[Illustration: 1-802-hyde-park.jpg HYDE PARK]
CHARLES II.
{1668.} Since the restoration, England had attained a situation which
had never been experienced in any former period of her government,
and which seemed the only one that could fully insure, at once, her
tranquillity and her liberty: the king was in continual want of supply
from the parliament, and he seemed willing to accommodate himself
to that dependent situation. Instead of reviving those claims of
prerogative, so strenuously insisted on by his predecessors, Charles had
strictly confined himself within the limits of law, and had courted,
by every art of popularity, the affections of his subjects. Even
the severities, however blamable, which he had exercised against
nonconformists, are to be considered as expedients by which he strove to
ingratiate himself with that party which predominated in parliament.
But notwithstanding these promising appearances, there were many
circumstances which kept the government from resting steadily on that
bottom on which it was placed. The crown, having lost almost all its
ancient demesnes, relied entirely on voluntary grants of the people; and
the commons, not fully accustomed to this new situation, were not yet
disposed to supply, with sufficient liberality, the necessities of the
crown. They imitated too strictly the example of their predecessors in a
rigid frugality of public money; and neither sufficiently considered
the indigent condition of their prince, nor the general state of Europe,
where every nation, by its increase both of magnificence and force, had
made great additions to all public expenses. Some considerable sums,
indeed, were bestowed on Charles; and the patriots of that age,
tenacious of ancient maxims, loudly upbraided the commons with
prodigality; but if we may judge by the example of a later period, when
the government has become more regular, and the harmony of its parts has
been more happily adjusted, the parliaments of this reign seem rather to
have merited a contrary reproach.
The natural consequence of the poverty of the crown was besides feeble,
irregular transactions in foreign affairs, a continual uncertainty in
its domestic administration. No one could answer with any tolerable
assurance for the measures of the house of commons. Few of the members
were attached to the court by any other band than that of inclination.
Royalists indeed in their principles, but unexperienced in business,
they lay exposed to every rumor or insinuation; and were driven by
momentary gusts or currents, no less than the populace themselves. Even
the attempts made to gain an ascendant over them by offices, and, as
it is believed, by bribes and pensions, were apt to operate in a manner
contrary to what was intended by the ministers. The novelty of the
practice conveyed a general, and indeed a just alarm; while, at the same
time, the poverty of the crown rendered this influence very limited and
precarious.
The character of Charles was ill fitted to remedy those defects in the
constitution. He acted in the administration of public affairs, as if
government were a pastime, rather than a serious occupation; and, by
the uncertainty of his conduct he lost that authority which could alone
bestow constancy on the fluctuating resolutions of the parliament. His
expenses, too, which sometimes, perhaps, exceeded the proper bounds,
were directed more by inclination than by policy; and while they
increased his dependence on the parliament, they were not calculated
fully to satisfy either the interested or disinterested part of that
assembly.
The parliament met after a long adjournment, and the king promised
himself every thing from the attachment of the commons. All his late
measures had been calculated to acquire the good will of his people;
and, above all, the triple league, it was hoped, would be able to efface
all the disagreeable impressions left by the unhappy conclusion of the
Dutch war. But a new attempt made by the court, and a laudable one, too,
lost him for a time the effect of all these endeavors. Buckingham, who
was in great favor with the king, and carried on many intrigues among
the commons, had also endeavored to support connections with the
nonconformists; and he now formed a scheme, in concert with the lord
keeper, Sir Orlando Bridgeman, and the chief justice, Sir Matthew Hale,
two worthy patriots, to put an end to those severities under which
these religionists had so long labored. It was proposed to reconcile
the Presbyterians by a comprehension, and to grant a toleration to the
Independents and other sectaries Favor seems not, by this scheme, as
by others embraced during the present reign, to have been intended the
Catholics: yet were the zealous commons so disgusted, that they could
not be prevailed on even to give the king thanks for the triple
league, however laudable that measure was then, and has ever since been
esteemed. They immediately voted an address for a proclamation against
conventicles. Their request was complied with; but as the king still
dropped some hints of his desire to reconcile his Protestant subjects,
the commons passed a very unusual vote, that no man should bring into
the house any bill of that nature. The king in vain reiterated his
solicitations for supply; represented the necessity of equipping a
fleet; and even offered, that the money which they should grant should
be collected and issued for that purpose by commissioners appointed by
the house. Instead of complying, the commons voted an inquiry into all
the miscarriages during the late war; the slackening of sail after the
duke’s victory from false orders delivered by Brounker the miscarriage
at Bergen, the division of the fleet under Prince Rupert and Albemarle,
the disgrace at Chatham. Brounker was expelled the house, and ordered to
be impeached. Commissioner Pet, who had neglected orders issued for the
security of Chatham, met with the same fate. These impeachments were
never prosecuted. The house at length, having been indulged in all their
prejudices, were prevailed with to vote the king three hundred and ten
thousand pounds, by an imposition on wine and other liquors; after which
they were adjourned.
Public business, besides being retarded by the disgust of the commons
against the tolerating maxims of the court, met with obstructions this
session from a quarrel between the two houses. Skinner, a rich merchant
in London, having suffered some injuries from the East India Company,
laid the matter by petition before the house of lords, by whom he was
relieved in costs and damages to the amount of five thousand pounds.
The commons voted, that the lords, in taking cognizance of this affair,
originally, without any appeal from inferior courts, had acted in a
manner not agreeable to the laws of the land, and tending to deprive the
subject of the right, ease, and benefit due to him by these laws; and
that Skinner, in prosecuting the suit after this manner, had infringed
the privileges of the commons; for which offence they ordered him to be
taken into custody. Some conferences ensued between the houses where the
lords were tenacious of their right of judicature, and maintained, that
the method in which they had exercised it was quite regular. The commons
rose into a great ferment; and went so far as to vote, that “whoever
should be aiding or assisting in putting in execution the order or
sentence of the house of lords, in the case of Skinner against the East
India Company, should be deemed a betrayer of the rights and liberties
of the commons of England, and an infringer of the privileges of the
house of commons.” They rightly judged, that it would not be easy, after
this vote, to find any one who would venture to incur their indignation.
The proceedings indeed of the lords seem in this case to have been
unusual and without precedent.
{1669.} The king’s necessities obliged him again to assemble the
parliament, who showed some disposition to relieve him. The price,
however, which he must pay for this indulgence, was his yielding to
new laws against conventicles. His complaisance in this particular
contributed more to gain the commons, than all the pompous pretences
of supporting the triple alliance, that popular measure by which he
expected to make such advantage. The quarrel between the two houses was
revived; and as the commons had voted only four hundred thousand pounds,
with which the king was not satisfied, he thought proper, before they
had carried their vote into a law, to prorogue them. The only business
finished this short session, was the receiving of the report of the
committee appointed for examining the public accounts. On the first
inspection of this report, there appears a great sum, no less than a
million and a half, unaccounted for; and the natural inference is, that
the king had much abused the trust reposed in him by parliament But a
more accurate inspection of particulars serves, in a great measure,
to remove this imputation. The king indeed went so far as to tell the
parliament from the throne, “that he had fully informed himself of that
matter, and did affirm, that no part of those moneys which they had
given him had been diverted to other uses; but, on the contrary, besides
all those supplies, a very great sum had been raised out of his standing
revenue and credit, and a very great debt contracted; and all for the
war.” Though artificial pretences have often been employed by kings
in their speeches to parliament, and by none more than Charles, it is
somewhat difficult to suspect him of a direct lie and falsehood. He
must have had some reasons, and perhaps not unplausible ones, for this
affirmation, of which all his hearers, as they had the accounts lying
before them, were at that time competent judges.[*] [2]
* See note B, at the end of the volume.
The method which all parliaments had hitherto followed, was to vote
a particular sum for the supply, without any distinction, or any
appropriation to particular services. So long as the demands of the
crown were small and casual, no great inconveniencies arose from this
practice. But as all the measures of government were now changed, it
must be confessed that, if the king made a just application of public
money, this inaccurate method of proceeding, by exposing him to
suspicion, was prejudicial to him. If he were inclined to act otherwise,
it was equally hurtful to the people. For these reasons, a contrary
practice, during all the late reigns, has constantly been followed by
the commons.
{1670.} When the parliament met after the prorogation, they entered anew
upon the business of supply, and granted the king an additional duty,
during eight years, of twelve pounds on each tun of Spanish wine
imported, eight on each tun of French. A law also passed, empowering him
to sell the fee-farm rents; the last remains of the demesnes, by which
the ancient kings of England had been supported. By this expedient, he
obtained some supply for his present necessities, but left the crown,
if possible, still more dependent than before. How much money might be
raised by these sales is uncertain; but it could not be near one million
eight hundred thousand pounds, the sum assigned by some writers.[*]
* Mr. Carte, in his vindication of the Answer to the
Bystander, (p 99,) says, that the sale of the fee-farm rents
would not yield above one hundred thousand pounds; and his
reasons appear well founded with regard to the
interpretation of any part of the act.
The act against conventicles passed, and received the royal assent. It
bears the appearance of mitigating the former persecuting laws; but if
we may judge by the spirit which had broken out almost every session
during this parliament, it was not intended as any favor to the
nonconformists. Experience probably had taught, that laws over rigid and
severe could not be executed. By this act, the hearer in a conventicle
(that is, in a dissenting assembly, where more than five were present,
besides the family) was fined five shillings for the first offence, ten
for the second; the preacher, twenty pounds for the first offence,
forty for the second. The person in whose house the conventicle met, was
amerced a like sum with the preacher. One clause is remarkable; that if
any dispute should arise the judges should always explain the doubt in
the sense least favorable to conventicles, it being the intention of
parliament entirely to suppress them. Such was the zeal of the commons,
that they violated the plainest and most established maxims of civil
policy, which require that in all criminal prosecutions favor should
always be given to the prisoner.
The affair of Skinner still remained a ground of quarrel between the two
houses; but the king prevailed with the peers to accept of the expedient
proposed by the commons, that a general razure should be made of all the
transactions with regard to that disputed question.
Some attempts were made by the king to effect a union between England
and Scotland; though they were too feeble to remove all the difficulties
which obstructed that useful and important undertaking. Commissioners
were appointed to meet, in order to regulate the conditions: but the
design, chiefly by the intrigues of Lauderdale, soon after came to
nothing.
The king about this time began frequently to attend the debates of the
house of peers. He said, that they amused him, and that he found them no
less entertaining than a play. But deeper designs were suspected. As he
seemed to interest himself extremely in the cause of Lord Roos, who
had obtained a divorce from his wife on the accusation of adultery, and
applied to parliament for leave to marry again, people imagined that
Charles intended to make a precedent of the case, and that some other
pretence would be found for getting rid of the queen. Many proposals to
this purpose, it is said, were made him by Buckingham; but the king, how
little scrupulous soever in some respects, was incapable of any action
harsh or barbarous; and he always rejected every scheme of this nature.
A suspicion, however, of such intentions, it was observed, had at this
time begotten a coldness between the two royal brothers.
We now come to a period when the king’s counsels, which had hitherto
in the main been good, though negligent and fluctuating, became, during
some time, remarkably bad, or even criminal; and breeding incurable
jealousies in all men, were followed by such consequences as had almost
terminated in the ruin both of prince and people. Happily, the same
negligence still attended him; and, as it had lessened the influence
of the good, it also diminished the effect of the bad measures which he
embraced.
It was remarked, that the committee of council established for foreign
affairs was entirely changed; and that Prince Rupert the duke of Ormond,
Sectary Trevor, and Lord Keeper Bridgeman, men in whose honor the nation
had great confidence, were never called to any deliberations. The whole
secret was intrusted to five persons, Clifford, Ashley, Buckingham,
Arlington, and Lauderdale. These men were known by the appellation of
the “cabal,” a word which the initial letters of their names happened to
compose. Never was there a more dangerous ministry in England, nor one
more noted for pernicious counsels.
Lord Ashley, soon after known by the name of earl of Shaftesbury, was
one of the most remarkable characters of the age, and the chief spring
of all the succeeding movements. During his early youth, he had engaged
in the late king’s party; but being disgusted with some measures of
Prince Maurice, he soon deserted to the parliament. He insinuated
himself into the confidence of Cromwell; and as he had great influence
with the Presbyterians, he was serviceable in supporting, with his
party, the authority of that usurper. He employed the same credit
in promoting the restoration; and on that account both deserved and
acquired favor with the king. In all his changes, he still maintained
the character of never betraying those friends whom he deserted; and
whichever party he joined, his great capacity and singular talents soon
gained him their confidence, and enabled him to take the lead
among them. No station could satisfy his ambition, no fatigues were
insuperable to his industry. Well acquainted with the blind attachment
of faction, he surmounted all sense of shame; and relying on the
subtilty of his contrivances, he was not startled with enterprises the
most hazardous and most criminal. His talents, both of public speaking
and private insinuation, shone out in an eminent degree; and amidst all
his furious passions, he possessed a sound judgment of business, and
still more of men. Though fitted by nature for beginning and pushing
the greatest undertakings, he was never able to conduct any to a happy
period; and his eminent abilities, by reason of his insatiable desires,
were equally dangerous to himself, to the prince, and to the people.
The duke of Buckingham possessed all the advantages which a graceful
person, a high rank, a splendid fortune, and a lively wit could bestow;
but by his wild conduct, unrestrained either by prudence or principle,
he found means to render himself in the end odious, and even
insignificant. The least interest could make him abandon his honor; the
smallest pleasure could seduce him from his interest; the most frivolous
caprice was sufficient to counterbalance his pleasure.
By his want of secrecy and constancy, he destroyed his character in
public life; by his contempt of order and economy, he dissipated his
private fortune; by riot and debauchery, he ruined his health; and he
remained at last as incapable of doing hurt, as he had ever been little
desirous of doing good to mankind.
The earl, soon after created duke of Lauderdale, was not defective in
natural, and still less in acquired talents; but neither was his address
graceful, nor his understanding just. His principles, or, more properly
speaking, his prejudices, were obstinate, but unable to restrain his
ambition: his ambition was still less dangerous than the tyranny and
violence of his temper. An implacable enemy, but a lukewarm friend;
insolent to his inferiors, but abject to his superiors; though in his
whole character and deportment he was almost diametrically opposite to
the king, he had the fortune, beyond any other minister, to maintain,
during the greater part of his reign, an ascendant over him.
The talents of parliamentary eloquence and intrigue had raised Sir
Thomas Clifford; and his daring, impetuous spirit gave him weight in the
king’s councils. Of the whole cabal, Arlington was the least dangerous,
either by his vices or his talents. His judgment was sound, though
his capacity was but moderate; and his intentions were good, though he
wanted courage and integrity to persevere in them. Together with Temple
and Bridgeman, he had been a great promoter of the triple league; but he
threw himself with equal alacrity into opposite measures, when he found
them agreeable to his master. Clifford and he were secretly Catholics:
Shaftesbury, though addicted to astrology, was reckoned a deist:
Buckingham had too little reflection to embrace any steady principles:
Lauderdale had long been a bigoted and furious Presbyterian; and the
opinions of that sect still kept possession of his mind, how little
soever they appeared in his conduct.
The dark counsels of the cabal, though from the first they gave anxiety
to all men of reflection, were not thoroughly known but by the event.
Such seem to have been the views which they, in concurrence with some
Catholic courtiers who had the ear of their sovereign, suggested to the
king and the duke, and which these princes too greedily embraced. They
said, that the parliament, though the spirit of party, for the present,
attached them to the crown, were still more attached to those powers and
privileges which their predecessors had usurped from the sovereign: that
after the first flow of kindness was spent, they had discovered evident
symptoms of discontent; and would be sure to turn against the king all
the authority which they yet retained, and still more those pretensions
which it was easy for them in a moment to revive: that they not only
kept the king in dependence by means of his precarious revenue, but had
never discovered a suitable generosity, even in those temporary supplies
which they granted him: that it was high time for the prince to rouse
himself from his lethargy, and to recover that authority which his
predecessors, during so many ages, had peaceably enjoyed; that the great
error or misfortune of his father was, the not having formed any
close connection with foreign princes, who, on the breaking out of the
rebellion, might have found their interest in supporting him: that the
present alliances, being entered into with so many weaker potentates,
who themselves stood in need of the king’s protection, could never serve
to maintain much less augment, the royal authority: that the French
monarch alone, so generous a prince, and by blood so nearly allied to
the king, would be found both able and willing, if gratified in his
ambition, to defend the common cause of kings against usurping subjects:
that a war undertaken against Holland by the united force of two such
mighty potentates, would prove an easy enterprise, and would serve all
the purposes which were aimed at: that, under pretence of that war, it
would not be difficult to levy a military force, without which, during
the prevalence of republican principles among his subjects, the king
would vainly expect to defend his prerogative; that his naval power
might be maintained, partly by the supplies which on other pretences
would previously be obtained from parliament; partly by subsidies from
France; partly by captures, which might easily be made on that opulent
republic: that, in such a situation, attempts to recover the lost
authority of the crown would be attended with success; nor would
any malecontents dare to resist a prince fortified by so powerful an
alliance; or, if they did, they would only draw more certain ruin on
themselves and on their cause; and that by subduing the states, a great
step would be made towards a reformation of the government; since it was
apparent, that that republic, by its fame and grandeur, fortified in
his factious subjects their attachment to what they vainly termed their
civil and religious liberties.
These suggestions happened fatally to concur with all the inclinations
and prejudices of the king; his desire of more extensive authority, his
propensity to the Catholic religion, his avidity for money. He seems,
likewise, from the very beginning of his reign, to have entertained
great jealousy of his own subjects, and, on that account, a desire of
fortifying himself by an intimate alliance with France. So early as
1664, he had offered the French monarch to allow him without opposition
to conquer Flanders, provided that prince would engage to furnish him
with ten thousand infantry, and a suitable number of cavalry, in case
of any rebellion in England.[*] As no dangerous symptoms at that time
appeared, we are left to conjecture, from this incident, what opinion
Charles had conceived of the factious disposition of his people.
Even during the time when the triple alliance was the most zealously
cultivated, the king never seems to have been entirely cordial in those
salutary measures, but still to have cast a longing eye towards
the French alliance. Clifford, who had much of his confidence, said
imprudently, “Notwithstanding all this joy, we must have a second war
with Holland.” The accession of the emperor to that alliance had been
refused by England on frivolous pretences. And many unfriendly cavils
were raised against the states with regard to Surinam and the conduct
of the East India Company.[**] [3] But about April, 1669 the strongest
symptoms appeared of those fatal measure which were afterwards more
openly pursued.
* D’Estrades, July 21, 1667.
** See note C, at the end of the volume.
De Wit at that time came to Temple, and told him, that he paid him a
visit as a friend, not as a minister. The occasion was, to acquaint him
with a conversation which he had lately had with Puffendorf, the Swedish
agent, who had passed by the Hague in the way from Paris to his own
country. The French ministers, Puffendorf said, had taken much pains to
persuade him, that the Swedes would very ill find their account in those
measures which they had lately embraced: that Spain would fail them
in all her promises of subsidies; nor would Holland alone be able to
support them: that England would certainly fail them, and had already
adopted counsels directly opposite to those which by the triple league
she had bound herself to pursue: and that the resolution was not the
less fixed and certain, because the secret was as yet communicated to
very few either in the French or English court. When Puffendorf seemed
incredulous, Turenne showed him a letter from Colbert de Crossy, the
French minister at London; in which after mentioning the success of
his negotiations, and the favorable disposition of the chief ministers
there, he added, “And I have at last made them sensible of the full
extent of his majesty’s bounty.”[*] From this incident it appears,
that the infamous practice of selling themselves to foreign princes,
a practice which, notwithstanding the malignity of the vulgar, is
certainly rare among men in high office, had not been scrupled by
Charles’s ministers, who even obtained their master’s consent to this
dishonorable corruption.
* Temple, vol. ii. p. 179.
But while all men of penetration, both abroad and at home were alarmed
with these incidents, the visit which the king received from his sister,
the duchess of Orleans, was the foundation of still stronger suspicions.
Lewis, knowing the address and insinuation of that amiable princess, and
the great influence which she had gained over her brother, had engaged
her to employ all her good offices in order to detach Charles from the
triple league, which, he knew, had fixed such unsurmountable barriers
to his ambition; and he now sent her to put the last hand to the plan
of their conjunct operations. That he might the better cover this
negotiation, he pretended to visit his frontiers, particularly the great
works which he had undertaken at Dunkirk: and he carried the queen and
the whole court along with him. While he remained on the opposite shore,
the duchess of Orleans went over to England; and Charles met her at
Dover, where they passed ten days together in great mirth and festivity.
By her artifices and caresses, she prevailed on Charles to relinquish
the most settled maxims of honor and policy, and to finish his
engagements with Lewis for the destruction of Holland, as well as for
the subsequent change of religion in England.
But Lewis well knew Charles’s character, and the usual fluctuations of
his counsels. In order to fix him in the French interests, he resolved
to bind him by the ties of pleasure, the only ones which with him were
irresistible; and he made him a present of a French mistress, by whose
means he hoped for the future to govern him. The duchess of Orleans
brought with her a young lady of the name of Querouaille, whom the king
carried to London, and soon after created duchess of Portsmouth. He was
extremely attached to her during the whole course of his life; and
she proved a great means of supporting his connections with her native
country.
The satisfaction which Charles reaped from his new alliance received
a great check by the death of his sister, and still more by those
melancholy circumstances which attended it. Her death was sudden, after
a few days’ illness; and she was seized with the malady upon drinking a
glass of succory water. Strong suspicions of poison arose in the court
of France, and were spread all over Europe; and as her husband had
discovered many symptoms of jealousy and discontent on account of her
conduct, he was universally believed to be the author of the crime.
Charles himself, during some time, was entirely convinced of his guilt;
but upon receiving the attestation of physicians, who, on opening her
body, found no foundation for the general rumor, he was, or pretended
to be, satisfied. The duke of Orleans indeed did never, in any other
circumstance of his life, betray such dispositions as might lead him to
so criminal an action; and a lady, it is said, drank the remains of
the same glass, without feeling any inconvenience. The sudden death
of princes is commonly accompanied with these dismal surmises; and
therefore less weight is in this case to be laid on the suspicions of
the public.
Charles, instead of breaking with France upon this incident, took
advantage of it to send over Buckingham, under pretence of condoling
with the duke of Orleans, but in reality to concert further measures for
the projected war. Never ambassador received greater caresses. The more
destructive the present measures were to the interests of England, the
more natural was it for Lewis to load with civilities, and even with
favors, those whom he could engage to promote them.
The journey of Buckingham augmented the suspicions in Holland, which
every circumstance tended still further to confirm. Lewis made a sudden
irruption into Lorraine; and though he missed seizing the duke himself,
who had no surmise of the danger, and who narrowly escaped, he was soon
able, without resistance, to make himself master of the whole country.
The French monarch was so far unhappy, that, though the most tempting
opportunities offered themselves, he had not commonly so much as the
pretence of equity and justice to cover his ambitious measures. This
acquisition of Lorraine ought to have excited the jealousy of the
contracting powers in the triple league, as much as an invasion of
Flanders itself; yet did Charles turn a deaf ear to all remonstrances
made him upon that subject.
But what tended chiefly to open the eyes of De Wit and the states with
regard to the measures of England, was the sudden recall of Sir William
Temple. This minister had so firmly established his character of honor
and integrity, that he was believed incapable even of obeying his
master’s commands in promoting measures which he esteemed pernicious to
his country; and so long as he remained in employment, De Wit thought
himself assured of the fidelity of England. Charles was so sensible of
this prepossession, that he ordered Temple to leave his family at the
Hague, and pretended that that minister would immediately return, after
having conferred with the king about some business where his negotiation
had met with obstructions. De Wit made the Dutch resident inform the
English court, that he should consider the recall of Temple as an
express declaration of a change of measures in England; and should even
know what interpretation to put upon any delay of his return.
While these measures were secretly in agitation, the parliament met,
according to adjournment. The king made a short speech, and left the
business to be enlarged upon by the keeper. That minister much insisted
on the king’s great want of supply; the mighty increase of the naval
power of France, now triple to what it was before the last war with
Holland; the decay of the English navy; the necessity of fitting out
next year a fleet of fifty sail; the obligations which the king lay
under by several treaties to exert himself for the common good of
Christendom. Among other treaties, he mentioned the triple alliance, and
the defensive league with the states.
The artifice succeeded. The house of commons, entirely satisfied with
the king’s measures, voted him considerable supplies. A laud tax for
a year was imposed of a shilling a pound; two shillings a pound on two
thirds of the salaries of offices; fifteen shillings on every hundred
pounds of bankers’ money and stock; an additional excise upon beer for
six years, and certain impositions upon law proceedings for nine years.
The parliament had never before been in a more liberal humor; and
never surely was it less merited by the counsels of the king and of his
ministers.[*]
* This year, on the 3d of January, died George Monk, duke of
Albemarle, at Newhall, in Essex, after a languishing
illness, and in the sixty-third year of his age. He left a
great estate of fifteen thousand pounds a year in land, and
sixty thousand pounds in money, acquired by the bounty of
the king, and increased by his own frugality in his later
years. Bishop Burnet, who, agreeably to his own factious
spirit, treats this illustrious personage with great
malignity, reproaches him with avarice; but as he appears
not to have been in the least tainted with rapacity, his
frugal conduct may more candidly be imputed to the habits
acquired in early life, while he was possessed of a very
narrow fortune. It is indeed a singular proof of the strange
power of faction, that any malignity should pursue the
memory of a nobleman, the tenor of whose life was so
unexceptionable, and who, by restoring the ancient, and
legal, and free government to three kingdoms plunged in the
most destructive anarchy, may safely be said to be the
subject, in these islands, who, since the beginning of time,
rendered the most durable and most essential services to his
native country. The means also by which he achieved his
great undertakings, were almost entirely unexceptionable.
His temporary dissimulation, being absolutely necessary,
could scarcely be blamable. He had received no trust from
that mongrel, pretended, usurping parliament whom he
dethroned; therefore could betray none; he even refused to
carry his dissimulation so far as to take the oath of
abjuration against the king. I confess, however, that the
Reverend Dr. Douglas has shown me, from the Clarendon
papers, an original letter of his to Sir Arthur Hazelrig,
containing very earnest, and certainly false protestations
of his zeal for a commonwealth. It is to be lamented, that
so worthy a man, and of such plain manners, should ever have
found it necessary to carry his dissimulation to such a
height. His family ended with his son. There was a private
affair, which, during this session, disgusted the house of
commons, and required some pains to accommodate it. The
usual method of those who opposed the court in the money
bills, was, if they failed in the main vote, as to the
extent of the supply, to levy the money upon such funds as
they expected would be unacceptable, or would prove
deficient. It was proposed to lay an imposition upon
playhouses: the courtiers objected, that the players were
the king’s servants, and a part of his pleasure. Sir John
Coventry, a gentleman of the country party, asked, “whether
the king’s pleasure lay among the male or the female
players.” This stroke of satire was aimed at Charles, who,
besides his mistresses of higher quality, entertained at
that time two actresses, Davis and Nell Gwin. The king
received not the raillery with the good humor which might
have been expected. It was said that this being the first
time that respect to majesty had been publicly violated, it
was necessary, by some severe chastisement, to make Coventry
an example to all who might incline to tread in his
footsteps. Sands, Obrian, and some other officers of the
guards, were ordered to waylay him, and to set a mark upon
him. He defended himself with bravery, and after wounding
several of the assailants, was disarmed with some
difficulty. They cut his nose to the bone, in order, as they
said, to teach him what respect he owed to the king. The
commons were inflamed by this indignity offered to one of
their members, on account of words spoken in the house. They
passed a law which made it capital to maim any person; and
they enacted, that those criminals, who had assaulted
Coventry, should be incapable of receiving a pardon from the
crown.
The commons passed another bill, for laying a duty on tobacco, Scotch
salt, glasses, and some other commodities. Against this bill the
merchants of London appeared by petition before the house of lords. The
lords entered into their reasons, and began to make amendments on the
bill sent up by the commons. This attempt was highly resented by the
lower house as an encroachment on the right, which they pretended to
possess alone, of granting money to the crown. Many remonstrances passed
between the two houses; and by their altercations the king was obliged
to prorogue the parliament; and he thereby lost the money which was
intended him.
{1671.} This is the last time that the peers have revived any
pretensions of that nature. Ever since, the privilege of the commons,
in all other places except in the house of peers, has passed for
uncontroverted.
There was another private affair transacted about this time, by which
the king was as much exposed to the imputation of a capricious lenity,
as he was here blamed for unnecessary severity. Blood, a disbanded
officer of the protector’s, had been engaged in the conspiracy for
raising an insurrection in Ireland; and on account of this crime,
he himself had been attainted, and some of his accomplices capitally
punished. The daring villain meditated revenge upon Ormond, the lord
lieutenant. Having by artifice drawn off the duke’s footmen, he attacked
his coach in the night time, as it drove along St. James’s Street in
London; and he made himself master of his person. He might here have
finished the crime, had he not meditated refinements in his vengeance:
he was resolved to hang the duke of Tyburn and for that purpose bound
him and mounted him on horseback behind one of his companions. They were
advanced a good way into the fields, when the duke, making efforts for
his liberty, threw himself to the ground, and brought down with him the
assassin to whom he was fastened. They were struggling together in the
mire, when Ormond’s servants, whom the alarm had reached, came and saved
him. Blood and his companions, firing their pistols in a hurry at the
duke, rode off, and saved themselves by means of the darkness.
Buckingham was at first, with some appearances of reason, suspected to
be the author of this attempt. His profligate character, and his enmity
against Ormond, exposed him to that imputation; Ossory soon after came
to court, and seeing Buckingham stand by the king, his color rose, and
he could not forbear expressing himself to this purpose: “My lord,
I know well that you are at the bottom of this late attempt upon my
father: but I give you warning; if by any means he come to a violent
end, I shall not be at a loss to know the author: I shall consider you
as the assassin: I shall treat you as such; and wherever I meet you, I
shall pistol you, though you stood behind the king’s chair; and I tell
it you in his majesty’s presence, that you may be sure I shall not
fail of performance.”[*] If there was here any indecorum, it was easily
excused in a generous youth, when his father’s life was exposed to
danger.
* Carte’s Ormond, vol. ii. p. 225.
A little after, Blood formed a design of carrying off the crown and
regalia from the Tower; a design to which he was prompted, as well by
the surprising boldness of the enterprise, as by the views of profit. He
was near succeeding. He had bound and wounded Edwards, the keeper of
the jewel-office, and had gotten out of the Tower with his prey; but was
overtaken and seized, with some of his associates. One of them was
known to have been concerned in the attempt upon Ormond; and Blood was
immediately concluded to be the ring-leader. When questioned, he frankly
avowed the enterprise; but refused to tell his accomplices. “The fear
of death,” he said, “should never engage him either to deny a guilt or
betray a friend.” All these extraordinary circumstances made him the
general subject of conversation; and the king was moved by an idle
curiosity to see and speak with a person so noted for his courage and
his crimes. Blood might now esteem himself secure of pardon; and he
wanted not address to improve the opportunity. He told Charles, that he
had been engaged, with others, in a design to kill him with a carabine
above Battersea, where his majesty often went to bathe: that the cause
of this resolution was the severity exercised over the consciences of
the godly, in restraining the liberty of their religious assemblies:
that when he had taken his stand among the reeds, full of these bloody
resolutions, he found his heart checked with an awe of majesty; and
he not only relented himself, but diverted his associates from their
purpose: that he had long ago brought himself to an entire indifference
about life, which he now gave for lost; yet could he not forbear warning
the king of the danger which might attend his execution: that his
associates had bound themselves by the strictest oaths to revenge the
death of any of the confederacy; and that no precaution or power could
secure any one from the effects of their desperate resolutions.
Whether these considerations excited fear or admiration in the king,
they confirmed his resolution of granting a pardon to Blood; but he
thought it a point of decency first to obtain the duke of Ormond’s
consent. Arlington came to Ormond in the king’s name, and desired that
he would not prosecute Blood, for reasons which he was commanded to give
him. The duke replied, that his majesty’s commands were the only reason
that could be given, and being sufficient, he might therefore spare the
rest. Charles carried his kindness to Blood still further: he granted
him an estate of five hundred pounds a year in Ireland; he encouraged
his attendance about his person; he showed him great countenance; and
many applied to him for promoting their pretensions at court. And while
old Edwards, who had bravely ventured his life, and had been wounded, in
defending the crown and regalia, was forgotten and neglected, this man,
who deserved only to be stared at and detested as a monster, became a
kind of favorite.
Errors of this nature in private life have often as bad an influence as
miscarriages in which the public is more immediately concerned. Another
incident happened this year, which infused a general displeasure, and
still greater apprehensions, into all men. The duchess of York died; and
in her last sickness, she made open profession of the Romish religion,
and finished her life in that communion. This put an end to that thin
disguise which the duke had hitherto worn and he now openly declared his
conversion to the church of Rome. Unaccountable terrors of Popery, ever
since the accession of the house of Stuart, had prevailed throughout the
nation; but these had formerly been found so groundless, and had been
employed to so many bad purposes, that surmises of this nature were
likely to meet with the less credit among all men of sense; and nothing
but the duke’s imprudent bigotry could have convinced the whole nation
of his change of religion. Popery, which had hitherto been only a
hideous spectre, was now become a real ground of terror being openly
and zealously embraced by the heir to the crown a prince of industry
and enterprise; while the king himself was not entirely free from like
suspicions.
It is probable that the new alliance with France inspired the duke with
the courage to make open profession of his religion, and rendered him
more careless of the affections and esteem of the English. This alliance
became every day more apparent. Temple was declared to be no longer
ambassador to the states, and Downing, whom the Dutch regarded as the
inveterate enemy of their republic, was sent over in his stead. A ground
of quarrel was sought by means of a yacht, despatched for Lady Temple.
The captain sailed through the Dutch fleet, which lay on their own
coasts; and he had orders to make them strike, to fire on them, and
to persevere till they should return his fire. The Dutch admiral, Van
Ghent, surprised at this bravado, came on board the yacht, and expressed
his willingness to pay respect to the British flag, according to former
practice: but that a fleet on their own coasts should strike to a single
vessel, and that not a ship of war, was, he said, such an innovation,
that he durst not without express orders agree to it. The captain,
thinking it dangerous, as well as absurd, to renew firing in the midst
of the Dutch fleet, continued his course; and for that neglect of orders
was committed to the Tower.
This incident, however, furnished Downing with a new article to increase
those vain pretences on which it was purposed to ground the intended
rupture. The English court delayed several months before they
complained; lest, if they had demanded satisfaction more early, the
Dutch might have had time to grant it. Even when Downing delivered
his memorial, he was bound by his instructions not to accept of any
satisfaction after a certain number of days: a very imperious manner
of negotiating, and impracticable in Holland, where the forms of the
republic render delays absolutely unavoidable. An answer, however,
though refused by Downing, was sent over to London; with an ambassador
extraordinary, who had orders to use every expedient that might give
satisfaction to the court of England. That court replied, that the
answer of the Hollanders was ambiguous and obscure; but they would not
specify the articles or expressions which were liable to that objection.
The Dutch ambassador desired the English ministry to draw the answer in
what terms they pleased; and he engaged to sign it: the English ministry
replied, that it was not their business to draw papers for the Dutch.
The ambassador brought them the draught of an article, and asked them
whether it were satisfactory: the English answered, that when he had
signed and delivered it, they would tell him their mind concerning it.
The Dutchman resolved to sign it at a venture; and on his demanding
a new audience, an hour was appointed for that purpose: but when he
attended, the English refused to enter upon business, and told him that
the season for negotiating was now past.[*]
* England’s Appeal, p. 22. This year, on the 12th of
November, died, in his retreat, and in the sixtieth year of
his age, Thomas Lord Fairfax, who performed many great
actions without being a memorable personage, and allowed
himself to be carried into many criminal enterprises with
the best and most upright intentions. His daughter and heir
was married to George Villiers, duke of Buckingham.
{1672.} Long and frequent prorogations were made of the parliament;
lest the houses should declare themselves with vigor against counsels so
opposite to the inclination as well as interests of the public. Could we
suppose that Charles, in his alliance against Holland, really meant the
good of his people, that measure must pass for an extraordinary, nay,
a romantic strain of patriotism, which could lead him, in spite of all
difficulties, and even in spite of themselves, to seek the welfare of
the nation. But every step which he took in this affair became a proof
to all men of penetration, that the present war was intended against the
religion and liberties of his own subjects, even more than against the
Dutch themselves. He now acted in every thing as if he were already
an absolute monarch, and was never more to lie under the control of
national assemblies.
The long prorogations of parliament, if they freed the king from the
importunate remonstrances of that assembly, were, however, attended
with this inconvenience, that no money could be procured to carry on the
military preparations against Holland. Under pretence of maintaining the
triple league, which at that very time he had firmly resolved to break,
Charles had obtained a large supply from the commons; but this money was
soon exhausted by debts and expenses. France had stipulated to pay
two hundred thousand pounds a year during the war; but that supply was
inconsiderable, compared to the immense charge of the English navy. It
seemed as yet premature to venture on levying money without consent of
parliament; since the power of taxing themselves was the privilege of
which the English were with reason particularly jealous. Some other
resource must be fallen on. The king had declared, that the staff
of treasurer was ready for any one that could find an expedient for
supplying the present necessities. Shaftesbury dropped a hint to
Clifford, which the latter immediately seized, and carried to the king,
who granted him the promised reward, together with a peerage. This
expedient was the shutting up of the exchequer and the retaining of all
the payments which should be made into it.
It had been usual for the bankers to carry their money to the exchequer,
and to advance it upon security of the funds, by which they were
afterwards reimbursed when the money was levied on the public. The
bankers by this traffic got eight, sometimes ten per cent., for sums
which either had been consigned to them without interest, or which they
had borrowed at six per cent.; profits which they dearly paid for by
this egregious breach of public faith. The measure was so suddenly
taken, that none had warning of the danger. A general confusion
prevailed in the city, followed by the ruin of many. The bankers stopped
payment; the merchants could answer no bills; distrust took place
every where, with a stagnation of commerce, by which the public was
universally affected. And men, full of dismal apprehensions, asked each
other what must be the scope of those mysterious counsels, whence the
parliament and all men of honor were excluded, and which commenced
by the forfeiture of public credit, and an open violation of the most
solemn engagements, both foreign and domestic.
Another measure of the court contains something laudable, when
considered in itself; but if we reflect on the motive whence it
proceeded, as well as the time when it was embraced, it will furnish a
strong proof of the arbitrary and dangerous counsels pursued at present
by the king and his ministry. Charles resolved to make use of his
supreme power in ecclesiastical matters; a power, he said, which was not
only inherent in him, but which had been recognized by several acts
of parliament. By virtue of this authority, he issued a proclamation,
suspending the penal laws enacted against all nonconformists or
recusants whatsoever; and granting to the Protestant dissenters the
public exercise of their religion, to the Catholics the exercise of it
in private houses. A fruitless experiment of this kind, opposed by the
parliament, and retracted by the king, had already been made a few
years after the restoration; but Charles expected that the parliament,
whenever it should meet, would now be tamed to greater submission, and
would no longer dare to control his measures. Meanwhile the dissenters,
the most inveterate enemies of the court, were mollified by these
indulgent maxims: and the Catholics, under their shelter, enjoyed more
liberty than the laws had hitherto allowed them.
At the same time, the act of navigation was suspended by royal will
and pleasure; a measure which, though a stretch of prerogative, seemed
useful to commerce, while all the seamen were employed on board the
royal navy. A like suspension had been granted during the first Dutch
war, and was not much remarked; because men had at that time entertained
less jealousy of the crown. A proclamation was also issued, containing
rigorous clauses in favor of pressing; another full of menaces against
those who presumed to speak undutifully of his majesty’s measures, and
even against those who heard such discourse, unless they informed in
due time against the offenders; another against importing or vending any
sort of painted earthenware, “except those of China, upon pain of being
grievously fined, and suffering the utmost punishment which might be
lawfully inflicted upon contemners of his majesty’s royal authority.”
An army had been levied; and it was found that discipline could not
be enforced without the exercise of martial law, which was therefore
established by order of council, though contrary to the petition
of right. All these acts of power, how little important soever in
themselves, savored strongly of arbitrary government; and were nowise
suitable to that legal administration which the parliament, after such
violent convulsions and civil wars, had hoped to have established in the
kingdom.
It may be worth remarking, that the lord keeper refused to affix the
great seal to the declaration for suspending the penal laws; and was for
that reason, though under other pretences removed from his office.
Shaftesbury was made chancellor in his place; and thus another member of
the cabal received the reward of his counsels.
Foreign transactions kept pace with these domestic occurrences. An
attempt, before the declaration of war, was made on the Dutch Smyrna
fleet by Sir Robert Holmes. This fleet consisted of seventy sail, valued
at a million and a half; and the hopes of seizing so rich a prey had
been a great motive for engaging Charles in the present war, and he
had considered that capture as a principal resource for supporting his
military enterprises. Holmes, with nine frigates and three yachts, had
orders to go on this command; and he passed Sprague in the Channel,
who was returning with a squadron from a cruize in the Mediterranean.
Sprague informed him of the near approach of the Hollanders; and had
not Holmes, from a desire of engrossing the honor and profit of the
enterprise, kept the secret of his orders, the conjunction of these
squadrons had rendered the success infallible. When Holmes approached
the Dutch, he put on an amicable appearance, and invited the admiral
Van Ness, who commanded the convoy, to come on board of him: one of his
captains gave a like insidious invitation to the rear-admiral. But these
officers were on their guard. They had received an intimation of the
hostile intentions of the English, and had already put all the ships of
war and merchantmen in an excellent posture of defence. Three times were
they valiantly assailed by the English; and as often did they valiantly
defend themselves. In the third attack, one of the Dutch ships of war
was taken; and three or four of their most inconsiderable merchantmen
fell into the enemies’ hands. The rest, fighting with skill and courage,
continued their course; and, favored by a mist, got safe into their own
harbors. This attempt is denominated perfidious and piratical by the
Dutch writers, and even by many of the English. It merits at least the
appellation of irregular; and as it had been attended with bad success,
it brought double shame upon the contrivers. The English ministry
endeavored to apologize for the action, by pretending that it was a
casual rencounter, arising from the obstinacy of the Dutch in refusing
the honors of the flag: but the contrary was so well known, that even
Holmes himself had not the assurance to persist in this asseveration.
Till this incident, the states, notwithstanding all the menaces and
preparations of the English, never believed them thoroughly in
earnest; and had always expected, that the affair would terminate,
either in some demands of money, or in some proposals for the
advancement of the prince of Orange. The French themselves had never
much reckoned on assistance from England; and scarcely could believe
that their ambitious projects would, contrary to every maxim of honor
and policy, be forwarded by that power which was most interested and
most able to oppose them. But Charles was too far advanced to retreat.
He immediately issued a declaration of war against the Dutch; and
surely reasons more false and frivolous never were employed to justify a
flagrant violation of treaty. Some complaints are there made of injuries
done to the East India Company, which yet that company disavowed: the
detention of some English in Surinam is mentioned; though it appears
that these persons had voluntarily remained there: the refusal of a
Dutch fleet on their own coasts to strike to an English yacht, is much
aggravated: and to piece up all these pretensions, some abusive pictures
are mentioned, and represented as a ground of quarrel. The Dutch were
long at a loss what to make of this article, till it was discovered that
a portrait of Cornelius de Wit, brother to the pensionary, painted by
order of certain magistrates of Dort, and hung up in a chamber of the
town-house, had given occasion to the complaint. In the perspective of
this portrait, the painter had drawn some ships on fire in a harbor.
This was construed to be Chatham, where De Wit had really distinguished
himself, and had acquired honor; but little did he imagine that, while
the insult itself committed in open war, had so long been forgiven, the
picture of it should draw such severe vengeance upon his country.
The conclusion of this manifesto, where the king still professed his
resolution of adhering to the triple alliance, was of a piece with the
rest of it.
Lewis’s declaration of war contained more dignity, if undisguised
violence and injustice could merit that appellation. He pretended only,
that the behavior of the Hollanders had been such, that it did not
consist with his glory any longer to bear.
That monarch’s preparations were in great forwardness; and his ambition
was flattered with the most promising views of success. Sweden was
detached from the triple league; the bishop of Munster was engaged
by the payment of subsidies to take part with France; the elector of
Cologne had entered into the same alliance; and having consigned Bonne
and other towns into the hands of Lewis, magazines were there erected;
and it was from that quarter that France purposed to invade the United
Provinces. The standing force of that kingdom amounted to a hundred and
eighty thousand men; and with more than half of this great army was the
French king now approaching to the Dutch frontiers. The order, economy,
and industry of Colbert, equally subservient to the ambition of the
prince and happiness of the people, furnished unexhausted treasures:
these, employed by the unrelenting vigilance of Louvois, supplied every
military preparation, and facilitated all the enterprises of the army:
Condé, Turenne, seconded by Luxembourg, Crequi, and the most renowned
generals of the age, conducted this army, and by their conduct and
reputation inspired courage into every one. The monarch himself,
surrounded with a brave nobility, animated his troops by the prospect of
reward, or, what was more valued, by the hopes of his approbation. The
fatigues of war gave no interruption to gayety: its dangers furnished
matter for glory; and in no enterprise did the genius of that gallant
and polite people ever break out with more distinguished lustre.
Though De Wit’s intelligence in foreign courts was not equal to the
vigilance of his domestic administration, he had long before received
many surmises of this fatal confederacy; but he prepared not for defence
so early, or with such industry, as the danger required. A union of
England with France was evidently, he saw, destructive to the interests
of the former kingdom; and therefore, overlooking or ignorant of the
humors and secret views of Charles, he concluded it impossible that such
pernicious projects could ever really be carried into execution. Secure
in this fallacious reasoning, he allowed the republic to remain too long
in that defenceless situation into which many concurring accidents had
conspired to throw her.