FOOTNOTES:
[23] Roe to Henry Earl of Holland, in Bruce Calendar 1631-1633, Pref. x.
[24] Report in Rushworth ii. 132.
[25] Letter to Lechhausen, April 1632. Rushworth ii. 175.
[26] Chemnitz: Schwedischer Krieg ii. 87.
[27] Gussoni, 27 Maggio 1633; ‘Ha fatto vedere il secretario, che nell’ estesa della scrittura, con avveduto riguardo dell’ Armstruder a niente rimaneva impegnata l’Inghilterra,—il trattato si stipulò tra l’Oxistern et l’administratore solamente per mezzo di deputati di quel duca, il che qui piacque sommamente.’
[28] Ib. 29 Luglio. ‘Il motivo pare habbia risvegliato nei sudditi nuovi susurri che no convenga esborso di danaro per altra via che per l’ordinaria del parlamento.’
[29] Documents in the Clarendon Papers i. 57.
[30] The French ambassador Seneteire writes on the 28th of April 1635. ‘La grande liaison de Mss les états avec le roy (de France) leur donne grande jalousie.’
[31] Arandel to Windebank, in the Clarendon Papers i. 611: ‘Oñate confessed that the paper given My Lord Cottington was never any ground of treaty, but only as considerations of conveniency between the two crowns, which must fall to a fit consideration after.’
[32] Parrafos de un papel del conde duque. 1633, Archives of Brussels.
[33] Selden: Mare clausum. The title-page of the English translation contains the words; ‘In the Second book is maintained, that the King of Gr. Br. is lord of the circumfluent seas.’ The book was looked over by Charles I, and expressly sanctioned by the Privy Council, March 26, 1636.
[34] Gussoni, Relatione 1635: ‘É massima fondamentale di stato in Inghilterra d’invigilare sempre ad essere più polente di tutti i suoi vicini sul mare.’
[35] Coke says to the Venetian ambassador, who is speaking to him about the old alliance of the Union: ‘Tutto sta bene, ma bisogna avvertire che le cose restino in fine nel proprio equilibrio e che la bilancia non preponderi nè dall’ uno nè dall altro canto.’ (Gussoni, 16 Maggio 1634.)
[36] The articles in Khevenhiller xii. 1696.
[37] ‘Ubi ad tractatus ventum fuerit quoad dignitatem electoralem et reliqua petita, cum (S. C. M.) servatura sit modum, ut in iis quae aequis conditionibus concedi poterunt habeat cum serenissimus Britanniae rex, unde studium in se at benevolentiam, tum supradictus quoque Palatinus propensam in se gratiam possit cognoscere.’ Clarendon Papers i. 461
[38] Taylor to Windebank, March 3; Clarendon Tapers i. 454.
[39] ‘Upon a confident assurancy of Taylor that H. Maj. shall have both the Emperors and King of Spains assurancy under their hands for a present restitution of the lower palatinate and of the electoral dignity after the death of Bavaria, H. Maj. hath made choice of the Earl Marshall.’ Windebank to Aston, ibid. i. 508.
[40] ‘Foedus arctissimum,’ out of which, in the letter of authorisation to the Emperor’s plenipotentiaries, had grown a ‘foedus tam offensivum quam defensivum.’
[41] The declarations exchanged are in Khevenhiller xii. 2103.
[42] The King of Bohemia delivers his opinion that ‘whereas owing to their unreasonable wishes either the crown of Spain and Electoral Bavaria, or England must be rebuffed, it were desirable to retain the old confidence and tried friendship of Spain and Electoral Bavaria, rather than to commit themselves to an untrustworthy alliance with England.’ Khevenhiller xii. 2122.
CHAPTER III.
MONARCHICAL TENDENCIES OF THE HOME GOVERNMENT.
Among the English ministers Lord Treasurer Weston, who at that time exercised the greatest influence upon foreign affairs, and had almost the sole direction of domestic matters, afforded, a signal instance of successful activity. He had formerly taken office, when matters were almost desperate. The English were still at war with both the neighbouring powers; enormous demands were made for the support of the forces by land and sea. The former moreover were burdensome to the districts on which they were quartered: none of the civil officials had been paid for several years: the considerable burden of debt which James I had bequeathed to his successor (£1,200,000), was increased a third by the years spent in war; and as interest was paid at the rate of 8 per cent. for the earlier, and 12 per cent. for the later loan, it absorbed the greater portion of the revenue. But this latter, which was principally derived from customs, had been rendered precarious by the dispute about tonnage and poundage. Bales of woollen goods had been sent back from the ports to the manufacturing towns because the owners refused to pay the duty; and foreign merchants had abstained from having their wares landed because they expected unpleasant treatment from the population if they paid the customs. The trade of the country was at a standstill. How entirely matters were altered after five years of Weston’s strict and watchful administration! Peace was concluded and maintained; the counties freed from the soldiers quartered on them; the customs regularly levied; at least half of the old debts paid off; A.D. 1634. English commerce developed into the most flourishing and productive in the world, if for no other reason, because the continent, and all the neighbouring seas, were distracted with war.
Richard Weston had attained a certain reputation among legal circles in the Middle Temple, and in embassies of the second grade: he had then been engaged by Buckingham in higher political affairs, and after the death of the latter had to a certain extent stepped into his place. His policy however was altogether different. The active desire for war was replaced by a readiness for peace at any price. Weston informed the French that even in the service of his King he loved their interests. If, in spite of this, he had dealings with the Spaniards, the French had no fears on that score: they found that he would never break either with them or with their opponents, because his thoughts, as well as those of the King, were directed solely to the maintenance of neutrality in foreign affairs[43], and in domestic affairs to economy and the avoidance of a Parliament. Weston himself did not long remain the pliant and complaisant person which he had formerly been. He now appeared inaccessible, close, rude, imperious[44]. He was always careful to have a sum of money in hand, of which he could dispose: in order to avoid expenditure he stopped the despatch of a foreign mission: the most rigid barriers were erected round the royal generosity. After the fashion of the statesmen of that period, he did not forget his own interests: he was made Earl of Portland, and by the marriage of his son with a lady of the house of Lennox, he became related to the royal family. All who enjoyed a certain importance in the kingdom were on his side, Arundel, Cottington, Wentworth, as well as James Hay, Earl of Carlisle, among the Scots who had come over with James the only A.D. 1637. one who knew how to make himself at home in England: he was regarded as the man who understood the position of foreign affairs better than any one in England. Weston could not but have rivals and adversaries. At their head was Henry Rich, Earl of Holland, who had taken a considerable share in the negotiations for bringing the Queen home, and who since then had always adhered to her. He appeared the most brilliant and, owing to the favour shown him by both of the royal pair alike, the most prosperous member of the court. For a time he had a good prospect of becoming Buckingham’s successor in the admiralty as well as in the royal favour. But neither he himself, nor his friends, were of such importance as to become dangerous to the Treasurer. When Cottington returned from Spain, efforts were made to separate him from Weston. He was advised to attach himself immediately to the Queen, who was no friend of that minister; but Cottington preferred his old political connexion, which secured him greater prospects. Weston knew how to obliterate all unfavourable impressions in the King’s mind, and to regain his confidence, which once or twice seemed to waver. Besides this, it was a principle of the King to bestow his chief confidence upon one man alone, and to cling to him, and let people say against him what they would; for he thought that the nature of political life was such that every one attacked the possessor of authority[45].
Taxes levied without a grant of Parliament.
Economy did not suffice to secure for the government complete independence in administration: means had therefore to be adopted to increase the receipts. Tonnage and poundage, the amount of which had in a few years increased by £80,000, offered the principal resource for effecting this object. A.D. 1633. But when old records were searched, other crown rights of earlier date were discovered which had fallen into oblivion, and might be revived with advantage.
How many persons, it was said, had been bound by old usage to appear at the King’s coronation, in order to be knighted!
The government called to account all who had incurred the guilt of neglecting this duty, in order that a pecuniary fine might be levied on them[46]. Another feudal right of royalty had a still wider application. In April 1633 the Earl of Holland, who sometimes took part with the government although he did not love it, was seen driving through London in a royal carriage to Stratford in Essex, in order to hold his court there as Lord Forester in the fashion of the twelfth century. He cited all those who had built within the borders of the ancient royal forests to appear, that he might investigate their titles. The occupants in vain affirmed that the claims of the crown against them had long ago been redeemed by purchase: as they had no documentary proof of this, they were compelled to pay a sum in acquittance, which in Essex alone amounted to £300,000[47]. Lord Holland opened his court in August at Winchester, to try cases connected with the New Forest: in September, attended by five judges, he went into Northamptonshire to the site of those same woods, which had once served as a refuge for the Britons, and then as a hunting-ground for the Norman kings, that he might exact penalties for encroachments on the forest of Rockingham. Some of the leading nobles, the Earl of Westmorland, Lord Peterborough, Lord Newport, and the Earl of Salisbury, were condemned, the last-named on account of an estate which had been presented to his father, Robert Cecil, by Queen Elizabeth[48]. And these claims were constantly being stretched further: it appeared as if the greater part of England would soon be considered as having been forest-land in former days. Even the government A.D. 1634. now felt itself in a critical position from the agitation kindled by this conduct, and suspended proceedings for a moment[49].
In spite of so many declarations made to Parliament, monopolies of different kinds were again granted by the crown, especially to associations which were formed for the exclusive prosecution of some branch of trade, and which were regularly invested with the rights and constitution of companies with governor, assistants, and society. They were obliged to purchase their title by yearly payments, but in return were then supported in those vexatious regulations which they made to enforce it. Other sovereign rights furnished an opportunity of levying considerable taxes on separate articles[50]. It is calculated that up to the year 1635 Charles I had raised his income from £500,000 to £800,000.
The King, says Correro the Venetian, moves among the rocks by which he is surrounded, slowly but surely. The judges explain the laws in his favour, as there are no Parliaments to contradict them: and his subjects do not then venture to withstand him. ‘With the key of the laws he seeks to open the entrance to absolute power[51].’
By far the most important and remarkable of all his claims was the demand for ship-money.
Those were times in which he thought it necessary to oppose the resistance of a powerful navy to the maritime encroachments of the Dutch and French. We have seen that for this purpose he asked for subsidies from Spain, but was unable to obtain them. In the embarrassment into which he was thrown in consequence, a very welcome prospect of assistance was held out, when some of his supporters who were learned in the law maintained that he had the right to demand the aid of the country for this object even without the assent of Parliament. As by English usage the duty of defending the country and of guarding the sea was laid A.D. 1634. on him, this duty, it was said, carried with it also the right of making the necessary dispositions for that purpose. They adduced a series of precedents, according to which monarchs on their own authority, without the support of Parliament even when it was sitting, and only with the consent of the Privy Council, had issued the requisite proclamation for equipping naval armaments, and had met with obedience down to the end of the reign of Edward III. To the objection that this was more than two centuries and half ago, the King’s supporters replied, that the continuance of an opposite usage for any length of time could not cancel the right of the sovereign, and that even in the most recent times an instance had occurred, for that the whole warlike preparations by which the attack of the Spanish Armada had been repulsed in the year 1588, had been set on foot at the sole order of Queen Elizabeth[52]. At the present moment, when the old sovereignty of England over the seas was contested by the neighbouring powers, a similar proceeding appeared peculiarly justifiable. Not only were the seaport towns summoned to furnish the King with a specified number of ships of a certain tonnage for a period of six months, but the obligation was extended to the inland counties and towns, and in their case the ships were commuted for an assessment of money, which was to be raised in the same way as a subsidy. There was even a design entertained of having a number of men embodied for the defence of the coast.
Much agitation had been caused by the previous renewal of old claims; and it was naturally doubled by this last claim, because it was the most comprehensive, and might be renewed at pleasure. The loudest remonstrances were heard. The official interpreters of the laws however came forward on the side of the crown, and acknowledged its right. In November 1634 the Judges gave sentence that the inland as well as the seaboard towns might be called upon for the A.D. 1636. defence of the coasts. This judgment did not contain a declaration that Parliament need not be consulted in the matter; but in February 1636 a decision on this point also followed[53]. It was declared by a sentence of the Judges, that if the kingdom were in danger, and the king thought it necessary, he had the right of ordering his subjects under the Great Seal of England to equip as large a number of ships as seemed to him necessary; and that in case they should refuse to do so, the law gave him perfect right to compel them. The judges could not have delivered a more important decision: it is one of the great events of English history. The King commanded that it should be entered in the records of the Star Chamber, and of the Courts of Justice at Westminster, and that all possible publicity should be given to it, in order that every one who had doubted the King’s right might be taught to know better. But even the sentence of the Courts of Justice had no longer absolute authority in England, where they were now deemed subservient or even corrupt. A gentleman of Buckinghamshire, John Hampden, who had there a very old family estate, refused to pay the sum for which he had been assessed, twenty shillings, not because of the amount, which was only trifling, but in order to bring the matter once more publicly under discussion. When he was cited before the Star Chamber to answer for it, he requested to hear the writ. After it had been read, he denied that it had any legal authority over him. The King, who thought himself perfectly certain of his right, had no objection that the question should once more be publicly discussed. Nor did he order others also who refused payment to be visited with penalties of real severity: the sheriffs in each case merely seized possession of property to the amount which they had to raise from each according to the assessment. They met with no resistance in this; but men refused to acknowledge the claim by voluntary payment. ‘They stick to their laws,’ writes one of our A.D. 1637. Venetian informants, ‘and allow legal proceedings to be taken, solely to make it known that the laws are violated, and that they are compelled to pay by force[54].’
But what a state of affairs hereupon set in! The whole administration of the state depended on the receipt of tonnage and poundage, the payment of which Parliament declared illegal, while the government insisted on it, on the ground that it had been made to the earlier kings; and all refusals of payment were overridden by the coercive power of the state. All other fiscal measures as well were considered wanton attacks on the fully acknowledged rights of private property, or as illegal. People gave way, but only in the expectation of better times.
The opposition between what the government and what the nation or the Parliament thought legitimate, was presented in the sharpest outlines, when it led to acts of personal oppression. The members of Parliament, against whom the King had claims, refused to be brought to trial before the Courts of Justice before which they were summoned; for they affirmed that Parliament alone had the right to pronounce judgment on their conduct. They were condemned however, and the most resolute of them, Sir John Eliot, was treated with a severity bordering on cruelty: he died in the Tower[55].
At times however the King’s indulgence and mercy in turn appeared illegal, especially when they were extended to Catholics. This had so important an influence in the life of the King, that we must devote to it a closer examination.
Charles the First’s relations with Catholicism.
The old severe laws of Parliament against priests and Jesuits still existed, but, as the King had promised in his A.D. 1636. marriage-contract, they were no longer enforced. It was not only that the bloody executions of former times could not now be thought of, but even the pecuniary fines incurred by non-attendance at Protestant worship were reduced to half their amount, or redeemed in perpetuity by compositions allowed under the Great Seal. The spies who had formerly forced their way into houses, in order to look for priests who were thought to be hidden there, no longer showed themselves; and steps were taken under the influence of the Queen altogether to annul their authority to do so. The English Catholics affirmed that they had never enjoyed so much repose and security as under King Charles[56]. Yet they felt anxious, because the existing laws could legally be revoked only by Parliament. The King certainly thought the power of dispensing from them an essential part of the prerogative; but public opinion took a different view, and the adherents of Parliamentary authority, especially the Puritans, on the contrary insisted that the laws must be as strictly enforced on this point as on any other.
And had they not in fact some ground for feeling anxious lest Catholicism in this way should again obtain the ascendancy in the country? In the Netherlands, in France, in Spain, and at Rome, those seminaries were still flourishing, from which in former times young and zealous priests had been sent to England. At that time there might be counted in England five hundred secular priests, about three hundred ecclesiastics belonging to the great orders, and about a hundred and sixty Jesuits. Most of them were entertained in the principal families in the country, who secretly or even openly professed Catholicism, and in the houses of the rich proprietors, nobles, and gentry. In countless places the Catholic service was celebrated, but with most splendour in the residences of the ambassadors, where men vied with one another, especially in keeping Holy Week with devout pomp, with sensuous representations and musical services. On high A.D. 1636. festivals the Queen and her court appeared in her public chapel, which was served by Capuchin monks in the dress of their order: besides this she had a private chapel. Just as an agent of the Queen had gone to Rome, so now an agent of the Papal See, although under another pretext, appeared at the English court. Even there Catholicism found rich and powerful patrons. At the head of these was Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, who now, as has been mentioned, stood high at court: the King’s ministers, Weston and Cottington, and Windebank, the Secretary of State, belonged to this party. The opinion had spread, and is still constantly echoed, that King Charles also shared in these tendencies, and sought to bring back his kingdom to Catholicism.
We are in possession of the copious letters of the Pope’s agent Cuneo—a Scot whose real name was Con, but whom we shall speak of under the Italianised form of his name—from which we may gather with certainty how far the opinion was true, and how far it was not.
The negotiations on which Cuneo was engaged principally concerned the form of oath by which King James had long ago wished to ensure the loyalty of the Catholics. By the wording of the oath as adopted by Parliament, the doctrine that the Pope could absolve subjects from their obedience to their prince, was not only rejected, but expressly termed heretical[57]. The first archpriest who had the supervision of the Catholic clergy in England was induced, as we have seen, to take this oath; and many missionaries, among whom were even some of the regular clergy, the Benedictines especially, followed his example. Others thought that the scruple would be removed by a declaration that the King required obedience only in civil matters. The Jesuits, following the example of Bellarmin, rejected every expedient of this sort, and zealous believers sided with them. This point however, according to Charles’s views, was one of great importance. He seldom caused the oath to be tendered; but when he had once done so, he required it to be taken; if it were not, the objector was put under a sort of civil excommunication. A.D. 1636. The matter had been already mentioned by Giorgio Panzani in a former mission, and the Papal court had empowered Cuneo to prevail on the King to alter the oath[58]. The inadmissibility of the present form was put especially on the ground that no one could call a doctrine heretical, until it had been declared so by the Church: it was demanded that the King should lay down such a formula as would only affect the obedience of his subjects in temporal matters, without touching the spiritual question. And a very earnest endeavour was made to find such a formula. It was proposed to say nothing about a ‘damnable doctrine,’ but only to speak of the conviction of each individual: and Cuneo assured the King that no Catholic would refuse to take such an oath, if only at the same time he were relieved from the other. Against this the King had two objections. He called Cuneo’s attention to the fact that the oath had been prescribed by Parliament; that for its removal it would be necessary to call Parliament together and to lay the alteration before it—a proceeding which might have very unpleasant consequences, most of all for the Catholics. ‘Sire,’ broke in Cuneo, ‘we Catholics hold that your Majesty is superior to Parliament[59].’ The King thought that even here he might invoke his dispensing power: but to put a new formula in the place of the old, and merely to drop the enforcement of a law, were quite different things. The former course was neither congenial to the King, nor could have been ventured on by his ministers, who in their departure from parliamentary government still kept always within a line which they did not overstep. But besides this the King would not deviate from his own doctrine, viz. that the right of kings was a divine right, and could not be superseded by any man, not even by the Pope[60]. The opposition between the Papal and the Royal power might perhaps A.D. 1637. be smoothed over in practice, but could never be adjusted in theory. People at Rome were not content with the proposals of Cuneo, which were rejected by Charles.
In the course of these negotiations, or perhaps in the course of friendly conversation, a further step was made. Something was said of the necessity of a closer political, and of the possibility of a closer religious approximation. Cuneo set before the King the prospect that in the event of an union with Rome, which still formed a great centre of European politics, he would have as much power as any continental potentate: and the King might well feel tempted to enter the lists at Rome as elsewhere against Spain and France. But Cuneo did not go so far as to make a real attempt to convert him. The amiable ecclesiastical diplomatist and courtier felt far too strong a conviction that he could not venture on this. At times the prevailing controversies between the two churches were touched upon in conversation. The King did not conceal that, from all that he had seen in Spain, or even heard from theologians there, an impression of estrangement had been left on his mind[61]. His Anglican heart rejected the adoration of saints and the invocation of the Virgin, and was completely repelled by other forms of popular worship. Cuneo once asked him what he held to be true besides Holy Scripture[62]. Charles answered that he held the three creeds and the decrees of the first four councils; and he expressed his astonishment that any one could put the decrees of the Council of Trent on a level with those of the old councils. Once, after a decision had been given in favour of the Catholics, Cuneo fell on his knee and kissed his hand. ‘You will, nevertheless,’ said the King, ‘not make a Papist of me.’ On one matter Charles would have been glad to hear the expression of the Pope’s sentiments, namely, on the divine right of bishops, A.D. 1637. on the assumption of which the constitution of the English Church, and the ecclesiastical policy of the English kings mainly rested. But that was a very serious question for the Pope, who wished neither to outrage the convictions of the King, nor to lead the Catholic bishops to renew their former claims. Pope Urban VIII avoided expressing even a personal opinion on the subject.
A very lively impulse was given to the spiritual movement of the seventeenth century by the attempts to reunite the two communions. It had become clear as a result of a worldwide conflict again and again repeated, that Protestantism could not be overpowered. The inroad of the Swedes into Germany, the revival of the Protestant credit which was connected with it, the alliance of France with the Protestant powers, all gave a shape to European affairs in presence of which the hope of effecting a restoration of Catholicism must have appeared a cobweb of the brain. This led naturally to a revival of the old plans for bringing to pass some kind of reconciliation between the opposing churches. We meet with them in France, in Germany, in Poland, over the whole Continent. They were cherished by well-intentioned kings, powerful ministers, and learned writers of the first rank.
In England there was in each of the two great parties a fraction which closely resembled the corresponding fraction on the other side. In the one party there were found many who took the oath of allegiance without hesitation, who acknowledged the supremacy of the crown, and attended Anglican churches, who made a figure in high places, and then perhaps after all declared themselves Catholics on their deathbeds. We might almost suspect that, from a superstitious opinion of the saving power of ceremonies, or because it was the safest course, they kept priests in their houses only for this last hour. But even among the Protestants we discover not a few who sought to strengthen the resemblances to Catholicism which were retained in the English Church. This was done principally out of dislike to the Puritans, who declared that the Pope was the Antichrist foretold by Scripture; while the others were inclined to recognise in him the true Patriarch of the West, if he would only admit some A.D. 1637. moderation in the exercise of his power. From this point of view they had publicly condemned the schism in sermons, at which the King and the court were present. They praised auricular confession and the bowing of the knee at the sacred name or before the crucifix[63]. Even in the local arrangements of churches the innovations of the Reformers were done away. Everywhere the communion table had again to give way to the altar. Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, acknowledged that the Church of Rome had an uncorrupted tradition on the main points of the Christian faith. He avoided the harsh expressions of controversial theologians about that Church, and loved to speak of a reunion between the divided members of the whole body of the Church. But he was by no means a Papist. Like the King he condemned the popular worship, especially the invocation of saints: in the adoration of the sacrament, the refusal of the cup, and the doctrine of purgatory, he also saw error, or superstition, or both. When, after his appointment, the question was put to him whether he would not be willing to become a cardinal of the Roman Church, that was only an attempt to kindle his ambition, and to open negotiations, which might have had further consequences: but he did not fall into the snare. After a time people on the contrary spoke of the probability that Cuneo might be raised to this dignity, which he hoped to achieve by the aid of the Queen, and that he might then remain in England wearing the purple. The Roman court was apprehensive lest a violent ecclesiastical quarrel for precedence might thus be raised. Between Cuneo and Laud, who outside the English court were considered allies, harmony by no means prevailed: they did not get beyond the external forms of ordinary politeness to one another. From the beginning Laud could not endure that another ecclesiastical influence should exist at court beside his own. Cuneo’s letters to Rome show an ill-feeling towards the Archbishop[64] which is mingled with bitterness, and even A.D. 1637. with a kind of contempt. Cuneo declares him incapable of contributing in the least to the removal of the English schism.
With absolute certainty we can pronounce that the statement which was then made, that Charles in connexion with Cuneo and Laud designed to bring back the English nation to Catholicism, is erroneous. The supposed allies were personally bitter antagonists. The King, with his Archbishop, adhered to the point of view of the Anglican Church, which they only endeavoured to raise to complete supremacy.
State of Opinion in the Church of England at this time.
The controversy which then most busily engaged men of active minds, did not concern the differences between Catholicism and Protestantism. Only as to the frontiers of the spiritual and temporal power were opinions still wavering: on all other points every man had already taken his side. Even the old dispute between Lutherans and Calvinists about the Lord’s Supper, although it still went on, attracted no special attention. The questions, which are properly traced to the spirit of the age, were fought out within the domain of the Reformed Church. They concerned the doctrine of election by grace, which determined the system of dogmas, and the influence in spiritual affairs appertaining to the temporal power, which was of decisive importance for the constitution of the Church. The Synod of Dort derived widespread importance from its adherence to the strict Calvinistic doctrines of unconditional election by grace, and of the independence of the Church. It condemned the Arminians, who were inclined to less rigid views on both questions: they were expelled from their offices in the Netherlands.
A.D. 1619.
At an earlier period James I also had condemned Arminianism as promoting tendencies towards Catholicism. But the theories of this sovereign were always thrust into the background by his interests; and when the decrees of this synod, in which some English theologians had also taken part, though to a very slight extent, roused controversies in England which threatened to disturb the repose and even the system of the Church of England, it no longer commanded his sympathies. He forbade the theological question to be discussed publicly in the pulpits; just as in the articles of the English Church it had already been handled with great caution. Still more repugnant to him was the article in the conclusions of the Synod of Dort, in which equal authority was ascribed to all ministers of God’s Word, whatever position they might hold[65]. The English members of the Synod, who looked upon this as an indirect condemnation of the constitution of the Church of England, protested against it, of course without obtaining a hearing. But how obnoxious must this article have been to the sovereign, who designed to found his state upon the alliance of the Protestant mitre with the sceptre! His Presbyterian opponents now acquired the support of an assembly which, by its very strictness on other points, gained for itself great authority in the Reformed Church. What was termed Puritanism was, strictly speaking, the combination of the dogmatic decrees of the Synod of Dort with resistance to episcopacy. So far as we know, the Archbishop of Spalatro, Marcus Antonius de Dominis, who at that time had taken refuge in England, was the first who used the word in this sense[66].
There could be no more hearty admirer of the Anglican Church than this foreign Archbishop. His works on this controversy, which although voluminous are written with learning and candour, have contributed to maintain the reputation A.D. 1633. of the constitution of the English Church in the eyes of the literary and theological world[67].
In August 1633 a great alteration took place in the state of the English Church. George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury was removed by death; a man who himself inclined to Puritanism, for he was a zealous Calvinist, and in the exercise of ecclesiastical authority displayed an amount of indulgence and clemency that brought on him the reproaches of many. He had long ago ceased to influence the court, or the relations which the church and the crown bore towards each other. Charles I reposed his whole confidence in William Laud, at that time Bishop of London, whose opinions agreed with his own, or at any rate were in harmony with his tendencies. But in regard to doctrine Laud’s Arminianism went even beyond that of Arminius; and the combination witnessed at Dort, of strict Calvinistic opinions, which he rejected, with resistance to episcopal government turned him completely into a declared opponent of the Synod. For his own part he considered episcopacy a divine institution, and contested the Christian character of all those churches which were not episcopally organised. And just because this institution was so deeply rooted in Christian antiquity, he endeavoured in every respect to return to the oldest usages. Before his eyes and those of the King floated the vision of an episcopal church independent of the Papacy, which, purified from all human additions, should embrace the whole world. Laud was very highly educated, and showed an appreciation of universal learning: he did much for the printing of Greek, for the acquisition of Arabic and Persian manuscripts, and for the promotion of Oriental studies in general. He was blameless in private life, and extremely beneficent: out of his ecclesiastical revenue he always set aside a considerable portion for the poor. But he was one of those men in whom the temper of persecuting orthodoxy seems to be innate. Even in his youth he noticed chiefly those passages in the lectures of professors which ran counter to the Anglican system, of which he early formed a high A.D. 1633. conception. In this temper he read the writings which were called forth by the controversies of the day, and then invoked the vengeance of the temporal and spiritual power on the deviations from accepted formulas which he noticed in them. In the disputes between the Government and the Parliament be lent his pen to the service of the former with vigour and not without success; and Buckingham, with whom he was most closely connected, promoted him to the see of London. After Buckingham’s death the King transferred to the Bishop a portion of the confidence and favour which he had bestowed upon the Duke. Laud might be considered his ecclesiastical favourite. On the first intelligence of Abbot’s death, Charles I saluted the Bishop of London as Archbishop of Canterbury. For what could be nearer to his heart than to transfer the authority of Primate of England to the man who fully shared his point of view? On this the Anglican zealot stepped into an official position which opened the widest sphere of action for his ecclesiastical tendencies. He was a man of comprehensive energy, which operated in all directions, and at the same time retained its ardour. With large general designs he united indefatigable attention to details[68]. But all defects which Laud observed in the Church he attributed to the indulgence of his predecessors, especially of the late Archbishop, George Abbot: he had resolved to take an opposite course, and to suffer no departure from the law of the Church and from rigid obedience. Such deviations were punished in the bishops when they made any resistance to the institution of ceremonies, as in the case of Williams, Bishop of Lincoln[69]; how much more in the Puritans, whom he regarded as the most dangerous adversaries of the orthodox system. Woe to the man who ventured to bring forward a controverted point in the pulpit, when once it had been forbidden there: the smallest hint of it was fatal. Laud set himself against even A.D. 1637. the religious strictness of the Puritans. In the Sabbatarian controversy, which was then being set on foot, he advocated the Sunday amusements of the people as warmly as the King. An ordinance issued by him on the subject roused disapprobation even among clergymen who conformed in other respects. The Archbishop appears to have thought that by this indulgence he would attract the people to his side. But even in this matter he went to work with an intolerance that could not fail to alienate men’s sympathies from him. We know how zealously the Puritans condemned theatrical representations, which just at that time, when French actresses were introduced, appeared doubly obnoxious. William Prynne, of Lincoln’s Inn, who wrote a copious book called Histriomastix, suffered in consequence the most degrading penalties; he was branded and lost his ears. The same punishment was inflicted on Bastwick, a physician, who on his return from travelling related much that was discreditable to foreign bishops, and which might be unfavourably applied to the English bishops also. The theologian Burton, who blamed as novelties some alterations that were introduced into the Church, fared no better. These were educated men, and belonged to the upper classes; and their exposure in the pillory, which was intended to disgrace them, was turned into a kind of triumph. Laud indeed intended to establish for ever the unassailable authority of the ecclesiastical jurisdiction, just as he had emancipated afresh the ecclesiastical courts from the influence of the temporal: but without doubt he undermined it; for no one has ever insulted natural human feelings with impunity. His idea was conformity at any price, subordination of the people to the clergy, subordination of these latter to their own chiefs, and of all to the King.
It is not quite clear whether he consciously cherished the design which is attributed to him of expanding the archbishopric of Canterbury into a patriarchate of the British Islands, and of holding this dignity himself: but his efforts aimed without any disguise at giving the episcopal system and the usages of the Anglican Church the supremacy in the other two kingdoms as well as in England.
We know how zealously James I had struggled to obtain A.D. 1634. this end in Scotland; and we shall soon see what further advances were made on his footsteps. In England itself conformity of all individuals, in Scotland conformity with English institutions, was the most prominent motive of everything which was done in regard to the Church. In Ireland also the same attempt was made.
When colonies were established in Ireland, in which many Scots took part, articles for the Irish Church, which might satisfy the Scots as well as the English, were accepted in that country. They were introduced by James Usher, who at that time was Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of Ireland. But little was said in them of the necessity of the episcopal constitution, although it was retained. The difference between presbyters and bishops was passed over in silence. The Pope, after the example of the Synod of Gap, was termed Antichrist: the observance of Sunday as though it were the Jewish sabbath was ordained; and many distinctive Calvinistic tenets were accepted. King James, it is true, once called Doctor Usher to account for this; but at all events he confirmed the articles just at the time when he himself was maintaining strict Calvinistic opinions, owing to his connexion with the Prince of Orange. Now however under Charles I these opinions were no longer to be tolerated; for the King felt that the variety of Protestant opinions was a scandal in the eyes of the Irish Catholics, and that their conversion was hindered by the violence of the contrast presented by Calvinism. And it is evident that the consolidation of perhaps the most zealous adherents whom the Pope had in the world into one single state, such as Charles I contemplated, with those who declared him to be Antichrist, was impossible. Consistently with the prevailing policy, the Lord Deputy, Thomas Wentworth, in the Parliament of 1634 undertook to procure the abrogation of the Irish articles in substance if not in form. The Lower House of the Convocation of the Irish Protestant Church made the canon law of the English Church the subject of free discussion, and a committee of Convocation had already framed a canon which insisted on the maintenance of the Irish articles, even A.D. 1634. under pain of excommunication. Wentworth regarded this as a sort of revolt. In severe language he pointed out to the Convocation its presumption and want of subordination in wishing to pronounce judgment on laws of the English Church. He himself drew up a canon, in which assent to the Thirty-nine Articles in general was promised. The Archbishop of Armagh, who could not act inconsistently with his former behaviour, but at the same time could not resist the plans of the government, proposed a less stringent form: but Wentworth insisted upon his canon, and had the pleasure of seeing it carried in Convocation almost without opposition, in the very form in which he had drawn it up; for the members were one and all enchained by his sovereign will. This is perhaps the last canon drawn up for the Irish Church as such, which was thus inseparably united with the English[70]. Wentworth gave Archbishop Laud triumphant tidings of his unexpected success.
Further designs of the Government.
The Irish Parliament, which stood side by side with this Convocation, was the same which made the general administration of Wentworth famous. It was composed partly of Catholics and partly of Protestants; for his main object was to unite both creeds in one community: but in disputed questions the Protestants had the preponderance, and among the Protestants the Anglicans. In the Upper House the bishops as a rule had the decision in their own hands. Parliament was induced to grant supplies by which a well-ordered government of the country was for the first time rendered possible.
What a vital union is here displayed between the elements of spiritual and temporal obedience! Wentworth adds to the information above mentioned the remark, that in Ireland the King was as absolute as any other sovereign A.D. 1636. in his own country, provided only that he had as his representative a man of insight and loyalty, whose hands were not tied. The Lord Deputy can be as little accused as the King or the Archbishop of wishing to pave the way for Catholicism: Wentworth was known as a very staunch Protestant. Their thoughts were only directed to the development of Anglicanism expressed in its most rigid form, and administered without indulgence. What James I had already intended and attempted to carry out, but with vacillation and with fresh concessions to the other side, Charles I and his statesmen undertook in earnest. They wished to make episcopacy one of the chief foundations of the monarchy.
Did they entertain the thought of sweeping away the English Parliament altogether, or at least of not calling it together again? This is not likely. King Charles affirmed on more than one occasion that it lay with him to summon or not to summon Parliament, and a resolution had been formed to issue no fresh summons as long as the royal authority was not firmly established on its own foundation. The Archbishop once said at a later time, that Parliament was intended to maintain the power and greatness of the crown, but that nothing in the world was more lamentable than the corruption of what was good: that Parliament had once ventured to depose a king, but that it never ought to be allowed to proceed to this length again: that for his part he had never thought of setting aside Parliamentary government; though he had perhaps thought it right, in cases of urgent necessity, to collect taxes which had not been granted by Parliament.
We become still more accurately acquainted with the direction in which affairs were moving, through a letter from Wentworth to the King. After the miscarriage of Arundel’s mission, much was said of the expediency of again forming a connexion between England and France and the States-General, of imposing certain conditions on the Spaniards, and then exacting their performance even by force of arms. Wentworth declared himself most decidedly opposed to the scheme, and that not only because he preferred the alliance of Spain to that of France on general grounds, but most of all, A.D. 1636. as he states at full length, because the power of the King was not sufficiently confirmed in Ireland, much less in England, to allow him to interfere decisively in European affairs. Whatever weight might attach to the declaration of the courts of justice that the King was entitled to levy ship-money, yet he considered this decision far from sufficient. If a war were to break out, he thought that the tax would be refused, and that the government would have less power to exact it: what would happen then if any disaster occurred? It would certainly be necessary in that case to summon Parliament, and to claim its assistance—a course which under the present circumstances no one could wish to adopt. So long as it had not been decided that the King had the same right to raise an army which he now enjoyed with regard to the navy, Wentworth thought that his authority had only one foot, and that he must be put in a position to raise forces for service on land, which he could lead into foreign countries according to his own judgment, like the old kings of England; that this state of things must be brought about first in England, and then step by step in Scotland; and that till then the goal could not be reached, and no great undertaking could be hazarded[71].
On principle Wentworth was as little opposed to a Parliament in England as in Ireland; but he wished to have only such a Parliament as would be subservient. He thought of making the government and the royal power independent of grants of Parliament in great affairs, such as peace and war and foreign enterprises generally. The King was no longer, as in the late sessions, to be compelled to make concessions in order to maintain his proper position in European affairs. His immediate intention was to uphold the decision of the Judges with regard to the payment of ship-money, and to obtain a similar authorisation in regard to the support of the army.
It is apparent however what would have been the significance of such a decision. The political importance of Parliament had arisen from the power of granting the A.D. 1635. money required for the purposes of war: if the latter were taken away, how could the former endure? The King had not only an acknowledged right of judging whether the kingdom was in danger, but it was laid down as his duty to forestal such a contingency. If he were now authorised to call out the military and naval forces of the kingdom in case he thought fit, how could he be refused the needful resources for keeping them up when called out? Parliament would have played a very inferior part; and, in England as on the Continent, the monarchy would have taken the form of a military administration.
Public Affairs.
Among the King’s advisers there was no lack of men of ability to connect the ascendancy of the monarchy with the great interests of the country and with their furtherance.
Wentworth bequeathed to the Irish no contemptible monument of his autocratic sway. He founded their linen manufacture, in the first instance at his own expense, with the definite expectation that it would form an inexhaustible source of wealth for the country[72], just as wool and woollen manufactures were for England.
The English had their factories at Alexandria, Aleppo, and Constantinople, as well as in Persia and India: for their cloth was in request all over the East. Among the motives in Charles I’s mind for entering on friendly relations with the Pope, one was the intention of opening the harbour of Civita Vecchia to his subjects.
The arrangement concluded with Spain was of immense value for commerce, which was carried on in a very peculiar manner during the continuance of the general war. The Spaniards sent their gold and silver to England, from which country their payments could be made in Flanders and Germany through the bills of English houses which enjoyed good credit on the continent. The precious metals were A.D. 1635. sent from Spain in bars: the English crown thus gained the advantage of coining them. The transport of goods, and even of the necessaries of war, between Spain and the Netherlands, was carried on in English merchantmen, or under English escort. The Portuguese kept up their intercourse with their American colonies under the English flag, which assured them against the attacks of the Dutch; and they were glad to hire English ships, which were better armed than their own[73].
The construction of the English vessels aroused the admiration of experts: the ships of the East India Company by their solidity and their provision for every possible requirement, appeared to carry off the palm from all others.
As the King’s policy contributed to the extension of commerce, so the religious disputes contributed to the extension of the colonies. To those who would not submit to Laud’s ordinances New England offered a refuge: we shall return to the circumstances under which the colonies were planted there. But even for the toleration of Catholics in England there was no legal security. The first attempt at an ecclesiastical order of things, in which Episcopalianism came to terms with Catholicism on fixed principles, was made on the other side of the Atlantic, in Maryland. This may be the reason why this colony received a constitution that was to a great extent independent of the mother country. Maryland was peculiarly the creation of Charles I: the name it bears is derived from the Queen of that sovereign. A scheme was entertained at that time of colonising Madagascar in the interest of a Palatine prince.
As yet the colonies had no towns: London was the market to which they resorted for their supplies, and for the sale of their products: under these circumstances she began to be the emporium of the general trade of the world.
The cultivation of English commerce was almost a matter of personal care with the King. Not only the administration of his state, but even the maintenance of his court, rested upon A.D. 1637. the proceeds of the customs; and the court was still suitably and brilliantly kept up[74]. And however little Charles may have thought of endangering the repose of his kingdom for the sake of the Palatinate, yet he had never been loath to provide for the necessities of his sister and nephews.
But besides this he loved to support literature and art. He directly offended the scruples of the Puritans by attending the theatre. A splendid and costly masquerade, which the four Inns of Court combined to exhibit in the Carnival of the year 1633, was counted as a proof of their loyalty. They drove from Ely House through Chancery Lane and Whitehall in their carriages surrounded by torches; and the King sent to request them to take a route that would enable him to see the spectacle twice. The ladies and gentlemen of the court mustered in their richest dress, and later in the evening the Queen mingled with the dancers. Shirley, who was in the Queen’s service, Massinger, and old Ben Jonson still prevented the English stage from degenerating: Cymbeline, Richard III, and other plays of Shakespeare were favourite pieces with the public. Ben Jonson lived till 1637: from time to time he had the opportunity of celebrating the generosity of Charles I, of which he was greatly in need. In his later writings, such as his ‘Discoveries made upon Men and Matter,’ a ripe and lively feeling for literary culture and for culture generally is displayed which does honour to the age.
Charles I developed not only a preference, but a real appreciation, for art. Inigo Jones, whom many consider as the man of the greatest artistic talent whom England on the whole has produced, and in whose works we perceive a steady progress from an overcharged romantic style to purer forms, was one of his personal friends. It is easy to see why a man of architectural genius should attach himself to the court, for which he built chapels and banqueting halls, and to Archbishop Laud, who undertook to restore churches in the style of Christian antiquity, rather than to the Puritans A.D. 1637. who looked for salvation in the bare gospel. Among the King’s servants we find Vandyke, who in his incomparable portraits has preserved for us the forms of those who moved in high society; and Rubens, who reconciled his political commissions with constant practice of his art. On him as on others the obstinacy of the popular resistance with which Charles came into collision in his last Parliament produced an unfavourable impression. He blames the learned Selden for getting him involved in this confusion, to the prejudice of his art[75]. But as for the rest he was astonished by the zeal for study displayed by the English, and by the richness of their collections of works of art. The Arundel marbles were already rousing the attention of students of antiquity: Kenelm Digby procured for the King himself some of the finest monuments of ancient Greek art from the Levant. From Italy and Spain there was brought to him, as one of his contemporaries says, a whole troop of emperors and senators of ancient Rome, which he himself took pains to arrange in their chronological order: and he was capable of showing impatience if any one disturbed him in his task. He may be regarded as one of the best connoisseurs of art that has ever sat on a throne: he was able after short consideration to distinguish with delicate and certain judgment between those Italian masters who are closely allied in style and touch. There was no surer road to his favour than bringing him a picture of some celebrated master as a present, or pointing one out for purchase, which could still be effected with remarkable ease. The catalogues of his property show nine Correggios, thirteen Raphaels, forty-five Titians—among which are some of the greatest works of these masters, such as ‘The Education of Love,’ by the first; ‘The Holy Family,’ known under the name of ‘The Pearl,’ by the second; and among others by the third, ‘The Venus of the Prado.’ These catalogues present a many-sided interest in the history of art: they enumerate 400 works in sculpture, and 1400 in painting. Inigo Jones built a gallery for them: the King wished to have the principal works about him in his chambers at Oatlands, Hampton Court, St. James’s and Whitehall[76]. In the gardens of York House he put up the figures of Cain and Abel, by John of Bologna, the imitator of Michael Angelo, one of the finest groups by that master, a present from Philip IV of Spain. It was the intention of Charles I to adorn the squares and public gardens of London in general with works of artistic merit.
It is worth while to remark the connexion between these efforts in favour of art and poetry, and the social cultivation, the general tendencies in favour of toleration, of ecclesiastical ceremony, and of antiquity, and the cosmopolitan sympathies, which mark the ascendancy of royal authority. Could Charles I ever have succeeded in leading the English mind in this direction, and in instigating it to produce works of its own? We may feel ourselves tempted to agree with those who have at all times made it the bitterest reproach of the Puritans, that they opposed these intentions, and even frustrated them. But in the struggles between different tendencies, which give the tone to an age, the question in dispute cannot be settled by the encouragement which they afford to this or that branch of culture. They are like the forces of nature, which create but at the same time destroy. The other party also had its rights, its ideas, and, if we regard the general state of the world and of the time, a still greater destiny in the field of universal history.