But the war gave Charles no choice, and before the year was out he was
obliged to call the famous "Long Parliament" of 1640.[2] That body met
with the firm determination to restore the liberties of Englishmen or
to perish in the attempt. (1) It impeached Strafford and Laud, and
sent them to the scaffold as traitors.[3] (2) It swept away those
instruments of royal oppression, the Court of Star Chamber and the
High Commission Court (SS330, 382). (3) It expelled the bishops from
the House of Lords. (4) It passed the Triennial Bill, compelling the
King to summon a Parliament at least once in three years.[4] (5) It
also passed a law declaring that the King could not suspend or
dissolve Parliament without its consent. (6) Last of all, the Commons
drew up the Grand Remonstrance (S439), enunciating at great length the
grievances of the last sixteen years, and vehemently appealing to the
people to support them in their attempts at reform. The Remonstrance
was printed and distributed throughout England.[1]
[2] The "Long Parliament": it sat from 1640 to 1653, and was not
finally dissolved until 1660.
[3] Charles assured Strafford that Parliament should not touch "a hair
of his head"; but to save himself the King signed the Bill of
Attainder (see p.xxxii), which sent his ablest and most faithful
servant to the block. Well might Strafford exclaim, "Put not your
trust in princes."
[4] The Triennial Act was repealed in 1664 and reenacted in 1694. In
1716 the Septennial Act increased the limit of three years to seven.
This act is still in force.
[1] The press soon became, for the first time, a most active agent of
political agitation, both for and against the King (S443).
About a month later (1642) the King, at the head of an armed force,
undertook to seize Hampden, Pym, and three other of the most active
members of the Commons on a charge of treason (S449). The attempt
failed. Soon afterwards the Commons passed the Militia Bill, and thus
took the command of the national militia and of the chief fortresses
of the realm, "to hold," as they said, "for King and Parliament." The
act was unconstitutional; but, after the attempted seizure of the five
members, the Commons felt certain that if they left the command of the
militia in the King's hands, they would simply sign their own death
warrant.
In resentment of this action, Charles now (1642) began the great Civil
War. It resulted in the execution of the King, and in the temporary
overthrow of the monarchy, the House of Lords, and the Established
Episcopal Church (SS450, 451). In place of the monarchy, the party in
power set up a short-lived Puritan Republic. This was followed by the
Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell (which claimed to be republican in
spirit) and by that of his son Richard (SS455, 463).
20. Charles II; Abolition of Feudal Tenure; Establishment of a
Standing Army.
In 1660 the people, weary of the Protectorate form of government,
welcomed the return of Charles II. His coming marks the restoration
of the monarchy, of the House of Lords, and of the National Episcopal
Church.
A great change was now effected in the source of the King's revenue.
Hitherto it had sprung largely from feudal dues. These had long been
difficult to collect, because the Feudal System had practically died
out. The feudal land tenure with its dues was now abolished,--a
reform, says Blackstone, greater even than that of Magna Carta,--and
in their place a tax was levied for a fixed sum (S482). This tax
should in justice have fallen on the landowners, who profited by the
change; but they managed to evade it in great measure, and by getting
it levied on beer and some other liquors, they forced the working
classes to shoulder the chief part of the burden, which they carried
until very recently.[2]
[2] See S34 of this Summary.
Parliament now restored the command of the militia to the Kign;[3]
and, for the first time in English history, it also gave him the
command of a standing army of five thousand men,--thus, in one way,
making him more powerful than ever before (S467).
[3] See Militia Bill, S19 of this Summary.
On the other hand, Parliament revived the practice of limiting its
appropriations of money to specific purposes.[4] It furthermore began
to require an exact account of how the King spent the money,--a most
embarrassing question for a man like Charles II to answer. Again,
Parliament did not hesitate to impeach and remove the King's ministers
whenever they forfeited the confidence of that body.[1]
[4] See S13 of this Summary.
[1] See S13 of this Summary (Impeachment).
The religious legislation of this period marks the strong reaction
from Puritanism which had set in. (1) The Corporation Act (1661)
excluded all persons who did not renounce the Puritan Covenant and
partake of the Sacrament according to the Church of England, from
holding municipal or other corporate offices (S472). (2) The Fourth
Act of Uniformity (1662)[2] required all clergymen to accept the Book
of Common Prayer of the Church of England (S472). The result of this
law was that no less than two thousand Puritan ministers were driven
from their pulpits in a single day. (3) The Conventicle Act (S472)
followed (1664). It forbade the preaching or hearing of Puritan
doctrines, under severe penalties. (4) The Five-Mile Act (1665) (S472)
[3] prohibited non-conforming clergymen from teaching, or from coming
within five miles of any corporate town (except when traveling).
[2] The First and Second Acts of Uniformity date from Edward VI (1549,
1552), the Third from Elizabeth (1559) (SS362, 382, 472).
[3] The Five-Mile Act (1665) excepted those clergymen who took the
oath of nonresistance to the King, and who swore not to attempt to
alter the constitution of Church or State. See Hallam's
"Constitutional History of England."
21. Charles II's Cabinet; the Secret Treaty of Dover; the Test Act;
the Habeas Corpus Act; Rise of Cabinet Government.
Charles II made a great and most important change with respect to the
Privy Council. Instead of consulting the entire Council on matters of
state, he established the custom of inviting only a few to meet with
him in his cabinet, or private room. This limited body of
confidential advisers was called the "Cabal," or secret council
(S476).
Charles's great ambition was to increase his standing army, to rule
independently of Parliament, and to get an abundance of money to spend
on his extravagant pleasures and vices.
In order to accomplish these three ends he made a secret and shameful
treaty with Louis XIV of France, 1670 (S476). Louis wished to crush
the Dutch Protestant Republic of Halland, to get possession of Spain,
and to secure, if possible, the ascendancy of Catholicism in England
as well as throughout Europe. Charles, who was destitute of any
religious principle,--or, in fact, of any sense of honor,--agreed to
publicly declare himself a Catholic, to favor the propagation of that
faith in England, and to make war on Holland in return for very
liberal grants of money, and for the loan of six thousand French
troops by Louis, to help him put down any opposition in England. Two
members of the "Cabal" were acquainted with the terms of this secret
Treaty of Dover. Charles made a second secret treaty with Louis XIV
in 1678.
Charles did not dare to openly avow himself a convert--or pretended
convert--to the Catholic religion; but he issued a Declaration of
Indulgence, 1672, suspending the harsh statutes against the English
Catholics (S477).
Parliament took the alarm and passed the Test Act, 1673, by which all
Catholics were shut out from holding any government office or position
(S477). This act broke up the "Cabal," by compelling a Catholic
nobleman, who was one of its leading members, to resign. Lather,
Parliament further showed its power by compelling the King to sign the
Act of Habeas Corpus, 1679 (S482), which put an end to his arbitrarily
throwing men into prison, and keeping them there, in order to stop
their free discussion of his plots against the constitution.[1]
[1] See Habeas Corpus Act in Constitutional Documents, p.xxxii.
But though the "Cabal" had been broken up, the principle of a limited
private council survived, and long after the Revolution of 1688 it was
revived and the Cabinet, under the lead of Sir Robert Walpole, the
first Prime Minister,[2] in 1721, became responsible for th epolicy of
the sovereign.[3] At present, if the Commons decidedly oppose that
policy, the Prime minister,[2] in 1721, became responsible for the
policy of the sovereign.[3] At present, if the Commons decidedly
oppose that policy, the Prime Minister, with his Cabinet, either
resigns, and a new Cabinet is chosen, or the Minister appeals to the
people for support, and the sovereign dissolves Parliament and orders
a new parliamentary election, by which the nation decides the
question. This method renders the old, and never desirable, remedy of
the impeachment of the ministers of the sovereign no longer
necessary. The Prime Minister--who answers for the acts of the
sovereign and for his policy--is more directly responsible to the
people than is the President of the United States.
[2] See S27 of this Summary.
[3] The real efficiency of the Cabinet system of government was not
fully developed until after the Reform Act of 1832 had widely extended
the right of suffrage, and thus made the government more directly
responsible to the people (S582).
22. The Pretended "Popish Plot"; Rise of the Whigs and the Tories;
Revocation of Town Charters.
The pretended "Popish Plot" (1678) (S478) to kill the King, in order
to place his brother James--a Catholic convert--on the throne, caused
the rise of a strong movement (1680) to exclude James from the right
of succession. The Exclusion Bill failed; but the Disabling Act was
passed, 1678, excluding Catholics from sitting in either House of
Parliament; but an exception was made in favor of the Duke of York
(S478). Henceforward two prominent political parties appear in
Parliament,--one, that of the Whigs or Liberals, bent on extending the
power of thepeople; the other, that of the Tories or Conservatives,
resolved to maintain the power of the Crown.
Charles II, of course, did all in his power to encourage the latter
party. In order to strengthen their numbers in the Commons, he found
pretexts for revoking the charters of many Whig towns (S479). He then
issued new charters to these towns, giving the power of election to
the Tories.[4] While engaged in this congenial work the King died, and
his brother James II came to the throne.
[4] The right of election in many towns was then confined to the town
officers or to a few influential inhabitants. This continued to be
the case until the passage of the Reform Bill in 1832.
23. James II; the Dispensing Power; Declaration of Indulgence; the
Revolution of 1688.
James II was a zealous Catholic, and therefore naturally desired to
secure freedom of worship in England for people of his own faith. In
his zeal he went too far, and the Pope expressed his disgust at the
King's foolish rashness. By the exercise of the Dispensing Power[1]
he suspended the Test Act and the Act of Uniformity, in order that
Catholics might be relieved from the penalties imposed by these laws,
and also for the purpose of giving them civil and military offices,
from which the Test Act excluded them (S477). James also established
a new High Commission Court[2] (S488), and made the infamous Judge
Jeffreys the head of this despotic tribunal. This court had the
supervision of all churches and institutions of education. Its main
object was to further the spread of Catholicism, and to silence those
clergymen who preached against that faith. The King appointed a
Catholic president of Magdalen College, Oxford, and expelled from the
college all who opposed the appointment. Later, he issued two
Declarations of Indulgence, 1687, 1688, in which he proclaimed
universal religious toleration (S488). It was generally believed that
under cover of these Declarations the King intended to favor the
ascendancy of Catholicism. Seven bishops, who petitioned for the
privilege of declining to read the Declarations from their pulpits,
were imprisoned, but on their trial were acquitted by a jury in full
sympathy with them (S489).
[2] New High Commission Court: see S19 of this Summary.
These acts by the King, together with the fact that he had greatly
increased the standing army, and had stationed it just outside of
London, caused great alarm throughout England (S488). The majority of
the people of both political parties (S489) believed that James was
plotting to "subverty and extirpate the Protestant religion and the
laws and liberties of the kingdom."
[3] See the language of the Bill of Rights (Constitutional Documents),
p. xxxi.
Still, so long as the King remained childless, the nation was
encouraged by the hope that James's daughter Mary might succeed him.
She was known to be a decided Protestant, and she had married William,
Prince of Orange, the head of the Protestant Republic of Holland. But
the birth of a son to James (1688) put an end to that hope.
Immediately a number of leading Whigs and Tories (SS479, 490) united
in sending an invitation to the Prince of Orange to come over to
England with an army to protect Parliament against the King backed by
his standing army.