CHAPTER LXIII.

THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND

FROM THE INVASION OF JULIUS CÆSAR

TO THE END OF THE REIGN OF JAMES THE SECOND,

BY DAVID HUME, ESQ.

1688

London: James S. Virtue, City Road and Ivy Lane

New York: 26 John Street

1860

And

Philadelphia:

J. B. Lippincott & Co.

March 17, 1901

In Three Volumes:

VOLUME ONE: The History Of England From The Invasion Of Julius Cæsar To

The End Of The Reign Of James The Second............ By David Hume, Esq.

VOLUME TWO: Continued from the Reign of William and Mary to the Death of

George II........................................... by Tobias Smollett.

VOLUME THREE: From the Accession of George III. to the Twenty-Third Year

of the Reign of Queen Victoria............... by E. Farr and E.H. Nolan.

VOLUME ONE

Part F.

From Charles II. to James II.

CHAPTER LXIII.

[Illustration: 1-756-charles2.jpg CHARLES II.]

CHARLES II.

{1660.} CHARLES II., when he ascended the throne of his ancestors, was

thirty years of age. He possessed a vigorous constitution, a fine shape,

a manly figure, a graceful air; and though his features were harsh,

yet was his countenance in the main lively and engaging. He was in that

period of life when there remains enough of youth to render the person

amiable, without preventing that authority and regard which attend the

years of experience and maturity. Tenderness was excited by the memory

of his recent adversities. His present prosperity was the object rather

of admiration than of envy. And as the sudden and surprising revolution

which restored him to his regal rights, had also restored the nation to

peace, law, order, and liberty, no prince ever obtained a crown in more

favorable circumstances, or was more blessed with the cordial affection

and attachment of his subjects.

This popularity the king, by his whole demeanor and behavior, was

well qualified to support and to increase. To a lively wit and quick

comprehension, he united a just understanding and a general observation

both of men and things. The easiest manners, the most unaffected

politeness, the most engaging gayety, accompanied his conversation and

address. Accustomed during his exile, to live among his courtiers rather

like a companion than a monarch, he retained, even while on the

throne, that open affability which was capable of reconciling the

most determined republicans to his royal dignity. Totally devoid of

resentment, as well from the natural lenity as carelessness of his

temper, he insured pardon to the most guilty of his enemies, and left

hopes of favor to his most violent opponents. From the whole tenor of

his actions and discourse, he seemed desirous of losing the memory of

past animosities, and of uniting every party in an affection for their

prince and their native country.

Into his council were admitted the most eminent men of the nation,

without regard to former distinctions: the Presbyterians, equally with

the royalists, shared this honor. Annesley was also created earl of

Anglesey; Ashley Cooper, Lord Ashley; Denzil Hollis, Lord Hollis. The

earl of Manchester was appointed lord chamberlain, and Lord Say,

privy seal. Calamy and Baxter, Presbyterian clergymen, were even made

chaplains to the king.

Admiral Montague, created earl of Sandwich, was entitled from his recent

services to great favor; and he obtained it. Monk, created duke of

Albemarle, had performed such signal services, that, according to a

vulgar and malignant observation, he ought rather to have expected

hatred and ingratitude; yet was he ever treated by the king with great

marks of distinction. Charles’s disposition, free from jealousy, and

the prudent behavior of the general, who never overrated his merits,

prevented all those disgusts which naturally arise in so delicate a

situation. The capacity, too, of Albemarle was not extensive, and his

parts were more solid than shining. Though he had distinguished himself

in inferior stations, he was imagined, upon familiar acquaintance, not

to be wholly equal to those great achievements which fortune, united

to prudence, had enabled him to perform; and he appeared unfit for the

court, a scene of life to which he had never been accustomed. Morrice,

his friend, was created secretary of state, and was supported more by

his patron’s credit than by his own abilities or experience.

But the choice which the king at first made of his principal ministers

and favorites, was the circumstance which chiefly gave contentment to

the nation, and prognosticated future happiness and tranquillity.

Sir Edward Hyde, created earl of Clarendon, was chancellor and prime

minister; the marquis, created duke of Ormond, was steward of the

household, the earl of Southampton, high treasurer; Sir Edward Nicholas,

secretary of state. These men, united together in friendship, and

combining in the same laudable inclinations, supported each other’s

credit, and pursued the interests of the public.

Agreeable to the present prosperity of public affairs was the universal

joy and festivity diffused throughout the nation. The melancholy

austerity of the fanatics fell into discredit together with their

principles. The royalists, who had ever affected a contrary disposition,

found in their recent success new motives for mirth and gayety; and it

now belonged to them to give repute and fashion to their manners. From

past experience it had sufficiently appeared, that gravity was very

distinct from wisdom, formality from virtue, and hypocrisy from

religion. The king himself, who bore a strong propensity to pleasure,

served, by his powerful and engaging example, to banish those sour

and malignant humors which had hitherto engendered such confusion. And

though the just bounds were undoubtedly passed, when men returned from

their former extreme, yet was the public happy in exchanging vices

pernicious to society, for disorders hurtful chiefly to the individuals

themselves who were guilty of them.

It required some time before the several parts of the state, disfigured

by war and faction, could recover their former arrangement; but the

parliament immediately fell into good correspondence with the king; and

they treated him with the same dutiful regard which had usually been

paid to his predecessors. Being summoned without the king’s consent,

they received, at first, only the title of a convention; and it was not

till he passed an act for that purpose, that they were called by the

appellation of parliament. All judicial proceedings, transacted in the

name of the commonwealth or protector, were ratified by a new law. And

both houses, acknowledging the guilt of the former rebellion, gratefully

received, in their own name, and in that of all the subjects, his

majesty’s gracious pardon and indemnity.

The king, before his restoration, being afraid of reducing any of his

enemies to despair, and at the same time unwilling that such enormous

crimes as had been committed should receive a total impunity, had

expressed himself very cautiously in his declaration of Breda, and had

promised an indemnity to all criminals, but such as should be excepted

by parliament. He now issued a proclamation declaring that such of the

late king’s judges as did not yield themselves prisoners within

fourteen days, should receive no pardon. Nine teen surrendered

themselves; some were taken in their flight; others escaped beyond sea.

The commons seem to have been more inclined to lenity than the lords.

The upper house, inflamed by the ill usage which they had received, were

resolved, besides the late king’s judges, to except every one who had

sitten in any high court of justice. Nay, the earl of Bristol moved,

that no pardon might be granted to those who had anywise contributed

to the king’s death. So wide an exception, in which every one who had

served the parliament might be comprehended, gave a general alarm; and

men began to apprehend, that this motion was the effect of some court

artifice or intrigue. But the king soon dissipated these fears. He came

to the house of peers, and in the most earnest terms passed the act of

general indemnity. He urged both the necessity of the thing, and the

obligation of his former promise; a promise, he said which he would ever

regard as sacred; since to it he probably owed the satisfaction which at

present he enjoyed of meeting his people in parliament. This measure of

the king’s was received with great applause and satisfaction.

After repeated solicitations, the act of indemnity passed both houses,

and soon received the royal assent. Those who had an immediate hand

in the late king’s death, were there excepted: even Cromwell, Ireton,

Bradshaw, and others now dead, were attainted, and their estates

forfeited. Vane and Lambert, though none of the regicides, were also

excepted. St. John and seventeen persons more were deprived of all

benefit from this act, if they ever accepted any public employment. All

who had sitten in any illegal high court of justice were disabled from

bearing offices. These were all the severities which followed such

furious civil wars and convulsions.

The next business was the settlement of the king’s revenue. In this

work, the parliament had regard to public freedom, as well as to the

support of the crown. The tenures of wards and liveries had long been

regarded as a grievous burden by the nobility and gentry: several

attempts had been made during the reign of James to purchase this

prerogative, together with that of purveyance: and two hundred thousand

pounds a year had been offered that prince in lieu of them; wardships

and purveyance had been utterly abolished by the republican parliament;

and even in the present parliament before the king arrived in England,

a bill had been introduced offering him a compensation for the emolument

of these prerogatives. A hundred thousand pounds a year was the sum

agreed to; and half of the excise was settled in perpetuity upon the

crown as the fund whence this revenue should be levied. Though that

impost yielded more profit, the bargain might be esteemed hard; and it

was chiefly the necessity of the king’s situation which induced him to

consent to it. No request of the parliament, during the present joy,

could be refused them.

Tonnage and poundage and the other half of the excise, were granted to

the king during life. The parliament even proceeded so far as to vote,

that the settled revenue of the crown for all charges should be one

million two hundred thousand pounds a year; a sum greater than any

English monarch had ever before enjoyed. But as all the princes

of Europe were perpetually augmenting their military force, and

consequently their expense, it became requisite that England, from

motives both of honor and security, should bear some proportion to them,

and adapt its revenue to the new system of politics which prevailed.

According to the chancellor’s computation, a charge of eight hundred

thousand pounds a year was at present requisite for the fleet and other

articles, which formerly cost the crown but eighty thousand.

Had the parliament, before restoring the king, insisted on any further

limitations than those which the constitution already imposed, besides

the danger of reviving former quarrels among parties, it would seem that

their precaution had been entirely superfluous. By reason of its slender

and precarious revenue, the crown in effect was still totally dependent.

Not a fourth part of this sum, which seemed requisite for public

expenses, could be levied without consent of parliament; and any

concessions, had they been thought necessary, might, even after the

restoration, be extorted by the commons from their necessitous prince.

This parliament showed no intention of employing at present that engine

to any such purposes; but they seemed still determined not to part

with it entirely, or to render the revenues of the crown fixed and

independent. Though they voted in general, that one million two hundred

thousand pounds a year should be settled on the king, they scarcely

assigned any funds which could yield two thirds of that sum. And

they left the care of fulfilling their engagements to the future

consideration of parliament. In all the temporary supplies which they

voted, they discovered the same cautious frugality. To disband the army,

so formidable in itself, and so much accustomed to rebellion and

changes of government, was necessary for the security both of king and

parliament; yet the commons showed great jealousy in granting the sums

requisite for that end. An assessment of seventy thousand pounds a month

was imposed; but it was at first voted to continue only three months;

and all the other sums which they levied for that purpose, by a

poll-bill and new assessments, were still granted by parcels, as if they

were not as yet well assured of the fidelity of the hand to which the

money was intrusted. Having proceeded so far in the settlement of the

nation, the parliament adjourned itself for some time.

During the recess of parliament, the object which chiefly interested

the public, was the trial and condemnation of the regicides. The general

indignation attending the enormous crime of which these men had been

guilty, made their sufferings the subject of joy to the people: but

in the peculiar circumstances of that action, in the prejudices of the

times, as well as in the behavior of the criminals, a mind seasoned with

humanity will find a plentiful source of compassion and indulgence. Can

any one, without concern for human blindness and ignorance, consider the

demeanor of General Harrison, who was first brought to his trial? With

great courage and elevation of sentiment, he told the court, that the

pretended crime of which he stood accused, was not a deed performed in

a corner; the sound of it had gone forth to most nations; and in

the singular and marvellous conduct of it, had chiefly appeared the

sovereign power of Heaven: that he himself, agitated by doubts, had

often, with passionate tears, offered up his addresses to the divine

Majesty, and earnestly sought for light and conviction: he had still

received assurance of a heavenly sanction, and returned from these

devout supplications with more serene tranquillity and satisfaction:

that all the nations of the earth were, in the eyes of their Creator,

less than a drop of water in the bucket; nor were their erroneous

judgments aught but darkness, compared with divine illuminations: that

these frequent relapses of the divine spirit he could not suspect to

be interested illusions; since he was conscious, that for no temporal

advantage would he offer injury to the poorest man or woman that trod

upon the earth: that all the allurements of ambition, all the terrors

of imprisonment, had not been able, during the usurpation of Cromwell,

to shake his steady resolution, or bend him to a compliance with that

deceitful tyrant: and that when invited by him to sit on the right hand

of the throne, when offered riches and splendor and dominion, he had

disdainfully rejected all temptations; and neglecting the tears of

his friends and family, had still, through every danger, held fast his

principles and his integrity.

Scot, who was more a republican than a fanatic, had said in the house

of commons, a little before the restoration, that he desired no other

epitaph to be inscribed on his tombstone than this: “Here lies Thomas

Scot, who adjudged the king to death.” He supported the same spirit upon

his trial.

Carew, a Millenarian, submitted to his trial, “saving to our Lord Jesus

Christ his right to the government of these kingdoms.” Some scrupled

to say, according to form, that they would be tried by God and their

country; because God was not visibly present to judge them. Others said,

that they would be tried by the word of God.

No more than six of the late king’s judges, Harrison, Scot, Carew,

Clement, Jones, and Scrope, were executed; Scrope alone, of all those

who came in upon the king’s proclamation. He was a gentleman of good

family and of a decent character: but it was proved, that he had a

little before, in conversation, expressed himself as if he were nowise

convinced of any guilt in condemning the king. Axtel, who had guarded

the high court of justice, Hacker, who commanded on the day of the

king’s execution, Coke, the solicitor for the people of England, and

Hugh Peters, the fanatical preacher, who inflamed the army and impelled

them to regicide; all these were tried, and condemned, and suffered with

the king’s judges. No saint or confessor ever went to martyrdom

with more assured confidence of heaven, than was expressed by those

criminals, even when the terrors of immediate death, joined to many

indignities, were set before them. The rest of the king’s judges, by an

unexampled lenity, were reprieved; and they were dispersed into several

prisons.

This punishment of declared enemies interrupted not the rejoicings of

the court: but the death of the duke of Gloucester, a young prince of

promising hopes, threw a great cloud upon them. The king, by no incident

in his life, was ever so deeply affected. Gloucester was observed

to possess united the good qualities of both his brothers: the clear

judgment and penetration of the king; the industry and application

of the duke of York. He was also believed to be affectionate to the

religion and constitution of his country. He was but twenty years of

age, when the small-pox put an end to his life.

The princess of Orange, having come to England in order to partake of

the joy attending the restoration of her family, with whom she lived in

great friendship, soon after sickened and died. The queen mother paid

a visit to her son; and obtained his consent to the marriage of the

princess Henrietta with the duke of Orleans, brother to the French king.

After a recess of near two months, the parliament met, and proceeded

in the great work of the national settlement. They established the

post-office, wine-licenses, and some articles of the revenue. They

granted more assessments, and some arrears for paying and disbanding

the army. Business, being carried on with great unanimity, was soon

despatched; and after they had sitten near two months, the king, in a

speech full of the most gracious expressions, thought proper to dissolve

them.

This house of commons had been chosen during the reign of the old

parliamentary party; and though many royalists had crept in amongst

them, yet did it chiefly consist of Presbyterians, who had not yet

entirely laid aside their old jealousies and principles. Lenthal, a

member, having said, that those who first took arms against the king

were as guilty as those who afterwards brought him to the scaffold, was

severely reprimanded by order of the house; and the most violent

efforts of the long parliament, to secure the constitution, and bring

delinquents to justice, were in effect vindicated and applauded.[*] The

claim of the two houses to the militia, the first ground of the quarrel,

however exorbitant a usurpation, was never expressly resigned by this

parliament. They made all grants of money with a very sparing hand.

Great arrears being due, by the protectors, to the fleet, the army, the

navy office, and every branch of service, this whole debt they threw

upon the crown, without establishing funds sufficient for its payment.

Yet, notwithstanding this jealous care expressed by the parliament,

there prevails a story, that Popham, having sounded the disposition of

the members, undertook to the earl of Southampton to procure, during

the king’s life, a grant of two millions a year, land tax; a sum which,

added to the customs and excise, would forever have rendered this prince

independent of his people.

* Journals, vol. viii. p. 24

Southampton, it is said, merely from his affection to the king, had

unwarily embraced the offer; and it was not till he communicated the

matter to the chancellor, that he was made sensible of its pernicious

tendency. It is nor improbable, that such an offer might have been made,

and been hearkened to; but it is nowise probable, that all the interest

of the court would ever with this house of commons, have been able

to make it effectual. Clarendon showed his prudence, no less than his

integrity, in entirely rejecting it.

The chancellor, from the same principles of conduct, hastened to disband

the army. When the king reviewed these veteran troops, he was struck

with their beauty, order, discipline, and martial appearance; and being

sensible, that regular forces are most necessary implements of royalty,

he expressed a desire of finding expedients still to retain them.

But his wise minister set before him the dangerous spirit by which

these troops were actuated, their enthusiastic genius, their habits of

rebellion and mutiny; and he convinced the king, that, till they were

disbanded, he never could esteem himself securely established on his

throne. No more troops were retained than a few guards and garrisons,

about one thousand horse and four thousand foot. This was the first

appearance, under the monarchy, of a regular standing army in this

island. Lord Mordaunt said, that the king, being possessed of that

force, might now look upon himself as the most considerable gentleman in

England.[*] The fortifications of Gloucester, Taunton, and other towns,

which had made resistance to the king during the civil wars, were

demolished.

* King James’s Memoirs. This prince says, that Vernier’s

insurrection furnished a reason or pretence for keeping up

the guards, which were intended at first to have been

disbanded with the rest of the army.

Clarendon not only behaved with wisdom and justice in the office of

chancellor; all the counsels which he gave the king tended equally to

promote the interest of prince and people. Charles, accustomed in his

exile to pay entire deference to the judgment of this faithful servant,

continued still to submit to his direction; and for some time no

minister was ever possessed of more absolute authority. He moderated the

forward zeal of the royalists, and tempered their appetite for revenge.

With the opposite party, he endeavored to preserve inviolate all the

king’s engagements: he kept an exact register of the promises which had

been made for any service, he employed all his industry to fulfil

them. This good minister was now nearly allied to the royal family.

His daughter, Ann Hyde, a woman of spirit and fine accomplishments, had

hearkened, while abroad, to the addresses of the duke of York, and under

promise of marriage, had secretly admitted him to her bed. Her pregnancy

appeared soon after the restoration; and though many endeavored to

dissuade the king from consenting to so unequal an alliance, Charles,

in pity to his friend and minister, who had been ignorant of these

engagements, permitted his brother to marry her.[*] Clarendon expressed

great uneasiness at the honor which he had obtained; and said that, by

being elevated so much above his rank, he thence dreaded a more sudden

downfall.

* King James’s Memoirs.

Most circumstances of Clarendon’s administration have met with applause:

his maxims alone in the conduct of ecclesiastical politics have by

many been deemed the effect of prejudices narrow and bigoted. Had the

jealousy of royal power prevailed so far with the convention parliament

as to make them restore the king with strict limitations, there is no

question but the establishment of Presbyterian discipline had been

one of the conditions most rigidly insisted on. Not only that form of

ecclesiastical government is more favorable to liberty than to royal

power; it was likewise, on its own account, agreeable to the majority of

the house of commons, and suited their religious principles. But as

the impatience of the people, the danger of delay, the general disgust

towards faction, and the authority of Monk, had prevailed over that

jealous project of limitations, the full settlement of the hierarchy,

together with the monarchy, was a necessary and infallible consequence.

All the royalists were zealous for that mode of religion; the merits of

the Episcopal clergy towards the king, as well as their sufferings on

that account, had been great; the laws which established bishops and the

liturgy, were as yet unrepealed by legal authority; and any attempt of

the parliament, by new acts, to give the superiority to Presbyterianism,

had been sufficient to involve the nation again in blood and confusion.

Moved by these views, the commons had wisely postponed the examination

of all religious controversy, and had left the settlement of the church

to the king and to the ancient laws.

The king at first used great moderation in the execution of the laws.

Nine bishops still remained alive; and these were immediately restored

to their sees: all the ejected clergy recovered their livings: the

liturgy, a form of worship decent, and not without beauty, was again

admitted into the churches: but at the same time a declaration was

issued, in order to give contentment to the Presbyterians, and preserve

an air of moderation and neutrality.[*] In this declaration, the

king promised, that he would provide suffragan bishops for the larger

dioceses; that the prelates should, all of them, be regular and constant

preachers; that they should not confer ordination, or exercise any

jurisdiction, without the advice and assistance of presbyters chosen

by the diocese; that such alterations should be made in the liturgy as

would render it totally unexceptionable; that, in the mean time, the use

of that mode of worship should not be imposed on such as were unwilling

to receive it; and that the surplice, the cross in baptism, and

bowing at the name of Jesus, should not be rigidly insisted on. This

declaration was issued by the king as head of the church; and he plainly

assumed, in many parts of it, a legislative authority in ecclesiastical

matters. But the English government, though more exactly defined by

late contests, was not as yet reduced in every particular to the strict

limits of law. And if ever pre-rogative was justifiably employed, it

seemed to be on the present occasion; when all parts of the state were

torn with past convulsions, and required the moderating hand of the

chief magistrate to reduce them to their ancient order.

* Parl. Hist vol. xxiii. p. 173

But though these appearances of neutrality were maintained, and a

mitigated Episcopacy only seemed to be insisted on, it was far from

the intention of the ministry always to preserve like regard to the

Presbyterians. The madness of the Fifth Monarchy men afforded them a

pretence for departing from it. Venner, a desperate enthusiast, who

had often conspired against Cromwell, having, by his zealous lectures

inflamed his own imagination and that of his followers, issued forth

at their head into the streets of London. They were, to the number

of sixty, completely armed, believed themselves invulnerable and

invincible, and firmly expected the same success which had attended

Gideon and other heroes of the Old Testament Every one at first fled

before them. One unhappy man, who, being questioned, said, “he was

for God and King Charles,” was instantly murdered by them. They went

triumphantly from street to street, every where proclaiming King Jesus,

who, they said, was their invisible leader. At length, the magistrates,

having assembled some train bands, made an attack upon them. They

defended themselves with order as well as valor; and after killing

many of the assailants they made a regular retreat into Cane Wood, near

Hampstead. Next morning, they were chased thence by a detachment of

the guards; but they ventured again to invade the city, which was

not prepared to receive them. After committing great disorder, and

traversing almost every street of that immense capital, they retired

into a house, which they were resolute to defend to the last extremity.

Being surrounded, and the house untiled, they were fired upon from every

side; and they still refused quarter. The people rushed in upon them,

and seized the few who were alive. These were tried, condemned, and

executed; and to the last they persisted in affirming, that, if they

were deceived, it was the Lord that had deceived them.

Clarendon and the ministry took occasion, from this insurrection,

to infer the dangerous spirit of the Presbyterians, and of all the

sectaries: but the madness of the attempt sufficiently proved, that

it had been undertaken by no concert, and never could have proved

dangerous. The well-known hatred, too, which prevailed between the

Presbyterians and the other sects, should have removed the former from

all suspicion of any concurrence in the enterprise. But as a pretence

was wanted, besides their old demerits, for justifying the intended

rigors against all of them, this reason, however slight, was greedily

laid hold of.

Affairs in Scotland hastened with still quicker steps then those in

England towards a settlement and a compliance with the king. It was

deliberated in the English council, whether that nation should be

restored to its liberty, or whether the forts erected by Cromwell should

not still be upheld, in order to curb the mutinous spirit by which the

Scots in all ages had been so much governed. Lauderdale, who, from the

battle of Worcester to the restoration, had been detained prisoner in

the Tower, had considerable influence with the king; and he strenuously

opposed this violent measure. He represented that it was the loyalty

of the Scottish nation which had engaged them in an opposition to the

English rebels; and to take advantage of the calamities into which,

on that account, they had fallen, would be regarded as the highest

injustice and ingratitude: that the spirit of that people was now fully

subdued by the servitude under which the usurpers had so long held them,

and would of itself yield to any reasonable compliance with their

legal sovereign, if, by this means, they recovered their liberty and

independence: that the attachment of the Scots towards their king, whom

they regarded as their native prince, was naturally much stronger than

that of the English; and would afford him a sure resource, in case of

any rebellion among the latter: that republican principles had long

been, and still were, very prevalent with his southern subjects, and

might again menace the throne with new tumults and resistance: that

the time would probably come, when the king, instead of desiring to see

English garrisons in Scotland, would be better pleased to have Scottish

garrisons in England; who, supported by English pay, would be fond to

curb the seditious genius of that opulent nation: and that a people,

such as the Scots, governed by a few nobility, would more easily be

reduced to submission under monarchy, than one like the English, who

breathed nothing but the spirit of democratical equality.

{1661.} These views induced the king to disband all the forces in

Scotland, and to raze all the forts which had been erected. General

Middleton, created earl of that name, was sent commissioner to the

parliament, which was summoned. A very compliant spirit was there

discovered in all orders of men. The commissioner had even sufficient

influence to obtain an act, annulling at once all laws which had passed

since the year 1633; on pretext of the violence which, during that time,

had been employed against the king and his father, in order to procure

their assent to these statutes. This was a very large, if not an

unexampled concession; and, together with many dangerous limitations,

overthrew some useful barriers which had been erected to the

constitution. But the tide was now running strongly towards monarchy;

and the Scottish nation plainly discovered, that their past resistance

had proceeded more from the turbulence of their aristocracy, and the

bigotry of their ecclesiastics, than from any fixed passion towards

civil liberty. The lords of articles were restored, with some other

branches of prerogative; and royal authority fortified with more

plausible claims and pretences, was, in its full extent, reestablished

in that kingdom.

The prelacy likewise, by the abrogating of every statute enacted

in favor of Presbytery, was thereby tacitly restored; and the king

deliberated what use he should make of this concession. Lauderdale,

who at bottom was a passionate zealot against Episcopacy, endeavored

to persuade him, that the Scots, if gratified in this favorite point

of ecclesiastical government, would, in every other demand, be entirely

compliant with the king. Charles, though he had not so much attachment

to prelacy as had influenced his father and grandfather, had suffered

such indignities from the Scottish Presbyterians, that he ever

after bore them a hearty aversion. He said to Lauderdale, that

Presbyterianism, he thought, was not a religion for a gentleman; and he

could not consent to its further continuance in Scotland. Middleton too

and his other ministers persuaded him, that the nation in general was so

disgusted with the violence and tyranny of the ecclesiastics, that

any alteration of church government would be universally grateful. And

Clarendon, as well as Ormond, dreading that the Presbyterian sect, if

legally established in Scotland, would acquire authority in England and

Ireland, seconded the application of these ministers. The resolution was

therefore taken to restore prelacy; a measure afterwards attended with

many and great inconveniencies: but whether in this resolution Charles

chose not the lesser evil, it is very difficult to determine. Sharp, who

had been commissioned by the Presbyterians in Scotland to manage their

interests with the king, was persuaded to abandon that party; and, as

a reward for his compliance, was created archbishop of St. Andrews. The

conduct of ecclesiastical affairs was chiefly intrusted to him; and as

he was esteemed a traitor and a renegade by his old friends, he became

on that account, as well as from the violence of his conduct, extremely

obnoxious to them.

Charles had not promised to Scotland any such indemnity as he had

insured to England by the declaration of Breda: and it was deemed more

political for him to hold over men’s heads, for some time, the terror

of punishment, till they should have made the requisite compliances

with the new government. Though neither the king’s temper nor plan of

administration led him to severity, some examples, after such a bloody

and triumphant rebellion, seemed necessary; and the marquis of Argyle

and one Guthry were pitched on as the victims. Two acts of indemnity,

one passed by the late king in 1641, another by the present in 1651,

formed, it was thought, invincible obstacles to the punishment of

Argyle, and barred all inquiry into that part of his conduct which might

justly be regarded as the most exceptionable. Nothing remained but to

try him for his compliance with the usurpation; a crime common to him

with the whole nation, and such a one as the most loyal and affectionate

subject might frequently by violence be obliged to commit. To make this

compliance appear the more voluntary and hearty, there were produced

in court letters which he had written to Albemarle, while that general

commanded in Scotland, and which contained expressions of the most

cordial attachment to the established government. But besides the

general indignation excited by Albemarle’s discovery of this private

correspondence, men thought, that even the highest demonstrations of

affection might, during jealous times, be exacted as a necessary mark of

compliance from a person of such distinction as Argyle, and could

not, by any equitable construction, imply the crime of treason. The

parliament, however, scrupled not to pass sentence upon him; and he died

with great constancy and courage. As he was universally known to have

been the chief instrument of the past disorders and civil wars, the

irregularity of his sentence, and several iniquitous circumstances in

the method of conducting his trial, seemed on that account to admit

of some apology. Lord Lorne, son of Argyle, having ever preserved his

loyalty, obtained a gift of the forfeiture. Guthry was a seditious

preacher, and had personally affronted the king: his punishment gave

surprise to nobody. Sir Archibald Johnstone of Warriston was attainted

and fled; but was seized in France about two years after, brought over,

and executed. He had been very active during all the late disorders;

and was even suspected of a secret correspondence with the English

regicides.

Besides these instances of compliance in the Scottish parliament, they

voted an additional revenue to the king of forty thousand pounds a

year, to be levied by way of excise. A small force was purposed to be

maintained by this revenue, in order to prevent like confusions with

those to which the kingdom had been hitherto exposed. An act was also

passed, declaring the covenant unlawful, and its obligation void and

null.

In England, the civil distinctions seemed to be abolished by the lenity

and equality of Charles’s administration. Cavalier and roundhead were

heard of no more: all men seemed to concur in submitting to the king’s

lawful prerogatives, and in cherishing he just privileges of the people

and of parliament. Theological controversy alone still subsisted, and

kept alive some sparks of that flame which had thrown the nation into

combustion. While Catholics, Independents, and other sectaries were

content with entertaining some prospect of toleration, Prelacy and

Presbytery struggled for the superiority, and the hopes and fears of

both parties kept them in agitation. A conference was held in the

Savoy between twelve bishops and twelve leaders among the Presbyterian

ministers, with an intention, at least on pretence, of bringing about an

accommodation between the parties. The surplice, the cross in baptism,

the kneeling at the sacrament, the bowing at the name of Jesus, were

anew canvassed; and the ignorant multitude were in hopes, that so

many men of gravity and learning could not fail, after deliberate

argumentation, to agree in all points of controversy: they were

surprised to see them separate more inflamed than ever, and more

confirmed in their several prejudices. To enter into particulars would

be superfluous. Disputes concerning religious forms are, in themselves,

the most frivolous of any; and merit attention only so far as they have

influence on the peace and order of civil society.

The king’s declaration had promised, that some endeavors should be

used to effect a comprehension of both parties; and Charles’s own

indifference with regard to all such questions seemed a favorable

circumstance for the execution of that project. The partisans of a

comprehension said, that the Presbyterians, as well as the Prelatists,

having felt by experience the fatal effects of obstinacy and violence,

were now well disposed towards an amicable agreement: that the bishops,

by relinquishing some part of their authority, and dispensing with the

most exceptionable ceremonies, would so gratify their adversaries as to

obtain their cordial and affectionate compliance, and unite the whole

nation in one faith and one worship: that by obstinately insisting on

forms, in themselves insignificant, an air of importance was bestowed

on them, and men were taught to continue equally obstinate in rejecting

them: that the Presbyterian clergy would go every reasonable length,

rather than, by parting with their livings, expose themselves to a

state of beggary, at best of dependence: and that if their pride were

flattered by some seeming alterations, and a pretence given them for

affirming that they had not abandoned their former principles, nothing

further was wanting to produce a thorough union between those two

parties, which comprehended the bulk of the nation.

It was alleged, on the other hand, that the difference between religious

sects was founded, not on principle, but on passion; and till the

irregular affections of men could be corrected, it was in vain to

expect, by compliances, to obtain a perfect unanimity and comprehension:

that the more insignificant the objects of dispute appeared, with the

more certainty might it be inferred, that the real ground of dissension

was different from that which was universally pretended: that the

love of novelty, the pride of argumentation, the pleasure of making

proselytes, and the obstinacy of contradiction, would forever give

rise to sects and disputes; nor was it possible that such a source of

dissension could ever, by any concessions, be entirely exhausted: that

the church, by departing from ancient practices and principles, would

tacitly acknowledge herself guilty of error, and lose that reverence,

so requisite for preserving the attachment of the multitude; and that

if the present concessions (which was more than probable) should prove

ineffectual, greater must still be made; and in the issue discipline

would be despoiled of all its authority, and worship of all its decency,

without obtaining that end which had been so fondly sought for by these

dangerous indulgences.

The ministry were inclined to give the preference to the latter

arguments; and were the more confirmed in that intention by the

disposition which appeared in the parliament lately assembled. The

royalists and zealous churchmen were at present the popular party in the

nation, and, seconded by the efforts of the court, had prevailed in most

elections. Not more than fifty-six members of the Presbyterian party had

obtained seats in the lower house; [*] and these were not able either to

oppose or retard the measures of the majority. Monarchy, therefore, and

Episcopacy, were now exalted to as great power and splendor as they

had lately suffered misery and depression. Sir Edward Turner was chosen

speaker.

[*] Carte’s Answer to the Bystander, p. 79.

An act was passed for the security of the king’s person and government.

To intend or devise the king’s imprisonment, or bodily harm, or

deposition, or levying war against him, was declared, during the

lifetime of his present majesty, to be high treason. To affirm him to be

a Papist or heretic, or to endeavor by speech or writing to alienate his

subjects’ affections from him; these offences were made sufficient to

incapacitate the person guilty from holding any employment in church or

state. To maintain that the long parliament is not dissolved, or that

either or both houses, without the king, are possessed of legislative

authority, or that the covenant is binding, was made punishable by the

penalty of premunire.

The covenant itself, together with the act for erecting the high court

of justice, that for subscribing the engagement, and that for declaring

England a commonwealth, were ordered to be burnt by the hands of the

hangman. The people assisted with great alacrity on this occasion.

The abuses of petitioning in the preceding reign had been attended with

the worst consequences; and to prevent such irregular practices for the

future, it was enacted that no more than twenty hands should be fixed to

any petition, unless with the sanction of three justices, or the major

part of the grand jury, and that no petition should be presented to

the king or either house by above ten persons. The penalty annexed to

a transgression of this law was a fine of a hundred pounds and three

months’ imprisonment.

The bishops, though restored to their spiritual authority, were still

excluded from parliament, by the law which the late king had passed

immediately before the commencement of the civil disorders. Great

violence, both against the king and the house of peers, had been

employed in passing this law; and on that account alone the partisans

of the church were provided with a plausible pretence for repealing it.

Charles expressed much satisfaction when he gave his assent to the act

for that purpose. It is certain that the authority of the crown, as well

as that of the church, was interested in restoring the prelates to their

former dignity. But those who deemed every acquisition of the prince

a detriment to the people, were apt to complain of this instance of

complaisance in the parliament.

After an adjournment of some months, the parliament was again assembled,

and proceeded in the same spirit as before. They discovered no design

of restoring, in its full extent, the ancient prerogative of the crown:

they were only anxious to repair all those breaches which had been made,

not by the love of liberty, but by the fury of faction and civil war.

The power of the sword had in all ages been allowed to be vested in the

crown; and though no law conferred this prerogative every parliament,

till the last of the preceding reign, had willingly submitted to an

authority more ancient, and therefore more sacred, than that of any

positive statute. It was now thought proper solemnly to relinquish the

violent pretensions of that parliament, and to acknowledge that neither

one house nor both houses, independent of the king, were possessed of

any military authority. The preamble to this statute went so far as to

renounce all right even of defensive arms against the king; and much

observation has been made with regard to a concession esteemed so

singular. Were these terms taken in their full literal sense, they imply

a total renunciation of limitations to monarchy, and of all privileges

in the subject, independent of the will of the sovereign. For as no

rights can subsist without some remedy, still less rights exposed to

so much invasion from tyranny, or even from ambition; if subjects must

never resist, it follows that every prince, without any effort, policy,

or violence, is at once rendered absolute and uncontrollable; the

sovereign needs only issue an edict abolishing every authority but his

own; and all liberty from that moment is in effect annihilated. But this

meaning it were absurd to impute to the present parliament, who, though

zealous royalists, showed in their measures that they had not cast off

all regard to national privileges. They were probably sensible, that

to suppose in the sovereign any such invasion of public liberty, is

entirely unconstitutional; and that therefore expressly to reserve, upon

that event, any right of resistance in the subject, must be liable to

the same objection. They had seen that the long parliament, under color

of defence, had begun a violent attack upon kingly power; and after

involving the kingdom in blood, had finally lost that liberty for which

they had so imprudently contended. They thought, perhaps erroneously,

that it was no longer possible, after such public and such exorbitant

pretensions, to persevere in that prudent silence hitherto maintained

by the laws; and that it was necessary, by some positive declaration, to

bar the return of like inconveniencies. When they excluded, therefore,

the right of defence, they supposed that the constitution, remaining

firm upon its basis, there never really could be an attack made by the

sovereign. If such an attack was at any time made, the necessity was

then extreme; and the case of extreme and violent necessity, no laws,

they thought, could comprehend; because to such a necessity no laws

could beforehand point out a proper remedy.

The other measures of this parliament still discovered a more anxious

care to guard against rebellion in the subject than encroachments in

the crown; the recent evils of civil war and usurpation had naturally

increased the spirit of submission to the monarch, and had thrown the

nation into that dangerous extreme. During the violent and jealous

government of the parliament and of the protectors, all magistrates

liable to suspicion had been expelled the corporations; and none had

been admitted who gave not proofs of affection to the ruling powers, or

who refused to subscribe the covenant. To leave all authority in such

hands seemed dangerous; and the parliament therefore empowered the king

to appoint commissioners for regulating the corporations, and expelling

such magistrates as either intruded themselves by violence, or professed

principles dangerous to the constitution, civil and ecclesiastical. It

was also enacted, that all magistrates should disclaim the obligation

of the covenant, and should declare both their belief that it was not

lawful, upon any pretence whatsoever, to resist the king, and their

abhorrence of the traitorous position of taking arms by the king’s

authority against his person, or against those who were commissioned by

him.

{1662.} The care of the church was no less attended to by this

parliament than that of monarchy; and the bill of uniformity was a

pledge of their sincere attachment to the Episcopal hierarchy, and

of their antipathy to Presbyterianism, Different parties, however,

concurred in promoting this bill, which contained many severe clauses.

The Independents and other sectaries, enraged to find all their schemes

subverted by the Presbyterians, who had once been their associates,

exerted themselves to disappoint that party of the favor and indulgence

to which, from their recent merits in promoting the restoration, they

thought themselves justly entitled. By the Presbyterians, said they, the

war was raised; by them was the populace first incited to tumults; by

their zeal, interest, and riches, were the armies supported; by their

force was the king subdued; and if, in the sequel, they protested

against those extreme violences committed on his person by the military

leaders, their opposition came too late, after having supplied these

usurpers with the power and the pretences by which they maintained their

sanguinary measures. They had indeed concurred with the royalists in

recalling the king; but ought they to be esteemed, on that account, more

affectionate to the royal cause? Rage and animosity, from disappointed

ambition, were plainly their sole motives; and if the king should now

be so imprudent as to distinguish them by any particular indulgences, he

would soon experience from them the same hatred and opposition which had

proved so fatal to his father.

The Catholics, though they had little interest in the nation, were a

considerable party at court; and from their services and sufferings

during the civil wars, it seemed but just to bear them some favor

and regard. These religionists dreaded an entire union among the

Protestants. Were they the sole nonconformists in the nation, the

severe execution of penal laws upon their sect seemed an infallible

consequence; and they used, therefore, all their interest to push

matters to extremity against the Presbyterians, who had formerly been

their most severe oppressors, and whom they now expected for their

companions in affliction. The earl of Bristol, who, from conviction, or

interest, or levity, or complaisance for the company with whom he lived,

had changed his religion during the king’s exile, was regarded as the

head of this party.

The church party had, during so many years, suffered such injuries

and indignities from the sectaries of every denomination, that no

moderation, much less deference, was on this occasion to be expected in

the ecclesiastics. Even the laity of that communion seemed now disposed

to retaliate upon their enemies, according to the usual measures of

party justice. This sect or faction (for it partook of both) encouraged

the rumors of plots and conspiracies against the government; crimes

which, without any apparent reason, they imputed to their adversaries.

And instead of enlarging the terms of communion, in order to comprehend

the Presbyterians, they gladly laid hold of the prejudices which

prevailed among that sect, in order to eject them from their livings. By

the bill of uniformity, it was required, that every clergyman should be

reordained, if he had not before received Episcopal ordination; should

declare his assent to every thing contained in the Book of Common

Prayer; should take the oath of canonical obedience; should abjure the

solemn league, and covenant; and should renounce the principle of taking

arms on any pretence whatsoever against the king.

This bill reinstated the church in the same condition in which it stood

before the commencement of the civil wars; and as the old persecuting

laws of Elizabeth still subsisted in their full rigor, and new clauses

of a like nature were now enacted, all the king’s promises of toleration

and of indulgence to tender consciences were thereby eluded and broken.

It is true, Charles, in his declaration from Breda, had expressed his

intention of regulating that indulgence by the advice and authority of

parliament; but this limitation could never reasonably be extended to

a total infringement and violation of his engagements. However, it

is agreed that the king did not voluntarily concur with this violent

measure; and that the zeal of Clarendon and of the church party among

the commons, seconded by the intrigues of the Catholics, was the chief

cause which extorted his consent.

The royalists, who now predominated, were very ready to signalize their

victory, by establishing those high principles of monarchy which their

antagonists had controverted: but when any real power or revenue was

demanded for the crown, they were neither so forward nor so liberal

in their concessions as the king would gladly have wished. Though the

parliament passed laws for regulating the navy, they took no notice

of the army, and declined giving their sanction to this dangerous

innovation. The king’s debts were become intolerable; and the commons

were at last constrained to vote him an extraordinary supply of one

million two hundred thousand pounds, to be levied by eighteen monthly

assessments. But besides that this supply was much inferior to the

occasion, the king was obliged earnestly to solicit the commons, before

he could obtain it; and, in order to convince the house of its absolute

necessity, he desired them to examine strictly into all his receipts

and disbursements. Finding, likewise, upon inquiry, that the several

branches of revenue fell much short of the sums expected, they at

last, after much delay, voted a new imposition of two shillings on each

hearth; and this tax they settled on the king during life. The

whole established revenue, however, did not for many years exceed a

million;[*] a sum confessedly too narrow for the public expenses. A very

rigid frugality at least, which the king seems to have wanted, would

have been requisite to make it suffice for the dignity and security

of government. After all business was despatched, the parliament was

prorogued.

* D’Estrades, July 25, 1661. Mr. Ralph’s History, vol. i. p.

176.

Before the parliament rose, the court was employed in making

preparations for the reception of the new queen, Catharine of Portugal,

to whom the king was betrothed, and who had just landed at Portsmouth.

During the time that the protector carried on the war with Spain, he was

naturally led to support the Portuguese in their revolt; and he engaged

himself by treaty to supply them with ten thousand men for their defence

against the Spaniards. On the king’s restoration, advances were made

by Portugal for the renewal of the alliance; and in order to bind the

friendship closer, an offer was made of the Portuguese princess, and a

portion of five hundred thousand pounds, together with two fortresses,

Tangiers in Africa, and Bombay in the East Indies. Spain, who, after the

peace of the Pyrenees, bent all her force to recover Portugal, now in

appearance abandoned by France, took the alarm, and endeavored to fix

Charles in an opposite interest The Catholic king offered to adopt any

other princess as a daughter of Spain, either the princess of Parma, or,

what he thought more popular, some Protestant princess, the daughter of

Denmark, Saxony, or Orange; and on any of these he promised to confer

a dowry equal to that which was offered by Portugal. But many reasons

inclined Charles rather to accept of the Portuguese proposals. The great

disorders in the government and finances of Spain made the execution of

her promises be much doubted; and the king’s urgent necessities demanded

some immediate supply of money. The interest of the English commerce

likewise seemed to require that the independency of Portugal should be

supported, lest the union of that crown with Spain should put the whole

treasures of America into the hands of one potentate. The claims, too,

of Spain upon Dunkirk and Jamaica, rendered it impossible, without

further concessions, to obtain the cordial friendship of that power; and

on the other hand, the offer, made by Portugal, of two such considerable

fortresses, promised a great accession to the naval force of England.

Above all, the proposal of a Protestant princess was no allurement to

Charles, whose inclinations led him strongly to give the preference to

a Catholic alliance. According to the most probable accounts,[*] the

resolution of marrying the daughter of Portugal was taken by the king,

unknown to all his ministers, and no remonstrances could prevail with

him to alter his intentions.

* Carte’s Ormond, vol. ii. p. 254. This account seems better

supported than that in Ablancourt’s Memoirs, that the

chancellor chiefly pushed the Portuguese alliance. The

secret transactions of the court of England could not be

supposed to be much known to a French resident at Lisbon:

and whatever opposition the chancellor might make, he would

certainly endeavor to conceal it from the queen and all her

family; and even in the parliament and council would support

the resolution already taken. Clarendon himself says, in his

Memoirs, that he never either opposed or promoted the

Portuguese match.

When the matter was laid before the council, all voices concurred

in approving the resolution; and the parliament expressed the same

complaisance. And thus was concluded, seemingly with universal consent,

the inauspicious marriage with Catharine, a princess of virtue, but who

was never able, either by the graces of her person or humor, to make

herself agreeable to the king. The report, however, of her natural

incapacity to have children, seems to have been groundless, since she

was twice declared to be pregnant.[*]

* Lord Lansdowne’s Defence of General Monk. Temple vol. ii

p. 154

The festivity of these espousals was clouded by the trial and execution

of criminals. Berkstead, Cobbet, and Okey, three regicides, had escaped

beyond sea; and after wandering some time concealed in Germany, came

privately to Delft, having appointed their families to meet them in that

place. They were discovered by Downing, the king’s resident in Holland,

who had formerly served the protector and commonwealth in the same

station, and who once had even been chaplain to Okey’s regiment. He

applied for a warrant to arrest them. It had been usual for the states

to grant these warrants; though at the same time, they had ever been

careful secretly to advertise the persons, that they might be enabled

to make their escape. This precaution was eluded by the vigilance and

despatch of Downing. He quickly seized the criminals, hurried them on

board a frigate which lay off the coast, and sent them to England. These

three men behaved with more moderation and submission than any of the

other regicides who had suffered. Okey in particular, at the place of

execution, prayed for the king, and expressed his intention, had he

lived, of submitting peaceably to the established government. He had

risen, during the wars, from being a chandler in London, to a high rank

in the army; and in all his conduct appeared to be a man of humanity

and honor. In consideration of his good character and of his dutiful

behavior, his body was given to his friends to be buried.

The attention of the public was much engaged by the trial of two

distinguished criminals, Lambert and Vane. These men, though none of the

late king’s judges, had been excepted from the general indemnity,

and committed to prison. The convention parliament, however, was so

favorable to them, as to petition the king, if they should be found

guilty, to suspend their execution: but this new parliament, more

zealous for monarchy, applied for their trial and condemnation. Not to

revive disputes which were better buried in oblivion, the indictment of

Vane did not comprehend any of his actions during the war between the

king and parliament: it extended only to his behavior after the late

king’s death, as member of the council of state, and secretary of the

navy, where fidelity to the trust reposed in him required his opposition

to monarchy.

Vane wanted neither courage nor capacity to avail himself of this

advantage. He urged that, if a compliance with the government at that

time established in England, and the acknowledging of its authority,

were to be regarded as criminal, the whole nation had incurred equal

guilt, and none would remain whose innocence could entitle them to try

or condemn him for his pretended treasons: that, according to these

maxims, wherever an illegal authority was established by force, a total

and universal destruction must ensue; while the usurpers proscribed

one part of the nation for disobedience, the lawful prince punished the

other for compliance: that the legislature of England, foreseeing

this violent situation, had provided for public security by the famous

statute of Henry VII.; in which it was enacted that no man, in case of

any revolution, should ever be questioned for his obedience to the king

in being: that whether the established government were a monarchy or a

commonwealth, the reason of the thing was still the same; nor ought the

expelled prince to think himself entitled to allegiance, so long as he

could not afford protection: that it belonged not to private persons,

possessed of no power, to discuss the title of their governors;

and every usurpation, even the most flagrant, would equally require

obedience with the most legal establishment: that the controversy

between the late king and his parliament was of the most delicate

nature; and men of the greatest probity had been divided in their choice

of the party which they should embrace; that the parliament, being

rendered indissoluble but by its own consent, was become a kind of

coördinate power with the king; and as the case was thus entirely new

and unknown to the constitution, it ought not to be tried rigidly by the

letter of the ancient laws: that for his part, all the violences which

had been put upon the parliament, and upon the person of the sovereign,

he had ever condemned; nor had he once in the house for some time before

and after the execution of the king: that, finding the whole government

thrown into disorder, he was still resolved, in every revolution,

to adhere to the commons, the root, the foundation, of all lawful

authority: that in prosecution of this principle, he had cheerfully

under gone all the violence of Cromwell’s tyranny; and would now with

equal alacrity, expose himself to the rigors of perverted law and

justice: that though it was in his power, on the king’s restoration, to

have escaped from his enemies, he was determined, in imitation of the

most illustrious names of antiquity, to perish in defence of liberty,

and to give testimony with his blood for that honorable cause in which

he had been enlisted; and that, besides the ties by which God and nature

had bound him to his native country, he was voluntarily engaged by the

most sacred covenant, whose obligation no earthly power should ever be

able to make him relinquish.

All the defence which Vane could make was fruitless. The court,

considering more the general opinion of his active guilt in the

beginning and prosecution of the civil wars, than the articles of

treason charged against him, took advantage of the letter of the

law, and brought him in guilty. His courage deserted him not upon his

condemnation. Though timid by nature, the persuasion of a just cause

supported him against the terrors of death, while his enthusiasm,

excited by the prospect of glory, embellished the conclusion of a life,

which through the whole course of it, had been so much disfigured by the

prevalence of that principle. Lest pity for a courageous sufferer

should make impression on the populace, drummers were placed under the

scaffold, whose noise, as he began to launch out in reflections on the

government, drowned his voice, and admonished him to temper the ardor of

his zeal. He was not astonished at this unexpected incident. In all

his behavior there appeared a firm and animated intrepidity; and he

considered death but as a passage to that eternal felicity which he

believed to be prepared for him.

This man, so celebrated for his parliamentary talents, and for his

capacity in business, has left some writings behind him: they treat, all

of them, of religious subjects, and are absolutely unintelligible: no

traces of eloquence, or even of common sense, appear in them. A strange

paradox! did we not know, that men of the greatest genius, where they

relinquish by principle the use of their reason, are only enabled,

by their vigor of mind, to work themselves the deeper into error and

absurdity. It was remarkable, that as Vane, by being the chief

instrument of Strafford’s death, had first opened the way for that

destruction which overwhelmed the nation, so by his death he closed the

scene of blood. He was the last that suffered on account of the civil

wars. Lambert, though condemned, was reprieved at the bar; and the

judges declared, that if Vane’s behavior had been equally dutiful and

submissive, he would have experienced like lenity in the king. Lambert

survived his condemnation near thirty years. He was confined to the Isle

of Guernsey, where he lived contented, forgetting all his past schemes

of greatness, and entirely forgotten by the nation. He died a Roman

Catholic.

However odious Vane and Lambert were to the Presbyterians, that

party had no leisure to rejoice at their condemnation. The fatal St.

Bartholomew approached; the day when the clergy were obliged, by the

late law, either to relinquish their livings, or to sign the articles

required of them. A combination had been entered into by the more

zealous of the Presbyterian ecclesiastics to refuse the subscription,

in hopes that the bishops would not venture at once to expel so great a

number of the most popular preachers. The Catholic party at court, who

desired a great rent among the Protestants, encouraged them in this

obstinacy, and gave them hopes that the king would protect them in

their refusal. The king himself, by his irresolute conduct, contributed,

either from design or accident, to increase this opinion. Above all,

the terms of subscription had been made strict and rigid, on purpose

to disgust all the zealous and scrupulous among the Presbyterians, and

deprive them of their livings. About two thousand of the clergy, in one

day, relinquished their cures; and, to the astonishment of the court,

sacrificed their interest to their religious tenets. Fortified

by society in their sufferings, they were resolved to undergo any

hardships, rather than openly renounce those principles, which, on other

occasions, they were so apt, from interest, to warp or elude. The church

enjoyed the pleasure of retaliation; and even pushed, as usual,

the vengeance farther than the offence. During the dominion of the

parliamentary party, a fifth of each living had been left to the ejected

clergyman; but this indulgence, though at first insisted on by the house

of peers, was now refused to the Presbyterians. However difficult to

conciliate peace among theologians, it was hoped by many, that some

relaxation in the terms of communion might have kept the Presbyterians

united to the church, and have cured those ecclesiastical factions which

had been so fatal, and were still so dangerous. Bishoprics were offered

to Calamy, Baxter, and Reynolds, leaders among the Presbyterians:

the last only could be prevailed on to accept. Deaneries and other

preferments were refused by many.

The next measure of the king has not had the good fortune to be

justified by any party, but is often considered, on what grounds I shall

not determine, as one of the greatest mistakes, if not blemishes, of his

reign. It is the sale of Dunkirk to the French. The parsimonious maxims

of the parliament, and the liberal, or rather careless disposition of

Charles, were ill suited to each other; and notwithstanding the supplies

voted him, his treasury was still very empty and very much indebted. He

had secretly received the sum of two hundred thousand crowns from France

for the support of Portugal, but the forces sent over to that country,

and the fleets maintained in order to defend it, had already cost the

king that sum, and, together with it, near double the money which had

been paid as the queen’s portion.[*] The time fixed for payment of his

sister’s portion to the duke of Orleans was approaching. Tangiers, a

fortress from which great benefit was expected, was become an additional

burden to the crown; and Rutherford, who now commanded in Dunkirk, had

increased the charge of that garrison to a hundred and twenty thousand

pounds a year. These considerations had such influence, not only on the

king, but even on Clarendon, that this uncorrupt minister was the most

forward to advise accepting a sum of money in lieu of a place which, he

thought, the king, from the narrow state of his revenue, was no longer

able to retain. By the treaty with Portugal, it was stipulated that

Dunkirk should never be yielded to the Spaniards; France was therefore

the only purchaser that remained. D’Estrades was invited over by a

letter from the chancellor himself, in order to conclude the bargain.

Nine hundred thousand pounds were demanded: one hundred thousand were

offered. The English by degrees lowered their demand; the French raised

their offer: and the bargain was concluded at four hundred thousand

pounds. The artillery and stores were valued at a fifth of the sum.[**]

* D’Estrades, 17th of August, 1662. There was above half of

five hundred thousand pounds really paid as the queen’s

portion.

* D’Estrades, 21st of August, 12th of September, 1662.

The importance of this sale was not, at this time, sufficiently known,

either abroad or at home.[*] The French monarch himself, so fond of

acquisitions, and so good a judge of his own interests, thought that he

had made a hard bargain;[**] and this sum, in appearance so small, was

the utmost which he would allow his ambassador to offer.

* It appears, however, from many of D’Estrades’s letters,

particularly that of the 21st of August, 1661, that the king

might have transferred Dunkirk to the parliament, who would

not have refused to bear the charges of it, but were

unwilling to give money to the king for that purpose. The

king, on the other hand, was jealous lest the parliament

should acquire any separate dominion or authority in a

branch of administration which seemed so little to belong to

them; a proof that the government was not yet settled into

that composure and mutual confidence which is absolutely

requisite for conducting it.

* D’Estrades, 3d of October, 1662. The chief importance,

indeed, of Dunkirk to the English was, that it was able to

distress their trade when in the hands of the French: but it

was Lewis XIV. who first made it a good seaport. If ever

England have occasion to transport armies to the continent,

it must be in support of some ally whose towns serve to the

same purpose as Dunkirk would, if in the hands of the

English.

A new incident discovered such a glimpse of the king’s character and

principles as, at first, the nation was somewhat at a loss how

to interpret, but such as subsequent events, by degrees, rendered

sufficiently plain and manifest. He issued a declaration on pretence

of mitigating the rigors contained in the act of uniformity. After

expressing his firm resolution to observe the general indemnity, and to

trust entirely to the affections of his subjects, not to any military

power, for the support of his throne, he mentioned the promises of

liberty of conscience contained in his declaration of Breda. And he

subjoined, that, “as in the first place he had been zealous to settle

the uniformity of the church of England, in discipline, ceremony, and

government, and shall ever constantly maintain it, so, as for what

concerns the penalties upon those who, living peaceably, do not conform

themselves thereunto, through scruple and tenderness of misguided

conscience, but modestly and without scandal perform their devotions in

their own way, he should make it his special care, so far as in him lay,

without invading the freedom of parliament, to incline their wisdom,

next approaching sessions, to concur with him in making some such act

for that purpose, as may enable him to exercise, with a more universal

satisfaction, that power of dispensing, which he conceived to be

inherent in him.”[*] Here a most important prerogative was exercised

by the king; but under such artful reserves and limitations as might

prevent the full discussion of the claim, and obviate a breach between

him and his parliament. The foundation of this measure lay much deeper,

and was of the utmost consequence.

The king, during his exile, had imbibed strong prejudices a favor of

the Catholic religion; and, according to the most probable accounts,

had already been secretly reconciled in form to the church of Rome. The

great zeal expressed by the parliamentary party against all Papists,

had always, from a spirit of opposition, inclined the court and all the

royalists to adopt more favorable sentiments towards that sect, which,

through the whole course of the civil wars, had strenuously supported

the rights of the sovereign. The rigor, too, which the king, during his

abode in Scotland, had experienced from the Presbyterians, disposed him

to run into the other extreme, and to bear a kindness to the party

most opposite in its genius to the severity of those religionists. The

solicitations and importunities of the queen mother, the contagion of

the company which he frequented, the view of a more splendid and courtly

mode of worship, the hopes of indulgence in pleasure, all these causes

operated powerfully on a young prince, whose careless and dissolute

temper made him incapable of adhering closely to the principles of his

early education. But if the thoughtless humor of Charles rendered him

an easy convert to Popery, the same disposition ever prevented the

theological tenets of that sect from taking any fast hold of him. During

his vigorous state of health, while his blood was warm and his spirits

high, a contempt and disregard to all religion held possession of his

mind; and he might more properly be denominated a deist than a Catholic.

But in those revolutions of temper, when the love of raillery gave place

to reflection, and his penetrating, but negligent understanding was

clouded with fears and apprehensions, he had starts of mere sincere

conviction; and a sect which always possessed his inclination, was then

master of his judgment and opinion.[**]

* Kennet’s Register, p. 850.

* The author confesses, that the king’s zeal for Popery was

apt at intervals to go further than is here supposed, as

appears from many passages in James II.’s Memoirs.

But though the king thus fluctuated, during his whole reign, between

irreligion, which he more openly professed, and Popery, to which

he retained a secret propensity, his brother the duke of York, had

zealously adopted all the principles of that theological party. His

eager temper and narrow understanding made him a thorough convert,

without any reserve from interest, or doubts from reasoning and inquiry.

By his application to business, he had acquired a great ascendant over

the king; who, though possessed of more discernment, was glad to

throw the burden of affairs on the duke, of whom he entertained little

jealousy. On pretence of easing the Protestant dissenters, they agreed

upon a plan for introducing a general toleration, and giving the

Catholics the free exercise of their religion; at least the exercise of

it in private houses. The two brothers saw with pleasure so numerous and

popular a body of the clergy refuse conformity; and it was hoped that,

under shelter of their name, the small and hated sect of the Catholics

might meet with favor and protection.

{1663.} But while the king pleaded his early promises of toleration,

and insisted on many other plausible topics, the parliament, who sat a

little after the declaration was issued, could by no means be satisfied

with this measure. The declared intention of easing the dissenters, and

the secret purpose of favoring the Catholics, were equally disagreeable

to them and in these prepossessions they were encouraged by the king’s

ministers themselves, particularly the chancellor. The house of commons

represented to the king, that his declaration of Breda contained

no promise to the Presbyterians and other dissenters, but only an

expression of his intentions, upon supposition of the concurrence of

parliament: that even if the nonconformists had been entitled to plead

a promise, they had intrusted this claim, as all their other rights and

privileges, to the house of commons, who were their representatives,

and who now freed the king from that obligation: that it was not to

be supposed, that his majesty and the houses were so bound by that

declaration, as to be incapacitated from making any laws which might be

contrary to it: that even at the king’s restoration, there were laws

of uniformity in force, which could not be dispensed with but by act of

parliament: and that the indulgence intended would prove most pernicious

both to church and state, would open the door to schism, encourage

faction, disturb the public peace, and discredit the wisdom of the

legislature. The king did not think proper, after this remonstrance, to

insist any further at present on the project of indulgence.

In order to deprive the Catholics of all hopes, the two houses concurred

in a remonstrance against them. The king gave a gracious answer;

though he scrupled not to profess his gratitude towards many of that

persuasion, on account of their faithful services in his father’s cause

and in his own. A proclamation, for form’s sake, was soon after issued

against Jesuits and Romish priests: but care was taken, by the very

terms of it, to render it ineffectual. The parliament had allowed, that

all foreign priests, belonging to the two queens, should be excepted,

and that a permission for them to remain in England should still be

granted. In the proclamation, the word foreign was purposely omitted;

and the queens were thereby authorized to give protection to as many

English priests as they should think proper.

That the king might reap some advantage from his compliances, however

fallacious, he engaged the commons anew into an examination of his

revenue, which, chiefly by the negligence in levying it, had proved, he

said, much inferior to the public charges. Notwithstanding the price of

Dunkirk, his debts, he complained, amounted to a considerable sum; and

to satisfy the commons that the money formerly granted him had not been

prodigally expended, he offered to lay before them the whole account of

his disbursements. It is, however, agreed on all hands, that the king,

though during his banishment he had managed his small and precarious

income with great order and economy, had now much abated of these

virtues, and was unable to make his royal revenues suffice for his

expenses. The commons, without entering into too nice a disquisition,

voted him four subsidies; and this was the last time that taxes were

levied in that manner.

Several laws were made this session with regard to trade. The militia

also came under consideration, and some rules were established for

ordering and arming it. It was enacted, that the king should have no

power of keeping the militia under arms above fourteen days in the year.

The situation of this island, together with its great naval power, has

always occasioned other means of security, however requisite, to be much

neglected among us: and the parliament showed here a very superfluous

jealousy of the king’s strictness in disciplining the militia. The

principles of liberty rather require a contrary jealousy.

The earl of Bristol’s friendship with Clarendon, which had subsisted,

with great intimacy, during their exile and the distresses of the royal

party, had been considerably impaired, since the restoration, by the

chancellor’s refusing his assent to some grants which Bristol had

applied for to a court lady: and a little after, the latter nobleman,

agreeably to the impetuosity and indiscretion of his temper, broke out

against the minister in the most outrageous manner. He even entered

a charge of treason against him before the house of peers; but had

concerted his measures so imprudently, that the judges, when consulted,

declared, that neither for its matter nor its form could the charge

be legally received. The articles indeed resemble more the incoherent

altercations of a passionate enemy, than a serious accusation, fit to be

discussed by a court of judicature; and Bristol himself was so

ashamed of his conduct and defeat, that he absconded during some time.

Notwithstanding his fine talents, his eloquence, his spirit, and his

courage, he could never regain the character which he lost by this hasty

and precipitate measure.

But though Clarendon was able to elude this rash assault, his credit

at court was sensibly declining; and in proportion as the king found

himself established on the throne, he began to alienate himself from

a minister whose character was so little suited to his own. Charles’s

favor for the Catholics was always opposed by Clarendon, public liberty

was secured against all attempts of the over-zealous royalists, prodigal

grants of the king were checked or refused, and the dignity of his own

character was so much consulted by the chancellor, that he made it an

inviolable rule, as did also his friend Southampton, never to enter into

any connection with the royal mistresses. The king’s favorite was Mrs.

Palmer, afterwards created duchess of Cleveland; a woman prodigal,

rapacious, dissolute, violent, revengeful. She failed not in her turn

to undermine Clarendon’s credit with his master; and her success was

at this time made apparent to the whole world. Secretary Nicholas, the

chancellor’s great friend, was removed from his place; and Sir Harry

Bennet, his avowed enemy, was advanced to that office. Bennet was soon

after created Lord Arlington.

Though the king’s conduct had hitherto, since his restoration, been

in the main laudable, men of penetration began to observe, that those

virtues by which he had at first so much dazzled and enchanted the

nation, had great show, but not equal solidity. His good understanding

lost much of its influence by his want of application his bounty was

more the result of a facility of disposition than any generosity of

character; his social humor led him frequently to neglect his dignity;

his love of pleasure was not attended with proper sentiment and decency;

and while he seemed to bear a good will to every one that approached

him, he had a heart not very capable of friendship, and he had secretly

entertained a very bad opinion and distrust of mankind. But above all,

what sullied his character in the eyes of good judges, was his negligent

ingratitude towards the unfortunate cavaliers, whose zeal and sufferings

in the royal cause had known no bounds. This conduct, however, in the

king may, from the circumstances of his situation and temper, admit of

some excuse; at least, of some alleviation. As he had been restored more

by the efforts of his reconciled enemies than of his ancient friends,

the former pretended a title to share his favor; and being from practice

acquainted with public business, they were better qualified to execute

any trust committed to them. The king’s revenues were far from being

large, or even equal to his necessary expenses; and his mistresses, and

the companions of his mirth and pleasures, gained by solicitation every

request from his easy temper. The very poverty to which the more zealous

royalists had reduced themselves, by rendering them insignificant, made

them unfit to support the king’s measures, and caused him to deem them

a useless encumbrance. And as many false and ridiculous claims of merit

were offered, his natural indolence, averse to a strict discussion

or inquiry, led him to treat them all with equal indifference. The

parliament took some notice of the poor cavaliers. Sixty thousand

pounds were at one time distributed among them; Mrs. Lane also and the

Penderells had handsome presents and pensions from the king. But the

greater part of the royalists still remained in poverty and distress,

aggravated by the cruel disappointment in their sanguine hopes, and by

seeing favor and preferment bestowed upon their most inveterate foes.

With regard to the act of indemnity and oblivion, they universally said,

that it was an act of indemnity to the king’s enemies and of oblivion to

his friends.