FOOTNOTES:
[268] The diurnall of the second parliament of our sovereign lord, King Charles. In Balfour, Annals iii. 65.
[269] Relation of the Incident, for so this event is termed. ‘5-600 following his coach, amongst whom were all those that were cited to the Parliament, and likewise those that were accused to have been of this plot against us.’
[270] Despatch of the French minister Sabran, 20 March, 1645. The King assured him, ‘qu’il avait tiré serment sur leur foi et leur honneur du chancelier d’Ecosse, du comte d’Argyle et de Leslie, que jamais ils ne se mêleroient de la religion d’Ingleterre et ne l’assisteroient jamais à ce sujet.’
[271] Narrative of Macguire, in Nalson ii. Carte, who denies it, tries in vain to clear the old English Catholics of all participation.
[272] Sanderson 438. ‘A gentleman of a meer Irish family, but a true Protestant by a long conversation with the English.’
[273] This apology, as well as another addressed to the Queen, proves clearly that the authority to seize the goods of the Protestants, which the Irish professed to have received from the King himself, was a deliberate invention, as was maintained from the first moment. If not, how came the Catholics not to refer to it?
CHAPTER VIII.
DAYS OF THE GRAND REMONSTRANCE.
Wearied with the labours of the long session, the English Parliament during the King’s absence entered on a recess, which was to last from September 9 to October 28, not however without first appointing a committee, chosen of both Houses, to despatch current business and maintain order.
Men breathed again after the tension at which the immense activity of the last ten months had kept their minds: but when they came quietly to look back upon the past, the feeling that was evinced was by no means one of entire satisfaction[274]. There was no blinding themselves to the fact that they had gone far beyond the prospects which had floated before the eyes of the majority at the time of the last elections to Parliament. Instead of a restoration of the rights of Parliament on the ancient footing[275], the constitution was endangered, and all power fallen into the hands of a few men, who had the majority in the divisions. The members who returned to their counties did not give a very satisfactory report of the mode of carrying on the debates, in which they were often prevented from stating their views, so that there was not complete freedom of speech[276]. Disapproval was especially A.D. 1641. aroused by a resolution which had been passed in very thin houses during the last days of the session, and clothed with legal force without respect to constitutional forms. It related to spiritual affairs. The Calvinistic communion-tables that had been set aside were again to be restored, the pictures and ceremonial vessels which had been introduced by Laud to be removed, the bowing at the name of the Redeemer discontinued, and Sunday on the other hand to be observed with the Sabbatarian rigour of the Scots. Without having arrived at a complete agreement with the Upper House, which in its weakened condition still offered some resistance, but supported by a minority there which under the circumstances was considerable, the Lower House issued this ordinance, apparently no longer troubling itself about the old forms which required the concurrence of the three components of the legislature. The ad interim commission, of which John Pym was the most active member, held that this declaration should be published everywhere, and carried into effect so far as was possible without a breach of the peace. Lecturers devoted to the Presbyterian system were appointed side by side with the parochial clergy who adhered to Anglicanism. The idea was—and it was at the moment recommended by political considerations—to approach as nearly as was possible without much ado to the Scottish system.
No doubt the Presbyterians far and wide in the country were well inclined to assist: but they were by no means so strong in England as in Scotland; the Episcopal Church had struck deep root in England. Men would endure no alterations in the Book of Common Prayer, which had so long formed the basis of their domestic and public devotions: they had already grown used to the altars, and liked the dignity of the restored ceremonial: nor were they willing to be deprived of the bishops, who were popular in many quarters, especially as they were likely to be easier to keep A.D. 1641. in order than the many thousands of lay elders to be substituted for them. Here and there tumultuous scenes took place in the churches where attempts were made to give effect to the orders of Parliament: elsewhere the people declared against the decrees of the Synod of Dort, for the doctrines of Laud’s system were of an Arminian character: in a great number of counties petitions were circulated for the maintenance of that episcopal constitution which had been inherited from the earliest times. Bishop Williams of Lincoln, who during these months made a personal visitation of his large diocese, called to remembrance the services of the bishops in heading the resistance to the aggressions of Rome: he declared it to be a conscientious duty to abide by the arrangements made by their forefathers, so long as they were not legally repealed: no one, he said, should be led astray after the idol of imaginary freedom, for there would be so many masters that all the rest would be slaves[277].
Williams had belonged to the foremost opponents of Laud and his regulations: but zealous as he was in resistance to Laud, he was equally free from all Puritan and Scottish predilections. He refused to designate the Scots as loyal subjects, as was expected of him in the thanksgiving service for the restoration of peace with Scotland: he was willing to allow a limitation of the prelates’ authority, but insisted on the maintenance of their dignity, and of the forms of church government. He offered direct opposition to the orders of the Lower House and its commission, to the extent of declaring that all who should follow them would deserve punishment.
Among the most important members of the Lower House itself several seceded on these questions from the prevailing party. Edward Hyde, who had taken the most active part in the judicial reforms, was nevertheless far from sharing the systematic hostility to the constitution of the Church which most of the lawyers then evinced. He had known Laud well in earlier times, and was fully aware that he was often A.D. 1641. blamed for what was not his fault: the errors of the past arose, he thought, from carrying things to excess, but the church system itself he regarded as defensible and useful. Contrary to expectation, Lord Falkland adopted the same line: he did not deny to his old friend Hampden that he had informed himself better, and changed his opinion. John Colepepper, the man in the whole assembly best qualified to sum up a debate, declared himself of the same mind, though religious principles did not to him form the ruling motive of life. Yet without this a man might well turn aside from the goal which the majority were striving to reach: he might perceive that the attempt to impose on England the Scottish system was contrary to the spirit of the English, and could never be accomplished, and might well shrink from the state of chaos which might be foreseen. He might also see in an alliance with the King the best course for the country, and security for his own future. Perhaps it was a question as little of high moral resolve as of shameful desertion; it was a peculiar line of statesmanlike policy which these men had traced out for themselves.
Circumstances were not such as to allow of a return to the tendencies of the old régime: these had become for ever impossible—there were no more royalists on principle of Strafford’s type: new foundations of parliamentary government had been laid and recognised by the King. The immediate political question was, whether now to restore the old equilibrium of forces, and maintain the Established Church, or to proceed further in the destruction of existing institutions. The first was the policy of the men who now separated from their former friends, the leaders of the Parliamentary majority.
We find that other districts also took offence at the last steps taken before the recess, which were regarded as illegal, and lost confidence in the Parliament[278]. In London placards were posted in public places, in which the authors of these A.D. 1641. resolutions were denounced as traitors to the King and the nation, enemies of God and of the public weal: they had conspired with the Scots against England; if Parliament would not expel them, vengeance should be taken on them by open force. The magistrates and well-to-do classes in the capital gave unequivocal proofs of their sympathy with the King’s cause at this stage.
Thus there appeared manifold and strong leanings against the party which hitherto had been successful, of an ecclesiastical, a constitutional, and a popular nature. If now the King returned, without having to fear any hostility from Scotland, and succeeded in enforcing his views as to the suppression of the Irish rebellion, he might hope, with the support of this movement, to resume his throne with a moderate but still real authority[279].
Necessarily however these events and possibilities aroused the zeal of the leaders on the other side. They knew perfectly well that the King was hoping by his conduct in Scotland to strengthen himself for resistance in England. The news of the supposed attempt to murder Hamilton and Argyle produced a great effect: it was assumed that something similar might be repeated in England. The Lords held frequent meetings, sometimes at Northumberland’s house, sometimes at Lord Mandeville’s, sometimes at Lord Holland’s in Kensington, in order to come to an understanding on the next measures to be adopted. There was incessant talk of Popish plots and desperate attempts; or fear was entertained that the Queen meant to depart, in order to increase the confusion and bring foreign help into England. To interrupt her connexion with the enemies of Parliament at home, a demand was put forward that at any rate she should not have English confessors; against French there was nothing to be said. The apprehension was loudly expressed that a thorough reaction was impending, which would reverse all that had yet been conceded, and threaten the utmost danger to the Parliamentary leaders.
A.D. 1641.
In the midst of these contrary agitations Parliament assembled again on the appointed day, at first not in much greater numbers than before the recess: but a decided opposition to the dominant party showed itself immediately. When, among other things, the disobedience to the last declaration of Parliament was mentioned, and proposals made for punishing it, nothing could be carried, as the majority held the declaration itself to have been unlawful[280]. When the House filled the hope might be entertained of achieving, in parliamentary fashion, a reversal of the majority, and a reaction in conformity with the views of the moderate party, who had been drawing near to the King.
It was mainly in order to counteract this intention that Pym and his friends proceeded with the Grand Remonstrance, which in more than two hundred clauses enumerated the grievances which the King’s government had occasioned since its commencement[281]. It is, we may say, a kind of history of the administration: for this estimate of it, though often disputed and generally rejected, has in later times again obtained acceptance through the advocacy of some able writers. It is a narrative of the foregoing events for the purpose of inculpating the royalists and justifying their opponents. For the latter were beginning to feel that the general opinion was setting against them, seeking, so they complain, to reverse what they had done, and hinder what was still contemplated. The Remonstrance is a party manifesto, containing at once a defence of the past and a programme for the future. Above all it was intended to represent the steps which its framers still purposed to take, as being the necessary consequences of those which Parliament had taken from the very beginning.
As in April and November 1640 John Pym had referred all the evils in England to an intention of changing the religion and the government, so now in the Remonstrance proof had to be given that the King had been from the first, A.D. 1641. and still was, ruled by a Jesuitical faction. The dissolution of previous Parliaments, the war with France and its disastrous result, the increase of the spiritual power—for Episcopalians, Arminians, even Libertines, were all represented as in league with the Papists—the opposition which many good laws had met with in the Upper House—all was deduced from the same source. Just then was published the news of the rising in Ireland and of the cruelties perpetrated there. It made naturally a very great impression, and was regarded as a confirmation of the general complaints. There was no idea of other influences, or of the effect which the harsh behaviour of Parliament itself had had on the course of events: it was more than ever regarded as the chief merit of Parliament that it had opposed and checked Popish tendencies. And still the same danger was threatening: for the future the same determined resistance was necessary, and the only hope of rescue lay in Parliament. There was no doubt of the good-will and firmness of the Lower House: but this would avail little if met in the Upper House by the hostility of the bishops and lords inclined to Catholicism. Thus the way was paved for a return to the earlier projects of a thorough ecclesiastical reform. From the imminent danger in which the country was, and which had one of its sources in the ecclesiastical constitution, was deduced the necessity of transforming the latter. ‘We admit that our design is to put an end to the excessive power of the prelates, and deprive them of their temporal dignities and offices.’ It was proposed to call a general synod of the chief theologians of the island, that is to say including the Scots, with the assistance of some foreigners, for the purpose of taking counsel on the good government of the Church, their conclusions to be then carried into effect by Parliament. A standing commission of members of Parliament was demanded, to present systematic opposition to Popish aggressions, and to watch over the observance of the laws against Papists. Then came the demands long before announced, and now more strongly urged in consequence of the concessions made to the Scots, that the King should admit to the chief offices, in relation to foreign as well as domestic affairs, only persons in whom the Parliament could A.D. 1641. confide: otherwise, it was unreservedly stated, they could grant no more subsidies.
These were the two great demands at which the earlier negotiations had stopped, the abolition of episcopacy, and the appointment of high officials subject to the approval of Parliament: they were now discussed in connexion with each other. The Remonstrance contained more than a mere statement of grievances: if the Lower House adopted it, it at once made these demands definitely its own, and resolved to carry them. It thereby returned to tendencies which had formerly been dominant but recently had become dubious, and adopted the watchword under which the Scots had broken down the preponderance of the crown.
We must observe that the Remonstrance had also a certain connexion with foreign affairs. The Queen had expected much from the arrival of the new French ambassador La Ferté Imbault. In June 1641 he appeared, bringing her assurances of friendship from the King of France and Cardinal Richelieu, which pleased her greatly. La Ferté followed nevertheless in the footsteps of Bellièvre: he connected himself with Lord Holland, who, without being himself conspicuous in Parliament, exercised some influence over the direction and management of affairs[282]. He was present when the lords of the minority met at Holland House, and did not hesitate to maintain also an intimate connexion with the members of the Lower House: he kept company with them, though far below him in rank according to the social ideas of the age[283]. He assured the Queen that these alliances would give him power to serve her; and she declared herself satisfied: she seems at the least to have reckoned that the influence of the ambassador would check the violence of hatred against her, but in fact he entered into close confederation with her opponents. The Queen was most anxious to support A.D. 1641. her Catholic co-religionists: the ambassador found that they were as a body inclined to Spain[284], and in consequence did little or nothing for them.
On the other hand the leading men in Parliament were enemies of Spain. The idea had dawned upon them of making a new attempt on the West Indies, hostile to that power: the English sailors and soldiers in the Spanish service were summoned to quit it under heavy penalties. Hence the French ambassador was their ally. One day he made an offer to the King of French assistance in Ireland, but this was not done without a previous understanding with his friends in Parliament, who approved because the insurgents represented the Spanish and Catholic interest. Both parties thought that the King favoured Spain and the Catholics: just at the moment they were afraid, in consequence of the presence of an imperial plenipotentiary, of the renewal of an understanding between England and Spain, in which the Netherlands should participate; the members promised the ambassador to try and induce the King to break with Spain, and conclude at last the often talked of alliance with France[285].
In the Remonstrance were described the counsellors whom the King was not to endure: these were not merely those to whom actual crimes could be imputed, but also favourers of Popery, friends of foreign powers of other creeds, all who spoke contemptuously of Parliament, or sheltered great offenders. So ran the official document. In the speeches however the offensive persons were actually named; the chief of them were Bristol and his son Digby, as they themselves well knew. The same men were also regarded, and doubtless rightly, as supporters of the leanings towards Spain; they were said to be forming a new Spanish cabal[286]. The Remonstrance contained almost a personal vote of want of confidence against them.
A.D. 1641.
The one decisive question with relation to all matters both domestic and foreign was now whether the Remonstrance would obtain a majority in the Lower House or not. On this it depended whether England would maintain the regal and parliamentary forms after the ancient fashion, together with episcopacy and substantial power vested in the crown, or whether it would change to the system adopted in Scotland, and unite with Presbyterianism the complete preponderance of Parliament. Existing circumstances, old associations, the intuitive and habitual inclination of the people, pointed to the one: the great agitation of the last year, the attempt once undertaken, urged men strongly towards the other. The clauses of the Remonstrance were first discussed singly, and one or two were opposed, but without any practical result. The final debate took place on November 22. Its importance is illustrated by the words of Oliver Cromwell, that on its issue depended the question whether or not he could stay in England. Only if the majority accepted the Remonstrance could he see any future for himself in England. Many others held similar opinions. The rejection of the Remonstrance would have driven to America the champions of the ideas expressed in it.
Edward Hyde opened the debate by declaring a phrase in the Remonstrance inconsistent with the King’s dignity: he added the remark that the defence of their liberties was not opposed to the existence of the crown. ‘We will not be subjects of a contemptible king, any more than he be king of contemptible subjects.’ Lord Falkland approached more nearly to the questions at issue. He specially defended the bishops, who were unfairly accused of Popish tendencies, and even charged with having promoted idolatry. Then he referred to the proposal that the King’s nominations should be subject to the approval of Parliament, which he characterised as impracticable and ludicrous. Edmund Waller, who had already broken several lances with Pym, added that in this he was going against the laws: for that the Lower House was chosen by the freeholders to make the laws, not to see that the King’s counsellors were appointed according to their pleasure. Edward Dering asserted that the wishes A.D. 1641. of the people had now been satisfied, and that they desired no accusations for the past, nor yet promises for the future, such as the Remonstrance contained. John Colepepper declared that they had no right, without the concurrence of the Lords, to publish this Remonstrance, for that the Lower House was chosen to transact business with the King and the Lords, not to issue declarations to the people; moreover that the hostility of the people would very soon be shown if they meddled with episcopacy.
Pym and Hampden took the chief part in defending the Remonstrance. Pym justified the harsh expressions against the bishops, on the ground that the reverence paid to the altars was in fact idolatrous, and the pretension in regard to the King’s advisers, on the ground that the wicked designs against which they had had to fight originated in the immediate neighbourhood of the King. He said that the heart of the people would be won when they ascertained how the Lower House was treated: as for seeking the assent of the Lords to the Remonstrance, it was a contradiction in terms, as it contained complaints against the Lords themselves. Hampden declared that they were only doing what was natural; the Lower House had been loaded with reproaches, and these they repelled: evil counsellors were close at hand and very powerful, and these they exposed. The attacks made on their new church policy he retorted with a text from the Apocalypse predicting the victory of the true church, and the fall of all other worship[287].
Thus reasons and counter-reasons were urged without any one being able clearly to pronounce in which way the scale inclined. At last the opponents of the Remonstrance must have begun to fear that they should be in the minority: they determined to resist as long as possible, and if that failed, to proceed to a protest. It was midnight before they could come to a decision. It was resolved first of all to settle the text of the Remonstrance, and then take the final vote: at last A.D. 1641. the question was put whether the Remonstrance as amended be agreed to or not. On this the House divided; the votes in its favour were 159, those against it 148. It had passed by a majority of eleven.
Still the affair was not ended. A new agitation was aroused by the motion that the Remonstrance should forthwith be printed. The royalist party thought this unendurable, as setting this document before the populace would be an act of hostility against the King. Edward Hyde declared that the House had no authority to do it without having consulted with the Lords: he added that if it passed he should pray for leave to enter his protest. His cautious expression shows that he regarded the right as dubious. But a step was taken which rendered an immediate demonstration possible. Geoffrey Palmer, a lawyer, rose to ask for the appointment of a day on which the right to a protest might be enquired into: meanwhile the names might be taken of those who would sign such a protest in case of its being pronounced legal. He seemed to ask who was prepared for this; a great crowd rose to their feet, with the cry ‘All, all.’ Was not this however in fact a protest, in spite of the doubtful legality? Inevitably it excited immense agitation. The steadfast zeal of the one party balanced the enthusiasm of the other. They waved their hats above their heads, knocked on the ground with their swords; it seemed as if they must come to hand-to-hand fighting. As they sat or stood opposite each other they felt that they could plunge their weapons into one another’s bodies, like Abner’s and Joab’s young men at Hilkath Hazzurim. In that narrow, crowded, dimly lighted room of the chapel, men felt almost as in the valley of the shadow of death[288]. A few conciliatory words from Hampden availed to recall them to their senses. The proposed resolution was in fact not put. Without bloodshed, but in the utmost excitement, they separated late at night.
A.D. 1641.
Geoffrey Palmer had to atone for his conduct by a couple of days’ imprisonment in the Tower. But the question he had raised, how far a protest of dissentient members was allowable in the Lower House, was of so great importance, that when once it had been spoken of it must necessarily be settled.
The right of protest existed in the House of Lords, in the Scottish Parliament, in the Legislative Assemblies of the Continent: the very name of the religion acknowledged in England was derived from a protest offered in the German Diet. Why should there be no power of exercising it in the English Lower House? There was no precedent for it, but there was none against it: and how many things were then done for the first time. Two reasons were urged for the right of protest, which rest on the inmost sense of individuality: one is that the individual cannot possibly be compelled to assent to the majority if it adopts illegal or irreligious measures: the other is that otherwise in case of a revolution, the innocent would have to suffer with the guilty. It is obvious that these reasons could not prevail with a majority which was in possession of the right to pass universally binding resolutions. The majority argued that the ancient formulae cut off the possibility of a declaration of dissent. John Pym stated on this side a reason of great significance. The Lords, said he, are in the Upper House in virtue of their individual and personal rights: every man acts for himself, so that he is not unconditionally bound by the majority. But the case is quite different with the Lower House, which represents the nation: there no dissent is allowable. He assumed that the united will of the nation was expressed through the majority of the members of the Lower House elected by it. That a national assembly represents the nation, had very often been said: but that is very far from the view that this representation belongs to the Lower House, an idea on which is based the legality of all revolution. It very naturally originated with the leader accustomed to be followed by a majority which he had himself done most to form: in its assent he read the assent of the nation.
A.D. 1641.
Apart from the essential importance of the principles involved, the fact that the resolution was passed, and that under no circumstances durst members of the Lower House enter a protest, had great importance for the moment. The whole authority which the conclusions of the Lower House possessed with the nation went in favour of the proposals against the bishops and for the termination of the King’s power of nomination, which had passed on the night of November 22 by so narrow majority.