When now the inalienable rights of the crown, and not only the political influence, but the status and possessions of the Episcopal Church were attacked, the King’s innate antipathy to the demands made on him revived in all its strength. Free from the accidental and changeful influence of the capital, in the air of the distant counties where the old notions of the monarchy still had life, under the influence of his wife, who though insulted and a fugitive was still active from a distance, he resolved to take up arms. Then he showed himself courageous, warlike, not without strategical talents: he had successes which gave a hope of the restoration of his authority. But his enemies not only gathered foreign forces against him, but developed in their midst a fanatical and also military faction, which went far beyond their original tendencies. The King did not hesitate to oppose both with a zeal which far exceeded his real strength. By his orders the battle of Marston Moor was fought: he himself decided at Naseby not to wait for the attack of the enemy, but to advance against them. Thus he failed in the field, and the defeat scattered his adherents.
James I had probably during his lifetime too high an idea of the strength of his opponents; Charles I certainly had too slight a one: just as at the beginning, when he provoked war A.D. 1649. with Spain, so at the time when he sought to impose his ecclesiastical laws on the Scots—undertakings from which all his difficulties proceeded—he knew neither the depth of the lawful desires of Parliament, nor the purport of the opposition already begun: he cherished splendid hopes when nearest to his ruin. For he trusted chiefly to the intrinsic power of the rights and ideas for which he fought. Though imprudent in his undertakings, he was at bottom of solid understanding: often undecided and untrustworthy—we know how fond he was of having two strings to his bow—he never lost sight of the high importance of his cause: he was naturally inclined to concessions, but neither the threats of his enemies nor the entreaties of his confidants could induce him to cross the line which he had marked out with sagacity and conscientiousness, in religion and politics: he held immoveably the convictions on which depended the connexion between the crown and the established Church. In misfortune he appears not without moral greatness. It would have been easy for him to save his life, had he conceded to the Scots the exclusive domination of Presbyterianism in England, or to the Independents the practical freedom of the army, as they themselves desired. That he did not do so is his merit towards England. Had he given his word to dissolve the episcopal government of the Church, and to alienate its property for ever, it is impossible to see how it could ever have been restored. Had he granted such a position to the army as was asked in the four articles, the self-government of the corporations and of the commons, and the later parliamentary government itself, would have become impossible. So far the resistance which he offered cannot be estimated highly enough. The overthrow of the constitution, which the Independents openly intended, made him fully conscious, perhaps not of their ultimate intention, the establishment of a republic, but certainly of his own position. So far there was certainly something of a martyr in him, if the man can be so called who values his own life less than the cause for which he is fighting, and in perishing himself, saves it for the future.
END OF VOL. II.
FOOTNOTES:
[533] Herbert (Memoirs 62) states that he saw in Carisbrook castle a manuscript of the ‘Suspiria Regalia,’ in the King’s own hand. A not improbable supposition is, that this manuscript was delivered to Symonds, the King’s chaplain, and by him, when himself in danger, handed over to Gauden, who made the book out of it. Kennet, Register 774.
[534] Grignan, Sept. 7: ‘Les indépendants publient qu’ils luy accorderont davantage à present, qu’ils n’ont plus d’ennemis qu’ils n’auroient fait auparavant.’ Cardinal Mazarin (Sept. 11) holds it possible that they will be moderate henceforth, as it would be to their own advantage.
[535] Perfect copies of all the votes, letters, proposals, that passed in the treaty held at Newport, by Edward Walker, the first clerk, employed by his Majesty to serve him during that treaty, 1705.
[536] ‘To be settled in the crown in trust for the clergy charged with leases for 99 years to satisfy purchasers reserving a rent for the livelihood of such to whom the same appertained.’ Oudart’s abstract, No. 34.
[537] Northumberland said to Warwick, in reference to the security of the first article, ‘The King in this point is safe as a King, but we cannot be so.’ Warwick 323.
[538] This was the opinion of Archbishop Usher, ‘who offered the King his reduction of episcopacy to the form of presbytery:’ he asserts that the King was contented with this. Baxter 62.