CHARLES I.—1625 to 1649.
How Charles the First was governed by ill advisers; how he made the
people pay taxes without the consent of Parliament; how the Earl of
Strafford behaved very cruelly, and was beheaded; and how the King’s
evil government caused a Civil War.
When Charles the First came to be king, all the people were in hopes
that he would be a better king than his father, as they believed he
was a better man, and so he really was.
He was young and pleasant-looking; he was fond of learning, and
seemed inclined to show kindness to all clever men, whether they
were poets or good writers in any way, or musicians, or painters, or
architects.
Besides, the people hoped that he would manage his money better than
James, and not waste it in clothes, and jewels, and drinking, and
hunting, and giving it to favourites.
But, unhappily, Charles still allowed the Duke of Buckingham to
advise him in everything; indeed, he was a greater favourite than
before James’s death, for he had managed to get the French princess
Henrietta Maria for a wife for Charles, who was so fond of her, that
he thought he never could thank Buckingham enough for bringing her to
England.
But the parliament, particularly the Commons, did not like the
marriage so much. The new queen was a Roman Catholic, and she brought
a number of Roman Catholic ladies and priests to be her servants, and
she soon showed that she was greedy and extravagant.
Charles, who, as I told you, had been very badly taught by his
father, desired the parliament to give him money in a very haughty
manner. The parliament said the people should pay some taxes, but
that they could not afford a great deal at that time, for James had
been so extravagant that they had not much left to give. Charles, by
the advice of Buckingham, sent away the parliament, and tried to get
money without its leave, and sent officers about the country to beg
for money in the king’s name. Most people were afraid to refuse, and
so Charles and Buckingham got a good deal to do as they pleased with.
Buckingham persuaded King Charles to make war against France, because
one of the great men in France had affronted him. King James had
begun a war with Spain.
The people were now more and more angry, for though they might like
to fight for the glory of England, or for the good of the king, they
could not bear to think of fighting for a proud, cruel, and selfish
man like Buckingham.
I do not know what might have happened at that very time, perhaps a
civil war, if a desperate man named Felton had not killed the Duke of
Buckingham at Portsmouth, when he was on the way to France to renew
the war.
The people were again in hopes that the king would do what was
right, and consult the parliament before he attempted to make war,
or take money for his subjects, or put any man in prison, now that
his bad adviser, Buckingham, was dead. But they were much mistaken.
Charles found new advisers, and governed for eleven years without a
parliament. The king wanted money, and tried to compel all who had
land to pay a tax called Ship Money; but some gentlemen, one of whom
was Mr. John Hampden, refused to pay it, and said it was unlawful for
the king to take money without the consent of parliament. But the
judges declared that the king could take Ship Money, and that the
people must pay it. Two of them, however, felt compelled to say that
Charles had broken the laws, and the promises made by the English
kings in agreement with the Great Charter.
This made the people very angry. They said the worst times were come
again, when the kings fancied they might rob their subjects, and put
them in prison when they pleased.
Charles was a very affectionate man, and he could not help loving
and trusting others instead of making use of his own sense and
trusting his people, as Queen Elizabeth had done. So he allowed the
queen to advise him in most things, and Laud, Bishop of London, in
others; particularly in matters of religion. So he began to oppress
the Puritans in England. In poor Ireland, a harsh man, the Earl of
Strafford, a great friend and favourite of King Charles, governed in
such a cruel manner that everybody complained.
He sent English clergymen to preach in those parts of Ireland where
the poor people could only understand Irish, and punished the people
for not listening: and when some of the bishops (particularly good
Bishop Bedel) begged him to have mercy upon the Irish, he threatened
to punish them most severely for speaking in their favour.
All this time the king and queen and their friends were going on
taking money by unlawful means from the people, till he was obliged
to call a parliament. Then the gentlemen of the Commons insisted on
Lord Strafford and Archbishop Laud being punished. Indeed, they would
not be satisfied until Charles consented that Strafford’s head should
be cut off.
Now, though Strafford well deserved some punishment, he had done
nothing which by law deserved death; and therefore Charles ought to
have refused his consent. The king had often quarrelled with the
parliament, and acted contrary to its advice when he was in the
wrong; but now that it would have been right to resist he gave way,
and Strafford, who loved Charles, and whose very faults were owing to
the king’s own wishes and commands, was beheaded by his order.
[Illustration: Strafford going to Execution.]
This was a sad thing for Charles. His friends found that he could not
defend them, and many went away from England. The king still wanted
to take money, and govern in all things, without the parliament; he
even went so far as to send some of the Commons to prison. And the
parliament became so angry at last that a dreadful civil war began.
The king put himself at the head of one army, and he sent to Germany
for his nephew, Prince Rupert, a cruel and harsh man, to assist him.
The queen went to France and Holland, to try to get foreign soldiers
to fight in the king’s army against the parliament. The king’s people
were called Cavaliers.
The parliament soon gathered another army together to fight the king,
and made Lord Essex general; and the navy also joined the parliament:
and all the parliament people were called Roundheads.
Now we will end this chapter. And I beg you will think of what I said
about James the First, that he was a mischievous king. If he had not
begun to behave ill to the people and parliament, and taught his son
Charles that there was no occasion for kings to keep the laws, these
quarrels with the parliament need not have happened, and there would
not have been a Civil War.