The King convened a conference at Hampton Court, near London, to
consider the Petition, or rather to make a pedantic display of his
own learning. The probability that he would grant the petitioners'
request was small. James had come to England disgusted with the
violence of the Scotch Presbyterians or Puritans (S378), especially
since Andrew Melville, one of their leading ministers in Edinburgh,
had seized his sleeve at a public meeting and addressed him, with a
somewhat brutal excess of truth, as "God's silly vassal."[1]
[1] Gardiner in the "Dictionary of National (British) Biography,"
"James I," thinks that by "silly" Melville meant "weak." But that is
not much improvement.
But the new sovereign had a still deeper reason for his antipathy to
the Puritans. He saw that their doctrine of equality in the Church
naturally led to that equality in the State. If they objected to
Episcopal government in the one, might they not presently object to
royal government in the other? Hence to all their arguments he
answered with his favorite maxim, "No bishop, no king," meaning that
the two must stand or fall together.
At the Hampton Court Conference all real freedom of discussion was
practically prohibited. The Conference, however, had one good result,
for the King ordered a new and revised translation of the Bible to be
made (SS254, 357). It was published a few years later (1611). This
translation of the Scriptures excels all others in simplicity,
dignity, and beauty of language. After more than three hundred years
it still remains the version used in the great majority of Protestant
churches and Protestant homes wherever English is spoken.
James regarded the Conference as a success. He had refuted the
Puritans, as he believed, with much Latin and some Greek. He ended by
declaiming against them with such unction that one enthusiastic bishop
declared that his Majesty must be specially inspired by the Holy
Ghost!
He closed the meeting by imprisoning the ten persons who had presented
the petition, on the ground that it tended to sedition and rebellion.
Henceforth, the King's attitude toward the Puritans (S378) was
unmistakable. "I will make them conform," said he, "or I will harry
them out of the land" (S422).
Accordingly, a law was enacted which required every curate to accept
the Thirty-Nine Articles (S381) and the Prayer Book of the Church of
England (S381) without reservation. This act drove several hundred
clergymen from the Established Church.
419. The Divine Right of Kings, 1604; the Protest of the Commons;
"Favorites."
As if with the desire of further alienating his people, James now
constantly proclaimed the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings. This
theory, which was unknown to the English constitution, declared that
the King derived his power and right to rule directly from God, and in
no way from the people.[1] "It is atheism and blasphemy," he said,
"to dispute what God can do, ... so it is presumption and high
contempt in a subject to dispute what a king can do."
[1] James's favorite saying was, "A Deo rex, a rege lex" (God makes
the king, the king makes the law). He boasted that kings might, as he
declared, "make what liked them law and gospel."
In making these utterances James seems to have entirely forgotten that
he owed his throne to that act of the English Parliament which
accepted him as Elizabeth's successor (S415). In his exalted position
as head of the nation, he boasted of his power much like the dwarf in
the story, who, perched on the giant's shoulders, cries out, "See how
big I am!"
Acting on this assumption, James levied customs duties on goods
without asking the consent of Parliament; violated the privileges of
the House of Commons; rejected members who had been legally elected;
and imprisoned those who dared to criticize his course. The contest
was kept up with bitterness during the whole reign.
Toward its close James truckled meanly to the power of Spain, hoping
thereby to marry his son Charles to a Spanish princess. Later, he
made a feeble and futile effort to help the Protestant party in the
great Thirty Years' War (1618-1648), which had begun between the
Catholics and Protestants in Germany. The House of Commons implored
the King not to humiliate himself and the nation at the feet of
Spain. The King replied by warning the House not to meddle with
matters which did not concern them, and denied their right to freedom
of speech. The Commons solemnly protested, and James seized their
official journal, and with his own hands tore out the record of the
protest (1621).
Yet, notwithstanding his arbitrary character, James was easily managed
by those who would flatter his vanity. For this reason he was always
under the control of worthless favorites like Carr, Earl of Somerset,
or Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. These men were the secret power
behind the throne, and they often dictated the policy of the Crown.