Chapter IX: The English Revolution and the Commonwealth (1603-1658)

JAMES I.--_James VI_. of Scotland, and _I_. of England, was the son of _Mary Stuart_ and _Darnley_. Scotland and England were now united under one king. He was not wanting in acquirements, and plumed himself on his knowledge of theology. A conceited pedant, he was impatient of dissent from his opinions. In Scotland, among insubordinate nobles and the ministers of the Kirk,--who on one occasion went so far as to pull his sleeve when they addressed to him their rebukes,--he had hardly tasted the sweets of regal power. The deference with which the English clergy treated him deepened his attachment to their Church. He had high notions of the divine right of kings. "No bishop, no king," was his favorite maxim. Early, in the _Hampton Court Conference_ between the bishops and the Puritans, over which James presided, he showed his antipathy to the Puritans. It may be here stated, that a suggestion there made led to the making of the Authorized Version of the Bible, for which previous translations, especially the translation of _Tyndale_, furnished the basis. The king's severity to the Catholics was the occasion of the "Gunpowder Plot," a project that failed, for blowing up the Parliament House by means of powder placed under it, to which one _Guy Fawkes_ was to apply the match (1605).

IRELAND.--The _Earl of Tyrone_, an Irish chief, fell into a dispute with the English authorities, and, with another Irish earl, fled to Spain. The best of their lands in _Ulster_ were given to English and Scotch colonists. Only what was left of the land was granted to the Irish, many of whom were dispossessed of their homes. The Ulster colonies were industrious and prosperous; but among the natives, seeds of lasting enmity were sown by this injustice.

JAMES'S FOREIGN POLICY.--The nation became imbittered against the king. One grievance was the sale not only of patents of nobility, but also of monopolies to companies or individuals. This was a continuance of an old abuse. The trial and conviction of _Lord Bacon_, the Lord Chancelor, who was impeached on the charge of receiving presents which were intended to influence his decisions as a judge, was one evidence of the corruption of the times, and of the displeasure occasioned by it. Instead of aiding his son-in-law, _Frederick V_., the Elector Palatine, whose dominions had been seized by a Spanish army sent to aid his enemies, _James_ busied himself with schemes for marrying his son _Charles_ to the _Infanta_, or Princess, _Maria_ of Spain, the sister of _Philip IV_. As a part of his truckling to Spain, he caused _Sir Walter Raleigh_ to be executed. _Raleigh_, who had no love for Spain, had long been kept in the Tower on the charge of treason; but the king, who wanted gold, had permitted him to go on a voyage to South America to seek for it. There, without his fault, some of his men had a collision with the Spaniards, up the _Orinoco_. Not having procured any treasure, he was disposed to attack Spanish ships; but the captains with him would not consent. On his return to England, he was again thrown into prison, and brought to the block. At length the marriage treaty with Spain, to the joy of the nation, was broken off. _Charles_, it was agreed, should marry _Henrietta Maria_, the sister of _Louis XIII._, the king of France. The king came to a better understanding with Parliament, which had constantly opposed his policy and withstood his arrogant assumption of absolute authority.

CHARLES I. (1625-1649).--_Charles I._ in dignity of person far excelled his father. He had more skill and more courage; but he had the same theory of arbitrary government, and acted as if insincerity and the breaking of promises were excusable in defense of it. His strife with Parliament began at once. They would not grant supplies of money without a redress of grievances and the removal of _Buckingham_, the king's favorite. War had begun with Spain before the close of the last reign. An expedition was now sent to Cadiz, but it accomplished nothing. Buckingham was impeached; but before the trial ended, the king dissolved Parliament. A year later he went to war with France. He was then obliged (1628) to grant to his third Parliament their _Petition of Right_, which condemned his recent illegal doings,--arbitrary taxes and imprisonment, the billeting of soldiers on householders, proceedings of martial law. A few months later Buckingham was assassinated by one _John Felton_ at Portsmouth. Certain taxes called _tonnage_ and _poundage_, _Charles_ continued to levy by his own authority. A patriotic leader and a prominent speaker in the House of Commons was _Sir John Eliot_. The king dissolved Parliament (1629), and sent _Eliot_ and two other members of the House to prison. No other Parliament was summoned for eleven years. The king aimed to establish an absolute system of rule such as _Richelieu_ had built up in France. Two ministers were employed by him in furthering this policy. One was a layman, _Wentworth, Earl of Strafford_, who exercised almost unlimited power in the northern counties. The other was _William Laud_, Bishop of London and then Archbishop of Canterbury (1633), who undertook to force the Puritans to conform to all the observances of the Church. Two courts--the _High Commission_, before which the clergy were brought; and the _Star Chamber_, which was made up from the king's council--were the instruments for carrying out this tyranny. Grievous and shameful punishments were inflicted on the victims of it.

JOHN HAMPDEN.--There was need of a fleet. Charles, without asking any grant from Parliament, undertook to levy a tax called "ship-money" in every shire. _John Hampden_, a country gentleman, refused to pay it. The judges gave a verdict against him, but he won great applause from patriotic Englishmen.

BEGINNING OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT.--In 1637 Charles embarked in the foolish enterprise of endeavoring to force the English liturgy upon Scotland. This called out the _Solemn League and Covenant_ of the Scots for the defense of Presbyterianism. For eleven years the king had governed without a Parliament, but he needed money. The "Short Parliament" was assembled; but, as it refused to obey the king, it was quickly dissolved. The invasion of the Scots in 1640 made it necessary for Charles to assemble that body known as the _Long Parliament_, one of the most memorable of all legislative assemblies. _Strafford_ and _Laud_ were impeached. _Strafford_, by a bill of attainder passed by both Houses, was condemned and executed (1641). It was enacted that the present Parliament should not be dissolved or prorogued without its own consent,--an act which Charles reluctantly sanctioned. The Star Chamber and High Commission Courts were abolished. A great Irish insurrection broke out in _Ulster_. It has already been related how _Henry VIII._ established in Ireland his ecclesiastical system; how, during _Elizabeth's_ reign, there was fierce and incessant war with the _Desmonds_, and other Anglo-Irish families, who resisted Protestantism; and how _James I._, robbing many Irish of their lands, planted in _Ulster_ numerous English and Scotch Protestant settlers. These were now massacred in great numbers by the Irish, who almost succeeded in seizing _Dublin_. Parliament would not trust _Charles_ with an army to use in Ireland, fearing that the troops would be used by him to defend his arbitrary government at home. The king came to the House of Commons with a body of armed men, and made an abortive attempt to seize five members on the charge of resisting his authority, among whom were _John Hampden_, and _John Pym_, who was one of the most influential orators on the popular side. A bill was passed excluding the bishops from the House of Lords, where a majority were for the king. To this Charles consented, but he refused to allow Parliament to control the militia.

The CIVIL WAR: SUCCESS OF CROMWELL.--In July, 1642, Parliament appointed a Committee of Public Safety, and called out the militia. Soon _Charles_ raised the royal standard at _Nottingham_. In the civil war, on one side were the Royalists, who were familiarly styled _cavaliers_ (that is, _horsemen_, or gentlemen), and on the other were the Parliamentarians, who were nicknamed _Roundheads_, for the reason that the Puritans did not follow the fashion of allowing their hair to fall in tresses on the shoulders.

_The Earl of Essex_, the Parliamentary general, fought an indecisive battle with the king at _Edgehill_. _Charles_ then made _Oxford_ his headquarters. Early in the war, two men of spotless character fell,--_Hampden_, on the popular side (1643), and _Lord Falkland_ (1643), who, not without hesitation, had joined the Royalists. The cavalry of Charles, under a gallant but rash leader, Prince _Rupert_, son of the _Electress Palatine_, and grandson of _James I_., was specially effective. _Charles_ made peace with the Irish insurgents in order to get their help in fighting Parliament. Parliament united with the Scots in the _Solemn League and Covenant_, by which there was to be uniformity in religion in England, Ireland, and Scotland.

PRESBYTERIANS AND INDEPENDENTS.--_Presbyterianism_ was now made the legal system; and about two thousand beneficed clergymen in England, who refused to subscribe to the Covenant, were deprived of their livings. The _Westminster Assembly_ met in 1643, and organized a church system without bishops and without the liturgy. But Parliament did not give up its own supremacy in ecclesiastical affairs. There was no "General Assembly" to rule the Church, as in Scotland. Another party, the _Independents_, were gaining strength, and by degrees getting control in the army. Of their number was _Oliver Cromwell_, a gentleman of Huntingdonshire, who had been a member of the House of Commons, where he spoke for the first time in 1629.

CROMWELL: NASEBY.--By many of his adversaries, and by numerous writers since that day, _Cromwell_ has been considered a hypocrite in religion, actuated by personal ambition. The Puritan poet, _John Milton_, who became his secretary after he acquired supreme power, gives to him the warmest praise for integrity and piety, as well as for genius and valor. Of his religious earnestness after the Puritan type, and of his sincere patriotism, there is at present much less doubt. As to the transcendent ability and sagacity that lay beneath a rugged exterior, there has never been any question. He raised and trained a regiment of Puritan troops, called the "_Ironsides_," who were well-nigh invincible in battle, but whose camp was a "conventicle" for prayer and praise. With their help, the Royalists were defeated at _Marston Moor_ (1644). The army was now modeled anew by the Independents. The _Self-denying Ordinance_ excluded members of Parliament from military command. _Cromwell_ was made an exception. He came to the front, with no other general except _Fairfax_, who had replaced _Essex_, above him. _Laud_ was condemned for high treason by an ordinance of Parliament, and beheaded (1645). The Royalist army experienced a crushing defeat at _Naseby_ in June of the same year.

TRIAL AND EXECUTION OF CHARLES.--Charles surrendered to the army of the Scots before _Newark_ (1646); and by them he was delivered for a ransom, in the form of an indemnity for war expenses, to their English allies. The king hoped much from the growing discord between the _Presbyterians_, who favored an accommodation with him if they could preserve their ecclesiastical system; and the _Independents_, who controlled the army, and were in favor of toleration, and of obtaining more guaranties of liberty against regal usurpation. In June, 1647, the army took the king out of the hands of Parliament, into their own custody. He negotiated with all parties, and was trusted by none. In 1648 he agreed, in a secret treaty with the Scots, to restore Presbyterianism. There were Royalist risings in different parts of England, which _Cromwell_ suppressed. He defeated at _Preston Pans_ a Scotch army, led into England by the _Duke of Hamilton_ to help Charles. _Cromwell's_ army were now determined to baffle the plans of the Parliamentary majority. _Col. Pride_, with a regiment of foot, excluded from the House of Commons about a hundred members. This measure, dictated by a council of officers, was called _Pride's Purge_. The Commons closed the House of Lords, and constituted a _High Court of Justice_ for the trial of the king. He refused to acknowledge the tribunal, and behaved with calmness and dignity to the end. He was condemned, and beheaded on a scaffold before his own palace at _Whitehall_, Jan. 30, 1649. By one party he was execrated as a tyrant, whose life was a constant danger to freedom. By the other party he was revered as a martyr. His two eldest sons were _Charles_, born in 1630, and _James_, born in 1633.

THE COMMONWEALTH.--The monarchy was now abolished; and England was a free commonwealth, governed by the House of Commons. A council of state, under the presidency of _Bradshaw_, who had presided at the trial of the king, was appointed to carry on the government. In Ireland, a rebellion in behalf of young Charles, son of the late king, was organized by _Butler, Marquis of Ormond_ (1649). In nine months _Cromwell_ subdued it, treating the insurgents with unsparing severity. There was a savage massacre of the garrisons at _Drogheda_ and _Wexford_. The massacre at _Drogheda_ was by his orders. Soldiers of Parliament were settled in _Munster_, _Leinster_, and _Ulster_. The country was reduced to complete subjection. In 1650 _Charles_ landed in Scotland, subscribed to the Covenant, and was proclaimed king. Cromwell fought the Scots at _Dunbar_, and totally routed them. Returning to England, he overtook _Charles_ and his army at _Worcester_, and defeated them (1651). Cromwell called this victory "a crowning mercy." _Charles_ escaped in disguise, and, after strange perils and adventures, landed in Normandy.

WAR WITH HOLLAND.--England, under its new government, engaged in a contest for dominion on the sea. The new order of things, contrary to the expectation of _Cromwell_, was regarded with hostility in _Holland_, where the _Orange_ family were in power. In 1651 the English _Navigation Act_, requiring all goods from abroad to be brought in, either in English ships, or in ships of the countries on the Continent in which the imported wares were produced, struck a heavy blow at Dutch commerce. War followed, in which the great Dutch admirals, _Van Tromp_, _De Ruyter_, _De Witt_, found more than a match in the English commander, _Blake_. The terms of peace were dictated by _Cromwell_, and Holland had to attach itself to his policy (1654).

THE LORD PROTECTOR.--There was a growing discord between the unworthy remnant of the Parliament--now called the "Rump Parliament"--and the army. In 1653 _Cromwell_ used his military force to dissolve the assembly. By the "Little Parliament" which he called together, he was constituted _Lord Protector_, with a _Council of State_ composed of twenty-five members. Later he declined the title of king, out of respect to the feelings and prejudices of his party. But he reigned in state, and exercised regal functions. His attempts to restore the old forms of parliamentary government, in an orderly form, with two houses, were baffled by difficulties beyond control. He insisted on a large degree of toleration, so long as "religion was not made a pretense for arms and blood."

CROMWELL'S GOVERNMENT.--Under the Protector, England once more took the proud and commanding place in Europe which she had not held since the death of _Elizabeth_. _Cromwell_ made his power to be everywhere respected. _Blake_ chastised the pirates of the Barbary States, and punished the Duke of Tuscany for attacks on English commerce. In 1655 _Jamaica_ was wrested from _Spain_; and, two years after, _Blake_ burned the Spanish treasure-ships in the harbor of _Santa Cruz_, in Teneriffe. _Cromwell_ efficiently protected the adherents of the Protestant faith in _Piedmont_, and wherever they were subjected to persecution. In the last year of his life, in conjunction with the French, he took _Dunkirk_ from the Spaniards.

POWER OF CROMWELL.--Cromwell's power was not diminished in his closing years. _Macaulay_, who pronounces him the greatest prince that ever ruled England, says of him, "It is certain that he was to the last honored by his soldiers, obeyed by the whole population of the British Isles, and dreaded by all foreign powers; that he was laid among the ancient sovereigns of England with funeral pomp such as England had never before seen; and that he was succeeded by his son, Richard as quietly as any king had ever been succeeded by any Prince of Wales." (1658).

The talents of Cromwell, and the vigor of his administration, deeply impressed those who heartily disliked him. A strong illustration of this fact is presented in the character of the Protector as depicted by _Lord Clarendon_, in the _History of the Great Rebellion_; and by the poet _Cowley_ in his essay or _Discourse_.