Cassell's History of England, Vol. 2 (of 8) / From the Wars of the Roses to the Great Rebellion

by Anonymous

The king could no longer restrain his impatience, and summoned both Houses before him in the Banqueting Hall. There the Lord Keeper Finch, in the presence of Charles, recalled their attention to the necessity of voting the supplies, and repeated the king's promises. He endeavoured to excuse the raising of ship-money as a necessity for chastising the Algerine pirates who infested the seas, and again recommended the liberal example of the Irish Parliament. The only effect produced by this was a most vivid and trenchant speech the next day by Waller, in which he told the House that the king was personally beloved, but that his mode of extorting his subjects' money was detested; and that neither the admiration of his majesty's natural disposition, nor the pretended consent of the judges, could ever induce them to consent to such unconstitutional demands. He then severely castigated the conduct of the bishops and clergy who preached the divine right of monarchs to plunder the public at their own pleasure. "But," said he, "they gain preferment by it, and then it is no matter, though they neither believe themselves nor are believed by others. But since they are so ready to let loose the consciences of their kings, we are bound the more carefully to provide against this pulpit law, by declaring and enforcing the municipal laws of this kingdom."

This again roused the king, who went down to the Lords, and read them a sharp lesson on their not supporting him in his just demands of supplies from the Commons. Thereupon the Lords sent for the Commons to a conference on the 29th of April, and recommended them to pass the votes and take the king's word for the redress of grievances; but the Commons resented their intruding their advice about money matters as an infringement of the privileges of the House; and on the 1st of May, the Lords, through the Lord Keeper, disclaimed any intention of encroaching on any of the well-known rights of the Commons, but that the Lords had felt bound to comply with the request of the king. The Commons returned to their debate on ship-money, and on Saturday, the 2nd of May, Charles sent a message by Sir Henry Vane, now Secretary of State and Treasurer of the Household, desiring an immediate answer regarding the supplies. Lord Digby reminded the House that the demand was that of a hasty and immediate answer to a call for funds to involve the nation in a civil war with the Scots, a people holding the same religion and subjects of the same king as themselves. The debate was continued for two days, Clarendon accusing Vane of deliberately keeping from the House the fact entrusted to him, that the king, though asking for twelve subsidies, would consent to take eight.

But it was not so much the amount as the principle involved in the subsidies which was the question; for, on the 4th of May, Charles sent Vane again with the remarkable offer to abolish ship-money for ever, and by any means that they should think fit, on condition that they granted him twelve subsidies, valued at eight hundred and fifty thousand pounds, to be paid in three years, with an assurance that the House should not be prorogued till next Michaelmas. This was a mighty temptation: here was the direct offer of at once getting rid of one of the monster grievances for ever; but it did not escape the attention of the more sagacious that, by accepting the bargain, they were conceding the king's right to set aside the most established laws, to force his own notions of religion on his subjects, and to make war on them if they refused. They rejected the snare, and maintained the debate for some hours against all the arguments of the Court party. On rising, they informed Vane that they would resume the debate the next morning at eight o'clock; but Sir Henry, seeing very well how it would terminate, assured the king in Council that he was certain that the House would not grant him a penny for the war against the Scots.

On this Charles adopted one of his stratagems. Early in the morning he sent for Glanvil the Speaker, before the Commons had assembled, and detained him at Whitehall, so that the Commons without him could not vote against the supplies, nor protest against the war; and suddenly hastening to the House of Lords, he sent for the Commons and dismissed them. In doing this, he praised the peers at the expense of the Commons, and declared that as to the liberties of the people which the Commons made so much talk of, they had not more regard for them than he had.

This was the last Parliament which Charles was ever to dissolve, and the folly of his conduct became speedily palpable. The Parliament had only sat about three weeks, having met on the 13th of April, and being now dissolved on May 5th. By this hasty act the king had put himself wholly on the army. Had he allowed the Commons to vote against the supplies, many would have sympathised with him; now he had only himself to blame. His enemies rejoiced, exceedingly, and his friends deplored the deed with gloomy auguries.

The king was made to feel his mistake, on applying to the City of London for a loan and receiving a cool and evasive answer. The Scots were greatly elated. They had their agents in close though secret communication with the leaders of the opposition, and now saw the king deprived of the means of effectually contending with them, and felt that they had numerous friends of their cause in England. The passion of the king only increased their advantages. He issued a proclamation declaring why he had dismissed the Parliament, charging the Commons with malice and disaffection to the State, and with designing to bring government and magistracy into contempt; and he gave fresh proofs of his vindictive feeling by arresting a number of the members the day after the dissolution. The public had not forgotten the cruelty practised on their faithful servant Sir John Eliot, and they now saw Sir John Hotham and Mr. Bellasis committed to the Fleet, Mr. Crew, afterwards Lord Crew, to the Tower, and the house of Lord Brooke forced, and his study and cabinets broken open in a search for papers.

To add to the general exasperation, Laud, who had summoned Convocation previous to the meeting of Parliament, continued its sessions after the dissolution, contrary to all custom; and its sitting was employed to pass a series of seventeen new canons of the most offensive and slavish kind. The public excitement was so great against the innovation that the Lord Keeper Finch and some of the judges had to furnish a written opinion declaring the right of Convocation to sit after the close of Parliament, and a new commission was issued with the usual words, "during the Parliament," altered to "during our pleasure." But a guard of soldiers was deemed necessary to protect the sittings, in which the clergy first voted six subsidies to the king, and then passed to the canons, one of which ordered that every clergyman once a quarter should instruct his parishioners in the divine right of kings, and the damnable sin of resisting authority. Others fulminated the most flaming intolerance of Catholics, Socinians, and Separatists. All clergymen and graduates of the universities were called on to take an oath declaring the sufficiency of the doctrines and discipline of the Church of England, in opposition to Presbyterianism and Popery.

GUILDHALL, LONDON, IN THE TIME OF CHARLES I.

On the publication of these canons, great was the ferment in the country, and petitions and remonstrances from Northampton, Kent, Devon, and other counties, were sent up against them. The code was most ungracious as regarded the Catholics, who had just presented to the king, at the suggestion of the queen, fourteen thousand pounds. The queen remonstrated against it, and the king gave orders to Laud to desist from further annoyance in that direction. But anger and discontent were spreading throughout the country, from the outrageous measures to raise money. Fresh writs of ship-money were issued, and many victims were dragged into the Star Chamber for refusal to pay, and fined, so that their money was obtained by one process or the other. The names of the richest citizens were picked out in order to demand loans from them. Bullion, the property of foreign merchants, was seized at the Mint, and forty thousand pounds were extorted for its release; and bags of pepper on the Exchange were sold at whatever they would fetch. It was next proposed to coin four hundred thousand pounds' worth of bad money; but the merchants and other intelligent men came forward and drew such a picture of the ruin and confusion that such an act would produce, that the king was alarmed, and gave the project up. The Council, however, hit upon the scheme of purchasing goods at long credit, and selling them at a low price for ready money. All this time large sums of money were levied throughout the land by violence, for the support of the troops collected for the campaign against the Scots. Carts, horses, and forage were seized at the sword's point; and whoever dared to represent these outrages to the king was branded as an enemy to the Government. The Corporation of London was dealt with severely, because it showed no fondness for enforcing the king's arbitrary demands. The Lord Mayor and sheriffs were cited into the Star Chamber for remissness in levying the ship-money; and several of the aldermen were committed to prison for refusing to furnish the names of such persons in their wards as were able to contribute to Charles's forced loans. Strafford said things would never go right till a few fat London aldermen were hanged.