BUCKINGHAM.
[Sidenote: Charles's accession.]
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 not at open war. Each party
managed, 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, which 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.
[Sidenote: Leading events of his reign.]
[Sidenote: Buckingham.]
[Sidenote: His influence over the king.]
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.
[Sidenote: General system of government.]
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.
[Sidenote: His majesty.]
[Sidenote: Every thing done in the king's name.]
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 might 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
off his mind, except so far as he chooses to interfere. This board, in
England, is called the Privy Council.
[Sidenote: The Privy Council.]
[Sidenote: It represents the king.]
[Sidenote: Constitution and functions of 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 what it is; but he still
signs it, and all such decrees go forth to the world 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 went on with 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.
[Sidenote: Restrictions on the royal power.]
[Sidenote: A new Parliament.]
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.
[Sidenote: The new Parliament meets at Oxford.]
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, and made a new
speech himself, and had others made by his ministers, explaining the
state of public affairs, and gently urging the houses to act with
promptness and decision.
[Sidenote: Difficulties commence between the king and Parliament.]
[Sidenote: Demands of Parliament, and the king's answers.]
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 wanted 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.
[Sidenote: The king and the Commons both in the wrong.]
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 and end, namely, 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.
[Sidenote: The king promises every thing.]
[Sidenote: His insincerity.]
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
had a great desire 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.
[Sidenote: Commons not satisfied.]
[Sidenote: Parliament dissolved.]
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 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.
[Sidenote: 1628.]
[Sidenote: New one called.]
[Sidenote: Subterfuges of the king.]
[Sidenote: Parliament again dissolved.]
After trying some ineffectual attempts to raise money by his own royal
prerogatives and powers, the king called a new Parliament, taking
some curious 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.
[Sidenote: The breach between the king and the Parliament widens.]
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.
[Sidenote: Impeachment of Buckingham.]
[Sidenote: The king interferes.]
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.
[Sidenote: Another dissolution.]
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.
[Sidenote: Buckingham's reckless conduct.]
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 wanted 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_.
[Sidenote: The Round Robin.]
[Sidenote: Return of the English fleet.]
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.
[Sidenote: The officers and men desert.]
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 wanted 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.
[Sidenote: Expedition to Spain.]
[Sidenote: Buckingham's egregious folly.]
[Sidenote: The expedition ends in disaster.]
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.
[Sidenote: Buckingham's quarrel with Richelieu.]
[Sidenote: He resolves on war.]
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.
[Sidenote: The French servants dismissed.]
[Sidenote: War declared against France.]
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 getting to be 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 concluded 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. He did not
dare to 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.
[Sidenote: Expedition to France abortive.]
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.
[Sidenote: Another projected.]
[Sidenote: 1628.]
[Sidenote: Assassination of Buckingham.]
Buckingham himself walked as loftily and proudly as ever. He got
up 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,
and 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 who did the deed; let no man 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.
[Sidenote: The king not sorry.]
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.
[Sidenote: Buckingham's monument the universal execration of his
countrymen.]
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.