BUCKINGHAM.
1625-1628
Charles's accession.--Leading events of his reign.--Buckingham.--His
influence over the king.--General system of government.--His
majesty.--Every thing done in the king's name.--The Privy Council.--It
represents the king.--Constitution and functions of the Privy
Council.--Restrictions on the royal power.--A new Parliament.--The new
Parliament meets at Oxford.--Difficulties commence between the king
and Parliament.--Demands of Parliament, and the king's answers.--The
king and the Commons both in the wrong.--The king promises every
thing.--His insincerity.--Commons not satisfied.--Parliament
dissolved.--New one called.--Subterfuges of the king.--Parliament
again dissolved.--The breach between the king and the Parliament
widens.--Impeachment of Buckingham.--The king interferes.--Another
dissolution.--Buckingham's reckless conduct.--The Round Robin.--Return
of the English fleet.--The officers and men desert.--Expedition to
Spain.--Buckingham's egregious folly.--The expedition ends in
disaster.--Buckingham's quarrel with Richelieu.--He resolves
on war.--The French servants dismissed.--War declared
against France.--Expedition to France abortive.--Another
projected.--Assassination of Buckingham.--The king not
sorry.--Buckingham's monument the universal execration of his
countrymen.
Charles commenced his reign in 1625. He continued to reign about
twenty-four years. It will assist the reader to receive and retain in
mind a clear idea of the course of events during his reign, if we
regard it as divided into three periods. During the first, which
continued about four years, Charles and the Parliament were both upon
the stage, contending with each other, but just at open war. Each
party intrigued, and maneuvered, and struggled to gain its own ends,
the disagreement widening and deepening continually, till it ended in
an open rupture, when Charles abandoned the plan of having Parliaments
at all, and attempted to govern alone. This attempt to manage the
empire without a legislature lasted for ten years, and is the second
period. After this a Parliament was called, and it soon made itself
independent of the king, and became hostile to him, the two powers
being at open war. This constitutes the third period. Thus we have
four years spent in getting into the quarrel between the king and
Parliament, ten years in an attempt by the king to govern alone, and,
finally, ten years of war, more or less open, the king on one side,
and the Parliament on the other.
The first four years--that is, the time spent in getting really into
the quarrel with Parliament, was Buckingham's work, for during that
time Buckingham's influence with the king was paramount and supreme;
and whatever was done that was important or extraordinary, though done
in the king's name, really originated in him. The whole country knew
this and were indignant that such a man, so unprincipled, so low in
character, so reckless, and so completely under the sway of his
impulses and passions, should have such an influence over the king,
and, through him, such power to interfere with and endanger the mighty
interests of so vast a realm.
It must not be supposed, however, in consequence of what has been said
about the extent of the regal power in England, that the daily care
and responsibility of the affairs of government, in its ordinary
administration, rested directly upon the king. It is not possible that
any one mind can even comprehend, far less direct, such an enormous
complication of interests and of action as is involved in the carrying
on, from day to day, the government of an empire. Offices,
authorities, and departments of administration spring up gradually,
and all the ordinary routine of the affairs of the empire are managed
by them. Thus the navy was all completely organized, with its
gradations of rank, its rules of action, its records, its account
books, its offices and arrangements for provisionment and supply, the
whole forming a vast system which moved on of itself, whether the king
were present or absent, sick or well, living or dead. It was so with
the army; it was so with the courts; it was so with the general
administration of the government, at London. The immense mass of
business which constituted the work of government was all systematized
and arranged, and it moved on regularly, in the hands of more or less
prudent and careful men, who governed, themselves, by ancient rules
and usages, and in most cases managed wisely.
Every thing, however, was done in the king's _name_. The ships were
his majesty's ships, the admirals were his majesty's servants, the
war was his majesty's war, the court was the _King's_ Bench. The idea
was, that all these thousands of officers, of all ranks and grades,
were only an enormous multiplication of his majesty; that they were to
do his will and carry on his administration as he would himself carry
it on were he personally capable of attending to such a vast detail;
subject, of course, to certain limits and restrictions which the laws
and customs of the realm, and the promises and contracts of his
predecessors, had imposed. But although all this action was
theoretically the king's action, it came to be, in fact, almost wholly
independent of him. It went on of itself, in a regular and systematic
way, pursuing its own accustomed course, except so far as the king
directly interposed to modify its action.
It might be supposed that the king would certainly take _the general
direction_ of affairs into his own hands, and that this charge, at
least, would necessarily come upon him, as king, day by day. Some
monarchs have attempted to do this, but it is obvious that there must
be some provision for having this general charge, as well as all the
subordinate functions of government, attended to independently of the
king, as his being always in a condition to fulfill this duty is not
to be relied upon. Sometimes the king is young and inexperienced;
sometimes he is sick or absent; and sometimes he is too feeble in
mind, or too indolent, or too devoted to his pleasures, to exercise
any governmental care. There has gradually grown up, therefore, in all
monarchies, the custom of having a central board of officers of state,
whom the king appoints, and who take the general direction of affairs
in his stead, except so far as he chooses to interfere. This board, in
England, is called the Privy Council.
The Privy Council in England is a body of great importance. Its nature
and its functions are, of course, entirely different from those of the
two houses of Parliament. _They_ represent, or are intended to
represent, the nation. The Parliament is, in theory, the nation,
assembled at the king's command, to give him their advice. The Privy
Council, on the other hand, represents the king. It is the king's
Privy Council. They act in his name. They follow his directions when
he chooses to give any. Whatever they decide upon and decree, the king
signs--often, indeed, without any idea of its nature. Still he signs
it, and all such decrees go forth to the word as the king's orders in
council. The Privy Council, of course, would have its meetings, its
officers, its records, its rules of proceeding, and its various
usages, and these grew, in time, to be laws and rights; but still it
was, in theory, only a sort of expansion of the king, as if to make a
kind of artificial being, with one soul, but many heads and hands,
because no natural human being could possibly have capacities and
powers extensive and multifarious enough for the exigencies of
reigning. Charles thus had a council who took charge of every thing,
except so far as he chose to interpose. The members were generally
able and experienced men. And yet Buckingham was among them. He had
been made Lord High Admiral of England, which gave him supreme command
of the navy, and admitted him to the Privy Council. These were very
high honors.
This Privy Council now took the direction of public affairs, attended
to every thing, provided for all emergencies, and kept all the
complicated machinery of government in motion, without the necessity
of the king's having any personal agency in the matter. The king might
interpose, more or less, as he was inclined; and when he did
interpose, he sometimes found obstacles in the way of immediately
accomplishing his plans, in the forms or usages which had gradually
grown into laws.
For instance, when the king began his reign, he was very eager to have
the war for the recovery of the Palatinate go on at once; and he was,
besides, very much embarrassed for want of money. He wished,
therefore, in order to save time, that the old Parliament which King
James had called should continue to act under his reign. But his Privy
Council told him that that could not be. That was _James's_
Parliament. If he wanted one for his reign, he must call upon the
people to elect a new Parliament for him.
The new Parliament was called, and Charles sent them a very civil
message, explaining the emergency which had induced him to call them,
and the reason why he was so much in want of money. His father had
left the government a great deal in debt. There had been heavy
expenses connected with the death of the former king, and with his own
accession and marriage. Then there was the war. It had been engaged in
by his father, with the approbation of the former Parliament; and
engagements had been made with allies, which now they could not
honorably retract. He urged them, therefore, to grant, without delay,
the necessary supplies.
The Parliament met in July, but the plague was increasing in London,
and they had to adjourn, early in August, to Oxford. This city is
situated upon the Thames, and was then, as it is now, the seat of a
great many colleges. These colleges were independent of each other in
their internal management, though united together in one general
system. The name of one of them, which is still very distinguished,
was Christ Church College. They had, among the buildings of that
college, a magnificent hall, more than one hundred feet long, and very
lofty, built in a very imposing style. It is still a great object of
interest to all who visit Oxford. This hall was fitted up for the use
of Parliament, and the king met the two houses there. He made a new
speech himself, and others were made by his ministers, explaining the
state of public affairs, and gently urging the houses to act with
promptness and decision.
The houses then separated, and each commenced its own deliberations.
But, instead of promptly complying with the king's proposals they sent
him a petition for redress of a long list of what they called
grievances. These grievances were, almost all of them, complaints of
the toleration and encouragement of the Catholics, through the
influence of the king's Catholic bride. She had stipulated to have a
Catholic chapel, and Catholic attendants, and, after her arrival in
England, she and Buckingham had so much influence over the king, that
they were producing quite a change at court, and gradually through all
ranks of society, in favor of the Catholics. The Commons complained of
a great many things, nearly all, however, originating in this cause.
The king answered these complaints, clause by clause, promising
redress more or less distinctly. There is not room to give this
petition and the answers in full, but as all the subsequent troubles
between Charles and the people of England arose out of this difficulty
of his young wife's bringing in so strong a Catholic influence with
her to the realm, it may be well to give an abstract of some of the
principal petitions, with the king's answers.
The Commons said:
That they had understood that popish priests, and other Catholics,
were gradually creeping in as teachers of the youth of the realm,
in the various seminaries of learning, and they wished to have
decided measures taken to examine all candidates for such
stations, with a view to the careful exclusion of all who were not
true Protestants.
_King._--Allowed. And I will send to the archbishops and all the
authorities to see that this is done.
_Commons._--That more efficient arrangements should be made for
appointing able and faithful men in the Church--men that will
really devote themselves to preaching the Gospel to the people;
instead of conferring these places and salaries on favorites,
sometimes, as has been the case, several to the same man.
The king made some explanations in regard to this subject, and
promised hereafter to comply with this requisition.
_Commons._--That the laws against sending children out of the
country to foreign countries to be educated in Catholic seminaries
should be strictly enforced, and the practice be entirely broken
up.
_King._--Agreed; and he would send to the lord admiral, and to all
the naval officers on the coast, to watch very carefully and stop
all children attempting to go abroad for such a purpose; and he
would issue a proclamation commanding all the noblemen's children
now on the Continent to return by a given day.
_Commons._--That no Catholic (or, as they called him, popish
_recusant_, that is, a person _refusing_ to subscribe to the
Protestant faith, recusant meaning _person refusing_) be admitted
into the king's service at court; and that no _English_ Catholic
be admitted into the queen's service. They could not refuse to
allow her to employ her own _French_ attendants, but to appoint
English Catholics to the honorable and lucrative offices at her
disposal was doing a great injury to the Protestant cause in the
realm.
The king agreed to this, with some conditions and evasions.
_Commons._--That all Jesuits and Catholic priests, owing
allegiance to the See of Rome, should be sent away from the
country, according to laws already existing, after fair notice
given; and if they would not go, that they should be imprisoned in
such a manner as to be kept from all communication with other
persons, so as not to disseminate their false religion.
_King._--The laws on this subject shall be enforced.
The above are sufficient for a specimen of these complaints and of the
king's answers. There were many more of them, but they have all the
same character--being designed to stop the strong current of Catholic
influence and ascendency which was setting in to the court, and
through the court into the realm, through the influence of the young
queen and the persons connected with her. At the present day, and in
this country, the Commons will be thought to be in the wrong, inasmuch
as the thing which they were contending against was, in the main,
merely the toleration of the Catholic religion. But then the king was
in the wrong too, for, since the laws against this toleration stood
enacted by the consent and concurrence of his predecessors, he should
not have allowed them to be infracted and virtually annulled through
the influence of a foreign bride and an unworthy favorite.
Perhaps he felt that he was wrong, or perhaps his answers were all
framed for him by his Privy Council. At all events, they were entirely
favorable to the demands of the Commons. He promised every thing. In
many things he went even beyond their demands. It is admitted,
however, on all hands, that, so far as he himself had any agency in
making these replies, he was not really sincere. He himself, and
Buckingham, were very eager to get supplies. Buckingham was admiral of
the fleet, and very strongly desired to enlarge the force at his
command, with a view to the performing of some great exploit in the
war. It is understood, therefore, that the king intended his replies
as promises merely. At any rate, the promises were made. The Commons
were called into the great hall again, at Christ Church, where the
Peers assembled, and the king's answers were read to them. Buckingham
joined in this policy of attempting to conciliate the Commons. He went
into their assembly and made a long speech, explaining and justifying
his conduct, and apologizing, in some sense, for what might seem to be
wrong.
The Commons returned to their place of deliberation, but they were not
satisfied. They wanted something besides promises. Some were in favor
of granting supplies "in gratitude to his majesty for his gracious
answer." Others thought differently. They did not see the necessity
for raising money for this foreign war. They had greater enemies at
home (meaning Buckingham and popery) than they had abroad. Besides, if
the king would stop his waste and extravagance in bestowing honors and
rewards, there would be money enough for all necessary uses. In a
word, there was much debate, but nothing done. The king, after a short
time, sent a message to them urging them to come to a decision. They
sent him back a declaration which showed that they did not intend to
yield. Their language, however, was of the most humble character. They
called him "their dread sovereign," and themselves "his poor commons."
The king was displeased with them, and dissolved the Parliament. They,
of course, immediately became private citizens, and dispersed to their
homes.
After trying some ineffectual attempts to raise money by his own royal
prerogatives and powers, the king called a new Parliament, taking some
singular precautions to keep out of it such persons as he thought
would oppose his plans. The Earl of Bristol, whom Buckingham had been
so jealous of, considering him as his rival, was an influential member
of the House of Peers. Charles and Buckingham agreed to omit him in
sending out the royal writs to summon the peers. He petitioned
Parliament, claiming a right to his seat. Charles then sent him his
writ, but gave him a command, as his sovereign, not to attend the
session. He also selected four of the prominent men in the House of
Commons, men whom he considered most influential in opposition to him
and to Buckingham, and appointed them to offices which would call them
away from London; and as it was the understanding in those days that
the sovereign had a right to command the services of his subjects,
they were obliged to go. The king hoped, by these and similar means,
to diminish the influence against him in Parliament, and to get a
majority in his favor. But his plans did not succeed. Such measures
only irritated the House and the country. After another struggle this
Parliament was dissolved too.
Things went on so for four or five years, the breach between the king
and the people growing wider and wider. Within this time there were
four Parliaments called, and, after various contentions with them,
they were, one after another, dissolved. The original subject of
disagreement, viz., the growing influence of the Catholics, was not
the only one. Other points came up, growing out of the king's use of
his prerogative, and his irregular and, as they thought, illegal
attempts to interfere with their freedom of action. The king, or,
rather, Buckingham using the king's name, resorted to all sorts of
contrivances to accomplish this object. For instance, it had long been
the custom, in case any member of the House of Peers was absent, for
him to give authority to any friend of his, who was also a member, to
vote for him. This authority was called a _proxy_. This word is
supposed to be derived from _procuracy_, which means action in the
place of, and in behalf of, another. Buckingham induced a great number
of the peers to give him their proxies. He did this by rewards,
honors, and various other influences, and he found so many willing to
yield to these inducements, that at one time he had thirty or forty
proxies in his hands. Thus, on a question arising in the House of
Lords, he could give a very large majority of votes. The House, after
murmuring for some time, and expressing much discontent and vexation
at this state of things, finally made a law that no member of the
House should ever have power to use more than _two_ proxies.
One of the Parliaments which King Charles assembled at length brought
articles of impeachment against Buckingham, and a long contest arose
on this subject. An impeachment is a trial of a high officer of state
for maladministration of his office. All sorts of charges were brought
against Buckingham, most of which were true. The king considered their
interfering to call one of his ministers to account as wholly
intolerable. He sent them orders to dismiss that subject from their
deliberations, and to proceed immediately with their work of laying
taxes to raise money, or he would dissolve the Parliament as he had
done before. He reminded them that the Parliaments were entirely "in
his power for their calling, sitting, and dissolution, and as he found
their fruits were for good or evil, so they were to continue, or not
to be." If they would mend their errors and do their duty,
henceforward he would forgive the past; otherwise they were to expect
his irreconcilable hostility.
This language irritated instead of alarming them. The Commons
persisted in their plan of impeachment. The king arrested the men
whom they appointed as managers of the impeachment, and imprisoned
them. The Commons remonstrated, and insisted that Buckingham should be
dismissed from the king's service. The king, instead of dismissing
him, took measures to have him appointed, in addition to all his other
offices, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, a very exalted
station. Parliament remonstrated. The king, in retaliation, dissolved
the Parliament.
Thus things went on from bad to worse, and from worse to worse again;
the chief cause of the difficulties, in almost all cases, being
traceable to Buckingham's reckless and arbitrary conduct. He was
continually doing something in the pursuit of his own ends, by the
rash and heedless exercise of the vast powers committed to him, to
make extensive and irreparable mischief. At one time he ordered a part
of the fleet over to the coast of France, to enter the French service,
the sailors expecting that they were to be employed against the
Spaniards. They found, however, that, instead of going against the
Spaniards, they were to be sent to Rochelle. Rochelle was a town in
France in possession of the Protestants, and the King of France
wished to subdue them. The sailors sent a remonstrance to their
commander, begging not to be forced to fight against their brother
Protestants. This remonstrance was, in form, what is called a _Round
Robin_.
In a Round Robin a circle is drawn, the petition or remonstrance is
written within it, and the names are written all around it, to prevent
any one's having to take the responsibility of being the first signer.
When the commander of the fleet received the Round Robin, instead of
being offended, he inquired into the facts, and finding that the case
was really as the Round Robin represented it, he broke away from the
French command and returned to England. He said he would rather be
hanged in England for disobeying orders than to fight against the
Protestants of France.
Buckingham might have known that such a spirit as this in Englishmen
was not to be trifled with. But he knew nothing, and thought of
nothing, except that he wished to please and gratify the French
government. When the fleet, therefore, arrived in England, he
peremptorily ordered it back, and he resorted to all sorts of pretexts
and misrepresentations of the facts to persuade the officers and men
that they were not to be employed against the Protestants. The fleet
accordingly went back, and when they arrived, they found that
Buckingham had deceived them. They were ordered to Rochelle. One of
the ships broke away and returned to England. The officers and men
deserted from the other ships and got home. The whole armament was
disorganized, and the English people, who took sides with the sailors,
were extremely exasperated against Buckingham for his blind and
blundering recklessness, and against the king for giving such a man
the power to do his mischief on such an extensive scale.
At another time the duke and the king contrived to fit out a fleet of
eighty sail to make a descent upon the coast of Spain. It caused them
great trouble to get the funds for this expedition, as they had to
collect them, in a great measure, by various methods depending on the
king's prerogative, and not by authority of Parliament. Thus the whole
country were dissatisfied and discontented in respect to the fleet
before it was ready to sail. Then, as if this was not enough,
Buckingham overlooked all the officers in the navy in selecting a
commander, and put an officer of the army in charge of it; a man
whose whole experience had been acquired in wars on the land. The
country thought that Buckingham ought to have taken the command
himself, as lord high admiral; and if not, that he ought to have
selected his commander from the ranks of the service employed. Thus
the fleet set off on the expedition, all on board burning with
indignation against the arbitrary and absurd management of the
favorite. The result of the expedition was also extremely disastrous.
They had an excellent opportunity to attack a number of ships, which
would have made a very rich prize; but the soldier-commander either
did not know, or did not dare to do, his duty. He finally, however,
effected a landing, and took a castle, but the sailors found a great
store of wine there, and went to drinking and carousing, breaking
through all discipline. The commander had to get them on board again
immediately, and come away. Then he conceived the plan of going to
intercept what were called the Spanish galleons, which were ships
employed to bring home silver from the mines in America, which the
Spaniards then possessed. On further thoughts he concluded to give up
this idea, on account of the plague, which, as he said, broke out in
his ships. So he came back to England with his fleet disorganized,
demoralized, and crippled, and covered with military disgrace. The
people of England charged all this to Buckingham. Still the king
persisted in retaining him. It was his prerogative to do so.
After a while Buckingham got into a personal quarrel with Richelieu,
who was the leading manager of the French government, and he resolved
that England should make war upon France. To alter the whole political
position of such an empire as that of Great Britain, in respect to
peace and war, and to change such a nation as France from a friend to
an enemy, would seem to be quite an undertaking for a single man to
attempt, and that, too, without having any reason whatever to assign,
except a personal quarrel with a minister about a love affair. But so
it was. Buckingham undertook it. It was the king's prerogative to make
peace or war, and Buckingham ruled the king.
He contrived various ways of fomenting ill will. One was, to alienate
the mind of the king from the queen. He represented to him that the
queen's French servants were fast becoming very disrespectful and
insolent in their treatment of him, and finally persuaded him to send
them all home. So the king went one day to Somerset House, which was
the queen's residence--for it is often the custom in high life in
Europe for the husband and wife to have separate establishments--and
requested her to summon her French servants into his presence, and
when they were assembled, he told them that he had concluded to send
them all home to France. Some of them, he said, had acted properly
enough, but others had been rude and forward, and that he had decided
it best to send them all home. The French king, on hearing of this,
seized a hundred and twenty English ships lying in his harbors in
retaliation of this act, which he said was a palpable violation of the
marriage contract, as it certainly was. Upon this the king declared
war against France. He did not ask Parliament to act in this case at
all. There was no Parliament. Parliament had been dissolved in a fit
of displeasure. The whole affair was an exercise of the royal
prerogative. Nor did the king now call a Parliament to provide means
for carrying on the war, but set his Privy Council to devise modes of
doing it, through this same prerogative.
The attempts to raise money in these ways made great trouble. The
people resisted, and interposed all possible difficulties. However
some funds were raised, and a fleet of a hundred sail, and an army of
seven thousand men, were got together. Buckingham undertook the
command of this expedition himself, as there had been so much
dissatisfaction with his appointment of a commander to the other. It
resulted just as was to be expected in the case of seven thousand men,
and a hundred ships, afloat on the swelling surges of the English
Channel, under the command of vanity, recklessness, and folly. The
duke came back to England in three months, bringing home one third of
his force. The rest had been lost, without accomplishing any thing.
The measure of public indignation against Buckingham was now full.
Buckingham himself walked as loftily and proudly as ever. He equipped
another fleet, and was preparing to set sail in it himself, as
commander again. He went to Portsmouth, accordingly, for this purpose,
Portsmouth being the great naval station then, as now, on the southern
coast of England. Here a man named Felton, who had been an officer
under the duke in the former expedition, and who had been extremely
exasperated against him on account of some of his management there,
and who had since found how universal was the detestation of him in
England, resolved to rid the country of such a curse at once. He
accordingly took his station in the passage-way of the house where
Buckingham was, armed with a knife. Buckingham came out, talking with
some Frenchmen in an angry manner, having had some dispute with them,
when Felton thrust the knife into his side as he passed, and, leaving
it in the wound, walked away, no one having noticed who did the deed.
Buckingham pulled out the knife, fell down, and died. The bystanders
were going to seize one of the Frenchmen, when Felton advanced and
said, "I am the man; you are to arrest me; let no one suffer that is
innocent." He was taken. They found a paper in his hat, saying that he
was going to destroy the duke, and that he could not sacrifice his
life in a nobler cause than by delivering his country from so great an
enemy.
King Charles was four miles off at this time. They carried him the
news. He did not appear at all concerned or troubled, but only
directed that the murderer--he ought to have said, perhaps, the
_executioner_--should be secured, and that the fleet should proceed
to sail. He also ordered the treasurer to make arrangements for a
splendid funeral.
The treasurer said, in reply, that a funeral would only be a temporary
show, and that he could hereafter erect a _monument_ at half the cost,
which would be a much more lasting memorial. Charles acceded.
Afterward, when Charles spoke to him about the monument, the treasurer
replied, What would the world say if your majesty were to build a
monument to the Duke before you erect one for your father? So the plan
was abandoned, and Buckingham had no other monument than the universal
detestation of his countrymen.