CHAPTER VI.CONCESSIONS AND NEW DEMANDS.

King Charles thought that he should be able to direct the government in spite of the preponderance of parliamentary power. At the same time with the attainder of Strafford he signed the bill which made the dissolution of Parliament dependent on its own consent. He expected that this would be given when the pressing questions were settled. His own conviction seems to have been that hitherto he had grasped at too much, and he induced himself to make other great concessions.

He had already allowed the substitution, in the patents of appointments of the judges, for the clause which made their tenure of office dependent on the pleasure of the government, of another which made it depend on good behaviour[259], and so put an end to that arbitrary removal of judges which made them subservient to the government. This was a change of universal political significance, since the dependent position of the bench of judges was recognised as the origin of those decisions in favour of the crown on which the government had based its pretensions. Now however all those courts were attacked which, at least in part, had served as instruments of arbitrary power, especially the Court of High Commission, by which the spiritual jurisdiction had obtained absolute authority over every deviation from the principles of the Anglican Church. Next, the Star Chamber, which through the form of its procedure, that decidedA.D. 1641.alone on the facts, the law, and the punishment, and through the extent of its functions and its harshness even in doubtful cases had incurred universal hatred[260]:—finally the special courts in the northern counties, which had withdrawn a third of the realm from the ordinary course of justice. The original idea had been merely to reform them; now however that full political preponderance had been obtained, it was resolved to abolish them, so that the common law, which was intimately connected with political liberty, might everywhere be re-established. The jurisdiction also of the Privy Council was confined within narrow limits. The principles of the Petition of Right in respect to personal liberty now obtained fresh confirmation. The true ground for arrests was always to be assigned, and a decision taken before the court within three days as to its legal validity. The King hesitated a moment when the bills for the abolition of the Star Chamber and High Commission were presented to him, saying that he well knew that thereby he should abandon various fundamental arrangements made by his ancestors for the government of Church and State. Nor indeed was their abolition approved on all hands; for the Star Chamber had served to tame the ambition of the great vassals, and the High Commission to hinder the perpetual rise of new sects, of which the country was very fruitful. Moreover the loss of the fines, which formed part of the revenue, was taken into account[261]. But the King would not oppose his own to the general interest: he wished to put an end to all dread of future oppression in Church and State, in order to restore mutual confidence. He spoke to this effect in accepting the bills about the Star Chamber and High Commission. He said that he thought none could be discontented with him who considered what he had conceded to the present Parliament,—greater independence to the judges, triennial parliaments, the perpetual right of granting tonnage and poundage, against the custom of his ancestors; finally, the abolition of ship-money. He had also given upA.D. 1641.the restoration of the old forest boundaries, allowing them to remain as they had been in the twentieth year of his father. He could not admit that the people had had a right to these concessions: he held firmly to the view that all was free gift in favour of his subjects, on whose confidence and obedience he might now more than ever reckon[262].

He assented to the dismissal of his two armies, the English and the Irish, convinced that the Scots, now that their demands were satisfied, would quit English territory. He himself wished to go to Scotland, according to his promise, and hold a Parliament there.

It really seemed as if the King was willing to accept his present position, to abandon not only the views which he had before prosecuted, but also the modes of government of his ancestors, so far as they were inconsistent with the restrictions imposed on him. Some of the chief foundations of the royal authority which the Tudors had enjoyed had been removed. But who could assert that the crown could not be worn, and be worth wearing, under these conditions? On the other hand it is clear at the first glance how hard this must again become.

There was some importance in the fact that Charles I was a born king, with a definite idea of inalienable rights and duties necessary to be fulfilled, an idea all the more potent in the indefinite state of the constitution and of the limits of parliamentary power. The party from which the great impulse proceeded, and which controlled the debates with its majority, had made a start which would carry it beyond the limits of the old constitution. Questions were already being raised, and tendencies exhibited, which implied a new and thorough transformation.

In the very foreground appeared the religious question. The matter of the two petitions relating to church affairs had in due time been brought before the Upper House, and referred for discussion to an ecclesiastical committee composed of lords of both parties. By it a sub-committee was appointed, in which distinguished theologians of both Anglican andA.D. 1641.Presbyterian opinions, Prideaux and Hacket, as well as Burgess and Young, took part. The chairman of both was the astute Williams, who had returned from the prison in which Laud had confined him, to his seat in the Upper House. They busied themselves with reversing Laud’s arrangements, and with the complaints against his government, but they had no idea of touching on the constitution of the English episcopate. Men like Williams lived in the union of two forms of activity, the spiritual and the temporal. How was it to be expected that the bishops would rob themselves of their seats in the Upper House? The temporal lords also were mostly against it.

Among the grievances of which the populace complained in the turbulent days before Stafford’s condemnation, one of the most important was that in spite of all petitions the affairs of the Church were not put in order in a truly Protestant sense: immediately after his execution the matter was taken up afresh. In the prevailing temper it will easily be understood that they then reverted to the decided demands of the London petition. The bill had a near political interest, in so far as it corresponded to the incessant demands of the Scottish commissioners for conformity. But they did not rest only on the Presbyterians. Several men of separatist opinions, Oliver Cromwell, the younger Vane, Haslerig, had allied themselves to the movement[263]. On May 27 a bill for the entire abolition of the Anglican establishment was introduced. Archbishops and bishops, chancellors and their commissaries, deans, archdeacons, and other chapter officials were henceforth to exist no longer in the Church and realm of England; and the King and two Houses of Parliament were to dispose of the lands, houses and rents attached to these dignities and offices. After all that had happened this motion nevertheless caused the greatest sensation, for none of the changes which had preceded it were at all like this. Neither ship-money nor Star Chamber, neither Stafford’s death nor Laud’s prosecution were comparable to this attempt to overthrow the church government ofA.D. 1641.England, and introduce a new one. The proposal was that in every diocese commissions should stand in the place of the bishops. The plan found more support in the Lower House now than formerly; the second reading was carried by a majority of 139 votes against 118. An objection had been taken that they ought to wait till the Lords had definitely decided on the first moderate proposition, which had not yet taken place. They did so just at this time (June 7). Even under these circumstances their decision was in the negative; for the Lords would not lend a hand to a change even in the political position of the bishops whereby the Upper House would be transformed. The result however was that the new bill was pressed with greater zeal than ever.

On June 11 the House resolved itself into a committee to discuss it. Edward Hyde, who was in the chair, asserted at a later period that though he could not himself speak in the debate, yet he had hindered the progress of the measure by giving preference to the speakers who rose in opposition to it[264]. But we know well the almost insuperable difficulties involved in the nature of the case. How should a measure not meet with opposition which proposed to alter the definite position of one of the greatest powers in the state, the House of Lords, and to abolish totally that ecclesiastical authority which had existed ever since the introduction of Christianity into England, and had not only survived the Reformation, but largely contributed to it. Episcopacy had grown up in the closest connexion with all English institutions. If the guilt could fairly be imputed to it of having shared in the last encroachments of the royal power, it seemed sufficient, as the Upper House had determined, to reverse the acts tending in this direction, and restore the previous order of things. The opposition however was redoubled when it came to the question of replacing this institution. It was proposed to establish in each diocese an authority analogous to the episcopal, which should be moderated by the participation, in some form or other, of the remaining clergy. Besides, there was an agreement between the two parties as to theA.D. 1641.removal of the bishops, none as to any substitute for them: on this point their wishes and purposes were in direct opposition. Even under another chairman there would have been some difficulty in coming to a conclusion: but neither his dexterity, nor the intrinsic complexity of the matter, prevented some fundamental parts of the bill and reasons for them being agreed to by the majority[265]. This was quite a different thing from the mere petition of the London citizens: a bill drawn on more advanced principles now threatened the very core of the ecclesiastical body with complete removal.

Meanwhile John Pym was proceeding with no less comprehensive proposals to a thorough reform of the political administration. There was a talk of the long-meditated journey to Scotland, which the King would no longer postpone. In a conference with the Lords (June 24), Pym brought forward a number of proposals which it was desirable to settle before this journey was undertaken. The sum of them was that the King should dismiss those of his councillors against whom there was just ground of complaint, and entrust his affairs to officers in whom Parliament had reason to place confidence[266].

The removal of an unpopular minister, even if so strong a step should frighten others who were inclined to follow in his footsteps, was not the final aim of Parliament: it would no longer endure in the highest offices of the court and state either secret or open opponents. The King was warned not to let matters go so far as that their names should be mentioned. The Prince of Wales in future ought to be surrounded by men publicly held by Parliament to be trustworthy: neither Jesuits nor Capuchins were to be endured in the Queen’s household: no one who entered England with instructions from the Pope was to enjoy the protection of the law: if the King left the country a guard of trusty nobles was to prevent any Popish intrigues of the Queen’s court. The internal administration of the realmA.D. 1641.was to be ordered in the same way: none but adherents of the Parliament should hold the chief posts in the counties, or be entrusted by them with subordinate offices. With these was combined the idea of joining in an oath by which the obedience of the officers and militia to parliamentary ordinances should be secured, and of placing in safe hands the ports of the kingdom and the command of the fleet.

Various motives may have conspired to produce these resolutions; the renewed mistrust of the households of the King and Queen, which naturally held to the prerogative of the crown, imitation of the Scots, and rivalry with them, in so far as they aimed at exercising a separate influence over the King, above all the logical development of the principles already adopted, which could tolerate no independent action of the crown. On the occasion of the King’s journey these tendencies of the predominant party in the Lower House obtained the fullest expression. It was proposed that for the time a deputy orcustos regnishould be appointed, to give the requisite sanction to the bills that passed the two Houses, or that royal functions should be entrusted to the Prince of Wales, who was still too young for a will of his own, perhaps to the Elector Palatine, who was very needy: it is even said that words were uttered to the effect that there was no need of monarchical forms[267]. If so, this was the first time that republican sentiments were expressed in the debates of Parliament.

These things however were as yet far off. Though some of the Lords agreed with the Commons, there was always in the Upper House a majority which opposed them in decisive moments.

It is plain, nevertheless, that the movement was entering on a new stage. A simple restoration of the constitution to check the encroachments of the crown would no longer suffice. The barriers were in danger of being broken down which the constitution itself placed in the way of the dominant faction.

A.D. 1641.

The King on his side was resolved not to let himself be dragged so far. He believed that the church and monarchy, and their mutual connexion, were too well established in England to be very easily overthrown, and thought that he could easily defend them both, if he could only separate the affairs of Scotland from those of England; for he referred to this inter-connexion all the misfortunes which had befallen him. This was the chief object of the journey to Scotland for which he was preparing. Among his advisers some even of those who were reckoned moderate men cherished this idea. ‘If you may overcome all difficulties there (in Scotland) I believe it will not be difficult for you to put all things here (in England) in good order,’ wrote his secretary, Master Nicholas.

FOOTNOTES:[259]The words ‘durante bene placito’ were changed into the words ‘quamdiu se bene gesserint.’[260]Hallam’s Const. Hist. ii. 196. Blackstone’s Commentaries iv. 230. Clarendon’s Hist. of the Rebellion iii. 121.[261]Giustiniano, July 19, reckons them at £250,000.[262]Speech of the King, July 5. Nalson ii. 327.[263]Deering, in Nalson ii. 247.[264]Lister’s Life of Lord Clarendon i. 113.[265]Journals ii. June 12.[266]The ten propositions of the Commons, in Nalson ii. 310:—the 3rd head about his Majesty’s counsells.[267]So Giustiniano declares ‘redurre la monarchia a governo democratico.’ In the Diurnall Occurrences it is only mentioned on the 27th of August: ‘both houses sate till 10 o’clock at night but could not agree upon anything.’

[259]The words ‘durante bene placito’ were changed into the words ‘quamdiu se bene gesserint.’

[260]Hallam’s Const. Hist. ii. 196. Blackstone’s Commentaries iv. 230. Clarendon’s Hist. of the Rebellion iii. 121.

[261]Giustiniano, July 19, reckons them at £250,000.

[262]Speech of the King, July 5. Nalson ii. 327.

[263]Deering, in Nalson ii. 247.

[264]Lister’s Life of Lord Clarendon i. 113.

[265]Journals ii. June 12.

[266]The ten propositions of the Commons, in Nalson ii. 310:—the 3rd head about his Majesty’s counsells.

[267]So Giustiniano declares ‘redurre la monarchia a governo democratico.’ In the Diurnall Occurrences it is only mentioned on the 27th of August: ‘both houses sate till 10 o’clock at night but could not agree upon anything.’

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