The articles of impeachment.
Strafford’s line of defence.
The articles of Strafford’s impeachment were twenty-eight in number, and of these seventeen, from the third to the nineteenth, bore directly upon his government in Ireland. The third article charged that he had in a public speech in 1634 declared that Ireland was a conquered nation, and that the King might do what he liked there; and that the charters of cities were obsolete and at the royal discretion. This was proved by several witnesses, of whom Cork was one, who declared that he had come to England with Strafford’s leave, that he had determined to make no complaint, and that he had purposely left all his papers behind him. The answer to this evidence was that Ireland was in fact conquered, that the charters had been often violated, and that the object of his dealing with the corporation of Dublin was to encourage the English Protestants who had been depressed by native competition and combination. All that he had done, however, was at most a misdemeanour, and no treason. In support of the fourth article, which declared that the prisoner had seized property by Order in Council, Cork deposed that this had been done in his case, that he had tried to appeal to the law and ‘that my lord of Strafford answered “call in your writs, or if you will not, I will clap you in the Castle; for I tell you I will not have my orders disputed by law nor lawyers”’; and that on another occasion the Lord Deputy had told him that he would make an Act of State as binding as an Act of Parliament. There were other witnesses on the latter point. Strafford replied that there was no breach of Magna Charta, since the law and custom of Ireland had been followed, and that during the long interval between Parliaments it was necessary to depend upon the action of the Executive. The fifth and sixth articles dealt with Lord Mountnorris’s case, which has been sufficiently discussed, and the eighth with the Loftus case and other accusations of arbitrary treatment by the Lord Deputy and Council, the general defence being that they had acted according to the established custom of Ireland. The ninth article contained a charge of unlawfully stretching the secular arm to support the power of certain bishops. One case was proved, but Strafford answered that he had discontinued the practice when he found its legality was doubtful.
Strafford’s financial measures: the customs.
Tobacco and linen.
Strafford discouraged Irish woollens.
The tenth article charged Strafford with procuring the customs to be farmed, and the rates upon merchandise raised for his own profit. The facts could scarcely be denied, but the accused was able to show that he had objected to having a personal interest in the revenue, and that he was persuaded to do so by Portland as the only means of inducing other speculators to undergo the risk. The twelfth article attacked the tobacco monopoly which Strafford had created by proclamation, and the thirteenth with doing something of the same sort in the case of linen. He looked upon tobacco as a superfluity, and therefore a fit subject for heavy taxation, but there can be no doubt that many traders suffered severely. The linen business had always existed in Ulster, and he tried to improve and regulate it, but no doubt he went too fast and much hardship was caused. ‘He did observe,’ he said, ‘that the wool of that kingdom did increase very much, that if it should there be wrought into cloth, it would be a very great prejudice to the clothing trade of England, and therefore he was willing, as much as he might lawfully and fairly, to discourage that trade; that on the other side, he was desirous to set up the trade of linen cloth, which would be beneficial there and not prejudice the trade of England.’ He made rules for the management of the manufacture which he believed would greatly add to its value, but they had turned out too rigid for the working people, who could not so quickly be induced to change their habits. He had himself lost 3000l. by his share in the business.
Soldiers quartered on private persons.
Strafford’s arbitrary acts supported by precedents.
The Black Oath.