Constitutional History of England, Henry VII to George II. Volume 2 of 3

by Henry Hallam

[196] The house came to a vote on July 17, according to Whitelock (p. 46) in favour of Usher's scheme, that each county should be a diocese, and that there should be a governing college or presbytery, consisting of twelve, under the presidency of a bishop: Sir E. Dering spoke in favour of this, though his own bill went much farther. Nalson, ii. 294; Neal, 703. I cannot find the vote in the journals; it passed, therefore, I suppose, in the committee, and was not reported to the house.

[197] Parl. Hist. 774, 794, 817, 910, 1087. The Lords had previously come to resolutions, that bishops should sit in the House of Lords, but not in the privy council, nor be in any commission of the peace. Id. 814.

The king was very unwilling to give his consent to the bill excluding the bishops from parliament, and was, of course, dissuaded by Hyde from doing so. He was then at Newmarket on his way to the north, and had nothing but war in his head. The queen, however, and Sir John Colepepper, prevailed on him to consent. Clarendon, History, ii. 247 (1826); Life, 51. The queen could not be expected to have much tenderness for a protestant episcopacy; and it is to be said in favour of Colepepper's advice, who was pretty indifferent in ecclesiastical matters, that the bishops had rendered themselves odious to many of those who wished well to the royal cause. See the very remarkable conversation of Hyde with Sir Edward Verney, who was killed at the battle of Edgehill, where the latter declares his reluctance to fight for the bishops, whose quarrel he took it to be, though bound by gratitude not to desert the king. Clarendon's Life, p. 68.

This author represents Lord Falkland as having been misled by Hampden to take an unexpected part in favour of the first bill for excluding the bishops from parliament. "The house was so marvellously delighted to see the two inseparable friends divided in so important a point, that they could not contain from a kind of rejoicing; and the more because they saw Mr. Hyde was much surprised with the contradiction, as in truth he was, having never discovered the least inclination in the other towards such a compliance."—i. 413. There is, however, an earlier speech of Falkland in print, against the London petition; wherein, while objecting to the abolition of the order, he intimates his willingness to take away their votes in parliament, with all other temporal authority. Speeches of the Happy Parliament, p. 188 (published in 1641). Johnstone of Wariston says there were but four or five votes against taking away civil places and seats in parliament from the bishops. Dalrymple's Memorials, ii. 116. But in the journals of the Commons (10th March 1640-1) it is said to be resolved, after a long and mature debate, that the legislative power of bishops is a hindrance to their function.

[198] "The higher house," says Baillie, "have made an order, which was read in the churches, that none presume of their own head to alter any customs established by law: this procured ordinance does not discourage any one."—P. 237. Some rioters, however, who had pulled down rails about the altar, etc., were committed by order of the Lords in June. Nalson, ii. 275.

[199] Parl. Hist. 868. By the hands of this zealous knight fell the beautiful crosses at Charing and Cheap, to the lasting regret of all faithful lovers of antiquities and architecture.

[200] Parl. Hist. 907; Commons' Journals, Sept. 1, 1641. It was carried at the time on a division by 55 to 37, that the committee "should propound an addition to this order for preventing all contempt and abuse of the book of Common Prayer, and all tumultuous disorders that might arise in the church thereupon." This is a proof that the church party were sometimes victorious in the house. But they did not long retain this casual advantage. For, the Lords having sent down a copy of their order of 16th January above mentioned, requesting the Commons' concurrence, they resolved (Sept. 9) "that the house do not consent to this order; it being thought unreasonable at this time to urge the severe execution of the said laws." They contented themselves with "expecting that the Commons of this realm do, in the meantime, quietly attend the reformation intended, without any tumultuous disturbance of the worship of God and peace of the realm." See Nalson, ii. 484.

[201] May, p. 75. See this passage, which is very judicious. The disunion, however, had in some measure began not long after the meeting of parliament; the court wanted, in December 1640, to have given the treasurer's staff to Hertford, whose brother was created a peer by the title of Lord Seymour. Bedford was the favourite with the Commons for the same office, and would doubtless have been a fitter man at the time, notwithstanding the other's eminent virtues. Sidney Letters, ii. 665, 666. See also what Baillie says of the introduction of seven lords, "all commonwealth's men," into the council, though, as generally happens, he is soon discontented with some of them. P. 246, 247. There was even some jealousy of Say, as favouring Strafford.

[202] Whitelock, p. 46. Bedford was to have been lord treasurer, with Pym, whom he had brought into parliament for Tavistock, as his chancellor of the exchequer; Hollis secretary of state. Hampden is said, but not perhaps on good authority, to have sought the office of governor to the Prince of Wales; which Hume, not very candidly, brings as a proof of his ambition. It seems probable that, if Charles had at that time (May 1641) carried these plans into execution, and ceased to listen to the queen, or to those persons about his bed-chamber, who were perpetually leading him astray, he would have escaped the exorbitant demands which were afterwards made upon him, and even saved his favourite episcopacy. But, after the death of the Earl of Bedford, who had not been hostile to the church, there was no man of rank in that party whom he liked to trust; Northumberland having acted, as he thought, very ungratefully, Say being a known enemy to episcopacy, and Essex, though of the highest honour, not being of a capacity to retain much influence over the leaders of the other house. Clarendon insinuates that, even as late as March 1642, the principal patriots, with a few exceptions, would have been content with coming themselves into power under the king, and on this condition would have left his remaining prerogative untouched (ii. 326). But it seems more probable that, after the accusation of the five members, no measure of this kind would have been of any service to Charles.

[203] Commons' Journals, 22nd November. On a second division the same night, whether the remonstrance should be printed, the popular side lost it by 124 to 101. But on 15th December the printing was carried by 135 to 83. Several divisions on important subjects about this time show that the royalist minority was very formidable. But the attendance, especially on that side, seems to have been irregular; and in general, when we consider the immense importance of these debates, we are surprised to find the house so deficient in numbers as many divisions show it to have been. Clarendon frequently complains of the supineness of his party; a fault invariably imputed to their friends by the zealous supporters of established authority, who forget that sluggish, lukewarm, and thoughtless tempers must always exist, and that such will naturally belong to their side. I find in the short pencil notes taken by Sir Ralph Verney, with a copy of which I have been favoured by Mr. Serjeant D'Oyly, the following entry on the 7th of August, before the king's journey to Scotland: "A remonstrance to be made how we found the kingdom and the church, and how the state of it now stands." This is not adverted to in Nalson, nor in the Journals at this time. But Clarendon says, in a suppressed passage (vol. ii. Append. 591) that "at the beginning of the parliament, or shortly after, when all men were inflamed with the pressures and illegalities which had been exercised upon them, a committee was appointed to prepare a remonstrance of the state of the kingdom, to be presented to his majesty, in which the several grievances might be recited; which committee had never brought any report to the house; most men conceiving, and very reasonably, that the quick and effectual progress his majesty made for the reparation of those grievances, and prevention of the like for the future, had rendered that work needless. But as soon as the intelligence came of his majesty being on his way from Scotland towards London, that committee was, with great earnestness and importunity, called upon to bring in the draft of such remonstrance," etc. I find a slight notice of this origin of the remonstrance in the Journals, Nov. 17, 1640.