CONTENTS.

BOOK VI.

GOVERNMENT IN ENGLAND WITHOUT THE PARLIAMENT.

TROUBLES IN SCOTLAND.

CHAP. PAGE
I. Peace with France and Spain [3]
II. Share of England in the events of the Thirty Years’ War 1630-1636 [15]
III. Monarchical tendencies of the Home Government [31]
Taxes levied without a grant of Parliament [33]
Charles I’s relations with Catholicism [38]
State of opinion in the Church of England at this time [45]
Further designs of the Government [51]
Public Affairs [54]
IV. Conflicting tendencies of the Age, and within the Kingdom of Great Britain [59]
V. Origin and outbreak of Ecclesiastical Disturbances in Scotland [71]
VI. The Scottish Covenant [88]
VII. Attempts at an accommodation. Independent Assembly of the Church [105]

BOOK VII.

CONNEXION BETWEEN THE TROUBLES IN SCOTLAND AND THOSE IN ENGLAND AND ELSEWHERE.

CHAP. PAGE
I. Campaign of Charles I against Scotland [121]
II. Relations of the English Court with the Court and Policy of France [138]
III. Weimar and with the Spanish fleet under Oquendo Relations of England with the army of Bernard of [157]
IV. Renewed disturbances in Scotland [169]
V. Strafford and the Short Parliament [182]
VI. The Scots in England [199]

BOOK VIII.

THE LONG PARLIAMENT AND THE KING, DOWN TO THE OUTBREAK OF THE CIVIL WAR.

CHAP. PAGE
Introduction [215]
I. Summoning of the Parliament [216]
II. The first sittings of the Long Parliament [225]
III. Progress of aggressive tendencies in the Lower House.
Debates on Episcopacy 		[240]
The Proceedings against Strafford [246]
IV. Attempt at a Reaction [253]
V. Parliamentary and popular agitation. Execution of Strafford [264]
VI. Concessions and new demands [272]
VII. Charles I in Scotland [280]
The Irish Rebellion [283]
VIII. Days of the Grand Remonstrance [290]
IX. Formation of a new Ministry. Tumultuous agitation in the Capital [304]
X. Breach between the King and the Parliament [315]

BOOK IX.

THE ENGLISH CIVIL WAR, 1642-1646.

CHAP. PAGE
Introduction [335]
I. Origin of the Civil War [338]
II. The Campaigns of 1642 and 1643 [362]
III. Fresh interference of the Scots. Campaign of 1644 [383]
IV. Preponderance of the Scots. Reconstruction of the English army [405]
The Westminster Assembly [408]
The Negotiations at Uxbridge [412]
Dissensions in Parliament. The Self-denying Ordinance [415]
V. The Campaign of 1645 [423]

BOOK X.

INDEPENDENTS AND PRESBYTERIANS. FATE OF THE KING.

CHAP. PAGE
Introduction [447]
I. Flight of the King to the Scots [448]
II. Charles I at Newcastle [465]
III. The Parliament and Army at variance [480]
IV. Influence of the Agitators [495]
V. The so-called Second Civil War [511]
VI. Fall of the King [530]

BOOK VI.
GOVERNMENT IN ENGLAND WITHOUT THE PARLIAMENT. TROUBLES IN SCOTLAND.

CHAPTER I.
PEACE WITH FRANCE AND SPAIN.

If we consider the embarrassment in which Charles I had been involved by his conduct of the war, we are tempted to assume that, in order to extricate himself from it, he must have opened negotiations with the two great powers with which he was at war whilst they were still at variance with one another. This however was not the case.

Negotiations with France were opened at the instigation of the powers combined to resist Spain, between which an agreement had first been set on foot by James I, and had been renewed by Buckingham. Those powers regarded the breach between England and France as a misfortune, which they must endeavour to obviate if they would carry on the war against Austria and Spain with full vigour. The Republic of Venice, which felt itself most seriously threatened by these powers, made a great point of promoting a reconciliation between France and England by the agency of its ambassadors.

A few days before his unhappy end, Buckingham withdrew with the Venetian ambassador, Aluise Contarini, into a retired chamber in one of his country-houses, and there concerted with him a letter of pacific import to his brother envoy in France, for him to communicate to the French court[1]. While Buckingham was preparing to strike a blow, he still hoped to procure A.D. 1629. from France tolerable conditions for the besieged town of Rochelle. All other difficulties he thought might then be removed in a couple of hours.

But Buckingham was assassinated. When the Venetians after this event brought their negotiations before the King, who as yet knew nothing about them, he even refused to hear them. He quite recognised the necessity of finding some arrangement: ‘I acknowledge all that,’ he said one day to the ambassador; ‘but,’ he added, ‘I have arms in my hands, not to negotiate, but to save the town. My honour is at stake[2].’

Though Rochelle, as we have seen, failed to hold out, the result cannot be ascribed to King Charles. After Lindsay’s attempt to break through the mole had proved unsuccessful—we do not quite know whether on account of the superiority of the French, or from the above-mentioned deficiencies on the side of the English—Charles I gave orders to renew the attempt again, without any regard to the danger to his ships, and not to retire from the town whatever might be the cost[3]. On this the council of war had in fact resolved to lead the ships against the palisades by a way hitherto untried, when the town, despairing of help and overpowered by unendurable hardships, capitulated.

After the fall of Rochelle the Venetians resumed their attempts at mediation with redoubled ardour. King Charles was brought into a more favourable frame of mind by the tolerable conditions granted to the town in regard to the profession of religion, and by the evident impossibility of doing anything effectual in France: and Contarini now found him inclined to listen. But the ambassador was considerate enough not to urge the King, after he had been beaten in the strife, now to make overtures for its adjustment[4]: the negotiations were left more than ever in the hands of the Venetian ambassador in France, Zorzo Zorzi.

A.D. 1629.

They were principally concerned with two points. The French demanded above all the execution of the provisions laid down in the marriage contract for the constitution of the Queen’s household. Charles I not only refused to revert to these, he even rejected the conditions which he had consented to when Bassompierre was in England, and which the French at that time did not accept. He insisted that her court should continue as it was. He had made other arrangements for filling the offices in the household;—how could he take away their places again from the English lords and ladies who were in possession of them? He would not have any misunderstandings at his court, in his house, and as he said plainly, in his marriage bed. The Venetian ambassador in England remarked that it would be disadvantageous to the Queen if these demands were persisted in. And she herself also had already begged that they should be dropped, on the ground that she was satisfied with the present arrangements of her court: she did not even think fit to write about them to her mother[5]. However disagreeable it might be for the Queen-mother herself, and for the zealous advocates of the Church about her, her son and Cardinal Richelieu sympathised with the point of view of Charles I, or else they saw that he would not give it up: at all events they contented themselves with stipulating that, if an alteration in the court were necessary, they should come to an amicable arrangement on the subject, to suit the requirements of the Queen’s service[6]. Even these words were merely accepted by the English in the avowed expectation that they would never be used to disturb the repose of the kingdom, or the mode of life of the King[7]. In brief, the execution of the former stipulations was given up by the French. In this matter, which most nearly concerned King Charles, he carried the day.

A.D. 1629.

The second point affected the old connexion between the English and the Huguenots. The former had hitherto claimed to regulate through their intervention, and to fix by compact, the relations between the French government and the Reformed Churches. Buckingham had already been disposed to drop this claim: and after the last turn which affairs had taken, there could be no more thought of maintaining it. The English plenipotentiaries were satisfied with a general pardon bestowed on the Huguenots by the King of France, reserving to them their Protestant worship. But the English had wished that it should be indicated, if even by the slightest expressions, that this concession was the effect of the peace[8]. Not that it should be a condition of the agreement, nor even that any interest in the result should be ascribed to England, but something was to be said about regard for peace as the foremost public good, and about the joint action between the two nations which was in immediate prospect. They thought that this was demanded by their honour, and they would not at once renounce all common feeling with the Calvinists. But the French returned a decided refusal. True as it was that the concessions that were vouchsafed to the Huguenots were based on the necessity of a closer connexion with England and Holland, which but for these could not have been agreed on, yet the French would not allow any hint of this to be dropped. They would have feared that occasion might thus be given for interference at some future time: in any case the authority of the government would have been damaged. The Venetian ambassador in London makes a merit of inducing Charles I finally to desist from this request. The principal reason alleged by him in support of his advice was that not only a question of religion, but an actual rebellion was here concerned, inasmuch as the Huguenots had leagued with Spain[9].

Thus was this peace concluded at Susa, April 1, 1629. In A.D. 1629. estimating the historical relations of the two kingdoms in general, great importance must be assigned to it. What had been brought about in the times of the Normans and Plantagenets, and once more during the great wars of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries—I mean a most intimate connexion of French and English interest—had, as it were, repeated itself, although on a far smaller scale, during the religious wars. In the times of Queen Elizabeth and James I the French Reformed ranged themselves under the influence of England: even in the time of Charles I this had not ceased. On the other hand the French had sought to establish a counteracting influence on their side, especially by the late marriage contract. Neither of the two governments profited by this. In the peace of Susa they agreed to desist from this mutual action on one another. The French resigned the literal fulfilment of the marriage contract: the English renounced the connexion with the Huguenots which had hitherto been acknowledged. Relations into which religion entered could not be avoided, but the political sting, so to speak, was taken out of them. In France from that date the ascendancy of Catholicism could more decidedly be erected into a principle of the state: in England the court once more asserted its Protestant character.

For the moment the result of the peace was to untie the hands of France for the conflict with Spain. Every one knows what vast dimensions this assumed: it set fresh enmity between the parts of the world of that day which it rent asunder, and laid the foundation of the state of affairs which prevailed in the following epoch.

While France carried her arms into Italy, in order to force back the Spanish influence there, the King of England was to direct his forces to North Germany, in order to check the spreading power of the Emperor and the League. Maritime affairs at that time principally attracted the general attention. Wallenstein advanced a claim to sovereignty over the Baltic, but at the same time he intended to hold the ports of the German Ocean and the mouth of the Elbe in behalf of the Empire: and a combination between the Hanseatic shipping and the Spanish naval power was contemplated. A.D. 1629. Roused by this unexpected danger, the Kings of Sweden and Denmark held a conference in February 1629 on the confines of the province of Halland, and united to defend the ‘Regalia of the northern crowns on the Baltic sea[10].’ The Danish ambassador exerted himself most zealously to kindle the sympathies of the Dutch and English also. And in fact the King of England, in transmitting the official notification of the peace with France, announced to the States-General that he had sent a squadron under Pennington and Colonel Mackay to the Elbe in order to encourage the King of Denmark[11], and he invited the Dutch likewise to support him. A short time before, Colonel Morgan with another considerable body of troops, among whom were newly enlisted French and Scots, had started from the islands of Sylt and Föhr and made an attack upon the troops of the Empire and of Gottorp at Nordstrand. But at this moment, when a new coalition embracing the South, West, and North of Europe, was again just about to be formed to check the advance of the house of Austria, Denmark, which was to have been supported in the first instance, came to an agreement with that power. In the beginning of June, at Lübeck, King Christian IV renounced his operations against the German empire; but in return he received back without loss of a foot of land his possessions in Holstein and Jutland, the greater part of which was in the hands of the enemy. If we ask what induced the Imperialists to make so extensive a concession, it was no doubt anxiety about that maritime coalition, for which great exertions were being made at Copenhagen. Even without this aid the Danish fleet was able to defend itself with much more success than the army: the Imperial and German navies, with all their combined force, were still far from being a match for it. The generals were afraid of reverses, and of a mischievous action A.D. 1629. of the Danish fleet upon the coast towns of which they had taken possession, and upon the German empire in general[12]. Charles I had just sent one of his ablest and most zealous diplomatists, Thomas Roe, a particular friend of his sister the Electress Palatine, to Hamburg, in order to bring about a northern alliance between the two kings, the Republic, and the Hanse towns[13]. He hoped still to delay the ratification of the treaty between Denmark and Austria, and to make it abortive. But all was in vain; the peace was far too advantageous to Denmark for the Danish councillors to give it up again.

Upon this most of the adversaries of Austria and Spain, even those in Italy, directed their gaze to the King of Sweden. The forces of the Emperor, which were no longer engaged with Denmark, were now twice as dangerous to him, and he appeared quite ready to take up arms if he should be supported by France and England. Cardinal Richelieu showed an inclination, if England would send a fleet to sea against Spain, to furnish a third of the vessels, and to make common cause in general with that power: he only wished that the undertaking should be carried out in the name of England. But the withdrawal of Denmark had quite a different effect upon the King of England, to whom the preservation of his uncle had supplied a motive for taking arms: he inclined on the contrary to follow the example set him by that prince. The Lord Treasurer Weston, who had to provide the money, looked upon the Danish peace as a relief: he breathed more freely when it had been concluded; for after the unhappy results of the last Parliament the want of money was so sorely felt by the government, that no one reckoned upon their fulfilling their engagements, and they themselves would undertake none. And such great injury had been inflicted on trade by the war, that the whole people A.D. 1629. cried out not only for peace with France, but also, just as loudly, for peace with Spain[14].

Under these circumstances Peter Paul Rubens, the painter, arrived in London bearing proposals from the court of Spain. The painter was also a clever diplomatist; his art served to cloak his missions. Two years before he had had an interview with Balthasar Gerbier, a skilful miniature painter, also a native of Antwerp, who had been employed by Buckingham on secret business: they had conferred at Delft in July 1627 on the establishment of peace between England and Spain. Rubens belonged to the court of the Infanta Isabella, and had made communications to her on the subject, but was reluctant to send his papers to Spain[15]; and besides, no one, he said, would have been able to extract information from them. He was therefore summoned to Spain in person, and was sent to England charged with overtures of peace on the basis of the plans sketched out. Extremely remarkable were the overtures which Rubens made. Although the estrangement between England and Spain had grown out of the affair of the Palatinate, Rubens made no attempt to settle this: he declared, on the contrary, that it was not in the power of Philip IV to restore the Palatinate to its former owner; that he would gladly set about it, but that it was dependent mainly on the Emperor and the Elector of Bavaria. Rubens however saw in this disagreement no absolute hindrance to the renewal of friendly relations, especially in regard to commerce, nor to the return of the ambassador of either power to the court of the other: he thought that the two governments must only abstain from framing new articles, and revert to the peace which King James had concluded with Spain at the very beginning of his reign, and which left several important controversies unsettled; that in the same way at this time the affair of the Elector Palatine, and even of the Dutch, might remain untouched; A.D. 1629. that Charles I need not give up either the one or the other, and yet might maintain peace with the Spaniards[16]. From our knowledge of this prince, these proposals, especially after the conclusion of the Danish peace, must have been most welcome to him. He also had now a freer prospect. Almost at the first moment when the arrival of the French ambassador was talked of in the Queen’s presence, he had said to her that in the course of the year she might see the arrival of another from Spain. She answered, for she was not yet of his opinion, that he must only take care that no one deceived him afresh.

The world was already prepared for negotiations with Spain. The Venetians had so zealously promoted the arrangement with France, principally in order to anticipate them. People saw those persons again appear at court who were thought to favour Spain, and had been obliged to retire when Buckingham’s ascendancy was established. To men’s astonishment, Lord Bristol, once the great antagonist of Buckingham, now on the contrary himself acquired influence over the King. The Earl of Arundel, of the house of Howard, resumed his former place in the Privy Council. Closely allied with these men was the Lord Treasurer Weston, who principally exerted himself to save money with the object of relieving the King from the necessity of reassembling Parliament: it was owing to him that dissensions at home furnished a real motive for peace abroad. Weston himself, and Cottington, who was regarded as a staunch adherent of Spain, and who professed Catholicism with hardly any disguise, were selected to confer with Rubens; and that to the exclusion of the other members of the Privy Council, even of the Secretaries of State. Before the end of July they had made such progress that the matter could be laid before the Privy Council[17]. The King loved to sit in council: but on important questions he expressed his A.D. 1630. opinion so decidedly, that no one ventured to contradict him. Thus on the present occasion also he gave Weston’s scheme his unqualified approval. Cottington, much to the annoyance of the French, set out for Spain: while on the part of Spain, Don Carlos Coloma, one of the Infanta Isabella’s most trusty ministers—for a subordinate would not have been thought of—was appointed ambassador in England. Coloma was an old friend of Weston; and it is supposed that the basis of an agreement had been concerted between them beforehand[18].

In the negotiations however the question of the Palatinate presented a great obstacle; for King Charles and his ministers sometimes seemed unwilling to come to a conclusion unless the Spaniards undertook a formal obligation with regard to it. But the latter rejected conditions by which they would very likely have even been compelled to go to war with Austria and the Elector of Bavaria, and that at a time when peace had not been concluded between Spain and France[19]. Looking to the existing state of affairs in Europe, they refused to give up the fortresses that were so extremely important strategically, and which in that case might easily have fallen into the hands of others who were hostile to them. They adhered to a view of the situation fundamentally the same as that which had moved the King to break with them in the first years of his reign. But the lofty courage of that period had now abandoned him: he now dispensed with a stipulation like that which he had then demanded, and contented himself with a simple promise that satisfaction would be given him in the affair of the Palatinate. At the signature of the peace, an assurance of Philip IV on this subject, written with his A.D. 1630. own hand, was solemnly delivered to him by Don Carlos Coloma[20].

And already there were indications that the Spanish influence might possibly this time produce more effect on the Emperor than before. The Emperor allowed a plenipotentiary from the Elector, whom he had laid under the ban, to appear at Ratisbon; and he showed a disposition to withdraw the ban and to allow the expelled sovereign an income out of the revenues of the country. Notwithstanding these offers the restoration of his territory was still very far off. Charles said to his sister, the Queen of Bohemia, that the agreement was a remedy which could do no harm, even if it did no good; that he acquired thereby a right to the co-operation of the King of Spain; that moreover he was taking steps to conclude a defensive and offensive league with France and the States-General for the restoration of the Palatinate, but that unhappily he did not find these powers so willing as he had expected[21]. We know from Queen Elizabeth’s letters that she was calmed by these assurances[22].

The States-General had again rejected the proposals of the Spaniards for a peaceful arrangement, which in themselves were not acceptable; for they feared to endanger their existing government. The treaty of 1630 therefore caused them certainly not less uneasiness than that of 1604 had done. Charles I repeated to them assurances similar to those which were then made, that his alliance with them, as far as their state and religion were concerned, should not be prejudiced on that account.

It was the wish of Charles I to revert to the policy of his father. Experience had taught him that he could no longer advance in the path on which he had entered while still Prince A.D. 1630. of Wales, and which he had continued to follow after he became King. He had plunged himself into the gravest political embarrassments; and, although the hostility between Crown and Parliament had long been threatening, he had caused the first open outbreak. He now wished to establish tolerably good relations with both the two neighbouring powers alike. With France he felt himself more intimately connected in the great affairs of Europe, and he took good care not to loosen this tie: he did not drop the cause of the Elector Palatine; but he wished at the same time to open commercial intercourse between his country and the extensive and wealthy provinces of the Spanish monarchy. When Cottington returned home from his embassy, he had the silver brought by the ship in which he came laid upon wagons, and carried in a sort of procession through the town. For he intended the inhabitants to be impressed by the opulence of the country, the commerce of which was reopened to them by the treaty just concluded.

Charles I shrank from bringing his whole strength to bear upon the great questions of religion and politics which engrossed the continent, that he might above all be the King of Great Britain. We may certainly ask whether he was morally entitled to renounce his connexion with European affairs after he had contributed so largely to increase the existing confusion, and to bring the Protestant cause to destruction. And moreover such a severance was hardly possible any longer. Religious and political sympathies and conflicting tendencies had become so strong on the continent of Europe, that in one form or another they could not fail to react upon Great Britain as well.