SECOND PART
The Long Parliament assembled on the third of November, one thousand sixhundred and forty-one. That day week the Earl of Strafford arrived fromYork, very sensible that the spirited and determined men who formed thatParliament were no friends towards him, who had not only deserted thecause of the people, but who had on all occasions opposed himself totheir liberties. The King told him, for his comfort, that the Parliament'should not hurt one hair of his head.' But, on the very next day Mr.Pym, in the House of Commons, and with great solemnity, impeached theEarl of Strafford as a traitor. He was immediately taken into custodyand fell from his proud height.
It was the twenty-second of March before he was brought to trial inWestminster Hall; where, although he was very ill and suffered greatpain, he defended himself with such ability and majesty, that it wasdoubtful whether he would not get the best of it. But on the thirteenthday of the trial, Pym produced in the House of Commons a copy of somenotes of a council, found by young SIR HARRY VANE in a red velvet cabinetbelonging to his father (Secretary Vane, who sat at the council-tablewith the Earl), in which Strafford had distinctly told the King that hewas free from all rules and obligations of government, and might do withhis people whatever he liked; and in which he had added--'You have anarmy in Ireland that you may employ to reduce this kingdom to obedience.'It was not clear whether by the words 'this kingdom,' he had really meantEngland or Scotland; but the Parliament contended that he meant England,and this was treason. At the same sitting of the House of Commons it wasresolved to bring in a bill of attainder declaring the treason to havebeen committed: in preference to proceeding with the trial byimpeachment, which would have required the treason to be proved.
So, a bill was brought in at once, was carried through the House ofCommons by a large majority, and was sent up to the House of Lords. Whileit was still uncertain whether the House of Lords would pass it and theKing consent to it, Pym disclosed to the House of Commons that the Kingand Queen had both been plotting with the officers of the army to bringup the soldiers and control the Parliament, and also to introduce twohundred soldiers into the Tower of London to effect the Earl's escape.The plotting with the army was revealed by one GEORGE GORING, the son ofa lord of that name: a bad fellow who was one of the original plotters,and turned traitor. The King had actually given his warrant for theadmission of the two hundred men into the Tower, and they would have gotin too, but for the refusal of the governor--a sturdy Scotchman of thename of BALFOUR--to admit them. These matters being made public, greatnumbers of people began to riot outside the Houses of Parliament, and tocry out for the execution of the Earl of Strafford, as one of the King'schief instruments against them. The bill passed the House of Lords whilethe people were in this state of agitation, and was laid before the Kingfor his assent, together with another bill declaring that the Parliamentthen assembled should not be dissolved or adjourned without their ownconsent. The King--not unwilling to save a faithful servant, though hehad no great attachment for him--was in some doubt what to do; but hegave his consent to both bills, although he in his heart believed thatthe bill against the Earl of Strafford was unlawful and unjust. The Earlhad written to him, telling him that he was willing to die for his sake.But he had not expected that his royal master would take him at his wordquite so readily; for, when he heard his doom, he laid his hand upon hisheart, and said, 'Put not your trust in Princes!'
The King, who never could be straightforward and plain, through onesingle day or through one single sheet of paper, wrote a letter to theLords, and sent it by the young Prince of Wales, entreating them toprevail with the Commons that 'that unfortunate man should fulfil thenatural course of his life in a close imprisonment.' In a postscript tothe very same letter, he added, 'If he must die, it were charity toreprieve him till Saturday.' If there had been any doubt of his fate,this weakness and meanness would have settled it. The very next day,which was the twelfth of May, he was brought out to be beheaded on TowerHill.
Archbishop Laud, who had been so fond of having people's ears cropped offand their noses slit, was now confined in the Tower too; and when theEarl went by his window to his death, he was there, at his request, togive him his blessing. They had been great friends in the King's cause,and the Earl had written to him in the days of their power that hethought it would be an admirable thing to have Mr. Hampden publiclywhipped for refusing to pay the ship money. However, those high andmighty doings were over now, and the Earl went his way to death withdignity and heroism. The governor wished him to get into a coach at theTower gate, for fear the people should tear him to pieces; but he said itwas all one to him whether he died by the axe or by the people's hands.So, he walked, with a firm tread and a stately look, and sometimes pulledoff his hat to them as he passed along. They were profoundly quiet. Hemade a speech on the scaffold from some notes he had prepared (the paperwas found lying there after his head was struck off), and one blow of theaxe killed him, in the forty-ninth year of his age.
This bold and daring act, the Parliament accompanied by other famousmeasures, all originating (as even this did) in the King's having sogrossly and so long abused his power. The name of DELINQUENTS wasapplied to all sheriffs and other officers who had been concerned inraising the ship money, or any other money, from the people, in anunlawful manner; the Hampden judgment was reversed; the judges who haddecided against Hampden were called upon to give large securities thatthey would take such consequences as Parliament might impose upon them;and one was arrested as he sat in High Court, and carried off to prison.Laud was impeached; the unfortunate victims whose ears had been croppedand whose noses had been slit, were brought out of prison in triumph; anda bill was passed declaring that a Parliament should be called everythird year, and that if the King and the King's officers did not call it,the people should assemble of themselves and summon it, as of their ownright and power. Great illuminations and rejoicings took place over allthese things, and the country was wildly excited. That the Parliamenttook advantage of this excitement and stirred them up by every means,there is no doubt; but you are always to remember those twelve longyears, during which the King had tried so hard whether he really could doany wrong or not.
All this time there was a great religious outcry against the right of theBishops to sit in Parliament; to which the Scottish people particularlyobjected. The English were divided on this subject, and, partly on thisaccount and partly because they had had foolish expectations that theParliament would be able to take off nearly all the taxes, numbers ofthem sometimes wavered and inclined towards the King.
I believe myself, that if, at this or almost any other period of hislife, the King could have been trusted by any man not out of his senses,he might have saved himself and kept his throne. But, on the Englisharmy being disbanded, he plotted with the officers again, as he had donebefore, and established the fact beyond all doubt by putting hissignature of approval to a petition against the Parliamentary leaders,which was drawn up by certain officers. When the Scottish army wasdisbanded, he went to Edinburgh in four days--which was going very fastat that time--to plot again, and so darkly too, that it is difficult todecide what his whole object was. Some suppose that he wanted to gainover the Scottish Parliament, as he did in fact gain over, by presentsand favours, many Scottish lords and men of power. Some think that hewent to get proofs against the Parliamentary leaders in England of theirhaving treasonably invited the Scottish people to come and help them.With whatever object he went to Scotland, he did little good by going. Atthe instigation of the EARL OF MONTROSE, a desperate man who was then inprison for plotting, he tried to kidnap three Scottish lords who escaped.A committee of the Parliament at home, who had followed to watch him,writing an account of this INCIDENT, as it was called, to the Parliament,the Parliament made a fresh stir about it; were, or feigned to be, muchalarmed for themselves; and wrote to the EARL OF ESSEX, the commander-in-chief, for a guard to protect them.
It is not absolutely proved that the King plotted in Ireland besides, butit is very probable that he did, and that the Queen did, and that he hadsome wild hope of gaining the Irish people over to his side by favouringa rise among them. Whether or no, they did rise in a most brutal andsavage rebellion; in which, encouraged by their priests, they committedsuch atrocities upon numbers of the English, of both sexes and of allages, as nobody could believe, but for their being related on oath by eye-witnesses. Whether one hundred thousand or two hundred thousandProtestants were murdered in this outbreak, is uncertain; but, that itwas as ruthless and barbarous an outbreak as ever was known among anysavage people, is certain.
The King came home from Scotland, determined to make a great struggle forhis lost power. He believed that, through his presents and favours,Scotland would take no part against him; and the Lord Mayor of Londonreceived him with such a magnificent dinner that he thought he must havebecome popular again in England. It would take a good many Lord Mayors,however, to make a people, and the King soon found himself mistaken.
Not so soon, though, but that there was a great opposition in theParliament to a celebrated paper put forth by Pym and Hampden and therest, called 'THE REMONSTRANCE,' which set forth all the illegal actsthat the King had ever done, but politely laid the blame of them on hisbad advisers. Even when it was passed and presented to him, the Kingstill thought himself strong enough to discharge Balfour from his commandin the Tower, and to put in his place a man of bad character; to whom theCommons instantly objected, and whom he was obliged to abandon. At thistime, the old outcry about the Bishops became louder than ever, and theold Archbishop of York was so near being murdered as he went down to theHouse of Lords--being laid hold of by the mob and violently knockedabout, in return for very foolishly scolding a shrill boy who was yelpingout 'No Bishops!'--that he sent for all the Bishops who were in town, andproposed to them to sign a declaration that, as they could no longerwithout danger to their lives attend their duty in Parliament, theyprotested against the lawfulness of everything done in their absence.This they asked the King to send to the House of Lords, which he did.Then the House of Commons impeached the whole party of Bishops and sentthem off to the Tower:
Taking no warning from this; but encouraged by there being a moderateparty in the Parliament who objected to these strong measures, the King,on the third of January, one thousand six hundred and forty-two, took therashest step that ever was taken by mortal man.
Of his own accord and without advice, he sent the Attorney-General to theHouse of Lords, to accuse of treason certain members of Parliament who aspopular leaders were the most obnoxious to him; LORD KIMBOLTON, SIRARTHUR HASELRIG, DENZIL HOLLIS, JOHN PYM (they used to call him King Pym,he possessed such power and looked so big), JOHN HAMPDEN, and WILLIAMSTRODE. The houses of those members he caused to be entered, and theirpapers to be sealed up. At the same time, he sent a messenger to theHouse of Commons demanding to have the five gentlemen who were members ofthat House immediately produced. To this the House replied that theyshould appear as soon as there was any legal charge against them, andimmediately adjourned.
Next day, the House of Commons send into the City to let the Lord Mayorknow that their privileges are invaded by the King, and that there is nosafety for anybody or anything. Then, when the five members are gone outof the way, down comes the King himself, with all his guard and from twoto three hundred gentlemen and soldiers, of whom the greater part werearmed. These he leaves in the hall; and then, with his nephew at hisside, goes into the House, takes off his hat, and walks up to theSpeaker's chair. The Speaker leaves it, the King stands in front of it,looks about him steadily for a little while, and says he has come forthose five members. No one speaks, and then he calls John Pym by name.No one speaks, and then he calls Denzil Hollis by name. No one speaks,and then he asks the Speaker of the House where those five members are?The Speaker, answering on his knee, nobly replies that he is the servantof that House, and that he has neither eyes to see, nor tongue to speak,anything but what the House commands him. Upon this, the King, beatenfrom that time evermore, replies that he will seek them himself, for theyhave committed treason; and goes out, with his hat in his hand, amid someaudible murmurs from the members.
No words can describe the hurry that arose out of doors when all this wasknown. The five members had gone for safety to a house inColeman-street, in the City, where they were guarded all night; andindeed the whole city watched in arms like an army. At ten o'clock inthe morning, the King, already frightened at what he had done, came tothe Guildhall, with only half a dozen lords, and made a speech to thepeople, hoping they would not shelter those whom he accused of treason.Next day, he issued a proclamation for the apprehension of the fivemembers; but the Parliament minded it so little that they made greatarrangements for having them brought down to Westminster in great state,five days afterwards. The King was so alarmed now at his own imprudence,if not for his own safety, that he left his palace at Whitehall, and wentaway with his Queen and children to Hampton Court.
It was the eleventh of May, when the five members were carried in stateand triumph to Westminster. They were taken by water. The river couldnot be seen for the boats on it; and the five members were hemmed in bybarges full of men and great guns, ready to protect them, at any cost.Along the Strand a large body of the train-bands of London, under theircommander, SKIPPON, marched to be ready to assist the little fleet.Beyond them, came a crowd who choked the streets, roaring incessantlyabout the Bishops and the Papists, and crying out contemptuously as theypassed Whitehall, 'What has become of the King?' With this great noiseoutside the House of Commons, and with great silence within, Mr. Pym roseand informed the House of the great kindness with which they had beenreceived in the City. Upon that, the House called the sheriffs in andthanked them, and requested the train-bands, under their commanderSkippon, to guard the House of Commons every day. Then, came fourthousand men on horseback out of Buckinghamshire, offering their servicesas a guard too, and bearing a petition to the King, complaining of theinjury that had been done to Mr. Hampden, who was their county man andmuch beloved and honoured.
When the King set off for Hampton Court, the gentlemen and soldiers whohad been with him followed him out of town as far asKingston-upon-Thames; next day, Lord Digby came to them from the King atHampton Court, in his coach and six, to inform them that the Kingaccepted their protection. This, the Parliament said, was making waragainst the kingdom, and Lord Digby fled abroad. The Parliament thenimmediately applied themselves to getting hold of the military power ofthe country, well knowing that the King was already trying hard to use itagainst them, and that he had secretly sent the Earl of Newcastle toHull, to secure a valuable magazine of arms and gunpowder that was there.In those times, every county had its own magazines of arms and powder,for its own train-bands or militia; so, the Parliament brought in a billclaiming the right (which up to this time had belonged to the King) ofappointing the Lord Lieutenants of counties, who commanded these train-bands; also, of having all the forts, castles, and garrisons in thekingdom, put into the hands of such governors as they, the Parliament,could confide in. It also passed a law depriving the Bishops of theirvotes. The King gave his assent to that bill, but would not abandon theright of appointing the Lord Lieutenants, though he said he was willingto appoint such as might be suggested to him by the Parliament. When theEarl of Pembroke asked him whether he would not give way on that questionfor a time, he said, 'By God! not for one hour!' and upon this he and theParliament went to war.
His young daughter was betrothed to the Prince of Orange. On pretence oftaking her to the country of her future husband, the Queen was alreadygot safely away to Holland, there to pawn the Crown jewels for money toraise an army on the King's side. The Lord Admiral being sick, the Houseof Commons now named the Earl of Warwick to hold his place for a year.The King named another gentleman; the House of Commons took its own way,and the Earl of Warwick became Lord Admiral without the King's consent.The Parliament sent orders down to Hull to have that magazine removed toLondon; the King went down to Hull to take it himself. The citizenswould not admit him into the town, and the governor would not admit himinto the castle. The Parliament resolved that whatever the two Housespassed, and the King would not consent to, should be called an ORDINANCE,and should be as much a law as if he did consent to it. The Kingprotested against this, and gave notice that these ordinances were not tobe obeyed. The King, attended by the majority of the House of Peers, andby many members of the House of Commons, established himself at York. TheChancellor went to him with the Great Seal, and the Parliament made a newGreat Seal. The Queen sent over a ship full of arms and ammunition, andthe King issued letters to borrow money at high interest. The Parliamentraised twenty regiments of foot and seventy-five troops of horse; and thepeople willingly aided them with their money, plate, jewellery, andtrinkets--the married women even with their wedding-rings. Every memberof Parliament who could raise a troop or a regiment in his own part ofthe country, dressed it according to his taste and in his own colours,and commanded it. Foremost among them all, OLIVER CROMWELL raised atroop of horse--thoroughly in earnest and thoroughly well armed--whowere, perhaps, the best soldiers that ever were seen.
In some of their proceedings, this famous Parliament passed the bounds ofprevious law and custom, yielded to and favoured riotous assemblages ofthe people, and acted tyrannically in imprisoning some who differed fromthe popular leaders. But again, you are always to remember that thetwelve years during which the King had had his own wilful way, had gonebefore; and that nothing could make the times what they might, could,would, or should have been, if those twelve years had never rolled away.