole of his life he seems to have adhered
invariably to those political principles which,
in his early years, he had imbibed ; and if he
was ambitious, his ambition was entirely
subordinate to his public views. To preserve
the independence of Holland, and to maintain
the balance of Europe, were the great ends
which he incessantly pursued, and to which
the prosperity of Britain was, perhaps, re-
garded as a secondary object. It was, in all
probability, the suspicion of this, more than
his unpopular and forbidding manners, that
prevented his gaining the affections of the
English. But in the mind of William,
and in truth, the interest of the Dutch com-
monwealth, and that of the British domi-
nions, were inseparable ; and both were
equally promoted, not only by his military
exertions before the peace of Ryswick, but
also, in the subsequent parts of his reign, by
those great alliances and preparations which

AND REIGX OF WILLIAM AND MARY. 4<)3

led the way to the splendid and successful war
of queen Anne, and tended so effectually to
diminish the dangerous power of Lewis XIV.
In the administration of Britain, the con-
duct of this prince was no less uniform and
consistent with his principles. Though a friend
to religious toleration, he supported the church
of England as by law established; and though
he never disputed those limitations of the pre-
rogative which were agreeable to the old con-
stitution, as explained by the revolution-set-
tlement, he was averse from all political inno-
vation, and tenacious of what he accounted
the ancient rights of the crown.

o

With respect to the nature of the interest-
ing transaction which produced the accession
of William III. though all parties are now
disposed to speak of it in the language of ap-
probation, politicians of a certain description
have been much disposed to magnify the
changes introduced by it. They suppose that
the ancient government of England was arbi-
trary and despotical, and that, from the period
of the revolution-settlement, we are to date the
first establishment of our limited monarchy.

Were it not for the known influence of

494 OF TIjLE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT ;

party prejudices and passions, it might seem
surprising that any one acquainted with the
history of the country, should entertain such
an opinion, or should expect, by any degree of
dexterity or abilities to render it plausible to
ordinary readers. . The great outlines of the
English constitution may be traced back to
very remote antiquity". To ascend no higher
than the age immediately succeeding the great
charters, we find the settled form of a parlia-
ment, consisting of a king and two houses;*
an exclusive power in that assembly to make
laws, to impose taxes, and to regulate the or-
der of succession to the crown ; an exclusive
authority in the house of commons to bring-
in money bills, and in that of the peers to dis-
tribute justice in the last resort. We find also
the regular establishment of the chief courts
of justice which exist at present ; the institu-
tion of trials by jury, both in civil and cri-
minal matters ; and a specific regulation to
prevent the sovereign from the arbitrary im-
prisonment of individuals. These important
branches of the constitution had received the.
sanction of ancient usage, confirmed by a va-
riety of statutes and public declarations; -they

AND REIGN OF 'WILLIAM AXD MARY. 495

hud, it is true, been frequently violated by the
sovereign, who endeavoured to elude their
force by various expedients and evasive prac-
tices j but whenever those violations had been
so often repeated as to attract th£ attention of
the public, they became the subject of national
complaint, and were restrained or punished by
new interpositions of the legislature. As new
instruments were employed to attack the con-
stitution, a new shield became necessary, and
was held out in its defence.

The interposition of greatest importance at
the revolution, consisted in deposing the so-
vereign for his crimes, and in setting aside
the lineal heir from considerations of expe-
diency. Though sucli interpositions of the
two houses of parliament were not without
example in the English history, they had not
occurred in a civilized age ; for the trial and
execution of Charles I. had been eifccted
without the free determination of the one
house, and without any concurrence of the
other. The consequence of this deposition
was to place the new king in circumstances
which prevented him ever after from calling
in question those powers of parliament which

496 OF THE REVOLUTION-SETTLEMENT,^.

he had solemnly recognized. Having received
the crown by a parliamentary title, he had no
pretence to claim it by hereditary right, or to
refuse the performance of those conditions
under which it was bestowed upon him. In-
stead of the vicegerent of heaven, assuming
an authority independent of any human con-
troul, he was reduced to be the chief magis-
trate of a free people, appointed by the
community, and possessed of those powers
only with which, for the common good, he had
been expressly intrusted. The forfeiture, at
the same time, which had been incurred by
the late king, whatever softening appellation
was given to it, proved a formidable precedent
to all future sovereigns, proclaiming that they
were amenable to public justice, and could
not expect, with impunity, to trample upon
the laws of their country.

.

END OF VOL. III.

3. G. BAHX. HP, PRINTER, SKINNER STREET, I.ONDO*.