YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY LIFE AND ADMINISTRATION OF EDWARD, FIRST EARL OF CLARENDON. VOL. I. London : Printed by A. Spoxiiswoode, New- Street- Square. ;^, LIFE AND ADMINISTRATION OF EDWARD, FIRST EARL OF CLARENDON ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE, AUTHENTIC PAPERS NEVER BEFORE PUBLISHED. BY T. H. LISTER, ESQ. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. ft LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1838. TO JOHN CHARLES, EARL OF CLARENDON, THESE MEMOIRS OF HIS DISTINGUISHED ANCESTOR ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED THE AUTHOR. A 3 PREFACE. A biography of Clarendon, the statesman and historian, will not be deemed a superfluous work, if it can be shown that former biographies were inadequate, and that such materials, previously unemployed, have been recently developed, as ought to enable the modern writer to produce a memoir fuller and more accurate than we al ready possess. Among the previous memoirs of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, three only are more than mere compendious sketches; namely, — "TheLife," written by himself, — that which is included in a work named the " Lives of the Chancellors," — and that which was written by Macdiarmid, and appears in his " Lives of British Statesmen." 1. The superior interest which naturally belongs to the autobiographies of distinguished persons a 4 Vlll PREFACE. causes them frequently to be regarded as preclud ing the necessity of any further account. Yet — whatever form they may assume, and under what ever circumstances they may have been written — this can rarely, if ever, be the case. Even that most faithful record of thoughts and actions, the private diary not intended for publication, is com monly too minute and diffuse, and, probably, con tains rather what the writer may have wished to remember, than what posterity will desire to know. If intended for publication, it loses the value of that reliance which we are disposed to place on its sincerity. It becomes a representation, not of what the writer really was, but of what he was anxious to appear ; and readers must guard them selves against the seeming candour, even of that spirit of self-condemnation, which is sometimes only one of the disguises which a morbid vanity will assume. It will also be remembered that though the testimony of a person concerning him self is, in some respects, the best, it is in others the worst we can have ; and, in cases where blame may attach, may be viewed with that suspicion which naturally attends the evidence of an in terested witness. Lord Clarendon's Memoir of himself is not even a favourable specimen of its class, being deficient in some of those qualities which give to autobio graphy its greatest value. It is not a diary, nor PREFACE. IX was it written near the period of the events de scribed : it was written with a view to publication ; and it is not a complete and connected narrative. It consists of two portions, of which the first is named " The Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, " from his Birth to the Restoration of the Royal " Family, in the Year 1660 ;" and appears to have been commenced at Montpelier,in July, 1668. The manuscript of this " Life " (as we are informed in the preface to the first edition) appears to be the rough draft from whence " The History of ' the Rebellion," or, at least, " a great part of it, ' was afterwards compiled. For although he ' tells us, towards the close of this work, that he ' wrote the first four books of ' The History of ' ' the Rebellion ' in the Island of Jersey (many ' years before the date of this ' History of his ' ' Life'), yet he likewise informs us that he did ' not proceed to complete that history till after ' his banishment. It is therefore supposed by ' the family (and the supposition seems to carry ' with it great probability) that, seeing an unjust ' and cruel persecution prevail against him, he ' was induced at that time to extend the original ' plan of his work, by introducing the particular ' history of his own life, from his earliest days ' down to the time of his disgrace, as the most ' effectual means of vindicating his character, ' wickedly traduced by his enemies, and artfully ' misrepresented to a master whom he had long PREFACE. " and faithfully served, whose countenance and " favour, being transferred to the authors and " abettors of his ruin, might probably, in the eyes " of the world, give too much colour to their " aspersions. But afterwards, on more mature " thoughts, his great benevolence and public " spirit prevailed on him to drop the defence of " his own private character, and resume his ori- " ginal plan of ' The History of the Rebellion.' " The "Life" presents a distinct and unbroken narrative down to the commencement of the year 1645. From that period to the Restoration it appears to have been incorporated with " The His- " tory of the Rebellion;" and the remainder of what is called the " Life " consists only of such de tached parts as were excluded from the History, because relating more peculiarly to the writer, yet must, in fact, be read in conjunction with the History, in order that the connectibn of events may be duly preserved. The last of these fragments, narrating circumstances which occurred in 1655, was finished at Montpelier, in May, I67O. Thus we have no connected narrative of the events of Lord Clarendon's life previous to the Restoration ; and the greater part of that which we possess describes circumstances which occurred more than twenty years before it was written. PREFACE. XI The inaccuracies and omissions discoverable in this brief sketch of his early career compel the belief that he composed it, trusting chiefly to his recollections, and resorting little (if at all) to the aid of written memoranda. It is therefore of questionable value as a record of facts ; and if we would recur to it for feelings and opinions, for motives of action, and for a view of the change which his political senti ments underwent, we must feel still more strongly our inability to draw much certain knowledge from such a source. It is obviously improba ble that the banished Minister, in 1668, could represent correctly the feelings which had actuated the young and ardent politician, at the commence ment of his parliamentary career, as the reformer of abuses, in 1640. The second portion of Lord Clarendon's auto biography, named " The Continuation of the Life " of Edward Earl of Clarendon," appears to have been commenced at Moulins, in June, 1672, and is headed with the following words : — " Reflec- " tions upon the most material passages which " happened after the King's Restoration to the " time of the Chancellor's banishment ; out of " which his children, for whose information they " are only collected, may add some important " passages to his life as the true cause of his " misfortunes." It is, therefore, to be regarded as Xll PREFACE. a collection of materials for a vindication — as the defence of one who had been much assailed, and would still be tried at the bar of public opinion. This circumstance detracts from its value as a biography ; and to this must be added its proved incorrectness. It will be necessary in the fol lowing pages to point out errors which evince that, instead of referring to documents, he trusted too much to a memory then, perhaps, enfeebled by age and illness, and too much charged with the overwhelming business of his official life, to be able to distinguish, with due precision, the progress and connection of various proceedings. 2. The memoir of Clarendon, in the collection entitled " The Lives of the Chancellors," published in 1708, is a compilation, meagre and ill- written, relating very cursorily the principal events of his life, and swelled to the extent of 336 octavo pages only by the insertion of whole speeches, extracted from "Rushworth's Collections," and the "Journals of the Lords;" of the debates respecting him in I667, as given in the " Par- " liamentary History;" of the address which he left on quitting the Kingdom, and of his letters to the Duke and Duchess of York on her becoming a Roman Catholic. Discussion and investigation are scarcely attempted ; and it is not so much a biography of Clarendon, as a collection of the PREFACE. Xlll most known and accessible of the documents from which a biography may be composed. 3. The life of Clarendon by Macdiarmid is in ferior in execution to his lives of other British statesmen ; and can be praised only for a sensi ble tone, and an agreeable style. It is a work of no research, inaccurate, and superficial ; not even exhibiting such ordinary attention to the most obvious authorities as would have saved the writer from gross mistakes. But, even if the preceding memoirs of Claren don had not been open to such objections, some other biography was still rendered necessary by the many recent publications, affording new views of Clarendon and his times, and by the de- velopement of materials of which former writers had not availed themselves. Among the publica tions which have come forth, subsequent to the appearance of the most recent life of Claren don, are the Diaries of Evelyn and of Pepys ; Dr. Routh's edition of Burnet's " History of " his own Times," with the passages previously suppressed, and the notes of Lords Dartmouth and Hardwicke, and the Speaker Onslow ; the Diaries of Burton and Goddard (the former discovered by Mr. Upcott of the London Insti tution, and both edited by Mr. Rutt) ; Sir H. Ellis's "Letters illustrative of English History ;" Xiv PREFACE. and the " Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe." Recently, also, a great service has been rendered to the readers of English history by the exertions of Dr. Bandinel, the Librarian of the Bodleian Library, to whom we owe the editions of Lord Clarendon's History and Life, which, by the addition of those passages which former editors had suppressed, enable us, for the first time, to see the pure text of the great historian. Literature has also been recently enriched by many publications, illustrating the times in which Clarendon lived, disclosing facts, solving doubts, enlarging the field of political speculation, and lightening the difficulties of succeeding la bourers in historical research. The characters and events of those times may now be seen less darkly through the glass of history, by all who are willing to view them with an inquiring and impartial eye ; and every reader must acknow ledge the obligations largely due to the historical writings of Godwin, Brodie, Guizot, Lingard, and Hallam. In addition to the foregoing works, there are also many unpublished papers which former bio graphers have not consulted. Many of my readers will probably be conversant with those valuable materials for authentic history, the " State Papers, collected by Edward Earl of PREFACE. XV " Clarendon," published at Oxford in three folio volumes, of which the first appeared in 1767, the second in 1773, the third in 1786. In the preface to the third volume, the editor, after stating that " the Restoration was the natural " period of this work, which, even when thus " circumscribed, has become too voluminous, and, " of course, expensive," added, that " vast pro- " fusion of MSS., during the seven succeeding " years while Lord Clarendon guided the oper- " ations of the cabinet, still remain untouched " in the repositories of the university ;" that "all " the King's ministers at foreign courts corre- " sponded with Lord Clarendon during his ad- " ministration, and a very considerable portion of " this correspondence exists among these papers ; " that " future collectors of state papers, whose " purposes they may better suit, have it in their " power to bring them forward ;" and that " it is " enough for him to observe, that he could not " have done it without transgressing the limits " prescribed him, as it would have created the " necessity of adding another folio to a collection " which already labours under its own weight." From the unpublished papers to which my attention was thus directed, I have selected those which constitute the greater portion of the third volume of this work ; but which form a very small part of the immense mass of letters and- papers XVI PREFACE. which passed under my view at the Bodleian Library : and in so doing I have, in many instances, in order to avoid undue bulk, selected for pub lication only such portions of each document as were most interesting and important. I also prosecuted similar researches among the unpub lished manuscripts in the British Museum, the State Paper Office, and the Advocates' Library, and in a few private hands. I thankfully acknowledge the kind assistance which I received from Dr.'Bandinel, the Librarian of the Bodleian Collection, in facilitating my ex amination of the papers under his care, and in col lating the copies which he enabled me to procure. I also thankfully acknowledge the similar obliga tions which I received from the Rev. Ernest Haw kins, when Sub-Librarian of the same establish ment. I must acknowledge my obligations to the late Mr. Lemon, and to Mr. Lechmere, the late and present Deputy-Keepers of the State Paper Office, for the obliging manner in which they facilitated my search among the documents in that depart ment ; and a similar acknowledgment is due to Dr. Irving, the Librarian of the Advocates' Li brary at Edinburgh. I gratefully offer my thanks for assistance to PREFACE. XVU Thomas Thomson, Esq., of Edinburgh, Deputy- Clerk Register, who kindly placed at my dis posal transcripts of letters in the College of Glasgow ; to Mr. Upcott, of the London In stitution, who permitted me to examine and make extracts from his valuable collection of original papers ; to Mr. Addison, of the bank ing-house of Child and Co., who permitted me to examine and copy some papers relating to the sale of Dunkirk, preserved among those of Alder man Backwell, an agent in that transaction, and for merly a partner in that ancient firm ; and to Mr. Serjeant D'Oyly, to whom I am indebted for the means of making sundry extracts from the MS. notes of Sir Ralph Verney. To Lord Douglas, of Bothwell Castle, I beg leave to express my thanks for the permission so readily granted, that an engraving from the por trait of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, in his possession, might be made for this work. The biography of Clarendon must be essentially that of a public man. Few, brief, and unimpor tant are the extant passages which exhibit him in domestic life. Either he wrote little on private matters, or letters on such subjects were deemed unworthy to be preserved; and his biographer, debarred from an intimate knowledge of his private character, must be content to show him as he vol. i. a XV1U PREFACE. appeared on the great stage of public life. The story of his life from 1640 to I667, and especially during the last seven years of that period, is almost identical with the political annals of the time ; and it is difficult to distinguish a history of his administration from the general history of England. Yet, even in this portion of the fol lowing work, I have endeavoured to preserve that distinction which the separate qualities of bio graphy and of history respectively require, — a distinction exhibited in the degree of prominence which circumstances are made to occupy, and the different standard by which their claim to pro minence is estimated. In the history of the nation, events must be prominent in proportion to their importance as regards its interests ; in the biography of the statesman, the same events must be brought for ward or thrown back, hot only with reference to their general importance, but also with reference to his instrumentality, and to the degree in which they affected his character or his fortunes. I have endeavoured to follow this rule in de scribing the events of those seven years during which Lord Clarendon presided over the adminis tration of public affairs ; and, while I have enlarged upon measures in which he participated, or by which his position was affected, other events, the PREFACE. Xix details of which must necessarily be included in a history of the country, but which neither re sulted from his policy nor immediately affected his fortunes, have been very briefly noticed. It seems a plain and obvious proposition, that a biographer can have no higher duty than to tell the truth, and that he who volunteers to inform the public is bound to fulfil his engagement strictly. And yet there are some who appear to think that the biographer's duty to the public is subordinate to that which he owes to the chosen subject of his memoir. Adopting a language borrowed from fiction, they speak with praise of him who has " raised " the character of " his " hero," and blame the biographer who has " lowered him," by revealing errors which had not been generally known. This tone has been promoted by the relation in which biographers have often stood towards those of whom they wrote. When the near relative or attached friend brings forth a record of departed greatness, we feel that death has not absolved him from the obli gation to utter only the language of attachment and respect ; and we willingly forget that, in assuming the task of a biographer, he is subjecting himself to sterner duties, perhaps incompatible with the ties of kindred, of confidence, or of affection. In the case of those who have been long dead, time a 2 XX PREFACE. exempts even the lineal descendant from this con flict of opposite duties. But the principle, when once established, is often applied where it is quite unsuitable; and many expect that every biographer shall deem it his duty to elevate " his hero." It is, therefore, not unnecessary to state that such is not my view of the duties of a biographer ; that it is my aim to produce an impartial memoir, and not an ingenious vindication ; that I have pro posed to myself as an object not the establishment or refutation of any particular theory, but only to show what, after careful inquiry, I believe to be the truth, respecting one on whom more praise and censure have been unduly lavished, than, perhaps, on any other character in the whole cir cle of English history. I have, with few exceptions, abstained from replying directly to the numerous attacks in various works, both old and recent, aimed at the character and writings of Lord Clarendon, content with stating what I consider true, and allowing (my con tradiction to be collected from the tenor of my narrative. I have so abstained in no spirit of dis respect towards any assailants of Lord Clarendon ; but, because the acceptance of every challenge of this kind would have given to my work a contro versial tone unsuitable to the character of bio graphy, tending to impede the course of narration, PREFACE, XXI and swelling to an undue bulk a memoir unavoid ably rendered long by the very numerous facts which it was necessary to record. For any errors which may be found in this work I cannot plead the excuse of haste. Almost the whole was written, subject to revision, before the autumn of 1836; and it might certainly have been published before the end of that year, if public duties, which devolved upon me in August, 1836, had not necessarily engrossed so much of my time as to preclude the possibility of its earlier completion. April 16. 1838. a 3 LIST OF WORKS REFERRED TO, OF WHICH THERE IS MORE THAN ONE EDITION; Showing to which Edition reference is made. Biographia Britannica, 7 vols. fol. London, 1747. Burnet's History of his Own Times, with the suppressed passages, 6 vols. 8vo. Oxford, 1823. Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, with the suppressed passages, 8 vols. 8vo. Oxford, 1826. Clarendon (Life of), and Continuation, with the suppressed passages, 3 vols. 8vo. Oxford, 1827. D'Estrades (Memoires de), 6 vols. 12mo. Hague, 1719. Evelyn's Memoirs, Diary, &c. 5 vols. 8vo. London, 1827. Flassan, Histoire Generale et Raisonne' de la Diplomatie Francoise, 8vo. Paris, 1811. Hallam's Constitutional History of England, second edition, 3 vols. 8vo. London, 1819. Harris's Lives of James I., Charles I., Cromwell, and Charles II., 5 vols. 8vo. London, 1814. Hume's History of England, 8 vols. 8vo. London, 1793. Hutchinson's Memoirs, third edition, 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1810. Lingard's History of England, second edition, 8vo. London, 1829. Louis XIV. (Oluvres de), 6 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1806. Ludlow's Memoirs, 3 vols. 8vo. Vevay, 1798. Marvell's Works, 3 vols. 4to. London, 1776. May's History of the Parliament, 1 vol. 4to. 1812. May's Breviate of the History of the Parliament, in Masere's Tracts, 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1826. North's Lives of the Lord-Keeper Guildford, and Dudley, and John North, 3 vols. 8vo. London, 1826. a 4 XXIV LIST OF WORKS REFERRED TO. Original Letters illustrative of English History, edited by Sir H. Ellis, second edition, 3 vols. 8vo. London, 1825. Ditto, Second Series, 4 vols. 8vo. London, 1827. Parliamentary History from the earliest Time to the Restoration of Charles II., second edition, 24 vols. 8vo. London, 1762. Parliamentary History (after the Restoration), 8vo. London, 1808. Pepys's Diary and Letters, 5 vols. 8vo. London, 1828. Rushworth's Collection, 8 vols. fol. London, 1721. Rymer's Fcedera, 20 vols. fol. London, 1727. State Trials (Cobbett's), 8vo. London, 1810. Temple's Works, 4 vols. 8vo. London, 1814. Traites de Paix, par Koch, reTondus par Schoell. Paris, 1817. Warwick's Memoirs, 1 vol. 8vo. Edinburgh, 1813. Whitelocke's Memorials, 1 vol. fol. London, 1732. Wood's Athena? et Fasti Oxonienses, ed. by Bliss, 4 vols. 4to. London, 1815. CONTENTS OF THE FIRST VOLUME. CHAPTER I. 1609—1639. Birth of Edward Hyde — Parentage Early Education. — ¦ Admission at the University of Oxford. — Entry at the Middle Temple. — Illness. — Marriage. — ^ Second Marriage. — Habits and Pursuits. — His Associates. — Is one of the Managers of a Masque presented by the Inns of Court. — Becomes known to Laud. — Rises in his Profession. — Dis tribution of his Time. — Period of his greatest Happiness. — Aspect of the Times - Page 1 CHAP. II. 1640. Political Retrospect. — Causes of Disaffection. — Troubles in Scotland. — ^ A Parliament summoned. - — Its Character. — - Debates on the King's Message. — Hyde and Hampden opposed to each other Dissolution of Parliament. — Hyde's Interview with Laud Hyde's Proceedings in Parliament. — Motion respecting the Earl Marshal's Court. — Independent spirit evinced by Hyde Arbitrary Proceedings after the Dissolution. — Second War with Scotland. — Treaty of Ripon. '—Parliament convened - - - 34 XXVi CONTENTS.CHAP. III. 1640—1641. The Long Parliament meets. — Proceedings of the Parliament. —Beneficial Measures. — Parliamentary Conduct of Hyde. — Earl Marshal's Court.— Recusants. — Negotiations to raise Money. — Impeachment of the Judges. — Hyde's Speech on preferring Charges against the Barons of the Exchequer Council of the North. — Hyde's Speech against that Court. — Hyde's Conversation with Lords Bedford and Essex respecting Strafford. — Hyde's Participation in Proceedings against Strafford. — The Attainder of Strafford considered. — Circumstances operating against Strafford. — The Conduct of the King - - - Page 69 CHAP. IV. 1641. Bill for preventing the Dissolution of Parliament without its own Consent. — Commencement of Hyde's Resistance to the Encroachments of the Parliament. — Conversations with Martin and Fiennes. — Hyde Chairman of the Committee on Episcopacy. — First Interview with the King. — Becomes an Adherent to the King's Cause His Conduct considered. — Encroaching and tyrannical Proceedings of the Parlia ment - - - - 106 CHAP. V. 1641. King goes to Scotland. — The Popularity of the Parliament declines — The Incident, and the Irish Rebellion, unfavourable to the King's Cause. — The Remonstrance Hyde opposes it in Parliament. — Palmer sent to the Tower. King's Return from Scotland.— Answer to the Remonstrance drawn up by Hyde.— Hyde's Interview with the King and Queen. — The King's Interests in Parliament entrusted to Hyde, Falkland, and Colepepper - . - 129 CONTENTS. XXV11 CHAP. VI. 1642. The King's Attempt to seize the Five Members Hyde's Disapprobation. — The King quits London. — Authority usurped by the Parliament. — The Question of the Militia considered. — Preparatory Measures of the Parliament. King's Message to Parliament from Hampton Court. — Answers and Rejoinders. — Bill for Exclusion of Bishops from Parliament Departure of the Queen Hyde's Interview with the King at Canterbury and Greenwich. — King's Progress northward. — Hyde's Letter to the King Page 145 CHAP. VII. 1642. The King's Answer respecting the Militia. — Parliament's Re joinder and Deputation to the King at Theobalds. — King forewarned by Hyde. — The Reply to the Deputation. — Declaration presented to the King at Newmarket. — Hyde becomes suspected of having framed the King's Messages and Answers. — Consequent Proceedings. — State Papers drawn up for the King by Hyde. — Superiority over those of the Parliament. — Considered too liberal by some of the Royalists. — Beneficial to the Cause of Constitutional Freedom - 169 CHAP. VIII. 1642. Commencement of Hostilities. — Hyde summoned by the King to York. — Mediates between the King and the Lord Keeper Littleton. — Escapes from the Parliament and repairs to York. — The Nineteen Propositions. — Reply. — Hyde differs in opinion from Falkland and Colepepper respecting " the Three " Estates." — The Question considered. — Consequences of the Nineteen Propositions. — Civil War declared — Royal Stand ard raised at Nottingham. — Condition of each Party. — Im- XXViii CONTENTS. provement in the King's Prospects. — Hyde's Endeavours to obtain Supplies. — Battle of Edgehill. — Subsequent Negoti ations. — Affair at Brentford - - Page 185 CHAP. IX. 1643—1645. Suspension of Hostilities. — Negotiations at Oxford. — Hyde declines the Office of Secretary of State Is made Chan cellor of the Exchequer and Privy Councillor Character of his Colleagues in the Privy Council. — War resumed Waller's Plot. — Unconciliatory Spirit of the Royalists. — Discussions in Parliament respecting Negotiations for Peace. — King's Prosperity declines. — Battle of Newbury. — Death of Lord Falkland. — Dissensions in the Court. — Parliament make a new Great Seal. — Subscribe the solemn League and Covenant. — Scotch Army enters England to aid the Parlia ment. — Expedients proposed by Hyde. — The King, by Hyde's Advice, summons a Parliament at Oxford. — Nego tiations attempted with Lord Essex. — Measures for raising Supplies. — Reinforcements from Ireland defeated Mars- ton Moor. — Negotiations for Peace Treaty of Ux- bridge - 212 CHAP. X. 1645—1646. Hyde is appointed a Member of the Prince of Wales's Council, and accompanies him to the West of England Hyde's last Interview with Charles I. — State of the West Misconduct of Goring Hyde's Remonstrance. — Difficulties and Dis sensions. — Pretensions and Character of Goring Defeat at Langport Club-Men. — Reverses of the King. Pre mature Intention of sending the Prince of Wales out of Eng land resisted by Hyde.— Goring quits the Kingdom.— Hopton commands the Army in the West. — Fairfax enters CONTENTS. XXIX Cornwall, and obliges him to surrender. — The Prince of Wales, attended by Hyde and others, goes to the Scilly Isles, and from thence to Jersey - - Page 252 CHAP. XL 1646—1647. Machinations of the Queen. — -Hyde's Letter to Jermyn — The Prince of Wales goes to France. — Letter from Hyde, Capel, and Hopton to Charles I. — Glamorgan's Treaty. — Hyde's Disapprobation and Regret. — Charles goes to the Scotch Camp. — Hyde remains in Jersey. — Applies himself to the Composition of his History. — His Requests for Materials. — His Industry. — His disastrous Situation. — ¦ Apprehension of an Attempt on Jersey by the Parliament. — Hyde's Will and Letters, under Expectation of Seizure and Death ... - 280 CHAP. XII. 1647—1649. The King is delivered up to the Parliament. — Is seized by Joyce. — The Parliament submits to the Army. — The King flies to the Isle of Wight. — Temporary Revival of the King's Prospects of Success. — A part of the Fleet declares in his Favour. — Hyde is summoned to attend the Prince. — His disastrous Progress from Jersey to Holland Negotiations at Newport Hyde fears that the King may be deposed. — Subjection of the Parliament to the Army. — Trial and Exe cution of Charles I. - - - 308 CHAP. XIII. 1649—1650. Dissensions in the Court of Charles II. at the Hague. — Hyde assists Rupert in the Management of the Fleet The King is invited by the Scotch Hyde's Interview with Montrose. XXX CONTENTS. — Murder of Dorislaus. — Hyde and Cottington are ap pointed Ambassadors to Spain. — Hyde mediates between the King and his Mother.— Failure of the Royalists in Ire land. — Charles II. returns to Jersey. — Hyde and Cottington proceed to Spain. — State of Spain. — The Ambassadors are coldly received. — Obtain an Audience. — Their private In terview with the King of Spain. — Their Requests. — Hyde's Literary Occupations. — Time-serving Conduct of the Spanish Court. — Murder of Ascham, and its Consequences Page 326 CHAP. XIV. 1650—1652. Charles II. goes to Scotland. — Cromwell invades Scotland. — Influence of Events there on the Conduct of the Spanish Court. — The Ambassadors retire. — Hyde's Poverty while in Spain. — Hyde quits Spain and goes to Antwerp. — Joins the King at Paris. — Opposes the proposed Appointment of Sir J. Berkeley to the Place of Master of the Wards. — Cold ness between the Queen and Hyde. — Projected Marriages for the King and Duke of York. — Hyde is engaged in Pecu niary Transactions on Behalf of the King. — Poverty of the King and his Adherents. — Intrigues against Hyde. — Hos tility of the Queen. — Charges against Hyde by Long and Grenville. — The King's Inattention to Business. — He quits Paris. — Hyde's parting Interview with the Queen 357 CHAP. XV. 1652—1657. Anne Hyde becomes Maid of Honour to the Princess of Orange. — Attempts of the Queen to convert the Duke of Gloucester to Popery. — Charles is suspected of being secretly a Convert. — Hyde's View of Affairs in England. — Proceed ings of Cromwell. — Failure of Middleton's Enterprise in Scotland Unsuccessful Plot of Gerard and Vowell. " The sealed Knot." — Hyde's Communication with the Roy alists in England. — The Rising under Penruddock and CONTENTS. XXXI Grove. — Increased Severity of Cromwell's Government. — Hyde returns with the King to Cologne. — Manning's Treachery. — Cromwell's Treaty with France. — Charles II. attempts to re-open Communication with Spain. — Character and Procedings of Sexby. — Hyde's Communication with him. — Plot against the Life of Cromwell - Page 392 CHAP. XVI. 1657—1658. Spain assists Charles II. against Cromwell. — Affairs in Eng land. — Hyde dissuades the King from going thither Or- mond repairs secretly to London. — His fruitless Mission. — Fresh Postponement of the intended Enterprise. — Hyde's View of the Obstacles to Success. — Hyde opposes Charles's intended Journey into Spain. — He becomes Lord Chancellor. — Reasons for the Appointment State of the King's Fi nances. — Hyde's Anxiety that the King's Debts should be paid. — Expedients for raising Money. — Death of Oliver Cromwell, and Accession of Richard. — Hyde's Views and Expectations. — Grounds of Hope. — State of Parties in Eng land ... - 428 CHAP. XVII. 1658—1660. Hopes of the Royalists. — Hyde's Plan of Operations. — Pre parations for a General Rising. — Willis's Treachery.— Hyde's Attempt to counteract its Effects. — Sir George Booth's En terprise. — Its Failure. — Charles repairs to the Congress at Fontarabia. — Returns unsuccessful. — Hopes of Negotiation with leading Men in England. — Fleetwood. — Lambert. — Monk. — Communication attempted with the latter. — Lam bert's Proceedings Monk marches southward, professing to support the Parliament. — Lambert's fruitless Opposition. — Monk enters London - - - 456 XXxii CONTENTS. CHAP. XVIII. 1660. Hyde's Services eminent, but not conspicuous. — His great Exertions. — His Difficulties. — Jealousies among the King's Friends. — Hyde and others distrust Monk. — Monk's Tri umph over the Parliament. — The excluded Members take their Seats. — Proceedings in Parliament favourable to Charles. — Dissolution. — Impediments to the Restoration. — Grenville's Mission. — Course advised by Hyde. — Declar ation from Breda, and Letters. — General Election. — Hyde employs Morley in negotiating with the Presbyterians. — Meeting of the Convention Parliament. — King's Declaration, and Letters received. — King invited to return. — Monk re sists the Attempt to impose Conditions. — The Restor ation - - - - Page 482 ERRATA. Page 10. note, line 11. for " his" read " her." 21. line 5. from the bottom, for " and " read " with." 40. line 8. (in a few copies) for " tithes " read " titles." 75. line 15. (ditto) after " on the " insert " 26th." 81. line 26. before " work " insert " the." 123. line 6. for " this" read " their." 138. line 16. for " recapitulations" read " recapitulation." 148. line 22. for " invasions" read " invasion." 182. in note, for " Museum " read " Maseres." 228. line 8. for " awhile " read " a time." 243. note, line 16. for " solid " read " valid." 263. line 22. for " in '' read " on." 291. line 8. from the bottom, for " intent " read "extent." 307. line 8. for " laterit" read " latuit." 354. line 12. for " a belief so injurious" read " all injurious belief." 359. line 13. after " ranks" insert " of the Scotch." 365. line 8. from the bottom, for " from" read " to attend." 415. line 4. dele " and." 423. note, line 4. from the bottom, for " do " read " does." 438. line 20. for " proceeding" read "proceedings." 464. line 7. for « ready at Boulogne " read " at Boulogn ready." 492. line 14. before " appointed " insert " and." 494. line 2. for "the" read " a." Note, after" Vol. iii." insert « p 83 " THE LIFE OF EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. CHAPTER I. BIRTH OF EDWARD HYDE. PARENTAGE EARLY EDUCA TION. ADMISSION AT THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. — ENTRY AT THE MIDDLE TEMPLE. ILLNESS. MARRIAGE. SECOND MARRIAGE. HABITS AND PURSUITS. HIS ASSOCIATES. IS ONE OF THE MANAGERS OF A MASQUE PRESENTED BY THE INNS OF COURT. BECOMES KNOWN TO LAUD. RISES IN HIS PROFESSION. — DISTRIBUTION OF HIS TIME. PERIOD OF HIS GREATEST HAPPINESS. ASPECT OF THE TIMES. 1609—1639. Edward Hyde was born on the 18th of Feb- chap. ruary*, 1609, at his father's house, at Dinton, in , the county of Wilts, f His father was Henry, * Life of Edward Earl of Clarendon, vol. i. p. 6. f Extract from the parish register of Dinton, in the county of Wilts : — " The sixth year of the reign of our most gracious sovereign " Lord King James, Ann. Dom. 1608. In this year.the two and twentye " day of February, Henry Hide of Dinton, Gent., had a son christened " named Edward." I am indebted for the foregoing extract to the Rev. H. Linton, Vicar of Dinton. It is necessary to state, that in this VOL. I. B 2 THE LIFE OF chap, third son of Lawrence, who was a younger son , L , of Robert Hyde of Norbury and Hyde, in the county of Chester, the representative of the family by whom these estates had long been possessed. * His mother was the daughter of a gentleman of Wiltshire of the name of Langford, from whom she received what her son calls " a good fortune " in the account of that age." Thus the income of his parents appears to have been such as, without entitling them to be called affluent, enabled them to enjoy a comfortable subsistence without the aid of professional gains. Henry Hyde had been educated for the law at the Middle Temple, but was never called to the bar ; nor does he appear to have embarked in any other profession. He was a good scholar; and, having taken the degree of master of arts at Ox ford, he indulged the bent of an inquiring mind register, the year, according to the notation then in use, is made to begin on the 25th day of March ; consequently Edward Hyde was baptized on the 22d day of February, 1609. To avoid confusion, the mode of dating now in use will be invariably adopted in this work. * In Ormond's " History of Cheshire " (vol. iii. p. 394.) willbe found a pedigree of Hyde of Norbury and Hyde, " taken from a pedigree " entered in the visitation of William Dugdale, 1663-4; and another " pedigree in the possession of the family, collated with Leycester's and " Williamson's collections, and corrected therefrom in the early parts." From this it appears, that Robert Hyde (the great-grandfather of Edward), who died in the 22d year of the reign of Henry VIII., was eighth in descent from Sir Robert Hyde, Kt., living temp. Henry III. (son of Matthew de Hyde), who married Agnes de Herdislee, cousin and heiress of Thomas de Norbury. From this marriage was derived the possession of the estate of Norbury. Lord Clarendon, with that inaccuracy which, where a bias was probable, has exposed him so often to the charge of partiality, but which he displays equally in indifferent matters, says that Norbury had been in the family since the Conquest, and that the property of Hyde came by marriage. See Life of Cla rendon, vol. i. p. 1. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. and active disposition in foreign travel through Germany and Italy; a proceeding then unusual, except for merchants and military men. He sat in several parliaments during the reign of Eliza beth, but not afterwards ; and the remainder of his life was passed in the country, in that state of quiet, the love of which, when there is no incen tive of want or ambition, succeeds not unnaturally to the satiated curiosity of active youth. " From " the death of Queen Elizabeth," says his son, " he " never was in London, though he lived above " thirty years after ; and his wife, who was married " to him, above forty years, never was in London in " her life ; the wisdom and frugality of that time " being such that few gentlemen made journeys to " London, or any other expensive journeys, but " upon important business; and their wives never: " by which providence," continues our author, with that disposition to venerate the " good old " times" which has been exhibited from the days of Horace till the present, " they enjoyed and im- " proved their estates in the country, and kept " good hospitality in their houses, brought up their " children well, and were beloved by their neigh bours."* The parents of Edward Hyde had nine children, of whom four were sons. Of these, Edward was the third. Lawrence the eldest son, and Nicholas the youngest, died during childhood. Henry, the second son, died in the year 1625 ; and Edwardj then in his 17th year, was left the sole surviving * Life of Clarendon, i. 5, B 2 4 THE LIFE OF 1622. Admission at Magda len Hall, Oxford. son. He received his early classical education, while residing at home, from the vicar of the parish, an experienced schoolmaster, who, as his pupil re cords, " though but of very indifferent parts, had " bred many good scholars."* Less, however, to this instructor, than to " the " superintending care and conversation of his fa- " ther, who was an excellent scholar, and took " pleasure in conferring with him," does he attri bute his early proficiency, which was such that he was thought fit to be sent to the university of Oxford in his fourteenth year, t In 1622, he was admitted at Magdalen Hall. He entertained a hope of being chosen a demy of Magdalen College, being powerfully supported by a special letter of recommendation from James I. to the president, Dr. Langton. But the letter did not receive the attention usual in those submissive days. Upon pretence that it " came too late," says Lord Clarendon, " he was not chosen ; and " so remained in Magdalen Hall (where he was " before admitted) under the tuition of Mr. John " Oliver t, a fellow of that college," and " a scholar * Life of Clarendon, i. 6. f The usual age of admission at that time was earlier than at pre sent; yet Hyde's admission, in his fourteenth year, may be taken as evidence of precocity. None of his distinguished contemporaries, ex cept Donne, appear to have been sent to the university so young: Milton, Chillingworth, and Sir W. Davenant went thither at the age of fifteen ; Cowley, Daniel, and Sir T. Browne not until the age of seventeen. t Wood, in his " Fasti Oxonienses," says of Oliver, — " This person, '' who was a Kentish man born, and originally of Mert. Coll., was after- " wards successively demy and fellow of that of Magd. ;' where his " eminence in learning and orthodox principles in religion being conspi- " cuous, he was taken into the service of Dr. Laud, Archb. of Cant., " and by him made his domestic chaplain, and promoted in the church; EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. " of eminency." In the following year, Langton was chai taught that the royal recommendation which he , ' had ventured to disregard was, in truth, a mandate. He received a reprimand from the secretary of state " for giving no more respect to the king's " letter ;" and he no longer persevered in asserting an independence so uncongenial with the spirit of those times. In consequence of this reprimand, Edward Hyde " was chosen the next election in " the first place." But " that whole year passed " without any avoidance of a demy's place ;" and " that year king James died, and shortly after, " Henry, his" (Edward Hyde's) " elder brother ; " and thereupon his father, having now no other " son, changed his former inclination, and wished " to send his son Edward to the Inns of Court."* Edward had been previously designed for holy orders ; and, with that view, he became a candidate (but without success) for a Wiltshire fellowship in Exeter College. He took his degree of bachelor " but losing all in the time of the. rebellion, he was elected president " of his coll. in April, 1644, upon the advancement of Dr. Frewen " to the see of Lichfield. In the latter end of 1647 he was turned " out of his presidentship by the committee of Lords and Commons " for the reformation of the university of Oxon ; and in the beginning " of the next year by the visitors themselves." — " On the 18th of May, " 1660, he was, by authority of parliament, restored to his president- " ship, and on the 22d of the said month he took possession thereof; " being the first of all the loyal heads that was restored to what they " lost in that university." He was made Dean of Worcester, Sept. 12. 1660 ; and died October 27. 1661. He " left a legacy, sealed up in " a paper, to Sir Edward Hyde, then Earl of Clarendon and Lord Chan- " cellor of England, some time his pupil while he was in the univer- " sity; for upon his motion it was that he was made Dean of Worcester." Wood also much extols his charity, piety, and learning. See Wood's Fasti Oxonienses, i. 509. * Life of Clarendon, i. 7. B 3 THE LIFE OF chap, of arts on February 14. 1626 *, and then quitted the university. He quitted it, as he tells us, " rather with the opinion of a young man of parts " and pregnancy of wit, than that he had improved " it much by industry; the discipline of that time " being not so strict as it hath been since, and as "it ought to be." t 1625. In 1625, Edward Hyde was entered in the Mid- the Middle die Temple, of which his uncle, Sir Nicholas Hydet, ernpe" was then treasurer. But in consequence of the plague §, which raged in London during the sum mer months, and caused the removal of the courts of justice from Westminster to Reading, he ab- * Wood's Fasti Oxon. ii. 422. f Life of Clarendon, i. 8. J Whitelock says of Sir Nicholas Hyde, afterwards Chief Justice of the King's Bench — " He was promoted to that place by the Duke " of Buckingham ; and demeaned himself in it with good integrity and " prudence in those difficult times. He was somewhat reserved, and " not affable." Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 17. Rushworth, in speak ing of his promotion, calls him, " a person who for his parts and abilities " was thought worthy of that preferment." — Rushworth, i. 420. " He " lived," says Judge Whitelocke, " with great integrity and uprightness, " and with great wisdom and temper, considering the ticklisbness of " the times. He would never undertake to the King, nor adventure " to* give him a resolute answer on any weighty business, when the " question was of the law; but he would pray "that he might confer " with his brethren. And the king ever gave way to it." — Rush- worth, ii. 112. He died at his house in Hampshire on the 26th of August, 1631. See Rushworth, ii. 111. Whitelocke, 17. Clarendon, without giving any date, mentions his death in such a manner as might lead the reader to suppose that it occurred previously to his own mar riage in 1629. Macdiarmid, who appears to have adopted his statements,, without a very careful examination, notices the event with similar vague ness and inaccuracy. Macdiarmid's Lives of British Statesmen, ii. 283. § Of the mortality in London we have evidence in letters from Joseph Mead to Sir Martin Stuteville. « The bills are this week for " London, all burials 1222, whereof of the plague 593, of which within "the walls 109; walls and liberties together, 221. Parishes infected, " 57." July 9. 1625. " The burials in London are this week 3583, " whereof they bring of the plague 247 1 . You may see by the note I sent " you at the commencement, how much this plague, for the time and " number, surpasses that of 1603." Dated July 30th Ellis's Original Letters, iii. 208, 209. b EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. \ stained from going to London till the eve of the chap. Michaelmas term. There sickness arrested the progress of his studies. On the evening of his niness. arrival he was seized with an ague, which so much weakened him, that his friends feared consumption would ensue, and his uncle sent him for recovery to Pirton, in Wiltshire, where his father was then residing. Change of air does not appear to have restored him soon. The ague continued long, the fits increasing in frequency till the beginning of the ensuing year, and it was not till the summer that his disorder left him. He did not return to the Middle Temple till the 1626. ensuing Michaelmas, and sickness thus occasioned the loss of a whole year, which otherwise he might have devoted to his profession. It had also in duced habits of idleness, which disposed him rather to waste more time, than to repair the time that was lost. He confesses that when he returned, " it " was without great application to the study of the " law for some years." It appears, too, that the society into which he fell was of a kind ill calcu lated to promote the diligence of a law-student. His associates were chiefly military men, of whom, during the disastrous war of 1627, there were many in London : and with them, during a whole year, he spent much of his time. But though his companions were idle and dissolute, he denies that he was contaminated by their example. Circum stances are often estimated less by their tendency than by their result. Unfavourable to his prospects as was the society he then kept, yet subsequent b 4 THE LIFE OF chap, success caused him to look back benignantly upon i. these early obstacles to his progress. He seems to have thought that such a course of life might even have tended to improve his worll y knowledge, and could say, " that since it pleased God to pre- " serve him whilst he did keep that company (from " which he wonderfully escaped from being in- " volved in many inconveniences), and to with-' " draw him so soon from it, he was not sorry that " he had some experience in the conversation of " such men, and of the license of those times." * Yet he was not insensible to his risk, and added, that " he had more cause to be terrified upon the " reflection, than the man had who viewed Roches- " ter-bridge in the morning that it was broken, and " which he had galloped over in the night." t This period was, perhaps, fraught with danger rather to his moral qualities than to his mental powers ; for, with respect to the attainment of general inform ation, it was not wholly wasted. He was fond of literature, and employed several hours each day in reading. He could not, however, bring himself to an industrious pursuit of the study of law ; and appears to have been rendered comparatively at tentive only by the superintendence of his uncle, Sir Nicholas Hyde, who almost daily proposed to him some law case, and required his opinion upon it. 1628. His studies were again interrupted by sickness. In July, 1628, he was sent to " ride" the Norfolk circuit with his uncle, the chief justice. He hoped * Life of Clarendon, i. 10. 4. iDk[. i. 75. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 9 by this journey to escape the small-pox, which chap. then raged in London ; but in the very commence- ^ ' , ment of the circuit, on the day after his arrival at Cambridge, he was attacked by this disease. His malady was so severe that for a while his life was despaired of: but, in little more than a month from the commencement of his illness, he was enabled to remove to Pirton, for the more complete recovery of his health ; and, in the course of the autumn, re turned to his studies at the Middle Temple. A circumstance soon occurred, which was the first great incentive to exertion. He became at tached to a daughter of Sir George Ayliffe, of Gretenham, in the county of Wilts, and with the approbation of his father was married to her in First mar- 1629. The happiness promised by this early union "gf^ was of short duration. Within six months from the time of his marriage, his wife, during a journey from London into Wiltshire, caught the small-pox, miscarried, and died within two days afterwards. Hyde was almost overwhelmed with grief, and was restrained, only by the remonstrances of his father, from resigning his profession, and seeking seclusion in a foreign land. The only important result of his marriage, was the acquaintance which it caused him to form with the Marquess of Hamilton *, and other persons of rank and influence about the court. Lord Hamilton and Hyde, by their re spective marriages, had become related to a young * James, third Marquess, afterwards created Duke of Hamilton. He commanded an army, with which he entered England in support of the king in 1648, was defeated by Cromwell and Lambert, and taken pri soner by the latter ; was beheaded on the 9th of March, 1649. 10 THE LIFE OF I. chap, lady* belonging to the court, sister of Lord Grandi- son, seduced, under promise of marriage, by Henry Jermyn, the favourite of the queen, t A duel was apprehended between LordGrandison and Jermyn; which the king prevented by the effectual but superfluous rigour of committing both parties to the Tower ; and moreover declared that, " since " he was satisfied that there was a promise of mar- " riage in the case, the gentleman should make " good his promise by marrying the lady ; or be " kept in prison, and for ever banished from all " pretence or relation to the court." X Hyde joined zealously with other of the relatives §, in endeavour ing to keep alive the king's interest in behalf of the injured lady. || He conducted the frequent con- * Hyde's first wife was first cousin to this lady, whose name was Villiers. Anne, Lady Ayliffe, the mother of his first wife, was a daugh ter of Sir John St. John, of Lydiard Tregoze, co. Cornwall. She had three brothers and six sisters, of whom Barbara, the eldest, was mar ried to Sir Edward Villiers (half brother of George, first Duke of Buck ingham) ; Lucy was married to Sir Allen Apsley ; Catherine to Sir Giles Monpesson ; Eleanor to Sir William St. John. Barbara, the eldest daughter, was niece of Sir Oliver St. John, created Viscount Grandison in Ireland, Jan. 3. 1620, with limitation to his posterity. She had by Sir E. Villiers, four sons and three daughters: — 1st. William, who succeeded his uncle as second Visct. Grandison ; died at Oxford in August, 1643, leaving one daughter, Barbara, afterwards Duchess of Cleveland. 2d. John, third Visct. Grandison ; died with out issue. 3d. George, fourth Visct. Grandison, who left issue. This branch became extinct in 1768. 4th. Edward, ancestor of the families of Jersey and Clarendon. Of the daughters, Barbara was married to Thomas Wenman, son and heir of Philip Ld. Visct. Wenman, and, after his decease, was second wife of James Howard, third Earl of Suffolk; died Dec. 13. 1681, aged 59. + Strafford's Letters, i. 174. 225. Burnet's own Times, i. 63. see note. t Life of Clarendon, i. 14. § Vol. III. of this Work, p. 5, 6. || Jermyn appears to have been banished for a while. " His friends," says Garrard in a letter to Wentworth, dated Jan. 9. 1634, " labour " much for his return ; and suing the king's mercy to take again Tom " Elliott mto his service ; and, in recalling Mr. Herbert Price out of " France, and admitting him to attend the queen, they conceived some EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 11 ferences of her friends which took place with re- chap. ference to this affair, and was thus, as he tells us, . ' , introduced " into another way of conversation than " he had formerly been accustomed to, and which, " in truth, by the acquaintance, by the friends and " enemies, he then made, had an influence upon " the whole course of his life afterwards."* In 1632, after having been nearly three years a Second P J J marriage. widower, Hyde re-entered married life. His se- 1632. cond wife was Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury t, who then held the offices of master of requests and master of the mint, and who ap pears to have regarded with warm approbation an alliance for his daughter, which, at that time, to one who considered chiefly rank or wealth, could have afforded no attraction. But disinterestedness is often blessed with a success, which the most sa gacious selfishness of worldly wisdom fails to gain : and he seems to have been swayed by circum- " hope that he also might be recalled." Strafford's Letters, i. 174. Again he writes in April, " Mr. Henry Jermyn hath got some footing " again in the King's dominions ; he hath leave to come and live in " Jersey, in his father's government ; and 't is hoped that now quickly he " shall have liberty to come into England." Strafford's Letters, i. 225. * Life of Clarendon, i. 15. T Sir Thomas Aylesbury, Bart., was for a time secretary to the Duke of Buckingham, by whose influence he was made a master of requests, and master of the mint, which place he retained till 1642. He adhered to the royal cause; retired in 1649 to Antwerp, where he remained till 1652 ; then removed to Breda, where he died and was buried in 1657, aged 81. " He was a learned man," says Anthony Wood, " and as great " a lover and encourager of learning and learned men, especially of " mathematicians (he being one himself), as any man in his time." See Wood's Fasti Oxonienses, ii. 305. He left one son, William, who translated Davila; left England in 1648, and lived at Antwerp till 1 650, then returned to England, and went as secretary to the governor of Jamaica in an expedition thither, where he died in 1657. See Wood's Athenw Oxonienses, iii. 441. A few unimportant letters are extant from William Aylesbury to his brother-in-law Edward Hyde. 12 THE LIFE OF stances more truly worthy of a father's thoughts — the mutual attachment of the parties, and the cha- 1632. racter and abilities of the future son-in-law. In a letter to the father of Edward Hyde — a letter creditable to his disposition and judgment — be alludes to the absence of " covetousness " on either part, and tells him that he himself is thoroughly confirmed in the opinion of his son's " worth, " which will make him welcome to any man that " hath reason and goodnesse." * On Michaelmas-day in the same year, Hyde lost his father, who died at Salisbury in the 70th year of his age. His death was sudden ; and Hyde, who regarded him with the most devoted rever ence and affection, appears to have been deeply afflicted. " Our sufferings," he said in a letter soon afterwards to Sir Thomas Aylesbury, " however " we were fortified against the occasion by long " fears and expectation, both in the suddennesse " and the circumstances could not but be very " terrible." t " Since I saw you last," he wrote to a Mr. Taverner, who appears to have endeavoured to afford him occupation, " without one minute's " warninge or feare, I have lost the best father of " the world, the sense of which hath beene soe " terrible to me that I was enough inclined to " thinke I had nothinge to doe but to follow him, " soe that your employment hath proved an act of " charity, and an obligation upon me, and hath " awakened me to a courage and hope of servinge * Vol. III. of this Work, p. 3. + Ibid. p. 4. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 13 " you." * These letters, written soon after the chap. lamented event, seem to bespeak the intensity of , his grief. Not less does his language, after a lapse 1632. of many years, convey a favourable impression of the virtues and acquirements of his father ; and the manner in which that parent is recorded, as " not only the best father, but the best friend, and " the best companion he ever had," indicates, that the terms upon which they associated were those of unreserved and affectionate confidence, t Sir Nicholas Hyde had died in the preceding year, on the 26th of August ; and thus, ere Hyde had at tained the age of twenty-five, he had lost two of the principal guides of his youth, on whom he had relied for assistance and advice. But the dormant ener gies of his nature seem to have been roused by these bereavements. Deprived of the aid which he had hitherto received, he was thrown upon the resources of his own great talents. The responsi bilities, which for a second time he had incurred in marriage, also furnished a motive for exertion ; and, from this time, he began to apply himself, with greater diligence, to his profession. But though * Original letter in the Bodleian Library. 7 Burnet relates an anecdote communicated to him, he says, by Lady Ranelagh, who had it from Lord Clarendon, that Lord Clarendon's father, immediately before his death, and " as they were walking in the " fields together," warned him of the disposition then observable among lawyers to stretch law and prerogative to the prejudice of the subject, and " charged him, if ever he grew to any eminence in his profession, " that he should never sacrifice the laws and liberties of his country to " his own interests, or to the will of a prince. He repeated this twice, " and immediately he fell into a fit of apoplexy, of which he died in a " few hours." — Burnet's own Times, i. 270. This anecdote does not agree with Lord Clarendon's very circumstantial account of his father's death. 14 THE LIFE OF His associ ates. more diligent, he did not labour as one who was impelled by the spur of necessity. He had a com petent estate, and was not obliged to regard his profession solely as a means of immediate profit. It is probable that he then entertained hopes of future political or literary distinction ; for, amidst his application to law, he was careful not to ne glect such means as might lead to advancement in a different career. Every day he devoted some hours to general literature ; and he cultivated the society of many distinguished and valuable friends. With members of his own profession he lived little : but he had been careful to form such connections as were alike honourable and advantageous; and, ere he had attained the age of twenty-seven, could enumerate among his intimate associates many of the most eminent persons in the kingdom — per sons distinguished not merely by rank and power, but by their characters, abilities, and acquirements. Among his early literary friends were Ben Jonson* — Selden t, whose society he felt to have been in estimably valuable to him, and for whose talents and learning he retained a veneration unimpaired by subsequent difference of political opinion; Charles Cotton, a man of taste and letters, now re membered chiefly as the literary associate of Isaac Walton; May}, the able and candid historian of * Benjamin Jonson, the celebrated dramatic poet, born 1574, died August 6. 1637. f John Selden, died Nov. 30. 1654. ± Thomas May, eldest son of Sir T. May, Knt., was born at May- field, Sussex, in 1595 ; was educated at Sidney Sussex Coll , Cam bridge; became, in 1615, a student of Gray's Inn ; translated Lucan's EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 15 the parhament ; Carew *, whose graceful poetry still chap. holds its place in public estimation ; his more cele- , brated contemporary, Edmund Waller t ; the ac complished and versatile Sir Kenelm Digby $ ; Hales §, distinguished by his classical acquirements ; Chillingworth ||, the profound theologian and acute Pharsalia, and wrote three tragedies and two comedies, which obtained only moderate success. His ablest and most celebrated work is his " History of the Parliament," down to Sept. 1643. He also wrote a " Breviary of the History of the Parliament," first printed in 1 650, con taining a brief description of public events down to the close of the year 1648. He died in 1650. Bishop Warburton, in a letter to Hurd, mentions May's History as " an extraordinary performance, little " known ; written with great temper, good sense, and spirit." * Thomas Carew, younger brother of Sir Matthew Carew, a zealous royalist in the time of the civil war, held the court place of gentleman of the privy chamber and sewer in ordinary to Charley I. He died in 1639. j Edmund Waller, born March 3. 1605, sat in the Parliament which was dissolved in 1629, in that of April, 1640, and in the Long Parlia ment as M. P. for Amersham ; was one of the managers of the prosecu tion of Judge Crawley ; engaged, in 1643, in a plot against the parlia ment ; was detected, tried, fined, and banished, but returned during the ascendency of his kinsman Cromwell. After the restoration he was a M.P. for Hastings in 1661. In 1665 he applied for the Provostship of Eton College, the grant of which to him Lord Clarendon refused to pass under the seal, because it could be held only by a clergyman ; and Waller, in revenge, became one of the prosecutors of Clarendon in 1667. He died October 21. 1687. Lord Clarendon does ample jus tice to his literary and social merits ; and draws his character in other respects with not more severity than Waller's political baseness merited. See Life of Clarendon, i. 53 — 55. J Sir Kenelm Digby was born in 1603 ; made gentleman of the bed chamber, commissioner of the navy, and governor of the Trinity-house by Charles I. ; fought against the Venetians at Scanderoon ; exerted himself in the civil wars on the side of the king ; after the troubles re tired to the Continent, and was employed by Henrietta Maria in two missions to the Pope ; returned to England after the restoration ; died 1663. He was a person of very varied knowledge and accomplish ments. § John Hales, an eminent divine and critic, was born April 19. 1584; became fellow of Merton Coll., Oxford, Oct. 13. 1606, and afterwards Greek lecturer; in 1618 attended Sir Dudley Carleton, ambassador to the Hague, and was admitted to the synod of Dort ; became a canon of Windsor in June, 1639; died May 19. 1656. || William Chillingworth was born in 1602. His theological in quiries made him, for a time, a convert from the church of England, in 16 THE LIFE OF I. chap, controversialist ; these were the literary men whose society was cultivated by Hyde ; and to these may be added the names of Sheldon *, Morley t, and Earlest, ecclesiastics, then enjoying a high and deserved reputation. Among the men of rank and influence with whom he was acquainted, and who showed a friendly disposition towards him, were Lord Coventry § ; the Earl of Manchester ||, then Lord the faith of which he was brought up, to that of Rome ; and further inquiry reconverted him. He died in 1644. He wrote numerous theological and controversial tracts of much ability, which have been col lected, and of which collection the tenth edition was published in 1742. * Gilbert Sheldon was born July 19. 1598 ; became chaplain to the Lord Keeper Coventry, who gave him a prebend of Gloucester, and recommended him to Charles I., by whom he was made chaplain in or dinary and clerk of the closet. In 1644 he attended the commis sioners at the treaty of Uxbridge. In 1646 he attended the king at Oxford, and afterwards as one of his chaplains in the Isle of Wight. On the restoration he was made dean of the royal chapel ; in October, 1660, bishop of London; and in August, 1663, archbishop of Canter bury. In December, 1667, he was elected chancellor of the University of Oxford, which office he resigned in July, 1669. Died Nov. 9. 1677. f George Morley was born July 27. 1597 ; became a canon of Christ Church in 1641, of which preferment he was deprived by the parlia ment in 1647 ; was one of the divines allowed to attend Charles I. at the treaty of Newport ; withdrew to the Continent after the death of Charles I.; in 1651 resided at Antwerp, in the house of his friend Hyde, to whose children he gave religious instruction. Upon the restoration he was made dean of Christ Church; in October, 1660, bishop of Worcester ; in 1661, was one of the chief managers of the conference at the Savoy ; in 1662, was translated to Winchester, where he remained till his death, in Oct. 29. 1684. J John Earle (or Earles) was born in 1601 ; was appointed chap- Iain and tutor to Prince Charles, and chancellor of the cathedral of Salisbury; during the exile of Charles II. was made chaplain and clerk of the closet; on the restoration was made dean of Westmin ster ; on Nov. 30. 1662, bishop of Worcester, and in September, 1663, of Salisbury. Died in Nov. 1665. Burnet says he was opposed to the Five Mile Act, and that " he was the man of all the clergy for whom " the king had the greatest esteem." § Thomas, Lord Coventry, Lord Keeper, died July 14. 1640. || Sir Henry Montague, Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench and Lord High Treasurer under James I. ; created Earl of Manchester by Charles I. ; died Nov. 7. 1642, and was succeeded by his son the cele brated Lord Kimbolton. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 17 Privy Seal; the Earl of Pembroke *, then Lord CHTAP- Chamberlain ; and the Earls of Hollandt, Hertford t, and Essex. § Sir Thomas Wentman || and Sidney Godolphin ^f were two of his favoured associates ; but the man with whom he tells us he had the most entire friendship, and of whom he speaks in terms of the highest admiration and regard, was Lucius Carey, afterwards Lord Falkland.** He was also fortunate in the friendship of many eminent and rising men, his superiors in age and experi ence, among the members of his own' profession. Among these were Lane, then Attorney-General to the Prince of Wales, afterwards Chief Baron of the * Philip Earl of Pembroke. His violent temper and uncourtly habits are said to have rendered him very ill qualified for the office of lord chamberlain. He became a staunch adherent of the parliament ; and on the House of Lords being closed, sat in the House of Commons, in 1649, as M. P. for Berkshire. Died Jan. 23. 1650. f Henry Rich, Earl of Holland, was beheaded on the 9th of March, 1649. J William Seymour, created Marquis of Hertford June 3. 1640, had been imprisoned in the reign of James I., for marrying Arabella Stuart ; fought for the king in the civil war; died Oct. 24. 1660, having become Duke of Somerset in the preceding month. § Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, son of the favourite of Queen Elizabeth, was commander of the parliamentary forces at the com mencement of the civil war. Died Sept. 14. 1646. || Of Sir Francis Wenman, Lord Clarendon says, " He was of a " noble extraction, and of an ancient family in Oxfordshire, where he was " possessed of a competent estate. His ratiocination was above his " learning, and the sharpness of his wit incomparable. He was equal " to the greatest trust and employment, if he had been ambitious of it, " or solicitous for it ; but his want of health produced a kind of lazi- " ness of mind, which disinclined him to business ; and he died a little " before the general troubles of the kingdom, which he foresaw with "wonderful concern." Life of Clarendon, i. 51. If Sidney Godolphin was killed at Chayford in Devonshire, fighting on the side of the King, in 1643. See his character in the Life of Cla rendon, p. 51. to 53. ** Lucius Carey, Viscount Falkland, son of Henry Carey, who was created Viscount Falkland, Nov. 10. 1620, comptroller of the household to James I., and who died September, 1633. Lucius Lord Falkland was killed at the battle of Newbury, Sept. 20. 1643. VOL. I. C I. 18 THE LIFE OF Exchequer, and lastly Lord Keeper of the Seal ; Palmer, afterwards Attorney-General ; John May- nard*; and Bulstrode Whitelocke.! Masque Whitelocke, in his " Memorials of English Af- given by Y the inns of fairs," (one of the most complete and faithful re cords of one of the most interesting periods of our history,) describes at much length an event in which Hyde bore a prominent part ; yet to which, in his autobiography, he makes no allusion. The circumstance recorded is curiously illustrative of the manners of that time. In 1632, Prynne published his Histriomastix, a fierce and bigoted invective against plays, containing words of coarse * Maynard witnessed the accession of William III., and, when that king remarked to him that he must have outlived most of lawyers of his standing, made the courtier-like reply — " I should have outlived the " law too, had it not been for the arrival of your Majesty." •f Whitelocke, who, under the Commonwealth, filled successively the high offices of ambassador to Sweden, commissioner of the great seal and of the treasury, speaker of Cromwell's third parliament, keeper of the seals under Richard Cromwell, and president of the council of state, appears to have been much attached to Hyde, and proud of his friendship. To no other cause can we attribute his having inserted in a grave history of public events, matters so merely private and so irre levant as the following : — " I received from my friend Mr. Edward Hide, " a letter from London, directed to me at Fawley Court, wherein he " drolls and says, ' Our best news is, that we have good wine abundantly " ' come over ; and the worst, that the plague is in town, and no judges " ' die.' " He also inserts two letters in no respects valuable except as evidence of familiar friendship. The shortest may serve as a specimen. " To my most honoured Friend Bulstrode Whitelocke, Esq., at his " House at Fawley Court. " My Dear, " I am glad you prosper so happily in issue male. God send the good " woman well again ; which my wife prays for as an encouragement for " her journey, which she shall be shortly ready for. You may depend " on a doe on Monday, God willing, although this weather forbids you " to look for a fat one. > My pen is deep in a Starchamber bill, and " therefore I have only the leisure and the manners to tell you I am " very proud that you are a friend to " Your most affectionate servant, " Edward Hide." EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 19 reflection upon the character of such women chap. as took any part in scenic representations. Six t I" , weeks afterwards, the Queen acted at court in a pastoral ; and thus placed herself within the range of Prynne's censures. By a gross perversion of the plainest principles of sense and justice, Prynne's previous remarks were charged with disloyalty, in consequence of this subsequent act ; and ostensibly for this offence, Archbishop Laud, whom Prynne had irritated by other of his writ ings, caused him to be prosecuted in the Star- chamber. It was decreed by this Court, that Prynne's book should be burnt by the common hangman ; and that the author should be expelled from Lincoln's Inn, deprived of his degree at the University, be set on the pillory at Westminster and Cheapside, that his ears should be cut off, that he should be fined 5000/., and be imprisoned for life. That such severities should have failed to ex cite indignation and pity, in those who, afterwards, stood forward the advocates of liberty, may at this day seem strange ; stranger still, that men like Hyde, Whitelocke, and Selden, should have made common cause with the persecuting party, and have testified practically their approbation of these atroci ties. But it was even so; and some explanation may be found. They saw in Prynne a morose supporter of the bigotry of the Puritans — an illiberal assailant of intellectual pleasures — a defamer of the stage which Ben Jonson was still adorning, and on which Shakspeare had lately shed such glory — a foe to amusement, and one who had recently published c 2 20 THE LIFE OF chap, expressions coarsely offensive to a woman and a i Queen. These circumstances will diminish our wonder that, in a society of young men, hatred of austerity, combined with chivahous feelings of gallantry and loyalty, should have been sufficient to counteract whatever faint abstract attachment to liberality and justice the institutions of that age had permitted them to entertain. The lawyers of four of the principal Inns of Feb. 1634. Court determined to perform a masque, "as an " expression of their love and duty to their Ma- " jesties ;" and " because this action would manifest " the difference of their opinion from Mr. Prynne's " new learning, and serve to confute his Histrio- " mastix against interludes." * This practical confut ation (as it was strangely termed) was conducted by eight members of the four principal Inns of Court ; and among these eight select managers were Hyde, Whitelocke, Selden, the Attorney-General Noy t, Sir Edward Herbert t, and Sir John Finch. § To * Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 19. f William Noy, Attorney-General to Charles I. Died Aug. 9. 1634. He disgraced his great legal acquirements by rendering them subser vient to the designs of the court, " thinking," said Lord Clarendon, " that he could not give a clearer testimony that his knowledge of law " was greater than all other men's, than by making that law, which all " other men believed not to be so. So he moulded, framed, and pur- " sued the odious and crying project of soap ; and with his own hand " drew and prepared the writ for ship-money." $ Sir Edward Herbert became Solicitor-General and afterwards At torney-General to Charles I., accompanied Charles II. in exile, and was for a time the keeper of the great seal. § Sir John Finch, created Lord Finch Jan. 23. 1640, and made « m ™ Pf; ¦ d Clarendon says, " He took up ship-money where Mr. JNoy left it ; and being a judge, carried it up to that pinnacle from whence be almost broke his own neck." He was impeached by the long parhament, fled to Holland, and died in exile. Lord Clarendon adds, that when Lord Keeper, he declared, " upon a demurrer put in to a bill before him, which had no other equity in it than an order of EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 21 Hyde and to Whitelocke was allotted the task of chap. conferring with the Lord Chamberlain and the . Comptroller of the Household, and taking order 1634. about the scenery and preparations in the Ban queting House. The masque is minutely described by White locke, who seems to dwell, with pride and plea sure, on the part he bore in this pageant. It is related by him, how sixteen " grand masquers " were to lead the revels, being " four gentlemen of " each Inn of Court most suitable for their persons, " dancing, and garb for that business;" how each party of four was to be drawn in a chariot with six horses ; how difficult it was to settle the precedence of the chariots, which respectively represented the dignity of each Inn of Court, till that thorny point was decided by lot; how impossible to decide where each individual, of the parties of four, was to sit in his chariot, till the committee conceived the happy thought of having them made, like the Roman tri umphal chariots, " of an oval form, so that there was " no precedence in them ! " Next are celebrated the glories of the procession, which went forth from Ely-house in Holborn, down Chancery Lane, to Whitehall. First was the Marshal and his men ; after him one hundred gentlemen of the Inns of Court, mounted on horseback, " in very rich clothes, " scarce anything but gold and silver lace to be seen " of them," with a page and two lacqueys to each. " the lords to the council, ' that whilst he was keeper, no man should " ' be so saucy as to dispute these orders, but that the wisdom of that " ' Board should be always ground enough for him to make a decree in " ' Chancery.' " Clar. Hist. Reb. i. 131. C 3 22 THE LIFE OF chap. Then came the Antimasques ; " the first Antimasque i " being of cripples and beggars on horseback, 1634. " mounted on the poorest leanest jades that could " be gotten out the dirt-carts ; the habits and pro- " perties of these cripples and beggars being most " ingeniously fitted by the committee's direction, " wherein Mr. Attorney Noy, Sir John Finch, SirEd- " ward Herbert, Mr. Selden, those greatand eminent " persons, took extraordinary care and pains." Next followed other Antimasques ; one of which, being de signed to ridicule such projectors as sought patents for useless schemes *, is said to have been devised entirely by the inventive brain of Mr. Attorney Noy. To these practical jocularities succeeded, in pro cession, the musicians, and the " grand masquers" in their oval chariots ; " their habits, doublets, trunk- " hose, and caps of most rich cloth of tissue, and " wrought as thick with silver spangles as they " could be placed, large white silk stockings up " to their trunkhose, and rich sprigs in their caps; " themselves proper and beautiful young gentle- " men." In this melodramatic guise passed the " pride, pomp, and circumstance " of law, down * The parodies in the Antimasque scarcely equal the ludicrous ex travagance of some of the actual patents of that period, which may be found recorded in " Rymer's Fcedera, vol. xix." The following may serve as specimens : — " The fish-call, or a looking glass for fishes in the " sea, very useful for fishermen to call all kinds of fish to their nets, " seans, or hooks." — " An instrument which may be called the wind- " mate, very profitable, when common winds fail, for a more speedy " passage of calmed ships and vessels on seas and rivers." — " Amove- " able hydraulic, or chamber weather-call, like a cabinet, which being " placed in a room or by a bedside, causeth sweet sleep to those who, " either by hot fevers or otherwise, cannot take rest : and it withal " alters the dry hot hair into a more moistening and cooling temper, " either with musical sounds or without." These patents were for four teen years, and paid 1/. 6s. 8d. yearly to the Exchequer. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 23 Chancery Lane, to Whitehall, where they paraded round the Tilt-yard, that the King and Queen " might have a double view of them." They 1634. alighted at Whitehall Gate, where they were gra ciously received ; and then the masque began, " and "was incomparably performed*:" then followed a ball, in which the Queen danced with some of the masques, and did "judge them as good dancers " as ever she saw." Then a banquet ensued, after which all departed : " and thus," says Whitelocke, with quaint solemnity t, " was this earthly pomp " and glory, if not vanity, soon past and gone, as " if it had never been."+" Soon afterwards, Hyde and Whitelocke, and two others, were deputed to the office of returning thanks, in the name of the four * The masque was entitled " The Triumph of Peace," and was written by Shirley. The indignation excited by Prynne's proscription of dramatic literature glares out fiercely in Shirley's ungenerous insult couched in the bitterly ironical dedication of his " Bird in a Cage," to Prynne, then in prison. " I had," said he, " an early desire to con- " gratulate your happy retirement : but no poem could tempt me with " so fair a circumstance as this in the title." See Shirley's Life and Works, edited by Gifford and Dyce. ¦J- Whitelocke's Memorials, p. 21. j Nothing in connection with this pageant is more remarkable, than the vast expense which the four Inns of Court were willing to incur. " The charge of the whole masque, which was borne by the Societies, " and by the particular members of it, was accounted," says White locke, " to be above one and twenty thousand pounds." It must, however, be remembered, that the members of the Inns of Court were not then, as now, composed almost exclusively of men possessed of incomes too small to enable them to live without a profession. " In " these inns," says Blackstone, " noblemen of the realm did use " to place their children, though they did not desire to have them " thoroughly learned in the law, or to get their living by its practice." In Fortescue's time (reign of Henry VI.) there were about 2000 stu dents in these Inns, all, as he informs us, " filii nobilium ; " and it was then the universal practice for the young nobility to be sent to these places of instruction ; and though this practice fell gradually into disuse, so that in the reign of Elizabeth the number of such students did not exceed 1000, yet even in the reign of Charles I. the Inns of Court were frequently the resort of the opulent. c 4 24 THE LIFE OF chap. Inns of Court, to the King and Queen, " for their i. " gracious acceptance of the tender of their service " in the late masque." The selection of Hyde as one of the four conductors of a pageant so interest ing to the pride of the community to which he be longed, is some evidence of his popularity. Of his professional success at this period, there is no dis tinct evidence ; it may, however, be inferred, from the circumstance which is recounted as contributing most materially to his advancement in 1635, that he was already well known, and of good reputation for ability and learning. March 14. Upon the death of the Earl of Portland, the Lord Treasurer, in 1635, the treasury was put under the management of commissioners, of whom Hyde be- Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, was one.* Laud, kn™wnto who had been at enmity with Portland, dili gently inquired into the state of this department, hoping to make " discovery of past actions which " might reflect upon the memory of the late trea- " surer." t Among the vexatious acts of the Earl of Portland, was one, by which he had " disobliged " the merchants in a very sensible degree, in re- " quiring them to unlade their ships at the Custom- " house quay or wharf t," alleging a former order of the Court of Exchequer that aRfne goods should be landed there. The merchants murmured at the restraint; complaining that they were compelled to land not only^/me goods, but all their merchan dise, at that quay, to the great impediment of trade, * Rushworth, ii. 246- f Life of Clarendon, i. 23. t Life of Clarendon, i. 25. comesknow Laud EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 25 without advantage to the public service, but merely chap. for the benefit of a favourite of the Lord Treasurer, , a farmer of the customs, to whom the quay belonged. 1635. One of the merchants, named Harvey, reported to Laud this grievance, and added, that a petition on the subject had been signed by the principal merchants in the city, and, through the hands of a Secretary of State, had been presented to the King ; that the pe tition was referred to the Treasurer, an d had obtained no redress. Laud desired that the petition might be shown to him. Harvey answered, that he believed it to be " in the hands of Mr. Hyde, who had drawn " it, and was of council with the merchants through- " out the whole proceedings ; and was so warm in it, " that he had exceedingly provoked the Lord Trea- " surer, who would have ruined him if he could ;" Laud asked who Hyde was, and learned from Har vey that he was a young lawyer of the Middle Tem ple, who was not afraid of being counsel for the mer chants, " when all men of name durst not appear " for them ;" that he was " generally known," and that he had married a daughter of Sir Thomas Aylesbury. Furnished with this clue, the Arch bishop spoke next to Sir Thomas Aylesbury, and made him the bearer of a request for an interview with his son-in-law. Hyde, consequently, went to the Archbishop, whom he found alone in his garden at Lambeth, and who, he says, received him civilly. Laud made inquiries concerning the merchants' petition, and requested Hyde to bring it to him, together with any other papers he possessed con cerning that affair, or the general business of the customs ; and Hyde complied with this request, 26 THE LIFE OF delivering, together with the petition, many other useful papers. 1635. The impression made by the young lawyer ap pears to have been very favourable. Laud expressed a wish to see him often ; ever afterwards treated him kindly ; spoke well of him ; and honoured him with special notice when (as it frequently hap pened) he pleaded before the Privy Council. He also engaged Hyde's services on many occasions ; and particularly in raising money for the building of St. Paul's church. The character of Laud, as unveiled in his Diary, excites contempt*; as exhibited in his letters to Strafford, it reasonably provokes a harsher feel ing. But none can deny him the praise of having * In justification of this expression, I quote the following specimens of Laud's Diary: — " Oct. 14. Friday night. I dreamed marvellously " that the King was offended with me, and would cast me off, and tell " me no cause why. Avertat Deus ! for cause I have given none." — " Tuesday, Feb. 21. That night I dreamed that K. C. (King Charles) " was to be married to a minister's widow, and that I was called upon " to do it. No service book could be found ; and in my own book " which I had, I could not find the order for marriage." — " August 17. " Saturday. I had a serious offer made me again to be a cardinal. I " was then from court, but so soon as I came thither (which was Wed- " nesday, August 21.) I acquainted his Majesty with it; but my answer " again was, that somewhat dwelt ivithin me which would not suffer that, till " Rome were other than it is." — June 6. I came to Barwick. That " night I dreamed that K. B. sent to me in Westminster church, that " he was now as desirous to see me as I him ; and that he was then " entering the church. I went with hope, but met another in the " middle of the church, who seemed to know the business, and laughed; " but K. B. was not there." — " June 8. Whitsun-eve. I received letters "from K. B. — unalterable. By this, if I return, I shall know how " true or false my dream is." — " Dec. 25. Christmas-day. Charles " Prince Elector received the communion with the King at Whitehall. " He kneeled a little beside on the left hand. He sat, before the com- " munion, on a stool by the wall before the traverse, and had another " stool and a cushion before him to kneel at." See Rushworth's Col lections, vol. ii. passim. These private effusions of a weak and super stitious mind, are interspersed with bald and scanty notices of the most important political events of the time. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 27 been a discerner and supporter of merit; and it must chap. ever redound to his honour to have been the early l patron of Jeremy Taylor, and of Edward Hyde. i63s From Hyde, who speaks of his early benefactor 1640. with the venial partiality of a grateful recollection, it was not likely that an unfavourable impression should be conveyed to us. But an apologetical tone is observable in his language, which indicates that he was aware of the faults of Laud, to a greater extent than he was willing to admit. He studiously advances for him that trite excuse — the want of an adviser. " If," he says, " the " Archbishop had had any true friend, who would, " in proper seasons, have dealt frankly with him " in the most important matters, and wherein the " errors were like to be most penal, he would not " only have received it very well, but have profited " himself by it. But it is the misfortune of most " persons of that education (how worthy soever), " that they have rarely friendships with men above " their own condition ; and that their ascent being " commonly sudden, from low to high, they have " afterwards rather dependants than friends, and "are still deceived by keeping somewhat in re- " serve to themselves, even from those with whom " they seem most openly to communicate ; and, " which is worse, receive, for the most part, their " informations and advertisements from clergymen, "(who understand the least, and take the worst,'' " measure of human affairs, of all mankind that can j "read and write."* Again, Hyde states, that * Life of Clarendon, i. 74. to 1640, 28 THE LIFE OF Laud's greatest want was " of a true friend, who would seasonably have told him of his infirm- 1635 " ites ; " and such a friend, Hyde tells us, he endeavoured to be, as much as the difference of station permitted. He effected a reconciliation between the Archbishop and Lord Hertford ; re presented to him freely the causes of his unpopu larity ; and scrupled not, on one occasion, to tell him explicitly the dissatisfaction produced, by his uncourteous treatment of two country gentlemen, during their attendance at the Council Board, and subsequent interview with the Archishop at Lam beth. Laud had the wisdom to take these remon strances in good part ; and they did not impair the friendliness of his reception, and the unreserved- ness of his intercourse with Hyde. It is probable that intimacy with this prelate tended to implant more firmly in the mind of Hyde, those principles of attachment to the forms and privileges of the episcopal establishment, which were so strongly displayed in his subsequent career ; and have rendered his memory peculiarly dear to the High-church party of succeeding times. But the influence of an associate upon feelings and opinions is not often susceptible of proof, and is rarely ad mitted by the individual influenced. The influence of such intimacy upon the fortunes of Hyde, is a matter of fact which he has admitted freely. At a time when great importance was reasonably attached to protection by men in power, the favour of Laud obtained for Hyde a degree of consideration among the members of his profession, which unassisted EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 29 merit could not have secured. His practice in- chap. creased to the full extent of his wishes. He had an , estate, the income of which, added to his profes- 1635 sional gains, enabled him not only to lead " a plea- i64o. " sant and a plentiful life, living much above the " rank of those lawyers whose business was only to " be rich ; " but also to augment his property by the purchase of adjoining lands. He was diligent in his profession, but not its slave ; and he was ever careful to devote some portion of his time to the cultivation of literature, and the society of his many valuable friends. To these objects he wholly devoted the vacations, whether in London, or at his house in the country, where, exercising a wise hospitality, he usually spent two months in the summer. He never " rode " the circuits ; an omission which he seems to have regretted, both because it would have improved his acquaintance with various classes of his countrymen, and because " there is a very " good and necessary part of learning in the law, " which is not so easily got any other way." In the daily distribution of his time, he devoted Distribu- the forenoon to the business of the courts. The £n3e°f his time of dinner (which, unlike other students, he very seldom ate in the Hall), he contrived to spend in the society of chosen friends. He dedicated the afternoons to taking instructions, and to other professional business. He abstained from supper (the most festive meal of that period), that he might rise earlier, and have more time at night to * Life of Clarendon, i. 32. 30 THE LIFE OF chap, be disposed of as he pleased ; and the time so . gained, he usually applied to the acquisition of 1635 general knowledge. i64o. Thus prosperously and tranquilly passed five years of Hyde's life — years which, in his latter days, after having reached the highest pinnacle of mini sterial power, he could regard with gratefulness and regret, as among the happiest he had ever known. There was, indeed, a cloud on the political horizon, discernible by anxious eyes ; but, if observed, it had excited no apprehension in the mind of Hyde. In the hopefulness of active and sanguine youth, in the prime of life, in the full vigour of his bodily health and mental powers, reasonably confident in his ability to rise, with a well-assured and pro gressive success in his profession, happy in his domestic circumstances, " with an excellent wife, " who perfectly resigned herself to him, and who "then had brought him, before any troubles in " the kingdom, three sons and a daughter, which "he then and ever looked upon as his greatest "blessing and consolation*," — with such ingre dients of contentment, it is not surprising that he should have looked forward upon the coming storm with cheerful presages of a fortunate issue ; and that he should have been little sensible of the existence of grievances, which left unimpaired his own prosperity. In the glowing picture which, as an historian, he afterwards drew, he employed colours too much drawn from his own recollections of ease and contentment. Yet, in the general * Life of Clarendon, i. 75. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 31 aspect of affairs, there was much that might justify the terms in which he spoke of the prosperity enjoyed by England in 1639. It was true that the Continent of Europe was a scene of trouble and dissension, while England enjoyed comparative repose. The historian could say with truth, that the dominions of the King of England were " every day enlarged by sending out colonies " upon large and fruitful plantations ; his strong " fleets commanding all seas, and the numerous " shipping of the nation bringing the trade of the " world into his ports." * Some of our most im portant settlements in North America and the West Indies had been recently established. Great trading companies — the East Indian, the Levant, and others— had risen, since the commencement of the 17th century. Under the fostering influence of a long peace, all the elements of national wealth had been more than usually developed. Trade had thriven ; foreign commerce had been ex tended ; the customs had been doubled since the accession of James ; the manufacturing interest was more prosperous than at any former period ; agriculture also flourished; rents had risen, and large tracts were taken into cultivation ; popu lation was rapidly advancing ; there was an evident increase of expenditure in luxuries, and especially of that kind which would most attract the eye of the observer — in magnificence of dwellings, and in sumptuousness of apparel. There was a fair out ward show ; and thus " many," says May, " looking * Life of Clarendon, i. 80.- to 1640. 32 THE LIFE OF chap. " no further than their present safety and pros- 1 __/ "perity, and the yet undisturbed peace of the 1635 " nation, whilst other kingdoms were embroyled in " calamities, and Germany sorely wasted by a " sharpe warre, did nothing but applaud the hap- " piness of England." * Let us not be surprised at the co-existence of prosperity and discontent. Poverty may be the nurse of rebellion, but rebellion may be also fostered in the lap of wealth. A poor country is not necessarily disturbed, nor a rich one tranquil. Other elements are more influential than the abun dance or the deficiency of wealth. It is the want of congruity between the institutions of a country and the condition of the people, which is the most powerful cause of political convulsion. Fearful is the condition of a country which outgrows its institutions — in which they are not accommodated to its progressive advancement — in which there is an increase of intelligence and wealth, with no corresponding relaxation of oppressive restrictions. Then may prosperity be the nurse of rebellion ; and the expansive power of intelligence and wealth will break the shackles, which could be safely im posed on an unenlightened and impoverished people. It was even so in the reign of Charles. Peace, and the recent developement of a wider field of commercial enterprise, had furnished re sources, for the improvement of which the people were indebted only to their own native spirit of industry and adventure. The prosperity which * May's History of the Parliament, p. 12. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 33 they enjoyed, was not attributable to any measure chap. emanating directly from royal authority ; and an . ' , increased intelligence, and livelier sense of their 1635 rights and interests, spread far and wide the irri- 16^o. fating knowledge, how much the progress of their prosperity was, in fact, retarded by that authority, and by some of the institutions they had been taught to revere. They had advanced in self- respect, and in consciousness of their own power : as little could it be expected that, with such in creasing consciousness, they would cease to mur mur, as that the steed, when pampered, should be less impatient of the galling curb. vol. 1. b 34 THE LIFE OF CHAP. II. POLITICAL RETROSPECT. CAUSES OF DISAFFECTION. — TROUBLES IN SCOTLAND. — A PARLIAMENT SUMMONED. — ITS CHARACTER. — DEBATES ON THE KING'S MESSAGE; — HYDE AND HAMPDEN OPPOSED TO EACH OTHER. DISSO LUTION OF PARLIAMENT. — HYDE'S INTERVIEW WITH LAUD. HYDE'S PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. MOTION RE' SPECTING THE EARL MARSHALL'S COURT. — INDEPENDENT SPIRIT EVINCED BY HYDE. ARBITRARY PROCEEDINGS AFTER THE DISSOLUTION. SECOND WAR WITH SCOTLAND* TREATY OF RIPON. PARLIAMENT CONVENED. 1640. CHAP. II. Political retrospect. In the spring of 1640, Hyde first entered the turbulent arena of political life. Writs were issued for a parliament ; and he was elected both for Shaftesbury and for Wootton Basset, for the latter of which he chose to serve.* Before the proceedings of this parliament are described, let us consider the circumstances under which it met, and how those circumstances were likely to affect it ; what frame of mind, what hopes, what fears, what amount of confidence in the mo deration and sincerity of the King, might be ex pected to prevail in that assembly. As the power of dissolution is one of the most important engines in the armoury of the preroga tive, so should it have been used with a discretion * Commons' Journals, April 16. 1640. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON, 35 and moderation commensurate with its force. But because it was an effective weapon, and a glaring exercise of irresponsible privilege, Charles I. was the more encouraged to employ it rashly. Three parliaments had been already holden since his ac cession ; and he had dissolved them all after short sessions, and with indications of his displeasure. The second parliament was dismissed with indig nity, and after an indecent ebullition of anger ; — " Not a moment longer," was the King's reply to a petition from the Lords, that the two houses might be allowed, for some little time longer, to continue their sittings. " No man," says Lord Clarendon, " can show me a source, from whence these waters " of bitterness we now taste have more probably " flowed, than from these unseasonable, unskilful, " and precipitate dissolutions of parliaments." * Before the dismissal of the second parliament, the Commons received a threatening message, that if they did not vote the required supplies, the King would try " new counsels," — words which, as ex plained by the vice-chamberlain, Sir Dudley Carle- ton, meant nothing less than the overthrow of parlia ments. The practical result of these, " new coun- " sels" soon appeared. A general loan was de manded, and commissioners were appointed to levy it, armed with inquisitorial powers of examining, on oath, whoever might refuse to lend. Many refused; and, in defiance of an article of Magna Charta, and six several unrepealed statutes, they were commit ted to prison, solely by command of the King and * Clar. Hist. Reb. i. 7. D 2 36 THE LIFE OF chap, council, without assignment of cause. Another , oppressive expedient was the billeting of soldiers on private houses ; and this was inflicted with most severity on those who had refused the loan.* But tyranny is bad stewardship ; and the forced loan brought little to the exchequer. Accordingly, a commission was appointed to devise other measures for levying money without consent of parliament ; in which commission it was expressly stated, that " form and circumstance must be dispensed with, " rather than the substance be lost or hazarded." Though this commission was established, with the evident view of rendering parliaments eventually useless, it was still found impossible to dispense with them immediately ; and about the time of the appointment of that commission, writs for a third parliament were issued. The session was opened with reiterated threats. The King told the Commons, that if they should not do their duties, in contributing to the ne cessities of the state, he must use " those other means which God had put into his hands t ;" and the Lord Keeper added, that " this way of par- " liamentary supplies" was chosen by his Majesty, * Rushworth speaks in strong terms of the oppressive severity of this infliction: — " The soldiers brake out in great disorders: they " mastered the people, disturbed the peace of families, and the civil !' government of the land. There were frequent robberies, burglaries, ^ rapes, rapines, murthers, and barbarous cruelties. Unto some places " they were sent for a punishment; and wherever they came, there was a general outcry. The highways were dangerous, and the markets unfrequented. They were a terror to all, undoing to many." Rushworth, 1. 420. He also mentions a still more flagrant piece of tyranny. Some persons having refused to lend, " the council directed ^ their warrant to the commissioners of the navy, to impress these men to serve in the ships ready to go out in his Majesty's service." i. 422. f Rushworth, i. 477. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 37 " not as the only way — not because he is desti- chap. " tute of others;" and that, " if this be deferred, < " necessity and the sword of the enemy will " make way for the others." And in conclusion, he charged them, in a threatening tone, to " re- " member his Majesty's admonition." * This " ad- " monition" was received by the Commons in a manner worthy of our highest praise. They were neither terrified into submission, nor irritated into violence ; and while they voted a liberal supply for the service of the state, they framed and pre sented the Petition of Right — that second great charter of the liberties of England. The wrongs complained of in the Petition of Right were, — 1. Forced loans in defiance of sta tutes of Edward I. and Edward III. 2. Impri sonment without cause shown, solely by com mand of King and council, in defiance of Magna Charta, and the 28th of Edward III. 3. Billet ing of soldiers and mariners in private houses, against law and custom. 4. Appointment of com missioners to try and punish civil offences by martial law, in defiance of 25 Edward III., and other statutes. The King, who at first returned an evasive answer to the prayer for redress of these abuses, at length reluctantly consented; and the Petition became law. From that time forward, no specious precedents, drawn from the practice of previous reigns, could justify Charles in infringing the rights secured by this Petition. It had become a solemn compact between him and his * Rushworth, i. 479. D 3 38 THE LIFE OF chap, people ; and as such he was bound to regard it. By , IL , this act he was solemnly bound to levy no loan or tax but by consent of parliament ; to imprison no person but by legal process ; to quarter no soldiers on the people ; and to try no offences by martial law. The country had thus obtained from the King an important charter. They now wanted only the assurance that it would not be violated. But their hopes were chilled by early signs of insincerity and deceit. Copies of the Petition were circulated by authority, to which were annexed, not the King's final assent, but his first ambiguous answer.* The dissolution of the parliament was hastily and angrily enforced, because the commons refused to vote tonnage and poundage for more than a year, and had framed a remonstrance against the levy of that duty without their consent. Immediately after wards, the privileges of parliament were grossly vio lated in the conviction and punishment, by fine and imprisonment, of Eliot, Holies, and Valentine, for words uttered in the House of Commons.t These were measures which confirmed suspicion of the continuance of arbitrary intentions. And if these acts failed to alarm men's minds, the words of Heath, the Attorney-General t, sufficed to shake the confidence of the most sanguine. He said the Petition of Right was " no law ;" that it was " the " duty of the people not to stretch it beyond the " words and intention of the King ; " that it is only " a confirmation of our ancient liberties ; " and that * Pari. Hist. viii. 333. + Ibid. viii. 376. X Rushworth, i. Appendix, 39, 40. disaffection. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 39 with respect to arbitrary imprisonment, " the case " remains in the same quality and degree as it was " before the Petition." Words like these, from such a quarter, might teach men to fear that this " confirmation of our liberties " would not long prevail against the prerogative of the Crown. Nor was expectation deceived. For eleven years there was no parliament ; and the history of those years is replete with evasions and violations of that char ter, which the last parliament had bequeathed to the nation. Charles, set free by the dissolution from un- Causes of welcome restraint, intimated, in more than one proclamation, that it would be long ere he should summon a parliament again, — a declaration which, says Clarendon, " afflicted many good men," and made them believe there was an intention to alter the form of government, both in church and state, " of which," said they, " a greater instance cannot " be given, than this public declaration that we " shall have no more parliaments." * Such being, then, the determination of Charles, it became his first study to adopt means for raising a revenue, without the assistance of the House of Commons. Recourse was had to numerous exactions — some founded on obsolete laws, some of questionable le gality, some unquestionably illegal ; " supplemental "acts of state were made to supply the defect of " laws ; obsolete laws were revived and rigorously " executed, wherein the subject might be taught " how unthrifty a thing it was, by too strict a detain- * Clarendon, Hist. Reb. i. 118. D 4 40 THE LIFE OF chap. " ing of what was his, to put the King as strictly to . ' , " inquire what was his own." * Among these new exactions, was composition for knighthood, founded onalaw of Edward II., almost obsolete, requiring ser vice from all holders of land of above 20/. per annum. Much money was exacted by a commission granted for compounding with the possessors of crown- lands upon defective titles. The forest laws were rendered a means of oppression ; the boundaries of the King's forests exorbitantly extended, and en croachments punished by enormous fines, t Mono polies X were a still more extensive source of profit. * Clar. Hist. Reb. i. 119. t " The justice seat in Essex hath been kept this Easter week,'' writes Garrard, a correspondent of Lord Strafford, " and all Essex is " become forest." The bounds of Rockingham forest, as we are told by the same informant, were increased from six miles to sixty, under the jurisdiction of the justice in eyre assisted by five of the judges ; and the following were among the fines inflicted ; — on Lord Salisbury, 20,000/.; Lord Westmoreland, 19,000/. ; and Sir C. Hatton, 12,000/. ; besides a great many of smaller amount. Nor were the poor spared. There was '• a commission in execution against cottagers who have not four " acres of ground laid to their houses, upon a statute made 31 Eliz., " which vexeth the poor people mightily." See Strafford's Letters, i. 335. 413. 467. ii. 117. " Another advice was given," says Rush- worth, " to raise a revenue for the King, by granting of commissions " under the great seal for offenders to compound ; and the better to " effect the same, some examples were made by sentence in the High " Court of Starchamber against several persons to pay great fines, as for " depopulations, nuisances in building between high and low water " mark, for pretended encroachments upon the forests, with other " things of that nature ; and accordingly commissions were issued out, " and offenders in that kind did compound, which brought in a con- " siderable revenue." Rushworth, preface to vol. ii. It is said by the same writer, to have been alleged, that by undue returns procured'from jurors, who were threatened in order to make them give a verdict for the crown, the bounds of forests were exorbitantly extended, in defiance of usage of more than 300 years. By these corrupt means many were adjudged to pay ruinous fines, or be ejected from their homes and estates. t This grievance was thus attacked in a speech in parliament by Sir John Colepepper : — " I have but one grievance to offer to you ; " but this one compriseth many. It is a nest of wasps, a swarm of " vermin which have overcrept the land — I mean the monopolies and " pollers of the people. These, like the frogs of Egypt, have gotten II. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 41 Chartered companies were established with exclu- chap, sive privileges, for which they paid largely to the exchequer. The soap-makers alone paid 10,000/. for their charter, besides 8/. for every ton of soap. Wine, starch, coal, leather, salt, and most of the commonest necessaries of life, were placed under monopoly. Tonnage and poundage were levied by royal authority, in defiance of parliament. Ship- money was levied in inland counties, — an exaction notorious beyond all others, from the memorable resistance offered by Hampden. There was another mode of exaction still more in dicative of the arbitrary spirit of those times, and more dangerous to the liberty of the subject — it was the employment of proclamations. James had en- deavoured\ to govern by proclamations. The Com mons, in 1610, had remonstrated: and the Judges (among whom was Coke) had resolved that the King cannot, by proclamation, make that an offence which was not one before; nor, if an offence be not already punishable by the Starchamber, can proclamation make it punishable. Nevertheless, in defiance of this decision, proclamations were multiplied under the reign of Charles. They assumed a power of interference, grievously vexatious, and apparently unlimited. They prohibited importations — regu lated manufactures — fixed the prices of marketable " possession of our dwellings ; and we have scarce a room free from " them. They sup in our cup — they dip in our dish — they sit by our " fire. We find them in the dye-vat, wash-bowl, and powdering tub. " They share with the butler in his box. They have marked and sealed " us from head to foot. They will not bate us a pin. We may not " buy our own clothes without their brokage." Rushworth ,iii. 917. 42 THE LIFE OF goods — prevented the exercise of trade, except under specified conditions — forbade the erection of houses in London — enforced residence in the coun try. These and other acts, not punishable by law, were rendered by proclamation matter of of fence, and as such punished by the Starchamber, and sometimes visited with heavy fines. One hun dred and sixty-seven persons were proceeded against for disobeying the proclamation enforcing residence in the country.* One Hillyard was fined 5000^. for selling saltpetre contrary to proclamation. A merchant, named Chambers, was fined 2000/., and imprisoned, for having said that " the merchants " of England were as much screwed up as in Tur- "key." Sir David Foulis was fined 5000/. for words derogatory to Lord Wentworth, and for disi suading a friend from compounding for knight hood, t A fine of 8000/. was imposed for saying that a certain nobleman was " a base lord." Wil liams, Bishop of Lincoln, incurring the enmity of Laud, was fined to the like amount for having re ceived letters, which he did not publish, but care fully concealed, containing expressions offensive to the Archbishop. These are but a few cases ex tracted, as specimens, from a long list of similar oppressions, under the extended jurisdiction of the insatiable Starchamber. Some arbitrary acts were committed, which had not for their object the exaction of money. The sacredness of freehold property was not respected ; and houses, in the vici nity of St. Paul's, were pulled down by order of the * Rushworth, ii. 144. + Ibid. ii. 215. et seq. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 43 Privy Council. The dwellings of two celebrated chap. men, Sir Edward Coke and Sir Robert Cotton, ¦ were entered by order of the same council, and their papers searched and seized. Libel was pu nished with unprecedented severity. The case of Prynne has been already mentioned ; and to this may be added the aggravated cruelties inflicted on Burton, Bastwick *, Leighton, and Lilburne. Other instances may be cited. But it is unne cessary to augment our proofs. In each separate species of oppression, one single case of successful tyranny sufficiently demonstrates that, in that re spect, the liberty of the subject was insecure. If oppression is possible, liberty is wounded. True liberty demands exemption, not only from injury, but from fear. If an act of severity is so effectual as to terrify the people into universal compliance, and to render other acts of severity unnecessary, surely a government is not to be deemed less tyran nical, because its aggression has been crowned with success. There were many instances, during the reign of Charles, in which oppression secured com pliance — in which the individual sufferer was the representative of a numerous class — and the liberty * " Some few days after the end of the term, in the Palace-yard two " pillories were erected ; and there the sentence of the Starchamber " against Burton, Bastwick, and Prynne was executed. They stood " two hours in the pillory ; Burton by himself, being degraded by the " High Commission Court three days before. The place was full of " people, who cried and howled terribly ; especially when Burton was " cropt. Dr. Bastwick was very merry. His wife, Dr. Poe's daughter, " got a stool and kissed him. His ears being cut off, she called for " them, and put them in a clean handkerchief, and carried them away " with her. Bastwick told the people the Lords had collar days at " court, but this was his collar day." Strafford's Letters, ii. 85. 44 THE LIFE OF violated in his single case affected also the liberty of thousands. When Sir Anthony Roper was find 4000/. for depopulation, above 700 others were ter rified into compounding, and above 30,000/. was brought into the exchequer. When Moore was fined, and his house pulled down, many other house holders, terrified by the example, were glad to com pound at the rate of three years' rent, as a means of saving the whole of their property ; and 100,000/. was the amount of the spoil. When Maleverer incurred severe losses, in consequence of alleged re missness in satisfying the demand of knighthood money, the punishment operated as a warning to thousands. The system of proclamation spread a wider and a direr warning. It indicated a settled purpose to substitute the force of arbitrary will in the place of established law. If ordinances affecting the interest of the subject might emanate uncon trolled from the caprice of the sovereign, and have the force of legislative acts, it plainly followed that the liberties of the people depended solely on the pleasure of the Crown. We have seen how fre quently illegal ordinances were vexatiously enforced. But, if such instances had not occurred, the possi bility of such occurrence would have been a legi timate subject of complaint. The people, even if not oppressed by the actual exercise of such irre sponsible power, were not bound to be satisfied with the fortunate accident of a ruler too mild or too timid to exert it. Never had the people of England, in so advanced a state of civilisation, been subject to an oppression EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 45 so general, so odious, solittle redeemed by aught that chap. could either flatter the riation, or even conciliate a ¦ particular class. No one powerful party was engaged to lend its aid for the subjugation of the rest. No class was warmed towards a government which op pressed the great because they were wealthy, and the poor because they were weak. A dazzling tyranny can plunder its subjects — a thrifty tyranny can en slave them ; but no tyranny can long do both. Un der the Tudors, there was much violent exercise of despotic power ; but, in the reign of Henry VIII., the press was in its infancy, and the bulk of the peo ple were little advanced in that knowledge which gives the will and the power to resist : and the arbi trary Elizabeth, by her glorious championship of the cause of Protestantism, her brave defiance of foreign foes, and her wise and frugal administration, had flat tered the nationalpride, andconciliatedthe affections of her people. If Hume's hypothesis be granted, that the tyranny of the Tudors was as severe as that of Charles, it must be remembered that," in the latter case, there was no glittering compensation. Instead of the victory of Flodden, there was the route at Newburn ; instead of the defeat of the Ar mada, there was the fruitless expedition to Rochelle. Instead of that popular and lion-hearted princess, whose very failings were imposing, the possessor of the throne was one eminently unskilled in the arts of popularity. His speech was hesitating — his manner was repulsive. He was, as we are told by an acute observer, " most imperious to those who ad- " dressed him with most humility — had much of 46 THE LIFE OF II. chap. « self-ends in all that he did ; and a most difficult " thing it was to hold him close to his own pro- " mise." * " He received persons," says a friendly historian, " with such an air of coldness, that it " looked like contempt. He was ungracious even " in conferring favours ; " and " few persons, with all " the vices in nature in their composition, ever cre- " ated to themslves so many personal enemies." t Meanwhile the means of Charles were feeble, compared with the magnitude and difficulty of the objects he pursued. His best auxiliary was Strafford, who, from the moment he became a minister of the Crown, had employed the resources of his vast ability to confirm that power which he had, thenceforward, identified with his own. Endowed with talents of the first order, he was a mighty power in himself. But Strafford stood almost alone — hated by the aris tocracy, who were jealous of his elevation — by the Queen, who was jealous of his influence with Charles — and by the rest of the court, whom he frequently affronted by his contemptuous bluntness. Neither the aristocracy, the gentry, the merchants, nor the yeomen, were interested, as a class, in supporting the prerogative. The majority of each, if not inimical, were at least indifferent. The clergy alone, led on by Laud, appeared, as a body, to sympathise with the Crown. But the Church, while it sought strength from royalty, afforded none. It only swelled, by its pretensions, the number of malcontents, and aggra- * Lilly's Memoirs, in Maseres' Tracts, i. 143. t Carte's Life of Ormonde, i. 357. See also Bishop Burnet's cha racter of Charles I. Burnet's Own Times, i. 81. 517. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 47 vated their stubbornness by the addition of sectarian chap. zeal. It gave a religious character to the contest. , It afforded to the disaffection of the nonconformist a higher motive than pecuniary grievance. The bench was submissive ; and an assumption of legal forms was, for a while, the most effectual device by which that reverence for law and order, which cha racterises the English people, was made an instru ment for their subjugation. Under such auspices, and with such appliances, was pursued a system of comprehensive and mani fold oppression, menacing all persons, sapping all rights, annulling immunities deemed indefeasible, breaking promises deemed inviolable — a tyranny of spies and tax-gatherers, carrying its vexations into every household, and poisoning the daily comforts of the people, thwarting their occupations, de spoiling their property, meddling with their trade ; yet, because this tyranny was not sanguinary — be cause it fined, maimed, imprisoned, but did not kill — we are told to wonder that the people should rebel. For a long period all was tranquil. Tyranny had not obliterated the prosperity which peace had fostered ; and the strong arm of authority subdued the country into a semblance of contentment. These delusive appearances were most strongly exhibited, in ecclesiastical affairs. The vigilant Laud, on the 10th of February, 1640, presented to the King a report of the state of the province of Canterbury in 1639, from which it appeared that, with trifling exceptions, conformity was successfully II 48 THE LIFE OF chap. ..enforced.* This report is an instructive document, if we view it in connection with subsequent events. Within a year from the time when this letter was signed, Laud was in prison under an impeachment for high treason. Within two years and a month, the King had assented to the exclusion of the bishops from the House of Lords. Such is the value of that fancied security which is created by the enforcement of tests, and by stifling the ex pression of public opinion ! This it is to impose silence, and call it acquiescence — to fancy that discontent has ceased, because no murmurs are suffered to be heard. The smooth green surface of the morass is not more dangerous to the wan dering horseman, than is the dissimulation of se cret hate to the administrators of arbitrary power. Dreadful indeed is the situation of a government, which, by the agency of terror, has extinguished that expression of truth which it must eventually require for its own guidance — which stands, like a blinded Cyclops, in the midst of foes weak indivi dually, but strong in union, watchfulness, and in telligence — which knows not that the sympathies of a common fear and common hatred have found a language of looks and signs, inscrutable to the op pressor, but full of eloquence to the oppressed. The elements of political discord, which had so long been silently accumulating, at length exploded in the north. The first overt act of resistance was * This remarkable letter, signed by Laud, and apostyled by Charles I, *?Ml ¦ ™thTs,m,lar reP°«s for several antecedent years, is among the MSS. in the Lambeth Library. Troubles in Scotland. 1637. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 49 in Scotland, caused by interference with the church- worship of that kingdom, and a blind dis regard of the religious feelings of the people. In 1637, a book of Liturgy was sent to Scotland, with a command from the King, that it should be publicly read in all the churches. This proposed measure was known to be unpopular ; and the result was such as ordinary foresight ought to have antici pated. The obnoxious service, when first performed in the Grey Friar's Church at Edinburgh, was in- July 23 terrupted by a riot which endangered the person of the presiding Bishop. Petitions, supported by the representations of the Scotch Privy Council, were presented against the Liturgy ; to which the King replied by an angry reproof, — by insisting on its observance — and by issuing proclamations, ordering all non-residents to quit Edinburgh, and removing the courts of justice to Linlithgow and Stirling. This only added fuel to the flame. New tumults arose, not confined, as before, to the lowest of the populace : new assemblages took place, stronger both in respectability and in numbers. A political association was formed, called " the tables," consisting of representatives, (or, as they were termed, "commissioners,") chosen by the nobility, the gentry, the burgesses, and the clergy, to whom was committed the task of opposing the Liturgy and accusing the Bishops. But neither this formidable combination, nor the representations of Traquair, who had repaired to London, could shake the characteristic obstinacy of Charles. He committed to Traquair another vol. 1. E 1638. 50 THE LIFE OF proclamation, framed in the same inflexible spirit, to be published by that minister on his return to Scotland. Against this proclamation, the commis sioners formally protested ; and, stimulated to fur ther displays of energy by these repeated proofs of March i. the King's stubbornness, they renewed the National Covenant, which was subscribed by almost all the Protestants of Scotland, before the end of April, 1638. The King attempted to negotiate with the Covenanters, now too formidable to be despised, and secretly encouraged by the machinations of Riche lieu* ; and for 'this purpose he sent down the Mar quess of Hamilton as commissioner to the Scotch capital, where he was received by an escort of the people, of which the numbers and array, under the guise of compliment, conveyed a menace. Had the commissioner been sent in the spirit of accom modation or of fairness, there might have been hope. But Charles sought to amuse the Scotch by a protracted and deceitful negotiation, till he was ready to coerce them by military force. In- * The origin of Richelieu's secret negotiations with the Scotch mal contents is related by D'Estrades, who was sent by Richelieu, in Nov. 1637, to London, to obtain Charles's neutrality in the event of the sea-ports of Flanders being attacked by France. The neutrality was re fused, and D'Estrades coldly received; whereupon D'Estrades, in a letter to Richelieu, dated Nov. 24. 1637, informs him of two convers ations he has had " avec un ministre d'Ecosse appelld Mobel, et un " seigneur nomme Gourdon ; " who speak of the disaffection of the Scotch, and tell him that " l'Ecosse s'accommodera avec les mecontents " d'Angleterre." Lettres d'Estrades.i. 8, 9." " Je profiterai de l'avis que " vous me donnez pour l'Ecosse," replied Richelieu, in a letter of Dec. 2. 1637, " et ferai partir l'Abbe Chambre mon aumonier, qui est " Ecossois de nation, pour aller a Edimbourg attendre les deux per- " sonnes que vous me nommez, pour lier quelque negotiation avec eux. " L'annee ne se passera pas, que le Roi et la Reine d'Angleterre ne se " repentent d'avoir refuse les offres que vous leur avez faites de la part " du Roi." Lettres d'Estrades, i. 10. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 51 creased dissatisfaction was the result ; and Hamil- chap. ton returned, to report the more exasperated state of ( "• those whom he had been sent to pacify, and that if the King refused to summon an assembly, it would be held in spite of him, by [the authority inherent in the Scottish church. Hamilton re turned instructed to summon an assembly, but with limitations inconsistent with its freedom. This was rejected ; and after another mission of remonstrance, Charles, fearing to resist longer, at length granted conditions which, at an earlier pe riod, might have proved satisfactory. An assembly and a parliament were convened — the articles of Perth were suspended — the liturgy, canons, and high commissions were recalled. But deceit was mingled with these concessions ; and the King ambiguously engaged to maintain religion as then professed. The promised assembly was held at Nov. 21. Glasgow ; but scarcely had it met, and proceeded to prefer its accusations against the prelates, when the commissioner, who had been secretly instructed to foment divisions between the laity and clergy, of whom the assembly was composed, finding these treacherous means would not suffice to nullify its proceedings, in pursuance of his further in structions, did not scruple to dissolve it. The assembly refused to acknowledge the disso lution ; continued to sit in defiance of the Crown ; and, before the close of the session, declared null and void all acts of assembly since the accession of James to the throne of England, and all acts of par liament affecting the affairs of the church; and voted E 2 52 THE LIFE OF chap, the abolition of Episcopacy, of the five articles of , IL , Perth, the liturgy, the book of canons, the high commission, and whatever else had crept into the church since the year 1580. These vigorous mea sures were followed by an address to the people of England, " to vindicate their actions and intentions " from the aspersions which enemies might throw " upon them." The King replied angrily; and the Covenanters prepared for war. They were declared rebels ; and in May, 1639, the King in person, with an army of more than 20,000 men, arrived at Berwick to chastise them. The impotent conclusion of this formidable measure was the pacification at Berwick of the 18th of June. Each party was bound to withdraw and disband its troops ; and the Cove nanters obtained that a new assembly and a par liament should be called. The assembly met, and confirmed the acts of the assembly of Glasgow. The parliament also met, and was proceeding to ratify the acts of the assembly, when Charles suddenly prorogued it. His conduct had been marked by the grossest duplicity. With the performance of almost every condition, some reservation had been artfully mingled ; and now, after having excited contempt by evasions and submissions, he irritated by a mea sure of uncompromising violence. It was a specimen of that conduct which sadly characterised his whole career. There was an under-current of duplicity, and, on the surface, alternate concession and me nace ; but it was tardy concession which obtained no gratitude, and empty menace inspiring more of anger than of fear. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 53 This impolitic prorogation produced a renewal of chap. war. Charles was in no condition to resume hosti- , lities. A secret negotiation to obtain a force of 10,000 men from Flanders, had failed. To raise troops at home became every day more difficult. Discontents increased : and there was reason to fear (as Lord Northumberland wrote to Strafford) that a great part of the English people " would be readier " to join with the Scots, than to draw their swords " in the King's service." * We learn from the same authority, that the treasury was bankrupt. There was only 200/. in the Exchequer ; nor could more than 110,000/. be raised. The city of London evaded the demand of a loan.t Ship-money, in spite of the decision of the Judges in favour of its legality, was collected with difficulty, and was resisted by men of rank and fortune. Compositions from re cusants came in slowly : and, " for other means of " raising monies," writes Secretary Windebank to the King at Berwick, " the Lord Treasurer and " Lord Cottington assured that your Majesty had " searched every corner from whence any proba- " bility of money could be procured, before your " departure." X Such was the distress which, having impelled Charles to the pacification at Berwick, obliged him subsequently to have recourse to par- * Strafford's Letters, ii. 186. f The attempt to obtain voluntary contributions from the gentry was signally unsuccessful. Nalson (i. 202.) gives a list of payments, promises, and excuses : 19 contributors paid 770/. ; 18 others promised to the amount of 620/. ; while 43 persons excused themselves as having paid in other ways; and in only twelve counties, not less than 174 appear to have declined to contribute without assigning any reason. J Clar. State Papers, ii. 46. E 3 II. 54 THE LIFE OF liament. How he abhorred and dreaded this sole remaining means of succour, we learn from the tes timonies of Cottington and Windebank. We are told by the latter *, that six weeks were passed by Charles in continual consultations with a secret committee of some of his Council (of whom Winde bank was one); that the result of their consultations had been afterwards referred to the whole Council, and they unanimously voted that the best way of sup ply " was the ordinary, by parliament; " yet, "be- " fore his Majesty would declare his resolution for " this way, he was pleased to put another question " to the Board; — whether, if the parliament should " prove as untoward as some have lately been, the " Lords would not then assist him in such extraor- " dinary ways in this extremity as should bethought " fitt; " — and it was only on obtaining a favourable answer to this question, that, in December, 1639, a pariia. the King consented to summon a parliament in the mentsum- . ., L moned. ensuing April. Apnl 13. rphg parljament wag 0penec[ on tfje 13tn Qf ^pri!, by the King in person, who, after laconically saying, " There never was a king that had more great and " weighty causes to call his people together!," de sired attention to the speech delivered by the Lord Keeper Finch. In this speech was contained a partial exposition of the dissensions with Scotland ; a request for such subsidies as the Commons " shall " think fit and convenient ; " and a declaration that the King has taken tonnage and poundage " only de * Clar. State Papers, ii. 81. + iDi 1168- VOL. I. F 66 THE LIFE OF 1640. Second war with Scotland. merchants, was extorted under the name of a loan. All the pepper in the Exchange was bought up on credit, and sold again for ready money. It was also proposed to raise money by an extensive issue of base coin.* We are told that the King succeeded in borrowing 300,000/. voluntarily contributed by his ministers and others of the Court party ; which, if true, renders the above-mentioned exactions still less excusable. Meanwhile disaffection was increasing. The dissolution of parliament had created general dis gust. " So general a defection in this kingdom," said Lord Northumberland, in a letter of the 4th of June, " hath not been known in the memory " of any." t Many of the English troops were mutinous: some had even murdered their officers.:): The Scotch, at the same time, were confident and united. They had an army in the field earlier than the King's; and when, in August, he marched northward, they advanced into England to meet him. The ignominy of the first Scotch war had been great, but greater still was the ignominy of the second. It was more inglorious in its conduct, and more disastrous in its close. Before the ar rival of the King and his army, a detachment of between 4000 and 5000 men under Lord Conway had been defeated by the Scotch at Newburn. § August 28. There ensued " that infamous irreparable rout," as * May says it was proposed to issue base money to the amount of 400.000/. (May 42.) The proposition was discussed in council. In Nalson s Coll. 1. 392., is given at length a speech of Sir T. Rowe, in July, 1640, before the Council, on this subject. f Sidney Papers, ii. 654. J May's Hist. Pari. 42. § Heath s Chronicle, 13. Whitelocke, 35. Clar. Hist. Reb. i. 253 —857. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 67 it is justly termed by Clarendon, which would be chap. the most disgraceful in our military annals, if this . shameful flight had been the result of cowardice. 1640. Clarendon imputes treachery to Lord Conway ; but the general disaffection which prevailed, added to the ill-appointed and destitute state of the army *, are sufficient to account for the defeat which qpcurred. The English troops fled at the first onset of the Scotch ; and the latter, craftily continuing to profess that they had no other in tention than, in all loyalty and submission, to lay their humble representations at their sovereign's feet, pursued their course towards the head-quarters of Charles. They halted at Newcastle ; and dis claiming war with the English nation, and con ducting themselves as if in a friendly country, despatched messengers bearing expressions of un abated loyalty to the King at York. Then followed the treaty commenced at Ripon, and transferred to Treaty 0f London, between sixteen English peers selected by o^toberi the King, and eight Scotch commissioners, — a treaty as inglorious for Charles, as had been this brief and disgraceful war. Its principal terms were, — a truce for two months ; permission to the Scotch, during this time, to take the four northern English coun ties for winter quarters ; and an engagement to pay them 850/. a day, which they might levy on those counties if the payment was withheld, t * A letter from Sir Jacob Astley to Lord Strafford, quoted by Lord Nugent in his " Memorials of Hampden," (i. 317.) affords strong evidence of the inefficient state of the army. + Rushworth, iii. 1282 — 1310. Hardwicke Papers, ii. 158. et sea. Nalson, i. 446—465. Whitelocke, 37. F 2 68 THE LIFE OF chap. Such were the terms which hard necessity wrung 11 ' from Charles.* What wonder, then, that he con- SePt. 24. sented to call another parliament! In the preceding 1640' month he had convened a great council of his peers at York; and, as some thought, with a hope that he might render this council a substitute for the par liament. He there declared, " that of his own " free accord he had determined to call a parlia- " ment in England, and to begin as soon as pos- " sibly could be t ; " and wishing to obtain popularity for the Queen, he attributed, says Cla rendon, this resolution, in a great degree, to a letter he had received from her. But there were other weightier inducements, — a disaffected army, — an impoverished exchequer X — and petitions praying that parliament might be summoned, from twelve of his peers §, from the citizens of London, and from the gentlemen of Yorkshire. || Thus was this important measure concluded ; and writs were issued for the convocation of that celebrated as- Nov.s. sembly, since known as the Long Parliament. Hyde was returned for the borough of Saltash.f He states, that an attempt was made to find some defect in his election** ; but whether any petition was presented against him does not appear. * Whitelocke, 37. -f- May's Hist. Pari. 44. J " I woonder much," said a letter from the King to Secretary Win- debank on the 27th of August, " that I have been so long of hearing " from you ; and spetiallie concerning monies, for certainlie if ye send " us none, or too littell, the Rebelles will beate us without stryking " stroke." Clar. State Papers, ii. 92. For other confessions of the King's necessities, see pp. 1 14. and 1 18. § Whitelocke, 36. || Nalson, i. 436. et seq. 1 Pari. Hist. ix. 20. #* Life of Clar. i. 84. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 69 CHAP. III. THE LONG PARLIAMENT MEETS. — PROCEEDINGS OF THE PARLIAMENT. — BENEFICIAL MEASURES. — PARLIAMENTARY CONDUCT OP HYDE. — EARL MARSHAL'S COURT. — RECU SANTS. ¦— NEGOTIATIONS TO RAISE MONEY. IMPEACH MENT OF THE JUDGES. HYDE's SPEECH ON PREFERRING CHARGES AGAINST THE BARONS OF THE EXCHEQUER. COUNCIL OF THE NORTH. HYDE'S SPEECH AGAINST THAT COURT HYDE'S CONVERSATION WITH LORDS BEDFORD AND ESSEX RESPECTING STRAFFORD. HYDE'S PARTICIPA TION IN PROCEEDINGS AGAINST STRAFFORD. THE AT TAINDER OF STRAFFORD CONSIDERED. CIRCUMSTANCES OPERATING AGAINST STRAFFORD. — THE CONDUCT OF THE KING. 1640—1641. The parliament met on the 3d of November ; and chap. the altered tone of the King's opening speech IIL evinced his sense of the present necessity of en- Meeting of deavouring to propitiate its power. He told the p^rl^fnt Commons that, " in satisfying their just grievances, Nov. 3. " he promises to concur so heartily and clearly " with them, that all the world may see his in- " tention to make this a glorious and flourishing " kingdom." Instead of claiming precedence for the consideration of supply, he said, " I am so " confident of your love to me, and that your care " is for the honour and safety of the kingdom, " that I shall freely and willingly leave it to you " where to begin." He referred them to the Lord Keeper for a full account of the state of affairs; f 3 70 THE LIFE OF chap, added, that if this is not satisfactory, he will, when- m" soever they desire, give them a full and perfect i64o. account of every particular; and concluded with a promise, that it shall not be his fault " if this be " not a happy and good parliament." * Proceed- The parliament soon evinced a consciousness of pariUment. augmented power. They cast aside the mildness and caution which had characterised the previous parliament ; and exhibited, in some of the earliest of their measures, a startling boldness and decision. They immediately assailed the most powerful of their opponents. On the 11th of November they accused Lord Strafford of high treason ; and this blow at the power of the great offender was fol lowed by the impeachment of Laud, the Lord Keeper Finch, Sir George Radcliffe, Secretary Windebank, Wren Bishop of Ely, Piers Bishop of Bath and Wells, and six of the Judges. Of these, Strafford, Laud, and Radcliffe, and, not long afterwards, Judge Berkeley, were committed to prison. Finch fled to Holland; Windebank to France : the others were admitted to bail. They reversed the proceedings instituted by Lord Straf ford in Ireland against Lords Mountnorris, Dillon, Ely, and Kildare. They released Prynne, Burton, Bastwick, Leighton, and Lilburne, and remu nerated them for their sufferings. They reversed the judgment in the Exchequer in the case of Hampden, and voted the illegality of ship-money. They voted, that the clergy in convocation have no power, by any canons or acts, to bind the clergy * Rushworth, iii. 1335. Nalson, i. 482. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 71 or laity of the land, without consent of parliament; chap. annulled those already passed in synods at London , IIL ,, and York ; and declared that the contributions granted by the clergy in convocation are contrary to the laws. * But the first memorable acts of this celebrated Benefidai parliament were not merely those of reparation measures- or of punishment : there were other measures of general relief, for which they are permanently entitled to the gratitude of the country. They abolished the Starchamber, and those local ramifi cations of arbitrary jurisdiction, the courts of the North, of the Council of Wales and the Welsh Marches, of the Duchy of Lancaster, and of the County Palatine of Chester. They abolished that other hateful appendage of tyranny, the High Commission. They determined the boundaries of all royal forests, and thus prevented that arbitrary extension of limits which had been so fruitful a source of oppression and abuse. They relieved the country from compulsory knighthood : they retrenched the prerogative of purveyance ; and suppressed another more important engine of as sumed prerogative — the arbitrary levy of customs on merchandise. Thus arbitrary taxation, and ar bitrary jurisdiction, the two great unconstitutional * Com. Journ. Dec. 15, 16. 1640. " The convocation house," says Lord Clarendon, " customarily beginning and ending with parliaments, " was, after the determination of the last, by a new writ, continued and " sat for the space of above a month, under the proper title of a synod ; " made canons that it might do ; and gave subsidies and enjoined oaths " that it might not do : in a word, did many things, which in the best " times might have been questioned, and ther cfore were sure to be " condemned in the worst." Clar. Hist. Keb. i- 261. F 4 72^ THE LIFE OF bulwarks of prerogative — were levelled alike by the energy of this parliament. Nor were the i^tT" efforts of the parliament confined to the removal of existing abuses. They wisely attended to the machinery of legislation, and endeavoured to render the House of Commons a more efficient instrument for the redress of grievances in future. With a view to prevent the recurrence of those long intermissions, during which the public had been deprived of parliamentary protection, they passed the Triennial Bill. By this bill, the in terval between the dissolution of one parliament and the issue of writs for another was limited to three years. The issue of writs was to be enforced by pains and penalties on the keeper of the great seal ; and, in case of failure on his part, the duty was to be transferred to others in succession ; till, in default of all prescribed officers, the right of proceeding to election without writ should devolve on the electors themselves. In order to insure frequency of appeal to the constituency of the country, the duration of a parliament was to be limited to three years from the commencement of the session, when, if not actually sitting, it was to be ipso facto dissolved ; or, if sitting, to be dis solved at its first prorogation. It was also pro vided, that no future parliament should be dissolved or adjourned against its consent, within fifty days from the time of meeting. This bill received the royal assent on the 16th of February, 1641 *, and was, hailed by the public with demonstrations of joy. t * Lords' Journals. f May's Hist Pari. 67. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. J3 Such, briefly stated, were the more important chap. and commendable labours of the first session of m" this parliament. Attention must now be directed Parlia. to those measures in which Hyde appears to have mentary J r r conduct ot actively participated. Having laid aside his legal Hyde. practice, in order to devote himself to the House of Commons, Hyde resumed his duties in that house with the zeal and diligence of which he had given earnest in the preceding parliament. He was on many committees ; and his name appears in connection with a great part of the most im portant business of the first session. He was frequently in the chair ; and his ability in con ducting business seems to have been practically admitted, by the frequent selection of him to fill that office. He was several times in the chair in committees of the whole house on supply, and also in select committees on matters which strongly excited the public attention. He was chairman of committees on the Earl Marshal's Court, on the Court of York, and the Council of Wales and the Marches ; on the conduct of the Judges with respect to ship money, and on the bill for the abolition of Episcopacy. His earliest proceeding in this parliament was Earl Mar. the renewal of his former motion against the Earl court. Marshal's Court. A committee of inquiry respect- Nov. 23. ing this court was appointed, of which he was the chairman ; and in February he presented a report February, to the following effect : — That the Constable's and Earl Marshal's Court have no jurisdiction to hold plea of words — that the Earl Marshal can 74 THE LIFE OF make no court without the Constable — and that the Earl Marshal's Court is a grievance ; which- report the house confirmed by its vote. This ob noxious court had not relaxed in its activity since Hyde denounced it in the preceding spring. He told the house that, for contumelious words, of which the law took no notice, more damages had been given by the sole judgment of the Earl Marshal in two days, than had been given by all the juries in all the courts in Westminster Hall during the whole term. * The magnitude of this abuse was aggravated by its novelty. It had not even the plea of long established usage. On ex amining its records, it appeared that the first pre cedent they contained for the form of proceeding used in that court, and for giving damages for words, was in 1633. So weak, indeed, was the ground on which the court stood, that it seems to have been virtually abolished by the mere inquiry, and " never presumed to sit afterwards." So conscious was the Earl Marshal, Lord Arundel, of the weakness of his case, that, after thanking Hyde for "having treated his person so civilly, when, " upon so just reason, he had found fault with " some of his actions," he added, that he believed * " Mr. Hyde," says Whitelocke, " spake smartly and ingeniously. || He called those proceedings a piece of pageantry ; showed the illegality '* of them, and the vexation to the subject by attendance and expense, |t many times for a hasty word whereof the law of England takes no ' notice, nor gives any action for them. Yet, in this court, people are || summoned and wait, and are roughly treated. And he moved the ( house to declare their sense of these proceedings : he was seconded „ ln Y16 .motlon > and the house voted the court and their proceedings „rt,°. bf ^}eSal and a grievance. And Mr. Hyde gained credit by it. Whitelocke's Memorials, 50. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 75 he had been in the wrong ; but threw the blame upon his advisers, who, he promised, should mis lead him no more. * On the 28th of November, Hyde was added to a Recusants. committee of inquiry respecting Popish recusants ; and for the object of infusing greater severity into the execution of the laws against them, t The first few months of this session afford other instances of this persecuting spirit. X On the 25th of January, we find Hyde reporter i64i. from a conference with the Lords, of which the object was to complain of the reprieve of Good man, a priest, and the change of his sentence from death to imprisonment ; and to pray that he " be "left to the justice of the law."§ On the 26th and 27th, he was on committees to take into con sideration the same subject, and what they called " the due execution of the laws" against priests and Jesuits. On the 13th of February, he was on a committee on a bill " for abolishing superstition and idolatry ||," in other words — for persecuting Papists. Such was the intolerance of liberal men, in what we are apt to call a liberal age ! Nor do we use the word erroneously. Both the men and the age were comparatively liberal : the men, as com pared with their more bigoted contemporaries ; the age, as compared with the age which had * Life of Clarendon, i. 85, 86. f Commons' Journals, Nov. 28. X Ibid. Dec. 3. 7. 24. Jan. 25. 26. 27. Feb. 11. 23. 26. March 15. 25. § Ibid. Rushworth, iv. 156. || Commons' Journals, Feb. 13. 76 THE LIFE OF preceded it. We can deny to them that praise, only when we institute a comparison with suc- i64i. ceeding periods. Thus, in characterising past events, must we ever consider whether we judge them in a relative or in an abstract sense. The abstract rules of right are immutable ; but our mental' perceptions are influenced by laws ana logous to those which affect our vision. There is a moral and political perspective, which we must take into account in our judgment on circum stances ; and which affects their aspect, according to their position, and that of the ground from which we view them. Tolerance in rehgion was a principle of justice not recognised in that age. Men who contended for the extension and security of some of the most important liberties of the sub ject, were lamentably regardless of liberty of con science. Yet we must hold them excused. They were bred in no school where tolerance could be learned. They were the sons of those who might have seen the fires of Smithfield. They inherited the execution of penal enactments, which, though severe in the abstract, were not severe as measures of retaliation. They associated this legacy of in tolerance with the glories of the reign of Elizabeth ; and they were now excited to fresh acrimony against Papists through the fear and jealousy raised in their minds by the ceremonial innovations of Laud, by the extent to which composition with recusants had been carried, and above all, by the dreaded influence of a Roman Catholic Queen. Hyde was much engaged in raising money for EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 77 the discharge of the grant of 300,0002. voted by chap. the parliament to relieve the losses and necessities of , their " brethren," the Scotch.* The Scotch and i64i. English armies were not yet disbanded ; the truce, toerga°seatlc which would cease in December, was renewed ; money- and there were many in the parliament, who, not withstanding the expense which was entailed upon the country, were glad that the Scotch should remain undisturbed, as a check upon the King.t " We cannot yet spare the Scotch," said Strode. " The sons of Zeruiah are too strong for us ; " words which, though pointed out for reprobation, the house refused to censure.t The Scotch commissioners, while warm in their expressions of gratitude for the grant, were impor tunate for payment. " The leading men, who used " to be forward in finding out expedients for sup- " ply, seemed to despair of being able to borrow " more." § And upon this, Hyde, addressing the house, said, " that he did not believe the thing to " be so difficult as was pretended ; and he was " confident if a small committee of the house were " nominated, who upon consultation between them- " selves, might use the name of the house to such " men as were reputed to have money, they might " prevail with them to lend as much as might " serve for the present exigence." || The house approved of his motion ; and he was appointed, Feb. 23. with eleven others, to treat with merchants in the * May's Breviary, in Masere's Tracts, i. 23. t May's Hist. Pari. 70. J Com. Journals, Feb. 6 J Clar. Hist Reb. i. 372. || Ibid. i. 372. 78 THE LIFE OF chap, city for a loan. The members of the committee v *IL conferring with the merchants, found there was i64i. no unwillingness on their part to advance the money, if they were only satisfied that the par liament would do all in their power to diminish the necessity of borrowing. They regretted to see two armies still maintained at so great a charge, and wished that a time for disbanding them were already appointed. These sentiments were unpalat able to those who thought, with Strode, that they could not yet spare the Scotch. When, therefore, Hyde reported the result of their negotiation, it was coldly received ; and Hampden moved an adjournment of the debate. Conferences with the Lords were held on this subject ; and, on the 20th of March, Hyde delivered a report from a com mittee appointed to draw up heads for a further conference, to the effect, that, of six subsidies voted, above 120,000/. remains to be raised ; " that " there have been no ways left unattempted for " providing it, but they cannot find any, and " desire advice in this emergency." * The result of the advice was a second appeal to the city, to he made by sixteen members of the House of Com mons (of whom Hyde was one) joined with eight Peers. But this mission was not successful, — ob taining only evasive expressions of willingness to lend, without any distinct and binding promise. Dec. 7. On the 7th of December, it had been resolved in Proceedl the Commons, that ship-money was illegal, and that *hf jukes' the extra-judicial opinions of the Judges, and the * Commons' Journals, March 20. 1641. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 79 judgment in the Court of Exchequer on Hampden's chap. case, were against the laws of the realm, and the ' , Petition of Right ; and Hyde was appointed one of sixteen who were directed to inform the judges of these resolutions, and to inquire by what threats or promises their opinions had been biassed. On the following day he was on a committee charged with a comprehensive consideration of all matters connected with the malversations of the Lord Keeper and the six Judges, and with the duty of transferring to the Lords the vote of the Commons respecting ship-money. On the 13th of January, jan. 13. at the request of Lord Falkland, Hyde was ap- I641, pointed his assistant for reading the articles against the Lord Keeper Finch, which, on the following day, were carried up to the Lords, and presented by Falkland, with what May calls " a pithy and sharp " oration."* On this day we find in the Commons' jan. 14. Journals an order " That thanks be rendered from " this house to Mr. St. John and Mr. Whitelock, " the Lord Falkland, and Mr. Hide, for the great " service they have performed, to the honour of " this house, and good of the Commonwealth, in " the transferring the business of the ship-money, " and other matters concerning the liberty and pro- " perty of the subject, and the articles against the "Lord Keeper."! On the 12th of February, Hyde reported to Feb. X2. the house the charges brought by the com mittee against Berkeley, one of the six Judges • who had been accused. On this report the Com- * May's Hist. Pari. 58. + Com. Journals, Jan. 14. 1640. 80 THE LIFE OF CHAP. III. 1641. May 22. Charges preferred by Hyde against the Barons of tne Exche-] quer. mons voted that Berkeley should be impeached of high treason ; and Sir John Colepepper was ordered to impeach him before the Lords, and to desire that he may be forthwith committed. " Which being done," says Rushworth, " and it " being now Term time, and Judge Berkeley " sitting upon the King's Bench in Westminster " Hall, the Lords sent Mr. Maxwell, the Usher of " the Black Rod to fetch him off the Bench, which " he performed in the face of the Court, West- " minster Hall being then full of people, and " brought him away prisoner ; which was no small " amazement to the people, and all the other " courts, and others of his profession." * On the 22d of May, it was intimated to Hyde, that he should prepare himself to carry up the charge against the Barons of the Exchequer ; which charges he accordingly brought forward, at a con ference of both houses, on the 6th of July, in a speech which commenced as follows : — " My Lords, There cannot be a greater in- " stance of a sick and languishing commonwealth " than the business of this day. Good God ! " how haye the guilty these late years been pun- " ished, when the Judges themselves have been " such delinquents ! * 'T is no marvel, that an irre- " gular, extravagant, arbitrary power, like a torrent, " hath broken in upon us, when our banks and our " bulwarks, the laws, were in the custody of such " persons. Men who had lost their innocence, " could not preserve their courage ; nor could we * Rushworth, iv. 188. Whitelocke, 40. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 81 " look that they who had so visibly undone us, chap. " themselves should have the virtue or credit to , " rescue us from the oppression of other men. It i64i. " was said by one who always spoke excellently, " that the twelve Judges were like the twelve lions " under the throne of Solomon, — under the throne " — in obedience,— but yet lions. Your Lordships " shall this day hear of six, who (be they what " they will be else) were no lions ; who upon " vulgar fears delivered up the precious forts they " were trusted with, almost without assault ; and, " in a tame and easy trance of flattery and servi- " tude, lost and forfeited (shamefully forfeited) " that reputation, awe, and reverence, which the " wisdom, courage, and gravity of their venerable " predecessors had contracted and fastened to the " places they now hold ; and even rendered that " study and profession, which in all ages hath been, " and I hope now shall be, of an honourable esti- " mation, so contemptible and vile, that, had not " this blessed day come, all men would have had " this quarrel to the law itself, which Marius had " to the Greek tongue, who thought it a mockery " to learn that language, the masters whereof lived " in bondage under others." ..." But, my Lords, " work of this day is the greatest instance of a " growing and thriving commonwealth too, and is " as the dawning of a fair and lasting day of hap- " piness to this kingdom. 6 It is in your Lordships'" " power (and I am sure it is in your Lordships' " will) to restore the dejected broken people of " this island to their former joy and security ; VOL. I. G 82 THE LIFE OF " the successors of these men to their own privi- " lege and veneration, et sepultas prope leges re- i64i. " vocare." * The merits of this exordium belonged to its author, the demerits to its age ; and it will bear a comparison with other approved specimens of the oratory of that period. Hyde then brought for ward his charges against Davenport, Trevor, and Weston, Barons of the Exchequer. Adverting to their most important offences, their extrajudicial opinions on ship-money, and judgments in the case of Hampden, Hyde said, ' " the great resolution " in ship-money was a crime of so prodigious a " nature, that it could not be easily swallowed " and digested by the consciences even of these " men : but, as they who are to wrestle, or run a " race, by degrees prepare themselves by diet and " lesser essays, for the main exercise, so these " Judges enter themselves, and harden their hearts " by more particular trespasses upon the law; by " impositions and taxes upon the merchant in " trade, by burdens and pressure upon the gentry " by knighthood, before they could arrive at that " universal destruction of the kingdom by ship- " money, which promised reward and security for " all their former services, by doing the work of a " parliament to his Majesty in supplies; and seemed " to elude justice in leaving none to judge them, " by making the whole kingdom party to their " oppression." The illegality of ship-money having been ar- * Rushworth, iv. 333. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 83 gued by the speakers who preceded him, Hyde chap. touched this subject briefly, and then proceeded . to the charges with which he was especially i64i. entrusted. He said, " The first charge in order is " that presumptuous decree against Mr. Rolls and " others* ; and, in truth, whatever gloss they put " upon it, it is no other than a plain grant of " the subsidy of tonnage and poundage to his " Majesty upon all merchandise. After their goods " seized for non-payment of that pretended duty, " the proprietors brought replevins (which is the " natural and genuine remedy appointed by law in " case of property, and grounded upon property). " The Court awards an injunction to stay these re- " plevins : the goods were in the King's possession, " and no replevin would lie against the King. " Truly, my Lords, the injustice here is not so scan- 1 " dalous as the fraud. We all know a replevin " (as no other suit) lies against the King, if the * About November, 1628, the officers of the customs seized goods, the property of Rolls and others, because they refused to pay tonnage and poundage for them ; which tax was not then due, not having been granted by parliament. Rolls and the other proprietors sued forth writs of replevin for the recovery of their goods. The Barons of the Ex chequer thereupon, by injunction to the sheriffs of London, com manded them not to execute these writs ; and declared that the goods were not replevisable, alleging that they were in the King's possession, whereas they were in the possession of the farmers of the customs ; and, upon the proprietors' continued refusal to satisfy the illegal claim, the barons finally authorised the farmers of the customs to retain goods to the value of double the amount claimed, and return the residue. See Rushworth, iv. 339, 340, 341. For the benefit of readers unacquainted with legal terms, 1 add the following explanation from Blackstone : — " To replevy is, when a person distrained upon applies to the sheriff or " his officers, and has the distress returned into his own possession, " upon giving good security to try the right of taking it in a suit at law, " and, if that be determined against him, to return the goods once more " into the hands of the distrainor." G 2 84 THE LIFE OF " goods be in his own hands, in his bed-chamber: " but to call a seizure by the farmers (of whose in- " terest this court will not deny the notice ; and, if " his Majesty had any right, they well knew he " had transferred it to these men), or the ware- " houses of the customers, the King's possession, " to defeat the subject of his proper remedy, was " the boldest piece of sophistry we have met with " in a court of law." He added, with respect to tonnage and poundage, " 'T is enough that your Lordships know tonnage " and poundage is not a duty to the Crown, but a " subsidy, and so granted in subsidium ; sometimes " pro una vice tantum, sometimes for years, and " then ceased when the time did expire ; that " when it was first granted for life, it was with this " clause: Ita quod nontrahatur inexemplumfuturis " regibus." He proceeded : — " The next charge is concerning impositions. " Mr. Vassall's* goods are seized for not paying " impost, which he conceived to be against law : " he is imprisoned, and judgment given against him, " without suffering him to be heard upon point of " right. Whether the King, without assent of " parliament, may set impositions upon the wares " and goods of merchants, is now no new question : " it hath been more than once debated in parlia- " ment ; and, indeed, whilst it was a question, was " fittest for a parliament. It is now resolved, and no- * The details of Vassall's case may be found in Rushworth's Col lections, iv. 334, 335. The outline is sufficiently given in the speech to be intelligible to the reader. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 85 " thing new can be said in this argument ; though chap. " I may have leave to say, if the King can, by his , " letters patent, create such a right to himself, and, i64i. " by a legal course, recover that right under such a " title, such letters patent are in no degree inferior " to an act of parliament. To reconcile such a power " in the prince, and the property of the subject, that " the one must not be destructive to the other, will " require a much greater and subtler understanding " than I pretend to." He then contended, that this wasa pointwhichthe Judges were not competent to decide ; and the de cision they made was not " so great a crime in these " Judges as that they presumed to judge at all." He then proceeded to " the charge concerning " knighthood." " Mr. Maleverer*," he said, " ap- " pears upon the process of that Court ; pleads, and " submits to his fine : ponit se in gratiam curiae. " The barons refuse to impose any fine : they had " no power to do that ; he must treat with cer- " tain commissioners appointed for that purpose, " and compound with them. Your Lordships have " not met in the same men such contradictions of " crimes. Who would suspect the same men in one * Maleverer was summoned before the Court of Exchequer, to be fined for not having appeared to receive knighthood of the King at Whitehall before January 31. in the first year of the reign of Chares I. ; Maleverer being resident in Yorkshire, and no proclamation respecting knighthood having been made in that county before January 30. Ma leverer pleaded these circumstances, and prayed for his discharge. His plea was ineffectual ; nevertheless, the Barons of the Exchequer refused to impose a fine, but directed him to compound with commissioners appointed for that purpose ; and issued writs of distringas to the high sheriff of Yorkshire, by virtue of which distress was levied upon the property of Maleverer to the amount of 2000/., a great part of which he was enforced to pay. See Rushworth, iv. 335, 336. G 3 86 THE LIFE OF 1641. ' charge to have the mettle to usurp the power and ' exercise the jurisdiction of the highest court, the ' Court of Parliament, and presently to want the ' spirit to do that which was so restrained and pe- ' culiar to their places to have done, as none else ' could do it ? They had no power to fine : so that, ' if this duty were a right to his Majesty, and the ' persons liable refuse to compound, for aught ' these Judges can do, the King must lose this ' duty. ' They can impose no fine, only they have ' found a trick, which they call the course of the ' Court, to make his Majesty a saver. Appear while ' you will, plead what you may, submit to the ' mercy of the Court, issues shall go on still as if ' you did neither, till you have done somewhat ' that the Court will not order you to do, nor is ' bound to take notice of when you have done." ' This misfortune commonly attends (and may it ' ever) those obsolete disused rights, that, be the ' thing in itself in a degree lawful, the advisers * and ministers of it so fail in the execution, that,. * as it usually proves as grievous to the subject, so, ' by some circumstances, it proves as penal to the ' instruments, as if it were, in the very nature of ' the thing, against all the laws of government."* .These extracts will afford examples both of the character of Hyde's oratory, and of the tenor of his opinions. In his oratory, argument and irony were the most effective instruments. The passages which were intended to rise into eloquence are somewhat forced, fanciful, and ponderous, and in- * Rushworth, iv. 342 — 344. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 87 fected with the bad taste which too much charac- c!^p- terised the forensic oratory of that period. The ¦ opinions are those of a generous denouncer of in- in justice and abuse, and a rational friend of genuine liberty. Hyde gained much credit by the manner in Proceed- which he conducted the proceedings for the sup- ducted by pression of the Council of the North, otherwise —jfnstthe called the Court of York. This court, of which the council of • v • ii i n i the North. jurisdiction extended over the five northern coun ties, had been established by Henry VIII., after the insurrection of 1536, partly to suppress the disturbances of that period, partly to try civil suits in a summary manner, and according to the rules of equity, and at less expense than at common law, for the benefit of the poorer class of suitors. This summary civil jurisdiction was held to be illegal by the Judges under Elizabeth. Nevertheless, we find new commissions granted by James I., without limitation of these powers ; and under Charles they were still further extended. During his reign three commissions had been granted, of which that which was issued in 1632 contained new clauses, empowering the council to hear and determine all matters, criminal or civil, within a district reaching from the Humber to the Scotch frontier ; to try offences according to the course of proceeding in the Star Chamber, whether the same were provided for by act of parliament or not ; to determine all suits according to the rules of Chancery ; to impose fines, limited only on the side of mercy (for they were not to be less than was prescribed by act of G 4 88 THE LIFE OF parliament); to stay, by injunction, proceedings at common law ; and to issue writs of attachment >64j. to any part of the kingdom. Two important safe guards to property and to personal freedom were also cut off by one monstrous clause, by the oper ation of which, persons proceeded against in the Council of the North were debarred from obtain ing, in the courts of Westminster, a prohibition to stay the suit ; and those whom it imprisoned were deprived of the protection of the Habeas Corpus. This despotic court had excited the attention of parliament early in the session. In December, a committee was appointed, of which Hyde was chair man, to consider the jurisdiction both of the Court of York, and of the similar Court of the Council of Wales and the Welsh Marches, which claimed authority over not only all Wales, but also Glou cestershire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire, and Shropshire, — by which courts, together with those of Lancaster and Chester, more than one third part of England was deprived of the privileges of the April 24. common law. Hyde reported the result of the in quiries of this committee as far as regarded the Court of York ; and it was thereupon resolved by the House that the court was illegal, unprofitable, inconvenient, and grievous.* A conference was held on this subject with the Lords, before whom April 26. Hyde delivered a speech of much ability, t After * Com. Journals. t This speech is variously reported by Rushworth, by Nalson, and in the Parliamentary History, on the authority of an Harleian MS. I have adhered to the latter report, which is better expressed, and bears stronger evidence of correctness. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 89 describing the growth of this illegal court, he for- C?AP- cibly inveighed against the monstrous enormity of - its usurpations. " Whether his Majesty," he said, 164U " may canton out a part of his kingdom to be tried " by commission, though according to the rules of " law, will not now be the question. That his " Majesty cannot, by commission, erect a new " Court of Chancery, or a proceeding according to " the rules of the Star Chamber, is most clear to all " who have read Magna Charta, which allows no " proceedings, nisi per legale judicium parium et " per legem terrce. But, my Lords, the 30th in- " struction goes further, and erects such an empire, " such a dominion, as shallbeliable to nocontrol." — " What a compendious abridgment hath York gotten " of all the courts in Westminster Hall ! Whatso- " ever falls within the cognizance or jurisdiction of " any court there, is completely determinable within " that one court at York ; besides the power it hath " with the Ecclesiastical and High Commission " Courts. What have the good northern people " done, that they only must be disfranchised of all " their privileges granted by Magna Charta and " the Petition of Right ? For what purpose serve " these statutes, if they may be fined and im- " prisoned without law, according to the discretion " of the commissioners ? What have they done, " that they, and they alone of all the people of this " happy island, must be disinherited of their birth- " right, of their inheritance ? for prohibitions, writs " of habeas corpus, and writs of error are the birth- " right, the inheritance, of the subject."— " Your 90 THE LIFE OF chap. " Lordships remember the directions I mentioned in , " of Magna Charta, that all proceedings shall be per i64i. " legale judicium parium etper legem terrce. Now, " these instructions tell you, ' You shall proceed " ' according to your discretion ;' that is, you shall " do what you please : only, that we may not sus- " pect this discretion will be gentler and kinder to " us than the law, special provision is made that " no fine, no punishment, shall be less than by law " is appointed : no, by no means ; but as much " greater as your discretion shall think fit." He then commented severely on the tyrannical exercise of this " discretion :" — " Such a confusion hath this " discretion in these instructions produced, as if " discretion were only one remove from rage and " fury : no inconvenience, no mischief, no dis- " grace, that the malice, or insolence, or animosity " of these commissioners had a mind to bring upon " that people, but, through the latitude and power " of this ' discretion,' the poor people have felt. " This ' discretion' hath been the quicksand which " hath swallowed up their property, their liberty. " I beseech your Lordships rescue them from this " ' discretion.'" After stating the expense of the court, amounting to 1300/. per annum, which, in truth, after all due allowance for change in the value of money, will appear inconsiderable, he concluded as follows : — " Truly, my Lords, these vexed, worn- " out people of the North are not suitors to your " Lordships to regulate this Court, or to reform the " Judges of it, but for extirpating these Judges, and " the utter abolishing of this Court. They are of EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 91 " Cato's mind, who would not submit to Caesar for chap. " his life, saying, ' He would not be beholden to a t "' , " * tyrant for injustice ; for it was inj ustice in him to i64i. " * take upon him to save a man's life over whom he " ' had no power.' So these gentlemen desire not " to be beholden to this Court hereafter for justice, " the very administration of justice itself, founded " upon such illegal principles, being a grievance " and oppression to the subject."* He then reca pitulated the resolutions of the Commons, and besought the Lords that they would concur in a prayer to the King that the present commission might be revoked, and no other like it granted in future. Hyde gained much praise by this speech. Lord Bath, who was reporter from the conference to the Lords, desired a copy of it, " that he might not do " him wrong in the House by the report : " and the copy was read in the House of Lords, and affixed to the journal of the day. The northern members, who felt most strongly the value of his services, wished to move a vote of thanks to him ; but they were dissuaded by others, who were ad verse to any increase of the influence of one who, though agreeing with them on this subject, might not concur with them in stronger measures, t * In Lord Clarendon's history of these proceedings, we find an in stance of the incorrectness into which he was led by reliance on his memory. In his History of the Rebellion he says, " The commission " was often renewed, but still in the same form, or very little alteration, " till Queen Elizabeth's time; and then there was an alteration in the " commission itself." In his speech, which (as the words I am about to quote are the same in all three reports) I must suppose, in this part, to have been correctly given, he says, " Till the coming in of King " James, the commission continued still the same." t Clar. Hist. Reb. i. 421. 92 THE LIFE OF Hyde relates a remarkable conversation which, on the afternoon of the day on which he addressed the conference, he held with the Earls of Bedford and Essex, "and the Marquis of Hertford, " at a " place called Piccadilly, which was a fair house " for entertainment and gaming, with handsome " gravel walks and shade, and where were an upper " and lower bowling-green." The Earl of Bedford deplored the rigorous course which the proceedings against Strafford seemed likely to take ; said the King would do all the parliament could desire, if Strafford's life might only be saved ; that Strafford should be made incapable of all future employ ment ; that the King earnestly desired a bill might not be brought to him to which he could not con sent ; that he (Lord Bedford) took all the pains he could to persuade his friends to decline their violent persecution ; " that he should not despair if he " could persuade the Earl of Essex to comply;" and he ended with entreating Hyde to employ per suasions to the same effect. Lord Essex was at hand, and Hyde conversed with him alone. In reply to compliments on the service he had done in exposing the iniquity of Strafford's northern tribunal, Hyde said that the cause of their slow progress with the bill of at tainder " was their disagreement upon the point " of treason ; but that, if they declined that, they " should all agree that there were crimes and " misdemeanours evidently enough proved, to de- " serve so severe a censure as would absolutely " take away all power from the Earl of Strafford, EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 93 " that might prove dangerous to the kingdom." chap. " Stone-dead hath no fellow," was the pithy reply , in which Lord Essex conveyed, coarsely but truly, i64i. the sentiments of those who would be satisfied only with the death of Strafford. They had a reasonable fear of Strafford, and as reasonable a distrust of Charles. A punishment short of death might be reversed ; and the King might again avail himself of the powerful services of the discarded minister, when a dissolution of parliament should have placed the country at his mercy. * Hyde bore an active share in measures for bring- Hyde's ing to justice this great offender. We have already pao'on'm seen how he denounced one instrument of Straf- proceed-. ings against ford's tyranny. On the 28th of November, he was Strafford. one of a committee of seven " to collect reasons " for the House to make use of in maintenance of " their message to the House of Lords, desiring " the presence of some of the members of the " House of Commons at the examination of wit- " nesses in accusation of the Earl of Strafford ;" and, on the 30th, conferred on that subject with the Lords. On the 6th of January, he was on a com mittee to prepare a representation to the Lords respecting part of the charge against Strafford ; namely, his illegal judgments against Lords Mount- norris, Dillon, Ely, and Kildare. On the 5th of February, he was added to the committee of im peachment for the examination of Langdale's peti tion against Strafford. On the 18th, he was reporter of a conference with the Lords respecting the Clar. Hist. Reb. i. 422—426. 94 THE LIFE OF chap, sequestration of Strafford from his offices, and was . , on a committee for the consideration of the whole i64i. matter charged against him. On the 25th of March, he was added to a committee for expediting the trial.* On the 28th of April, he bore to the Lords a message from the Commons to this effect : — " That " they have received information, and have reason " to believe it to be true, that the Earl of Strafford " intends to make an escape out of the Tower ; and " that there are ships, or a ship, ready in the river " of Thames, at Tilbury-hope, to convey him away; " and, further, they are informed that the doors of " the Tower are not well guarded. Therefore, they " desire their Lordships would take order that the " Earl of Strafford may be close prisoner, and to " have the Tower better guarded than now it is.t Hyde afterwards communicated the name of a sus pected ship, and the examination of the master of the ship and of the Lieutenant of the Tower took place in consequence. This is all the evidence, which appears in the Parliamentary Journals, of Hyde's participation in the proceedings against Strafford. To what farther extent he participated is uncertain. We cannot collect from his own writ ings, or from any known record, how he voted on the bill of attainder ; or, indeed, whether he voted at all. The presumption is strong that he did not vote against it. His name is not found in the list of " Straffordians." X It is improbable that * Com. Journals, Nov. 20. 30. 1640. : Jan. 6. Feb. 5. 18. March 25. 1641. f Lords' Journals. April 28. 1641. X We cannot, however, draw any certain inference from the cir- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 95 one who was hostile to the attainder, should have chap. been selected as the bearer of such a message, as he , nL . carried up to the Lords on the 28th of April. Palk- i64i. land spoke, and, it may therefore be presumed, voted, for the bill of attainder ; and Hyde tells us that his subsequent vote on the bill against epis copacy was the first in which he and Falkland had ever differed. It is unnecessary to recapitulate the well-known The pro- circumstances of the trial of Strafford,— a trial ren- t^lT dered interesting, almost beyond all others, by the StrafT?rd , . L . J 'J considered. character of the parties, by the ability displayed, and by its important political results. " We can," said May, " hardly call it the trial of the Earl of Straf- " ford only. The King's affections toward his " people and parliament, the future success of this " parliament, and the hopes of the three kingdoms, " depending on it, were all tried when Strafford was " arraigned." * Instead of recapitulating circum stances, I will rather advert to the interesting ques tions to which those circumstances gave rise. Was Strafford justly convicted of high treason? for what reason did the legislature suspend the trial, and proceed against him by a bill of attainder? and were they justified in such a course? cumstance of Hyde's name not having appeared in this list. In Heath's Chronicle (p. 18.), it is stated as a fact " which hath received " credit from the mouths of many honourable persons," that Sir Bevil Grenville earnestly entreated Sir A. Carew to vote against the bill of attainder; which statement is confirmed by Dugdale (Short View, p. 190.) : yet Sir Bevil's name is not in the list, nor is he one of the seven absent persons " whose good will for Lord Strafford was known." Harleian MSS. 4931. fol. 86. * May's Hist. Pari. 59. 96 THE LIFE OF III. 1641. chap. « As an answer to the first question, we have the unanimous opinion of the Judges, that upon all which the Lords had voted to be proved Straf ford deserved to undergo the pains and penalties of high treason. It does not appear under what statute they pronounced him guilty; or whether they admitted that for which St. John had con tended ; namely, that common law, treason was left untouched by the statutes of 25 Edward III. and 1 Henry IV. If this be adjnitted, and if an in tent to subvert the constitutional liberties of the country be treason, there was such cumulative evi dence of Strafford's endeavours to introduce an arbitrary and tyrannical government, as would bring him fully within its reach. It is also evident, from expressions in his letters, that he did not sin through ignorance, but was perfectly conscious of the peril he incurred.* His letters, which, since his death, have come to light, criminate him to a greater ex tent than any article that was substantiated on his trial. Yet, it will scarcely be doubted, that the 15th article (one of the two on which the Lords voted him guilty), charging him with having ex torted, by armed force, sums imposed without law ful warrant, did amount to levying war against the King, and was therefore treason under the 25th of * The following instance is, perhaps, sufficient. A doubt having been expressed at the council-board respecting the power of that assembly to levy money without the sanction of parliament, — " I was then," said Strafford in one of his letters, " put to my last refuge, which was, " plainly to declare that there was no necessity which induced me to " take them to counsel in this business ; for rather than fail in so " necessary a duty to my master, I would undertake, upon the peril of " my head, to make the King's army able to subsist, and to provide for " itself amongst them, without their help." Strafford's Letters, i. 98. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 97 III. 1641. Edward III. It has been weakly urged, in behalf chap. of Strafford, that he probably so acted with the King's connivance, or even in compliance with his express commands : how, then, could he levy war against him ? This apparent paradox, (as it should be known, even by those moderately versed in con stitutional history,) resides only in the expression : no valid argument can be built upon it. If the defence were valid, it would follow therefrom, that against the most dangerous kind of treason, — that which is committed by a subject at the bidding of the sovereign, — the law would offer no protection : the King might grant impunity to any culprit, and the liberties of the people would be absolutely in his hands. Such, happily, is not the case. The re sponsible minister is accountable to the nation, for his obedience to the commands of the irresponsible sovereign. Whatever the King, in his personal capacity, may order or permit, he is not the less, in his official capacity, inseparably identified with the rights and liberties of which he is constituted the supreme defender ; and an unlawful attack, by any means, and under any colour of authority, against those rights and liberties in the persons of his sub jects, is virtually an attack upon the authority of the King. It is more difficult to solve the question, why the Parliament suspended the judicial course, and proceeded against Strafford by a bill of attainder. No satisfactory reasons have been assigned for this change of procedure, nor were the actuating motives by any means clear. The fresh evidence VOL. I. H 98 THE LIFE OF chap, adduced by Pym and the younger Vane, was appa- . rently merely a pretext for such a change ; and for 1641- the real reason we must search elsewhere. It is scarcely possible that this reason was a desire to secure the conviction of Strafford ; for the uncer tainty of the result was not thereby removed. It is even argued by Lord Digby, that the difficulty of conviction would be increased by a bill of attainder; "since," he says, "I am persuaded neither the Lords " nor the King will pass the bill ; and, consequently, " that our passing it will be a cause of great divisions "and combustions in the state."* Far from the accused being thereby placed in a worse condition, his chance of escape was even improved. The Bishops, who, it was presumed, would be favour able to Strafford, and who, according to usage, had withdrawn themselves from the impeachment, might have returned to vote upon the bill. The Lords had investigated the evidence ; and it was equally competent for them to acquit or condemn, under either form of procedure. Moreover, it was evi dent, that the result of the impeachment would have been precisely the same as of the bill of attain der ; for, it is proved by the votes of the Lords, and the opinions of the Judges, that Strafford would still have been convicted of treason, had the judi cial course alone been employed. But there is a reason, which not only is probable, but will at once account for the remarkable absence of all adequate explanation ; for it was a reason which could not be assigned. The Com- * Rushworth, viii. 53. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 99 III. 1641. mons might deem it essential not only that Strafford chap should fall, but that the King should be rendered more decidedly a party to his fall, than he could be by merely permitting justice to take its course under procedure by impeachment, and that he should be thereby practically and solemnly pledged to a renunciation of the despotic acts, for which that minister was punished. They might resolve, that if the blood of Strafford must be shed, it should at least serve to seal a compact between the sovereign and his people. It is moreover remarkable that Charles was solicitous, not so much that the life of Strafford should be saved, as that he should himself be exempted from the responsibility of giving an express sanction to his death. Charles, as was stated in a conversation between Hyde and Lord Bedford, appears to have declared with respect to Strafford, " that if they" (the Parliament) " would " take his death upon them by their own judi- " catory, he would not interpose any act of his " own conscience ;" complained that " they had " declined that way, and meant to proceed by an " act of parliament, to which he himself must be a " party ;" and " did most earnestly desire that the " two Houses would not bring him a bill to pass." It appears also, that the King for a while "was re solute never to give way to the bill, telling " them withal, that it seemed strange to him that " the man could not die, unless he, and he only, " by giving sentence in the King's legislative way, * Clar. Hist. Reb. i. 423. H 2 1641. 100 THE LIFE OF " should condemn him."* Although, therefore, it cannot be proved that a wish to implicate the King was the prevailing motive for the change of procedure, it is at least extremely probable. To condemn the bill of attainder upon abstract principles is not difficult. Abstractedly considered, ex post facto laws are indefensible ; and punishment, by such laws, is contrary to the plainest rules of justice. • " Let the mark be set on the door where " the plague is," said Lord Digby in his eloquent speech, " and then let him that wiU enter die. I " know, Mr. Speaker," proceeded he, " there is in " Parliament a double power of life and death by " bill, — ajudicial power, and alegislative. The mea- " sure of the one is what is legally just; of the other, " what is prudentially and politicly fit for the good " and preservation of the whole : but these two, " under favour, are not to be confounded in judg- " ment. We must not piece up want of legality " with matter of convenience, nor the defailance " of prudential fitness with a pretence of legal " justice." t This is true : yet, with reference to the measure in question, there was much, in times like these, to be alleged on the other side. It must be remem bered that, in the case of treason, " the mark" had not, even by statute, been very plainly " set on the " door ; " that constructive interpretation had been frequently stretched, and no definite sense was at tached to the crime ; that, for nearly two centuries, procedure by bill of attainder, in cases of treason, * State Trials, iii. 1515. f Rushworth, viii. 53. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 101 had been more common than by impeachment ; and therefore, the application of retrospective enact ments was less objectionable, than in the case of 1641- any other crime. " We must not piece up want of " legality with matter of convenience." True ; — but the " want of legality," was an hypothesis dis proved by the unanimous opinion of the Judges. The framers of the bill of attainder could not be charged with that grave political crime, that in justice to posterity, the establishment of a bad pre cedent. Precedents already existed : there were two in the reign of Henry VIII. — the case of the Bishop of Rochester's cook, and that of the Holy Maid of Kent. The Parliament nevertheless attempted to neutralise whatever evil might result, by intro ducing a proviso in this bill, that it should not be employed, as a precedent, to sanction future similar proceedings, — a proviso, which, inasmuch as there were already precedents for bills of attainder, must have been intended to guard only against the in troduction of such a bill, while a trial at law was pending.* It may also be pleaded, in palliation of this bill of attainder, that it was, in a great de gree, exempt from that quality by which retrospec tive penal laws are rendered reprehensible. They are reprehensible, because they are laws unforeseen, and vindictive in their operation, instead of being admonitory and preventive ; because they tend to entrap the unwary ; and do not serve, as all penal * It is worthy of notice, as an instance of the inutility of protesting against precedents, that, in spite of the precautionary clause, this bill was quoted as a precedent in the cases of Laud, Naylor, and Clarendon, H 3 102 THE LIFE OF CHAP. III. 1641. laws should serve, less for punishment than for warn ing. But in the case of bills of attainder for trea son, it cannot be said that the recognised existence of such a weapon in the armoury of the state was without utility as a warning. Strafford must have felt it to be a warning when, in his letters, he spoke of " perilling his head, " by measures which would not have made him strictly amenable to the penal ties of the statute law. Men less daring might perhaps have been checked by the undefined terrors of a bill of attainder. Without that preventive, men more cautious and crafty might have contrived to execute the despotic will of a tyrannical master, and keep within the letter of the statute. It might be well that, in those times, such men should feel that there are no safe limits marked by law, within which they might securely plot against the liberties of their country. We cannot defend the procedure by bill on St. John's plea, that it was " the speediest and surest " way." We must strongly condemn the opinion he advanced, that in such proceeding " private satis faction to each man's conscience is sufficient, al though no evidence had been given in at all:" and we must equally condemn the unconstitutional violence of his metaphorical proposition, that there was no law for beasts of prey. But while we ad mit that the procedure by bill is not susceptible of vindication, yet must we bear in mind that the pro secutors of Strafford were contending under no ordinary circumstances, and for no common stake. They were contending, in behalf of the liberties of EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 103 their country, against the most dangerous subject chap. that had ever conspired with his sovereign to sub- ¦ vert them. 1641- Two circumstances are said by Clarendon to have furthered the prosecution of the bill of attainder. These were, the death of the Earl of Bedford, and the discovery of Goring's plot. Bedford, a nobleman of much influence, anxious to save the life of Strafford, wished to negotiate between the King and the popular leaders, upon an under standing that if the latter were placed in office, Strafford should be saved. Pym was to be made Chancellor of the Exchequer, Hollis Secretary of State, and Lord Kimbolton Lord Privy Seal ; and other offices were to be offered to others. But it is not certain that any of these popular leaders were privy to the proposed compromise ; and it is possible that if Bedford had lived, he might not have succeeded in his object. In another respect, however, his death was an indirect source of mis fortune to Strafford ; for to the advice of Lord Say, who succeeded Lord Cottington as Master of the Wards, and followed up the undertaking of the Earl of Bedford, is attributed the King's remon strance in the House of Lords, which the Commons voted to be a breach of privilege, and which only increased their hostility to Strafford. Goring's confession of the plot for overawing the Parliament by means of the army, and effecting the liberation of Strafford, was more evidently" instrumental in leading to measures of extreme rigour. It not only gave them a stronger sense of their insecurity H 4 104 THE LIFE OF while Strafford lived, but furnished a powerful excuse for their severity. 1641- Of the conduct of Charles it is difficult to speak in any terms but those of censure. He gave up to death the man, who, if we credit his solemn declar ation, he in his heart believed had done nothing worthy of punishment. He had endeavoured to save him, but by means which he ought not to have employed. * He connived at the plot for the liberation of Strafford, which was revealed to the Parliament by Goring, t He endeavoured to stifle the bill of attainder in its progress through the Parliament, by his premature declaration that he would not assent to it. To unconstitutional means like these he did not scruple to resort, but he shrunk from the exercise of his veto. Hume, the ingenious apologist of Charles, adduces, with less than his usual plausibility, the King's less reluctant assent to the more dangerous bill for rendering Parliament perpetual. He adduces this as serving " to prove the integrity of his heart, and the good- " ness of his disposition ! " as if any comparison * Subornation of perjury is imputed to him in a letter from Lord Northumberland to Lord Leicester. " I doubt the King is not very " well satisfied with the Lord Admiral, because he will not perjure " himself for Strafford." Sidney Papers, ii. 665. f Memoires de Motteville, i. 253. Nalson, ii. 286. 294. Madame de Motteville says that Goring and Wilmot (whom she calls " Gorrein et Hailmot,") each wished to be commander in chief of the army; that Wilmot spoke to the King, Goring to the Queen, each without the other's knowledge; that the King and Queen commu nicated on the subject, .and wished to satisfy the respective applicants; that the King charged Jermyn to negotiate with them, to which the Queen reluctantly consented, fearing lest harm should happen to Jer myn ; and that Goring, disappointed in his ambitious projects, betrayed the whole design to .the Parliament. Memoires de Motteville, i. 258. 1641. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 105 could be strictly maintained between an act of im policy and an act of injustice ! The bill by which Parliament was perpetuated might be more dan gerous to the power of Charles, and it might be more impolitic to assent to it. But the assent to the execution of Strafford, if Charles really thought him innocent, was not mere impolicy, but a crime. Hume speaks of the King's " agony of grief, " shame, and remorse, for Strafford's doom." Why this " remorse," unless Charles felt that he had been accessory to a legislative murder ? There was scarcely any sacrifice which he ought not to have made, rather than consent to shed innocent blood. He possessed an undoubted right to save the man whose chief crime was an unscrupulous zeal for the interests of the prerogative ; yet he sacrificed this zealous servant, after assuring him that not a hair of his head should be touched. * Well might Strafford indignantly exclaim, " Put not your trust in princes." t * Whitelocke's Memorials, 37. f Rushworth, viii. 743. 106 THE LIFE OF CHAP. IV. BILL FOR PREVENTING THE DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT WITHOUT ITS OWN CONSENT. — COMMENCEMENT OF HYDE S RESISTANCE TO THE ENCROACHMENTS OF THE PARLIA MENT. — CONVERSATIONS WITH MARTIN AND FIENNES. — HYDE CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE OF EPISCOPACY. — FIRST INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. BECOMES AN AD HERENT TO THE ROYAL CAUSE HIS CONDUCT CONSIDERED. — ENCROACHING AND TYRANNICAL PROCEEDINGS OF THE PARLIAMENT. 1641. Within the week when Strafford fell, the legisla ture passed, with unusual haste, the bill for pre- Biiifor' venting the dissolution of Parliament without its rendering own consent. This important measure made the Parliament _ J- perpetual. Parliament independent alike of the King, and of the people ; destroyed the constitutional balance ; and erected one vast and irresponsible oligarchy, uncontrollable by constitutional means, and control lable only by that unconstitutional power to which ¦ it eventually succumbed — the strong arm of a military leader. The ostensible plea for this act of usurpation, was the pretended difficulty of raising money on the authority of Parliament, without security for its permanence. The real motive was distrust of the King, a distrust now reasonably increased by his participation in the army plot. * The Parliament, by an encroachment on the con- * May's Hist. Pari. 67, 68. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 107 stitution, had rendered itself more powerful than the Crown. From this time, therefore, it became the duty of every judicious friend of freedom to watch 1641- the course, and resist the aggressions of this newly- erected and irresponsible power, with that same vigilance and firmness, which it had been his duty to exercise against the aggressions of the Crown. But the sagacious and far-sighted friend of free dom would also know that no man, or body of men, is fit to be intrusted with irresponsible power ; and when he saw an assembly, however liberal, virtuous, and enlightened, newly invested with power which might be called irresponsible, inas much as its continuance depended on their own will, he would, from that instant, foresee that this power would be abused. It is probable that, with some such view, did Hyde pursue his altered course, and, by throwing his weight into the opposite scale, endeavour to preserve the equilibrium of the state. Hitherto we have seen him forward among those Com- who had repelled the encroachments of the royal "/Hyde?' prerogative : from this period we may date the ™8^fn™ commencement of his gradual separation from the croacn- opponents of the King,- and of his able opposition Parliament. to the measures of the Parliament. He had re sisted the prerogative in the day of its might ; he was now about to succour it in its weakness. He had fought for the Parliament in the redress of abuses : he was now about to oppose it, when it had set up that fruitful source of all abuse, — a power exempt from constitutional control. " Now that "they could not be dissolved without their own consent," said Clarendon, " (the apprehension 1641. 108 THE LIFE OF C^r- " and fear whereof had always before kept them " within some bounds of modesty,) they called any " power they pleased to assume to themselves " a branch of their privilege," and any opposing or questioning that power, " a breach of their privi- " leges, which all men were bound to defend by " their late protestation ; and they were the only Convers- " proper judges of their own privileges." * Hyde's ManhTand disposition to detach himself from the predominant Fiennes. party in Parliament, is alleged by himself to have been influenced in some measure by conversations, during the summer of 1641, with Martin and with Fiennes. From Martin he obtained an insight into the anti-monarchical views, which, though hitherto concealed, were entertained by him and others of his party. " I do not think one man wise enough " to govern us all," was Martin's answer when pressed by Hyde to say what he desired ; words not treasonable, nor controvertible, in their strictest sense, yet of dark import in a cautious age, unused ere then to comment freely upon kings and mi nisters, t From Fiennes he learned that there were many who would encounter the worst extremities of civil war, if the King should resist the abolition of epis copacy, " for that there was a great number of " good men, who wished to lose their lives before " they would ever submit to that government." X These records of the past were written after an interval of almost thirty eventful years, and we must therefore accept with due reservation an ac- * Clar. Hist. Reb. i. 475. f Life of Clarendon, i. 92. J Ibid 91. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 109 count, so timed, of the circumstances which affected his political course. It is possible that other for gotten circumstances had also some influence, at 1641- the time ; and these terse, keen, barbed expres sions infixing themselves in the memory, acquired, in his mind, a late importance more than commen surate with their original weight. Questions relative to the Church were those Questions which first produced a marked disunion between thVchurch. Hyde and those distinguished men with whom he had hitherto co-operated. Numerous petitions having been presented, on the subject of church government, they were referred to a Select Cora- Februarys mittee of the House of Commons, which was di rected to prepare heads out of them for the consi deration of the House, reserving the main question of episcopacy for a future time. * Having received the report of the Committee, the House resolved, " That the legislative and judi- " cial power of bishops in the House of Peers in " Parliament, is a great hinderance to the discharge " of their spiritual functions, prejudicial to the " commonwealth, and fit to be taken away by " bill ;" and they objected, on the same grounds, to bishops or other clergymen (being in the commis sion of the peace), having judicial power in the Starchamber, or in any civil court ; to their having employments as privy counsellors, or in any tem poral office whatever. A bill founded on these resolutions was brought in, and read a third time on the 1st of May. t * Commons' Journals, Feb. 9. 27. f Commons' Journals, March 10, 11. 22. May 1. 1641. 110 THE LIFE OF " Hyde spoke against this bill, stating, that it went to change " the whole frame and constitution .of " the kingdom, and of the Parliament itself;" and that if the bishops were excluded from the House of Lords, there would be nobody left to represent the clergy ; an assertion which, although it incor rectly assumed that the bishops might be regarded as representatives of the clergy, was countenanced by the fact that the clergy did not then, as now, enjoy the right of voting for members of the House of Commons. Lord Falkland, who spoke after him, maintained a contrary opinion ; and this is the first time that a difference of sentiment displayed itself between them ; a difference, however, which did not at all interrupt their friendship. According to Hyde, the favourable reception of this bill by Lord Falk land and others, arose from the impression " that " the passing of this act was the only expedient to " preserve the Church," and that, if this passed, nothing more to its prejudice would be attempted. The bill was sent up to the Lords, read a first and second time, referred to a Committee *, which re fused to exclude the Bishops from Parliament, and, after two conferences with the Commons, was finally rejected on the third reading.! The reserved question of episcopacy was now taken up by the Commons ; and a bill drawn up by St. John, " for the utter abolishing and taking * Clarendon, with an inaccuracy of which the instances are frequent, states that the Lords did not commit the bill, but rejected it on the second reading. Clar. Hist. Reb. i. 415. f Lords' Journals, May 13. 22. 24, 25. 27. June 4. 8. 1641. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. Ill " away of all archbishops, bishops, their chan- " cellors and commissaries, deans, deans and " chapters, archdeacons, prebendaries, chanters "and canons, and other under-officers, out of the " Church of England," was read a first and second time on the 27th of May, and passed the second reading by 139 to 108.* On the 11th of June the bill was discussed in a Committee of the whole House (of which Hyde was chairman), and the preamble was voted. On the 12th was voted the taking away of the offices of archbishops, bishops chancellors, and com missaries ; on the 15th they voted the abolition of deans and chapters, archdeacons, prebendaries, and canons, and the appropriation of dean and chapter lands " to the advancement of learning " and piety," provision being made for the King's pecuniary rights, and the competent maintenance of all persons concerned, that shall " appear to " the House not peccant and delinquent." On the 8th of July it was resolved, that the lands and possessions of all archbishoprics and bishoprics (except impropriations and advowsons) shall be given to the King, and their impropriations and ad vowsons, as well as all deans and chapters' posses sions and rights, shall be placed in the hands of feoffees. On the 11th July it was resolved, that compe tent maintenance be allotted out of the property of cathedral churches " for the support of a fit num- " ber of preaching ministers for the services of * Commons' Journals, May 27. 1641. 112 THE LIFE OF " every such church, and a proportionable allow- " ance for repairs;" and also that such eccle siastical power as is requisite, shall be transferred pro tempore into the hands of commissioners. * The Committee next applied itself to the more arduous task of re-constructing the government of the Church, so as to reconcile episcopacy and pres- byterianism, assuming a synodical form, supposed to be more consonant with the usage of primitive Christianity. Episcopacy was to be nominally abolished ; but a modified episcopacy, similar to a plan suggested by Archbishop Usher, was to be adopted under another name. It was voted on the 17th of July, " that every " shire should be a several diocese, a presbytery of " twelve divines in each shire, and a president as " a bishop over them ; and he, with the assistance " of some of the presbytery to ordain, suspend, " deprive, degrade, and excommunicate." There was to be "a diocesan synod once a year, and " every third year a national synod, and they to " make canons, but none to be binding till con firmed by Parliament." t Hyde, as we are told by himself, was placed in * Commons' Journals, June 11, 12. 15. July 8. 11. Sir R. Verney's MS. notes contain the following entries relative to " these commissioners : — " Two commissions for Canterbury and York " for archiepiscopal government ; nine or five of commissioners in every " county to exercise episcopal government ; all writs to be directed to " the commissioners, all ecclesiastical courts devolved to them, and to •' meet monthly. Three commissioners give warrant to five ministers to ordain any man into holy orders. Commissioners shall call three divines to punish heresie*" + Whitelocke, 46. 1641. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 113 the chair of this committee, notwithstanding his known hostility to the measure, in order " that he " might not give them trouble by frequently speak- " ing, and so too much obstruct the expediting of " the bill." He also tells us that in his capacity of chairman, he was nevertheless enabled to obstruct its progress ; but his other statements, with respect to this measure, are so widely at variance with the testimony of the Journals, that we may be per mitted to question the accuracy of this, and relieve him from, at least, some part of an imputation which, with such a mistaken sense of his duties as a chairman, he has not scrupled to court. The progress of the bill was not slow, if we con sider the magnitude and difficulty of the subject it embraced, — not less than a reconstruction of the whole system of church government ; and, if it really contended with those obstructions, on the part of the chairman, of which Hyde so unwisely boasts, it may be considered to have advanced with unwonted expedition. Its progress was arrested by other causes — the King's proposed journey to Scotland, which took place on the 10th of August, and the important and pressing measures which must be previously effected. The English and Scottish armies were to be disbanded, and a bill to be passed for confirming the treaty between the two kingdoms. The urgency of these measures was increased by the circumstance of a petition being, with the approbation of the King, circulated for signature among the forces in Yorkshire, pray ing that the English army might be permitted to VOL. i. i 114 THE LFFE OF march to London for the purpose of protecting the King and the Parliament, or, in other words, i64i. 0f overawing the latter. The bill for the abolition (or I would rather say — the reconstruction) of epis copacy, was therefore suspended, as being of less immediate urgency, and a long time elapsed before it was resumed. Hyde's It was during this summer, and apparently in view with consequence of the zeal displayed by Hyde in de- Charies i. fence of episcopacy, that an event occurred of no small influence upon his subsequent fortunes. He was informed one day by Mr. Percy, brother of the Earl of Northumberland, that the King desired to speak with him ; and accordingly, on the same evening, Hyde was, for the first time, conducted into the presence of Charles. The conference was private, and lasted long. Its purport shall be de scribed, in the words of the only account of it we possess, — that which was written by Hyde himself in 1669, twenty-eight years after the date of the conversation related. According to this account, the King told Hyde, " that he heard from all " hands how much he was beholden to him, and " that when all his servants in the House of Com- " mons either neglected his service, or could not " appear usefully in it, he took all occasion to do " him service ; for which he thought fit to give " him his own thanks, and to assure him that he " would remember it to his advantage. He took " notice of his affection to the church, for which, " he said, he thanked him more than for all the " rest, which the other acknowledged with the EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 115 " duty that became him, and said, he was very chap. v < protection. After that warning, no adherent could 164h hope to promote securely his own advantage, by striving to augment the power of the Crown. New adherents could not be swayed by personal attach ment, but would respect the kingly office rather than the man. To one not influenced by old pre possessions there was now no probable motive for espousing the royal cause, save only a patriotic wish to restore the balance of constitutional power, — to protect at once the Crown and the people, againt the encroachments of an overweening authority, which threatened to destroy the existence of the one, and the liberties of the other. The preroga tive was no longer formidable. The King could not govern by proclamations. He had no tribunals by which he could inflict an arbitrary punishment : he had resigned the power of arbitrary taxation : he had no standing army in time of peace ; and, had he possessed this instrument of despotism, it would avail him little while he was absolutely de pendent on the parliament for supplies. In attempting to determine, at this eventful crisis, whether the cause of the King or of the par liament should be espoused, there seems to be one prominent consideration, which should have caused a conflict in the minds of those who desired not a despotism or a republic, but the maintenance of the mixed government of King, Lords, and Commons. This was— the character of Charles. Could Charles be trusted ? We, of this age, know that he could not ; but we judge of him chiefly by his subse- 1641. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 117 quent conduct. To view this question as it was presented to Hyde, we must exclude the consider ation of all that happened after the summer of 1641, and look only at the King's anterior acts. Among his early instances of duplicity, two Stand forth prominent for their notoriety and import ance. He had violated the conditions of the Petition of Right : he had connived at a plot for overawing the parliament by means of the army, and thereby effecting the liberation of Strafford. But, in violating the Petition of Right, he was aided by that powerful subject who had been principally instrumental in procuring it. His connivance at the plot was a desperate expedient, to save the last and strongest prop of his declining despotism. He had failed : he had now no minister able and willing to assist him in the furtherance of arbitrary measures : he had even admitted to office some who, in such a course, would certainly oppose him. His love of power might be unabated ; but where were the means which would enable him to recover it ? In speculating on the course he was likely to pursue, it was necessary to consider, not only his character, but his situation. He had made great concessions : he had suffered great humili ations : he had twice been humbled before the Scots : twice, within one year, had be been driven to that which his soul abhorred — the convocation of the parliament. Branch after branch of his arbitrary power had been swept away. He had seen impeachments fulminated against all the fore- i 3 118 THE LIFE OF chap, most ministers of his despotism. Some of them r ' . were in prison, some in exile, and the greatest of 1641 • them all was in the grave. Was there not reason able ground for a belief that, at such a time, when the re-establishment of despotism seemed abso lutely hopeless, it was possible that some calm and wise adviser might instil into the mind of the sove reign, the wholesome counsels of moderation and good faith ? The voice of such an adviser was powerfully aided by circumstances. Charles had yielded to circumstances : why was it to be ima gined that he would thenceforward disregard them ? It could not be foreseen that passion would utterly master prudence ; that he would be so deaf to the dictates of his interest, as to adopt that rash and fatal measure, — the attempted seizure of the five members, — a measure which may be characterised as the groundwork of his ruin ; and from which we may date the commencement of his fall. It must also be remembered that, at this time, the politician's choice was apparently limited to one of two opposing parties. I say " apparently," for it can never be affirmed that there is absolutely no separate ground for mediators. But, there is a period in political conflicts, when to maintain such intermediate position is a task which only the greatest courage can undertake, and the most con summate ability can successfully effect. Unfor tunately, too, the energy which is requisite for such a part, belongs to temperaments of which moderation is not the prevailing attribute, and EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 119 which would not prefer the middle post. On the other hand, the friends of moderation are often men less firm of nerve, less endowed with the 1641- energy which prompts to lead, but disposed to think that mediation may be effected, less by im partial interposition between the two conflicting parties, than by joining the banners, and instilling discretion into the counsels, of one of them. Such a period had arrived. " He who is not with us, is " against us," had become the motto of those troubled times. To join one of two parties seemed, therefore, the sole course left to those who almost equally disapproved of each. There is reason to believe, that in the spring of 1641, the political sentiments of Hyde and Falkland, differed, only in a slight degree, from those of Hampden, or of White locke : but they were soon required to make their election ; and, starting almost from the same point, they were carried onward, in the divergent march of party violence, till they found themselves dia metrically and hostilely opposed. Hyde had made his election. The undue power usurped by the parliament biassed his disposition to support the King, against the probable course of their encroachments ; and it will be found, that their actual proceedings justified his fears. From that period, when the act for perpetuating the duration of parliament had invested that body with inordinate power, a series was commenced of arbi trary measures, equally opposed to the institutions of the land, and to the principles of genuine free dom. They encroached upon the most undoubted i 4 120 THE LIFE OF IV 1641. chap, and exclusive privilege of the Crown, in their ordi nance for disarming recusants ; and still more ex orbitantly by the resolution, of which we find the following notice in the Commons' Journals of the 7th of November : — " The Earl of Leicester did " propound to the parliament, that he doubted he " could not securely raise men by beating the " drum, for the defence of Ireland, in the time of " this great rebellion, ivithout a particular warrant " under the great seal. The house did take notice " of this doubt, and did, notwithstanding, resolve, " and hold it fit, that he should proceed to raise " men for this service, by virtue of the ordinance " of parliament." * Of the encroachments of the Commons upon the privileges of the Lords, we have a glaring in stance in then impeachment of the Duke of Rich mond, for words spoken in the Upper House, t We have another in the following remarkable entry in the Commons' Journal of December 3. 1641 : — " This committee is appointed to prepare heads " for a conference with the Lords, and to acquaint " them what bills this House hath passed, and sent " up to their Lordships, which much concern the " safety of the kingdom, but have had no consent " of their Lordships unto them : and that this " House being the representative body of the * Commons' Journals, Nov. 7. 1641. f " Some lords desired the House might be adjourned, to which the " Duke of Richmond answered, ' Let us put the question, whether we " ' shall adjourn for six months ?' which words the House taking ex- " ceptions to, the Duke explained himself— ' That he did not speak " ' those words positively, but meant that the House might be adjourned " ' as well for six months as to a time not limited.' " Pari. Hist. x. 248. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 121 " whole kingdom, and their Lordships being but chap. " as particular persons, and coming to parliament , " in a particular capacity, that if they shall not be i64i. " pleased to consent to the passing of those acts, ¦" and others, necessary to the preservation and " safety of the kingdom, that then this House, " together with such of the Lords that are more " sensible of the safety of the kingdom, may join " together and represent the same unto his " Majesty."* The Parliament were guilty of other proceed ings, equally unconstitutional, and more incon sistent with that spirit of freedom which they professed to encourage. The right of petition ing, — one of the most important rights of the people, and one which parliament are most espe cially bound to respect, was violated in several instances. Benyon, a citizen of London, was im- March peached for having caused to be drawn up a peti tion from the citizens, praying that the government of the city may be continued without alteration. For this offence he was sentenced to lose his fran chise as a citizen of London ; to be for ever inca pable of any place or office; to pay a fine of 3000/. ; to be imprisoned in Colchester gaol for two years; and, after that time, to find such sureties for his good behaviour as the Parliament shall think fit.t Sir Edward Dering was im- April peached for being instrumental in the promotion # Commons' Journals, Dec. 3. 1641. f Lords' Journals, April 6. 1642. 1642. 122 THE LIFE OF of a petition from the county of Kent*, which was ordered to be burnt by the common hangman ; and 1642- of which the presenters were committed to prison : and it was ordered, " that forthwith there may be " a declaration unto the kingdom, that whosoever " shall be found to further or to countenance this " petition, or any other of the like nature, shall be " held to be disturbers of the peace and quiet of the " kingdom, and justly liable to the censure of Par- " liament." t When it is considered that " the cen- " sure of Parliament" was exhibited, not by mere reproof, but by imprisonment and fine ; and that the vague words " any others of the like nature" might be extended to any thing which was dis pleasing to the parliament ; we see, in this reso lution, an absolute suppression of the right of petitioning. A semblance of this right was allowed to be exercised as an auxiliary to the parhament, whenever the wishes of the petitioners happened to coincide with the will of the majority ; but woe to those who ventured to remonstrate against such measures as it deemed essential! Not only was the free exercise of this right discouraged, but dis credit was thrown upon it by the encouragement it received when favourable to the views of the pre- * The heads of this petition quoted in the articles of impeachment against Dering, and which we may therefore conclude to have been the most offensive parts of it, are, " 1st, That no member of the House of " Commons should be put out of the said House without showing a " reason for the same. 2dly, That his Majesty's subjects should not be " bound by any order of either of the said Houses. 3dly, That no or- " dinance of the said House touching the militia should bind the sub- " jects without his Majesty's assent thereto." Pari. Hist. a. 455. f Commons' Journals, April 20. 1642. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 123 dominant party. Witness the tumultuous assem blages for that purpose * : witness the presentment of petitions, on the most important constitutional 1642- matters, from porters t, apprentices, and tradesmen's wives ; witness, too, Pym's assurances to the latter that this petition "is thankfully accepted of, and is come in a seasonable time.*' X Other means were taken for stifling all free expressions of opinion. The tyrannical proceedings of the Starchamber and Earl Marshal's Court, in punishing for offen sive words, were now emulated by the parliament. There could have been no real freedom of debate. On the 25th of November, Mr. Palmer was com mitted to the Tower, for words spoken in parlia ment. § Sir Ralph Hopton was similarly treated * Pari. Hist. ix. 295. T Mr. Brodie, the acute and industrious detector of the misrepre sentations of Hume, has allowed himself to be led into a false accu sation of Lord Clarendon. Speaking of a petition from the porters of London, he says, " It is nowhere to be found or alluded to, so far as I " recollect, except in Clarendon's History, and I have no hesitation in " pronouncing it a forgery by that author, to disgrace the petitions which " so galled him and his party. The Journals of the Commons give an " account of every petition, and / have gone over them with the utmost " care, in order to ascertain whether such a petition ever was presented, " yet cannot discover a trace of it." Brodie's History of the British Empire, iii. 306. Who would expect, after this serious charge so un hesitatingly preferred, to find, on turning to the Journals which had been examined " with the utmost care," the following words ? — " The " House being informed that some Porters were at the door, who de- " sired to present a petition, they were called in, and did present an " humble petition. Then they being withdrawn, the petition was read; " when the petitioners were again called in, and Mr. Speaker told " them, by the command of the House, that their petition was read ; " and that they do approve of their affections to the Commonwealth ; " and this House will do all things that may encourage them in their " duties, and that may ease them from their grievances." Commons' Journals, Feb. 2. 1641. ± Pari. Hist. Commons' Journals. J Commons' Journals. 124 THE LIFE OF chap, for having said in the House of Commons, that IV' , they seemed to ground their opinion of the King's i64i. apostacy, upon a less evidence than would serve to hang a fellow for stealing a horse.* Mr. Tre- lawney was committed to prison, and expelled the House, for having said, in private discourse, that the House could not appoint a guard, without the King's consent, under pain of high treason. Dr. Utie was disqualified from holding any benefice for having, among other offences, spoken words " that are very scandalous against the parliament." t Chillingworth, not a member of parliament, was, for offensive words, committed to the Tower, " there "to remain during the pleasure of the House" X But a more atrocious instance of severity, was the * In the Commons' Journals, Dec. 3. 1641, we find this entry: — " Ordered, That the House shall, on Tuesday next, take into consider- " ation the offence now given by words spoken by Mr. Godolphin." Neither Journals nor Parliamentary History state what these words were : but in the MS. notes of Sir R. Verney I find the following entry : ¦ — " Tuesday, 30th Nov. 1641. Pim moved for a committee to " review what bills we had passed and the Lords rejected, and the " reasons why ; and if the Lords would not joyne with us, then let us " goe to the King, and make declaration to the people, to let them see " where the obstructions lye ; and because the Lords have a liberty to " protest, and cannot be involved by the major part, let us take those " Lords with us, and represent the obstructions to the King. Mr. Go- " dolphin moved against this, for if we went to the King with the lesser " part of the Lords, the greater part of the Lords may "goe to the King " with the lesser part of us. Upon this, after he had explained, he was " commanded to withdraw.'1 The following case is also mentioned in Verney's notes, as follows : " Tuesday, 15th March, 1641-2. Tho. Shawbridg was brought to the " barr for calling Mr. Pim ' King Pim, and rascall.' This was proved " uppon oath by 2 witnesses, before Sir George Whitham, and the " witnesses did averr it before a committee of this House. For this " offence he was fined one hundred pounds to the king, and committed " to the Gatehouse till he paid the fine; and Dr. Eden was ordered to " write to the University of Cambridge to deny his grace of doctor of " physick." f Commons' Journals, May 17. 1641. \ Ibid. Dec. 4. 1641. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 125 punishment inflicted upon a humble tradesman of CHy p' the name of Sandeford, for having cursed the par- > — , > liament, called Lords Essex and Warwick traitors, 1641- and said he wished Pym and Hotham hanged. For these idle speeches the parliament inflicted the following sentence : that he should be fined 100 marks ; should stand in the pillory, on two suc cessive days, in Cheapside and Westminster ; should be whipped from each place at the cart's tail, and be committed to the House of Correction, " there "to be kept to work during his life." * Though the records of the parliament exhibit no stronger case of cruelty to an individual, yet perhaps a more flagrant disregard of the personal freedom of the subject, was shown in an order by the Com mons, that in consequence of information, from Sir Walter Erie, of dangerous words spoken by certain persons, a warrant shall be issued for the appre hension of such persons as Sir Walter Erie shall name ! t If the parliament emulated the acts of the sup pressed Starchamber, no less did they revive the obnoxious authority of the High Commission. Witness their assumption of judicial power in what ever related to the Church ; summoning and im prisoning, under the vague name of " delinquent," whoever was conceived to have departed, in the smallest degree, from those ceremonial observances which they established as their standard. X * Lords' Journals. Pari. Hist. x. 414. I Commons' Journals, Dec. 10. 1641. Journals, passim. Nalson, ii. 234. 245. 126 THE LIFE OF These contempts and violations, not only of the principles of the constitution, but of the abstract i64i. principles of freedom, took place within twelve months from the passing of the act which rendered Parliament indissoluble without its own consent.* Here was enough to justify the suspicions which that measure might have created. The time had arrived, when more danger to the liberties of the people was to be apprehended from that power which had lately been their guardian, than from the humbled despotism which had previously oppressed them. The finger of the Parliament was now hea vier than the arm of the prerogative. If nothing was left but a miserable choice between conflicting tyrannies, and there was no middle course of safety, we cannot blame those who might have pre ferred submission to the effete and crippled ty ranny of one, rather than to the newly-fledged and less controllable tyranny of many. But, if in this oligarchical tyranny we see the corrupting influence of irresponsible power, we also see a natural consequence of the tyranny which had preceded it. The evils of misgovernment are more lasting than misgovernment itself; and the redress which seemed immediate is not immediate in reality. There is ever a legacy of violence and injustice, which is bequeathed by a fallen tyranny. The fruits of that legacy are seen, too probably, in the conduct of the first recipients of the transferred authority ; and, so exhibited, they furnish a wel- * Com. Journals, Dec. 3. 1641. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 127 come theme, and a plausible argument, to the C^R bigoted advocates of old abuses. It is true, the > y >. change is attended with evil ; but, on that which 1641- preceded be the evil charged, and not alone on that which has ensued. Of all preparations for the ex ercise of power, the very worst is the education of a slave. Men who have lived in an atmosphere of injustice, are liable to have formed for themselves a debasing standard of right. They will need the guidance of an inward sense of justice, for they will not have learnt, by observation, how power ought to be employed. If Laud had not glutted his vengeance upon libellers, — if he had not, in open court, given God thanks, .when the Starchamber sentenced Dr. Leighton to be fined 10,000/., to be degraded from his ministry, to be twice whipped, twice pilloried, to have his ears cut off, his nose slit, to be branded on the face with a double S, and to be imprisoned for life ; — if he, who became Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest minister of the religion of mercy, had not desecrated his sacred functions by a vindictiveness so unchristian, it is possible that the laymen, assembled in parlia ment in 1642, might have been withholden, by compunctious shame, from their atrocious punish ment of Sandeford. But the Crown, and the Church, had, by their example, contaminated the Parliament: and when the latter invested themselves with sove reign power, they assumed those oppressive attri butes of sovereignty, which they had before resisted and controlled. Though once the victims of sys- 128 THE LIFE OF chap, tematic oppression, they hated the offenders rather IV. than the offence : a thirst for retaliation had obli- i64i. terated their disapprobation of injustice; and what they had denounced as a wrong, they remembered only as a precedent. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 129 CHAP. V. KING GOES TO SCOTLAND THE POPULARITY OF THE PAR LIAMENT DECLINES. THE INCIDENT, AND THE IRISH RE BELLION, UNFAVOURABLE TO THE KING'S CAUSE. — THE REMONSTRANCE. HYDE OPPOSES IT IN PARLIAMENT. PALMER SENT TO THE TOWER. KING'S RETURN FROM SCOTLAND. ANSWER TO THE REMONSTRANCE DRAWN UP BY HYDE. HYDE'S INTERVIEW WITH THE KING AND QUEEN. THE KING'S INTERESTS IN PARLIAMENT EN TRUSTED TO HYDE, FALKLAND, AND COLEPEPPER. 1641. On the 10th of August the King departed for chap. Scotland. Nothing very important occurred in v- parliament during his absence, and the two houses The Ki adjourned from the 3d of September to the 20th g°es to „ „ ..-,., , Scotland. of October, appointing during the recess a stand ing committee of fifty members. The popularity of the parliament was at this time declining. * May acknowledges that they had lost favour, and attributes the change, in a great measure, to their attacks upon the Established Church, their connivance at rude disturbers of the church service, and the preaching of illiterate Dis senters. Much is also attributed by him to the un grateful fickleness of the people, who, "tired with " expectations of a cure, do usually by degrees "forget the sharpness of those diseases which * May's Hist. Pari. 75. VOL. I. * K 130 THE LIFE OF CHAP. V. 1641. The" Inci dent " and the Irish Rebellion unfavourable to the King's cause. " before required it ;" or, impatient of taxation, do not consider " that the causes of all which they " now endure were precedent, and that their pre- " sent suffering is necessary for their future se- " curity."* Two circumstances occurred this autumn of which the parliament took advantage in order to restore their declining popularity, to excite an interest in their favour, and to throw additional odium on the King. The first of these was the event in Scotland called "the Incident," an event involved in much obscurity, but which, inasmuch as it indicated the existence of a plot against two noblemen of the popular party, Hamilton and Argyle, was employed by the English parlia mentary leaders to excite fears of a more exten sive conspiracy ; and on the day before the parliament met again, warrants were issued by the committee for the appointment of guards for its protection, t The other circumstance was the Irish rebellion, which broke out about the end of October. It was attended with unparalleled horrors, and "proved," says Clarendon, "of infinite disad- " vantage to the King's affairs, which were then recovering new \ife."X It was unjust to impute to Charles the promotion of this rebellion, or con nivance at its atrocities. But here were extensive massacre, and dreadful cruelties, inflicted on Pro testants, by the hands of Papists calling themselves * May's Hist. Pari. 75, 76. + Clar. Hist. Reb. ii. 578. 1. Ibid. ii. 19. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 131 " the Queen's army," and boasting of the pro- chap. tection their atrocities would receive. When, t v" therefore, we consider the previous and justifiable isii. jealousy of the public mind, on the subject of the Queen's influence over Charles, and his known disposition to favour the Catholics, we shall not wonder that distrust should have been aggravated by such events. When the news of the rebellion was communicated, by the lords of the council, to the House of Commons, " there was a deep silence " in the house, and a kind of consternation, most " men's heads having been intoxicated, from their " first meeting in parliament, with imaginations of " plots and treasonable designs through the three " kingdoms." * Information of dangers to the English Protestants, similar to those which had appeared in Ireland, were greedily received by the parliament. Beale, a tailor, was examined before the Lords respecting a supposed plot of the Papists, which does not appear to have been authenticated. Informations were sent from Lancashire and Che shire, of the designs of the Papists in those counties; and on the 17th of November, after the examin ation of several witnesses, it was resolved in the Commons, " That there is sufficient evidence for " this House to believe that there was a second " design to bring up the army against the parlia- " ment, and an intention to make the Scotch army " stand as neutral." t * Clar. Hist. Reb. ii. 20. f Com. Journals, Nov. 17. 1641. Evelyn's Memoirs, v. 102. K 2 132 THE LIFE OF It was in this temper of suspicion and alarm that the Commons proceeded to frame their celebrated Remonstrance, the origin of which, however, was not of very recent date. Early in the previous session a committee had been appointed to prepare a remonstrance on the state of the kingdom ; but its proceedings had been suspended, and no report was presented to the House, the great progress actually made in the redress of grievances being thought such as might preclude the necessity of com plaint. Now, however, there was a determination to resume it ; and, when the King was known to be on his way from Scotland, Strode moved " that the " committee might be revived and ordered to Nov. 22. " meet*;" and accordingly it met, and drew up and presented the remonstrance, t Several amend ments were discussed ; and the question " that the " declaration thus amended shall pass," was carried only by 159 to 148. It was then debated, the same evening, " whether the word * published' should " stand in the order for the not printing the de- " claration," which was negatived by 124 to 101; and it was resolved, that the declaration should not be printed, without the particular order of the * Commons' Journals. f In Sir Ralph Verney's notes of this debate, Hyde's name is men tioned first, and I find the following brief notice of the heads of his speech : — " Wee may desire to see, but not divulge, our owne infirmities, noe " more than a generall the defects of his army to his enemy. The end " of this remonstrance is peace. Wee are accused to have done nothing '• either for king or kingdome. If a parhament must make an apology, " wee may show what wee have done without looking too farr back. " All is true, and expressed modestly. Wee stand upon our liberties " for the King's sake, least hee should be king of meane subjects, or wee " subjects of a meane king. Sir J. Eliot's imprisonment under the " King's own hand, and the King's wanting bread, ill expressed." ment. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 133 house. The debate was of very unusual length, lasting till three o'clock in the morning ; and the result, as Sir Benjamin Rudyard said, looked like i64i. the verdict of a starved jury. * The publication of the Remonstrance was op- Hyde oP- 11TT1 poses it in posed by Hyde. It had not been customary to Pariia- publish debates or determinations of the Commons, which had not been first transmitted to the Lords. Hyde urged this reason, adding, that " he believed " the printing it in that manner was not lawful, " and he feared it would produce mischievous " effects ; and therefore desired the leave of the " house, that if the question should be put and " carried in the affirmative, that he might have " liberty to enter his protestation." t Palmer, a member of the house, then rose and desired " that " he might likewise protest," and many others followed the example. These acts were thought to merit the vengeance of the parliament, and a victim was sought. Hyde had been the first who asked leave to protest, and had thereby rendered himself most obnoxious. But the northern mem bers, with Hotham, Cholmondeley, and Stapleton at their head, remembered his services against the court of York, and, though ready to concur in the punishment of any of the other protesters, they determined to protect Hyde. The vengeance of * Rushworth, iv. 428. f Clar. Hist. Reb. ii. 43. " I assure your Majestie," said Nicholas in a letter to the King, dated Nov. 22., " there are divers in ye Com'ons " House that are resolved to stand very stiff for resisting that Declara- " tion ; and if they prevayle not, then to protest against it." Evelyn's Memoirs, v. 1 1 1 . It appears from this passage that Hyde's protest was preconcerted. ic 3 134 THE LIFE OF the house fell, therefore, on Palmer, the second offender. The distinction made by Hyde's northern friends between his offence and that of Palmer was, that the former only asked leave to protest, but that Palmer said " I do protest." Palmer was on the 24th attacked by Hotham *, and called upon to explain, " which, as he was about to do, Mr. Hyde " (who loved him much, and had rather have suf- " fered himself than that he should) spoke to the " orders of the house, and said that it was against " the orders and practice of the house, that any " man should be called upon to explain, for any "thing he said in the house two days before; " when it could not be presumed that his own " memory could recollect all the words he had " used, or that any body else could charge him " with them ; and appealed to the house whether " there was any precedent of the like : and there is " no doubt there never had been, and it was very " irregular." t On the following day two questions were put to the vote : whether Palmer should be committed to the Tower ; and whether he should be expelled the house. The former was carried * The following account appears in Sir R. Verney's MS. notes :— " Wednesday, 24th November, 1641. Mr. Hotham charged Mr. Palmer " with protesting, on Monday night, in the name of himselfe and others, " and that in a way to move us to mutinie, and made himselfe the head " of a party. Mr. Hyde, to the orders of the house, saied the charge " was against the orders, being he was only charged with words, and " not with any ill carriage ; being the words were not excepted against " at that time ; ergo, noe orderly charge. For then a man may be " questioned for words spoke a moneth, or a yeare agon, as well as for " those spoke on Mounday. Words may be forg'd, and then how can " a man answere for himselfe, and this takes away the greate priviledge " of freedom of speech." t Clar. Hist. Reb. ii. 48. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 135 in the affirmative by 169 to 128 ; the latter was chap. negatived by 163 to 131.* Palmer was accord- , v" , ingly committed to the Towert, but released in a mi. few days.}" On the 25th of November the King re-entered London, and was received with flattering demon strations of loyalty — demonstrations which tended much to imbue him with undue confidence in his own popularity. § On the 1st of December the Commons sent a deputation to Hampton Court, to present their Remonstrance, and the petition which accompanied it. || The Remonstrance, which * Com. Journals. -f- Whitelocke, 5 1 . J Macdiarmid, in his Life of Clarendon, has committed a gross error, and sent Hyde to the tower instead of Palmer. See Macdiarmid's Lives of British Statesmen, ii. 296. § May's Breviary, in Masere's Tracts, i. 36. Rushworth, iv. 429. || The interview between the King and the deputation is thus reported to the House of Commons by Sir Ralph Hopton : — " The King sent a " gentleman-usher to call us in, with directions none to come in but " ourselves ; whereupon I did, according to your order, and the rest " with me, upon our knees, present the petition and Remonstrance, " and began to read it, kneeling. The first thing that his Majesty spake " at the reading thereof, was to that part of the petition that charges " a malignant party to be about his Majesty, with a design to change " religion ; to which his Majesty, with a hearty fervency, said, the devil take him, whosoever he may be, that has a design to change religion. Then " I proceeded to read on ; and when I came to that part of the Remon- " strance, of reserving the lands of the rebels in Ireland toward the sup- " pressing them, his Majesty spake, and said, We must not dispose of the " bear's skin till the bear be dead. After the petition was read, his " Majesty said, he desired to ask us some questions; but I answered, we " had no power to speak to any thing but wherein we had commission ; " then said his Majesty, Doth the house intend to publish this Declar- " ation ? We said, we could not answer to it. Well then, said his Ma- " jesty, / suppose you do not expect a present answer to so long a petition ; " but this let me tell you, I have left Scotland well in peace ; they are well " satisfied with me, and I with them ; and though I staid longer than I ex- " pected, I think if I had not gone, you had not been so soon rid of the army. " I shall give you an answer to this business, with as much speed as the " weight thereof will permit. And so was pleased to give us all his hand " to kiss ; and thereupon we took our leave. And afterwards Mr. Comp- " troller came to us with this message, — that the King desired there K 4 136 THE LIFE OF chap, recapitulated every grievance that had existed du- , v" , ring the present reign, contained at the same time i64i. some justification of Charles, as also showing how many were redressed. In fact, few causes of com plaint remained ; and the expostulatory part of the Remonstrance was confined to allegations of want of reformation in the Church, complaints of the rebellion then raging in Ireland, and vague inti mations of popish influence, evil counsellors, and supposed danger menacing the Parliament. It seemed scarcely calculated for any purpose, save that of reviving a discontent which had begun to slumber, prolonging the irritation of the public mind, and destroying all confidence in the inten tions of the King. It was an address so needlessly offensive, that it would seem to have been drawn up, with a lurking hope that it might extort, from the displeasure of Charles, some rash and impolitic reply. Answer to It was fortunate for Charles that he availed strlnce™0 '"" himself of the ability and discretion of Hyde; byaHydUeP wnose assistance, on this occasion, was the first which he offered directly to the King. He had drawn up an answer to the Remonstrance, but, as he asserts (and it is an assertion which cannot be disproved), without intending that use should be made of it; and he showed it only to Falkland and Digby. A few days after Lord Digby had seen it, " should be no publishing of this Declaration till we had received his " answer. We were all that night treated by Mr. Comptroller a tsupper, " and entertained with great respect, and lodged by the King's harbinger." Rushworth, iv. 436. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 137 he came again to Hyde, and informed him, that many advisers had suggested to the King, that it was desirable to send forth some answer to the Remon- i64i strance ; that the King had spoken, on that subject, to him, " upon which he had confessed that he " had seen an answer that pleased him very well, " but could not prevail with the author of it to " suffer it to be made use of; and told him who it " was ;" upon which the King expressed a desire to see the paper, promising secrecy with respect to its author. Hyde, though dissatisfied, as he tells us, with what Digby had done, yet, feeling that it was in his power to render to the King essential ser vice, gave up the paper, insisting, at the same time, not only upon the promise of secrecy, but that the King should not publish it without previously com municating it to his council, and receiving their advice. With this view, before he delivered his paper, he entitled it, " the King's Answer with " the Advice of his Council." This stipulation was complied with, and the answer was published about the middle of December. * This able and important reply, published as the King's " Declaration to all his loving Subjects," was highly creditable to its writer. It is firm, tem perate, and judicious, retorting without acrimony, condescending without meanness, and blending conciliation with reproof. It tended to expose the anti-pacific intentions of the parliamentary leaders, * Life of Clar. i. 97. Lord Clarendon's account of this transaction appears to have been written in 1669. 138 THE LIFE OF chap, and to place the King in the right. The com- t mencement is mild and dignified : — i64i. " Although we do not believe that our House " of Commons intended, by their remonstrance of " the state of the kingdom, to put us to any apology " either for our past or present actions ; notwith- " standing, since they have thought it so very ne- " cessary (upon their observation on the present " distemper) to publish the same for the satisfac- " tion of all our loving subjects, we have thought it " very suitable to the duty of our place (with which " God hath trusted us) to do our part to so good " a work ; in which we shall not think it below " our kingly dignity to descend to any particular " which may compose and settle the affections of " our meanest subjects." The long recapitulations of past and redressed grievances is briefly alluded to ; and it is well stated, that the King had not re fused to pass any bill, presented to him by parlia ment, for a redress of the grievances mentioned in the Remonstrance. Attachment to the established religion in preference to that of Rome is strongly professed ; and " nothing," says the Declaration, " can be so acceptable unto us, as any proposition " which may contribute to the advancement of it " here, or the propagation of it abroad, being the " only means to draw down a blessing from God " upon ourselves and this nation." " For differences " amongst ourselves as to matters indifferent in " their own nature concerning religion, we shall, in :' tenderness to any number of our loving subjects, " very willingly comply with the advice of our par- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 139 " liament, that some law may be made, for the ex- " emption of tender consciences from punishment " or prosecution for such ceremonies, and in such imi " cases which, by the judgment of most men, are " held to be matters indifferent, and, of some, to be " absolutely unlawful." After complaining of the bold licence of some men in publications and preaching, and the impunity in which they have been allowed to proceed, it thus continues : " Con- ' cerning the civil liberties and interest of our sub- ' jects, we shall need to say the less, having erected ' so many lasting monuments of our princely and ' fatherly care of our people, in those many excel- ' lent laws passed by us in this parliament ; which ' in truth (with very much content to ourself) we ' conceive to be so large and ample, that very ' many sober men have very little left to wish for. ' We understood well the right, and pretences of ' right, we departed from, in the consenting to the ' bills of the triennial parliament, and for the ' continuance of this present parliament ; and in ' the preamble to the bill of tonnage and poundage, ' the matter of which (having begot so many dis- ' turbances in late parliaments), we were willing ' to remove, that no interest of ours might here- ' after break the correspondence, abundantly con- ' tenting ourself with an assurance (which we ' still have) that we should be repaired and sup- ' plied by a just proportion of confidence, bounty, ' and obedience of our people. In the bills for ' taking away the High Commission and Star ' Chamber Courts, we believed we had given that 140 THE LIFE OF chap. " real satisfaction that all jealousies and apprehen- , v" , " sions of arbitrary purposes, under the civil or 1614. " ecclesiastical state, would easily have been aban- " doned, especially when they saw all possible " doubts secured by tbe visitation of a triennial " parliament." After adverting to Ireland it thus concludes : — " And we shall now conjure our good subjects " (of what degree soever), by all the bonds of " love, duty, or obedience, that are precious to " good men, to join with us for the recovery of " the peace of that kingdom, and the preservation " of the peace to this, to remove all their doubts " and fears, which may interrupt their affection to " us, and all their jealousies and apprehensions, " which may lessen their charity to each other. " And then (if the sins of this nation have not " prepared an inevitable judgment for us all), God " will yet make us a great and glorious king over " a free and happy people."* Charles appears to have been very sensible of the service afforded him by this important paper, and of the high merits of its writer. He had, at this time, entrusted the conduct of his affairs to Lord Falkland and Sir John Colepepper, whom he had called to the privy council, and intended to make Secretary of State and Chancellor of the Exchequer, in the place of Vane and Cottington. With these liberal and enlightened counsellors, it was the king's intention to associate Hyde.t He * Nalson, ii. 746—750. f Warwick's Memoirs, 214. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 141 commanded Lord Digby to bring Hyde to him a second time ; and then, in the presence of the Queen, the King told him, " he was much be- i64i. " holden to him for many good services ; and that Hyde's in- " now he had preferred two of his friends, it was with the " time to give him some testimony of his favour ; Quefn!nd " and therefore he had sent to him to tell him, " that he intended to make him his solicitor- " general, in the place of him who had served him " so ill." Mr. Hyde suddenly answered, ' God " ' forbid ! ' with which the King seeming surprised, " said, 'Why God forbid?' The other replied, " ' It was in no degree fit, at this time, that he " ' should remove the other ; and if he were re- " ' moved, himself was in no degree fit for it.' " The Queen complimentarily rebutted the asser tion of unfitness, to which Hyde suitably replied ; and, in conclusion, besought the King and Queen to believe, that although the Solicitor-General (St. John) " ' will never do much service, he will be " able to do much more mischief if he be removed.' " The King, at the same time, resolved to remove " another officer who did disserve him notoriously, " and to prefer Mr. Hyde to that place, with which " gracious intention both their Majesties acquainted " him : but he positively refused it ; and assured " both their Majesties, that he should be able " to do much more service in the condition he »* * Life of Clar. i. 101. 142 THE LIFE OF chap. There is no reason to believe that Hyde judged t t' ¦ otherwise than soundly, in opposing both the re- i64i. moval of St. John, and the appointment of himself; but, viewing, as we now do, the whole disastrous course of subsequent events, we are impressed only with the inefficacy of any such advice ; and we cannot imagine, that the pursuance of an oppo site line of conduct, on these points, would have changed the result of the hostilities which ensued. The King's The King before he left Whitehall renewed his PariiaSmSeDnt commands to Falkland, Colepepper, and Hyde, to FaTidlnd,'0 meet frequently, to consult on his affairs, and cn°(jej^pper> conduct them in parliament. They were also de sired " to give him constant advice what he was "to do ; without which, he declared again very " solemnly, he would make no step in the par- " liament."* The three associates met every night, and chiefly at the residence of Hyde, conferring on the events of the past day, and deliberating on their conse quent course of operations. Whatever was to be written was committed to Hyde ; who, from this time, began to correspond by letter frequently with the King. Hyde had long been suspected, by the predominant party in parliament, of being adverse to their views ; but it was not till his opposition to the Remonstrance, that his separation from them, and espousal of the royal cause, were considered no longer doubtful. He became suspected of having * Life of Clarendon, i. 102. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 143 written the King's Declaration ; his actions were chap. observed with a distrustful eye ; and it did not , escape notice, that Falkland and Colepepper, both i64i. known to be in the confidence of the King, re paired frequently to his house. It may reasonably be doubted, whether, if the conduct of Charles had exhibited those qualities of discretion and firmness which characterised the language of his Declaration, the royal cause, sup porting and supported by the liberties of the people, might not still have been retrieved. We cannot suppose that Hyde, Falkland, and Colepepper believed the cause desperate when they began to espouse it. In the autumn of 1641, there was a returning spirit of loyalty, which would have sup ported the Crown against the encroachments of a parliament of which the people were beginning to be jealous. They were beginning to perceive, that as the struggle proceeded its character became changed ; and that what had lately been a glorious contention for liberty against despotism, was de generating into a strife between monarchy and oligarch}7, in which the real interests of the people were but little concerned. It is probable, that if the King had prudently allowed himself to appear the unretaliating object of parliamentary encroachment, there would have been a reaction sufficiently powerful to restore the unsettled balance of authority. This was to be desired by all who adhered to the constitutional principles of limited monarchy, and more than this 144 THE LIFE OF chap, would hardly have been countenanced by men like . Falkland, Colepepper, and Hyde. But the hopes i64i. of the rational friends of limited monarchy were soon to receive a fatal blow. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 145 CHAP. VI. THE KING S ATTEMPT TO SEIZE THE FIVE MEMBERS. — HYDE S DISAPPROBATION. THE KING QUITS LONDON. AUTHO RITY USURPED BY THE PARLIAMENT. THE QUESTION OF THE MILITIA CONSIDERED. PREPARATORY MEASURES OF THE PARLIAMENT. KING'S MESSAGE TO PARLIAMENT FROM HAMPTON COURT. ANSWERS AND REJOINDERS. BILL FOR EXCLUSION OF BISHOPS FROM PARLIAMENT. DEPARTURE OF THE QUEEN. HYDE'S INTERVIEW WITH THE KING AT CANTERBURY AND GEEENWICH. KING'S PROGRESS NORTHWARD. HYDE'S LETTER TO THE KING. 1642. Charles, on the 4th of January, committed that chap. irretrievable act of mingled perfidy and folly, his , entry into the House of Commons, with intent to January 4. seize the five members.* It is unnecessary to re- „. 1(^2' , i ii The King s count the well known details of this memorable attempt to proceeding. To call it folly, is to characterise it j™me„. mildly. It evinced at least a shameful ignorance bers* of constitutional law. The King attempted to * Madame de Motteville, who saw much of the interior of the court at that period, says that Charles was encouraged to strike this blow by his apparent popularity on his return from Scotland (i. 270.). She also states, that on that eventful day " Charles, en quittant la Reine, lui " avoit dit, en l'embrassant, qu'il alloit etre le maitre, et qu'il esperoit " dans une heure la venir trouver avec plus de puissance qu'il n'en " avoit a leur separation ; " that Charles was detained by petitioners on his way to the house ; and the Queen, when the hour was exprired, thinking the blow was then struck, said, in the presenceof Lady Car lisle, " Rejouissez vous ; car a l'heure qu'il est, le Roi est, a ce que " j'espere, le maitre dans son Etat ; et tels, et tels sont, sans doute, " arretes." Memoires de Motteville, i. 271. VOL. I. L 146 THE LIFE OF chap, arrest without a warrant — to act, not officially, but VI- as an individual, — and thus, acting without the 1642. advice of his council, to destroy that remedy which is afforded by the intervention of responsible ministers, between the subject, and the irresponsible person of the king. It was an act of complicated perfidy, — perfidy to his counsellors, and to the insulted parliament. On the day before his entry into the house, he had, in reply to a request from the Commons for a guard, given an assurance, " on the word of a king," " that the security of " all and every one of you from violence is, and " shall ever be, as much our care, as the preserv- " ation of us and our children." * It was perfidy to his advisers, to whom he had given a solemn promise that he would do no important public act, without previous consultation with them. Sproba^9" Clarendon, writing at a time when indignation tion- at the treachery of Charles was almost absorbed in pity for his misfortunes, thus expresses the feeling this act had excited in the breasts of Falkland, Colepepper, and himself: — " The three persons before named, without whose " privity the King had promised that he would " enter upon no counsel, were so much displeased " and dejected, that they were inclined never more " to take upon them the care of any thing to be " transacted in the house ; finding already that " they could not avoid being looked upon, as the " authors of those counsels to which they were so * Rushworth, iv. 472, EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 147 " absolute strangers, and which they so perfectly " detested. And in truth, they had then withdrawn " themselves from appearing often in the house ; 1642 " but upon the abstracted consideration of their " duty and conscience, and of the present ill con- " dition the King was in." * It is melancholy to contemplate men like these, generously contending for a hopeless cause, and vainly attempting to render that cause more worthy of their support. But most praiseworthy was the conduct of Hyde. Falkland and Colepepper were official councillors : Hyde had no ostensible situa tion, and was obliged to repair to the King by stealth, having only the dangers and difficulties, without the honours and advantages, of a privi leged adviser. The King, whose popularity, had been rapidly The Ki dispelled, after his ill-starred act of the 4th of quits t n 1 r- i n London. January, fled from the outcries of an angry popu lace, and retired to Hampton Court, never to return to the metropolis in freedom. An indignity, offered by two of the chief members of his household, served to indicate his fallen state. Lords Essex and Holland (the Lord Chamberlain and Groom of the Stole), when summoned to attend him, re fused compliance, and pleaded the superior obliga tions of parliamentary duty. " They chose," said May, " rather to obey his writ, than to obey his " private command, alleging that their attendance * Clar. Hist. Reb. ii. 133. L 2 148 THE LIFE OF " in parliament was truer service to him, as King, " than any other could be." * 1642. Meanwhile the accused members, guarded vo luntarily by assembled thousands, were brought back in triumph to the house : the sheriffs of London were thanked by the Parliament, for the protection they had afforded : 4000 men, consti tuents of Hampden, rode up to town to present a petition, with copies of the protestation in their hats : the trained bands were ordered to guard the parliament, under the command of Skippon ; and the authority of the King, who had given that command to the Earl of Lindsay, was summarily Authority set aside. Supreme authority was boldly claimed theUpariia.y m other instances ; and the Lieutenant of the ment. Tower, Goring Governor of Portsmouth, and Sir John Hotham Governor of Hull, were ordered not to deliver up their respective posts without the King's authority, " signified by both houses of " parliament." These were violent usurpations ; but the parliament might plead that the King him self, by the invasions of their privileges on the 4th of January, had set the example of an appeal- to force. Unhappily, too, some of the adherents of Charles were accelerating the desperate crisis. Digby and Lunsford, at the head of some soldiers at Kingston-upon- Thames, made proclamation for recruits, and avowed the intention of investing the metropolis ; by which useless menace they called forth a counter-proclamation from the parliament, * May's Hist. Pari. 104. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 149 and justified the retaliatory measure of calling out chap. the trained bands of the midland counties. < ' ¦ The power of the sword had now become the 1642.' main object for which King and parliament severally tion ofThe contended. Other considerations merged in this ; ^nsMereci. and the great question, in whose hands the control of the militia should be vested, was that, into which this important struggle was now finally resolved. There was at this time no standing army. Before the reign of Henry VII. the king had not even a guard ; and the number of this body was still in considerable. Military tenure by knight service, which entailed the obligation of attending the king in his wars for forty days, was not abolished, but had fallen into disuse. Owing to the limitation of time, it had very early been found inadequate. Commutations of personal service for money were admitted as early as the reign of Henry II. ; and voluntary enlistments, procured by contract with men of influence, were adopted by several of his successors. In the reign of Edward II. the military tenures had almost ceased to be efficacious ; and the . mode of raising forces, by charging a soldier upon each township, without distinction of tenure, was generally adopted. * The feudal military power of the Crown had become virtually extinct, and there was at this time no foreign war to warrant its renewal. The question of military power, there fore, now resolved itself into this, — in whose hands lay the control of the militia ? * Preface (by Sir F. Palgrave) to vol. ii. of " Parliamentary Writs, " and Writs of Military Service." L 3 150 THE LIFE OF chap. The origin of our militia is Saxon. By the Anglo- , Saxon constitution, the ceorles or husbandmen 1642. were bound to defend the country against inva sion. They were a militia, the command of which was vested in leaders, who appear to have been elected by the people, in their folkmote. The she riffs were also elected ; and continued to be so, until their appointment was given to the Crown, by a statute of Edward II. The Anglo-Saxon institution fell into disuse ; and it became necessary to provide for the defence of the kingdom, by a law originally framed by Henry II., and reinforced by the statute of Win chester under Edward I. *, which obliged every person to provide arms, in a stated proportion to the amount of his estate. Another statute was passed in the reign of Maryt, similar in intention, but making such changes in detail, as time had ren dered requisite : but this and the previous statute were repealed in the reign of James I. Commis sions of array had been frequently issued by the Crown, in time of threatened invasion, and had re ceived the sanction of parliament, in an act of the 5th of Henry IV., by which their form and penal ties were settled. But these commissions of array fell also into disuse, and the power of the commis sioner passed into the hands of the lord lieutenant, a new officer, appointed by the Crown, who arose under the Tudors, and was first recognised by statute under Philip and Mary. To this new officer, was entrusted the power of mustering the popula- * 13 Edw. I. c. 6. f 4 & 5 Philip and Mary, c. 2. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 151 tion of a county,— a power which had been previ- char ously entrusted to sheriffs, or commissioners of array. t ' . In the question whether the command of the 1642. militia belonged exclusively to the king, or to the parliament, some plea might be set up in behalf of the former, but for the latter absolutely none. It was impossible to identify the lord lieutenant with the Anglo-Saxon heretoch, or the parliament with the folkmote. In subsequent times, there were instances, where the parliament had con trolled the exercise of this branch of the king's prerogative, but none wherein they had trans ferred it to themselves. Compulsory levies, by proclamation, had been made by Edward I. and II., and controlled by a statute of Edward III.*, which provides that no man be compelled to go out of his shire, but under urgent necessity, and foreign invasion. The Tudors, relying on their preroga tive, had, in spite of this enactment, pressed men for military service; and this power in the crown was recognised by an act of parliament under Philip and Mary. This act was repealed under James I. ; and a subsequent recent act of Charles I. had declared the pressing of soldiers to be illegal. Here, again, was a control of the prerogative, but not a transfer of its powers. Commissions of array, issuing originally from the crown without control, had been regulated by parliament ; but the parlia ment had not thereby provided that commissions of array should emanate from them. The office of lord lieutenant was not created by parliament, * 1 Edw. ill. c. 5. l 4 152 THE LIFE OF chap, but had emanated from the crown. The appoint- , _, ment to the office of sheriff, originally elective, 1642. had been vested in the crown by several acts of parliament in several reigns. * In all this we see absolute contradiction to that claim of exclusive control over the militia, which was advanced by the parliament. But the question was, not only where resided the power of mustering the militia under certain emergencies, but whether there was now a case which admitted the exercise of that power at all. The militia were not compellable to quit their respective counties, except in cases of invasion, or of urgent necessity. Of invasion there was not, at this time, even a prospect. There was at present no rebellion in England. There wTas no plea by which king or parliament could, in accordance with law or precedent, justify the withdrawal of the people from their peaceful labours. Here was no factious rising to be suppressed. The legislature was divided against itself; and one branch struggled for power against the other two, under a pacific plea of constitutional right. The annals of the nation afforded no precedents applicable to the present quarrel. The attempt to assume the power of the sword was, on either side, a measure of pre caution, grounded on apprehensions which, how ever strongly felt, could scarcely be expressed. Law and precedent might still be invoked by the contending parties, but the claim of exclusive mili- * 9Edw.II. 14Edw.III. 12Ric.II. 23 Hen. VI. 21 Hen. VIII. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 153 tary power could, in truth, be regarded only as the prologue to that awful drama — civil war, in which all law and precedent were disregarded and 1642. annulled. The army plot, revealed by Goring, appears to Prepara- i i i i-i^ • -i i torymea- nave been the event, which first impressed the suresofth Commons, with the expediency of taking into their Parliament' own hands a control of the military force. Their intention was first intimated by an order of the 5th of May, 1641, that members of counties and boroughs should " consider and inquire the " amount of arms and ammunition in their respec- " tive districts, and who are the governors of forts " and castles, and who the lord lieutenants and " deputy lieutenants, and whether they are well " affected to the religion and the public peace, " and to present their names to the house."* Nothing more was done till the 7th of December, when the power of making military appointments was assumed in a bill, appointing an indefinite number of persons (not specified by name) lords general of all the forces within England and Wales ; and some one person (also unnamed) lord admiral. The bill passed the first reading by 158 to 125, but proceeded no farther. A more extensive measure superseded it. On the 31st of Decem ber, it was ordered, that the house be resolved into a committee, to take into consideration the militia of the kingdom, " on Monday next" (Ja nuary 3.). t This was the day of the King's mes- * Commons' Journals, May 5. 1641. f Ibid. Dec. 31. 1641. 154 THE LIFE OF ment, chap, sage respecting the five members ; and it does not , appear that the committee sat. On the 13th of 1642. January, the Commons issued a declaration, to be sent into all counties, advising them to put them selves in a posture of defence, and enjoining " that " all officers take special care that no soldiers, " arms, or ammunition be raised or levied ; nor any " castles, forts, or magazines delivered up, without " his Majesty's authority, signified by both houses " of parliament." * The King's On the 20th of January, the King, who had the Pariia- retired to Windsor, sent to both houses of parlia ment a message, framed with the assistance of Hyde, proposing, that they should take into ynmediate consideration " all those particulars " which they shall hold necessary, as well for the " upholding and maintaining of his Majesty's just " and regal authority, and for the settling of " his revenue, as for the present and future esta- " blishment of their privileges, the quiet and free " enjoying of their estates and fortunes, the liber- " ties of their persons, the security of the true " religion now professed in the Church of Eng- " land, and the settling of ceremonies in such a " manner as may take away all just offence." It then proceeded to recommend, that " when they " shall have digested and composed one entire " body, that so his Majesty and themselves may " be able to make the more clear judgment of " them, it shall then appear by what his Majesty * Commons' Journals, Jan. 13. 1641—2. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 155 ,' shall do, how far he hath been from intending, or " designing any of those things which the too " great fears and jealousies of some persons seem 1642. " to apprehend, and how ready he will be to ex- " ceed the greatest examples of the most indulgent " princes, in their acts of grace and favour to their " people."* In answer to this message, the Commons pre- Answers sented a petition, beseeching the King " to raise ™inders. " up unto them a sure ground of safety and con- " fidence, by putting the Tower and other prin- " cipal forts of the kingdom, and the whole militia " thereof, into the hands of such persons as your " parliament might confide in, and as should be " recommended to your Majesty by both houses " of parliament." t To this request the King returned a mild denial, saying, that " for the militia of the kingdom, " (which by law is subject to no command but of " his Majesty, and of authority lawfully derived " from him,) when any particular cause for the " ordering the same (which his Majesty holds very " necessary for the peace and security of his king- " dom) shall be considered and digested by his " parliament, and proposed to his Majesty, his " Majesty will return such an answer as shall be " agreeable to his honour and the safety of his " people ; his Majesty being resolved only to deny " those things the granting thereof would alter " the fundamental laws, and endanger the very * Rushworth, iv. 516. t Ibid. 517. 156 THE LIFE OF chap. " foundation upon which the public happiness and , , " welfare of his people is founded and constituted, 1642. " and would nourish a greater and more destruc- " five jealousy between the crown and the subject, " than any of those which seem to be taken away " by such a satisfaction." * The request was reiterated in another petition Feb. 2. presented on the 2d of February ; and again the King, in a discreet and moderate tone, expressed his willingness to apply a remedy to the fears they had avowed, but first required the names of those whom they wished to recommend as the deposi taries of so much power. At the same time, he told them that, " to shew his real intention to satisfy the " fears of his people, he is content to accept of Sir " John Coniers, in the place of Sir John Biron, to " be Lieutenant of the Tower of London." The Commons replied to this answer, by the issue of an ordinance concerning the militia, which proposed to take all control out of the hands of the King, and to vest it exclusively in the parliament; and they also issued a list of persons whom they recommended as lieutenants of counties. To these propositions the King determined not to assent. But instead of avowing this determination, he had recourse to that finesse, which eventually weakened his party, by shaking confidence in his sincerity. He endeavoured to gain time, and grounded his plea upon a measure, which, when effected, would render him more free to resist the demands of the * Rushworth, iv. 518. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 157 parliament. It was desirable that the Queen should leave the country. Her unpopularity provoked ag gression ; and the fear lest she should become a *§&¦ hostage in the hands of the parliament, tended to enthral the proceedings of the King. There was also another motive* for her departure. She took with her the crown jewels, and was charged with a commission to raise troops by these means, and obtain assistance from foreign powers, t The King urged, as a plea for delaying to answer the propo sition of the Parliament, that, the Queen and Prin cess Mary " being now upon their departure for " Holland, he cannot have so good time to con- " sider of a particular answer for a matter of so " great weight as this is, therefore he must respite " the same until his return." X No assignment of motive for their departure is to be found in this brief message ; but, according to Clarendon, "the " King sent word to the parliament that he was " obliged by the treaty with the States upon the " marriage of his daughter the Princess Mary " with the Prince of Orange, that he would about " this time send his daughter to her husband, " which he was resolved forthwith to do ; and that " the Queen his wife being indisposed in her " health, and being advised that change of air " would do her much good, resolved to make use " of the same opportunity, and to accompany her " daughter to the Hague, of which he thought fit * Heath's Chronicle, 27. + May's Hist. Pari. 184. Whitelocke, 55. I Rushworth, iv. 521. 158 THE LIFE OF CHAP. VI. 1642. Bill for exclusion " to give them notice." * The Parliament replied by a petition, in which they asserted that the reserve of the King's resolution respecting the militia " to " a longer, and very uncertain time, is as unsatis- " factory and destructive as an absolute denial."! About this time, another important measure was of Bishops pressed upon the King for his assent — the bill for Damen"" disabling persons in holy orders from exercising temporal jurisdiction, or, in other words, for ex cluding the Bishops from the House of Lords. It was substantially the same as that which had been sent up to the Lords on the 1st of May, 1641, and thrown out by them, on the third reading, on the 8th of June. It had been brought forward, in its present shape, in the House of Commons, on the 21st of October, and after some display of reluc tance on the part of the Lords, passed the third reading on the 5th of February, 1642. It is questionable if the cause of episcopacy were not more popular in the country, than it was in the House of Commons. It had been weakened by the encroaching spirit displayed by the church, under the guidance of Laud. It had been undermined by the influence of the Scotch. But the petitions in its favour prove that it was still strong. Four petitions, of this kind, from counties, are mentioned by Nalson X, two of which are very numerously signed — one from' Somersetshire, by 14,350 — another, from Cheshire, by 9556 ; and many others * Life of Clarendon, i. 112. •f Rushworth, iv. 521. t Nalson, ii, 656. 720. 726. 758. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON) 159 were presented.* The Commons, nevertheless, chap. evinced, in various modes, a feeling hostile to the t ' * , Episcopal Church. They made it matter of com- 1542. plaint that the King should fill five vacant sees, while a bill for the abolition of episcopacy was pending in parliament. They demanded, when this bill was sent up to the Lords, that the Bishops, being parties, should not be allowed to vote upon it. They took a cruel advantage of an imprudence committed by some of the Bishops, who had been insulted by the populace in their way to the House of Lords. Twelve of them had met, and signed a protest addressed to the King and House of Lords, complaining of insults and of danger, and protest ing against all " laws, orders, votes, resolutions, " and determinations" passed since the 27th of December, during what they chose to consider their forced absence, " as null and of none effect." This imprudent proceeding, by which, instead of simply claiming the protection which was due, they attempted to suspend during their own pleasure the functions of the legislature, was made by the Com mons the ground of an impeachment for high * Mr. Hallam, in his very valuable and able work, the " Consti- " tutional History of England," mentions many other petitions. " I " have," he says in a note, " a collection of these petitions now before " me, printed in 1642, from thirteen English and five Welsh counties, " and all very numerously signed. In almost every instance, I observe, " they thank the parliament for putting a check to innovations and " abuses, while they deprecate the abolition of episcopacy and the " liturgy." Hallam's Const. Hist. ii. 160. In parliament the Bishops appear to have had lukewarm friends and bitter enemies. Lord Falk land, as Clarendon tells us, " was wont to say, that they who hated " Bishops hated them worse than the devil, and they who loved them " loved them not so well as they did their dinners." Clar. Hist. Reb. ii. 595. 160 THE LIFE OF chap, treason ; and the twelve Bishops were committed x ' , to custody, and remained in prison many months. * 1642. The imprudence of the protesting Bishops excited vexation and displeasure, in many who wished well to the interests of episcopacy. At the same time, their accusation and commitment "were looked upon," says Clarendon, "with indignation by all. sober " men." " When," he says, " the passion, rage, and " fury of this time shall be forgotten, and posterity " shall find, amongst the records of the superior " court of judicature, so many orders and resolu- " tions in vindication of the liberty of the subject, " against the imprisoning of any man, though by " the king himself, without assigning such a crime " as the law hath determined to be worthy of im- " prisonment ; and in the same year, by this high " court, shall find twelve Bishops, members of this " court, committed to prison for high treason, for the " presenting this ' protestation,' men will surely " wonder at the spirit of that reformation." t The King was urged, by the Queen and Cole pepper, to assent to the bill for the exclusion of Bishops from Parliament. It was alleged, that as sent to this measure would prevent a demolition of the whole fabric of the church ; that the^ Bishops were already practically deprived of their votes in parliament ; that the King could not safely refuse assent, both to this measure, and to the ordinance of the militia ; and that, if he granted the former, which was of minor moment, " he would it may * Rushworth, iv. 468. t Clar. Hist. Reb. ii. 118, 119. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 1 61 " be not be pressed on the second." Such a hope was chap. weak and fallacious. The militia was too import- , ant to be resigned on such conditions. Hyde, who 1642. foresaw the probable inefficacy of such concession, opposed assent, and for a while gained over the King to his opinion. Colepepper then appealed to the fears of the Queen, and suggested, that, upon the King's refusal to assent to this bill, her in tended departure from the kingdom would be stopped, and her safety endangered by tumultuous risings ; while, on the other hand, by inducing the King to assent, she would obtain some popularity with the Parliament and people. Swayed by these arguments, the Queen was urgent in her entreaties. She prevailed ; and on the 14th of February, when the King and Queen were on their way to Dover, the royal assent was given by commission to the bill for the exclusion of the Bishops from Parlia ment. When the King accompanied the Queen to Departure Dover, he had sent the Prince of Wales to Rich- q*^ mond, with his newly appointed governor, the Marquis of Hertford, in order to allay all fear lest the Prince should be taken out of the kingdom. When, however, the wind was fair for the Queen to embark, the King required the Prince to meet him, on his return, at Greenwich. The suspicions of the Parliament were excited : the Queen was not yet embarked : Lord Hertford was ill, and unable to attend his royal charge. Accordingly the House of Commons, on the 24th of February, resolved that the Prince should not be removed VOL. I. M 162 THE LIFE OF CHAP. VI. 1642. from Hampton Court, and, after a conference with the Lords, it was ordered that Lord Hertford should not permit such removal until his health enabled him " to attend that charge given him by " his Majesty and the Parliament."* A peer and two members of the House of Commons were at the same time appointed to attend the King, " with " the reasons of the resolutions of both Houses " concerning the Prince ; " and one of these com moners was Hyde. Feb. 25. On the following day, Hyde and his colleagues tents'"" met the King at Canterbury, whither he had Kingat returned after the embarkation of the Queen. canter- They were admitted, and read their message ; and Greenwich, the King, after hearing it, appointed them to attend him " after he had supped, and they should receive " their answer, and accordingly, about nine of the " clock, he caused it to be read, and delivered it " to them, taking no notice of Mr. Hyde." Hyde was troubled when he heard the answer, which was too much calculated to provoke the Parliament. But without commenting upon it, he withdrew from his companions, availed himself of an offer of accommodation in the same house with his friend Lord Grandison, and immediately sent that nobleman " to the Duke of Richmond to desire " the King that he might speak with him before " he went unto his bed. The King was half un- " dressed, yet said he would stay for him, and " bade that he should make haste to the back stairs ; * Commons' Journals, Feb. 24. 1641. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 163 " and as soon as he came thither, the Duke went chap. VI. "in to the King, who immediately came out in t ' ¦ " his night dress ; and the Duke having before 1642. " sent all other servants from thence, retired like- " wise himself. He told the King that ' he was " ' sorry that his Majesty had expressed so " ' much displeasure in his answer ; which could " ' produce no good, and might do hurt ; and " ' therefore he desired he would call for it, and " ' alter some expressions ;' which his Majesty was " not inclined to do ; enlarging himself with much " sharpness upon the insolence of the message, " and of the order they had sent to the Marquis of " Hertford; and seemed to apprehend that the " Prince would not be suffered to attend him at " Greenwich."* Hyde pleaded that there was time and oppor tunity for altering the message : it was now Friday night ; it need not be reported to the Parliament till Monday ; they could attend upon him on Sunday, and receive his pleasure, and Falkland and Cole pepper would then be present. He entreated the King to recall the answer he had delivered to the deputed peer, and command the messengers to attend him at Greenwich, to receive his final reply on Sunday ; and to these proposals the Kingassented. On Sunday, in compliance with the command suggested by himself, Hyde went to the King at Greenwich. Charles, on seeing him, " asked him * Life of Clarendon, i. 120. M 2 164 THE LIFE OF chap. « aloud, where the others who came in the message VI :t with him were, and said he would expect them 1642. " in the afternoon ; and so, discoursing somewhat of " the weather, that all near heard, he came near " him, and as it were passing by, he bade him dine " with Porter* at the back stairs, that he might be " in the privy chamber when he rose from dinner; " and after he had dined he found him there : and " at that hour, most people looking after their own " dinner, his Majesty did, without any body's " taking notice of it, bid him follow him into the " privy gallery ; where he was no sooner entered, " than the King locked the door with his own key, " saying, 'We will not now be disturbed, for there is " ' no man in the house now who hath a key to this " ' door.' Then he said, ' I will say nothing of the " ' answer, for I am sure Falkland and Colepepper " ' will be here anon; for, now I have gotten Charles, " ' I care not what answer I send to them.' Then " he spake of many particulars of the Parliament '• with warmth enough, and lamented his having " consented to the bill concerning the bishops, " which he said he was prevailed upon to do for " his wife's security; but he should now be without " any fear to displease them." The King then spokeof his intended journey northward; told Hyde that he should not see him again before his depart ure ; and " required him upon all occasions to " write to him, and advertise him of such matters * Endymion Porter, groom of the bed-chamber. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 165 " as were fit for him to know, and to prepare and chap. " send him answers to such declarations or mes- | " sages as the Parliament should send to him. He 1642. " said he knew well the danger he underwent, if it " were discovered ; but his Majesty assured him, " and bade him be confident of it, that no person " alive but himself and his two friends should know " that he corresponded with his Majesty ; and that " he would himself transcribe any paper in his own " hand, before he would show it to any man, and " before his secretary should write it out." " His " Majesty," pursued Clarendon, " continued sofirm " in this resolution, that though the declarations " from the Houses, shortly after, grew so volumin- " ous that the answers frequently contained five or " six sheets of paper closely writ, his Majesty al- " ways transcribed them with his own hand, which " sometimes took him up two or three days, and a " good part of the night, before he produced them " to the council, where they were first read, and " then he burned the originals." The foregoing conversation was interrupted by the entrance of Lords Essex and Holland, who by their offices had keys to the gallery ; and the King dismissed Hyde with a parting injunction that he should presently send the answer to the message, and attend with his companions in the privy chamber, where the King would come and deliver it. Hyde found Falkland and Colepepper, and the answer was agreed upon, and carried by Falkland to the King, who, having approved and signed, M 3 1642. 166 THE LIFE OF caused it to be read and delivered to the messengers, who reported it to the Parliament.* It appears to have been the opinion of Hyde, that the King would have acted wisely, if, after the departure of the Queen, he had again resided at Whitehall ; that, if he had done so, he would have been treated with more respect ; that mo derate compliances would have proved efficaci ous : and that, in the absence of the Queen, who was the chief cause of the King's unpo- * Life of Clar. i. 119 — 125. The message and answer, as reported by Rushworth, were as follows : — " The Lords and Commons in Parlia- " ment humbly desire his Majesty that the Prince may not be removed " from Hampton Court, and that for these ensuing reasons : — 1. They " conceive that his Majesty had resolved that the Prince should stay at " Hampton Court until his Majesty's return. 2. That the Lord Marquis " of Hertford, appointed by his Majesty to be governour of the Prince, " and approved of and commanded by the Parliament to give his personal " attendance on the Prince, is now so indisposed in his health, that he is " not able to attend the Prince to any other place. 3. That the Prince " his removal, at this time, from Hampton Court, may be a causeto " promote jealousies and fears in the hearts of his Majesty's good sub- " jects, which they conceive very necessary to avoid. The King returned " the following answer : — That his Majesty intended, at his remove " from Hampton Court with his royal consort the Queen towards Dover, " that the Prince his son should stay at Hampton Court till his Majesty " returned to some of his houses ; and thereupon, as soon as his Majesty " resolved, upon a certain day, to be at Greenwich, he commanded that " his son should attend him there, which was no way contrary to his " former intention. 2. That his Majesty was very sorry to hear of the " indisposition of the Marquis of Hertford, being the person upon whom " he principally relies for the care of his dearest son. But if that indis- " position should have lasted, his Majesty could no way think fit that " his want of health should have hindered the Prince from waiting upon " his Majesty, according to his command, and therefore would have " been much offended if the Prince had failed of meeting his Majesty, "according to his appointment. 3. To the fears and jealousies his " Majesty knows not what answer to give, not being able to imagine " from what grounds they proceed ; but if any information have been " given to that purpose, his Majesty much desires that the same maybe " examined to the bottom, and then he hopes that their fears and jea- " lousies will be hereafter continued only with reference to his Majesty's " rights and honour." EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 167 pularity, he would soon have regained the affec- chap. tions of his people. Whether such a course would , have been attended with success, is a problem 1542. which posterity cannot solve. It was not the course pursued by Charles, who, taking with him the Prince, repaired to Theobalds, intending thence to travel northwards. This step seems to have excited fears that the King intended to go to Scotland, and try to engage the Scots to aid him. Hyde, in a letter to the King at Newmaket, expressed himself on this subject thus : — " Men's discourses " here are full of your Majesty's designs of imrae- " diate force, of a retreat into Scotland, of the " divisions there ; to none of which your ser- " vants give the least credit, assuring themselves " that however your affairs and conveniences " have invited you to York, you intend to sit " as quietly there as if you were at Whitehall. " For your Majesty well knows that your greatest " strength is in the hearts and affections of those " persons who have been the severest assertors of " the public liberties ; and so, besides their duty " and loyalty to your person, are in love with " your inclinations to peace and justice, and value " their own interests upon the preservation of " your rights. These your Majesty will not lose " by any act which may beget just fears in them ; " neither can there be so cunning a way found " out to assist those who wish not well to your " Majesty (if any such there be) as by giving the " least hint to your people that you rely upon m 4 168 THE LIFE OF " any thing but the strength of your laws, and " their obedience."* * Clar. State Papers, ii. 139. " This letter," say the editors in a note, " is without a date, but it was evidently sent between March 9th " and 15th, 1641-2." 1642. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 169 CHAP. VII. THE KING'S ANSWER RESPECTING THE MILITIA. — PARLIA MENT'S REJOINDER AND DEPUTATION TO THE KING AT THEOBALDS. — KING FOREWARNED BY HYDE. THE REPLY TO THE DEPUTATION. DECLARATION PRESENTED TO THE KING AT NEWMARKET. HYDE BECOMES SUSPECTED OF HAVING FRAMED THE KING'S MESSAGES AND ANSWERS. CONSEQUENT PROCEEDINGS. STATE PAPERS DRAWN UP FOR THE KING BY HYDE. SUPERIORITY OVER THOSE OF THE PARLIAMENT. CONSIDERED TOO LIBERAL BY SOME OF THE ROYALISTS BENEFICIAL TO THE CAUSE OF CON STITUTIONAL FREEDOM. 1642. On the 28th of February the King returned the chap. promised answer respecting the militia ; the delay , ^IL of which had been declared by the Parliament to i642. be as unsatisfactory as an absolute denial. He ™^'"£s denied that he was obliged, by his answer of the sPecti"f . • • • tt themihtta. 2d, to comply with their petition. He made ex ceptions to the preamble of the ordinance, which might be considered applicable to his entry into the House of Commons, on the 4th of January. He said, speaking of that fatal measure, that " he " believes it, upon the information since given, to " be an apparent breach of their privilege, and " hath offered to repair the same for the future by. " any act that shall be desired" of him, " calls the " Almighty God to witness that he was far from " any intention or thought of force or violence," and " doubts not but his Parliament will be re- 170 THE LIFE OF chap. " o;ardful of his honour herein, that he shall not VII , " undergo any imputation by the rash or indis- 1642. " creet expressions of any young men then in his " train, or by any desperate words uttered by " others who might mingle with them without his " consent or approbation." After this humiliating and fruitless attempt at exculpation, he adverted to the subject of the ordinance. He expressed willingness to grant to lords lieutenant, recom mended by the Parliament, such commissions as he had granted before ; " but if that power be not " thought enough, but that more shall be thought " fit to be granted to those persons named, than " by the law is in the crown itself, his Majesty " holds it reasonable that the same be by law first " vested in him, with power to transfer it to those " persons, which he will willingly do ; and what- " ever that power shall be, to avoid all future " doubts and questions, his Majesty desires it may " be digested into an act of parliament rather than " an ordinance." The mes- Tne King was at Theobalds when the Commons, sage from ° the Par- after receiving his answer of the 28th of February, liament to n . .... rr,, , the King presented another petition m reply. They denied blids.6"" tnat "the desperate and dangerous design upon " the House of Commons, mentioned in their pre- " amble, was inserted with any intention to cast " the least aspersion" on the King. They entreated him "to put from him wicked counsellors," — to reside near London, and the Parliament, — to keep the Prince near London also, " whereby the "jealousies and fears of the people maybe pre- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 171 " vented ;" and they besought the King " to be in- chap. " formed by them that, by the laws of the kingdom, . " the power of raising, ordering, and disposing of 1642. " the militia within any city, town, or other place " cannot be granted to any corporation, by charter " or otherwise, without the authority and consent " of parliament ; and that those parts of the king- " dom, which have put themselves in a posture of " defence, against the common danger, have therein " done nothing but according to the declaration " and direction of both Houses, and what is justi- " fiable by the laws of the kingdom." The tone of this message, which was to be con- Hyde veyed to the King, at Theobalds, by a deputation 4™™' of twelve members of the two Houses of Parlia ment, was such as might, perhaps, have wrung from the King some intemperate and impolitic reply, had not Hyde, with judicious promptness, forearmed him against this emergency. " When " the persons designed for the message withdrew " to prepare themselves for their journey, the mes- " sage being read and agreed upon, Mr. Hyde " went likewise out of the house ; and that the " King might not be surprised with the sight of " the message before he heard of it, he sent in- " stantly to the Lord Grandison (in whom he had " entire confidence) to speak with him ; and de- " sired him to cause his horse to be made ready " that he (Lord Grandison) might, with all pos- " sible expedition, carry a letter to the King, which " he (Hyde) would prepare by the time he could " be ready for the journey. He writ to the King 172 THE LIFE OF chap. " that such persons would be presently with him, , "and the substance of the message they would 1642. " bring to him ; which, in respect of the length of " it, and of many particulars in it, would require " some time to answer, which he should receive " soon enough ; and for the present, he might, " upon the delivery, make some short resentment " of the Houses' proceeding with him, and con- " elude that he would send an answer to their " message in due time. The Lord Grandison " came to Theobalds when the King had newly " dined, so that he was alone in his bedchamber ; " and as soon as he had delivered the letter he " returned to London, and met the messengers " within a mile or two of London."* When the The King's deputation had presented their petition, the King, repy' forearmed by this prompt manoeuvre, delivered the following brief, firm, and dignified reply : — " I am so much amazed at this message that I "know not what to answer. You speak of jea- " lousies and fears : lay your hands to your hearts, " and ask yourselves whether I may not likewise " be disturbed with fears and jealousies ; and, if so, " I assure you this message hath nothing lessened " them. For the militia, I thought so much of " it before I sent that answer, and am so much " assured that the answer is agreeable to what in "justice or reason you can ask, or I in honour " grant, that I shall not alter it in any point. For " my residence near you, I wish it might be so safe * Life of Clarendon, i. 126. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 173 " and honourable that I had no cause to absent chap. VII. " myself from Whitehall : ask yourselves whether ¦ " I have not ? For my son, I shall take that care 1642. " of him which shall justify me to God as a father, " and to my dominions as a King. To conclude, " I assure you upon my honour that I have no " thought but of peace and justice to my people, " which I shall by all fair means seek to preserve " and maintain, relying upon the goodness and " providence of God for the preservation of myself " and rights." * This answer was given to the de putation in writing, and read the following day in the House of Commons, t Charles, apprehensive of humiliation and annoy ance, if he continued near the Parliament, main tained his resolution of moving northward ; and taking with him the Prince, quitted Theobalds soon after the delivery of his brief answer to the petition of the Parliament. This answer was voted equivalent to a denial. The ordinance for the militia was passed by both Houses ; all commis sions granted to lords lieutenant under the great seal were declared void ; and orders were issued to the Lord Admiral, — orders which assumed for the parliament an absolute control over the naval force. A declaration more violent in its tone was also Declaration presented to the King, on the 9th of March, at tp0retsheented Newmarket ; asserting, that the design of altering ^ins at the religion had been carried on for many years by market. * Rushworth, iv. 524. f Commons' Journals, 17* THE LIFE OF CHAP. VII. 1642. those in greatest authority about the King : " that " the war with Scotland was procured to make way " for this intent ; " that the rebellion in Ireland was contrived in England for a similar object, and " to recover to the King his royal prerogative, " wrested from him by the Puritan faction in Parlia- " ment." The declaration complained also of the breach of privilege of the 4th of January ; of the permitted escape of Jermyn and Digby ; and of the intimations they had received of the King's negotiations for aid from foreign states. The King replied to this declaration briefly, as on the 1st of March at Theobalds, and in a similar tone, though with less dignity and force. * A further answer was issued by the King, on * The following particulars respecting the King's conference with the deputation are recorded by Rushworth. " When his Majesty heard that " part of the declaration which mentioned Mr. Jermyn's transportation, " his Majesty interrupted the Earl of Holland in reading,and said, ' that's " 'false ; ' which being afterwards touched upon again, his Majesty then " said, ' 'tis a lie :' and when he was informed it related not to the date, " but the execution of the warrant, his Majesty said, ' it might have been " ' better expressed then,' and that it was ' a high thing to tax a king with " ' breach of promise.' As for this declaration, his Majesty said, ' I could " 'not have believed the Parliament would have sent such a one if I had not " ' seen it brought by such persons of honour. I am sorry for the Parlia- " ' ment, but glad to have it ; for by that I doubt not to satisfy my " ' people, though I am confident the greater part is so already. Ye *' ' speak of ill councils, but I am confident the Parliament hath had " ' worse information than I have had councils.' His Majesty asking " ' what he had denied the Parliament ? ' the Earl of Holland instanced " that of the militia : his Majesty replied, ' that was no bill.' The Earl " of Holland then said, ' it was a necessary request at that time : ' and his " Majesty also then said 'he had not denied it.' On the following day, " the King being asked by the Earl of Pembroke ' whether the militia " ' might not be granted, as was desired by Parliament, for a time ? ' his " Majesty swore, by God, ' Not for an hour. You have asked that of " ' me in this was never asked of any king, and with which I will not " ' trust my wife and children.' " Rushworth, iv. 532. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 175 the 15th, from Huntingdon, in the form of a mes- chap. sage to both houses of parliament ; in which he , reminds them, " that his subjects cannot be obliged i642. " to obey any act, order, or injunction, to which " his Majesty hath not given his consent." Upon this the Parliament resolved, that " when they " have declared what the law of the land is," a command that it should not be obeyed is a high breach of the privilege of Parliament ; and that those who advised his Majesty to this message are " enemies to the peace of the kingdom, and justly " to be suspected to be favourers of the rebellion " in Ireland." This resolution was framed under a belief that the King's answer had been written by some person in London ; and these suspicions fell on Hyde. From the time of the •• reply to the remon- Hydesus- strance passed in November, Hyde was suspected Jiving °f of having framed the answers and messages issued framed ° . ° the King's by the King ; and several circumstances tended to message strengthen this opinion. He had, at two separate swere."1" times, been discovered by Lords Holland and Essex, and by the Marquis of Hamilton, engaged in private conferences with the King. He had, of late, been absent more than usually from the house, and it was noticed that Falkland and Colepepper resorted nightly to his residence. All three were sensible of the danger they now incurred, from the arbitrary spirit, and lawless measures of the Parlia ment. One day, Colepepper, who was vigilant, and " had familiarity and friendship with some 176 THE LIFE OF CHAP. VII. 1642. " persons who, from the second or third hand* " came to know many of the greatest designs; " before they were brought upon the stage," dis covered, that it had been resolved, that day, to send them to the Tower. He had been apprised of this as he was going to the House, upon which he re turned, unable to inform his two friends, to whom he subsequently communicated the threatened danger. His absence, however, had prevented it. ' For he knew it was resolved the night before, ' that when the three were together in the House, ' somebody should move the House, ' That they ' ' would apply themselves to make some strict ' ' inquiry after the persons who are most like to ' ' give the King the evil counsel he had lately ' ' followed, and who prepared those answers and '' messages they received from his Majesty:' ' upon which, by one and another, those three ' persons should be named, and particular reasons ' given for their suspicion ; and that they did not ' doubt but that, if their friends were well prepared ' beforehand, they should be able to cause them ' to be all sent to the Tower, and then they doubted ' not they should be able to keep them there. ' But it was then likewise agreed, that they could ' not make the attempt but at a time when they ' were all three in the House." In consequence of this, the friends resolved, " That one of them ' would be always present in the House, that they ' might know all that was done ; but that they ' would never be there all together, and seldom ' two of them ; and when they were they would EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 177 " only hear and speak no more than was of abso- " lute necessity." * The duties undertaken by Hyde were perilous 1642. and difficult. Many declarations and replies, for which the King was indebted to Hyde, were issued during the two following months. Of these the state pa- ablest and most remarkable were, the declaration uPrforr^n in answer to that which was presented to the King, *jins by at Newmarket, on the 9th of March — the answer to the petition of both Houses of Parliament pre sented at York on the 26th — the King's message to both Houses, on his refusal to pass the bill for the militia — his reply to the Parliament's declar ation, on the same subject, of the 5th of May — his answer to the petition of the Parliament, to dis suade him from going into Ireland — his answer, of the 4th of May, to the declaration and votes of the Parliament, concerning his exclusion from Hull — the answer to the declaration of the 19th of May — and that more voluminous and important document, the King's answer to the remonstrance of the Par liament of the 26th. The two last of these are acknowledged by Hyde ; and statements, ascrib ing to him the authorship of almost all the others issued by the King, are strongly confirmed by the internal evidence of similarity of style and sentiment. It is impossible to compare these royal manifestoes with those of the Parliament, without being sensible of the superiority of the former, both in the arguments employed, and the ability with * Life of Clarendon, i. 134. VOL. I. N 178 THE LIFE OF chap, which they were enforced. The Parliament had L vn" placed themselves in the wrong; and the weak 1642. sophistries by which they attempted to carry on the war of controversy, gave a considerable advan tage to their able opponent. The exorbitance of their claims now tended virtually to dethrone the King. They claimed the exclusive control of the militia : the claimed an exclusive power of legis lation : they had resolved, that when they had de clared what was the law of the land, it was a breach of their privileges that it should not be obeyed. They attempted to ground, upon a false construc tion of the word " elegerit," in the coronation oath (as prescribed by an act of Henry IV.), the doc trine that the king is bound to assent to any laws which his people may in future pass. Exaggerat ing that true doctrine, that the King is officially, not personally, irresponsible, and that he may per sonally countenance an act which is treasonable against his office, they entirely separated the office from the person, declared the King's authority to reside in them, and asserted, with bitter mockery, that the refusal of Sir John Hotham to admit the entrance of the King into Hull was " an act of " great loyalty to his Majesty."* These assumptions of authority are powerfully handled in the King's answer (drawn up by Hyde) to the declaration of the 26th of May. The answer thus sums up their claims — " Here," it says, "is " the doctrine of that declaration. 1. That they " have an absolute power of declaring the law : * Rushworth, iv. 578. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 179 " 2. That no precedents can be limits to bound chap. " their proceedings: 3. That a Parliament may dis- , ' , " pose of anything wherein the King or subject 1642. " hath a right for the public good: 4. That no " member of either House ought to be troubled or " meddled with, for treason, felony, or any other " crime, without the cause first brought before " them : 5. That the sovereign power resides in both " Houses of Parliament, and that we have no ne- " gative voice : 6. That the levying of forces against " the personal commands of the King (though ac- " companied with his presence) is not levying war " against the King ; and that treason cannot be " committed against his person, otherwise than as " he is entrusted with the kingdom, and discharg- " ing that trust ; and that they have a power to "judge whether he discharged that trust or no: " 7- That they may make the highest precedents " of our Parliaments their pattern; that is, may de- " pose us when they will." The sum of that which they require, it after wards asserts, is this : — " That we will be content " to divest ourselves of all our regal rights and " dignities, be content writh the title of a King, " and suffer them (according to their discretion) to " govern us, and the kingdom, and to dispose of " our children." In allusion to the right which the Parliament arrogated to themselves of judging what is dangerous, or what necessary for the com mon good, it asks, " What is it, if it be not to " unsettle the security of all men's estates, and to " expose them to an arbitrary power of their own, N 2 180 THE LIFE OF chap. " if a faction shall at any time, by cunning or force, . " or absence or accident, prevail over a major part 1642. " of both Houses, and pretend that they are evil " counsellors, a malignant party about the King, " by whom liberty and the religion of the country " are both in danger? This they may do — they " have done it. Thus they may take away, be it " from the King or people, whatsoever they in their "judgments shall think fit. This is lawful — they '" have declared it." " That which we have charged them with," says the answer in another place, " is invading the pub- " lie liberty ; and our presumption may be very " strong and vehement that, though they have no " mind to be slaves, they are not unwilling to be " tyrants. What is tyranny but to admit no rule to " govern but by their own wills ? " In another place it says, " The contrivers of that declaration tell us, " that they will never allow us (an humble and ' " dutiful expression) to be judge of the law. We ! " will not tell them though they have told us so, " that they use the very language of the rebels of " Ireland; and yet, they say, the rebels declare that " whatsoever they do is for the good of the King " and kingdom. But our good subjects will easily " put the case to themselves, whether, if the Papists " in Ireland in truth were, or by art or accident had " made themselves, the major part of both Houses " of Parliament there, and had pretended the trust " in that declaration from the kingdom of Ireland, " and thereupon had voted their religion and " liberty to be in danger of extirpation, from a EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON.' 181 " malignant party of Protestants and Puritans, chap. " and, therefore, that they should put themselves VIL , " into a posture of defence; — we say, let all our i642. " good subjects consider, if that rebellion had been " plotted, with this formality and those circum- " stances declared to be legal, whether, though " they might have thought their design the more " cunning, they would believe it the more justi- "fiable."* Able and effective as were these declarations, they were nevertheless unsatisfactory to many of the King's adherents. The condescension and liberality of their tone were displeasing to some of the upholders of prerogative. Warwick, after con fessing that " for a time" they were " very advan- " tageous to his Majesty's service," complains of their " spirit of accommodation," which " rather " wounded the regality," than convinced the re- " fractory;" and quotes with approbation the say ing of " a wise lord," that " our good pen will harm " us."t Hobbes complained of " declarations " which any man might easily have foreseen would " be fruitless; and in another place, and evidently in allusion to Hyde, he designated the framers of these declarations as " either lawyers by profession, " or such gentlemen as had the ambition to be " thought so ;" as " averse to absolute monarchy, " as also to absolute democracy or aristocracy, all " which governments they esteemed tyranny, and " were in love with a sort of monarchy which they * Rushworth, iv. 588—599. ¦j- Warwick's Memoirs, 217. N 3 182 THE LIFE OF chap. " used to praise by the name of mixed monarchy." VII " They were such as, having been members of this 1642. " Parliament, had declared against ship-money and " other extra parliamentary taxes as much as any, " but when they saw the Parliament grow higher " in their demands than they thought they would " have done, went on to the King's party."* This sounds like eulogy, but it was meant for invective. The complaints of the " fruitless- " ness" of these declarations, and their insuffici ency to " convince the refractory," proceed from a misconception both of their ultimate object, and of the party to whom they appealed. It was true, the time was past when the mighty quarrel could be decided by the pen. Every thing denoted an impending strife more terrible than that of words. It was improbable that the force of rhetoric would divert from their purpose the Parliament or the King, or that either expected to convince the other. Ostensibly they addressed each other, but virtually they appealed to a third party, the even tual umpire of the strife, — the people. At this time, it was of little importance whether all that was published in the King's name gained for him one single vote in Parliament; but it was of great importance that he should be justified in the eyes of his subjects. To what extent his cause was strengthened by these appeals we cannot estimate; but it must be remembered that his success in mustering supporters greatly exceeded the expect- * Hobbes' Behemoth, in Museum Tracts, ii. 567. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 183 ations recorded by the candid and sagacious May, chap. and said to have been expressed by Pym and , Hampden. We must remember the flagrant im- 1642. prudence (if it can be designated by so mild a term) by which the King had lowered the popu larity of his cause : we must remember the su periority of means in the hands of the Parliament; and we shall then feel, that much of his unex pected success, in gathering adherents to his stan dard, may be attributed to the ability with which the royal cause had been thus pleaded before the nation. But mere temporary advantage to the cause of a party was not all that accrued from these declar ations : they conferred a lasting benefit upon the general cause of public freedom. Their eulogy may be found in the complaints of certain royalists that they " wounded the regality" by their " spirit " of accommodation," and that they had too evi dently proceeded from the pen of an admirer of " mixed monarchy." In the name of the King, they appealed to the people, as no king of Eng land had ever appealed to the people before. They dissipated the visions of absolute prerogative. They rendered it nearly as impossible as any act of the legislature could render it, that the King should again seek to govern by proclamations, or again exercise such powers as were inconsistent with a limited monarchy. They contain important admis sions, in the name of the King, that the absolute sovereignty so recently claimed by crown lawyers, and so diffidently disputed by their opponents, was n 4 184 THE LIFE OF chap, a power not merely curbed and shorn by repeal- , able statutes, but one which was not inherent in 1642. the crown of England. They contain the first written and authorized view of the principles of the English constitution, emanating from the highest authority, and defining the boundaries which regal power might never thenceforth ven ture to exceed. It was certain that, whatever as sistance these controversies might afford to either party, great advantages wrould be gained by liberty. To Hyde, to Falkland, and to Colepepper, as framers of these royal manifestoes, belongs the praise, that, in advocating a newly adopted cause, they wrere still true to their former principles ; that, in defending the party of the King, they still contended for the liberties of the people ; and while endeavouring to raise the humbled preroga tive, they attempted to restrain it from exceeding those limits which the voice of the nation had pre scribed. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 185 CHAP. VIII. COMMENCEMENT OF HOSTILITIES. — HYDE SUMMONED BY THE KING TO YORK. MEDIATES BETWEEN THE KING AND THE LORD KEEPER LITTLETON. ESCAPES FROM THE PAR LIAMENT AND REPAIRS TO YORK. THE NINETEEN PRO POSITIONS. REPLY. HYDE DIFFERS IN OPINION FROM FALKLAND AND COLEPEPPER RESPECTING " THE THREE " ESTATES.'' THE QUESTION CONSIDERED. CONSEQUENCE OF THE NINETEEN PROPOSITIONS. CIVIL WAR DECLARED. ROYAL STANDARD RAISED AT NOTTINGHAM. CONDITION OF EACH PARTY. IMPROVEMENT IN THE KING'S PRO SPECTS. HYDE'S ENDEAVOURS TO OBTAIN SUPPLIES. BATTLE OF EDGEHILL. SUBSEQUENT NEGOTIATIONS. AFFAIR AT BRENTFORD. From the commencement of the King's progress northward, events had tended rapidly towards civil war ; yet preparatory and aggressive measures were carried on with such equality on either side, that it is difficult to say from whence the first overt hostilities act of warfare had proceeded. A civil war was anticipated by both ; and its commencement may be dated from the preparations which were made in anticipation of that event. If the King's com mission of array was an act of hostihty, so, by parity of reasoning, was the parliamentary ordi nance which preceded it. But these were merely preparatory measures. That which may, perhaps; be most safely characterised as the first overt act of hostihty, was the affair of Hull. * Yet here it * Carte says that, upon the receipt of the King's intimation of his intention to come into Hull and dine with Hotham, the latter at first 186' THE LIFE OF CHAP. VIII. 1642. Hyde is summonedby the King to York. may be asked on which side hostility was least equivocal. Was the King's attempt to enter Hull at the head of a train which, however large, was still inadequate for forcible entrance, more hostile than Sir John Hotham's refusal to admit him ? If it be said that the King went to Hull with a' hostile intent, it may also be urged that, with an intent not less'hostile, had the Parliament ordered Hotham to defend the fortress against all authority but theirs. It is difficult to judge of intentions ; yet on intentions, in this case, must the balance of right and wrong depend. Setting aside consider ations of intention, still the first overt hostility was from the side of the Parliament. The King's at tempted entrance was only probably of a hostile nature, but Hotham's resistance was unequivocally such. About the end of April, 1642, Hyde received a letter from the King, requiring him to repair to York, as soon as he could be spared from London. He could not immediately obey this summons. The necessity of conferring frequently with Falk land and Colepepper, previously to the preparation of despatches which they almost daily forwarded to the King, obliged him to postpone his journey. intended to receive him ; but that immediately afterwards a letter was brought to him from W. Murray, a groom of the bed-chamber, afterwards Earl of Dysart, the purport of which was to acquaint Hotham, " that if " he valued his life, he must not admit the King, for it had been re- ¦' solved, in a private consultation, that as soon as his Majesty got into " the place, Sir John should be beheaded, or hanged upon the carriage " of a gun, for a terror to all that presumed to act by commission from " the Parliament." Carte's Life of Ormond, i. 361. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 187 In the mean time he was instrumental in re- chap. moving the King's dissatisfaction with the Lord , VIIL Keeper Littleton, who had displeased by his ap- i642. parent inefficiency, and remissness, and disposi- Hyd^in" tion to succumb to the opponents of the Crown, the Lord Hyde, in a conversation with the Lord Keeper, LUtfeton. learned that this apparent subserviency was poli ticly assumed. The parliamentary leaders had it in contemplation to take the great seal out of his hands, in case he might be summoned or deprived of it by the King ; and he had voted with them, and attempted to gain their confidence, hoping " that he should be able to preserve the seal in his " own hands till the King required it." Hyde, communicating the substance of his conversation, obtained from the King that the Lord Keeper Littleton, instead of being dismissed, should be ordered to attend the King at York, and bring or forward the great seal, which some deemed essen tial to confer validity on the commissions issued by the King at York. The Lord Keeper sent the seal by Mr. Elliott, one of the Prince's grooms of the bed-chamber* ; and after the House broke up, one Saturday, withdrew himself, though not with out difficulty, from the vigilance of the Parliament, and in three days was with the King at York. Soon after Hyde had thus reinstated the Lord Hydees- Keeper in the favour of his sovereign, it was the Par-°m agreed among; the three associates that Hyde's 1,a™ent>. o o ¦/ and repairs departure might at length take place. He waited, to York- * Rushworth, iv. 718. 188 THE LIFE OF CHAP. VIII. 1642. The nine teen pro positions. however, for the publication of the Parliament's declaration of the 19 th of May, " which being very " long, he might carry with him, and prepare " his answer upon the way."* A pretext being requisite to enable him to escape, he obtained a physician's written recommendation " that he " should take the air of the country for his health." Provided with this excuse he left London, going not directly to York, but first to the house of a friend near Oxford, where he intended to remain till apprised by Lord Falkland that the Lord Keeper had escaped also. This being made known to him, he prosecuted his journey, accompanied by Chil lingworth, travelling by unusual and unfrequented routes, till he came to Nostall, the residence of Sir John Worstenholme, about 20 miles from York. It was arranged that he should remain there till the King required his presence, and from thence he forwarded to the King his answer to the declar ation of the 19th of May ; and hither the King sent to him the Parliament's declaration of the 26th of May, " requiring him to furnish a prompt reply, " that the poison thereof might not work too long " upon the minds of the people."! The Parliament at length wisely withdrew from a controversy in which they were not victorious. In place of messages and declarations, which were in fact appeals to the people, met by other more powerful appeals, they now substituted a series of propositions, which, without reference to previous * Life of Clar. i. 136. f Ibid. i. 139. 1642. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 189 arguments, should distinctly exhibit to the King chap. the terms on which they were willing to agree. , VIIL On the 1st of June the Parliament voted the nine teen propositions, which were presented to the King at York. These propositions were well calculated to put an end to the present dubious state of equivocal hostility, and to accelerate the crisis. They were such as the Sovereign could not accept, without divesting himself of every substantial attribute of kingly power. They proposed to subject to the control of the Parliament the appointment of all privy councillors and ministers of state ; the com mand of all forts and castles ; the command of the militia ; the government, education, and marriage of the King's children : demanded consent to "such " a reformation of the church government and " liturgy as both Houses shall advise ; " demanded restoration to office of any member of either House who had been dismissed from office during the pre sent Parliament, if petitioned for by the House of which he is a member; required that the "justice " of Parliament" may pass upon all whom they are pleased to call " delinquents ;" restricted the King's power of pardon ; took away the votes of Papist peers ; and in the last article required assent to a bill " for restraining peers made hereafter from " sitting or voting in Parliament, unless they be " admitted thereunto with the consent of both " Houses."* * Rushworth, iv. 73:2—721-. May's Hist. Par). 124. 190 THE LIFE OF chap. When it is remembered that the Parliament had, , by their construction of the coronation oath, pre- 1642. scribed by the act of Henry IV., previously disal lowed the King's right to withhold assent from any bill that the Parliament might pass, it will be found that they proposed to leave him scarcely a shadow of royal authority. He was to be nothing more than the powerless fountain of empty honours ; and the condition to which he would be reduced, was not untruly described by the following passage in his forcible reply : — " These being passed, we may " be waited on bareheaded, we may have our hand " kissed, the style of Majesty continued to us, and " the King's authority declared by both Houses of " Parliament may be still the style of your com- " mands ; we may have swords and maces carried " before us, and please ourself with the sight of a " crown and sceptre, but as to true and real power " we should remain but the outside, but the pic- " ture, but the sign of a king."* Hyde This answer (a state paper of great ability and opinion" value) was drawn up by Falkland and Colepepper, find aldk" anc* SUDrmtted to Hyde for his perusal. It was the Colepepper cause of a difference of opinion between Hyde and respecting .. . 1 ¦ 1 t i 1 i 1 ¦ the ¦ 'three ins associates, which did not, however, disturb their "estates.- friendship. Hyde objected to " King, Lords, and " Commons" being therein mentioned as " the " three estates," maintaining that the answer should have spoken of " the King and the three estates," for that "the bishops make the third estate, the * Rushworth, iv. 728. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 191 " King being the head and sovereign of the chap. whole." * Hyde (as we collect from his expres- t vm' , sions, " the three estates of which the Parliament 1642. " is compounded," and " the bishops make the third " estate,") appears to have grounded his claim for the bishops, not upon the right of the clergy to meet in convocation, to enact canons, and to tax themselves, but upon the fact of the bishops sitting in Parliament. The correctness of this claim, how ever grounded, depends much upon the acceptation of the word " estate." It signified originally one of those three great classes into which the mem bers of the community were artificially divided, namely, the nobility, the commonalty, and the clergy : its secondary application was to the repre sentatives of these classes. The nobility were re presented by the lords temporal — the commonalty by the members of the lower House. It remains to be asked, whether the lords spiritual repre sented the clergy, and might, as representatives, be called an estate ; and whether such name, if borne by them, was to be taken nominally or in an effectual sense. The lords spiritual appear to have sat in Par liament not as representatives of the clergy — not as churchmen — but as barons of the realm. The tenure of frank-almoign, by which they held their temporalities under Saxon monarchs, was by William the Conqueror changed to baronage ; and they were subjected to the services of lay-baronies. * Life of Clarendon, i. 155. 192 THE LIFE OF chap. By the Constitutions of Clarendon, under Henry II., , vm" , it was declared that archbishops and bishops, and 1642. all other clerical persons holding of the King in chief, should sit as barons (" sicut cceteri barones") * in that supreme court of which our Parliament may be regarded as a continuation. Two abbots subse quently obtained exemptions from coming to Par liament, because they did not hold by barony ; a cir cumstance which seems to show that only as barons could they sit there at all. t Nominally, and as separately designated in acts of parliament, the lords spiritual were a distinct estate. Coke in his Institutes had stated, that " the Court of Parha- " ment consisteth of the King's Majesty, sitting in " his royal politic capacity, and of the three estates " of the realm : " and down to the time of Elizabeth * " Archiepiscopi, episcopi, et universal person* regni qui de Rege " tenent in capite, habeant possessiones suas de Rege sicut Baroniam," &c. " et sicut cffiteri Barones debent interesse judiciis Domini Regis cum " Baronibus." From the Constitutions of Clarendon," 1164, 11 Hen. II. See Hody on Convocations, 128. f Hody on Convocations, 131. Hody is nevertheless anxious to prove that the bishops (between whom and the abbots there was, in point of parliamentary privilege, at that time no distinction) sit in Par hament not only by virtue of their baronies, but also as bishops ; and as signs, as a proof of this hypothesis, that in the vacancy of any bishopric " the guardian of the temporalities of that bishoprick was summoned to " sit in Parliament in his stead." Hody, 128. Selden (Titles of Honour, p. 696.) also leans to the opinion that they sit also as bishops, though for no better reason than because they sat as bishops in the Witenagemote. Now the abbots sat also in that assembly, yet no such claim is advanced for them ; and Hody quotes instances which prove that they sat in Par liament only as barons. The five bishops made by Henry V III., namely, Oxford, Bristol, Gloucester, Peterborough, and Chester, sat not by virtue of tenure, but of the King's writ. With much deference for the high authority of Mr. Hallam, I humbly submit that this circumstance cannot be urged as an argument against the supposition that the legislative rights of the other bishops were merely baronial. See Hist, of Middle Ages, iii. 7. 4th edition. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. l(J3 the legislature, in public acts, had continued to give chap. to the clergy in Parliament the name of an estate. , Precedent had sanctioned the name, but it is dif- 1642. ficult to say in what effectual sense it could be used. If a separate parliamentary existence is requisite to entitle the spiritual lords to the name of " an " estate," they will not bear this test ; for practi cally they had no such separate existence. Their presence was not necessary to constitute a Parlia ment, or their consent to give validity to a bill. It was ruled by the judges under Henry VIII. that a Parliament may be holden without spiritual lords ; and in the Act of Uniformity (1 Eliz.) the style of " lords spiritual" was omitted, because all the bishops had voted against it. It results from these facts, that although the lords spiritual and temporal are, as it is expressed by Blackstone, only one estate " in every effectual sense, though the " antient distinction between them still nominally " continues*," yet, that the lords spiritual are not, in any effectual sense, an essential part of this one estate. If the power of separate taxation was to be taken as a criterion, it would not render them actually " an estate in Parliament," at the time when the argument was maintained by Hyde. Such a criterion has been adopted by Bishop Warburton, who was of opinion, that the clergy ceased to be an * Blackstone's Commentaries, i. 156. VOL. I. O 194 THE LIFE OF chap, estate in Parliament, when they ceased to exercise t vin" in Parliament the right of taxing themselves.* i642. Hyde's claim on behalf of the spiritual lords appears, therefore, to have rested on nothing more than the right, which precedent had given, to a de signation which had no effectual meaning. When all substantial attributes had ceased, the name had still been sanctioned by the legislature; and on this ground, Hyde might contend that it should still be retained. It may, however, seem strange that Hyde should have contended so strenuously for a mere name; and especially at a time when all right, even to the name, seemed to have been recently extinguished by the exclusion of the bishops from the House of Lords. But this apparent objection might, per haps, constitute a real motive. t It was questioned * " Since the time of Edward I.," says Bishop Warburton in his Alliance between Church and State, " there have passed three periods in " the course of which the clergy exercised the right of taxing themselves, " The first was, when they did it in Parliament only : the second, when " they did it, sometimes in Parliament, and sometimes in convocation: " the third, when they did it in convocation only. Under the two first " they were, without all question, a civil estate in Parliament : under the " last, a civil estate only in convocation." (Warburton's Works, vii. 122.) The same writer maintains that it was not till the 23d year of Edward I. that the churchmen constituted an estate in Parliament. It was then they were summoned for the purpose of taxing themselves, ecclesiastical benefices having previously borne no part of the burthens of the state. They virtually renounced this right when, in the 4th year of Richard II., the Commons having offered a certain sum on condition the clergy would give in proportion, the latter denied that their grant ought to be made in Parliament. In fact, from the time they began to grant money only, in convocation, they gradually withdrew themselves from Parha ment, till at length none came thither except the archbishops and bishops, and a few mitred abbots and priors. i f Another motive is suggested by a passage which occurs in a defence of Lord Clarendon, written by James Yonge, in 1701, and dedicated to Lord Rochester, which is among the Landsdown MSS., 737. Brit. Mus. : but there is no evidence of this motive being entertained by Hyde, EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 195 by some, whether the act for the exclusion of the chap viii. bishops might not be considered null, in conse quence of the compelled absence from Parliament 1642, of the majority of the bishops, and the dissent of all those who were present. The mention of them as an estate, implied that they were still rightfully a component part of the House of Lords, and left this question open. Colepepper, who had procured the King's assent to the bill for the exclusion of bishops from Parlia ment, took, not unnaturally, another view of the subject ; and, perhaps, under that view he and Falkland had contended, that mention should be made only of the King and the two estates. But in assuming that there were still three estates, and that these were the King, Lords, and Commons, they fell into an error ; but an error so sanctioned by subsequent usage, that by many it is no longer recognised as such.* They found a word of which the original mean- Yonge says, " This error seems no older than the Long Parliament, " where it was first broached, and asserted on purpose to exclude the " bishops from thence, in order to pluck the King's crown from his head, " and his head from his body : for having cast out the bishops, as none " of the three estates, they took in the King to make up the number, " and so made him co-ordinate, or joynt tenant with themselves in the " sovereignty : and then, major pars obtinet rationem totius ; — they being " two estates to his one (great odds), usurped first a co-ordinate, and at " last an inordinate power, then made the King subordinate." * " The constitution," says Warburton, " has engaged the care of " many, who, finding the records speak so frequently of three estates in " Parliament, and seeing that the clergy could no longer be one of " them, have, in order to make out three estates in Parliament (essential, " as they falsely supposed, to the constitution), made the King himself " the first estate, in direct opposition to the very nature and genius of " all feudal governments." Warburton' s Works, vii. 127. o 2 196 THE LIFE OF CHAP. VIII. . 1642. ing was extinct ; and they attempted to preserve it with a different acceptation, but without acknow ledging the just distinction between the first ac ceptation and the second. It may be true, that the sense in which they and many subsequent writers have applied the word estate, is more con sonant with reason than if, in compliance with usage, they should continue to speak of the King and the three estates. But when a word has outlived its original meaning, and become the symbol of some thing else, it imports to consider in what sense we mean to use it. Like Hyde, we may rest on ancient usage, and still apply the unmeaning name as it was once the custom to apply it. But if, in using it, we mean to signify by the three estates three branches of the legislative power, inde pendent, co-ordinate, and collectively supreme, we can apply this expression only to the King, Lords, and Commons of the realm. The nineteen propositions produced the crisis which might have been expected, and war was propo- avowecUy commenced. The King issued his de claration ; to which was appended an engagement, subscribed by numerous peers (forming a majority of the upper House), some officers of state, and many of the gentry, by which they bound them selves to defend the King's person, crown, and dignity, and to obey no commands not warranted by known laws, nor any rule, order, or ordinance, that had not received the royal assent. He also issued commissions of array to various counties, and sent out several proclamations, — one against Conse quences of the nine teen sitions. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 197 levying forces without his command ; another chap. enjoining obedience to his commissions of array; , another against the removal of ammunition by the 1642. Parliament ; and another against the relief of Hull, which fortress, at the head of 3000 foot and 1000 horse, he unsuccessfully besieged. He then moved southward, conciliating by well devised addresses the good will of his subjects at Newark, at Lincoln, and in Leicestershire. He then returned to York, whence, on the 12th of August, he issued a pro clamation, requiring " aid of all his subjects on the " north side Trent, and within twenty miles south- " ward thereof, for the suppressing of the rebels " now marching against him." Then moving south- R0yai ward again, he erected at Nottingham, on the 22d 2"eddar^ of August, the signal of war, the royal standard.* NottiDg- The Parliament had voted, in July, that an army Aug'. 22. should be raised for their defence, and gave the command of it to the Earl of Essex. Their pecu niary resources were considerable. In addition to their ordinary control of the revenue, they had in the preceding month passed an order for bringing in money and plate, for the loan of which they promised eight per cent, intere; and extensive contributions were made in .aid of the public ser vice. Even women gave their trinkets ; and from this circumstance, the Royalists applied to the parliamentary levies the contemptuous name of the "thimble and bodkin men."t Large loans had * Whitelocke, 60. Rushworth, iv. 783, 784. f May's Hist. Pari. 139. The pay of the parliamentary soldiers was as follows : — For the infantry 8rf. a day ; for the cavalry 2s. 6d., o 3 198 THE LIFE OF chap, been made during the last six months. The city , of London had advanced 150,000/. ; the associated 1642. company of Merchant Adventurers, 30,000/. In April more than eighty noblemen and gentlemen had subscribed sums varying from 200/. to 2400/. ; and many of the midland counties (among which Buckinghamshire wasforemost) contributed largely. Thus aided, the parliamentary force was quickly raised, was more numerous than the King's, and was equally prepared to take the field. Long ere these armies were in the field, hostile collision had taken place in various parts. Ere the great flame of civil war burst forth, " small sparks," says May, " were daily kindling in every part of the land."* The execution of the King's commission of array, and of the Parliament's ordinance of militia, produced conflicts in many counties ; and numerous persons hastened to secure the posts which King, or Parliament, had entrusted to their care. Yorkshire, Northumberland, Derbyshire, Staf fordshire, and Nottinghamshire, were among the counties most favourable to the royal cause ; Lin colnshire, and the counties adjacent to the metro polis, were most zealous for the Parliament. In the remaining counties the parties were more equally divided. At the time when the King erected his standard, the advantage was greatly on of which Is. 4d. was for the keep of the horse. The Lord-General re ceived 10/. a day ; the general of the horse 6/. * May's Hist. Pari. 140. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 199 the side of the Parliament. The King had col- chap. . VIII lected under his banner scarcely 2000 ill-armed , troops, while the Parliament had a well-appointed 1642. force of more than 6000, within a few days' march, at Northampton. Had this force advanced then against the King, he must inevitably have been defeated ; but the Parliament hoped that Charles might become sensible of the uselessness of resist ance, and that they might thus gain their victory without a blow. The well-grounded diffidence of the Royalists was confirmed by the news received on the day after the raising of the standard — that Portsmouth had been shamefully surrendered to the Parliament by Goring, and that some of the ablest of the King's adherents were besieged in Sherburn. These adverse circumstances, joined to the inferiority of the royal forces, caused many to think the King's condition desperate, and to advise him to treat with the Parliament for peace ; and among the many who proffered this advice were Southampton, Colepepper, and Dorset : but it was received un willingly by the King, who felt that his dignity would be compromised by an offer which might draw down insult, and increase the boldness of his opponents. On the other side it was urged, that this Parliament might probably refuse to treat; that the refusal would render them unpopular, and exhibit them as aggressors, and the King as ag grieved: or, if they consented, the King would gain time for preparation, and raise the levies for which commissions had been issued. In answer to the o 4 200 THE LIFE 0F VIII 1642. chap, propositions of the Parliament, he would also " be " able to state the quarrel so clearly, that it should " be more demonstrable to the kingdom than yet " it was, that the war was on his Majesty's part " purely defensive."* These arguments prevailed : the King consented that a message should be car ried to the Parliament ; and Hyde was appointed to prepare it. " The message," says its writer, " was made ready in the morning, in a softer and " calmer style than his Majesty had been accus- " tomed to for some months ; " and Lords South ampton and Dorset, Sir J. Colepepper, and Sir W. Udall, proceeded the same day to London, charged to deliver it to the two Houses of Parlia- ment.t * Clar. Hist. Reb. iii. 206. f This message, framed by Hyde, on which hung the issues of peace or war, was as follows : — " We have, with unspeakable grief of heart, " long beheld the distractions of this our kingdom. Our very soul is " full of anguish, until we may find some remedy to prevent the miseries " which are ready to overwhelm this whole nation by a civil war. And " though all our endeavours, tending to the composing of those unhappy *' differences betwixt us and our two Houses of Parliament (though " pursued by us with all zeal and sincerity), have been hitherto without " that success we hoped for; yet such is our constant and earnest care " to preserve the public peace, that we shall not be discouraged from " using any expedient which, by the blessing of the God of mercy, may " lay a firm foundation of peace and happiness to all our good subjects. " To this end, observing that many mistakes have arisen by the mes- " sages, petitions, and answers betwixt us and our two Houses of Par- " liament, which happily may be prevented by some other way of treaty, " wherein the matters in difference mav be more clearly understood " and more freely transacted, we have thought fit to propound to you, " that some fit persons may be bv vou enabled to treat with the like " number, to be authorised by us, in such a manner, and with such " freedom of debate, as may best tend to that happy conclusion which all " good men desire — the peace of the kingdom : wherein, as we promise, " on the word of a King, all safetv and encouragement to such as shall " be sent unto us, if you shall clioose the place where we are for the " treaty which we wholly leave to you, presuming the like care of the EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 201 The messengers were unfavourably received, chap. Lord Southampton was forbidden to present the , message to the Lords in person, but was desired 1642. to send it, and immediately to quit the town. Cole pepper was required to present it at the bar of the House of Commons, and not in his seat. The Par liament returned an answer, in which they com plained of the King's proclamation and declar ations against both the Houses of Parliament, whereby their actions are declared treasonable and " their persons traitors," and that the King, " by setting up his standard against them, has put " the Parliament out of his protection." They required that the proclamations and declarations be recalled, and the standard taken down, and re fused to give any more favourable answer until compliance with these demands. The King, soon after the receipt of their answer, sent a reply by the hands of Lord Falkland, in " safety of those we shall employ, if you shall name another place ; so " we assure you, and all our good subjects, that, to the best of our " understanding, nothing shall be therein wanting on our part which may " advance the true Protestant religion, oppose Popery and superstition, " secure the law of the land (upon which is built as well our just pre- " rogative as the propriety and liberty of the subject), confirm all just " power and privileges of Parliament, and render us and our people " truly happy, by a good understanding betwixt us and our two Houses " of Parliament. Bring with you as firm resolutions to do your duty : " and let all our good people join with us in our prayers to Almighty " God for his blessing upon this work. If this proposition shall be re- " jected by you, we have done our duty so amply, that God will absolve " us from the guilt of any of that blood which must be spilt ; and what " opinion soever other men may have of our power, we assure you, no- " thing but our Christian and pious care to prevent the effusion of " blood hath begot this motion ; our provision of men, arms, and money " being such as may secure us from farther violence, till it pleases God " to open the eyes of our people." 202 THE LIFE OF chap, which he disclaimed having ever declared both t ' ' , Houses of Parliament " traitors," or set up his 1642. standard " against them," or " put them out of his " protection." He promised that on any day which they would appoint for revoking their " declar- " ations against all persons as traitors " who assisted the King, he would likewise recall his proclamations and declarations, and take down his standard ; and, in the treaty which might then ensue, he would be very ready to grant any thing that should be really for the good of his subjects. The Parliament, in their rejoinder, complained that the King, since his message of the 25th of August, had, in instruc tions to commissioners of array, declared the actions of the Parliament treasonable, and the individuals of that body traitors ; and they ended with pro posing that the King would leave his forces, and place himself utterly in the hands of his Parlia ment. On the same day they published a declar ation to the kingdom, that arms " shall not be laid " down " until the King withdraw his protection from all such persons as " have been voted by " both Houses to be delinquents, and shall leave " them to the justice of the Parliament."* It was probably the intention of the Parliament, by this message and declaration, to put an end to these negotiations. Yet, though their treatment of the first message seemed to evince their know- *t>y * Rushworth, v. 2. In Lord Clarendon's version of this declaration we find the following important addition, — " or that shall by both Houses " be voted to be delinquents ; " which does not appear in Rushworth's version. See Clar. Hist. Reb. in. 216. 1 ii EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 203 ledge that to gain time was the policy of the King, chap. they had allowed this policy to be successful. They . hesitated when they ought to have been prompt. 1642. Their language was uncompromising, but their acts were timid. While, by their words, they placed themselves in the wrong, and seemed less anxious than the King for peace, they allowed him to reap the advantages of delay. They had not been slow in collecting forces at Northampton ; but they let the collected forces lie there inactive ; and not till the 9th of September did Lord Essex leave London to take the command. The Parliament vacillated between two courses. If they had desired to prevent extremities, they should have replied to the King's message in a more conciliatory tone ; if they desired an appeal to force, they should have prosecuted the war with promptitude and vigour. The plan pursued by the King's party was justi fied by its results. The King's " levies of men, " and all other preparations for the war," says Clarendon, " incredibly advanced from the time " of his first message." Numerous recruits came from Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Staffordshire ; the artillery and ammunition had arrived from York ; and within twenty days " there was another air in " all men's faces." * Yet, so lately as at the time of the receipt of the parliamentary answer to the King's message of the 25th of August, all hopes of ability to resist had seemed so desperate, that * Clar. Hist. Reb. iii. 217. 204 THE LIFE OF chap, the King had been advised " by some whom he t ' , " trusted as much as any, to give all other thoughts 1642. " over, and instantly to make all imaginable haste " to London, and to appear in the Parliament- " house, before they had any expectation of him ; " and they conceived there would be more likeli- " hood for him to prevail, that way, than by any " army he was like to raise." * The King, though strengthened by consider able reinforcements, was still outnumbered by the parliamentary army. In order, therefore, to lessen the chance of immediate collision, and to augment his force, he quitted Nottingham on the 13th of September, moved westward through Derbyshire and Staffordshire, and, after making a solemn pro testation of his intentions, arrived on the 20th at Shrewsbury, where he established his head quarters. It had been doubted where he should " make a " stand;" and Hyde, who had kept up communica tion with the mayor of Shrewsbury, had preceded the army for the purpose of ascertaining whether the King would be well received in that town. Hyde was also instrumental in obtaining supplies of money. In his way through Oxford from Lon don to York, he had learned from Dr. Sheldon that the Colleges both of Oxford and Cambridge had much plate which they were willing to con tribute to the royal cause ; and, in consequence of Hyde's information and advice, persons were sent to both Universities, and obtained very large con- * Clar. Hist. Reb. iii. 212. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 205 tributions of plate which were brought to the King chap. at Nottingham. Hyde also negotiated privately , for the King with several rich persons in Stafford- 1642, shire and Shropshire, and appears to have been concerned in obtaining 6000/. by the sale of a peerage * to Sir Richard Newport (created Baron Newport) ; a transaction less reprehensible in those times when the practice had been so recently sanctioned by the example of James I.t, than it would be justly deemed at present. " It is a won- " derful thing," says May, " how much and how " suddenly, the King grew in strength, in that little " time that he quartered at Shrewsbury. Within " three weeks after his coming thither he had " 6000 foot, 3000 horse, and almost 2000 dra- " goneers."t While the King was at Shrewsbury, he received the news of the first collision between the hostile forces. On the 23d of September, a detachment of horse under Prince Rupert §, sent to watch the * Clar. Hist. Reb. iii. 258. T Mr. Hallam states that James I. " sold several peerages for con siderable sums." (Constitutional Hist. i. 461.) The sale of baronet ages was notorious. They were offered for 1095/. a-piece, and in six years ninety-three patents were sold, raising 101,835/. j May's Hist. Pari. 167. Heath's Chronicle, 39. The dragoners, or dragoons, of those days were soldiers armed with sword and carbine, and capable of acting both on horseback and on foot. They are there fore always distinguished from the regular horse. Their name is sup posed to be derived from the device of a dragon's head on the lock of their carbines. § Prince Rupert, the third son of Frederick V., Elector-Palatine of the Rhine, and Elizabeth, daughter of James I., was born at Prague in 1619. He and his younger brother Maurice came to England, in 1642, to assist their uncle, Charles I., during the Civil War. Rupert was made general of the horse, and created Earl of Holderaess and Duke of Cumberland. He resided in England after the Restoration ; com manded as admiral on several occasions ; and died unmarried at his 206 THE LIFE OF chap, movements of Essex, met and routed a body of the , VIIL , parliamentary cavalry. The success thus gained 1642. was of small importance ; but it was success in the first encounter, and it raised still more the spirits of the Royalists. The King was now at the head of about 10,000 men, of whom the Earl of Lindsay was appointed General-in-chief. Under him, Prince Rupert com manded the horse*: Sir Arthur Aston the dra goons ; Sir Jacob Astley the foot ; Lord Bernard Stuart the guards ; and Sir J. Heydon the ar tillery. With such an army, thus commanded, the King left Shrewsbury on the 12th of October; Essex, with his forces, being then at Worcester. The two armies were within a day's march ; yet, as if it had been the object of each rather to avoid than to encounter the other, it was not until the 23d that they met at Edgehill, in the county of Battle of Warwick. Here ensued the first general engage- October-23. ment. One of the earliest events of the battle was house in Spring Gardens, London, on Nov. 19. 1682. He had seven brothers (all of whom, except one, died before him) and five sisters, of whom Sophia, the youngest, was the mother of George I. * The curse of nepotism was added to others which tended to oppress the royal cause. " The Earl of Lindsay," says Clarendon, " was general " of the whole by his commission, and thought very equal to it. But " when Prince Rupert came to the King, which was after the standard " was set up, and received a commission to be general of the horse, " which all men knew was designed for him, there was a clause inserted " into it, exempting him from receiving orders from any body but from " the King himself." The fruits of this mad partiality were such as might have been expected ; and the rash and petulant stripling, thus exempted from all control save that of the King, soon showed a dispo sition to put even his commands at nought. For flagrant proofs of his rfw-service to the royal cause, witness the affairs of Edgehill, Brentford, Bristol, Marston Moor, and Naseby. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 207 the desertion of a troop of horse under Fortescue, chap. an Irishman, from the parliamentary to the royal , army. Rupert charged the wing crippled by this 1642. desertion, and put them to flight. The pursuit was too eagerly pressed, and the main body left exposed. The commander of Essex's reserve promptly availed himself of the error, and at tacked the King's infantry with vigour and success. Lindsay was taken prisoner; Varney, the King's standard-bearer, was killed ; and the King was advised to retreat, — an advice which he fortunately resisted. Hyde was a spectator of the fight ; and, while the prospect was least favourable, bore the heavy responsibility of a very important trust ; for to his protection were committed the Prince of Wales and Duke of York, aged 12 and 9 years*, guarded only by the company of pensioners. Ru pert, on returning from his reckless pursuit, found the imagined victory turned almost to defeat. But the vigorous onset of the Parliamentarians was slackened, and was not renewed ; and, after main taining awhile an attitude of defiance, each army retired with a nearly equal amount of loss.t Such was the doubtful issue of the battle of Edgehill, — " Victus uterque fuit, victor uterque fuit," says Sir Richard Bulstrode X: and each side laid a plausible claim to victory. * Charles was born on the 29th of May, 1630 : James on the 14th of October, 1633. t Heath's Chronicle, 41. X Bulstrode's Memoirs, 84. For a detailed description of the battle of Edgehill, see " Memoirs of the Reign of Charles I., by Sir Richard " Bulstrode," who was an eyewitness. Those of Ludlow and Warwick are also animated and circumstantial. 208 THE LIFE OF chap. But though the issue was doubtful at the close » . of the day, the subsequent advantage was on the 1642. side of the King. Essex, acting as though he feared success, retreated to Warwick, and allowed the King's army to be interposed between him and the metropolis. There 'a panic was prevailing. Fugitive horses, routed by Rupert, had borne to the capital the tidings of defeat ; and though sub sequent official despatches on the side of the Par liament claimed a victory, they did not disguise that the " vanquished" army was pursuing an un obstructed march towards London. Alarm gave energy to the citizens : streets were barricaded ; train-bands mustered; and pressing injunctions sent to Essex, to pursue and turn the flank of the royal army. All this would probably have availed little, if the King had been permitted, by his own adherents, to pursue his military advantages. But there were, among the wisest of his advisers, many who, like Hyde and Falkland, though wishing for his success, were still more solicitous about the price at which it might be purchased. They dis trusted him in their hearts ; they dreaded the vio lence of Rupert; they contemplated with appre hension the chance of an event which, by putting the metropolis and the Parliament in the power of the King, might serve his individual cause at the irreparable expense of constitutional liberty. They desired not (as is admitted by Sir P. Warwick) " to obtain that by a pure victory, which they " wished to be got by a dutiful submission, upon EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 209 " modest, speedy, and peaceable terms."* The chap. King, therefore, instead of being urged to march ¦ straight to London, was advised to proceed to 1642- Oxford, " the only city of England," says Claren don, " that he could say was certainly at his devo- " tion." From thence, in a few days, he advanced to Reading, from whence the parliamentary gar rison had fled to London. Essex, with many of his troops, had arrived in the metropolis on the 7th of November. Nevertheless Nov. 7. the nearer approach of the royal army induced the Parliament to open a treaty for peace ; and on the 10th, Lords Northumberland and Pembroke, and Nov. 10. three members of the House of Commons, were sent as commissioners for that purpose, and met the King at Colebrook. The petition which they presented besought the King to name " some con- " venient place, not far from London," where he may reside, until committees of both Houses may lay propositions before him. " The same tenderness to avoid the destruction " of our subjects (whom we know to be our greatest " strength)," said the King in his answer, " which " would always make our greatest victories bitter " to us, shall make us willingly hearken to such " propositions" t; and he then chose Windsor for his residence, and required that the parliamentary garrison be removed. To this request, it was be lieved by many, the Parliament would have ac- * See also a letter from Hyde to Nicholas, Vol. III. of this work, p. 51. f Rushworth, v. 58. VOL. I. P 210 THE LIFE OF chap, ceded, had the King, instead of menacing the me-' , VIIL tropolis, retired with his army to Reading. But 1642. here, again, the fatal absence of moderation and good faith sullied the reputation, and dimmed the prospects, of the royal cause. Charles, allowing the influence of Rupert to prevail, and " too much "neglecting the council of state"*, pushed for- Affairat ward his troops to Brentford, and surprised some Brentford. pariiamentary forces quartered there, who were Nov. 12. relying on the protection of a truce. The parlia mentary soldiers defended themselves bravely. The capital was alarmed, and poured forth its forces, which soon outnumbered those of the King : and Charles was obliged to retire, " unsatisfied with " the progress he had made, which had likewise " raised much faction and discontent among the " officers "t; and having falsified his pacific as surances to the parliamentary commissioners, and obtained only the odious imputation of cruel trea chery. After this act, " all thoughts of treaty were " dashed," says Clarendon in one of those numer ous passages which his original editors suppressed. " They who most desired it did not desire to be in "the King's mercy; and they now. believed, by " his Majesty's making so much haste towards " them after their offer of a treaty, that he meant " to have surprised and taken vengeance of them " without distinction." X * Clar. Hist. Reb. iii. 327. + Ibid. 320. t Ibid. 319. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 211 The King felt that his conduct demanded an chap. apology, and accordingly issued an explanatory , _, declaration*, which was prepared by Lord Falk- 1642. land ; a declaration weak, and little worthy of its framer. The King retired to Reading, and having garrisoned that town, and also Wallingford, Ban bury, and Abingdon, retreated still farther to Oxford, where he proposed to establish himself in winter quarters. * " That declaration, and the answer to the nineteen propositions " which is mentioned before, were the only two declarations which " were not prepared and drawn up by Mr. Hyde." Clar. Hist. Reb. iii. 320. P 2 212 THE LIFE OF CHAP. IX. suspension of hostilities. negotiations at oxford. hyde declines the office of secretary of state. — is made chancellor of the exchequer and privy councillor. character of his colleagues in the privy council. war resumed. waller's plot. unconciliatory spirit of the royalists. — discus sions in parliament respecting negotiations for peace. king's prosperity declines. battle of newbury. — death of lord falkland. — dissen sions in the court. parliament make a new great seal. subscribe the solemn league and covenant. scotch army enters england to aid the parlia ment. expedients proposed by hyde. the king, by hyde's advice, summons a parliament at oxford. — negotiations attempted with lord essex. measures for raising supplies. reinforcements from ire land defeated. marston moor. negotiations for peace. treaty of uxbridge. 1643. All conflicts between the armies of the King and the Parliament were now suspended for several 16^3. months ; but divers unwarlike contests for autho rity took place in the mean time. The King di rected indictments for high treason, against some of those who encountered him at Edgehill : the Parliament declared such indictments illegal. The King appointed sheriffs : the Parliament denied the legality of the appointments. The term for which tonnage and poundage was granted being expired, the King published a proclamation, ex empting all persons from paying it in future : the 1643. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 213 Parliament denied that he had the power to grant any such exemption. Peace was still the earnest desire of a vast ma jority of the people. In compliance with this wish, the Parliament again attempted to treat, and about the end of January, sent twelve commissioners for that purpose to Oxford. The propositions which they brought were not more moderate than the nineteen propositions which had already been re jected. They required the entire abolition of episcopacy, and the settlement of the militia ac cording to the will of the Parliament. The com missioners appear to have been aware that these propositions were not such as the King was likely to accept* They despaired of the King's consent to the abolition of episcopacy, and attempted rather to gain some concession, with respect to the militia. A secret negotiation was, at the same time, opened, for replacing the Earl of Northumberland (one of the commissioners) in the office of Lord High Admiral. Hyde urged this measure to the King as one which, while it would cause no detriment to his service, might be the means of effecting a -peace with the Parliament. But his arguments * " They had all," says Clarendon, in one of those passages which the original editors suppressed, "a great desire of peace, but knew well that " there must be a receding, mutually on both sides, from what they " demanded ; for if the King insisted on justice, and on the satisfaction " and reparation the law would give him, the lives and the fortunes of " all who had opposed him would be at his mercy. On the other side, " if the Parliament insisted on all that they had demanded, all the " power of the crown and monarchy itself would be thrown off the " hinges, and that themselves should be as much involved in the con- " fusion as those they called their enemies." Life of Clarendon, i. 178. p 3 214 THE LIFE OF chap, did not avail. There appears to have been an ' , obstacle against which argument was useless ; and 1643. the knowledge of which must have chilled with despondency the advisers of the King. Charles was so far swayed by the influence of the Queen, that, before her departure for Holland, he " made a " solemn promise to her, at parting, that he would " receive no person into any favour or trust who " had disserved him, without her privity and con- " sent ; and that, as she had undergone so many " reproaches and calumnies at the entrance into " the war, so he would never make any peace but " by her interposition and mediation, that the Feb. 22. " kingdom might receive that blessing only from " her."* The Queen had now landed in York shire, with arms and ammunition, and was en deavouring to join the King at Oxford. In expectation of her arrival, he desired that the com missioners might prolong the time which had been allowed them by the Parliament. But to this the Parliament did not accede ; the commissioners were recalled ; and thus again the hope for peace was disappointed. About the same time, commis sioners from Scotland were also obliged to depart without effecting the object of their mission. Their mission, which was professedly one of mediation, also required the abolition of episcopacy, and leave that a Parliament might be called in Scotland pre vious to the time, then distant about two years, when, by the provisions of a late act, it must neces- * Life of Clarendon, i. 179—186. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 215 sarily be convened. On this point they obtained a chap. promise of partial compliance with their request ; , IX" , but with respect to episcopacy, their proposed in- i64s. terference was peremptorily rejected. In the course of this spring, a considerable change took place in the fortunes of Hyde. He was raised from the situation of a secret agent, to that of an avowed and responsible servant of the Crown. When the commissioners came to Oxford, there appeared a printed copy of an intercepted letter from the King to the Queen, expressing an inten tion to make Secretary Nicholas Master of the Wards; adding, " and then I must make Ned " Hyde Secretary of State ; for the truth is, I " can trust nobody else." This was quickly cir culated ; and a copy was shown to Hyde by the King himself, who avowed the intention expressed in the letter, and proposed to carry it immediately into effect. Hyde remonstrated ; and refused to ac- Hydede- cept the proffered office, unless Nicholas, upon due proffered* consideration, should desire the change, — a change °ffer of which, as it appeared from a conversation which of state. Hyde held on this subject with Nicholas, would have been disadvantageous to the latter. Soon after this offer, which Hyde had thus honourably resisted, another means of preferment unexpectedly occurred. The death of Sir Charles Caesar caused a vacancy in the Mastership of the Rolls, a place which had long been desired by Colepepper, and which the King had promised to give him. Cole pepper was, therefore, made Master of the Rolls ; 'and the Chancellorship of the Exchequer, which p 4 216 THE LIFE OF CHAP. IX 1643. Hyde be comes Chancellor of the Ex chequer, and Privy Councillor. became void by his promotion, was immediately offered to Hyde. It was an offer proposed by Falk land, and promptly acceded to by the King. Hyde accepted this important office ; and was knighted, and sworn a member of the Privy Council. The Privy Councillors with whom Hyde found himself required to act, on his entrance into office, were Lord Falkland, and Sir J. Colepepper ; the Lord Keeper Littleton ; the Duke of Richmond; the Marquis of Hertford ; the Earls of Southamp ton, Leicester, Bristol, Newcastle, and Berkshire; Lords Dunsmore, Seymour, and Saville ; Secretary Nicholas ; Sir John Banks, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas ; and Sir Peter Wych, Controller of the Household. Among these, by whose opinion and advice the King now resolved to transact all business, " there were not many," says Clarendon, " who had been acquainted with the transaction of " business," at least of that kind which was now brought before them. Littleton, though a good lawyer, had little authority in the council. The Duke of Richmond was honourable, faithful, and devoted to the royal cause, and of good capacity, but diffident, and liable to be led. The Marquis of Hertford was liberal, brave, and well informed, but " wholly given up to a country life ; and had " an aversion and even an unaptness for business." Lord Southampton appears to have been a high- minded, liberal, and intelligent man, very useful to the royal cause, though, like Falkland, dejected, and apprehensive of the issue of the war. He was quick in perception, ready in debate, and strict in EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 217 the performance of his duty. Lord Leicester chap. was a mathematician, " conversant in books, but ( ' , " rather a speculative than a practical man, and 1643. " one who expected greater certitude in the con- " sulfation of business, than the business of this " world is capable of." Lord Bristol was experienced in affairs of state, and had been employed in several embassies. He was considered "wise," and " of great parts;" but, unfortunately, he much diminished the respect the Council were inclined to show him, by ill tem per, superciliousness, and impatience of control. Lord Newcastle (who preceded Lord Hertford as governor to the Prince) is commended by Claren don for his courage and fidelity. Lord Berkshire is represented as of little interest or capacity. Lord Dunsmore was violent and injudicious. Lord Seymour, brother of Lord Hertford, was a man popular in the country, and whose " parts and " j udgment were best in those things which con- " cerned the good husbandry, and the common " administration of justice to the people." Lord Saville was ambitious, restless, clever, and treacherous ; " so false, that he could never be be- " lieved or depended upon ;" and justly avoided by the well disposed. Secretary Nicholas was honest, industrious, and experienced in business : of his abilities Clarendon says nothing. Banks was a good lawyer. Wych, "a very honest plain man."* Such were the materials of which was composed * Clar. Hist. Reb. iii. 538—551. 218 THE LIFE OF 1643. War re sumed. March 29. July 13. the King's Council at Oxford, when Hyde was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer. It will be seen, that, with the exception of Falkland, Cole pepper, Southampton, and himself, it contained scarely any person who was calculated to secure the respect and weight which such a council ought to possess. Unfortunately, too, from the first com mencement of war, the military, " thinking them- " selves the best judges of all counsels, because " they were for the most part to execute them," did all they could to diminish the authority of this body ; and in this they were too much coun tenanced by the King, who was greatly influenced by his nephew Rupert. After the failure of the attempted treaty at Ox ford, war was resumed with increased energy and various success, — success which, though not un clouded by reverses, preponderated for a time on the side of the King. In Yorkshire, Fairfax, the parliamentary general, was beaten by the Earl of Newcastle, and the King's authority established in the northern counties. In Gloucestershire and the adjacent counties, Sir W. Waller, on the side of the Parliament, obtained some partial successes, from which he derived no real advantage ; while, on the other hand, unquestionable victories were gained by the Royalists in the west, at Bradoc- down and at Stratton ; and afterwards, with aug mented forces, they obtained a very decisive victory on Roundway Down, near Devizes. About the same time, the King's army received a reinforce ment of 2000 foot and 1000 horse, well armed, EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 219 together with artillery and ammunition, brought chap. from the north by the Queen, who met the King ¦ at Edgehill. i64s. On the approach of the King's reinforced army, June is. Essex was forced to retreat to Uxbridge. Bristol, too, was besieged, and taken by Prince Rupert; and though it was a success too dearly bought, it tended to swell that aggregate of prosperity, which at this time raised the spirits of the Royalists, and depressed those of the opposite party. The Parliament had obtained no great successes, and suffered some irreparable losses in the deaths of individuals. Hampden had fallen ; Pym also died ; and (a lesser name, but a brave and useful par tisan) Lord Brooke had been killed at Lichfield. What tended also to depress them, and fill them with a sense of insecurity, was the defection from the Parliamentary to the Royalist party, which during this spring had taken place. Three peers had seceded to the King's party, — the Earls of Hol land, Bedford, and Clare. Sir Hugh Cholmondely in Cheshire, Sir J. Hotham and his son at Hull, some officers of Hotham's at Lincoln, and Colonel Urrie in Essex's army, declared for the King ; and though the plots at Hull and Lincoln failed, they were striking indications of the hollowness of the ground on which the Parliament was treading. A discovery still more appalling was made about waller's the end of May, when the plot against the Parlia ment, called Waller's Plot, was brought to light. The principal conspirators were Edmund Waller, better known to posterity as a poet than as a member 220 THE LIFE OF chap, of the Long Parliament ; Tomkins, his brother in law ; Challoner, and many others. The objects pro- 1643. posed were, to gain possession of the Tower, and all defences of the city of London ; to let in the King's forces ; to put in execution his commis sions of array ; and to seize the Lord Mayor, the committee of the militia, and several members of both Houses of Parliament. These plans were May so. almost ripe for execution, when, on the 30th of May, the plot was disclosed by a servant of Tom kins. The conspirators were seized and tried. Six were condemned ; and, of these, Challoner and Tomkins suffered death. Waller, by contrite speeches, and full communication respecting the past proceedings of himself and others, saved his life at the expense of his honour, and was fined 10,000/. and banished.* Immediately after the discovery of this plot, the two Houses framed an oath, which was taken by every member of each, not to lay down arms as long as Papists were protected by the King, and not to adhere to, or assist, the forces raised by him, without consent of Parliament! ; an oath which many disregarded, and which only added perjury to desertion. The preceding events variously affected the in clination of each party for peace. On the side of the King, too many were anti-pacific. The san guine and rapacious spirit of the courtiers was nourished by each accession of success ; and the * May, 185, 186. Whitelocke, 70. Rushworth, v. 322. t Rushworth, v. 325. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 221 violence of Rupert, and Charles's own unbending chap. IX. temper, supported by his Queen (whose hostility the Parliament had embittered by impeachment), 1643. gave an unhappy sanction to this un conciliatory spirit. The three peers who had seceded from the Parliament, and towards whom a wise policy would have dictated cordiality, were so coldly treated by Charles and his Council, that in the course of a few months they quitted him again. This conduct on the part of Charles, which was adopted advisedly, was disapproved by Hyde, and is recorded by him as one of the greatest omissions " on the King's part of any expedient, during the " whole distractions, which might reasonably have " been depended on to promote or contribute to- " wards a fair accommodation."* On the 20th of June the King published a de- June 20. claration, in which he denied that the Houses of Lords and Commons then assembled were a true Parliament, and deserved obedience as such. He overlooked the circumstance of his having assented to a bill which perpetuated their existence, and which he was not able to annul ; and did not con sider that, by refusing to acknowledge them he was closing the door to negotiations for peace. T He, however, attempted, in some degree, to repair this error, by another more moderate declaration, ad dressed to the nation, and published soon after the taking of Bristol. In this he professes that it shall juiy 22. be his care to preserve " the liberty and property * Whitelocke, 71. Clar. Hist. Reb. iv. 197—200. 270, 271. f Pari. Hist. xii. 303. 222 THE LIFE OF chap. " of the subject in the due observation of the IX- " known laws of the land," and acknowledges the 16'iSm "just privileges of Parliament to be an essential " part of those laws, which he shall therefore most " solemnly defend and observe."* Discussions Before the appearance of the King's declaration ment"^" of the 20th of June, the Lords had drawn up a goliSr" petition to the King for peace, which they com- for peace. muT1icated to the House of Commons on the 21st ; but soon afterwards, upon the King's declaration, that they were no Parliament, being laid before them, the pacific proposition was suspended. It was, however, again contemplated after the sur render of Bristol and the King's subsequent de claration ; and on the 5th of August the Lords presented to the Commons for approval the follow ing moderate propositions: — 1. That both armies might be disbanded, and the King be entreated to return to his Parliament on such security as should give him satisfaction. 2. That rehgion might be settled, with the advice of a synod of divines, in such manner as the King, with consent of both Houses, should appoint. 3. That the militia might be settled by a bill, and all forts, &c. placed in such hands as the King, with the approbation of both Houses, should appoint ; and the King's revenue wholly restored to him, deducting only what had been necessarily expended for the maintenance of his children. 4. That members expelled for ab sence, or mere compliance with the King's com mands, might be restored. 5. That delinquents Clar. Hist. Reb. iv. 159. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 223 before January 10. 1641, shall be delivered up to the justice of Parliament, and all others pardoned. 6. That there might be an act of oblivion. These 1643. moderate propositions were so well received by the Commons, influenced by a sense of present difficul ties, that the question that they be considered was carried by 94 to 65. * Many members of both Houses at this time de serted the Parliament, and went over to the King. The Londoners again feared a siege, and eager efforts were made to complete an intrenchment round the city and suburbs ; " a labour which," says May, " had probably proved fruitless, and " not timely enough to save London, if the King " had marched thither, instead of laying siege to " Gloucester."! Tumultuous assemblages occurred in London, clamouring some for peace, and some against it. An assemblage of more than 2000 women, among whom it was believed were some men in female attire, presented a petition to the House of Com mons, praying " that some speedy course may be " taken for the settlement of the true reformed * Commons' Journals. We are told by May, " The Parliament was " then in a low ebbe; and before the end of that July, 1643, they had " no forces at all to keep the field, their maine armies (as is before " touched) being quite ruined ; and no hope in appearance left but to " preserve awhile those forts and towns which they then possessed j " nor could they long hope to preserve them, unlesse the fortune of the " field should change. Thus seemed the Parliament to be quite sunke " beyond any hope of recovery, and was so believed by many men. " The King was possessed of all the westerne counties from the furthest " part of Cornewall, and from thence northward as farre as the borders " of Scotland. His armies were full and flourishing, free to march " whither they pleased, and enough to be divided for several exploits." May's Hist. Pari. 213. f May's Hist. Pari. 214. 224 THE LIFE OF chap. " Protestant religion, for the glory of God, and , " the renovation of trade for the benefit of the sub- 1643.. "ject." They refused to retire on receiving an answer ; clamoured for " peace ; " cried " Give us '' those traitors that are against peace, that we may " tear them to pieces ; " Give us that dog Pym ! " and threw brickbats at the soldiers, who at length dispersed them, but with greater violence than per haps, was necessary ; and many were hurt, and some killed.* Mobs more formidable, on the other side, were enabled to overawe such members of Parlia ment as . were disposed to peace, and the concili atory propositions were eventually rejected. t The war party, which thus stubbornly resisted pacific overtures, in this period of lowest depression, had soon reason to rejoice in their determination. The scale turned. The tide of success began to flow back to the side of the Parliament. On the 6th of September, Lord Essex compelled the King to abandon the siege of Gloucester, entered it himself on the 8th, a few days afterwards took Cirencester, and, on the 19th, gave battle to the Royalists at Newbury. Never, since the battle of Edgehill, had the success of either party been so largely staked on one engagement. It was hotly contested, though not attended by decisive results. Each party claimed the victory, but the advantage was clearly on the side of the Parliament. X The Royalists * Baillie's Letters, i. 400. Rushworth, v. 357. f Hollis's Memoirs, in Masere's Tracts, i. 196. Lords' and Commons' Journals. X May's Hist. Pari. 224—228. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 225 suffered considerably, but their loss could not be chap. estimated alone by numbers ; for there fell in that , battle one, the loss of whom was less retrievable i64s. than that of thousands. Here fell Lord Falkland : " a loss," says Clarendon, " which no time will " suffer to be forgotten, and no success or good " fortune could repair."* " In the morning before the battle, as always " upon action, he was very cheerful, and put him- " self into the first rank of the Lord Byron's regi- " ment, then advancing upon the enemy, who had " lined the hedges on both sides with musketeers, " from whence he was shot with a musket in the " lower part of the belly, and, in the instant falling " from his horse, his body was not found till the " next morning ; till when, there was some hope " he might have been a prisoner, though his nearest " friends, who knew his temper, received small " comfort from that imagination. Thus fell this " incomparable young man, in the four and thir- " tieth year of his age, having so much despatched " the true business of life, that the oldest rarely " attain to that immense knowledge, and the " youngest enter not into the world with more " innocency : whosoever leads such a life, needs " be the less anxious upon how short warning it is " taken from him."t * Clar. Hist. Reb. iv. 241. f I annex a few of the most remarkable passages in the character of this eminent person, drawn by the masterly hand of his associate and admirer, Hyde. They will tend to show what Falkland was, and how worthily his friend could describe him : — " He had a courage of the " most clear and keen temper, and so far from fear, that he seemed not VOL. I. Q 226 THE LIFE OF CHAP. IX. 1643. The death of this distinguished person rendered vacant the office of Secretary of State, which the without some appetite of danger, and therefore upon any occasion of action he always engaged his person in those troops which he thought, by the forwardness of the commanders, to be most like to be furthest engaged." " From the entrance unto this unnatural war, his natural cheerfulness and vivacity grew clouded, and a kind of sadness and de jection of spirit stole upon him, which he had never been used to ; yet, being one of those who believed that one battle would end all differ ences, he resisted these indispositions, et in luctu helium inter remedia erat. But after the King's return from Brentford, and the previous resolutions of the two Houses not to admit any treaty for peace, these indispositions, which had before touched him, grew into a perfect habit of uncheerfulness. In his clothes and habit, which he had minded before always with more neatness, and industry, and expense than is usual to so great a soul, he was now not only incurious, but too negligent ; and in his reception of suitors, and the necessary or casual addresses to his place, so quick, and sharp, and severe, that there wanted not some men (strangers to his nature and disposition) who believed him proud and imperious, from which no mortal man was ever more free." " He was superior to all those passions and affections which attend vulgar minds, and was guilty of no other ambition than knowledge, and to be reputed a lover of all good men; and that made him a contemner of those arts which must be indulged in the transaction of human affairs." " He was so exact and strict an observer of justice and truth, that he believed those necessary con descensions and application to the weakness of other men, and those arts and insinuations which are necessary for discoveries and pre ventions of ill, would be in him a declension from his own rules of life ; though he acknowledged them fit and absolutely necessary to be practised in those employments. Two things he would never bring himself to," while Secretary of State ; " the one, employing of spies, the other, the liberty of opening letters, upon a suspicion that they might contain matter of dangerous consequence." " He was a great cherisher of wit and fancy, and good parts, in any man; and, if he found them clouded with poverty or want, a most liberal and bountiful patron towards them, even above his fortune." " His stature was low, and smaller than most men ; his motion not graceful, and his aspect so far from inviting, that it had somewhat in it of simplicity ; and his voice the worst of the three, and so untuned that, instead of reconciling, it offended the ear, so that nobody would have expected music from that tongue : and sure no man was less beholden to nature for its recommendation into the world ; but then no man sooner or more disappointed this general and customary prejudice; and that little person and small stature was quickly found to contain a great heart, a courage so brave, and a nature so fearless, that no composition of the strongest limbs ever more disposed a man to the greatest enterprise ; and that untuned tongue and voice easily dis- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 227 King desired might be filled by Hyde ; and to him chap. it was offered, although the Queen preferred Lord ¦ Digby. But Hyde declined it, and supported the i64s. pretensions of Digby, whom he considered more competent to conduct negotiations with Harcourt, the French ambassador, who had been sent hither on a mission ostensibly of intercession between the King and the Parliament, but really of observation. Accordingly, Digby was appointed the successor of Falkland in the situation of Secretary of State. From the period of Falkland's death, the pro spect of the royal cause, lately so bright, began to darken, and the King's good fortune sensibly de clined. On his return to Oxford, dejection, dis content, and jealousy were displayed among his adherents, and a spirit of mutiny was undermining the efficiency of the army. The siege of Glouces ter, and the delay in attacking the army of Essex, were now, when too late, made subjects of reproach. Discipline became relaxed. " Those under the " King's command grew insensibly into all the " licence, disorder, and impiety, with which they " had reproached the rebels ; and they into great " discipline, diligence, and sobriety." Thus, as " covered itself to be supplied and governed by a mind and understand- " ing so excellent, that the wit and weight of all he said carried another " kind of lustre and admiration in it, and even another kind of accept- " ation from the persons present, than any ornament of delivery could " reasonably promise itself, or is usually attended with ; and his dispo- " sition and nature was so gentle and obliging, and so much delighted " in courtesy, kindness, and generosity, that all mankind could not but " admire and love him." Clar. Hist. Reb. iv. 241—257. Life of Clar. i. 42—50. Q 2 228 THE LIFE OF Clarendon pointedly expressed it, " one side " seemed to fight for monarchy with the weapons i64s. " of confusion, and the other to destroy the King " and Government, with all the principles and " regularity of monarchy." * The temper of the^Court was little better than that of the army. Much rapacious importunity, which the King and Queen had silenced for awhile by indefinite promises, now burst forth with renewed clamour, when honours were conferred on a selected few. On the first outbreak of civil war, the King had resolved to confer no preferments till its conclusion : but when that conclusion was every day more dis tant, this resolution was no longer maintained, and jealousy and dissatisfaction were the consequent results. It may be inferred, from the language of Clarendon, that his own promotion to the high office of Chancellor of the Exchequer excited jealousy in the court of Charles. He speaks of men, to whom the King communicated his greatest secrets, who had ascended to preferment " from private though good " conditions of life, without such an application to " Court as usually ushered in those promotions ;" and says that such "were sure to find no more " charity from the Court than from the army." He adds, " It were to be wished that persons of the " greatest birth, honour, and fortune, would take " that care of themselves, by education, industry, " literature, and a love of virtue, to surpass all other " men in knowledge, and all other qualifications * Clar. Hist. Reb. iv. 300. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 229 " necessary for great actions, as far as they do in chap. " quality and titles : that princes, out of them, , " might always choose men fit for all employments i64s. " and high trust ; which would exceedingly advance " their service ; where the reputation and respect " of the person carries somewhat with it that faci- " litates the business. And it cannot well be ex- " pressed, or comprehended by any who have not " felt the weight and burden of the envy which " naturally attends upon these promotions, which " seem to be per saltum,\how great straits and dif- " Acuities such ministers are forced to wrestle with, " and by which the charges, with which they are " entrusted, must proportionably suffer, let the " integrity and wisdom of the man be what it can " be supposed to be." It can be no matter of sur prise to us, that, in times more aristocratic than our own, the son of a country gentleman rising rapidly to power and place, with no other claim than his superior talents, should have been envied and hated, as he feelingly insinuates, by the privi leged adherents of the Court. * Not only did disorganisation and disaffection prevail, both in the civil and military departments- of the King's service, so that each was deprived of its due efficiency ; but there was also a di versity of views and motives, which set each in perpetual opposition to the other. While the civil advisers were anxious to preserve that appearance of law and constitutional form, which, otherwise than in appearance, it was no longer possible to * Clar. Hist. Reb. iv. 306, ft 3 230 THE LIFE OF preserve, the military adherents, headed by the King's nephews, Rupert and Maurice, were dis- i64s. posed to acknowledge no laws but those of war, — no arbiter but the sword ; and to cut off hopes of a peaceable compromise, by violently widening the existing breach. This autumn, the Parliament adopted a measure consonant with their previous employment of "the " King's assent, as signified by both Houses of " Parliament," but which amounted more nearly to a deposition of the monarch, and to the assumption of kingly power. By an ordinance which the Commons passed in July, and with which the Lords concurred in October, they made a new Great Seal, to supply the place of that which the Lord Keeper Littleton had sent to the King. During this autumn, likewise, negotiations were carried on between the Parliament and the Scotch, the results of which were seriously detrimental to the royal cause. Early in the year, the Parliament made overtures to the Scotch for a closer union in ecclesiastical affairs, coupled with a request of as sistance against the papistical forces of the King. . These overtures received little attention for many months. The Scotch suspected the Parliament of lukewarmness in the promised crusade against popery and episcopacy, and would not be satisfied without demanding, as the pledge of their sincerity, the adoption of a solemn league and covenant similar to that of 1638. * * This covenant consisted of an oath, to be taken by all persons in the three kingdoms, binding them to preserve " the reformed religion EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 231 A solemn engagement for the extirpation of chap. popery, prelacy, superstition, heresy, and schism, , *x_, the intolerant language of which was better fitted 1643. for Spain and its inquisition than for Protestant England, was accordingly subscribed by 228 mem bers of the House of Commons, and above twenty of the peers.* The oath was afterwards imposed on all persons holding offices, military or civil, and on all beneficed clergy. At the latter class the blow was levelled ; and on them it fell with merci less severity. Hundreds refused the covenant, and were ejected from their livings. The exact number of sufferers is not ascertained, but it appears to have exceeded 1600.T Persecution had commenced before the cove nant. By virtue of an ordinance of April 1. 1643, many had been sequestered from their livings, and were imprisoned on the charge of " malig nancy," or for what the parliamentary committee for scandalous ministers chose to consider false " as the Church of Scotland in doctrine, worship, discipline, and govern- " ment ; " " to reform religion in England and Ireland ; to endeavour " to effect uniformity in the churches of the three kingdoms ; to endea- " vour the extirpation of popery, prelacy (that is, church government " by archbishops, bishops, their chancellors and commissaries, deans and " chapters, archdeacons, and other ecclesiastical officers depending on " that hierarchy ), superstition, heresy, schism, prof aneness, and whatsoever " shall be found to be contrary to sound doctrine and the power of " godliness ; " to endeavour to discover all " incendiaries, malignants, " and evil instruments, that they may be brought to public trial, and " receive condign punishment ; and mutually to assist and defend all " who had entered with them into the league." Rushworth, v. 478. * Rushworth, v. 480. Somers's Tracts, iv. 533. f Walker's Sufferings of the Clergy. Neal's Hist, of .the Puritans. Q 4 232 THE LIFE OF doctrine. But men who had escaped these charges were now ejected, under the sweeping infliction of 1643. this general test, which, like other tests, left knaves untouched, and injured only the conscientious. The immediate consequence of this covenant, thus framed in a spirit of intolerant bigotry, was favour able to the cause of the Parliament. The covenant being agreed to, a treaty was concluded in Decem ber, 1643, between the Scotch and English Parlia ments ; pursuant to which, in January, 1644, a Scotch army of 21,000 men marched into England, to render assistance to the latter. This measure changed the aspect of affairs; and it became evident from that time, that only such successes as were scarcely possible could effectually retrieve the for tunes of the King. At this crisis, two expedients were proposed by Hyde, and were adopted. One was, that a letter should be sent, appealing to the Council of State in Scotland, and requiring them to abstain from hostile invasion. A letter to this effect was drawn up by Hyde, discussed and approved by the Council, and signed by every person who adhered to the King, save one (Lord Leicester) ; and it was then trans mitted to Scotland.* The other measure proposed by Hyde was, that the King, by proclamation, should summon a Par- * It was signed by the Lord Keeper Littleton, and fifty-one peers. For the letter, and the answer to it from the Scots, dated March 18. 1643-4, see Rushworth, v. 561. et seq. There was a large majority of the House of Peers on the King's side; but not " five parts of six," as is stated by Clarendon, Hist. Reb. iv. 348. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 233 liament at Oxford. It was his obiect to show that chap. IX. the Parliament, which was regarded throughout ¦. ' . the country as a united body, opposed to the King, i64s. was, in fact, divided against itself ; that with the King was a majority of one House, and a large portion of the other * ; that the question at issue lay not simply between King and Parliament, but be tween the King, on the one hand, supported by a portion of the Parliament, and, on the other hand, that other portion by which his authority was vir tually disclaimed. It was hoped that, by this mea sure, dissension might be sown among the enemy, • and secession from the Parliament promoted. It was hoped that, by means of this Parliament or convocation at Oxford, supplies might be obtained with some better semblance of constitutional right, than resided in the means which had been re cently employed. It was also hoped, that the pre sence of so many civil advisers would be an useful counterpoise to the overweening influence of the military leaders. The advice was followed ; and accordingly, a proclamation, drawn up by Hyde, and approved by the Council, was issued on the 22d of October, 1643, requiring members of both 22dOcto- Houses to assemble at Oxford on the 21st of Janu- * The number of the King's adherents in both Houses appears to have been 256. The letter to Lord Essex, of January 27th, was signed by 43 peers and 1 18 commoners. In addition to these, there were of peers accidentally disabled from appearing at Oxford, 5 ; employed in the King's service, or absent with leave, 22 ; beyond seas, 9 ; imprisoned by the Parliament, 2. Of commoners, 57 were absent on leave, em ployed in the King's service, or kept away by accident or sickness. See Pari. Hist. xiii. 73. 234 THE LIFE OF chap, ary, and offering a free pardon to all who should , IX" , obey the summons.* January On the appointed day, there was a numerous Meeting^ assemblage of members of both Houses, whom the members King received in Christchurch Hall. He addressed Houses at them in a speech, wherein he deplored the war, commented strongly on the Scotch invasion, and declared his willingness to receive their advice. The Commons then proceeded to elect, as Speaker, Sergeant Eure ; and each House entered upon business, with the accustomed forms of Parliament. January 26. One of the first proceedings of this Oxford Parlia ment was, to pass resolutions relative to the Scotch invasion, declaring that it was war against England, and a breach of the Act of Pacification : that the Scotch invaders, and their English abettors, were traitors and enemies to the state, and that all the King's subjects in both kingdoms were bound to resist them. Two objects were thought entitled to paramount consideration : the one, to raise money for carrying on the war, if its continuance was unavoidable; the other, to procure a peace. For the attainment of this latter object, it was determined that a letter should be addressed to the Earl of Essex, signed by every member of each House then present, in forming him of the reasons for which they had been summoned to Oxford, and of the King's de sire of peace; and exhorting him to aid in the endeavour to obtain it. This letter was signed by * Rushworth, v. 560. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 235 the King's two sons, 43 peers, and 118 commoners, chap. and was transmitted by the Earl of Forth, the t * . King's general, to the Earl of Essex. It was ac- 1544. know! edged in a laconic reply to Lord Forth, in which Lord Essex says, " It neither having address ' to the two Houses of Parliament, neither being ' therein any acknowledgment of them, I could ' not communicate it to them." * Thus foiled, the King addressed a letter " to the Lords and March 3. ' Commons of Parliament assembled at Westmin- ' ster," saying, that, " by the advice of the Lords ' and Commons of Parliament assembled at Oxford, ' we do propound and desire, that a convenient ' number of fit persons may be appointed and ' authorised by you, to meet, with all convenient ' speed, at such place as you shall nominate, with ' an equal number of fit persons whom we shall ' appoint and authorise, to treat of the ways and ' means to settle the present distraction of this ' our kingdom, and to procure a happy peace ; ' and, particularly, how all the members of both ' Houses may securely meet in a full and free ' convention of Parliament." t To this the two March 9. Houses replied, " that they had used all means 'for a just and safe peace;" complained, that ' those persons now assembled at Oxford, who, ' contrary to their duty, have deserted the Parlia- ' ment, are now put into an equal condition with 'it:" that this present Parliament, "convened ' according to known and fundamental laws of the * Rushworth, v. 567. t Ibid- v- S6£)- 236 THE LIFE OF 1644. " kingdom (the continuance whereof is established " by a law consented to by your Majesty), is in " effect deemed to be a Parliament," and that they are sworn to maintain its just rights.* All hopes of accommodation being thus frus trated by the resolute refusal of the Parliament to treat, the Lords and Commons at Oxford issued a declaration, addressed to the nation, which the King commanded to be read in all churches, con taining a full exposition of these fruitless negoti- March 12. ations. Previously, on the 12th of March, they passed several resolutions, declaring, that, " the " Lords and Commons remaining at Westminster" have rejected all offers of peace and treaty; and that, for having made war against the King, coun terfeited the King's Great Seal, and abetted the Scotch invasion, they are guilty of high treason, and " ought to be proceeded against as traitors to " the King and kingdom." t During these negotiations, the convention at Oxford had been directing their attention to the raising of money for the prosecution of the war. Much had been raised by means vexatious and unlawful, and under the plea of warlike licence. This brought unpopularity on the royal cause: * Whitelocke says, the Lords proposed " that a letter may be sent " from both Houses to his Majesty, to represent this to be a free Parlia- " ment, and to entreat his Majesty to return to it, according to his oath, " to maintain the laws, liberties, and privileges of Parliament; and that " if he return not by a day, then they will take care to manage affairs as " shall seem most meet ; to all which the Commons unanimously as- " sented."_ Whitelocke's Memorials, 83. Nothing similar to the latter part of this proposition is to be found in the letter which was actually sent. t Rushworth, v. 565. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 237 and it became desirable to substitute methods chapi which should, ostensibly at least, be legal. The , Commons at Oxford did not, however, venture to 1644. impose a general tax. They substituted a contri bution, to be levied on the wealthy, according to their means ; and sent round letters, signed by the Speakers of the two Houses at Oxford. By these means, nearly 100,000/. was soon raised in money and plate ; and some of the crown lands were pledged for the repayment. They also availed themselves of a tax, imposed in January, by an ordinance of the two Houses at Westminster, on wine, beer, and many articles of food. This was the first tax of this kind ever imposed by Par liament, and was the origin of our excise. " This " was thought, by the members at Oxford, a good " expedient to be followed by the King ; and " thereupon it was settled, and to be governed " and regulated by commissioners, in the same " method it was done at London."* A liberal supply was thus raised ; the King's commissioners declaring, as did those of the Parliament, that this unpopular tax, levied only under the pressure of necessity, " should be continued no longer than " to the end of the war, and then laid down and " utterly abolished;" which, adds Clarendon, few " wise men believed it would ever be."t The Scotch invasion had compelled the King to seek succour from Ireland. In the autumn, he had directed Lord Ormond to conclude with the Irish rebels a cessation of arms for one year. This being * Clar. Hist. Reb. iv. 418. Rushworth, v. 750. f Clar. Hist. Reb. iv. 418. 238 THE LIFE OF CHAP. IX. 1644. Jan. 21. done, and the force in Ireland thereby released from duty, between 3000 and 4000 men were sent over by Ormond *, which were landed in two de tachments, the one at Mostyn in Flintshire, and the other at Chester. They were united under the command of Lord Byron ; and, after a few trifling successes, which tended only to inspire them with a dangerous contempt for their oppo nents, they were signally defeated by the par liamentary general, Sir T. Fairfax, at Nantwich. Greater reverses soon ensued. The Marquis of Newcastle, with 14,000 men under his command, March 29. was forced to retreat before the Scotch. Hopton, with about the same force, was defeated by Waller at Cherington. The King, with scarcely 10,000 men at Oxford, was opposed by the more formi dable army, led by the Earl of Manchester and by Cromwell ; and there was little probability, that Prince Maurice, in the west, should resist the force brought against him by Essex. A few months later, the rashness of Rupert entailed upon the King's party the most serious calamity it had yet endured. On the 2d of July, Prince Rupert, who had formed a junction with Lord Newcastle, dis daining his advice, and alleging orders from the Kingt, gave battle on Marston Moor to the united Marston Moor. July 2. * Carte's Life of Ormond, i. 471, 472. + Rupert received a letter from the King, dated June 14., authorising him not only to effect the relief of York, but to encounter " the rebe' " armies of both kingdoms which are before it ; " and immediately after wards to march with his force to Worcester, to assist the army com manded by Charles. See Evelyn's Memoirs, v. 123, 124. For accounts of this battle, see Rushworth, v. 632—637. Ludlow's Memoirs, i. 123—125. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 239 forces of Manchester and Fairfax, and the Scotch c^p' under the Earl of Leven. After a sanguinary > struggle, long doubtful, in which Cromwell greatly 1644> distinguished himself, a complete victory was gained by the Parliament. The King's army was routed ; and Newcastle, who, when virtually deposed from his command, would serve only as a volunteer, after displaying great courage in the action, quitted England in disgust, and was lost for ever to the service of the King.* The defeat was, in some degree, counterbalanced by a victory gained by the army commanded by the King in person over Sir W. Waller at Cropredy Bridge ; and the reverses of Essex, whose army, hemmed in near Lostwithiel, in Cornwall, by the royalist forces, was compelled to surrender arms and ammunition. The arms and ammunition thus obtained were useful to the King; but the disarmed soldiers of Essex were soon armed anew, and, under the Earl of Man- * After Newcastle's departure, Charles caused a letter to be written to him by Nicholas, in November, 1644, containing the following sooth ing expressions : — " Albeit, the distracted condition of our affairs and " kingdom will not afford us means, at this present, to comfort you in " your sufferings, yet we shall ever retayne soe gracious a memory of " your merit, as, when it shall please God in mercy to restore us to " peace, it shal be one of our principall endeavours to consider how to " recompence those that have with soe great affection and courage as " yourself assisted us in the time of our greatest necessity and troubles. " And, in the meane time, if there be any thing wherein we may ex- " presse the reality of our good intentions to you, or the value we have " of your person, we shall most readily doe it upon any occasion that " shal be ministred." Ellis's Orig. Letters, iii. 304. Charles had written a previous letter to Newcastle, on the 5th of April, entreating him not to leave his service, and containing these remarkable expressions: " Remember, all courage is not in fyghting." — " Let nothing dishearten " you from doing that which is most for your owen honour, and good " of your most assured reall constant friend, Chakles R." Ellis's Orig. Letters, iii. 298. 240 THE LIFE OF Chester, attacking the King's army at Newbury, the scene already of one fierce engagement, they 1644, repulsed them with considerable slaughter; and night alone prevented a more signal defeat.* The last proceedings of this campaign were, nevertheless, favourable to the King: he obliged the enemy to raise the sieges of Basing and Don- nington Castle, in Berkshire, and brought off his cannon from the latter. It also seemed favour able to the King, that Manchester's remissness, in allowing him to relieve the latter place, should have caused dissensions between that parliamentary leader and Cromwell, t After this, the respective armies retired into winter quarters : the King's at Oxford, Marlborough, and Newbury; that of the Parliament at Reading. The most important and remarkable circum stances of this winter were — the self-denying or dinance which, after much debate, passed both Houses of Parhament X ; the execution of Laud, on the 10th of January, 1645 § ; and the treaty of Ux- bridge. Overtures for peace had recommenced on the part of the King. From Evesham, on the 4th of July, and from Tavistock, on the 8th of Sep tember, he had sent messages to the " Lords and " Commons of Parliament, assembled at West- " minster;" of which messages the former entreated them to send persons to conclude a peace, and the latter renewing this " too long neglected message," * Rushworth, v. 721. See also the account in the " Mercurius Aulicus." t Rushworth, v. 732. J Whitelocke, 118. § Whitelocke, 123. Rushworth, v. 763—785. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 241 meekly requested " such an answer thereunto as chap, " may show unto our poor subjects some light of ,_ IX. " a deliverance from their present calamities."* 1644. In August the desire of peace had displayed itself in the King's army, in a manner inconsistent with military discipline. While keeping at bay the forces of Essex, in Cornwall, the army sent to that General a letter, to which the King, fearful of mutiny, unwillingly assented. It proposed that Essex, and their general, the Earl of Brentford, with six chosen officers from each side, should meet to consider the means of reconciling these unhappy differences ; and engaged " upon the " honour and reputation of gentlemen and soldiers, " to maintain with their lives, that whatsoever his " Majesty should promise, should be performed." t The sole result of this application was a laconic letter from Essex, saying he had no authority to treat. The messages from Evesham and Tavis tock were not noticed by the Parliament till the 23d of November, when the Earl of Den bigh, accompanied by Whitelocke and Hollis X, re- * Dugdale, 885—887. f Clar. Hist. Reb. iv. 538. Walker's Hist._Discourses, 60. X Whitelocke, who gives a full and amusing account of this mission, relates what passed at an interview which he and Hollis had with the King, in which the latter seems to have displayed much discretion and address. He extracted from Hollis a partial acknowledgment of the unreasonableness of the terms they bore, parried their entreaties that he would return to the Parliament, and engaged them to put down in writing such an answer as they conceived fit for him to return, and as might promote the work of peace. The King showed less command of temper in his public conference with the committee. They had no power to treat, but only to receive the King's written answer. " Then " a letter-carrier,'' said the King, " might have done as well as you." Accordingly he gave them his answer sealed, unaccompanied with any reply,iar information respecting its contents ; and they requested to be VOL. I. R 212 THE LIFE 05 paired to Oxford, bearing propositions which nothing but the most humiliating defeat could induce the 1644. King to accept. Among other exorbitant claims, it was proposed to render all persons of the legal and clerical professions who had adhered to the party of the King, for ever incapable of employ ment, and to confiscate a third part of the full value of their estates ; also to except from pardon a long list of persons, among whom were the King's two nephews*, Hyde, and all the rest of his principal adherents, t Notwithstanding the exorbitance of these demands, the King, impelled by the wishes of his adherents, continued to prose cute negotiations for peace X, and sent a message informed of the purport of that which they were required to convey. " What is that to you," he said, " who are but to convey what I send ? " If I should send the song of Robin Hood and Little John, you must " carry it." He also gave the paper, without direction, or acknowledg ment of the body to whom it was addressed, saying, in answer to the expostulation of the delegates, " that it w*a"s delivered to the Parlia- " ment's commissioners, which was sufficient ; " and some of the lords of the King's party told them " they could not get it otherwise, and " entreated them, for the sake of peace, to receive it as it was sent." (Whitelocke, 115.) These useless affronts were very impolitic, and show either that the King was much influenced by temper, or was less truly solicitious for peace than those about him. Among those who longed for peace was Hyde. " After we were settled in our quarters," says Whitelocke, " divers of the King's great officers and lords came " to visit us ; and we had some particular friends who came thither to " us, among whom was Sir Edward Hyde, who came to visit me, and " in discourse in general about the propositions for peace, professed his " earnest desire and endeavour that they might take effect." White locke, 112. * " At the leading of the excepted persons' names, which the Earl " of Denbigh read with great courage and temper, Prince Rupert and " Prince Maurice being present, when their names were read as ex- " cepted persons, they fell into a laughter, at which the King seemed " displeased, and bid them be quiet." Whitelocke, 114. f Dugdale, 737—748. Rushworth, v. 795—801. j " Know, as a certain truth," said Charles in a letter to his Queen, hi December, 1644, " that all, even my party, are strangely impatient EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 243 on the 13th of December, by the Duke of Rich mond and the Earl of Southampton, directed to the " Lords and Commons assembled in the Pariia- 1.644, " ment of England, at Westminster, and to the " Commissioners of the Parliament of Scotland " now at London."* He thus conceded the appel lation of " Parliament," which he had previously denied to the assembly at Westminster; but he did it in that spirit of treacherous insincerity which was among the principal causes of his fall, and from which all the ingenuity of his apologist, Hume, in vain endeavours to exonerate him.t " for peace, which obliged me so much the more, at all occasions, to " show my real intentions to peace. And, likewise, I am put in very " good hope (some hold it a certainty) that if I could come to a fair " treaty, the ringleading rebels would not hinder me from a good peace : " first, because their own party are almost weary of the war ; and, like- " wise, for the great distractions which at this time most assuredly are " amongst themselves, as Presbyterians against Independents in religion, " and general against general in point of command." Rushworth, v. 888. * Dugdale, 748. Rushworth, v. 801. T " There is," says Hume, " a difference universally allowed between " simply giving to men the appellations which they assume, and the " formal acknowledgment of their title to it ; nor is any thing more " common and familiar in all public transactions." Hume, Hist, of England, vii. 31. Even if we admit this very questionable position, it will not constitute a solid defence. If the appellation was of no import ance, why had it been so long and so scrupulously withholden ? It was withholden, evidently, because it was important; because the King thereby implied that he did not acknowledge the lords and commons at Westminster to be a parliament. The important significance once attached to the appellation could not be lost. If significant when refused, it would, unless coupled with an explanation, be equally significant when conceded. Moreover, it must be observed, that it was considered a bond fide acknowledgment by the Parliamentary party. " The King," said Lambert to Sir T. Fairfax, in a letter dated London, Dec. 1 0., " hath acknowledged the parliament to be the parliament of " England." Brit. Mus., Ayscough MSS., 1519. R 2 244 THE LIFE OF chap. " As for my calling those at London a Parliament," , IX' , said Charles to the Queen, in a letter from Oxford i64s. of the 2d of January, 1645, " if there had been " but two (beside myself) of my opinion, I had " not done it, and the argument that prevailed " with me was, that the calling did no ways ac- " knowledge them to be a Parliament, upon which " condition and construction I did, and no other- " wise ; and accordingly it is registered in the " council books."* Richmond. and Southampton found the Parlia ment much divided, yet many desiring peace, and willing to treat if it might be not with the King himself, but at some third place, to which might Jan. 29. be sent commissioners from each party. Uxbridge was chosen for this purpose ; and there sixteen com missioners from the King met twelve from the Parliament, attended by the Scotch commissioners, there being also one additional commissioner (Dr. Howard) on the part of the King, and another (Henderson) on the part of the Parliament, to discuss propositions in religion only. Here Hyde, who was one of the King's commis sioners, again met his former friend and companion Whitelocke, who was one of the commissioners from the Parliament, and who minutely describes the visits he exchanged t, the scanty accommo- * Rushworth, v. 889. f Whitelocke says, " The evening that we came to town several " visits passed between particular commissioners of either party ; as " Sir Edward Hyde came to visit Mr. Hollis and me, the Lord Cul- " pepper visited Sir Henry Vane, and others of the King's commis- " sioners visited several of the Parliamentary commissioners, and had EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 245 dation of the commissioners, and the contest for chap. precedence which occupied the first evening.* , The proceedings were opened on the 30th, and i64s. the Parliamentary commissioners explained the limitations by which they were trammelled. " We " are directed by our instructions," they said, " to " treat with your Lordships upon the propositions " concerning religion, the militia, and Ireland, " three days apiece (alternis vicibus) during the " space of twenty days from the 30th of January, " beginning first with the propositions of religion."t The mode proposed by the Parliament, of conducting the business, was adopted. Religion was considered first, and occupied eight out of the twenty days. The Parliamentary commissioners demanded the abolition of episcopacy, the acknowledgment of the Assembly of Divines, and the directory for pub lic worship already sanctioned by the Parliament, and that the King should take the Solemn League and Covenant. To none of these demands did the King's commissioners assent. The abolition of epis copacy was peremptorily refused ; but the King's commissioners, in their paper of the 13th of Feb ruary (the preparation of which was like all others during this period entrusted to Hyde), expressed a willingness to regulate and modify the church estab- " long discourses about the treaty, and to persuade one another to a " compliance. I invited Sir Edward Hyde, Mr. Palmer, Sir Richard " Lane, and others, and several of the Parliament commissioners " invited divers of the King's commissioners, and had discourses with " them tending to the furtherance of the business of the treaty." White locke, 127. * Whitelocke, 127. t Dugdale, 750. R 3 246 the life of chap, lishment, and disallow pluralities with cure of souls ; , would direct that the bishop keep constant residence 1645. in his diocese, and preach in some church within it every Sunday ; would make the ordination of minis ters public, with strict rules concerning their qualifi cation and efficiency ; and though they believe it " not to be agreeable to conscience and justice to " alienate church lands to lay uses, they are willing " that towards the settling of the public peace " 100,000/. shall be raised by act of parliament " out of the estates of bishops, deans, and chapters, " in such manner as shall be thought fit by the King " and the two Houses of Parliament, without the " alienation of any of the said lands."* These propositions were not favourably enter tained by the Parliamentary commissioners, and the negotiations respecting religion were terminated without agreement. The course of the discussion had been a good deal encumbered with deviations from a practical view of the question into specu lative and doctrinal disquisitions. Stewart and Henderson severally contended, the one that epis copacy, the other that presbytery is jure divino. " For my part," said Lord Hertford very sensibly, " I think that neither the one nor the other, nor " any government is jure divino ; and I desire we " may leave this argument, and proceed to debate " upon the particular proposals." t Nevertheless the schoolmen would not be deprived of their controversy, and the eventual difference was on * Dugdale, 780. Rushworth, v. 818. t Whitelocke, 128. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 247 points of a doctrinal nature, the Parliamentary chap. commissioners contending that episcopacy is un- , lawful, the King's commissioners that it subsists ms. jure divino, and by continual succession from the time of the Apostles. About the commencement of these negotiations the Earl of Loudon, Chancellor of Scotland, in a private conference with Sir E. Hyde, endeavoured to induce him to persuade the King to comply with the desire of the Parliament, saying that Scotland was engaged in the quarrel contrary to former in tentions and professions, and that " if the King " would satisfy them in the business of the church, " they would not concern themselves in any of the " other demands ; in which proposition finding no " kind of compliance from the Chancellor of the " Exchequer, but sharp protestations against the " demands as inconsistent with conscience, justice, " or religion, the conference broke off without in- " clination in either of them to renew it."* The next subject discussed was the militia. Here the Parliamentary commissioners required that the power of the sword should be taken utterly out of the King's hand ; the command of forces by land and sea was to be entrusted to commissioners : for England the commissioners were to be nominated by the English Parliament, for Scotland by the estates of the Parliament of Scotland. The King's commissioners, instructed by a secret memorial ad dressed to Secretary Nicholas t, demanded that the * Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 48. f Rushworth, v. 892. R 4 248 THE LIFE OF chap. King should name half the persons and the Parlia- , ' , ment the other half, and that the persons so named 1645, were to be appointed only for three years *, to which demand the Parliamentary commissioners did not accede. According to Whitelocke, he and Hyde were opposed to each other in debate on this ques tion. " The commissioners being met, Sir Edward " Hyde in the first place would have had it for " granted that the whole power of the militia by " the law of England is in the King only. This " by me was denied to be so very clear, and I " undertook to make it out that our law doth not " positively affirm where that great power is " lodged." \ Wliitelocke's gaUant offer to prove a negative was not accepted by the commissioners, and no further debate on this point ensued. Cla rendon is silent with respect to his own share in this controversy, and delivers the opinion ascribed to him by Whitelocke as that of the King's commis sioners collectively ; " whereof there were four very " eminent in the knowledge of the law, — Lane, " Gardiner, Bridgman, and Palmer."! Ireland was the third subject of discussion. Here the Parliament demanded that the cessation of arms should be void, and the prosecution of the war left to their discretion. Their commissioners broadly insinuated that the King had favoured the Irish rebellion ; to which Hyde, the spokesman of his party, replied, and reminded them that the Parlia- * Rushworth, v. 827, 828. + Whitelocke, 129. X Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 60. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 249 ment, by diverting, in many instances, the means chap. prepared by the King for suppressing that rebellion, . had been most instrumental to its protracted conti- 1645. nuance. On the subject of Ireland, as on the other heads, nothing was concluded. The twenty days had expired. More time was asked by the King ; but the Parliament declaring that their propositions had not been satisfactorily answered, broke up a treaty which their conduct shows they never -wished should end in peace.* Hyde's exertions were very great. Speaking of the labours of himself and his colleagues, he says, " They who had been most inured to business had " not in their lives ever undergone so great fatigue " for twenty days together as at that treaty. The " commissioners seldom parted during that whole " time till two or three of the clock in the morn- " ing ; besides, they were obliged to sit up later " who were to prepare such papers as were directed " for the next day" (and this labour fell chiefly upon Hyde), "and to write letters to Oxford; so " that if the treaty had continued much longer, it is " very probable many of the commissioners must " have fallen sick for want of sleep."! The Parliament, in their demands at Uxbridge, seem to have abandoned every recollection of those defensive principles, on which they had so honour ably commenced their career of resistance to the undue exercise of the King's prerogative. They * Baillie's Letters, ii. 8. 43. 73. + Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 81. 250 THE LIFE OF chap, seem to have considered not what the liberty of IX ' . the subject required, but what extent of encroach- 1645. ment their late successes entitled them to inflict upon an humbled enemy. It was truly said by the King's commissioners, " After a war of near four " years, for which the defence of the Protestant " religion, the liberty and property of the subject, " and the privileges of Parliament, were made the " cause and grounds, in a treaty of twenty days " there hath been nothing offered to be treated " concerning the breach of any law, or of the liberty " or property of the subject, or privilege of Parlia- " ment, but only propositions for the altering a " government established by law, and for the mak- " ing new laws, by which almost all the old are or " may be cancelled ; and there hath been nothing " insisted of our part which was not law, or denied " by us that you have demanded as due by law."* The Parliament might believe the King to be at heart both faithless and despotic ; but the most utter faithlessness, the most inordinate craving for arbi trary power, could not justify the course they now pursued, if to secure the liberties of the people, and not the undue domination of a parliamentary oligarchy, had been the real object for which they strove. The King might still thirst for arbitrary * Rushworth, v. 871. " The King's commissioners," says Warbur ton, " had evidently the better of the argument on every one of the " three great heads. They had an establishment in favour of episcopacy; " a right in favour of the militia ; and a reasonable state policy in favour " of what was done concerning the Irish cessation." Notes to Claren don, Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 606. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 251 sway, but how either by force or cunning could he hope to obtain it ? The wisest of his counsellors were, even amidst success, fearful lest he should 1645. be too victorious : his army had almost mutinously sued for peace ; and his " mongrel parliament" (as he disdainfully and ungratefully calls those men who, bravely separating themselves from their fel lows at Westminster, had flocked round his standard at Oxford) were firm in their manifestations of an aversion to popery and despotism, and a desire for a pacific arrangement. 252 THE LIFE OF CHAP. X. HYDE IS APPOINTED A MEMBER OF THE PRINCE OF WALES S COUNCIL, AND ACCOMPANIES HIM TO THE WEST OF ENG LAND. — hyde's last interview with charles i — STATE OF THE WEST. MISCONDUCT OF GORING. HYDE's REMONSTRANCE. DIFFICULTIES AND DISSENSIONS. PRE TENSIONS AND CHARACTER OF GORING. —DEFEAT AT LANG- PORT. CLUB-MEN. REVERSES OF THE KING. PREMA TURE INTENTION OF SENDING THE PRINCE OF WALES OUT OF ENGLAND RESISTED BY HYDE. GORING QUITS THE KINGDOM. HOPTON COMMANDS THE ARMY IN THE WEST. FAIRFAX ENTERS CORNWALL, AND OBLIGES HIM TO SUR RENDER THE PRINCE OF WALES, ATTENDED BY HYDE AND OTHERS, GOES TO THE SCILLY ISLES, AND FROM THENCE TO JERSEY. 1645. CHAP. X. Y 1645. Hyde is appointed a member of the Prince of Wales'scouncil. Soon after the failure of the treaty of Uxbridge, the King carried into effect what he had for some time previously resolved ; namely, to send the Prince of Wales into the West. The motives were various. He wished, by separation, to lessen the chance of both himself and his son being taken by the Parliament : he wished to render him conver sant with business, and, as he said, " to unboy " him." * He wished, by investing his son with a supreme command, to reconcile the dissensions which disturbed his service in the West. He also Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 136. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 253 desired to pacify an association of the gentry and chap. yeomanry of the four western counties, whose ob- , ject it was to obtain a peace, and who had wished 1645. that the Prince should be placed at their head. The Prince was therefore invested with two com missions ; one as general of all the King's forces in England, the other as general or head of the Western Association. The Prince's governor, at this time, was the Earl of Berkshire, a weak man, to supply whose deficiencies a council was appointed, before the Prince's departure, to attend and direct him. Of this council the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Southampton, Lord Capel, Lord Hopton, Lord Colepepper, and Sir Edward Hyde (who retained his office of Chancellor of the Exchequer), were members. Before the Chancellor of the Exchequer accom panied the Prince, he had endeavoured to mediate between the King and the Duke of Richmond, who felt himself aggrieved by the King's supposed preference for Ashburnham ; and by the King's de sire, and in his presence, Hyde established with that nobleman a more intimate confidence and friendship.* On the day of the Prince's departure, Hyde had Hyde's last his last conference with the King. Charles spoke with™ to him of the authority which he had given to the Charles *• council ; his distrust of Elliot, a follower of the Prince ; and then added, that he had observed of * Life of Clarendon, i. 222—225. 254 THE LIFE OF CHAP. X. ' , 1645. Hyde's departure towards the west of England. late some kind of sharpness upon many occasions, between Colepepper and Hyde ; that his great con fidence was upon them two ; that any difference between them must be at his charge, and that the fear of it gave him much trouble ; that he had ex pressed his apprehension to Colepepper, and re ceived from him fair promises ; " and," said the King, " upon my conscience, I think he loves you, " though he may sometimes provoke you to be " angry." Hyde, in reply, assured the King " that he had a great esteem of the Lord Cole- " pepper ; and though he might have at some " times passions which were inconvenient, he was " so confident of himself that they should not " provoke or disturb him, that he was well con- " tent that his Majesty should condemn and think " him in the fault, if any thing should fall out " of prejudice to his service, from a difference " between them two," with which his Majesty ap peared abundantly satisfied and pleased, and, em bracing him, gave him his hand to kiss. This was the last time Hyde was in the presence of the King, whom he had so ably and faithfully served; and on that same day (the 5th of March) he ac companied the Prince in his journey towards the West.* * Life of Clarendon, i. 228—230. " March 5. Prince Charles, at- " tended by the E. of Berkshire, Lo. Capel, Lord Hopton, Lo. Cul- " pepper, Sr Edw. Hyde, y6 Archb'pp of Armath, and B'pp of Salisbury, " sett forwards from Oxford towards ye west about 1 1 of ye clock this " day." Dugdale's Diary, edited by Hamper, 78. I have followed Dug- dale's date insteacTof Clarendon's, who says the 4th of March. The diary of the most accurate of antiquarians is necessarily to be preferred to the historian's recollections. 1645. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. The Prince and bis counsellors repaired to Bris tol, where it was intended he should principally reside while invested with the nominal command of the forces in the West. He was a boy of four teen years of age ; and the acts which may in the following pages be mentioned as his, were of course those of the council acting in his name, of which council Hyde was an active and influential member. The condition of the West was most discouraging, when the Prince arrived at Bristol. All Dorset- Diffic.ulties and dissen- shire was in the power of the Parliament, except sionsm the Isle of Portland, and such part of the country as Sir Lewis Dives could protect by his small gar rison at Sherborne. Taunton was in the hands of the Parliament, and rendered a great part of Somer setshire insecure. So also was Plymouth, which the principal forces in Devonshire and Cornwall were employed in blockading ; while those under Lord Goring " infested the borders of Dorset, " Somerset, and Devon, by unheard-of rapine, " without applying themselves to any enterprise " upon the rebels." * The Prince summoned to Bristol commissioners from the associated western counties ; ordered a body guard to be raised accord ing to agreement ; and directed Lord Goring, Sir Richard Grenville, and the several governors of gar risons in the West to furnish reports of the amount and condition of their forces, and of the state of the enemy.t It soon appeared that the horse and foot guards, and the 1001. a week for the Prince's support, * Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 140. + Ibid. v. 137. 256 THE LIFE OF chap. so liberally promised at Oxford by the delegates from i the associated counties, wTere not provided. The 1645. commissioners, moreover, protested against the pro mise, as having been made without due authority; and instead of assistance, brought only complaints of the disorderly conduct of Goring's soldiers. Had these prospects been even less clouded, it would have been difficult to expect success in the ensuing campaign, if it be considered how intrin sically faulty was the preliminary arrangement under which it was proposed to conduct it. A board of civilians, acting in the name of a boy invested with the nominal dignity of commander- in-chief, were charged with the superintendence and direction of a complicated course of military operations. Implicit obedience to such authority would probably impair the prompt and efficient prosecution of the war; — contempt of their au thority would introduce disorganisation, still more dangerous. These evils were soon experienced. The Prince was unsuccessful in his early attempts to exercise authority over Goring and Grenville. Having commanded Grenville* to join Lord Gor ing, and obey his orders, that so their combined forces might be better able to cope with Waller, he received for answer from Grenville, that " his " men would not stir a foot," and he had promised the commissioners of Devon and Cornwall not to quit his present post ; and Goring, thus denied * It appears from a letter of Charles I. to Goring, dated March 3., that the King had previously issued orders to Grenville to the same effect. See Vol. III. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 257 assistance, was unable to pursue bis advantages chap. against Waller, whom he had twice successfully . — ,_l_»r attacked. 1645- Soon afterwards, the Prince recommended that Conduct of Goring should, in conformity with what he himself had previously proposed, send his horse into Wilt shire, and his foot to Taunton, andremain with either of the two; desiring, at the same time, to receive his opinion upon the arrangement proposed. Goring, impatient of interference, sullenly treated the recom mendation as a positive order ; with perverse prompt itude put it in execution, inveighing against it as prejudicial to the King's service; and, that nothing might be wanting to render it prejudicial, he quitted his troops and retired to Bath. This discreditable ebullition of childish ill-temper called forth a letter of reproof from Hyde: — "Look over your own " design at Wells," said Hyde, " and remember our " discourse here, and tell me why this direction, or " rather opinion, you have received is not agreeable " to what was then thought necessary. I assure you " I find all your friends here much troubled that, "not approving the advice from hence, you chose " not rather to return your council and consider- " ation of it, than hastily execute what you dis- " countenance, by withdrawing yourself both from " horse and foot." " For God's sake let us not fall " into ill-humour, which may cost us dear ; get " good thoughts about you, and let us hear speedily " from you to a better tune."* This merited re- * Vol. III. p. 8. vol. i. s 1645. 258 THE LIFE OF monstrance seems to have been effectual ; for, as we are told, in a short time "all misunderstandings " seemed to be fairly made up."* Difficulties Not only was the supreme authority of the sionsd'sse"" Council thus liable to contempt, but they were ex posed to such difficulties as might arise from the ill- defined powers, the jealousies, and the pretensions of those who were immediately" below them. Dis* putes having arisen between Sir R. Grenville and Sir J. Berkeley, regarding the extent of their re spective commands, it became necessary to examine the commissions. Grenville, who was then High Sheriff of Devon, had a commission, under the King's sign manual, " to command the force before " Plymouth," which was then blockaded by his troops ; and, for that purpose, was empowered to raise the posse comitatus, to command the trained bands, and, indeed, the whole forces of both Devon shire and Cornwall, t Berkeley exhibited a pre vious commission, under the Great Seal, appoint ing him Colonel-General of Devon and Cornwall, and to command the whole force of both counties, trained bands as well as others. X These clashing commissions were submitted to Hyde, Colepepper, and Capel, who, with the consent of Grenville, quashed his commission, promising him the chief command, under the Prince, of the associated army then about to be raised, and confirmed the com mission of Sir John Berkeley. But the associated * Clar. Hist. Rep. v. 147, 148. + Ibid. v. 166. Carte's Letters, i. 96. X Ibid. v. 166. Carte's Letters, i. 98, 99. 1645. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. €59 forces of which Grenville was promised the com mand, were never raised to such amount as to be entitled to the name of an army ; and only 200 were levied at the end of May. * Grenville had been previously disabled by a wound ; and, during his necessary absence from duty, his troops before Taunton had been commanded by Sir J. Berkeley, who found them disorderly and unwilling to obey.t They had deserted in great numbers. Goring com plained that, of 2200 men brought thither by Gren ville, not 600 remained ; and recommended that Grenville should return to command them. This Grenville did ; but the rank of field marshal, which had been promised him, was objected toby Goring, inasmuch as it would clash with the pretensions of Lord Wentworth, who, he says, "had the right and " promise to command all persons in this army " under me."X Grenville, commissioned as field marshal, was therefore sent to command in the neighbourhood of Lyme, and his force was to be augmented by such troops as could be spared from the garrisons of Dartmouth, Exeter, and Barnstaple. But the pro mised reinforcements, either through mistake, or the adverse influence of Berkeley, failed to arrive ; and Grenville, disgusted with the treatment he had re ceived, resigned his commission early in July.§ The necessity not only of determining the duties * Vol. III. p. 13. Carte's Letters, i. 78. t Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 149. ± Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 207. 211, 212. Carte's Letters, i. 99, 100. J Vol. III. p. 22. s -2 1645. Preten sions of 260 THE LIFE OF of each commander, but of placing the supreme military command in the hands of some one effi cient leader, was soon felt. Goring had early con ceived an intention of obtaining supreme military Goring. authority in the West; and his first step towards this object was an endeavour to procure from the com missioners of the counties of Somerset and Devon a request to the Prince that, setting aside Lord Hopton's claim, he should appoint Goring lieute nant-general. * Being summoned with his troops, by the King, to Oxford, his influence there soon excited the jealousy of Rupert; and the latter, de sirous to procure his removal, favoured Goring's ambitious views. Goring consequently obtainedfrom the King, on the 10th of May, directions, addressed to the Prince, " that Goring should be admitted " into all consultations and debates, and advised " withal, as if he were one of the established coun- " cil;" that all commissions should pass through his hands, except such as related to the association ; and that, though the council might contribute their opinions and advices, the Prince " should carefully " forbear to give unto the Lord Goring any posi- " tive or binding orders." t But this was not all. Four days later, the King sent orders that Goring should command in chief; that Sir Richard Grenville should be Major-Ge- neral of the whole army ; that Sir J. Berkeley, as Colonel-General of Devon and Cornwall, should command before Plymouth; that Lord Hopton should be General of the Artillery ; and that the * Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 156, 157. + Ibid. v. 173. 1645. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. "261 Prince " should not be in the army, but keep his " residence in a safe garrison ; and there, by the " advice of his Council, manage and improve the " business of the West, and provide reserves and " reinforcements for the army." * Though it might have been well had this arrangement been made in the first instance, yet this exhibition of fickleness, — this sudden deposition of the Prince and his Council from an authority which was recognised and obeyed, and the attempt to substitute another authority, which would fail in obtaining the same ad herence, — were necessarily injurious to the King's service. The Council accordingly resolved to re monstrate, before this order should be made public; but, within three days, there was another change ; and, by a letter of May 19., Goring was ordered to march with his forces towards Northamptonshire, t To this order, dictated by the King's necessities, and issued in ignorance of the state of the West, the Council returned a remonstrance. Goring, through mismanagement, had recently failed in an attack upon the parliamentary forces at Petherton Bridge. If, while the latter were still unbroken, he were to withdraw, in compliance with the King's order, the whole county of Somerset (said the Lords of the Council) would be in the possession of the enemy in a few days, and the remainder of the West would be severely endangered. They, therefore, advised that Goring should postpone his march till they could hear from the King, in reply to * Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 188. f Ibid. v. 189. s S 262 THE LIFE OF their representations ; and they said in conclusion, " In case your Majesty's occasions shall necessitate 1645. ti tne march 0f the whole army to your assistance, " according to the Lord Digby his letter, we hum- " bly offer our advice to your Majesty, that it will " not be any way safe for the Prince to continue " his residence in these parts : but in that case, " we most humbly propose that your Majesty will " please to command his Highness to march with " the Lord Goring, to attend your Majesty; for " these counties, and all in them, must certainly "be lost."* Before an answer was received, the defeat at Naseby had taken place, and the previous injunc tions were necessarily suspended. Immediately after this disastrous period, the only remaining body of Royalists, which deserved the name of an army, was that under the command of Goring. But, to rely on Goring was to rest upon a broken reed. The defects of his character, unhappily, more than counterbalanced whatever advantage was derivable from his good abilities. His un- soldier-like negligence, and profligate addiction to wine and gambling, are feelingly deplored by Hyde, in a letter to Nicholas, wherein he adds an earnest wish that the King, leaving Prince Rupert to recruit his army, would come into the West himself, " to prevent any mischief by Lord Goring." t He had 5000 horse under his command, * See Letter VII., Vol. III. p. 12. f Vol. III. of this work, pp. 20, 21. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 263 and he obtained for a time the co-operation of Sir chap. Richard Grenville. * But augmented power seems ¦ only to have encouraged his unbridled spirit of '<^j- licence, and habitual neglect of duty. Little pro gress was made towards the reduction of Taunton, t Provisions were suffered to be carried into the town ; desertion prevailed; the neighbouring peasantry were rendered disaffected by the rapacious vio lence of the disorderly soldiers ; and Taunton re mained untaken, till, about the end of June, the victorious Fairfax, fresh from the successes of Naseby, marched into Somersetshire, and obliged Goring to raise the siege. Goring retired to Langport, in Somersetshire, Defeat with an army which, though the ranks of its in- port.""8" fantry had been thinned by desertion, was little inferior to the enemy in number, but greatly infe rior in discipline and zeal. Here, through his negligence, or as some thought, by that of Porter (the second in command) X, a body of his cavalry were surprised and cut to pieces by a detachment of the enemy ; and in the following day his whole July 10. army received a more complete defeat. § He was utterly routed, not with considerable slaughter, as if the resistance had been stubborn, but with the less honourable loss of much arms and ammunition, and more than 2000 men made prisoners of war. He retired in disorder, first to Bridgewater, and on the following day into Devonshire ; " the clubmen * Vol. III. p. 20. f Ibid. p. 21. t Wogan's narrative, in Carte's Letters, i. 131. et seq. § Rushworth, vi. 55. s 4 264 THE LIFE OF " and country people infesting his march, and " knocking all stragglers and wounded soldiers on 1645. "the head."* He ventured to stay a while at Barnstaple, whence he wrote to Lord Digby, " that " there was so great a terror and distraction among " his men, that he was confident that at present " they could not be brought to fight against half " their number."! clubmen. The disorderly conduct of Goring's troops had raised up fresh enemies, who must not be over looked among the consequences of his misconduct, and the difficulties to which the Prince's Council was exposed. The yeomanry and peasantry began to assemble in large bodies, in defence of their pro perty and dwellings, armed only with clubs, or the implements of .agriculture — flails, forks, and scythes or sickles fixed on poles — professing only defensive - warfare, and signifying their intentions by these rude rhymes, inscribed on then banner, — " If you offer to plunder, and take our cattle, " You may be sure we will give you battle." In the beginning of June, about 6000 of these clubmen (as they called themselves) presented a petition to the Prince at Wells, complaining of the ¦ conduct of the soldiery, and the consequent suffer ings of the people. The Prince admitted to his presence a deputation from this formidable body, which was favoured by the leaders of the associ ation, and by many of the clergy ; and returned a * Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 208. f Ibid. 209. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 265 x. 1645. mild and judicious answer, in the language of chap, which are evident traces of the hand of Hyde. It blends assurances of confidence in the loyalty of the petitioners, with disapprobation of all such un authorised meetings ; acknowledges and laments " the great pressures and sufferings of his Ma jesty's good subjects;" and that very great in juries have been done, and insolences committed, by the disorder and " licentiousness" of the sol diers ; draws occasion, from these evils, to recom mend such co-operation as may tend to their sup pression, by removing the war from that district, and, that such " obedience may be given to the " necessary regular warrants, and such course " taken for the collecting all monies agreed to be " paid, that the soldiers may not have cause to send " out parties for compulsion ; and to have no ex- " cuse for the excess that will inevitably follow "therefrom."* It also promises punishment of marauders, and a proclamation for the more ef fectual prevention of their misdeeds ; promises, to all such of his petitioners as will join the Prince's standard, supply of arms and ammunition, and that they shall be " put under the command of such " persons as themselves will have cause to approve " of," premising that his great object is a " blessed " peace, to preserve the religion, laws, and liberty " and prosperity of the subject from being im- " posed upon by any arbitrary power, without the " consent of King, Lords, and Commons, in Pariia- Aug. 15 * Vol. III. p. 17. 9J66 THE LIFE OF " ment, which is the only power to establish laws " by which all men are to be bound."* 1645. Defeat attended the King's affairs in other parts Reverses Qf njs dominions. The successes of Montrose, or the King ' in various though brilliant, were not of sufficient influence to parts of the „ -. . . kingdom, turn the scale. 1 hey had sufficed only to produce in the Royalists an undue confidence, and to smother a spirit of accommodation, which might, perhaps, have led to peace. The taking of Leicester was a trivial advantage, soon followed by irreparable de feat at Naseby t — a defeat which not only scattered for a while the forces of the Royalists, but perma nently depressed their spirit ; and which, among the spoils of the day, threw into the hands of the Parliament a collection of the King's letters, dis closing his duplicity, and tending to destroy, on the part of the Parliament, whatever remained of willingness to trust him. A long train of reverses followed, unretrieved by any glimmering of success, except the relief of Hereford, which was besieged by the Scotch. After the battle of Langport, Bridgewater and Bath fell, each an easy prey to Fairfax. Sherborne, after a long and gallant re sistance on the part of its brave governor, Sir Lewis Dyvest, underwent the same fate. So, too, * Vol. III. p. 18. f This event is thus concisely related by Cromwell, in a letter to Lenthall.the Speaker : — " Wee, after three howers fight, very doubtfull, " at last routed his armie, killed and tooke about five thousand, very " many officers, but of what qualitye we yet know not. Wee took " alsoe about two hundred carriages, all hee had, and all his gunnes, " being twelve in number, whereof two were demie-cannon, two demie- " culveringes, and (I thinke) the rest sacers." Ellis's Orig. Letters, first series, iii. 306. X The following characteristic letter, from Sir Lewis Dyves to Sir EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 267 did that more important fortress Bristol, where, if chap. the stubborn bravery of Dyves had been imitated . by Rupert, the King's fall might, at least, have Se™\5{ been retarded. But that rash and turbulent trooper here displayed his presumptuous ineffi ciency too glaringly not to be apparent, even to the eyes of his partial uncle ; and the King re voked his commission, commanded him to quit the kingdom, and sent a warrant for his apprehension, to be used conditionally, in case of his refusal to obey the order.* The King, after the defeat at Naseby, retired to Hereford ; thence to Abergavenny, endeavour ing to recruit his forces in Wales ; thence to Rag- land, where he inactively awaited the promised as sistance, which became each day less likely to be given. At this place he required Hyde and Cole pepper to come to him ; but Hyde was then con- Thomas Fairfax, is extant among the Ayscough MSS. in the British Museum : — " Sr. — I have received your second summons this daye for the sur- " rendering this castle of Sherborne into your hands, for the use of the " kingdome. 1 shall endeavour to purchase a better opinion w16 you " (before I leave it) than to deliver it upp uppon such easie terms. I " keepe it for his Majestie, my souveraigne, unto whom this kingdome " belonges ; and, by the blessinge of the Almightie, am resolved to give " him such an accompt thereof as becomes a man of honour to doe, who " is, Sr, your humble servaunt, " Sherborne Castle, Aug. 6. 1645. " Luwis Dyves." * The evidence of this fact will be found in Ellis's Original Letters, first series, iii. 311. et seq. Charles, in a letter to Nicholas, terms the surrender " strange and most inexcusable;" and adds, in a postscript, " Tell my sone that I shall lesse greeve to heare that he is knoked in " the head, than that he should doe so meane an act as is the rendring " of Bristoll castell and fort upon the termes it was." 268 THE LIFE OF fined by gout, and Colepepper repaired to the King alone. He soon returned, bearing a letter 1645. fr0m the King to the Prince, dated from Breck nock, on the 5th of August, wherein he said, — " My pleasure is, whensoever you find yourself in " apparent danger of falling into the rebels' hands, " that you convey yourself into France, and there " to be under your mother's care, who is to have " the absolute full power of your education in " all things except religion." This injunction was displeasing to the Prince's Council, who were reasonably dissatisfied with the conduct of the Queen ; and they wrote a letter of expostulation, in which, while assuring the King that nothing should be omitted to save the Prince from falling into, the hands of the Parliarrient, they besought that the choice of a place of refuge might be left to their discretion ; and that, at all events, Ireland or Scotland might be preferred to France. At the same time, precautions were not neglected for se curing the Prince's safe retreat ; and the Chan cellor of the Exchequer went to Falmouth, osten sibly to give directions respecting the customs, but in reality to provide a frigate, which might be in readiness to convey the prince in case of danger. Meanwhile, disunion and want of discipline were still impairing the efficiency of the King's forces in the West ; and much difficulty and dissen sion was also experienced, respecting the assignment of the contributions, raised for various branches of the military service. Grenville and Berkeley were EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 269 still at variance. The authority of the former, as High Sheriff of Devon, clashed with that possessed by Berkeley, as Colonel-General of Devon and 1645- Cornwall ; and the adjustment effected in thespring had not set this difficulty at rest. There was also dissension between Grenville (who had again con sented to act) and Goring. The former, whose fault was severity rather than remissness, and whom Rupert (perhaps through jealousy of Goring) called " the only soldier in the West*," despised Goring for his laxity, and unwillingly submitted to his commands. Goring, on his part, complained bitterly of Grenville ; but hoped, if invested with sufficient powers, " either to bring him into better " order, or keep him from doing any hurt."t These difficulties were increased by the insubordi nation of the disorderly troops which each general nominally commanded, and which, in some instances, refused to be amenable to the rule of any other chief. Moreover the military commanders thus at variance, and unable to control each other, bore little respect to the conclave of civilians which, under the name of the Prince's Council, was to direct their operations, and be umpires in their disputes. Authority so vested could scarcely be exercised with effect ; and it was, therefore, not without reason that Goring claimed, as being es sential to his efficiency, a degree of power not unsuitable to the situation he held, but such as the Prince could not, probably, without danger, have * Evelyn, v. 137. f Vol. III. p. 32. 270 THE LIFE OF CHAP X. placed in the hands of such a man. He demanded a commission to be Lieutenant-General of all the 1645. West, to command immediately under the Prince, and to be sworn of his Council ; that the Prince should sign no commissions, but such as he pre pared for him ; that he might give all commissions in the Prince's absence, and appoint to all vacant governorships of towns ; that all designs of con sequence, and motions of the army, be debated before the Prince by his Council, with such officers of the army as Lord Goring shall choose to assist at it ; and that all the details of warfare be ordered in the Prince's name, under Lord Goring's sole direction. * It fell to the lot of Hyde to remon strate with Goring on the subject of these demands, and induce him for a while to suspend them. But he reiterated them about the end of September ; and, though he was not gratified to the full extent of his demands, he appears to have obtained the reasonable request that Grenville should be in structed to obey his orders, t The benefit which the King's cause might derive from Goring's good abilities was utterly neutralised by his vices. It could not, therefore, be regarded as a misfortune, when disgust at the difficulties of his position, induced this profligate and disaffected soldier to withdraw himself from the King's service. In the course of that winter, he retired to France, having (according to Lord Clarendon) left secret directions with Lord Wentworth, and with others * Vol. III. p. 31. f Ibid. p. 35. 1645. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 271 who had served under him, " to preserve the horse " from being engaged till he could procure a licence " from the Parliament, to transport them for the " service of a foreign prince, which would be a " fortune to the officers." * The mischief done by this unprincipled soldier could not easily be repaired. He had relaxed the discipline of his troops, and excited the hostility of the country : " he had left a dissolute and odious army to the " mercy of the enemy, and to a country more " justly incensed, and consequently more merciless, " than they." t Other reverses befell the King during this dis astrous autumn, subsequent to the taking of Bristol. Devizes, Lacock House, Berkeley Castle, Win chester, Basing House, Longford House, and Ti verton, all garrisoned by the King's troops, suc cessively fell into the hands of the Parliament during the months of September and October. In December, the state of the King's affairs was thus represented by his confidential advisers : — The King had no forces but such as were in garrisons ; nor money to pay them, but the forced contribu tions of a wasted and disaffected country, ready each day to rise against him. Herefordshire, Mon mouthshire, and all Wales, were lost to the King since the taking of Bristol. Chester, Newark, and Bel voir were besieged, and in danger. " In the " West are about 5000 or 6000 horse and foot ; but " there are so great divisions amongst the chief * Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 261. f Ibid. v. 262. 272 THE LIFE OF chap. « officers, and the Council that attend the Prince, > " as, for want of conduct, their forces are so dis- 1645. " united and the country so disaffected to them " by reason of the soldiers' rapine and oppres- " sion, as the country rises against them whenever " they come into any place not in a body, and the " country is so wasted as it cannot feed them when " they lie together in a body." * The King had, in Devonshire, no port but Dartmouth. The siege of Plymouth was weakly prosecuted ; and the par liamentary forces were recently recruited in the West by 1500 of their best horse. No forces could be drawn from Ireland ; and there was no hope of timely aid from Montrose, who, though victorious at Kilsyth, had been subsequently defeated, and was still in the Highlands ; and from France and Holland came only " fair and fruitless promises."! Oct. 26. Such was the distressed condition Avhich obliged the King, on the 26th of October, to offer propo sitions for peace. He therein offered to treat, in person, with the two Houses at Westminster, and the Scotch commissioners, upon condition of the safety and subsequent unmolested retirement of himself and 300 of his train to one of his garrisons. He professed willingness to commit the militia for seven years, as proposed at Uxbridge, to thirty com missioners mentioned by name, and comprising among them Cromwell, Fairfax, Skippon, Hollis, Pembroke, Manchester, and Essex ; or to name half, and leave the rest to the nomination of the Parlia- * Clar. State Papers, ii. 198. f Ibid. 199. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 273 ment. But it was now too late for such submis- chap. sion to be effectual ; and the Parliament declined , the proffered treaty. 1645. It is probable that a favourable result was little expected by the King ; for he had written to his son on the 7th of November, and again on the 7th of December, urging him, in each letter, to quit the kingdom ; not to go to Scotland or Ireland, but, if he can, to Denmark, and if not thither, then rather to France or Holland ; and communicating, at the same time, his intention to propose a personal treaty with the Parliament. These letters per plexed Hyde and others of the Council. The fri gate, which was in readiness to receive the Prince, was not victualled for so long a voyage as from thence to Denmark. The treaty which the King was about to propose to the Parliament, seemed also a reason against the Prince's departure from the kingdom ; for, if the Prince were known to have departed, the Parliament would avail themselves of the circumstance, as evidence of insincerity on the part of the King. Hyde and his colleagues, there fore, addressed to the King a letter of remon strance, assuring him that nothing but his com mands should put the Prince in the power of the Parliament ; but also telling him how strongly the followers of the Prince were disinclined that he should quit the kingdom,' — that many who were faithful would rather see him in the hands of the enemy, than in France, — and that the Council must, therefore, advise that he continue still within the VOL. I. T 274 THE LIFE OF King's dominions ; but, if occasion required, they would transport him to Scilly or to Jersey. .1646. Meanwhile, disorganisation still more and more had sapped the strength of the Prince's army. It consisted of three detachments, commanded by Lord Wentworth, Sir R. Grenville, and General Digby, " neither of which acknowledged a supe- " riority in the other." A supreme commander was required to reduce into order this military chaos, which Grenville acknowledged his inability to control ; and, accordingly, on the 15th of Janu ary, it was ordered by the Prince, that the horse should be commanded by Wentworth, the foot by Grenville, and that Lord Hopton should be the commander-in-chief. It was an arduous and hope less duty imposed on this able and honourable veteran to command what Clarendon emphatically calls " a dissolute, undisciplined, wicked, beaten, "army;" an army "whom only their friends " feared and their enemies laughed at ; being only " terrible in plunder, and resolute in running " away." * But Hopton generously accepted it. Wentworth submitted to command under him, but with an ill grace : Grenville positively refused, and was committed to the custody of the governor of Launceston. Grenville had proposed, in No vember, to negotiate a compromise between the Parliament and the Prince, by which the latter should secure the revenues of the Duchy of Com- * Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 306. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 2?5 wall, and hostilities should cease ; — a treaty to which, consistently with honour, and without aban donment of his rights, it was impossible for the 1646- Prince to accede. It is said by Clarendon, that, these propositions being rejected by the Prince's council, Grenville attempted to raise a party favour able to them, addressing, for that purpose, letters to several of the gentlemen of Cornwall, and en deavouring to convene a meeting at Launceston. The steadiness of his attachment to the cause of the Royalists became suspected. His stubborn refusal to accept command under Lord Hopton increased suspicion. These circumstances, the evil consequence of suffering the Prince's authority to be contemned, and the fear lest Grenville might put himself at the head of the discontented party in that neighbourhood, induced the Council to carry into effect against him this precautionary measure, which, as the transaction is imperfectly explained, seems to savour a little of unnecessary harshness.* Hopton's force, when he took the command, amounted, according to his own statement, to about 1800 foot, and rather more than 3000 horse; and, with this handful of men, unable to cope with the superior army of Fairfax, he was detained at Launceston, by want of means to convey his ammunition and provisions, till the 6th of February, when he removed to Torrington, as to a place of * Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 268, 269, 270. 306—313. Carte's Letters, i. 102—108. T 2 276 THE LIFE OF chap, greater security. Here, the approach of Fairfax, , X- , with about 9000 horse and foot, was made known 1646. to the royal army by an officer and eight troopers, absent without leave, in search of plunder, who accidentally fell among them. But Hopton, ap prehensive of extensive desertion if he retired into Cornwall, and hoping to defend himself success fully in Torrington, chose rather to abide than fly. Fairfax routed his feeble force, and followed him to Stratton, Launceston, and Bodmin, where, by the end of February, disaffection and desertion had disorganised and thinned his ranks, till the sword of the enemy was scarcely needed to subdue and disperse them.* The Prince, attended by Hyde and Colepepper, arrived, on the 12th of February, at Truro, where they received the King's answer to the remon strance addressed to him by the Council from Tavistock. It approved of their non-compliance with the previous orders to convey the Prince im mediately out of the kingdom ; but reiterated the command, that he should go whenever there was imminent hazard of his falling into the hands of the parliamentary forces. Such danger was be coming more apparent. The victorious Fairfax was now on the borders of Cornwall, and there were fears of domestic treachery. Hopton and Capel received intelligence of a design to seize the Prince's person ; to which, says Clarendon, " they * See the narratives of Sir R. Grenville, Lord Hopton, and Colonel Wogan, in Carte's Letters, vol. i. pp. 107. 109—117. 139—142. Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 313—316. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 277 " had reason to believe that some of his own chap. x. " servants were not strangers." * The Prince, , therefore, who had removed to Pendennis Castle, 1646. intending to stay there only a few days, returned not to Truro. But Pendennis Castle was no safe asylum. Hopton and Capel, who were absent with the army, concurred with Hyde and Cole pepper in the propriety of the Prince's removal to Jersey or Scilly. Dangers augmented hourly. On the 1st of March, the King's forces retreated from Bodmin, pursued by Fairfax t ; of which alarming fact, the Prince and his Council were apprised the following day. The urgent necessity of depart ure was increased : and the Prince attended by Hyde, Colepepper, and others of his suite, "that " night, about ten of the clock, put himself on " board ; and on Wednesday, in the afternoon, " arrived safe in Scilly, from whence, within two " days, the Lord Colepepper was sent into France " to acquaint the Queen with his Highness' being " at Scilly, — - with the wants and incommodities of " that place, — and to desire supply of men and " monies for the defence thereof, and the support " of his own person." X This flight was caused by well grounded fears. " As soon as Fairfax ad- " vanceth," said Colepepper, in a letter to Ash- burnham in February, " all the horse here are in a * Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 318. Nicholas wrote to Colepepper, from Ox ford, on the 4th of February, that he learned from London, " that the " Earl of Newcastle reports there, that the Lord Capel's lieutenant hath " undertaken to deliver the Prince over to the Parliament army." Clar, State Papers, ii. 206. t Carte's Letters, i. 117. Rushworth, vi. 104. X Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 320. 278 THE LIFE OF chap. " net, without possibility either to break through, ¦ " or to save themselves in our garrisons. The 1646. " horse lost, it will be impossible ever to get up an " army again. And if you saw us, you would believe we are not in condition to fight." * Gal lantry and fidelity could hardly have saved the royal forces. Disaffection made their failure cer tain. Lord Hopton, calling a council of war, was told by his officers, that "their men would never " be brought to fight ; " and all, save one, were anxious for a treaty. On the 5th came a summons from Fairfax for a " surrender, and an engage- " ment never to bear arms against the Parliament; " offering to the soldiers free permission either to go home or quit the kingdom, — the officers taking with them their horses and arms, the privates sur rendering both, but receiving each 20/. for his horse. Hopton was still bravely willing to resist, and would not make the propositions pubhc ; but his officers declared, that " if he would not con- " sent to it, they were resolved to treat themselves." And, from this time, they neither kept guards or performed any duty ; their forces every day mingling with those of the enemy, without any act of hostility. There was no course left but to treat. Articles of agreement were signed at Truro on the 14th. t The army of the West was dis banded ; and Hopton, its brave commander, who, with no incentive but a sense of duty, hopeless, yet undaunted, had manfully struggled through * Clar. State Papers, ii. 207. + Rushworth, vi. 1 10. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 279 difficulties which the most courageous ability could not have surmounted, quitted Cornwall on the 11th of April, in company with Lord Capel ; and, 1646. after having been baffled by contrary winds, he at length joined the Prince in Scilly. The Prince and his attendants remained in Scilly from the 4th of March till the 16th of April, in a wretched state of discomfort ; sometimes al most destitute of provisions, of which a scanty sup ply came from Cornwall and from France * ; and not enjoying even security. A summons to the Prince, from the Parliament, to surrender arrived on the 11th ; and on the 12th a fleet of above twenty sail was seen hovering round the island, in readi ness to enforce the mandate. Happily for the Prince, a storm dispersed them : but to remain in Scilly, was reasonably judged no longer safe ; and on the 16th, when the storm had subsided, the Prince and his attendants, among whom was Hyde, set sail for Jersey, and arrived there on the follow ing day. t * Lady Fanshawe's Memoirs, 60. f Clar. State Papers^ ii. 229. T 4 280 THE LIFE OF CHAP. XL machinations of the queen. hyde s letter to jer myn. the prince of wales goes to france. — letter from hyde, capel, and hopton to charles i. — Glamorgan's treaty. — hyde's disapprobation and regret. charles goes to the scotch camp. — hyde remains in jersey. — applies himself to the compo sition of his history. — his request for materials. his industry. — his disastrous situation. — ap prehension of an attempt on jersey by the par liament. hyde's will and letters, under expect ation of seizure and death. 1646. Hyde now undertook the difficult task of com bating the machinations of the Queen. This 1646. selfish and ambitious woman, little mindful of her tions of "the son's true interest, was anxious to draw him within her own control, even though, in so doing, she might place him within the power of France. She had gained Colepepper, who was now with her at Paris. She had gained her husband, who, although it had been settled that if the Prince went any where out of the British dominions, he should go to Den mark, had written to him from Oxford on the 22d of March, expressing a hope that he was then with his mother. She also addressed to Hyde a crafty letter, directed to him at Scilly, but which did not reach him till he had arrived in Jersey, intimating the friendly disposition of the French Court, " if " the Prince, in his way to Jersey, should be neces- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 281 " sitated by contrary winds, or the danger of the chap. " parliament shipping, to touch in France." This t ' , she wrote, foreseeing that the Council would not 1646. accede to a direct transport from Scilly to France ; and in furtherance of her design of obtaining his speedy removal from Jersey thither. Importunate letters soon followed to the same effect. Colepepper had returned from his mission to Paris a convert to the Queen's views. The question was debated by the Council ; and they prevailed in sending back Cole pepper, accompanied by Lord Capel, to remonstrate with the Queen, and with instructions to state, in the Prince's name, that inasmuch as the Queen's in junctions are conceived "to be grounded upon her " Majesty's apprehensions of danger to our person " by any residence here, they shall humbly ac- " quaint her Majesty, that we have great reason " to believe this island to be defensible against a " greater force than we suppose probable to be " brought against it : " that " if, contrary to ex- " pectation, the rebels should take the island, we " can from the castle (a place in itself of very great " strength) with the least hazard remove oneself to " France : " that, " our security being thus stated, " we beseech her Majesty to consider whether it " be not absolutely necessary, before any thought " of our remove from hence be entertained, that " we have as clear an information as may be got " of the condition of our royal father and the " affections of England ; of the resolutions of the " Scots in England, and the strength of the Lord " Montrose in Scotland ; of the affairs in Ireland, 282 THE LIFE OF chap. " and the conclusion of the treaty there;" and " to , ' . " beseech her to consider whether our remove 1646. " out of the dominions of our royal father may " not have an influence upon the affections of " the three kingdoms, to the disadvantage of his " Majesty." Hyde's Hyde also addressed to Lord Jermyn a long and jermyn. able letter, discussing the question of the Prince's removal to France, and setting forth its objection able features. He first reviewed and combated the arguments for removal. First, " the security of his person." " On that point," said the letter, " I " presume you are by my Lords abundantly " satisfied that the island itself is not to be at- " tempted without a very great force ; and being " lost, the Prince's remove into France is most " easy and most safe." The second is his support, " but which," said Hyde " can never be an argu- " ment by itself, since, flowing immediately from " her Majesty's bounty or her Majesty's media- " tion, no doubt it will be assigned to his Highness " in any place where his residence shall be con- " eluded most necessary for the public good." It had been urged that the Prince, by going to France, might engage the assistance of that power ; but, as Hyde pointedly replies, "a frank declara- " tion and engagement of the Crown of France on " his Majesty's behalf, and a wedding his quarrel " by some brisk act against the rebels, would be a " better argument for the Prince's going thither, " than his presence there could prove to incline " them to such a necessary declaration." EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 283 It had been urged that the Prince should be in action, and that to remain quiet in Jersey would be dishonourable to his character. " Sure no honest 1646. " man," said Hyde, " can think that the Prince " should bury himself in this obscure island from " action." " I wish action were as ready for him " as he is for it; but the question is only whether it " is more honourable to be without action in this " island or in France. The only end and cause for " staying here is securely to attend a proper article " of time, so to dispose of himself as may have the " greatest influence upon his fortune." Hyde then pointed out the evils which he be lieved would ensue from the Prince's removal into France. "The affections of many of the English, " not yet utterly estranged, will be irrecoverably " lost, if the Prince should, unadvisedly and un- " compelled, transport himself out of his father's " dominions, into the territories and power of " France." Again : " If that heavy and last mis- " fortune should befall the King, which every day's " danger subjects him to, there is no imaginable " expedient to confirm the usurping power of the " Parliament, and for ever to suppress all possible " resistance and opposition of it, but the Prince's " being out of his dominions, and so not having it " in his power to embrace and countenance any " opportunity that, in that instant, shall offer itself " for his defence and recovery." He then forcibly warned him of the imputations of an addiction to Popery, which will be heaped upon the Prince to the injury of his cause. "It matters not," he 284 THE LIFE OF argued, " though no undue efforts should be made " for conversion. They whose business it is not to 1646. « prove what they say, but to have what they say " believed, wiU little doubt the getting credit with " the people, or that it will be hard to persuade " them who believed the King a Papist, when he " was seen every day at church in England, to " believe the Prince a papist when he shall have " no church in France to go to. The question " is, not whether the Prince be like to be cor- " rupted in his rehgion, by going into France, " but whether, generally, the people of England " will be persuaded to believe that he is so." " I " have," he continued, " as shortly as I could, " told you the inconveniences that, in this case, " may arise in respect of the affections of the " English. It is in no degree evident to me, " what influence it may likewise have upon the " affections of Scotland and Ireland, or upon the " Prince of Orange and States of Holland, or upon " the King of Denmark, if it shall be believed " (how unreasonably soever), that the Prince " wholly depends upon the French councils, and " is to be disposed by their interest." He then spoke of the advantages of the Prince's residence in Jersey. "He is within the King's own do- " minions, and in his own power;" " in a more " honourable condition than he can be in the " court of any foreign prince; and as he is more " assured of the affections, addresses, and assist- " ance from England, so I conceive him more " capable of the compassion and support of other 1646. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 285 " princes and allies, whilst he is here than in " France : and I am not able to tell myself, why " he might not more reasonably expect aid, even " from France itself, when he is here, than when " he is at Paris." In fine, he warned Lord Jermyn, that, if the Prince goes to France, without the apparent pressure of necessity, " the Parliament " will article against the King for giving that com- " mand. They will declare the Queen to be the " author of that course. They wiU declare the " Prince to be a papist, and will not want two or " three witnesses who saw him at mass. And, " after this, you may easily guess what way they " will proceed, and how easy it will be, upon this " occasion, to unite ah the people against the " Crown, and, by new oaths, to involve those who " are yet innocent, in a guilt that will make them " keep pace with the most furious. Consider, " too, what impression it may make upon all the " Lords at Oxford, and upon those few places in " England and Wales which yet continue true to " their obedience. If none of these consider- " ations seem of moment to you, take so much " pains as to reform my judgment ; and, till then, " pardon me, and procure my pardon from others, " that I can no more advise, or in my judgment " consent to, the Prince leaving this place, than I " could to what I conclude will prove most per- " nicious and fatal to him, and what it cannot bev " expected any command shall make me do." * * Clar. State Papers, ii. 231. et seq. 1646. 286 THE LIFE OF This masterly protest was unsuccessful, as were also the remonstrances conveyed from the Council by Colepepper and Capel. Arguments, how for cible soever, weighed little against the determin ation of the Queen, supported by the sanction of her husband. From him she had now obtained a letter from Oxford, of the 15th of April, authorising her to join his "positive commands" to hers that the Prince should repair to her immediately.* Soon afterwards, tidings came of the King having placed himself in the hands of the Scotch ; and, in this new posture of affairs, the Queen was ordered to postpone her determination till the actual con dition of the King should be known. Meanwhile, she gained a new ally. The sanguine and enter prising Digby arrived at Jersey from Ireland, eager that the Prince should immediately go thither, where he had represented he would " find the "whole kingdom devoted to his service;" and scarcely was he withheld by Hyde from the mad project of inveigling the Prince on board one of the two frigates which Digby brought with him, and carrying him to Ireland against his will. Foiled in this project, he instantly set off for Paris, " not making the least question but that he should " convert the Queen from any further thought of " sending for the Prince into France, and as easily " obtain her consent and approbation for his repair- " ing into Ireland." + It was well resolved ; and the result might have * Clar. State Papers, ii. 230. + Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 375. 1646. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 287 been good, had the character of Digby been other than it was. But his unsuspicious character and fickle nature were ill qualified to contend with Mazarin, who (as the wishes of the Queen con curred in this instance with the interest of France) plied him with flatteries, persuasions, and promises. Mazarin promised an embassy from France to the Parliament, with peremptory demands in the King's behalf, — a declaration of war should those demands be refused, and an army to prosecute the war. Digby was won.* The expostulator be came the advocate and ally; and he returned to Jersey, undertaking to convert the Council, and obtain the Prince's obedience to the Queen's commands. Mazarin, still further to insure suc cess, wrote a letter, which the Queen transmitted, stating that he had received " very certain adver- " tisement, out of England, that there were some " persons about the Prince of Wales, in Jersey, " who had undertaken to deliver his Highness up " into the hands of the Parliament for 20,000 " pistoles." t Against the wiles of Mazarin, the determination of the Queen, the weakness of Charles, the zeal of Digby, the advocacy of Colepepper, (whom Lady Fanshawe, then residing at Jersey, called an excel- * Digby's letter to Ormond, of June 17. 1646, shows how ingeniously he had been cajoled by Mazarin, " who now doth give such testimonies " of the real designs of France to restore the King, as the Queen hath " great reason to resign herself up much to his counsel." Mazarin humoured Digby's project of the Prince's passage to Ireland, praising it in the main, but artfully counselling delay ; and, meanwhile, recom mending the Prince's previous removal to France, as a means to that end. See Carte's Life and Letters of Ormonde, iii. 476. f Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 378. 288 THE LIFE OF lent solicitor from the Queen*,) and the concurring wishes of the Prince himself, Hyde, and his friends, 1646- armed with no weapons but those of argument, found themselves unable to contend. Capel, as a last resource, offered to go to Newcastle, where the King then was, in order to receive his positive commands : but the offer was declined ; and the Queen sent Lord Jermyn and others, with per emptory directions that they should immediately return with the Prince, who, consequently, in The Prince July repaired to France, t Hyde, Capel, and goes to iv i • i t> • i • France. Hopton declined accompanying the Prince thither. Their advice had been peremptorily rejected, after the strongest remonstrances on a point of vital importance, and at a time when they were the Prince's sole ostensible advisers. What reason had they to suppose that their advice would have any influence in matters less important, when the Prince would be taken under his mother's guidance, and their authority would be virtually annulled? They would be placed in a position powerless and helpless, humiliating for the present, and injurious to their prospects of affording assist ance to the royal cause. They would not be responsible for measures which they would not be permitted to conduct; and they accordingly ad dressed, on the 15th of July, the following letter to the King : — " May it please your Majesty, — Your Majesty's " great justice and goodness will always preserve * Fanshawe's Memoirs, p. 62. f Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 382. 397—406. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 289 ' your faithful servants from any misapprehension chap. ' in your Majesty of their affection and duty, and , ' from any disadvantage that a misrepresentation 1646. ' of them may threaten ; and therefore we are con- ' fident that your Majesty will pardon us, that we ' have rather chosen to wait a seasonable oppor- ' tunity, in this island, to return to some condition ' and capacity of serving your Majesty, than to ' attend his Highness into France, where our at- ' tendance and counsel would be of no further use ' to him. We should have been very glad if his ' residence might have been continued here, till ' your Majesty might have been informed of the 1 unquestionable security and advantages of this * island, and thereupon have signified your royal ' pleasure : but as we shall always pray that his ' remove may be as prosperous to him as his ' princely virtue and piety deserve, so we shall ' employ all the faculties of our minds in finding ' out any opportunity of serving your Majesty, as ' become, Sir, " Your Majesty's most dutiful " And most obedient Servants, " Arthur Capel, " Ralph Hopton, " Edward Hyde. " Jersey, 15th of July, 1646." * The fortunes of the King had rapidly declined since his defeat at Naseby in June, 1645. After * Clar. State Papers, ii. 249. VOL. I. U 290 THE LIFE OF that battle, his military means of success were at an end ; and two circumstances had occurred, fatal 1646. to his prospect of regaining, by pacific means, the regard and confidence of the nation. One was the publication of his letters to the Queen, of which copies had been seized at Naseby ; the other, the discovery of Glamorgan's treaty. The former brought to light his deep-dyed faithlessness, and stubborn maintenance of despotic views. They manifested a hope of conquering the Parliament, and of once more governing arbitrarily without it, for they held out expectation of measures to which no Parliament could be expected to consent; as, for example, " I will take away all the penal laws " against the Roman Catholics in England, as soon " as God shall make me able to do it." * Glamorgan's jn October, 1645, accident brought to light the treaty. ° ° other still more lamentable discovery. Among the baggage of the titular Archbishop of Tuam, killed by a sally of the garrison of Sligo, were found the articles of a secret treaty with the Irish Catholics, to be conducted by Lord Glamorgan in behalf of the King. It engaged, in consideration of military aid to be afforded to Charles, to grant them the free * Rushworth, v. 893. Even the Parliamentarians, who wished for an accommodation, grieved at this disclosure. " Many good men," said May, " were sorry " that the King's actions agreed not better with his words ; that he " openly protested before God, with horrid imprecations, that he endea- " voured nothing so much as the preservation of the Protestant religion, " and rooting out of Popery ; yet in the meantime, underhand, he pro- " mised to the Irish rebels an abrogation of the laws against them, " which was contrary to his late expressed promises, in these words, '/ " ' will never abrogate the laws against the Papists' And again he said, " ' J abhor to think of bringing foreign soldiers into the kingdom;' and yet " he solicited the Duke of Lorraine, the French, the Danes, and the " very Irish, for assistance."— May's Breviate, in Masere's Tracts, i. 79. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 291 exercise of their religion, all the church revenues possessed at any time since October 23. 1641, exemption from all jurisdiction of the Protestant 1646- clergy, and the repeal of all penal laws. Ormond and Digby, either to save appearances, or from real indignation at a temerity which they thought unauthorised, imprisoned Glamorgan on charge of treason. But Glamorgan, in his defence, produced two commissions from the King, secretly granted, and containing full powers to treat, and a promise to ratify whatever conditions he might make with the Catholics. This the King disavowed, assert ing that Glamorgan had merely a commission to raise troops, but no power to treat of any thing else, without the privity of the Lord Lieutenant, or to make concessions concerning religion, or any property, clerical or lay. The King's advocates have endeavoured to defend him, but in vain. Letters are extant from Charles to Glamorgan, which place the King's duplicity beyond a doubt.* There is also a remarkable letter from Glamor gan (afterwards Marquis of Worcester) to Hyde, in l660t, which describes the intent of his instruc tions, the vast projects of Charles, and the crafty means by which he intended to elude the risk. No commission less ample, says Glamorgan, would have enabled him to effect Charles's vast designs : 26,000 men were to be raised and landed, of which 6000 would be foreigners ; and powers to treat and con clude were given, says the letter, " signed by the * See Note B in Lingard's Hist, of England, vol. x. 469—480. f Clar. State Papers, ii. 201. u 2 292 THE LIFE OF " King under his pocket signet, with blanks for me " to put in the names of pope or prince, to the end 1646. « that tne King might have a starting hole to " deny the having given me such commissions, " if excepted against by his own subjects." Hyde condemns the King, by the very silence which he observes, respecting this transaction, in his history of the rebellion ; and still more plainly does he condemn him in a letter to Secretary Nicholas : "I care not how little I say in that " business of Ireland, since those strange powers " and instructions given to your favourite, Gla- " morgan, which appear to me so inexcusable " in justice, piety, and prudence ; and I fear " there is much in that transaction of Ireland, " both before and since, that you and I were never " thought wise enough to be advised with in. Oh! " Mr. Secretary, those stratagems have given me " more sad hours than all the misfortunes in war " which have befallen the King, and look like the " effects of God's anger towards us!" * Fairfax, after his victories in the West, turned to attack the sole remnant of the King's military force, and prepared to besiege Oxford. Charles, by attempting to remain there, would inevitably have fallen into the hands of the Parliament. Mon- treuil, the French envoy, was negotiating for his refuge with the Scotch army ; and engaged, in April, in the name of the French court, that Charles, if he put himself in the hands of the * Clar. State Papers, ii. 337. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 293 Scotch, should be received as their natural sove- chap. reign * — "be with them in all freedom of his con- t ' , " science and his honour" — have protection for 1646. himself and attendants, and military assistance in procuring a happy and well-grounded peace. Montreuil, as it appears, made this engagement rashly, and without having been duly authorised by the Scotch ; and after his arrival at their camp, was obliged to warn the King of his failure in obtaining a full ratification of these flattering pro mises. Yet Charles's necessities obliged him to accept the doubtful asylum ; and about the end of April, attended only by Ashburnham and Dr. Hudson, he escaped by night from Oxford in dis guise, and travelling by circuitous routes, arrived, on the 5th of May, at the Scotch camp before Newark. The Scotch received him with respect ; imposed imprisonment under the flattering colour of a guard of honour ; sent information to the English Parliament ; and, lest the latter should en deavour to deprive them of their prize, retired with the King to Newcastle upon Tyne. Military resistance by the Royalists to the Parliament was now confined to a few garrisons, of which Ragland and Pendennis surrendered in August, the last of * Lord Clarendon has committed an important mis-statement in his history of this negotiation, representing, this engagement as made by Montreuil after communication with the Scotch at Newark, instead of having been made before. The engagement was signed at Oxford, on the 1st of April. Montreuil left Oxford, for the head-quarters of the Scotch army, on the 3d, and wrote his first letter to the King, from thence, on the 16th. See Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 383—391. Clar. State Papers, ii. 220—226. Dugdale, 84. Edinburgh Review, Iii. 33. et seq.t where will be found a good discussion of this subject. u 3 294 THE LIFE OF any importance in England, though the little castle of Harlech, in Wales, had the honour of continuing 1646, its brave but unavailing resistance till the end of March, 1647- * Hard terms were proposed to the King by the Parliament and the Scotch, but they were less exorbitant than his fallen fortunes might have taught him to fear. The only material point in which the terms of the Parliament differed from those which they had offered at Uxbridge was, in demanding that the power of the militia should reside in the two Houses for twenty years, t Charles rejected these propositions, principally because they required the abolition of episcopacy, for the preservation of which he was even inclined to give up the militia. X On this subject he was exposed to much harsh expostulation on the part of the Queen §, and some disrespectful dictation in the joint names of Colepepper and Jermyn.l] They were alarmed by the King having intended to negotiate, through a secret agent, William Murray, with the Parlia mentary leaders for a regulated episcopacy, after five years, on his abandonment of the militia during the remainder of his reign.^f But this proposal, though committed to Murray, was soon withdrawn, * Whitelocke, 242. f Ibid. 215. X He said, in a letter to the Queen, " The retaining of it is not of " so much consequence (I am far from saying none) as is thought, with- " out the concurrence of other things." " If the pulpits teach not " obedience (which will never be if presbyterian government be abso- " lutely settled), the crown will have little comfort of the militia." — Clar. State Papers, ii. 296. § Clar. State Papers, 271. 294. 297. 300. 303. || Ibid. ii. 301. 312. H Ibid. ii. 275. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 295 and was never communicated.* In this state of chap. trouble, the unhappy monarch seems at one time _ ' . to have meditated escape, and abdication in favour 1646, of his son : but the Queen, more solicitous for his kingly power than for his personal security, vehemently discouraged the intention to abdicate ; and as for escape, though he might be allowed in his utmost need to fly to Jersey, to Ireland, or to the Scotch Highlands, she forbade his coming to her in France.! After the departure of the Prince, in July, 1646, Hy.de re- Sir Edward Hyde, hopeless of serving him, re- jersey. mained in Jersey, with his friends, Lords Capel and Hopton. Here his active mind, released from other engrossing duties, applied itself earnestly to the composition of that history which has made his name immortal, and which he appears to have commenced on the 18th of March, 1646, even amidst the distractions and difficulties of his short and anxious sojourn with the Prince at Scilly. He has thus described his course of life in his re tirement at Jersey : " Whilst the Lords Capel and " Hopton stayed there, they lived and kept house " together in St. Hilary's, which is the chief town " of the island, where, having a chaplain of their " own, they had prayers every day in the church, " eleven of the clock in the morning ; till which " hour they enjoyed themselves in their chambers, " according as they thought fit, the Chancellor " betaking himself to the continuance of the his- * Clar. State Papers, ii. 313. f Thurloe, i. 85. Clar. State Papers, ii. 304. 313. U 4 296 THE LIFE OF chap. " tory which he had begun at Scilly, and spending XL , " most of his time at that exercise. The other 1646. " two walked, or rode abroad, or read, as they " were disposed ; but at the hour of prayers they " always met, and then dined together at the " Lord Hopton's lodgings, which was the best " house, they being lodged at several houses with " convenience enough. Their table was main- " tained at their joint expence, only for dinners, " they never using to sup, but met always upon " the sands in the evening to walk, after going to " the Castle to Sir George Carteret, who treated " them with extraordinary kindness and civility, " and spent much time with them." * Hydeap- Hyde devoted himself with his accustomed plies him- •> . . . , self to the energy to the composition of his history. He tmnofhis endeavoured, by application in various quarters, to history. supply the deficiency of materials under which he laboured. He wrote, in August, to Lord Wither- ington, the friend of the Marquis of Newcastle, entreating from both of them a recital of those transactions in which they had borne a part.t From Lord Bristol, on January 1st, 1647> he asked information respecting the treaty of Berwick, the proceedings of the Great Council at York, his commitment by the Parliament, and other particulars ; saying, that with the exception of the contribution of a few journals, he had not, at that time, received assistance from any one.t To Dr. Steward, he applied for information * Life of Clar. i. 239. f Clar. State Papers, i. 246. \ Ibid. ii. 321. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 297 respecting Laud.* To Lord Digby he wrote, on chap. the 16th January, 1647, "I PraJ> let your secre- . ' . " taries coUect all material passages concerning 1646. " Ireland you may think fit to impart to me. I " would be glad you would yourself collect as " many particulars of Count Harcourt's negotiation " in England, of Duke Hamilton's commitment, " and of the Marquis of Montrose's managing in " Scotland, and any other things you imagine con- " ducing to my work." t " I pray," he said to Secretary Nicholas, in November, 1646, " bethink yourself of the busi- " ness of Ireland, and whatever you have of it, " or can recollect upon your memory, send to " me." X " I desire," he said, in a letter of the 1st of January, 1647, to Secretary Nicholas, "you will " by all your diligence, intercourse, and dexterity, " procure such materials for me, for my history, " as you know necessary ; which I take to be so " much your work, that if you fail in it, I will put " marginal notes into the history that shall reproach " you for want of contribution. By you, that is, " by your care, I must be supplied with all the " acts of countenance and confederacy which have "passed from France, Holland, and Spain, in " favour of the rogues in England ; from you I " must have all the passages in the war which have " only been remembered by Sir Edward Walker, " from whom you must recover them, besides » Clar. State Papers, ii. 328. t Ibid. ii. 331. X Ibid. ii. 289. 298 the life of " your own memorials of Ireland, &c." * That Nicholas complied with this request, appears from 1646. a letter to one of his clerks. " Sir E. H. desires " he may have speedily Sir E. Walker's journal of " the Western business ; and I pray move the " King, from me, to send a command in writing to " Mr. Dugdale, to send to Sir E. H., or to me for " him, all the notes and collections he hath of the " business of those times. And you may let the " King understand, that (as you know) I did " from time to time contribute to Mr. Dugdale's " collections all necessary particulars for that pur- " pose. When Mr. Dugdale shall send the same " (which I pray hasten), if you deliver them to " Mr. William Hyde t, he will safely and speedily " convey the same, and any thing else, to Jersey. " Sir E. H. also desires that the King would give " particular command to the loyal lawyers, who " have access to him, to make some material notes " upon those particulars his Majesty would have " mentioned in the preface of his history, for his " better assistance in a work of that consequence. " Likewise, if there be any of my old fellow clerks " of the Council thereabouts that may be trusted, " I pray get the King's command to them to make " some extracts out of the Council books, of the " most signal acts of power of the Council board, " in the best of times, as in the times of Henry " VII., Henry VIII., Queen Elizabeth, and be- " ginning of King James. If I were there, I could " Clar. State Papers, ii. 318. t See Vol. III. p. 52. note. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 299 " easily and privately procure all these things. " And because it is incumbent upon me, as well " by my place (if I might be allowed to execute 1646. " it), as it is in my kindness and friendship, to fur- " nish Sir E. H. with these particulars, I pray do " me the favour to be very solicitous, from time to " time, to procure the same for him." * Partly through untoward circumstances, partly through the indolence, lukewarmness, or timidity of friends, Hyde's hopes of effectual assistance were doomed to disappointment. " I fear," he said, in a letter to the King, of December 12th, 1647, " your Majesty's sudden remove from " Hampton Court hath, for the present, taken " away the opportunity of deriving those materials " which your Majesty graciously intimated by " Mr Secretary Nicholas you intended to me, " which renewed my courage when I was even " ready to faint for want of some supply ; and I " doubt whether your Majesty will pardon the " presumption I have used in spoiling so much " paper upon the stock of an ill memory, refreshed " only with some few pamphlets and diurnals." t " Without any other help than a few diurnals," he writes to Secretary Nicholas, in November, 1646, " I have wrote of larger paper than this, and in " the same fine small hand, above threescore sheets " of paper." X And these must have been merely such diurnals as had happened to be in his pos session ; for he tells Lord Cottington, in a letter * Clar. State Papers, ii. 382. t Ibid. ii. 385. X Ibid. ii. 288. 300' THE LIFE OF of the same date, that he has not yet been able to procure the contribution of one diurnal towards 1646. his "great volume."* "Your two secretaries," he writes to Lord Digby, "by your dictating, " might supply me with many things necessary " for this work you know I have in hand, which " I often wish I had never begun, having found " less assistance from memory than I thought I " should have done, as if all men had a desire the " ill should be remembered, and the good for- " gotten."! In March, 1647, he even appears to have meditated the abandonment of his under taking, in consequence of the discouraging difficul ties which interposed. " I would not," he said, in a letter to Dr. Earles, "have you importune " my Lord Newcastle further in the old business, " or put yourself to more trouble in it ; for since I " find most men so unconcerned to contribute " towards it, and some, who are very able to satisfy "me in what I have desired, so positive against " the doing it, contrary to my expectations, I " have resolved to lay the task aside till a fitter " season." X Amongst the scanty assistance which he did receive was a narrative sent to him by the King, of all important matters between the time when Hyde quitted him to attend the Prince in the West, and the escape of the King to the Scotch camp. § He also received from Prince Charles * Clar. State Papers, ii. 292. t Ibid. ii. 383. X Ibid. ii. 350. § Clar. Hist. Reb. v. 476. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 301 " some useful memorials of Prince Rupert's marches." * His industry was great. Between his books "lell and his papers, he rarely spent less than ten hours a day. It is uncertain how much of that time was devoted to his history. Three hours a day, he tells Nicholas, were assigned to the task of writing ; but much more might have been given to the requisite examination of authorities. In addition to this employment, he applied himself to the improvement of his knowledge of French literature, and still more to classical studies. "I have," he said to Dr. Sheldon, in August, 1647, " read over Livy and Tacitus, and almost all " Tully's works ; and have written, since I came " into this blessed isle, near 300 large sheets of " paper in this delicate hand t : " and " he writ " daily little less than one sheet of large paper with " his own hand " during the two years that he remained in Jersey. On the 1st of July, 1646, when he had been scarcely seven months in Jersey, he had written, as he informs Lord Bristol (with the exception of documents to be inserted), nearly a third of the work, — five out of sixteen books, — a history of events down to the erection of the standard at Nottingham. This, however, was subsequently remodelled. The division there de scribed does not correspond with the existing division ; and a discourse on constitutional points * Clar. State Papers, ii. 400. t Clar. State Papers, ii. 375. 302 THE LIFE OF chap, involved in the dispute between the King and i — ,-1— < the Parliament, which was to have been contained 1646- in the fifth book, is altogether omitted.* Of the spirit in which his history was originally composed, he thus writes, in November, 1646, to Secretary Nicholas : — "I wrote with all fidelity " and freedom of all I know of persons and things, " and the oversights and omissions on both sides, " in order to what they desired ; so that you will " believe it will make mad work among friends "and foes if it were published; but out of it " enough may be chosen to make a perfect story, " and the original kept for their perusal, who may " be the wiser for knowing the most secret truths : " and you know it will be an easier matter to blot " out two sheets than to write half a one. If I " live to finish it (as on my conscience I shall, for " I write apace), I intend to seal it up, and have it " always with me. If I die, I appoint it to be de- " livered to you (with a couple of good fellows " more); I shall leave it, that, either of you dying, " you may so preserve it that, in due time, some- " what by your care may be published, and the * We are informed by the editors of the Clarendon State Papers, that there exists among the MSS. out of which that collection is formed, " a distinct and regular treatise, consisting of twelve large " papers, in folio, closely written, on kingly government, and the essen- " tial prerogatives of it, as established in this country; with an enumer- " ation of the several kinds of treasons, by the law of the land, and a " particular application of these points to the conduct of the King's " enemies, in which are specified the chief instances wherein they had " violated the constitution. It is in the hand-writing of Mr. Edgman; " so, probably, was drawn up by Lord Clarendon." Clar. State Papers, ii. 354. It agrees with his description of his own discourse, and is probably the same. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 303 " original be delivered to the King, who will not chap. " find himself flattered in it, or irreverently handled, , XL . " though the truth will better become a dead than 1646. " a living man." * Hyde was much indebted to this interesting occupation for the cheerfulness of spirit which he now enjoyed. There was, indeed, little to cheer and encourage either in prospect, retrospect, or actual situation. The past was one vast field of bitter disappointment. The future was a scene into which the most sanguine spirit could scarcely look without dark forebodings. The present, both to the King's adherents and to Hyde individually, was utterly overclouded. Those military means on which, at the expence of English blood and English money, the King had for four years been depending, had entirely failed, and the King was a captive in the hands of his subjects. Hyde had resigned an honourable office, in which his counsels had been contemptuously rejected, and which he could no longer execute with satisfaction and honour. He had the sure hostility of the Queen and her adherents, and was doubtful of the Prince's affection, and of the favour and protection of the King. His two best friends soon left him, — Lord Capel for the United Provinces, in preparation for a meditated return to England ; Lord Hopton for Rouen, with a similar object, and to confer with his uncle on their future plans. He was deprived of that domestic solace which he might have * Clar. State Papers, ii. 289. 304 THE LIFE OF chap, derived from the society of his wife and children. . XL . Their safety rendered separation necessary, while 1646. Hyde was attending the Prince in the West; and now, when he was settled in Jersey, poverty kept them still asunder. Lady Hyde was in England, in the country. " I receive no intelligence from " England," said Hyde, in a letter to Nicholas in December, 1646, "but only out of the country " from my wife ; who, I thank God, bears her " part with miraculous constancy and courage, " which truly is an unspeakable comfort to me. " We may, I hope, be able to five some time " asunder, but I am sure we should quickly starve " if we were together ; yet, when starving comes to " be necessary, to be more feared than hanging, " we will starve, by the grace of God, together." * " My man is at last returned," he said, in a pre vious letter to Lady Dalkeith, " with great good " news to me, which is with incredible stories of " my wife's courage and magnanimity; and that, " though she be like to want every thing, she will " be cast down with nothing." t He had still other causes for anxiety and distress. In October, 1646, he received intimation, from various sources, of a design of Lord Jermyn, the favourite of the Queen, to deliver up Jersey and Guernsey to the French, in consideration of a large sum of money which Jermyn would receive. Hyde, Capel, Hopton, and Carteret felt sufficiently assured of the reality of this design to enter into * Clar. State Papers, ii. 310. t Ibid. ii. 292. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 305 articles „of association, to defend the islands against the treasonable baseness of the Queen's adherents. Jn these articles, they unanimously agreed, 1st. 1646, That Lord Capel, in the course of his intended journey to Holland,-should pass through Paris, visit the Prince and Queen, inform himself of the grounds of the intelligence, acquaint the Prince with the existence of such rumour, point out the enormity of such a design, and, if he find it ripe for exe cution, return immediately to Jersey : 2d. That if it appear that the design is ripe, Sir George Carteret should send a letter to the Earl of North umberland, proposing, without compromise to the royal cause, to engage the assistance of the Parlia ment for the protection of the islands,, rather than that they should be lost to the Crown of England : 3d. That Lord Capel shall, if he see fit, endeavour to engage the assistance of the Dutch, to preserve these islands from falling into the hands of France.* To what extent this design existed, or for what reason it was abandoned, we are not informed ; but it was never carried into execution. In April, 1647, an attempt upon Jersey was expected from the Parliament ; and Hyde, under the impression of imminent danger, wrote letters, to be delivered after his death, to the King, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Richmond, Lord Southampton, and to Lady Hyde. His will, a paper of vindication, and directions concerning his papers, were also drawn up about * Clar. State Papers, ii. 279. VOL. I. X 306 THE LIFE OF c3f p" the same time, in anticipation of the fate which >___» i then seemed probable. All these, which are pre- 1647. served and published in the Clarendon State Papers, are of much interest.* His letter to his wife, to be delivered after his death, breathes only the tenderest and most considerate affection. In his will he bequeathed every thing to her ; com mitting his children wholly to her care ; and en treating, for her and his children, the assistance and advice of Lords Capel and Hopton, Secretary Nicholas, his cousin Sergeant Hyde, and Mr. Jef- fery Palmer ; desires that his children may " con- " tinue an entire friendship with the children of " Secretary Nicholas;" "and, likewise," he added, " that my sons may seasonably be instructed to " all respect and kindness towards the children of " my dear lord, the Lord Falkland, with whom I " had a most perfect and blameless friendship:" — a remarkable and sincere indication of that respect and devotion for the memory of his dis tinguished friend which is expressed so eloquently in his other writings. It was under this hard combination of adverse cir cumstances, that Hyde laboured during his resi dence in Jersey : yet his spirit was undismayed, his industry unrepressed, and his mind tranquil and even cheerful. He derived his chief solace from lite rary occupations, and the friendship of Sir George Carteret. He was invited by Carteret, after Lord Hopton's departure, to remove from the town, and * Clar. State Papers, ii. 351—364. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 807 to live with him in the Castle Elizabeth, — an offer which Hyde accepted, and went thither the next " day. He built," as he informs us, " a lodging in 1648. " the castle, of two or three convenient rooms, to " the walls of the church, which Sir George Carteret " had repaired and beautified; and over the door " of his lodging he set up his arms, with this in- " scription — ' Bene vixit qui bene laterit.' " While preparing his celebrated history of the past, he kept a watchful eye upon passing events ; and wrote, in behalf of the King, an answer to the Parliament's declaration of February 15th, 1648, published after their vote, " that no more addresses should be made to the King," in consequence of his refusal, when in the Isle of Wight, to give assent to the four articles sent to him from the Parliament. The time was long past when the mighty contest could be decided by words, and when all that the eloquence of man could urge might be. expected to alter the stubborn will of the parliamentary leaders. But it was possible that, in defence of the King, a pathetic appeal might, as the writer says, " work upon the affec- " tions of the people," in whom the sufferings and helpless condition of the Sovereign, and impatience under the yoke of their new masters, had produced a return of feeling favourable to the royal cause. x 308 THE LIFE OF CHAP. XII. the king is delivered up to the parliament is seized by joyce! — the parliament submits to the army the king flies to the isle of wight. — temporary revival of the king's prospects of suc cess. a part of the fleet declares in his favour. hyde -is summoned to attend the prince. his dis astrous progress from jersey to holland. nego tiations at newport. — hyde fears that the king may be deposed. subjection of the parliament to the army. trial and execution of the king. 1647—1649. chap. 1N January, 1647. Charles was delivered by the xn- Scotch into the hands of the English Parliament ; 1647> and, about the same time, the English Parliament paid a sum of money to the Scotch, — a coincidence which has exposed that nation to the reproach of having sold their Sovereign. All, however, that can be fairly imputed is, that the Scotch were willing to use the King as security for the payment of a just debt. Four hundred thousand pounds were due for arrears ; and the payment had been voted by the Commons in the preceding months of August and September. The King was carried by the English commissioners to Holdenby, in Northamptonshire, and there kept in strict seclu- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 309 sion. Thus, for the first time, did the Parliament chap. XII become possessed of the person of the King, — of . almost all that, hitherto, had seemed wanting to 1647 confirm their power. But, at this period of their triumph, their power was tottering before that greater power which they had called into being. They had subdued the King by the instrumen tality of the army, and the army was now ready to subdue its employers. The Parliament, no longer needing a large military force in England, wished to send a portion to Ireland, and to disband the remainder. But these propositions were distasteful to the soldiery : latterly, too, they had been ill paid; and large arrears were due, while the civil ser vants of the Parliament were accumulating wealth. Disaffection increased, and, in March, 1647, broke out in mutiny. A petition was addressed to the Commander-in-chief, demanding satisfaction with regard to arrears of pay, and other points. The Parliament voted the petition mutinous, and its promoters enemies to the state. The flame only burnt more fiercely in consequence of this vote ; and a reply was sent, signed by numerous officers of the army, asserting the right of petition, and complaining of the injurious language of the par liamentary declaration. The powerless and ter rified Parliament sent Cromwell, Ireton, Fleetwood, and Skippon, to the army, on a commission of negotiation and inquiry. They entrusted their cause to that master spirit, the idol of the soldiers, by whom it is believed the discontents of the army x 3 310 THE LIFE OF chap, bad been secretly fomented * ; and from that hour , their doom was sealed — their power had departed. 1647. With the consent of the commissioners, a military convention was formed, a mutinous organisation was sanctioned ; and the result was, a declaration that in the army were found no distempers, but many grievances, and that the offers of the Parlia ment were unsatisfactory. Cromwell returned to the Parliament to report the ill success of his mis sion ; and meanwhile a blow was struck, and pro bably by his secret direction, which rendered the ascendency of the army no longer questionable, t The army had, in April, attempted a secret negotiation with the King ; offering, if he would place himself in their hands, to restore him to " his " honour, crown, and dignity," — an offer which the King had declined. Fair means had failed ; others must, therefore, be employed to get the King within their power ; and, on the 3d of June, when the Parhament were preparing submission to the army, by voting that the declaration against them should be erased from the Journals, a deed was done which placed the prostrate Parliament still more at the mercy of the troops. Cornet Joyce, armed with no written authority, but with a body of 500 horse, whom he exhibited as his warrant, repaired to Holdenby, and carried off the King to the head quarters at Triplow Heath. X * Ludlow's Memoirs, i. 189. Thurloe's State Papers, ii. 94. f Clarendon State Papers, ii. .365. X Ludlow says, that Joyce had an order in writing from the agitators (Ludlow,i. 191.); but Joyce, if he had it, does not seem to have acknow ledged it. Hollis states that Joyce's enterprise was arranged at a secret EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 311 The blow being struck, Cromwell, on the eve of a meditated commitment to the Tower, eluded the vengeance of the Parliament, repaired to the army, was invested with supreme command, threw off the mask, marched menacingly towards London, secure in the affections of the soldiery, and in the weakness and unpopularity of the Parliament. Halting at St. Albans, he, in the name of the army, opened negotiations with the Parliament ; in the course of which, claim rose above claim in exorbitancy, till a new model of government was demanded, and eleven members were charged with high treason. The Parliament were abjectly submissive ; but their humiliation was not yet deemed sufficient. Their weakness encouraged the populace to insult them. A tumultuous assemblage obliged them to reverse a vote which they had passed in obedience to the army. Prompt use was made of this cir cumstance. The Parliament was considered not a free agent : the army must march to London ; must vindicate its rights ; must restore it to the power it enjoyed before, — the power of registering their imperious mandates. They were scarcely more willing to grant such protection, than some in the Parliament were to seek it. The Speakers meeting at Cromwell's house, on the 30th of May. (See Memoirs of Denzil, Lord Hollis, in Masere's Tracts, i. 246.) Major Huntingdon also attributes this bold measure to Cromwell. (See Thurloe's State Papers, i. 94.) The testimony of these writers is open to suspicion, from their known hostility to Cromwell. But what they aver is very probable, from its conformity with other of his acts, and the general tenor of his policy. x 4 CHAP. XII. 1647. 312 THE LIFE OF CxiiP" °^ tne two Houses, and about seventy peers and ' commons, met the army at Hounslow Heath, were 1647. received with acclamations, and in ostensible tri umph, but real captivity, were reconducted to the capital. There, resistance was meditated by the city troops and the remnant of the Parliament; but it was evidently useless. Dismay prevailed, and the Parliament submitted. The deserting Speakers were reinstalled ; all acts of the Parlia ment during their absence annulled ; the eleven impeached members expelled ; seven peers im peached ; the Lord Mayor, a sheriff, and three aldermen, and numerous citizens and officers of militia, sent to prison ; the city lines levelled ; the army quartered in Westminster ; and the Parlia ment compelled to appoint a day of thanksgiving for the restoration of its own independence ! Meanwhile, the captive King had been politicly treated with such indulgence, as might cause him to rejoice in the change of custody, and prefer the , sway of the army to that of the Parliament. He was allowed to reside at Hampton Court ; to cor respond with the Queen ; to see his children ; and to be attended by his chaplains. He was treated with outward deference, especially by Cromwell. The restoration of his prerogative was talked of in private, and the settlement of his revenue and authority was insisted on by the army in public declarations. Charles, ever blind and rash, and, though subtle in argument, little capable of foresight, was extra vagantly elated by these unexpected tokens of EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 313 respect. He deemed them proofs of his real power ; chap. boasted to Fairfax of his interest with the army ; . began to act as if already in a condition to confer 1647. favours, — offering to Ireton the Lieutenancy of Ire land, and to the all-powerful Cromwell the garter, an earldom, and the command of that army which was Cromwell's already. In this confident mood he peremptorily rejected the proposals of the army, — proposals more favourable to the royal authority than the propositions tendered at Newcastle. It is pro bable that, on his being found thus intractable, the intention of employing him as an instrument was abandoned, and the plan of deposition began to be conceived. A courtier-like demeanour towards the King could not long be pursued by Cromwell and Ireton, without exciting jealousy in their followers, of whom many hated Charles with the mingled vehemence of fanaticism and revenge. Besides, the Parliament was now at the feet of the army. The Presbyterian party bad succumbed to the Inde pendents, and the King had ceased to be an useful hostage. The attentions of Cromwell began to be relaxed. Dangers, even of assassination (whether real, or fictions artfully suggested, is still doubtful), came to the ears of Charles ; and, alarmed for his safety, he took the step which must have been desired by Cromwell — he secretly fled from Hampton Court to the Isle of Wight, where he became again, and more evidently, a prisoner. He had offended the army by appearing to distrust them ; he relieved his enemies from an onerous charge, and he was 314 the life of chap, still equally at their disposal. His absence, also, t|i ' , had become desirable in order that Cromwell might 1647. more effectually repress the disorders of the army. The independent spirit of citizenship, which had been effectively wielded against the power of the Parliament, was becoming subversive of military discipline. Any other than Cromwell might have been crushed by the stone which he had set roll ing ; but the prompt and sagacious energy of this extraordinary man was ever equal to all his diffi culties. At a review he seized the mutineers, ordered them to be tried on the field by a council of war, and one (a captain), who was found guilty, was shot in the presence of his own regiment. The example struck terror, and obedience was restored. Charles, while at Carisbrooke Castle, in the Isle of Wight, received proposals from the Parliament ; and they were such as a captive might expect. He had offered to give up the militia for life, on con dition that, after his demise, it should revert to the Crown ; but this was not deemed sufficient. Four bills were sent for his assent, as preliminaries to a treaty : of which bills the purport was, that the Par liament should- be invested with military power for twenty years ; that the King should recall all de clarations against the Parliament ; annul all acts which had passed the Great Seal since its removal from London ; and give to the two Houses a power of adjournment — a power which might be so em ployed as to keep them perpetually subject to the army. The King rejected the four bills, and re- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 315 quired a personal treaty with the Parliment ; and chap. the Parliament, after the receipt of this answer, ¦ passed, by 141 to 92, in the Commons, that vote J™, is. which was in reality a vote of deposition, — that no more messages should be received from the King, and no more addresses made to him. Yet, at this very time, the King's cause was reviving. The Scotch were again disposed to aid him. They seem to have repented of having deli vered him up to the Parliament ; and they foresaw disadvantage to themselves from the ascendency of the Independents, and the domination of the army. They declared against the four bills ; and, while the King was at Carisbrooke, concluded with him a secret treaty, binding themselves to enter England with an army to restore him to freedom and power. Hamilton, who had been confined at Pendennis, and was liberated when that place was surrendered to the Parliament, obtained a vote of 40,000 men, and corresponded with the Royalists, Langdale and Musgrave, in the north of England. Meanwhile, in various other parts of England, Royalists and Presbyterians combined to rise ; and, while these leaders were in arms in the north, other risings took place, during the spring and summer of 1648, headed by Lord Capel, Sir Charles Lucas, and Sir George Lisle, in Essex; by Lord Norwich, in Kent; by Lord Holland, in Surrey; and by Langhorne, Payne, and Powell in Wales. But a still more im portant circumstance occurred : a spirit of returning loyalty seized the fleet. In June, 1648, seventeen ships of war, lying in the Thames, declared for the 316 THE LIFE OF chap. King, displaced their admiral, put him on shore, XIL and sailed to Holland, to be commanded by the 1648. Prince of Wales. Hyde quits This'event had an influence upon the proceedings jersey. L L o of Sir Edward Hyde. Early in that year, Lord Capel had communicated to him the King's commands that he should attend the Prince whenever required ; and the King had also directed the Queen to give Hyde due notice to that effect, whenever itmight be neces sary for the Prince to remove from out of France. In April, Hyde received from Lord Capel a second notice, desiring him to be in readiness ; and in May he had a letter from the Queen, directing him to wait upon the Prince at Paris on a specified day, which was already past before the letter came to his hands. * Immediately on receiving the sum mons, Hyde, soon after the middle of June, quitted Jersey, and repaired by Caen to Rouen, where he found Lords Bristol and Cottington, and Secretary Nicholas, who had received the same commands. They were informed that the Prince had pro ceeded to Calais, and were desired to remain at Rouen till they received new orders. Within a few days, they heard that the Prince had embarked from Calais for Holland ; upon which they pro ceeded from Rouen to Dieppe, from whence they might more easily sail for Holland when required. Reports soon reached them that the Prince was there, his fleet not being yet ready to put to sea again. Accordingly, Hyde and Cottington, not * Clar. State Papers, ii. 408. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 317 long after their arrival at Dieppe, quitted it again chap. in a French frigate, and were set on shore at Dun- ¦ kirk. There they learnt, from a servant of the 1648. Prince's, that the Prince was with the fleet, and had entered the Thames ; and that Marshal Ranzau, the governor of Dunkirk, had offered to lend a frigate, which would convey them all to join him. Mar shal Ranzau confirmed these statements, and re ceived them courteously ; and, the next day, Hyde and Cottington embarked in what had been called a frigate, but which was only a small vessel of twenty guns, much inferior to the Marshal's de scription. Ill fortune awaited them : a calm during Hyde's the night prevented their making much way ; and, the next morning, they were chased by several frigates of Ostend, which, " though they had the " King of Spain's commission, were freebooters " belonging to private owners, who observed no " rules or laws of nations, but they boarded the " vessel with their swords drawn and pistols cocked, " and, without any distinction, plundered all the " passengers with equal rudeness, save that they " stripped some of the servants to their very shirts. " They used not the rest with that barbarity, being " satisfied with taking all they had in their pockets, " and carefully examined all their valises and " trunks, in which they found good booty. The " Lord Cottington lost, in money and jewels, above " one thousand pouads ; the Chancellor, in money " about two hundred pounds, and all his clothes "and linen; and Sir George Ratcliff and Mr. " Warnsford, who were in the company, above five 318 THE LIFE OF chap. " hundred pounds in money and jewels: and, hav- , ' , " ing pillaged them in this manner, they carried 1648. " them all, with the frigate they had been in, pri- " soners to Ostend." * Hyde and his companion remonstrated to the governor and magistrates of Ostend, and de manded restitution of ship and goods. Their com plaints were civilly received, their persons liber ated, and satisfaction promised ; and there was much plausible appearance of a desire to remu nerate them for their loss. Some of the ships were entered, and search made for the plundered property ; and a small portion of it was found and restored. But the search was feebly prose cuted : some of the delinquent vessels kept out of reach ; in others the men were refractory ; and all the energy of the authorities was exhaled in empty declarations of intended punishment to the captains and seamen, and in "the mean time they " would prosecute the owners of the vessels who " should satisfy for the damage received." But, from this time, the Governor and " Lords of the Admiralty " never came near Hyde and his com panions ; and a clue to their conduct was soon dis covered. They were proprietors of several of the delinquent vessels, and would divide the spoil which they pretended an eagerness to restore. Hopeless of satisfactory redress, Hyde and his friends were contented to receive " one hundred " pistoles for discharging the debts they had con- " tracted in the town, and to carry them to the * Life of Clarendon, i. 249, 250. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 319 " Prince," to whom they gave notice of what had C*?AP- happened, and that they would attend his commands ¦ , t at Flushing. Thither the Prince, who was not in the 1648- Downs, sent a vessel for them, and they attempted to join him ; but they were several times driven back by contrary winds ; and, after staying about a month in Flushing, Rammekins, and Middleburgh, in the vain hopes of being able to sail, they received orders from the Prince to attend him, on his return from his fruitless cruize, about the middle of September. * The Prince's naval expedition had failed, and he was compelled to retire before the fleet of the Parliament, commanded by the Earl of Warwick. All other hopes of warlike resistance, which had been so lately excited by the Scotch invasion and the various risings throughout England, were equally disappointed. The military affairs of the kingdom were now administered by Cromwell ; and his energy, and that which he infused into others, were fully equal to the emergency. Lang- horne was beaten in Wales ; the Kentish and Essex Royalists at Maidstone and at Colchester ; Lord Holland at Kingston ; and Langdale and Musgrave were kept in check by Lambert in the north of England. Hamilton had invaded England with a considerable army ; but, instead of forming a junction with Langdale, which would have ren dered their combined forces almost irresistible, he kept aloof, in obedience to the scruples of his troops, * Clar. State Papers, ii. 4)6. 320 THE LIFE OF chap, because the English Royalists had not taken 1 XIL , the covenant. Cromwell, profiting by this division, 1648. attacked each separately, though with a very infe rior force ; routed Langdale's army near Preston in Lancashire ; then fell upon the Scotch, and beat and pursued them as far as Uttoxeter, in Stafford shire, where Hamilton was taken prisoner. Meanwhile the absence of the army from London restored a temporary independence to the Parlia ment, and fresh power to the presbyterian party. Of this power they availed themselves, by recalling the eleven ejected members, abandoning the im peachment against the seven peers, repealing the vote that there should be no more addresses to the King, and sending commissioners to open a treaty with him, at Newport in the Isle of Wight. Though the conditions of the treaty of Newport were rigorous, it was set on foot by men desirous of an accommodation ; by men who saw in some agree ment with the King the only safeguard against the overweening influence of those anti-monarchical principles which were now unequivocally appa rent. Till within a late period, to curb, but not ex tinguish, monarchy had been the avowed object of all, save a very small portion, of the King's oppo nents. But republicanism had gained ground. There is evidence that, even in 1646, men dared to talk of ^bringing the King to justice* ; and so noto rious were these designs in 1647, that in August of that year, the Scotch Parliament, in their remon- * Baillie's Letters, ii. 20. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 321 strance, spoke in unmeasured terms of the King's chap, • ""ST TT person being " in apparent danger and environed v " with sectaries, whose pernicious and destructive 1648. " principles are known unto us to be directly against " monarchy, as may appear by their late desperate " speeches concerning his Majesty (as one Lilburne " and many others), as, that the House of Commons " should think of that great murderer of England." * It appears, too, on the testimony of Sir John Berk ley's Memoirs, and a letter from Allen to Fleet wood, that, in the commencement of the year 1648, Cromwell and his military adherents had come to a resolution to destroy the King, and to establish a commonwealth, t The vote against addresses was strongly indicative of the republicanism of the Par liament; and in the autumn of 1648, there were numerous petitions that the King be brought to justice, as the capital cause of all. X It is possible, nevertheless, that many of those who desired the deposition and execution of Charles were still desirous for the continuance of monarchy. The military remonstrants of November, 1648 (less than three months before Charles's execution), who called for justice against the King, required that " no King be hereafter admitted but by election of, "and in trust for, the people;" but they gave no intimation of a wish to substitute any other form of government.§ Hyde, at an earlier date, expressed his fears, in a letter to Nicholas, not that * Rushworth, vii. 769. f Masere's Tracts, ii. 384. Somers' Tracts, vi. 499. X Whitelocke, 355. § Ibid. VOL. I. Y 322 THE LIFE OF chap, the Independents would abolish monarchy, but t ' , that they would depose the King, and elect another 1648. sovereign in his place ; and Charles Louis, the Elector Palatine, nephew to the King, and elder brother of Rupert and Maurice, was the person whom he feared they might support.* Yet it is plain, from this very letter, that the destruction of monarchy was a plan much canvassed, even then ; and many might reasonably believe the crown in peril. So, probably, thought those who promoted the treaty of Newport; for their terms, though severe, did not, as before, increase in rigour in pro portion to the helplessness of the opposing party; and they desired that all should be concluded be fore the army returned to overawe them, after its short and brilliant course of conquest. Treaty of The King made great concessions. He agreed that the Parliament should have power over the mi litia for twenty years, and the uncontrolled levy of money for its support ; the right of appointment to all the great offices ; and the entire government of Ireland. He agreed to withdraw all proclamations against the Parliament ; to give up the power of creating peers without their consent ; and to ac knowledge the validity of their Great Seal. He consented to a limited banishment of seven excepted persons f, against whom the Parliament demanded unconditional banishment and a bill of attainder. * Clarendon State Papers, ii. 307. T These were Lords Newcastle, Digby, and Byron ; Judge Jenkins, Sir Marmaduke Langdale, Sir Francis Doddington, and Sir Richard Grenville. Newport. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 323 He consented to nearly all but the abolition of chap. • 1? TT episcopacy, and the establishment of presbytery in ,_ _o, its place ; but this he positively refused. 1648. His refusals were more creditable than his con cessions, for they were certainly sincere. That his concessions were not sincere, and that he still clung to that pernicious course of double-dealing which had so often proved his bane, is sufficiently apparent from his letter to Lord Ormond of the 10th of Oc tober, 1 648. "I must command you two things," he said : " first, to obey all my wife's commands ; then, " not to obey any public command of mine, until " I send you word that I am free from restraint. " Lastly, be not startled at my great concessions " concerning Ireland, for that they will come to " nothing." Again on the 28th he wrote : " Though " you will hear that this treaty is near, or at least " most likely to be concluded, yet believe it not ; " but pursue the way you are in with all possible " vigour. Deliver also that my command to all " your friends, but not in a public way, because " otherwise it may be inconvenient to me, and par- " ticularly to Inchiquin." * It is in the face of such evidence, that we are told by Hume, in reference to Charles's conduct immediately after the treaty of Newport, that " the King would indulge no re- " finements of casuistry, however plausible ; and " was resolved that what depredations soever For- " tune should commit upon him, she never should " bereave him of his honour." t * Carte's Life of Ormond, vol. ii. Appendix, 17. f Hume, vii. 130. Y 2 324 THE LIFE OF chap. But the time was now past when it was any , longer of consequence whether Charles's faith with 1648. the Parliament were kept or broken. The Parlia ment could no longer save him : it was once more at the mercy of the army, returned triumphant from its course of victory. Cromwell and his military council sent a remonstrance to the Parliament, com plaining of the treaty, requiring a dissolution of Parliament, and that the King should be brought to justice ; and they sent Colonel Eure to seize the King, and convey him to Hurst Castle. Desperation gave courage to the Parliament when it was too late for courage to avail. On the 1st of December they issued a mandate, as boot less as that of Canute to the advancing tide, — that the army, then at Windsor, should approach no nearer to the capital. The army was in Westmin ster on the following day ; and on the fourth day afterwards (on the 6th of December) the house was surrounded by two regiments, and all the members of the Presbyterian party seized, and excluded by force, under the direction of Lord Grey of Groby and Colonel Pride. From that moment the unob structed course of lawless violence was swift. On the 23d the question of bringing to justice the great delinquent, as they called the King, was de bated in that small remnant which styled itself a House of Commons. On Christmas-day a com mittee was named, to consider how to proceed against he King. On the 28th the charge was presented, embodied in an ordinance for attainting the King of high treason, and the ordinance was read EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 325 a first time. On the 3d of January, the Lords chap. having rejected the ordinance, the Commons voted t XIL their concurrence unnecessary ; and, on the 4th, 1649. voted that they (the Commons) had the supreme authority of the nation, and that whatever they enacted had the force of law. On the 8th began the mockery of trial ; sentence of death was passed on the 27th ; and on the 30th the tragedy was concluded. y 3 326 THE LIFE OF CHAP. XIII. DISSENSIONS IN THE COURT OF CHARLES II. AT THE HAGUE. — HYDE ASSISTS RUPERT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF THE FLEET. THE KING IS INVITED BY THE SCOTCH. HYDe's INTERVIEW WITH MONTROSE. MURDER OF DORISLAUS. HYDE AND COTTINGTON ARE APPOINTED AMBASSADORS TO SPAIN. HYDE MEDIATES BETWEEN THE KING AND HIS MOTHER. FAILURE OF THE ROYALISTS IN IRELAND. CHARLES II. RETURNS TO JERSEY. HYDE AND COTTING TON PROCEED TO SPAIN. STATE OF SPAIN. THE AMBAS SADORS ARE COLDLY RECEIVED. OBTAIN AN AUDIENCE. THEIR PRIVATE INTERVIEW WITH THE KING OF SPAIN. — THEIR REQUESTS. HYDE'S LITERARY OCCUPATIONS. — TIME SERVING CONDUCT OF THE 'SPANISH COURT. — MURDER OF ASCHAM, AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 1648—1650. c^rp- Hyde rejoined Prince Charles at the Hague in > — v i September, 1648.* It might have been hoped I648- that, in the little court of the expatriated prince, fellowship in misfortune, and a common cause, would have bound together all in amity: but Hyde found only scenes of discord. The ill-governed tempers of Prince Rupert and Lord Colepepper were inflamed against each other ; the Attorney- General, Herbert, fomented the quarrel, and, on the arrival of Hyde and Cottington, endeavoured to engage them as partisans on Rupert's side. The mismanagement of the late naval expedition was a fruitful source of recrimination ; and Colepepper * Clar. State Papers, ii. 416. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 327 was accused, but unjustly, of corruption. The chap. Council, which, after the death of Charles I., was , recomposed of the members of the late King's 1648. Council, with the addition of Long as secretary, was treated with little respect ; and there was only one man in it, according to Hyde, " of whom no- " body spoke ill or laid any thing to his charge, " and that was the Lord Hopton." Its deliber ations were disturbed by the enmity of Rupert and Colepepper ; and Hyde found mediation always difficult, and often fruitless. At length arose a serious quarrel. The Council met to consult about raising money for the payment of the fleet by the sale of prize goods, and " Prince Rupert proposed " that one Sir Robert Walsh (a person too well " known to be trusted) might be employed in that " affair." Many objected, and amongst others Colepepper, but with a warmth which seemed to reflect upon the proposer ; and on Prince Rupert demanding the reason of his objection, he replied that Walsh was " a known cheat." Rupert said Walsh was his friend, and a gentleman ; and if he should come to hear of what had " been said, " he knew not how the Lord Colepepper could " avoid fighting with him. Colepepper, whose " courage no man doubted, presently replied, " ' that he would not fight with Walsh, but he " ' would fight with his Highness ;' to which the " Prince answered, very quietly, ' that it was well,' " and the Council rose in great perplexity."* Hyde # Clar. Hist. Reb. vi. 128. Y 4 328 THE LIFE OF chap, had the satisfaction of preventing the threatened , XIIL , duel, and inducing each party to be reconciled. 1648. It was most difficult to prevail with Colepepper; but at length " he went with the Chancellor to " Prince Rupert's lodging, where he behaved him- " self very well, and the Prince received him with " all the grace could be expected ; so that so ill " a business seemed to be as well concluded as the " nature of it would admit." But the business did not end there. Walsh became apprised of what Colepepper had said ; sought him ; met him walking, unarmed, to the place where the Council met, and, after a few words, struck him on the face ; then drew his sword, but, seeing Colepepper had none, walked away ; and Colepepper retired, bruised and bleeding, to his own abode. The Prince of Wales sent immediately to the States, to demand justice for this shameful outrage ; but the authorities contented themselves with summoning Walsh, and, in default of appearance, banished him from the Hague. The first public business in which Hyde was engaged, after rejoining the Prince, was the con sideration, before the Council, of the message from Scotland, brought by Lauderdale. Rumours of the defeat of the Scotch, under Hamilton, had reached the Hague the day after the Prince came thither ; but its extent and consequence were not yet known. Lauderdale seems to have been ap prised of the defeat ; but this knowledge produced no abatement of the confidence with which he urged, before the Council, the invitation from the EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 329 Scotch Parliament, that the Prince should repair chap. . XIII to them and head their army ; but with positive , exceptions against his being attended by any of 1648. his chaplains, or by Rupert, Hyde, and some other of his principal adherents. Lauderdale also seems to have behaved with an arrogance which would have been injudicious, even if the Scotch had been triumphant ; refusing to withdraw, that the matter proposed might be debated before the Council, and saying, in reply to Hyde, that he would not " con- " sider what was or should be said by any man but " the Prince himself." It was urged that the defeat, which was reported to have befallen the Scotch army, rendered inexpedient the Prince's removal to that kingdom ; but Lauderdale would not admit the validity of that reason, but main tained that the defeat, if true, was a circumstance which would only render the Prince's presence in Scotland more expedient. As might have been expected, he utterly failed in making the impres sion he desired, and, after a few weeks, returned to Scotland. The fleet, which had yet done no effectual service, had become a source of trouble and ex pense. It was an arduous task to raise money for pay and provision, and to compose the mutinous spirit of the seamen, many of whom were anxious to re-enter the service of the Parliament ; and if these difficulties could be surmounted, it was still an embarrassing question to what useful purpose this expensive armament could be applied. The money was raised out of the proceeds of a few 330 THE LIFE OF chap, prizes taken during the late expedition, and now , XI11' , disadvantageously sold. Mutiny was suppressed 1648. for a time by payment, and a personal inspection of the fleet by the Prince ; and the command, after some discussion and intrigue, was conferred on Rupert. The fleet was lying at Helvoetsluys, when Rupert took the command, and it lay there long inactive ; Rupert having in the mean time, with much difficulty, subdued the mutinous spirit of the sailors, which in one instance broke out so seriously, that " he had been compelled," says Clarendon, " to throw two or three seamen over- " board, by the strength of his own arms." In these difficulties he availed himself much of the advice of Hyde, who, at his request, repeatedly " stayed a day or two with him, commonly to com- " pose some differences between him and the offi- " cers." The destination of the fleet was at length settled. It could do little service any where, but it was judged that it might possibly act on the coast of Ireland with most benefit to the royal cause ; and thither it sailed, and arrived at Kinsale in De cember. It appears that this useless and inactive fleet might have been made instrumental in facilitating the King's escape from the Isle of Wight, if he had not been discouraged from concurring in the at tempt. Lord Clarendon's words are remarkable : " Whilst the treaty" (of Newport) "lasted, it was " believed that his Majesty might have made his " escape ; which most men who wished him well " thought, in all respects, ought to have been EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 331 " attempted ; and he himself was inclined to it, chap. " thinking any liberty preferable to the restraint ,' * . "he had endured; but he did receive some dis- 1648. " couragement from pursuing that purpose, which " both diverted from it and gave him great trouble " of mind. It cannot be imagined how wonder- " fully fearful some persons in France were that " he should have made his escape, and the dread " they had of his coming thither ; which, without " doubt, was not from want of tenderness of his " safety, but from the dread they had, that the " little respect they would have shewed him there, " would have been a greater mortification to him " than all that he could suffer by the closest im- " prisonment." He also adds : " It might be some " reason, that they who wished him very well did " not wish his escape, because they believed im- " prisonment were the worst his worst enemies in- " tended towards him ; since they might that way " more reasonably found and settle their republican " government, which men could not so prudently " propose to bring to pass by a murder ; which in " the instance gave the just title to another, who " was at liberty to claim his right and to dispute " it." The reasons which Clarendon suggests are evidently such as he did not believe to have been sincere, and which were weak indeed, when put in competition with the King's personal safety, which had been threatened long ere then. Other reasons may have been known to the writer, which might account for the wonderful fears of " some " persons in France, lest the King should come 332 THE LIFE OF chap. " thither." Was Henrietta Maria anxious to secure , XIIL , the uninterrupted society of her favourite Jermyn, 1649. even at the expense of her husband's safety? No written records hitherto divulged enable us to answer this serious question ; and an imputation so grave must not be admitted upon slender grounds. One of the first acts of Henrietta Maria, on being apprised of her husband's death, was to send a written request to the young King, that he would repair to France as soon as possible, and meanwhile swear in no persons to be of his Council, without previous communication with her. But Charles II. had no wish to go into France, where, as Prince, he had been treated with little consideration ; nor was he inclined to exercise, under the dictation of his mother, the few attributes of monarchy which had newly devolved upon him. Yet it was necessary that some other place of refuge than the Hague should soon be found, where, scantily assisted by the Prince of Orange, he could not long maintain himself, and where an agent of the Parliament was then residing, and an accredited envoy was soon expected. The reviving state of affairs in Ireland caused that country to be thought a fit retreat. Rupert's fleet had arrived there safely ; and Ormond, possessing the whole of Munster, and at peace with the confederate Irish Catholics, expected soon to be at the head of a considerable force. But, at this time, an invitation came from Scotland, urging Charles to repair thither, and announcing that he was pro claimed the lawful sovereign ; but with the annexed EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 333 conditions of good behaviour, observation of the chap. XIII. Covenant, and " his entertaining no other persons " about him, but such as were godly men, and 1649. " faithful to that obligation." The Duke of Ha milton (lately Earl of Lanerick, and recent succes sor to his brother's title), Lord Lauderdale, and Sir John Douglas, were the bearers of this mes sage ; and, about the same time, the Marquis of Montrose, the distinguished representative of another party in Scotland, came to tender his service to the young King. Hyde was sent to confer with Montrose at a Hyde's in- village near the Hague, and in vain advised him wUhMonfc. to postpone his appearance at Charles's court ; r°se a"d but Montrose, when he heard that Hamilton and Lauderdale, and the Commissioners from the Scotch Council, were there, insisted upon pre senting himself likewise ; which, inasmuch as he was held in abhorrence by these parties, increased the difficulties of the King's position. Hyde en deavoured to diminish these difficulties, in the course of a conference with the Duke of Hamilton, in which he advised reconciliation with Montrose, and that his party should not insist upon the Cove nant being taken by the King, a measure which, Hyde maintained, would much retard his chance of restoration to the English throne. Hamilton professed himself convinced, but powerless ; said that Argyle, who insisted most strongly on the Co venant, did not really wish for the extension of kingly power ; that as for Montrose, he would gladly be reconciled with him, but dared not 334 THE LIFE OF chap, attempt it, till he could subdue the prejudices of , his colleague Lauderdale. 1649. Whatever hopes of eventual success Hyde might Murder of have drawn from this conversation, were soon extin guished by an unfortunate occurrence. The ex pected envoy from the Parliament arrived at the Hague ; and it was Dorislaus. a native of Holland, naturalised in England, and who had been one of the counsel against Charles I. On the evening of his arrival, while he was supping at an inn, in company with others, several persons entered the room, with swords drawn, and required those who were at table " not to stir, for there was no harm " intended to any but the agent who came from " the rebels in England, who had murdered their " King." So saying, in an instant they dragged Dorislaus from his seat, and killed him. The per petrators of this outrage then put up their swords, and walked leisurely away ; and, as they little cared to conceal a murder of which they were proud, it soon became known that they were Scotsmen, and many of them retainers of Montrose. The States had for some time been restrained with dif ficulty, by the Prince of Orange, from sending to Charles a direct request that he would quit the country; but it was now no longer possible to withhold it. Charles was privately informed, that the States felt keenly the indignity offered to them selves, in the murder of an accredited agent living under their protection, and for whose safety they had pledged their faith; and, inasmuch as the King's presence among them had been the cause of EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 335 this calamity, they earnestly desired his departure, chap. Charles avoided the indignity of expulsion, by pre- L XIII> viously notifying his intention to depart; and, at x64d. the same time, delivered a memorial to the States, thanking, them for past kindness, laying before them the state of his affairs in Scotland and in Ireland, and paying them the compliment of re quiring their advice to which of the two he should now repair. The States waived the responsibility of advice. The King decided in favour of Ireland; and directions were given to get the fleet in readi ness for the voyage. It was determined that he should sail from some French port (where the Prince of Orange would appoint two ships of war to attend him) ; paying, in his way through France, a short visit to the Queen his mother. A novel duty now devolved upon Sir Edward Hydeap- Hyde. His friend Lord Cottington, partly from Sldor private reasons, partly from a sense of what he t0 sPain' thought conducive to the King's service, desired to be sent as ambassador to Spain, an office which he had previously filled in 1629. He had heard that the Spanish Court had expressed much sym pathy with the young King, and had intended to send an ambassador to him. He thought that pe cuniary assistance might be obtained from them, and that Spanish influence with the Irish Ca tholics might be turned to good account. These views he communicated to Hyde ; and, inas much as he was infirm and old, and his life and faculties of precarious tenure, he desired to be 336 THE LIFE OF chap, accompanied by some able friend, who should bear . with him the duties of the embassy, and that this 1649. friend should be Hyde. Another object was pro posed in sending thither two ambassadors : it was desirable that whatever money might be obtained in Spain, should be immediately conveyed to the King in Ireland ; and Hyde, the younger and more active person, would perform this service, leaving Cottington to complete the other objects of their mission. Hyde did not dislike the proposed office; nor, as he says, did he greatly covet it. It opened as fair a prospect of honourable usefulness as lay before him any where else. Among private inducements, might be counted removal from among the harass ing contentions of the expatriated Court : but, on the other hand, it would separate him from his wife and children. " In the end he told the Lord " Cottington, that he would only be passive in this " point, and refer it entirely to him, if he thought " fit to dispose the King to like it ; and if the King " approved it so much as to take notice of it to " the Chancellor, and commend it as a thing he " thought for his service, he would submit to his " command." Cottington conducted the business zealously and adroitly. The King approved, " and " soon afterwards publicly declared his resolution " to send the Lord Cottington and the Chancellor " of the Exchequer his ambassadors extraordinary " into Spain ; and commanded them to prepare " their own commission' and instructions, and to " begin their journey as soon as was possible. " Many murmured at Hyde's appointment, some EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 337 from jealousy, others from regard. Colepepper mur- chap. mured, because he had desired the office for himself. XIIL Hyde's friends were sorry for the sake both of him 1649. and of themselves : " they thought he deserteda path " he had long trod, and was well acquainted with, " and was henceforward to move, extra sph&ram " activitatis, in an office he had not been acquainted " with ; and then they should want his credit to sup- " port them in the King's favour and grace." They thought, too, that the King's inexperience needed the presence of such a counseUor. Nicholas, as it appears from Hyde's answer to his letter *, was much grieved at his acceptance of this office : so also was Montrose. The Scotch of the other party rejoiced at the prospect of his absence, be cause he had opposed their exertions in favour of the Covenant, t Hyde and Cottington were furnished with secret instructions to the following purport : — that they should endeavour to effect, with Spain, a league offensive and defensive ; should give assurances of the King's resolutions of grace and favour towards his Catholic subjects ; should offer security under the Great Seal of England, in as ample a manner as might be desired, for any money that might be lent by Spain ; and should offer such civilities to the Nuncio, as might tend to procure the assistance of the Pope.t About the end of May, the two ambassadors * Clarendon's State Papers, ii. 523. f Carte's Ormond, ii. 87. X Clarendon's State Papers, ii. 481. VOL. I. Z 338 THE LIFE OF chap, quitted the Hague ; and after a few days spent at , Antwerp, where Hyde established his wife and 1649. children (who were to remain there during his ab sence), they proceeded to Brussels, to deliver their credentials to the Archduke and the Duke of Lor raine, and to visit the Spanish minister. From the Duke of Lorraine they obtained a loan of 2000 pis toles, which, together with a small part of 20,000£ to be lent to the King by the Prince of Orange, was all they could at present rely upon to defray the expense of their journey to Spain. From the Spa nish ministers at Brussels they received civilities, mingled with some discouraging intimations of the necessities of the Spanish Crown, and its inability to afford assistance. Charles, meanwhile, had quitted the Hague, and proceeded through Breda, Antwerp, Brussels, and Paris, to visit his mother at St. Germains ; and thither, after a time, the ambassadors repaired also. " They had no reason," said Clarendon, " to re- " pent their caution, in staying so long behind the " King ; for they found the Court so full of jea- " lousy and disorder, that every body was glad that " they were come." It appears that the Queen had been indiscreetly solicitous to exercise influ ence over her son ; had overlooked the difference between a King of England and a Prince of Wales ; had urged him to confer with her on mat ters of state, and to act by her advice ; and had consequently encountered a merited rebuff. Elliot, a groom of the bedchamber, a favourite of the King's, also contributed to inspire him with jea lousy of the Queen's interference, and had em- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 339 ployed his influence with his royal master, in other chap. modes less beneficial. Both Charles and the XIIL Queen communicated to Hyde their respective 1649. causes of dissatisfaction ; and the latter, though she disliked him, and knew he differed from her in opinion, was glad to avail herself of his influence and address, as mediator on this occasion. Hyde did not wish to establish her influence, or to pro cure for her a fuller participation in the conduct of public affairs. He desired for her only such respectful treatment as was due to her situation, and would render her more reconciled to the absence of power ; and to this he limited his en deavours. The Queen appears to have given Hyde full credit for the wish " that the King's carriage " towards her should be fair and respectful ;" and on this, and perhaps on other accounts, she regret ted his appointment as ambassador to Spain, and desired his continuance about the person of the King. Hyde and Cottington remained with the King at St. Germains, till the middle of September, watching the gradual declension of his hopes of success, in the meditated expedition to Ireland. Mazarin's promises to Ormond, of men, arms, and money, had never been fulfilled ; and Ormond had gone thither to resume his command, in a condi tion little able to resist either the arms of the Par liament, or the importunities of his Catholic confe derates. Attempting to blockade Dublin, he was beaten off, on the 2d of August, by a sally of the parliamentary garrison ; and was utterly routed at z 2 340 THE LIFE OF chap. Rathmines, with the loss of tents, waggons, and J^^V, ammunition, 1000 men killed, and 2000 taken 1649. prisoners. The royal cause in Ireland was soon rendered irretrievable by the presence of Cromwell. On August 15. the 15th he was in Dublin, with 12,000 horse and foot, resolved to strike terror by the prompti tude and severity of his measures. On the 9th of September he commenced the siege of Drog- heda, strongly garrisoned with 3000 men, under the command of Sir Arthur Acton. On the 11th he stormed the breach at the head of his troops, and, though twice repulsed, forced his way with despe rate valour into the town, gave no quarter, and put the garrison to the sword : — "an execrable policy " in that regicide," says the royalist historian, Carte ; " but it had the effect he proposed. It " spread abroad the terror of his name ; it cut off " the best body of the Irish troops, and disheart- " ened the rest to such a degree, that it was a " greater loss in itself, and much more fatal in its " consequence, than the rout at Rathmines."* Perhaps these atrocities shortened the campaign ; perhaps they caused less blood to be spilt even tually ; but the attainment of the end will not justify such means, and they will ever be a stain upon the memory of Cromwell. The same ruth less course was pursued at Longford, and all Ire land was terror-stricken. He had taught the inutility and the danger of resistance ; and every town which he approached now opened its gates, * Carte's Life of Ormond, ii. 84 EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 341 hoping to escape the tremendous penalty. The chap. only check to his progress was disease among his , x ' , troops, which compelled him to remain inactive 1649. during the winter : but the terror of his name still prevented his opponents from any attempt to take advantage of his disabled state ; and, reinforced in the spring, he soon completed the subjugation of Ireland. Cromwell's arrival in Ireland at once rendered it inadvisable that the young King should go thither : yet he was unwilling to remain in France, where he was treated with coldness and incivility by that ungenerous and time-serving Court, which evidently desired his absence. Jersey, still under the government of Lord Jermyn's lieutenant, Sir George Carteret, would still afford him a safe asylum ; and thither he repaired, about the end of September. Nothing now remained which should detain Hyde and Cottington from proceeding to Spain ; and, after private audience coldly granted by the queen mother of France, Mazarin, Orleans, and Conde, the ambassadors quitted Paris on Michael mas day, and proceeded on their journey. The power of Spain, which had begun to state of dwindle under the gloomy bigotry of Philip II., had pain' been undergoing an acceleration of decay, under the imbecile Philip IV., and the ministry of the rash and profligate Olivares. Some rude shocks had been recently felt, all equally the fruit of misgovernment. In 1646, occurred at Naples that brief but serious insurrection, which raised to fame z 3 342 THE LIFE OF CHAP. XIII. 1649. Hyde and Cottington arrive in Spain. the name of Massaniello. About 1640, Catalonia had revolted, had been assisted by France, and was still unsubdued. Almost contemporaneous was the more important revolt of Portugal, which, in De cember 1640, cast off its yoke, and proclaimed the Duke of Braganza King of Portugal, under the name of Joam IV. In 1649, Joam was still reign ing, and firmly seated on the throne of Portugal. A conspiracy and an attempted assassination, disgrace fully countenanced by Spain, had recently failed : hostilities had been maintained since the period of revolt ; but Spain, far from being able to recon quer this portion of its empire, was scarcely ca pable of defending itself: Spanish fortresses had fallen into the hands of the Portuguese ; and (so weak was Spain) the armies of the latter might have marched to Madrid, if they had only acted vigorously and in concert. Olivares was no longer first minister of Spain : that post was now held by his nephew, Don Louis de Haro, who appears, as represented by Clarendon, to have been a well-meaning, pains-taking man, of moderate abilities ; one who, in prosperity, might have checked the inroads of decay, and preserved the kingdom unimpaired, but who was unequal to contend with the difficulties of his situation, and to retrieve the evils which his predecessor had pro duced. It must be confessed that the circumstances of Spain gave Hyde and Cottington little cause to expect effectual assistance from that quarter. Nei ther could they derive encouragement from the re- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 343 ception they experienced, almost as soon as they chap. had crossed the frontier at St. Sebastian. The , Corregidor of that town, in a private interview, 1649. showed them a letter from the Secretary of State, enjoining, " that when the ambassadors of the " Prince of Wales should arrive there, they "should be received with all respect;" but that they should be instructed not to proceed towards Madrid, till the King of Spain's further pleasure was made known to them. A letter was also brought to them from Sir Benjamin Wright, a wealthy English merchant, who had long been resi dent in Spain, and had sometimes been engaged in the negotiation of loans. The ambassadors had requested their influential countryman to solicit their passports, and that a house at Madrid might be prepared for their reception. His letter con tained the passports, in which they were again styled ambassadors from the Prince of Wales ; and Wright informed them that, upon his remon strance, he could obtain no alteration of this style, nor any order for providing a house. Upon re ceiving these representations, Hyde and his col league despatched a remonstrance to Don Louis de Haro, remarking that they were strangely de signated as ambassadors from the Prince of Wales, at the same time that an ambassador from Spain had been sent to their master as to the King of England ; desiring to know if their coming was unacceptable to his Catholic Majesty, in which case they would immediately return ; and desiring that if they were received, it might be in such a manner as was due z 4 344 THE LIFE OF chap, to the King they represented. This letter elicited , XE ' , an apologetical answer from the Spanish minister, 1649. imputing the misnomer " to the negligence or " ignorance of the secretary ; " sending new pass ports, in which they were styled as they desired ; and assuring them of a very good welcome from the Spanish King. A barefaced insult to a fallen sovereign, thus hastily followed by such weak ex cuses, could inspire the ambassadors only with con tempt : but they could plainly infer, that their pre sence at Madrid was not desired ; and that the Spa nish Government had hoped to have induced them to turn back, by expedients which they were ashamed to acknowledge. This meanness ended not here : The ambassadors quitted St. Sebastian in Novem ber, and on their arrival at Alcavendas, three leagues from Madrid, learnt from Wright, that De Haro's fair promises of a suitable abode had produced no result. They also learnt that Cardenas, the late ambassador from Spain to England, had used his influence with the Court against them ; intimating, that "their good reception in Spain would in- " cense the Parliament, and make them more pro- " pitious to France, which valued itself upon " having driven all the royal family from thence." Again they remonstrated with Don Louis de Haro, and again was he prodigal in courteous words, but sparing in practical assistance ; and at length, after remaining a week at Alcavendas, and daily hearing that, in spite of professions, there was still no appearance of provision for their reception, the ambassadors were induced to accept the invi- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 345 tationof their countryman, and, in order to avoid the more glaring appearance of being contemptu ously neglected, to reside for a time incognito at 164& Madrid, in the house of Sir Benjamin Wright. The Court having taken no notice of their ar rival, Cottington at length desired a private inter view with Don Louis. The request was granted ; civilities were exchanged ; fiestas, held in honour of the Queen's arrival, were pleaded as excuses for the postponement of a formal reception ; and in the mean time the ambassadors were invited to tournaments and bull-fights.* * Thirty-five pages on the subject of this embassy may be found in the work intituled " Vindication of the Character and Conduct of John " Ashburnham " (vol. i. 31 — 45. ; ii. xcv — cxv.). In these pages Ash- burnham is only once alluded to ; and the disquisitions, thus inserted, are merely attacks upon the character of Lord Clarendon. I subjoin two short specimens of their spirit and force : — Clarendon had assigned, as a reason for his being pleased with his mission, that he believed " he should in some degree improve his un- " derstanding, and very much refresh his spirits." On the arrival of the ambassadors at Madrid, " they were shortly waited on," says the author of the Vindication, " by a gentleman sent by the prime minister, " Don Lewis de Haro, to invite their excellencies to all the fiestas ; " and to apprize them that there would be places provided for them. " The Chancellor went that afternoon to the place assigned, where he " saw the masquerade, and the running of the course ; and the toros " the day following : and so for two or three days together. Surely " the aforesaid worthy knight of Illyria" (Sir A. Aguecheek) " never " evinced a more laudable alacrity and solicitude for the refreshment of " spirits ; though he says of himself, ' I am a fellow of the strangest mind " ' i' th' world, and delight in masks and revels sometimes altogether.' " The severity of this passage will, I am sure, be duly felt ; but, never theless, I will not inflict upon my readers a defence of Hyde for having gone to the place provided for him at the fiesta " that afternoon." Hear again : " Still, however, there was yet no house provided for them, which " they took very heavily ; and believed that it might advance that " business, if they had once a public reception as ambassadors ; and " therefore they resolved to demand an audience." (Life of Clarendon, i. 273.) " Now what," says the author of the Vindication, " can be " meant by that business but the getting of a house ? and to what else can " ' the ' therefore ' relate but to having demanded an audience ? Surely, " then, it is a fair and natural inference, that had they found, on their 346 THE LIFE OF CHAP. XIII. Y 1649. First au dience. The audience was at length granted ; and the am bassadors, having ridden to Court, as was the custom on a first audience, attended by a large cavalcade, comprising all the English merchants resident in Madrid, and many Irish officers in the service of Spain, were introduced into the royal presence. " The King lightly moved his hat, and bid them " cover." Lord Cottington then addressed him, and they presented their credentials. " The King," says Clarendon, " expressed a very tender sense of " our King's condition, and acknowledged that it " concerned all kings to join together for the " punishment of such an impious rebellion and " parricide ; and, if his own affairs would permit " it, he would be the first that would undertake it : " but that they could not but know how full his " hands were, and, whilst he had so powerful an " adversary to contend with, he could hardly de- " fend himself; but that, when there should be a " peace with France (which he desired), the King " his Sobrino (for so he called the King his nephew) " should find all he could expect from him: in the " mean time he would be ready to do all that " was in his power towards his assistance and " relief." * They were then conducted to the Queen and the Infanta ; and, a few days after wards, made visits to Don Louis, and all the other " arrival, a house provided, they might possibly not have thought of " applying for an audience at all." (Vindication, vol. i. p. 43.) In reply to this " fair and natural inference," it is needless to say more than that they did apply for an audience more than once after a house had been provided for them. * Clar. Hist. Reb. vi. 380. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 347 members of the Council of State, and the foreign chap. XIII ministers then resident at Madrid. At length a fit , residence was assigned to them ; and they were 1649. treated with attention and respect, and " looked " more like ambassadors than they had done " before." When visits of ceremony had been paid, the am bassadors obtained a private audience of the King, in which they requested that he would appoint commissioners, with whom they might negotiate re specting a renewal of the treaty of alliance between England and Spain ; which treaty, it had been pro vided, was to be renewed within a certain period after the death of either king. They would also confer with these commissioners " upon such re- " lief in arms and money as his Catholic Majesty " would think proper to send to their master in " Ireland." The ambassadors also entreated the King of Spain to write such a letter to Owen O'Neil as would insure his submission to the King their master. An answer to their request was brought to them by one of the members of the Council of State, sent to confer with them on these subjects. He said, " the King did not think it " necessary to appoint any committee to renew the " last treaty of peace : it was still in force, and " might well be observed ; and the renewal might " be deferred till the times should mend." As for Owen O'Neil, he had offended the King of Spain by quitting his service, and the King could not, in honour, write to him ; but intimation should 348 THE LIFE OF chap, nevertheless be given, that it would be agreeable ¦— to the Spanish King, that he should devote him- 1650. se]f t0 ^he King of England. This answer was sufficiently unfavourable to induce the ambassadors to abstain, for a time, from applying for audiences. They confined their endeavours to obtaining small supplies of arms, ammunition, and money for their sovereign's service, and awaited the tidings of his intended arrival in Ireland. During this period of comparative repose, Hyde applied his active and inquiring mind to the study of the literature of Spain, and to obtaining in formation respecting the constitution and govern ment, and the administration of justice in that country. At this time, also, he resumed the com position of a devotional work, entitled " Contem- " plations and Reflections upon the Psalms of " David, applying those Devotions to the Troubles " of this Time." This work, which in his History of the Rebellion he incorrectly states to have been begun at Madrid, appears, by a date at the com mencement, to have been begun at Jersey, De cember 26th, 1647; but the commentary proceeded then no farther than through the first eight Psalms. At the head of Psalm ix. is written, " Madrid, 13th July, 1650"*; and at the end of Psalm lxvii., " Thus far at Madrid" t; and the work appears to have been resumed in July, 1651, at Antwerp. At length an event occurred which exposed the time-serving meanness of the Spanish Court, and * Clarendon's Collection, 399. f Ibid. 540. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 349 procured for the ambassadors a more favourable chap. XIII hearing. Rupert, with his fleet, appeared upon . the coast of Spain, and despatched a letter to Hyde, i65o. desiring him to obtain from the Court of Madrid good reception for his vessels in any Spanish port they might have occasion to enter. The applica tion was communicated to Louis de Haro, and the effect was magical. The request was granted with out hesitation ; and letters were despatched that very night, conveying the required directions, to the respective governors of all the ports, " with as " many friendly clauses as could have been inserted " if the King had been in possession of his whole " empire ; so great an influence a little appearance " of power had upon their spirits : and the ambas- " sadors found they lived in another kind of air " than they had done ; and received every day " visits and caresses from the Court and from those " in authority." * The barometer of Spanish fa vour was soon sensibly affected by a storm which weakened Rupert's fleet, and drove five of his vessels on the rocks at Carthagena. But a more entire change was produced in the demeanour of this cowardly Court, by the appearance of the fleet of the Parliament ; a fleet more powerful than the royalist fleet, and of which the admiral (Popham) demanded, in imperious language, reception for his own vessels, and the exclusion of those of Rupert; while he menacingly warned his Catholic Majesty, " that they knew very well how to do themselves " right for any injury or discourtesy which they * Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vi. 391. 350 THE LIFE OF chap. " should sanction." The threat succeeded : orders , were sent to all the ports that the Parliament's i65o. fleet should be received with attention and respect ; and a valuable ring was sent, as a propitiatory offer ing, to the repubhcan commander. From a Court which veered, with such shameless facility, with every breath of good or ill fortune, the suppliant ambassadors of an exiled and penni less prince had little reason to expect assistance. They could appeal only to the compassion or the generosity of a Court whose conduct showed that they were scarcely capable of being influenced by compassionate or generous feelings. They could appeal to no sense of immediate self-interest ; and though the common cause of legitimate monarchy might seem to be involved in the protection of the exiled King of England, yet, at this period, no deep sense of the expediency of defending this common cause appears to have been felt by the monarchs of the Continent. No fraternising spirit, no active desire to disseminate anti-regal principles, had been displayed by the English commonwealth's men. No social disorganisation had been seriously menaced ; no doctrines subversive of all ancient institutions had been extended then, as they have since been by the more contagious example of a more astounding revolution. The cabinets of the Continent appear to have regarded the English revolution as a pheno menon, strange and startling, but not dangerous and seductive : and the most far-sighted among their statesmen thought more of such temporary advan tage as might be obtained by conciliating the Com- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 351 monwealth, than of the questionable policy of an chap. anti-republican league.* t ' , The ambassadors, although, as Clarendon says, i65o. " they had received so little encouragement, and " had no reason to expect more," were compelled, by the orders sent from Charles, " to remain where "they were, till he could better judge of his own " fortune." They were at the same time informed that the King had abandoned his intention of going to Ireland ; but had repaired to Scotland, which kingdom was devoted to his service : and this information the ambassadors communicated to the Spanish Government. This communication, which elevated Charles from a sceptreless outcast to a sovereign de facto, produced a corresponding ame lioration in the treatment of his ambassadors, and in the degree of attention which was paid to their requests. But an unhappy circumstance occurred at Madrid about this time, affecting the character of the Royalists, and injurious to the interests of the embassy. In May, 1650, the Parliament sent to Spain an Murder of envoy of the name of Ascham. Hyde and Cot tington, apprised of his arrival at Cadiz, remon strated with Louis de Haro on the admission of an ambassador from a regicide Parliament, at a Court in which they were received as ambassadors from the King, whom that Parliament had deposed and banished. Louis de Haro denied that Ascham came as an ambassador ; but said that he was * See Hyde's Letter to Matthew, vol. iii. p. 5-5. Ascham. 1650. 352 THE LIFE OF chap, merely the bearer of letters from the Parliament, probably on commercial matters, which the Govern ment could not refuse to receive. An officer in the Spanish army was appointed to escort Ascham from Seville ; and on the evening of the 5th of June he arrived at Madrid, accompanied by Riva, a Genoese friar ; Fisher, an Englishman, who ap pears to have been an assistant in the duties of the mission ; and an English servant. On the following day, a little past noon, when Ascham and Riva were at dinner, two Englishmen entered the room, exclaiming, " Gallants, welcome ! " Ascham rose, and, instantly perceiving that their intentions were hostile, drew out a small pistol, upon which one of them, seizing him by the arm which held the pis tol, stabbed him to the heart.* Riva fled into an adjoining room, upon which two other men, who had waited at the door, rushed in, and the four followed him, and killed him also. They were then joined by two others, who had waited without to prevent surprise, and the six confederates then left the house together. This murder, which so remarkably resembled the recent murder of Do rislaus, was committed while Fisher was absent in quest of a residence for Ascham. Only one person was present who knew any thing concerning As cham — an English servant, who could not speak Spanish, and who, when the authorities arrived, could not even tell them who the murdered persons were. They were obliged to examine Ascham's * Thurloe's State Papers, i. 151. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 353 papers, before they could obtain the information ; chap. and soon a rumour spread through the town, ., " that one of the English ambassadors was killed." i65o. The six men concerned in this foul transaction were all Englishmen. Williams, the actual mur derer of Ascham, and some of the others, had been officers in the Royalist army; and one of them, Henry Progers, was in the service of the embassy. We are told by Clarendon, that Progers had been met accidentally by the others, and persuaded to accompany them — a circumstance which, though it might slightly alleviate the guilt of his participation, could not rescue the embassy from the embar rassing imputations to which his presence neces sarily gave rise. After the murder, the six left the house, " with their swords naked and bloody ; " using, according to Clarendon, " foolish expressions " of triumph, as if they had performed a very gallant " and a justifiable action." Five of them sought sanctuary in a chapel : Progers went to the house of the Venetian ambassador, remained hid for several days, and at last escaped into France. The other five (it being urged that sanctuary was not allowed in case of murder) were taken out of the chapel, and committed to prison. Hyde and Cot tington were in trouble and perplexity when they heard what had passed, and that one of their ser vants was implicated in the murder. " Though," says Clarendon, " they abhorred the action that " was committed, they foresaw the presence of one " of their servants in it ; and even some passionate " words they had used, in their expostulation with VOL. I. a A 354 THE LIFE OF chap. " Don Louis against the reception of such a mes- XIII ' senger, — as if the King their master had too 1650. " many subjects in that place, for such a fellow to " appear therewith any security, — would make it be " believed by many, that the attempt had not been " made without their consent or privity. In this " trouble of mind, they immediately sent a letter to " Don Louis de Haro, to express the sense they had " of this unfortunate rash action ; of which they " hoped he did believe, if they had any notice or " suspicion, they would have prevented it."* Don Louis disclaimed a belief so injurious ; add ing, that exemplary justice must be done on the offenders, if it were only to secure the personal safety of the Spanish ambassador in England. It appears to have been a questionable point, whether the prisoners were legally entitled to the shameful privilege of sanctuary ; and although, as Clarendon tells us, " the English ambassador thought not fit " to appear on their behalf," the other ambas sadors, in a perverted spirit of compassion for these hot-headed avengers of murdered royalty, were willing to proffer their assistance. The action, says Clarendon, could in no degree be justified : all that could be urged and insisted upon, on their behalf, was the privilege of sanctuary. To take them from thence was considered a violation of the right of the church ; and the nuncio Rospigliosi (after wards Clement IX.) urged their redelivery to the sanctuary. But the wrath of the English Parlia- * Clar. Hist. Reb. vi. 445. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 355 ment was too terrible to be thus braved, in obe- chap. XIII dience to the Pope ; and the Spanish government i ' ¦ preferred the unjust middle course of detaining i6So. the assassins long in prison, without a trial ; while, in the mean time, the English resident, Fisher, was obliged to have guards to protect his person from a similar fate.* It appears from Fisher's letters to the English government, that, although the Spanish people sympathised with the prisoners, the King had taken pains to impress upon the mind of the resident his own leaning towards the Parliament. " If the " Parliament strike the iron whilst it is hot," said Fisher, " they may procure any thing of this King. " The cavaliers little think that, by Mr. Ascham's " death, they have spoyled their own business." t That Hyde was not one of these unthinking cavaliers is apparent, both from the History of the Rebellion, and his Letters to Nicholas and to Long: " This accident t," he said, in a letter to Nicholas, " hath been very unfortunate to our business, con- " cerning which we were promised to have positive " resolutions within a few days, but we must now " sit still, without pressing them till this matter be " concluded ; there having not wanted some ma- " licious spirits here, which would beget an opi- " nion that we were privy to this mad action, when, * Thurloe's State Papers, i. 153. . + Ibid. i. 155. X The word " accident," employed by Hyde, may sound like a palliating expression ; but it is to be observed, that the same word is similarly used three times by Fisher, in the account of the murder which he sent to the Parliament. See Thurloe, i. 148. A A 2 356 THE LIFE OF " God knows, we knew not of the man's being " come to the town, till we heard that he was 1650. " dead."* " We are heartily sorry," he said, in a letter to Long, of the 7th of June, " that he was " not let alone to despatch the business he came " about, since we are confident, the little counte- " nance he would have found here would have " brought a much greater advantage to the King, " than the taking away so inconsiderable a varlet, " in such a manner, can doe ; and it is very pro- " bable, that this unreasonable, indiscreet fury, " may, on the contrary, work upon the spirit and " temper of this people, who are jealous of thevio- " lation of their public justice, — at least to the " delaying of some expressions of kindness towards " the King, which we hoped speedily to draw "them to." t * Clarendon Papers, iii. 21. f Vol. iii. 58. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 357 CHAP. XIV. charles ii. goes to scotland. cromwell invades scotland. influence of events there on the con duct of the spanish court. the ambassadors re tire. hyde's poverty while in spain. hyde quits spain and goes to antwerp. joins the king at paris. opposes the proposed appointment of sir j. berkeley to the place of master of the wards. coldness between the queen and hyde. projected marriages for the king and duke of york. hyde is engaged in pecuniary transactions on behalf of the king. poverty of the king and his adherents. intrigues against hyde. hostility of the queen. charges against hyde by long and grenville the king's inattention to business. he quits paris. — hyde's parting interview with the queen. 1650—1654. In the spring of 1650, when the King's hopes chap. had been destroyed in Ireland, and Montrose , XIV" and other gallant Royalists had fallen victims, in 1650. Scotland, to the vengeance of the Covenanters ; Charles, at Breda, was induced to accede to the hard conditions of this successful party. The con ditions were principally these : — that the King should sign the Covenant ; should declare void all treaties with the rebels in Ireland ; should] not permit any liberty of the Popish religion in any part of his dominions ; and should acknowledge the authority of all Parliaments holden since the begin- A A 3 358 THE LIFE OF chap, ning of the war.* The King acceded ; set sail for 1 x v' , Scotland in June ; signed the Covenant before he 1650. was allowed to land ; and was conducted to his capital through Aberdeen, where one of the quar tered limbs of Montrose was still hanging over the gate. Nicholas had expressed to Ormond his regret that Hyde's mission to Spain should have caused his absence from a scene where he might have counteracted the influence of the Scotch Presby terians f; and the result seems to justify Hyde's strong objections to the King's being placed in the power of the Scotch.^ Charles, reckless and in sincere, had, for the sake of temporary support, stooped to professions which his uncompromising minister would have bid him rather die than make. In August, he was compelled to issue a declar ation, which he had previously declined, deploring the wickedness of his father, and the idolatry of his mother ; declaring that he detested prelacy, and that he would henceforth have neither friends nor enemies but such as were the friends or enemies of the Covenant. " Who," said the English Par liament in their answer, " sees not the gross hypo- " crisy of this whole transaction, and the sandy " and rotten foundation of all the resolutions flow- " ing hereupon ?"§ It was discreditable both to * Thurloe, i. 147. f Carte's Letters, i. 322. X Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 1. 14. et seq. § Parliamentary History, xix. 364. et seq. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 359 the King and to the Covenanters ; and well had it chap. XIII been, if the latter had paused ere they humbled t ' , the sovereign whose cause they adopted, by an isso. act so humiliating to him, so little profitable to themselves. While royalty was thus rendered contemptible, cromweii and while bigotry was thinning the ranks of the scmiand. Royalist army, by drafting out all who were called malignants or engagers, Cromwell, now (since the retirement of Fairfax) made captain-general of the English forces, was invading Scotland with a small, but highly efficient, force. The bigotry which had thinned the ranks, forced the experienced Lesley to abandon the Fabian policy which he was suc cessfully pursuing ; and at Dunbar, on the 3d of Battle of September, Cromwell, availing himself, with admir able promptitude, of an injudicious movement of the Scottish army, attacked, routed, and utterly defeated it. 3000 men were killed, and above 9000 taken prisoners : the miserable remnant fled to Stirling ; and Edinburgh fell into the hands of the victor. The intelligence of this event was sent by Car- Conduct of denas to the Spanish Government, and, like all other Govem-,sl previous changes of fortune, it produced a corre- ment- sponding change in the demeanour of that time serving Government towards Cottington and Hyde. In vain did they endeavour to explain that a de feat which only crippled the strength of the cove nanting party, without effecting the subjugation of Scotland, would be regarded by the young King as a means of emancipation from his late thraldom, A A 4 360 THE LIFE OF chap, and probably render him more truly a king than , he had been before. This explanation the Spanish 1650. Government would not accept ; and the ambassa dors, after many hints that their continued presence was fruitless and unwelcome, received at length a message on the subject, sent, as from the King, by the Secretary of State. He told them, " that they " had been above a year in that court, where they " had been well treated, notwithstanding some " miscarriages, which might very justly have in- " censed his Catholic Majesty (mentioning the " death of Ascham) ; that they were extraordinary " ambassadors, and so needed not any letters of " revocation ; that they had received answers to " all they had proposed, and were at liberty to " depart, which his Catholic Majesty desired they " would do, since their presence in the court " would be prejudicial to his affairs."* On re ceiving this uncourteous message, the ambassadors demanded an interview with Louis de Haro, who, on the following day, not only addressed them to the same effect, but " pressed them very plainly, " and without any regard to the season of the year, " it being towards the end of January, to use all " possible expedition for their departure, as a thing " that, even in that respect, did exceedingly concern " the service of the King." So anxious for their departure was the Spanish Court, that even this urgency was not deemed sufficient, t A message * Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vi. 459. f Hyde assigns a reason for this urgency which seems inadequate, namely, the expected arrival of pictures, bought for the King of Spain, EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 361 was sent, informing them that the King had fixed chap. . XIV a day for their last audience, when they were ex- , , pected to take their leave ; and when this cere- i65i. mony had been performed, about the beginning of March, the two ambassadors quitted Madrid. Such was the fruitless and mortifying conclusion of fifteen months of suppliant negotiation, and the bitter endurance of penury and neglect. Of the Hyde's Po- poverty which Hyde then suffered, we have much hTspaln!6 interesting evidence in his letter to Secretary Ni cholas. "All our money is gone," he said, in a letter of the 6th of January ; " and let me never Jan. 6. " prosper if I know or can imagine how we can get " bread a month longer."* In a letter of the 16th of August he said, " Greater necessities are hardly " felt by any men, than we for the present un- " dergo, such as have almost made me foolish ; so " that I have not for my life been able either to " pay you any part of my debt, or to supply the " miserable wants and distresses of my poor wife, " both which I hope shortly to do." His salary, at this time, seems to have been in a great measure dependent upon the advances which the Spanish Government could be prevailed upon to make to Charles. " I assure you," he said in a letter of October the 19th, " I am not more troubled for " the intolerable necessity my wife is in (though by his ambassador in England, out of the collection of Charles I. The Spanish Court seem to have been too little solicitous, lest they should hurt the feelings of the English ambassadors, to be fairly suspected of such delicacy. * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. \2. 362 THE LIFE OF chap. " it almost breaks my heart), than that your wants XIV " are increased by your friendship to me, and by i65i. " the great debt I owe you : yet I hope, if there be " truth and honour in this people, I shall shortly " be able to pay you a part, and to relieve her, for " they promise us money. But," he added, " they " are a wretched people, without honour or cou- " rage ; and I doubt not but their friends, the Par- " liament, will use them accordingly." * " Howthey " will use us at parting, I yet know not," he said in December ; " but I presume I shall have such a " present as will carry me to my wife, and some- " what to be divided between you and her."t Yet, thus poor, neglected, mortified, doomed to the bitter task of ineffectual supplication to a despi cable Court, he never allowed his firmness to relax, or would admit, for an instant, the unworthy idea of bettering his fortune at the expense of his prin ciples. In letters to Nicholas, about this period, he repels with indignation the thought of com position with the regicide Parliament, of which it would seem there had been some question. " I " know no other counsel to give you than, by the " grace of God, I mean to follow myself, which is to " submit to God's pleasure and judgment upon me, " and to starve really and literally, with the comfort " of having endeavoured to avoid it by all honest " means, and rather to bear it than to do any thing " contrary to my duty. Compounding is a thing I " do not understand, or how a man can do it to * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 23. f Ibid. iii. 25. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 363 ' save one's life. We must play out the game with chap. •' that courage as becomes gamesters who were first t ' . ' engaged by conscience against all motives and i65i. ' temptations of interest, and be glad to let the ' world know that we were carried on only by con- ' science. Heretofore the title of offices, and the ' good opinion we had with our masters, might be ' thought our motives ; and, with a king, and in his ' company, mere moral considerations would make ' men suffer much : now we are without offices, ' and (for aught appears) made incapable of any, ' and, without any avowed favour from the King, ' we must be the more precise and punctual in all ' we do, that we may convince all men, that no ' temptation can make us decline the severe prin- ' ciples we have professed. When our sufferings ' are at the highest, they cannot last long." " In- ' deed," he added, with more emphatic indigna tion, in a subsequent letter, " all discourse of sub- ' mitting or compounding with those rogues in ' England, hath so little of sense or excuse in it, ' that there needs no reply to it. You and I ' must die in the streets first of hunger."* Hyde quitted Madrid in March, 1651, unaccom- Hyde quits panied by his colleague. Lord Cottington put in execution the plan, which he seems to have long meditated, of passing the remainder of his life in Spain. His principal inducements were his age and infirmities, and his readmission to the Roman Catholic faith, which he had originally professed, had subsequently abandoned, and had long re- * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 24, 25. Spain. 364 THE LIFE OF CHAP. XIV. 1651. adopted in secret. Having become reconciled to the Roman Catholic Church, he obtained leave from the Spanish Court to reside in a private ca pacity at Valladolid, where he died in the following year, in the 77th year of his age. He is described by the discriminating pen of his colleague as expe rienced, calm, resolute, subtle ; of an even temper, and a cold heart ; " of an excellent humour, and " very easy to live with ;" a pleasant companion, but not calculated to inspire confidence, or win affection. The Spanish Court vouchsafed some courtesy to Hyde at parting. Hearing that he intended to repair to his family at Antwerp, " and stay there till he " received other orders from the King, his master, " they gave him all despatches thither that might " be of use to him in those parts. The King of " Spain himself used many gracious expressions to " him at his last audience, and sent afterwards to " him a letter for the Archduke Leopold, in which " he expressed the good opinion he had of the am- " bassador, and commanded that, whilst he should " choose to reside in those parts under his govern- " ment, he should receive all respect, and enjoy " all privileges, as an ambassador ; and Don Louis " de Haro writ likewise to the Archduke, and " the Count of Fuensaldagna, to look upon him " as his particular friend : all which ceremonies, " though they cost him nothing, were of real " benefit and advantage to the ambassador ; for, " besides the treatment he received from the Arch- " duke himself in Brussels, as ambassador, such EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 365 " directions or recommendations were sent to the chap. • XIV " magistrates at Antwerp, that he enjoyed the pri- , " vilege of his chapel ; and all the English, who 1651. " were numerous then in that city, repaired thither " with all freedom for their devotion, and the ex- " ercise of their religion ; which liberty had never " been before granted to any man there, and which " the English and Irish priests, and the Roman " Catholics of those nations, exceedingly mur- " mured at, and used all the endeavours the could " to have taken away, though in vain." * Hyde remained with his family at Antwerp, till the return of Charles II. to Paris, in the autumn of 1651, after his defeat at Worcester, and the perilous adventures of his remarkable flight. An ineffectual attempt was made, through the instru mentality of Long, to keep Hyde from the royal presence. But he had received from another quar ter a summons from the King ; and accordingly, in December, he quitted Antwerp, and on Christ mas-day arrived at Paris, fatigued and ill, and was Hyde received by the royal exile with cordiality and Kingat*6 kindness.! Here, too, Hyde met Lord Ormond; Paris- and from this time commenced his friendship with that distinguished man, — a friendship warm, constant, and valuable to each.t Within about * Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vi. 468. f Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 38 — 41. X Carte, with affected accuracy, says that Ormond landed in France in the beginning of January, and went to Paris on the 21st. See Life of Ormond, i. 157. Hyde, in a letter to Nicholas, speaks of him as being at Paris on the 6th ; and from another letter we may infer, that he was there even in December. See Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 41, 42. 366 THE LIFE OF chap, a month after Hyde's arrival, thev became associ- XIV . " . , ated in the King's councils. " The King," said 1652. Hyde, in a letter to Nicholas of the 3d of February, " resolved that the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, " Earl of Norwich, Lord Wilmot, Lord Jermyn, " and Chancellor of the Exchequer, should meet " together to consult of his affairs, which we have " now done three or four days ; and Mr. Lane, my " Lord Ormond's secretary, attends to keep notes " of the conclusion." * The Queen attempted, but in vain, to introduce Sir John Berkeley into the Council ; and, foiled in this, to obtain for him, on the plea of a promise of the late King, the place of master of the wards. Hyde resisted this request, and on these just grounds, — " that the King could not, at the time, " do a more ungracious thing, that would lose him " more the hearts and affections of the nobility and " gentry of England, than in making a master of " the wards, in a time when it would not be the " least advantage to his Majesty, or the officer, to " declare that he resolved to insist upon that part " of his prerogative which his father had consented " to part with."t This just opposition to an un reasonable request, procured him the enmity of Berkeley, and diminished his favour in the eyes of the Queen, who, at his first arrival, had exhibited a wish to enlist his influence on her side. This avidity for office, evinced by some of the King's adherents, would seem ludicrous and mis- * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 46. f Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vi. 563. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. « 367 placed at such a period, if it were not remembered chap. that these barren honours were all that was then , open to their ambition, and were regarded as ear- 1652. nest of more substantial power, in the event of the King's restoration. Charles, far from being able at that time to dispense wealth to others, was himself miserably poor, and a pensioner on the bounty of France. A pension of six thousand livres a month, to begin six months after his arrival, was assigned to him by the French Court : but, during the preceding six months, he was made to bear half the expenses of the Queen's table ; and when the pension began, it was all stopped, in liquidation of the accumulated debt to the Queen's treasurer, as well as for sundry other debts contracted since his arrival. Of more than 10,000?. obtained in Russia and Poland by Lord Colepepper and Mr. Crofts, Charles received very little, after the expenses of those embassies were paid ; Lord Jermyn having sent an express into Scotland, and procured from the King warrants under his hand to Colepepper and Crofts, to pay the money to several persons, " whereof a considerable sum was made a present " to the Queen ; more to the Lord Jermyn, upon " pretence of debts due to him, which were not " diminished by that receipt ; and all disposed of " according to the modesty of the askers."* * Harris, always prejudiced against Clarendon, thinks his " reflec- " tions on the persons who received the money by, these envoys, are far " enough from being just," and that he " never has a good word for " Lord Jermyn," because they were often of opposite sentiments. His proof of misrepresentation is, that Jermyn kept up a tolerably regular correspondence with the King, " received his Majesty's pen- 568 THE LIFE OF Among the affairs in the transaction of which Sir Edward Hyde was principally concerned, was the question, debated before the Council, whether the Duke of York, who disliked a life of inglorious inactivity, should be allowed to enter the French army. Charles and the Queen had shrunk a little from the responsibility of countenancing such a measure ; but Hyde, who was desired to open the question before the Council, pleaded the Duke's wishes, and the advantages derivable from an initi ation in the profession of arms ; and stated, that the question really was, whether the King should incur the responsibility of restraining him. The question was carried in the Duke's favour ; and he was allowed to join the French army, where he com menced his military career under the distinguished tutelage of Turenne.* On this subject, Hyde's advice was not opposed to the wishes of the Queen ; but other questions soon occurred, which produced coldness towards Hyde on the part of the Queen and of her favour ite Jermyn. They were opposed by him in their endeavours to engage the King to frequent the Presbyterian congregation at Charenton. The Queen, whose ulterior object was the conversion of " sion from the Court of France, and remitted to Cologne from thence, " at one time, the sum of two millions of rix dollars ; " which remit tance, Harris does not tell us, was made in December, 1655, more than three years subsequent to the period to which Clarendon's state ments refer ! * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 250. In the " Life of James," it is stated, that when he first proposed to serve in the French army as a volunteer, " all but Sir J. Berkeley opposed it." i. 54. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 369 the King to Popery, craftily considered (according chap. to Clarendon) that there was no danger of conver- t ' , sion to Presbyterianism ; but that his attendance 1652. at that church might unsettle his religious views, weaken his attachment to the Church of England, and render him more accessible to her persuasions, and a readier proselyte to Popery.* Another ground of offence was, Hyde's being charged with the conduct of secret negotiations with certain Royalists in Scotland, who made it an express condition, " that whatever should have re- " lation to the King's service in Scotland, and to " those persons who were to venture their lives in " it, might not be communicated to the Queen, " the Duke of Buckingham, the Lord Jermyn, or " the Lord Wilmot." Hyde wished to decline the conduct of these negotiations, from which so little could reasonably be hoped, but the King urged him to undertake it ; and Hyde found that his transaction of an affair which was to be kept wholly secret from the Queen, but of the existence of which (though not of its nature and details) she was fully apprised, pro duced all the ill-will he had expected, t The ab sence and illness of Secretary Nicholas threw on Hyde the duties of Secretary of State. On Hyde, too, devolved the unpopular duty of resisting the solicitations of importunate and intriguing cour tiers. " It is hard," as he truly observes, " for * Clar. Hist. Reb. vi. 571—575. f Ibid. ii. 576—582. VOL. I. B B 370 THE LIFE OF chap. « people, who have nothing to do, to forbear doing i " something which they ought not to do." " Whilst 1652. « there are courts in the world, emulation and am- " bition will be inseparable from them ; and kings " who have nothing to give shall be pressed to " promise." The King, he says, gained no freedom from solicitation by being stripped of power. On the contrary, " men, who would not have had the " presumption to have asked the same thing if the " King had been in England, thought it very justi- " fiable to demand it because he was not there, " since there were so many hazards that they " should never live to enjoy what he promised."* Projects of The restless idleness of this little Court, also be- marriage ... for the gulled itself in setting on foot matrimonial projects Duke of for the King and the Duke of York. For the former, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Orleans was thought of; for the latter, Mademoiselle de Longueville, the eldest daughter of the Due de Longueville. Each was an heiress ; and could offer pecuniary advantages, of which the needy adherents of the King and Duke were eager to avail them selves : but there were no inducements of a better kind. They were Roman Catholics ; and it was difficult to say to what extent Charles's alliance, at that time, with any person of that persuasion might militate against the prospect of restoration to his throne — a prospect which, however dark and distant, was ever kept in view by the wisest of his friends. These proffered alliances, and especially that of the * Clar. Hist. Reb. vi. 587. York. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 371 King, were opposed by Hyde and Ormond, and chap. soon fell to the ground. * , XIV" , After the Dutch Grand Pensionary, Pauw, had, 1052. in June 1652, quitted England, and war between Charle?'? 7 x »-> proposition that country and the United Provinces was openly to the declared, Charles, " upon conference only with the " Marquis of Ormond, and the Chancellor, and " enjoining them secrecy, caused a paper to be " drawn up, in which he declared, that he had very " good reason to believe, that there were many of- " ficers and seamen engaged in the service of the " English fleet who undertook that service in hope " to find a good opportunity to serve his Majesty ; " and that if the Dutch were willing to receive him, " he would immediately put himself on board their " fleet, without requiring any command, except of " such ships only as, upon their notice of his being " there, should repair to him out of the rebels' fleet : " by this means he presumed he should be able " much to weaken their naval power, and to raise " divisions in the kingdom, by which the Dutch " would receive benefit and advantage." This paper, when signed, was shown by Hyde to Boreel, the Dutch ambassador at Paris, with a request that it might be forwarded to the States. Boreel was fearful that he should be suspected of having advised it, from his known attachment to the interests of the Prince of Orange, of which Charles's infant nephew, afterwards William III. of England, was then the representative : and he, * Clar. Hist. Reb. vi. 589—594. Life of James, ii. 1. 53. B B CZ 372 THE LIFE OF chap, therefore, declined to send it open, and to seem to , ' , have cognizance of its contents ; but desired " the 1652. " King would enclose it in a letter to him, and " oblige him to send it to the States-General ; " which was done accordingly." The offer occasioned much debate in the coun cils of the States ; the Orange party, who were strong, being favourable to its acceptance. But De Witt, who advocated a contrary policy, pre vailed ; and the King's offer was civilly declined. De Witt appears to have judged wisely ; inasmuch as, by accepting Charles's offer, the Dutch would, for the sake of a temporary advantage, have in curred the inconvenience of introducing a new fea ture into their quarrel with the English Parliament, and have virtually pledged themselves to support the hopeless pretensions of the exiled King.* While the negotiation was pending, during the autumn of 1652, it was meditated to further the intended object, by sending as ambassadors into Holland, Sir Edward Hyde, and the Marquis of Ormond ; but the design was ultimately aban doned, t Pecuniary It was one of the duties which devolved on Hyde, to attend to such scanty means of subsist ence as were within the reach of the impoverished King. Among these were droits to the exchequer, due from privateers provided with letters cf marque from the King, and compelled, since Scilly and Jersey had fallen into the hands of Cromwell, * Clar. Hist. Reb. vi. 603—605. + Clarendon State Papers, iii. 86. 88. 90. 92—114. passim. transactions EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 373 to bring their prizes into French ports. Much was chap. also expected from Prince Rupert, who had long , been absent on a freebooting expedition. He had 1652. been cruising, since 1650, in the West Indies, where he had taken several prizes ; but he had encoun tered severe storms : three fourths of his squadron had been lost ; and on his arrival at Nantes, in the winter of 1652, he was obliged to sell the miserable remnant. * The King's expectations of profit from this source were grievously disappointed. " You " talk of money the King should have upon the " prizes at Nantes," said Hyde, in a letter to Ni cholas : " alas ! he hath not only not had one " penny from them ; but Prince Rupert pretends " the King owes him more money than ever I was " worth."+ Again, he tells him, that Prince Rupert has given the King an account "by which he makes the " King in debt to him;" and Hyde adds, — "Do " not you think it is pretty that the King hath not " one penny upon the prizes he brought in (which, " after all wretched delays, yielded fourteen thou- " sand pounds), but he must be still in debt ?"+" There was also considerable difficulty in collect ing the King's dues on the several prizes brought into the French ports by others. It arose partly from the dishonesty of the captains §, partly from * Clarendon State Papers, iii. 200. f Ibid. iii. 222. X Hid. iii. 224-252. 5 " 1 am glad you have made so full discoveries of the cheates made " by the captaynes." Letter from Sir Edward Hyde to Sir Richard Browne, dated "Paris, the 15th of March, 1653," in the possession ot Mr. Upcott. B B 3 374 THE LIFE OF chap, the dishonesty of Marshal Melleray, the governor , of Nantes, who seized the prize goods, upon a pre- 1652. tended claim of debt, as admiral of Brittany, from those who had carried prizes into the ports of that province. The goods were released upon payment to Melleray of 15,000 livres : but even then it was not without great difficulty that the King obtained his fifteenths, and the Duke of York his tenths ; and when they were paid, it was at the unfavour able rate of exchange which money had borne some months back. * It does not appear what was the net amount obtained by the King from these sources ; but, from passages in various letters, it seems to have been very small, and a considerable part of it consumed in the payment of previous debts, t In August 1652, Hyde states, in a letter to Sir Richard Browne, that " a summ lately receaved at " Paris for the Kinge," "which is all the money " he hath receaved since he came hither, doth not " inable his cooks and back-stayres men to goe on " in provydinge his dyett ; but they protest they " can undertake it no longer."!" In December 1652, Hyde says, the King is "reduced to greater " distresse than you can believe or imagyne."§ In June 1653, he says, in a letter to Nicholas, with respect to the distresses of the King and his ad herents, " I do not know that any man is yet dead * See Letter XXXVL, Vol. III. p. 66. Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 176. Evelyn's Memoirs, v. 240. 265. 272—274. 296—298. 303, 304—309. 313. 324. t See Letter XXXV., Vol. III. p. 66. Evelyn's Memoirs, v. 324. 329—331. X Evelyn, v. 264. § Rjid. v. 267. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 375 " for want of bread, which really I wonder at. I am chap. " sure the King himself owes for all he hath eaten , XI • , " since April ; and I am not acquainted with one 1652. " servant of his who hath a pistole in his pocket. Po™rty of r r the Court. " Five or six of us eat together one meal a day, for " a pistole a week ; but all of us owe for God knows " how many weeks to the poor woman that feeds " us. I believe my Lord of Ormond hath not had " five livres in his purse this month, and hath " fewer clothes of all sorts than you have ; and yet " I take you to be no gallant." * Hyde was severely exposed not merely to the nominal distresses of pecuniary embarrassment, but to the real privations of poverty, as is apparent from many of his letters. " At this time" (No vember 9- 1652), " I have neither clothes nor " fire to preserve me from the sharpness of the " season." t " I am so cold that I am scarce able to hold my " pen, and have not three sous in the world to buy " a faggot." X " I have not been master of a " crown these many months, am cold for want of " clothes and fire, and owe for all the meat which " I have eaten these three months, and to a poor " woman who is no longer able to trust ; and my " poor family at Antwerp (which breaks my " heart) is in as sad a state as I am."§ It appears, too, that his official duties as secretary in the place of Nicholas, instead of being a source of profit, * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 174. + Ibid. iii. 1 12. J Ibid. iii. 126. § Ibid. iii. 124. B B 4 376 THE LIFE OF chap, caused what, in his destitute state, was a serious , XIV" , addition to other burthens. " I cannot," he says, 1653. " avoid the constant expense of seven or eight " livres'the week for postage of letters, which I " borrow scandalously out of my friends' pockets ; " or else my letters must more scandalously remain " still at the post-house : and I am sure all those " which concern my own private affairs would be " received for 10 sous a week ; so that all the rest are " for the King, from whom I have not received one " penny since I came hither, and am put to all this "charge."* In another letter he mentions that he is reduced to want of decent clothing t ; and, in May 1653, tells Nicholas, — "I owe so much " money here, to all sorts of people, that I would " not wonder if I were cast into a prison to-mor- " row ; and if the King should remove, as I hope he " will shortly have occasion to do, and not enable " me to pay the debt I have contracted for his " service, I must look for that portion, and starve " there." X Poverty of jn December, 1653, he received a loan of 1000 Hyde and . others of the lfvres from Sir Richard Browne, whom, in his reply, he thanks for his "noble offer;" adding, " I am not in a condic'on so plentiful! to refuse, " for I must tell you, that I have not had a livre " of my owne these 3 months ; therefore, when you " send the bill, lett me know whether you lend me " so much out of your owne little stocke, or whether " it be the King's money, for in that case his Ma- * Clar. State Papers, iii. 124. f Ibid. iii. 229. J Ibid. iii. 164. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 377 "jesty shall be the disposer, since my office hath chap. " never yett, nor shall entitle me to take his money , " without his derection." * His high-minded de- 1653. licacy and integrity, under the pressure of distress, were not less remarkable than the cheerful forti tude with which he bore these reverses himself, and encouraged a similar fortitude in others.t " Keep " up your spirits," he says in one of his letters to Nicholas, " and take heed of sinking under that bur- " then you never kneeled to take up. Our inno- " cence begets our cheerfulness ; and that, again, " will be a means, to secure the other. Whoever " grows too weary and impatient of the condition " he is in, will too impatiently project to get out of " it ; and that, by degrees, will shake, or baffle, or " delude his innocence. We have no reason to " blush for the poverty which is not brought upon " us by our own faults. As long as it pleases God " to give me health (which I thank him I have in " a very good measure), I shall think he intends " that I shall outlive all these sufferings ; and when " he sends sickness, I shall (I hope with the same " submission) believe that he intends to remove " me from greater calamities." X The health which, at the time when he wrote thus, was good, was too often impaired by illness. His sea- voyage and the hardships of travel, especially his journey, in an in clement season, from Antwerp to Paris, appear to * Evelyn's Memoirs, v. 315. f Ibid. v. 265. 273. 283. Clarendon's State Papers, ii. 349.; iii. 71. X Clarendon's State Papers, ii. 310. 378 THE LIFE OF chap, have produced much indisposition*; and he was , XIV' , occasionally tormented with gout. 1653. His equanimity seems to have been disturbed less intrigues by the evils of poverty, than by the factions, jea- Court. lousies, importunities, and intrigues of the Court of demies. Charles and the Queen mother. " The vexations " I undergo by what I see and hear daily," he says, in a letter to Nicholas, of May 1653, " and " the insupportable weight of envy and malice I " groan under, when I behave myself (God knows) " with as much care as if I were to die the next " minute, does make my life so unpleasant to me, " and breaks my mind, that bread and water, in any " corner of the world, would give me all the joy " imaginable." t " I have," he says in another place, " the good fortune to be equally disliked by " those who agree in nothing else ; my unpardon- " able crime being, that I would have the King do " his business himself, and be governed by no- " body : and my reason is, that, by truth itself, he " hath more judgment and understanding, by many " degrees, than many who pretend to it; and that " is the only thing that breaks my heart, that he " makes no more use of it."+" Hostility of The Queen was openly his foe : " her displea- toeHdee" " sure>" as lie himself tells us, " grew so notorious " against the Chancellor, that after he found, by de- " grees, that she would not speak to him, nor take " any notice of him when she saw him, he forbore, * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 41. f Ibid. iii. 169. % Ibid. iii. 371. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. /379 " at last, coming in her presence, and for many " months did not see her face, though he had the " honour to lodge in the same house, the palace 16'S3. " royal, where their Majesties kept their courts."* Rupert, Buckingham, and Jermyn, almost system atically opposed him. t Herbert, lately Attorney- General, created Lord Keeper through the Queen's influence, was ill-affected towards Hyde. Hyde was also obnoxious to two opposite parties, the Papists and the Presbyterians, who, irreconcile- able in all besides, concurred in enmity to him. Each was hostile for a similar reason ; because, in supporting the Church of England, he was equally opposed to the pretensions of each. Each, too, showed enmity in a similar manner ; each having prepared petitions, which they intended to present, praying for his removal from the King's Councils. But, in both instances, the intention transpired before the petitions were ready, and both were quashed. The more powerful enemies of Hyde were not Accusa- unwilling to avail themselves of the machina- Hyde by tions of his humbler foes ; and to countenance ^ons ?,?d 7 _ Grenville. a charge preferred against him by the concerted schemes of Long and Grenville. Both hated Hyde : Grenville, because he had, as one of the Prince's Council, committed him to prison while serving in the west ; Long, because he believed that chiefly through the instrumentality of Hyde he had been dismissed from his office in January 1652.+" * Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vii. 59. T Thurloe, ii. 510. Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 191. X See Long's letter to Charles II., Vol. III., p. 74., et seq. 380 THE LIFE OF chap. The cause of this dismissal was, an accusation by XIV • , Col. Wogan, who charged Long with having been 1653. the writer of a letter, in the winter of 1645, inform ing the Parliamentarians of divisions in the King's army, and inducing Fairfax to depart from his inten tion of sending his army into winter quarters, and to advance to the attack of Torrington.* Wogan was believed : he bore a good character, and was ready to swear to the truth of his assertion. The Queen, Jermyn, and Wilmot were then avowedly hostile to Long!; and he was dismissed from his employ ments, without being allowed a public hearing. This treatment, Long, in his letter to the King, at tributes to the advice of Sir Edward Hydet, upon whom, after Long's dismissal from his secretaryship, devolved some of the duties which Long had per formed. In May, 1652, Long received a letter from a man named Massonet, who had taught the King and his brothers to write, and had been employed as a clerk in a public office. He had been ser viceable to Long, and received favours from him in return ; and he now informed him that a maid servant, who once waited on his wife, but had since lived in Cromwell's household, told him, when he was last in England, " that she brought in, pri- " vately, to Cromwell's bed-chamber, a gentleman " whom no man in Court can believe to have been " in England these six years :" and he intimated that this person was Hyde ; told Long that, " if * Clarendon State Papers, iii. 43. 47. Carte's Letters, i. 139. t Ibid. iii. 44. X See Letter XLIL, Vol. III. p. 74. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 381 " the visit is true," he may thereby " take venge- " ance of an adversary;" but entreated him " not " to lett it come to light, untill better satisfied from i65s. " London."* No measures appear to have been taken during more than a year; but, at length, Long's knowledge of the reported circumstance transpired. The story reached the ears of Gren ville, and, in June 1653, he was, by a Colonel Wyndham, referred to Long for further inform- ationt ; and Grenville, accordingly, wrote to Long, on the 12th of July, from Breda. X Long, in his an swer, details the statement which had been made to him, adding, " I must intreate you to forbeare " stirring this busines, till you and I meete and " concert it better : in the meane time, if you " please, and have a fitt opportunity, you may pri- " vately informe the King what you have heard, as " out of duty to him ; but humbly desire his Ma- " jesty's secrecy in it, untill some further discovery " can be made : but doe not name mee nor any " author, for the present, on this side the sea ; but " refer all to the maid, in England, who was then " Cromwell's servant, and whose name is Elizabeth " Hodges ; and if the King will be at the charge " of her coming over, I believe she may be per- " suaded to come ; and I think I know where she "is to be found, having now been long out of " Cromwell's service. This maid you may only " name to the King, for the present, but by noe * See Letter XXXIV. from Massonet to Long, Vol. III. p. 63. T Lansdowne's Works, ii. 23. X See Letters XXXVIII. and XXXIX., Vol. III. p. 69— 71. 382 THE LIFE or chap. " means mee or any other author. The more pri- xlv' , " vately you do this the better ; and the lesser you 1653. " speak of it to others, and the more you conjure " the King to secrecy, and be thought to doe it " only out of duty, the more effect it will have with " the King." * Grenville, impatient to prefer this charge against the man he hated, and, as he coarsely expresses it, " to sinck Hyde's hydet," would not await the opportunity of a personal interview with the King, but conveyed to him the whole by letter, on the 12th of August, suppressing only the name of his informant. The King demanded the>inform- ant's name, and Grenville sent him Long's letter. X The burthen of proof was thus shifted from Gren ville to Long, who was thereupon required to sub stantiate his charge ; and this he endeavoured to do by producing Massonet before the Council, on the 12th of January 1654. Massonet repeated the statement he had made to Long, taxing Hyde with having been in England, and having visited Cromwell, between the times of quitting Spain and of joining the King at Paris ; and referring to the testimony of the woman who bad been Cromwell's servant. Hyde replied, that " he would make " no other defence, than that there were persons " then in the town, who, he was confident, would " avow that they had seen him once every day, " from the time he returned from Spain, to the * See Letter XXX VIII., Vol. III. p. 69, 70. f Letter XL., Vol. III. p. 73. X See Letter XXXIX,, Vol. III. p. 71, 72. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 383 " day on which he attended his Majesty at Paris:" and he then withdrew, declining to be present at the debate which would ensue.* i6sa Long desired time for the production of the wit ness, and prayed that, in the mean time, the same measure might be dealt to Hyde that, with the approbation of the Queen and her party, had been dealt to him ; and that the Chancellor of the Ex chequer should, until his innocence was established, be excluded from his Majesty's Councils, t Lord Jermyn, and the Lord Keeper Herbert, concurred with him in this plea, which was probably the prin cipal object of those who countenanced the charge. That it would be substantiated, could not have seemed probable ; but if it could be a means of excluding Hyde from the King's Councils for a considerable time, much would be effected by his foes, even though the accusation might, in the end, * The following remarkable passage appears in a letter from Hyde to Sir Toby Matthew, dated Madrid, 18th March, 1650 :—" And now, " Sir, let me tell you in your ear (as one whom I dare trust with my " want of judgment), that, after all my travel through the Low Coun- " tries, and I think the length of France, and little less than 400 miles " in the King's dominions, England is a very convenient place : and the " people were once as good company as any of their neighbours : and " if they can be yet reduced to half the honesty they had, if you please " I will meet you there ; and if we ever come again willingly out of it, " Let us be banished London . But I will take no peremptory resolu- " tion, till I know how far I may depend upon your concurrence, and " that you will join with, Sir, your very affectionate humble servant." Clarendon's State Papers. It appears from this passage, that Hyde had once contemplated a journey to England; but when it is remembered that Long's accusation not only failed, but was never revived, even when the powerful enemies of Clarendon were eagerly searching for every circumstance that could be adduced against him ; it is impossible to believe that he really went thither, as alleged by his accusers. f See Letter XLIL, Vol. III. p. 80. 384 THE LIFE OF chap, be utterly disproved. The design was too pal- XIV- pable. The King did not allow himself to be thus 1654. deprived of the services of Hyde ; and the propo sition was rejected. Another allegation was now brought forward against Sir Edward Hyde, by Grenville, accusing him of having received a pension * for intelligence which he furnished to Cromwell : a gross fiction, which his poverty alone was sufficient to disprove ; and which appears, by Grenville's own published defence of himself, to have been mere malignant gossip, the promulgators of which, with the ex ception of two, he does not remember; and he did not state whether even those two persons believed the scandal they repeated. The reward of his malice was a letter from Ormond, written by the King's command, forbidding his presence at Court, and declaring his allegations to be a defamatory libel.t As a more formal vindication of Hyde, a declaration emanated from the King in Council, on the 13th of January, 1654 ; which, re-enforcing Grenville's exclusion from Court, " upon the whole " matter declares, that the accusation and in- " formation against Mr. Chancellor is a groundless " and a malicious calumny, and that the King is " well satisfied of his constant integrity and fide- " lity in the service of his father and himself; and, " moreover, that he will, in due time, farther exa- " mine this unworthy combination against him, w See Letters XXXIX. and XLL, Vol. III., p. 71. 74. f Lansdowne's Works, ii. 123. 1654. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 385 "• when it shall be more in his power to punish the chap. " persons who shall appear to be guilty of it."* XIV- Other means were tried for ruining Hyde in the favour of the King. Long, in a letter to the King, of the 23d of December, repeats what he states to have occurred in private conversation between Hyde and himself. " I having said to " him, that the King's ministers, and himself in " particular, did suffer much in the opinion of " the world, for the little industry that was used " in his Majesty's busines, he thereupon replyed, " that it was a sad thing, that men would judge " of the managing of busines by the guesse : " that the King was given to pleasure, like other " young men of 23 or 24 years old ; and that I " knew how indispos'd and inactive he was : which " I thought to be words of great malice and ini- " quity from a councillor, and great want of duty " to excuse himself by casting imputations on " your Majesty ; which made me reply, that nay- " ther I, nor any else, could without much wicked- " ness believe that of the King, because his " Majesty had given such eminent testimony to the " contrary, by his actions both in Scotland and " England." t Long's solemn reprobation of the disclosure, by Hyde, of that notorious fact, " that the King was " given to pleasure, like other young men of 23 " or 24 years old," was as ludicrous as it was ma- * Lansdowne's Works, ii. 23. f See Letter XLL, Vol. III. p. 7. VOL. I. C C 386 THE LIFE OF chap. lignant. It must have excited the mirth of Charles' XIV , rather than anger against Hyde ; and tends to 1654. justify the remark of the latter with reference to Long's awkward attempts at exculpation from Wogan's charge, that he " appears as much fool as " knave."* Yet would the Lord Keeper Herbert, before the Council, stoop to countenance tales like these ; and called in Lord Gerard, a friend of Long, who related a conversation with the Chan cellor of the Exchequer, — private, like the former, and similar in purport, but in which Gerard ap peared, by his own statement, to have suggested the expressions which were most likely to be offensive to the King. Hyde, after observing " that he " did not expect that the Lord Gerard should dis- " cover any private discourse that had passed a " year before between them two," frankly ad mitted the tenour of the conversation to have been such as was reported, and could not deny any of the alleged expressions, if Lord Gerard positively affirmed his recollection of them. The King closed the discussion, by stating his belief that Hyde had used the words alleged, "because he had often " said that, and much more, to himself, which he " had never taken ill." Thus failed these mean endeavours to undermine the character of Hyde ; and, " from that time," he tells us, " there were no further public attempts " against the Chancellor, during the time of his " Majesty's abode in France." Hyde seems to * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 47. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 387 have treated these attacks with supreme contempt, chap. - I hope," he says, in a letter to Sir Richard , ' Browne, " you think it strange to heare that I have 1654, " bene in Englande, and have had private confer- " ence with Cromwell ; and that you are not sorry " that my enemyes can frame no wiser calumny " against me." * " It is very long," he writes to Nicholas, " since " the King hath heard of the pretty information of " my being in England, which was at the time you " were at Antwerp ; and I believe, upon examina- " tion, you will be found to have been there with me. " How is it possible you can expect that I should " write such fooleries to you ? For the other, of the " pension, I heard not till lately, and I am confident " the King hath not received any such letter : it " may be, it hath come since his sickness, and so " expects a fit season to be perused ; and then, no " doubt, his Majesty will proceed as is fit. I wish " I had nothing to trouble myself and my friends " with, but such discourses ; and if I should tell " you all such stuff, and all that is said of myself " and other men, I should write you long letters, " and nothing to the purpose. My comfort is, " that I do not know that any such little stratagems " do make impression upon any worthy person, " and then the matter is not great ; and truly, till " you can get upon ground that you may punish " such licences, you cannot suppress them."t 1 " Know," he writes afterwards to the same, Evelyn, v. 316. + Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 188. C C 2 388- THE LIFE OF chap. " that on Monday I was compelled to take notice , " to the King, in Council, of the old foolish scandal 1654. " of my being in England with Cromwell, because " I heard I was reproached for lying under such an " imputation, without being vindicated ; whereas, " the King knew well, that I could do no more . " upon it, nor indeed his Majesty, than he had " done already. Upon the examination of this, " there were many particulars which you would " hardly expect, and which you will, I believe, " hear from others, and I had rather you should " than from me : in a word, the King is thought " to be too favourable to me ; and truly he is more " angry at the combination than I wish, but, on my " conscience, he knows more of it than I do."* Although the King appears to have been friendly to Hyde, and to have appreciated his valu able services ; yet must the conduct of the King be included among the sources of that uneasiness by which the mind of the minister was afflicted. That which Hyde had said to Gerard was not unfounded. The King was inordinately fond of pleasure, and lamentably indolent. It was difficult to induce him to write even a short letter : on only one day in the week (Friday), would he devote any time to such duties ; and even that day was often entirely disposed of in other ways, and a whole week would elapse before he could be per suaded to repair the omission. Though Hyde cautiously abstained from censure, yet allusions to * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 206. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 389 this deplorable indolence will be found in several of chap. his letters to Nicholas.* He longed to withdraw the XIV" King from the attractions of Paris ; but disinclina- 1654. tion, illness, and deficiency of the means of trans port, successively retarded the accomplishment of this object. At length the King became weary of his situation ; his health was restored ; and money was sent to him by Royalists in England, who, through fear of the suspected growing intimacy of Mazarin and Cromwell, were anxious for his removal from France. The Court of France also desired his absence, that they might better cultivate Cromwell's friendship : and, inasmuch as Charles's pecuniary embarrassments were found to be a real obstacle to his avowed intention of going away, Mazarin engaged that, out of the purchase money of some cannon, bought by t'le French Government, be longing to Prince B apert's sole remaining ships of war, and out of the stipulated assignments, " his " arrears should either be entirely paid," or " so " much of his debts secured to his creditors as should " well satisfy them ; and the rest should be paid " to his receiver, for the charges of his journey." t Thus enabled to prosecute his intention, Charles quitted Paris in the summer of 1654.+" He went to Spa, where he met his sister, the Princess of Orange ; staid there a few weeks, till driven away • Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 57. 159. 170, 171—173. f Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, yii. 82. X Clarendon, with his usual inaccuracy with respect to dates, says, " It was about the beginning of June, in the year 1654, that the King "left Paris" (Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vii. 95.); when, from a letter to Nicholas, of the 8th of July, it was evident that he was at Paris still. See Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 255. c c 3 390 THE LIFE OF chap by the breaking out of the small-pox ; then re- . moved to Aix-la-Chapelle, and thence, in the course 1654. of the autumn, to Cologne, where, being well re ceived, he determined to abide. Hyde, before he quitted Paris, had an interview with the Queen, whose schemes to ruin him had failed ; whose enmity, latterly, had been undis guised ; and with whom he had scarcely held any communication for several months. Respect for her position induced him to ask a farewell audience ; while her behaviour forbad him to seek it. In this dilemma, Lord Percy interposed, at the King's desire ; and Hyde went to the Queen, on receiving an intimation of her willingness to see him. The conversation which ensued (as reported by Hyde) was not amicable in its tone. Hyde sought to know the ground of her displeasure. She charged him with " disrespect ; " and said, " that all men " took notice, that he never came where she " was, though he lodged under her roof." Hyde replied, in a tone of mingled courtesy and sarcasm, that she had mentioned his punishment, and not his fault : that he was not so devoid of sense, as needlessly, by his own act, to render it notorious that he was not favourably regarded by the widow of his benefactor, and mother of his present sovereign, who enjoyed the friendship of a powerful Court, under whose protection they had been long re siding : that it had been sufficiently evident that his presence was unwelcome, and he had therefore abstained from obtruding himself upon her notice ; and, in conclusion, he desired " she would dismiss EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. ,391 " him with the knowledge of what had been taken chap. " amiss, that he might be able to make his inno- , XIV' , " cence and integrity appear." " But all this," i654. says Clarendon, " prevailed not with her Majesty ; " who, after she had, with her former passion, ob- " jected his credit with the King, and his endeavour " to lessen that credit which she ought to have, con- *' eluded that she should be glad to see reason to " change her opinion ; and so, carelessly extended " her hand towards him, which he kissing, her ** Majesty departed to her chamber." * * Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vii. 95. Dd 392 THE LIFE OF 1654. CHAP. XV. anne hyde becomes maid of honour to the princess of orange. attempts of the queen to convert the duke of gloucester to popery. charles is sus pected of being secretly a convert. hyde's view of affairs in england. proceedings of cromwell. — failure of middleton's enterprise in scotland. — un successful plot of gerard and vowell. " the sealed knot." — hyde's communication with the royalists in england the rising under penruddock and gro ve,— inoreased severity of cromwell's government. hyde returns with the king to cologne. — man ning's treachery. — cromwell's treaty with france. charles ii. attempts to reopen communication with spain. — character and proceedings of sexby. [ — hyde's communication with him. — plot against the life of cromwell. 1654—1656. During the King's journey from Paris to Spa, Hyde obtained leave to quit him for a time, in order to see his wife and children, who, since the autumn of 1653, had resided at Breda *, whither they had re moved from Antwerp, to a house which the Prin cess of Orange had assigned to them, and where they lived rent free. This kindness on the part of the Princess was followed by another act of favour, apparently unimportant, but which led to an im portant result — the appointment of Anne Hyde, his eldest daughter, to the situation of maid of * Clar. State Papers, iii. 198. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 393 honour in the Princess's household. A vacancy hav- cSyP' ing occurred, through the death of a victim to that <¦ terrible disease, the fear of which had driven 1654- Charles from Spa, O'Neile, a friend of Hyde, advised him to apply on his daughter's behalf. But Hyde declined, saying, as he tells us, " that " he had but one daughter, who was all the com- " pany and comfort her mother had, in her melan- " cholie retirement, and therefore he was resolved " not to separate them, nor to dispose his daughter " to a court life." * The Princess had already been solicited, and was favourable to the appointment ; and she only desired that the King should propose it, that she might be sheltered from the expected reproaches of the Queen, who, ever grasping at power, wished to control, if possible, even the household of her married daughter. The King and the Princess severally proposed the appoint ment to Hyde, who to each expressed disinclin ation, but agreed to leave the decision to his wife. Lady Hyde accepted the offer ; and the daughter was introduced into the household of the Princess. Anne Hyde, for whom such high destinies were in store, appears at this time to have been more attractive than she was afterwards thought. Charles II., in a letter to Bennett, in 1655, notices the admiration she had excited in Sir Spencer Compton t ; and the Queen of Bohemia, with whom she was as much a favourite as with the * Life of Clarendon, i. 303. f Evelyn's Memoirs, note v. 198. 394> THE LIFE OF chap. Princess of Orange, commends the beauty of her * , appearance at a court masque.* 1654. In November, Hyde was with the King at Co logne, where his attention was engaged by an attempt on the part of the Queen, which was encouraged by the French Court, to convert to Popery her youngest son, the Duke of Gloucester, through the instrumentality of the Abbe Montague, her almoner. Failing in her entreaties, she committed him to the care of this busy priest, who carried him away from all counteracting influence at Paris, to the seclusion of his own pleasant abbey at Pontoise. The King and his advisers, when apprised of this plot, of which no intimation had been given by the Queen, felt much annoyance. The King wrote strongly to his mother, in reprobation of the attempted conversion ; and Lord Ormond was sent into France, to bring the young Duke away to Cologne. The arts and violence of the Queen, and the particulars of Ormond's successful expedition, are detailed by Carte in his life of that nobleman. On the young Duke giving, as his final answer, the expression of his resolution to be firm to Protestantism, Montague * In a letter to Nicholas, of January 11. 1655, the Queen of Bohemia says, " We had a Royaltie, though not upon twelf night, at " Teiling . . . Mrs. Hide was a shepherdess, and I assure was verie hand- " some in it : none but her mistress looked better than she did. I " believe my Lady Hide, and Mr. Chancelour, will not be sorie to " heare it, which I pray tell them from me." Evelyn's Memoirs, v. 217. " I pray remember me to Mr. Chancelour, and tell him his ladie, and " my favorit his daughter, came hither upon Saturday, and are gone this " day to Teiling. I finde my favorit growen everie way to her advan- " tage." Evelyn, v. 206. On September 7. 1654, she had written,— " I heare Mrs. Hide is to come to my niece in Mrs. Killigrew's place, " which I am verie glad of; she is verie fitt for itt : a great favorit of " mine." Evelyn, v. 199. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 395 .abruptly signified to him the Queen's command, chap. ¦" that he should see her face no more." The Duke , xv" of York interceded in vain : the Queen was inex- 1654. orable ; and sternly rejected her son's attempt to speak to her again, and beg her blessing, as she was passing on her way to Mass. " The rigour " which followed," says Carte, " has something " in it too extraordinary to be omitted, though not " to be read without indignation. Banished from. " his mother's presence, when he returned from " divine service be was at a loss for a dinner ; " there being a very strict prohibition given to all " the officers in the Queen's Court, that they " should not furnish him with any provisions or " necessaries. His horses were that night turned " out of the Queen's stables, and the next day " the sheets were taken off his bed. Thus was " he forced to seek a lodging elsewhere than in " the Palace Royal ; and nobody that had any de- " pendence on the Queen durst receive him into " their houses." * He was at length received in the house of Lord Hatton, where he remained till Ormond, partly by borrowing, partly by pawn ing his insignia of the Garter, could raise money to defray the expense of their journey to Cologne, t Charles's conduct in this affair, — his letter to the Duke of Gloucester, and a previous letter to the * Carte's Life of Ormond, ii. 167. f Carte's Life of Ormond, ii. 163—168. Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, vii. 120 — 124. Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 256 — 260. Evelyn's Memoirs, v. 191—207. 396 THE LIFE OF chap. Duke of York, respecting the Queen's ill-kept pro- , ' , mise not to attempt the conversion of their brother 1654. Henry, — render improbable Burnet's assertion, that Charles himself had become a Papist before he left Paris ; that "only Cardinal de Retz was in the se- " cret, and Lord Aubigny had a great hand in it ; " and that Hyde suspected it, but would never suffer himself to believe it.* Other testimonies, in sup» port of the King's conversion to Popery, are Thurloe's letter to General Montague, of April, 1556, stating that Charles had " declared himself, " in private, to be a Roman Catholic t ; " and a story told by Carte, that Ormond, one morning very early stepping into a church, " where a great " number of people were at their devotions, saw " the King on his knees at Mass." X This last tale is grossly improbable : it would have been madness in the King to have committed such an act. It is improbable that Cromwell's spies, who watched him every where, should not have ascertained and pro mulgated a fact so valuable to their employer. Moreover, the act stated would imply a fervour of devotion quite inconsistent with the character of Charles, and at variance with the principles as cribed to him by one of those companions who knew him best. § With respect to Thurloe's letter, it may be ob served, that it is written from England, and that the authority for its assertion is not given. It is * Burnet's Own Times, i. 126. f Carte's Letters, ii. 102. X Carte's Life of Ormond, ii. 254. § Buckingham's Works, ii. 55. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 397 also improbable that De Retz should have been in { chap.; Charles's confidence on this important subject; and i not have communicated to the French Court what, 1654. both to them and to their ally Cromwell, it would have been so important to discover. That Hyde had no knowledge of any such religious apostacy is sufficiently evident from the following passage in a confidential letter to Charles, dated May 1. 1656 : " If you understand Dutch, you will find a very " worthy mention of you in the last Diurnal, " printed at the Hague, of your changing your " religion, and some other particulars not crowded " in by chance : it shall go hard but I will discover " by what villainy these scandals are published."* If Hyde had known that the King was at that time secretly a Catholic, it is scarcely credible that he would have had recourse to the superfluous hypocrisy of writing to him thus in private. All these combined considerations must incline us to disbelieve that Charles was a convert to Popery at this early period of his life. Since the return of Charles to France, after the I?yde'| ' view of disastrous battle of Worcester, Hyde (as is evident affa!rs in from the correspondence which, with scarcely any intermission, he maintained with Secretary Ni cholas, during the years 1652-3-4) had paid a constant attention to the state of affairs in Eng land and Scotland ; to the proceedingsjof the King's adherents, and to their prospects of success. He seems to have entertained no sanguine hope of ad- * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 298. >J3 THE LIFE OF chap, vantage from secret plots, and preconcerted risings ; , * XV" and to have repressed such projects, rather than 1654. encouraged them. Neither had he much expecta tion of benefit from foreign arms : he trusted rather to the effects of popular disaffection in England, and of the jealousy of Cromwell's power among the most eminent persons who supported him. " I am confident," he says, in a letter to Nicholas, in November, 1653, " there are many officers who " will always believe that they have done as much " for the Commonwealth as he" (Cromwell), " and " therefore will not be content that he should carry " away the reward : and if I did not assuredly " think, that, in that method of destruction, and " from that fountain of pride and madness, they " will at last determine the confusion, and be each " other's executioners, I should be very melan- " cholick ; for I have really more hope from that, " than from all the armies and fleets you and " your enterprising friends will be able to draw " together."* Events in England, in the course of that year, reasonably encouraged Hyde's belief that a dissolu tion of usurped authority was at hand. There was much violent exercise of lawless power, — violence indicative of conscious weakness, rather than of firmly seated authority ; and which produced the natural growth of trouble and dissension. On the 20th of April, Cromwell dissolved the Long Parliament by military force. In June, he * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 1 98. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 399 convened that anomalous assembly called Bare- chap.] bones Parliament — a Parliament only in name, xv' , chosen in a manner unknown to the constitution, 1654. consisting of 155 persons selected, by Cromwell, out of lists of " the godly," furnished by the mi nisters of the several congregations, ¦ and, without other election than the will of his Council, sum moned by his writ to attend at Whitehall, on a cer tain day, to serve each as Member for some specified county or borough. To 120 of these persons, so summoned, Cromwell, at Whitehall, on the 4th of July, committed supreme authority, for fifteen months, to be afterwards transmitted to another similar assembly. About the same time, the in creased unpopularity of Cromwell's government was seriously evinced at the trial of Lilburne. Thou sands espoused the cause of the prisoner : papers were circulated, stating that 20,000 men were willing to stake their lives in his defence. Crom well thought it necessary to post soldiers near the Court, to prevent a rescue, and to draw troops nearer to the metropolis ; and when, on the third night of the trial, Lilburne was acquitted, the city of London rang with the shouts of assembled thousands. Fresh changes followed. Cromwell, in a few months, became disgusted with the legislative monster which he had named a Parliament ; and in December, in accordance with secret instruc tions, a portion of the body abdicated their func tions, and the remainder, like their predecessors, were turned out by soldiers. The abdicating por- 400 THE xife of chap. XV. 16,54. Middieton'sfailure in Scotland. Gerard and Vow- ell's plot. tion formally resigned their power to Cromwell, who, four days afterwards, publicly assumed the kingly office, under the title of Protector. Events like these were replete with elements of discord, and might reasonably excite the hopes of Hyde. Other events, which soon followed, not less justified his want of confidence in the efficacy of plots and risings. In the autumn of 1653, on Monk's de parture to the fleet, the Royalists in Scotland rose in arms ; and at length Middleton was sent, with a royal commission, to take command, and repress the jealous feuds which had already sprung up among. the insurgents. Scarcely had Middleton assumed the command, than Monk returned to oppose him. A desultory warfare ensued ; which ended, in the summer of 1654, in the suppression of the Roy alists, and the complete subjugation of Scotland. Equally unsuccessful was a plot in England, in the summer of 1654, for the destruction of Crom well, and the overthrow of his government, — a plot which exhibited the reasonableness of Hyde's distrust of such proceedings. Not only, as Hyde says, in a letter to Nicholas, did " many wild, " foolish persons propose wild things to the King, " which he civilly discountenances, and then they " and their friends brag what they have, or could " do*;" but also unprincipled men, would seduce others into plots, that they might profit by be traying them. Such a traitor was a man named Henshaw, who after obtaining the assent of nume- * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 247. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 401 rous Royalists to a plan which he had proposed, of assassinating Cromwell, overpowering his guards,- and proclaiming Charles, gave intelligence to the 1654. Government when a sufficient number were impli cated ; and forty of the confederates were seized and examined. Three of them were chosen for trial, of whom one turned evidence ; and the re maining two, Gerard and Vowel, were condemned and executed. Abroad, Cromwell was triumphant. In Sep tember, 1654, after a successful naval war, he had concluded a treaty with the Dutch ; by which he obtained for England large pecuniary compen sations, and excluded Charles and his adherents from their territory and harbours. He had con cluded treaties of amity and commerce with Por tugal, Denmark, and Sweden ; and a similar treaty was in progress with France. At home he was less triumphant. He summoned a Parliament, Sept. 4. arid endeavoured unsuccessfully to render it sub servient. On the second day of the session, his right to rule was sharply questioned ; and a motion for going into committee, to examine and deter mine the nature of the government, was carried against his wishes. Within -a fortnight, he had recourse to the arbitrary expedient of summoning them to his presence, telling them his authority must be recognised, for by that authority alone ' they sat ; and requiring them to sign a recogni tion of it, which they would find, on their return, in the lobby of the house. They returned, and vol. 1. d D 402 THE LIFE OF chap, there was the recognition for signature, and with it xv' a guard of soldiers, who admitted those who signed 1655. the parchment, and excluded those who refused. But even this did not succeed in drilling the Parha ment into tame subservience. A month afterwards, Lambert's motion, that the office of Protector should, according to the established law of inhe ritance, be limited to the house of Cromwell, was negatived by 280 to 80. Cromwell's Instrument of Government was subjected to revision, and all he had done under that instrument was treated as merely provisional : when at length, on the 22d of January (twelve days within the five calendar months for which they considered themselves en titled to sit, — but one day over the five lunar months of which the term consisted, according to Cromwell's construction), he summoned them to his presence, in the painted chamber, and, after an angry speech, dissolved them. This long course of arbitrary proceedings pro duced the disaffection which Hyde had expected ; and, if the resources of Cromwell's genius had not defied the ordinary rules of calculation, Hyde's ex pectations would probably have been realised in the eventual overthrow of the Protector's power. In the spring of 1655, Royalists and Republicans (though apparently not in concert) were both conspiring to overthrow him. A club of Royalists, calling them- The"Seai- selves the "Sealed Knot," had long; existed in ed Knot." . . ° London : and though their existence was known to Cromwell's Government, and two of their letters EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 403 intercepted*, the persons composing it could not chap. be detected. In June, 1654 (as it appears from ¦ . ' ¦ a letter of Hyde to Nicholas), commissions, with 1655- blanks left for names and dates, were sent by the King to Denny, Hubbard, and others of this con clave, " in whom only," as it appears from a letter of Ormond to Hyde, was " any known authority " from the King." t This club, as we are told by the same letter, declared, in February, 1655, " against the madness of those people that are " resolved to begin ; " grounding their objection upon "the weakness and unpreparedness of their de- " sign," and the probability of a fitter opportunity being offered "by divisions in the army, and by the " discontent Cromwell's parting, as he hath done, " with his Parliament will give all sorts of people." These prudent views, concurred with those of Hyde, to whom, or to the King, were addressed all written communications on this subject. Great were the difficulties which Hyde encountered in the course of these communications. To repress the rash, — to animate the desponding, — to detect treachery, — to test the accuracy of suspected in formation, — to strip off the false colouring of san guine hope, — to reconcile the jealousies of the rest less and the remiss ; — these were among the tasks of his situation. Those, also, who, though not pre pared to co-operate, were, nevertheless, prepared for the same course of action, were also to be in spired with mutual confidence. " Very many, * Thurloe, ii. 64. 70. f Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 247. 265. D D 2 404 THE LIFE OF chap. " who held correspondence with his Majesty, and xv. " those he assigned to that office, would not trust 1655. " each other ; " a mistrust which " proved very " grievous to the King, for he could not convert and " restrain those who were too forward by the coun- " sel of those who stood in a better light, and could " discern better what was to be done, because they " could not be brought together to confer : and they " who appeared to be less desperate were, by the " others, reproached with being less affectionate, " and to want loyalty as much as courage." Thus many of those men who were devoted to the same cause "grew to reproach and revile one another, " and contracted a greater animosity between them- " selves than against their common adversary." * Charles and his advisers, during the early period of his residence at Cologne, were harassed with numerous importunities and representations from his impatient and disunited adherents. They told him, that a day was appointed for a general rising; — that a part of the army would declare against Cromwell; — that Kent was united to a man, and would be in arms on the day appointed ; and they entreated the King to be in readiness near the coast, that he might avail himself of an opportunity to transport himself to England. It was too late for the King to forbid the intended rising. Failure might be imputed to his want of energy, if he utterly declined to co-operate. ng to the si. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 405 * coast; and accordingly, attended only by Ormond* chap. and one servant, and without the knowledge of t xv" , any, save Hyde and Nicholas, Charles secretly i6S5. departed from Cologne to Zealand. Sir John Mennes, and a son of Secretary Nicholas, were sent before him into Zealand, to await further orders ; and Hyde, for the sake of facility of communication with the King, came afterwards to Breda.t Before the King left Cologne, Lord Rochester and Sir John Mennes had, with his approbation, repaired to England in disguise, to concert plans, and take command in the projected rising. It was arranged that Rochester should command in the north, and Wagstaff in the west; and each went to his respective post. On the 11th of March, The rising Wagstaff, with Penruddock and Grove, two west- 1s£u^lt' country gentlemen, and about 200 armed men on horseback, entered Salisbury, during the assizes, at five o'clock in the morning ; — took possession of the town, secured all the horses of the inns, liber ated the prisoners, seized the Judges and Sheriff, # and, if Wagstaff could have prevailed, would have hanged them on the spot : but his followers op posed this unjustifiable violence, and the Judges were set at liberty. The King was then pro claimed ; and, at two o'clock, the insurgents left * Carte does not mention this : he says, merely, that, soon after Ormond's return to Cologne, he was sent to the Hague. t In the account of these proceedings is a remarkable example of Clarendon's inaccuracy with respect to dates. He mentions the 18th of April as the appointed day for a general rising. Now the appointed day was early in February. Whitelocke, in his "Memorials, speaks of simultaneous risings before the 13th of that month; and the sub sequent rising at Salisbury took place on the 11th of March. D D 3 406 THE LIFE OF chap. Salisbury, taking with them the Sheriff as a host- , age. The harsh treatment of the Judges and 1655. Sheriff had already introduced dissension. The ac cession of strength expected in Salisbury was not gained ; the promised reinforcement from Hamp shire had not arrived ; and, when it did arrive af terwards, dispersed in disappointment, on finding WagstafPs party gone. Wagstaff and his followers wandered on, weary and dispirited, towards Devon shire. None joined them ; and at length, as we are told by Clarendon, " horse and men were so tired, " for want of rest and sleep, that one single troop " of horse, inferior in number, and commanded " by an officer of no credit in the war, being in " those parts by chance, followed them at a dis- " tance, till they were so spent, that he rather " entreated, than compelled, them to deliver " themselves." Thus tamely died this ill-starred enterprise. Wagstaff escaped: the majority were taken and tried: Penruddock and Grove, and some others, were executed. Those whose lives were spared, were cruelly sent to Barbadoes, to be sold as slaves. " The design of the north, which was thought "to be much better prepared and provided for, " made less noise, and expired more peaceably." No blow was struck : the confederates slunk away; and Rochester, in disguise, and through imminent dangers, quitted the kingdom, and returned to Cologne. The risings which had taken place in Northum berland, Yorkshire, Shropshire, Nottinghamshire, EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 407 and other counties, were all fruitless alike; and chap. could be said rather to have expired from weakness, xv' than to have been forcibly suppressed. The ^ss. country was not yet ripe for resistance ; and that matchless combination of subtlety and energy, of caution and decision, which characterised the genius of Cromwell, was still more than equal to all the dangers which the decline of his popularity had produced. Far from having weakened his autho rity, these bootless risings served to strengthen it. They afforded a plea for increased severity, and an extension of power; — for forbidding ejected clergy, men of the Church of England to teach as school masters, or to preach in public or in private ; — for banishing from the kingdom all Popish priests ; — for banishing all Catholics and Cavaliers 20 miles from London; — for fettering the press ; — for de manding security for good behaviour from most of the English nobility and gentry ; — for exacting a tenth of the property of all Royalists ; — and, finally, for dividing the country into districts, and placing over each a Major General, charged with the execution of the above-named decrees, and armed with other extensive powers; and thus imposing, without disguise, that grievous yoke of military despotism to which, though less ostensibly, the country had long been virtually subject. After this downfall of the hopes of the Royalists, the King and Hyde returned to Cologne. There treachery soon came to light, which proved that the frail foundation of those hopes was even weaker than d d 4 1655. Manning's 408 THE LIFE OF chap, they had supposed ; and that the spies of Crom well were among them. Manning, a young Roman Catholic, resident at treachery. Cologne, professedly an ardent Royalist, and much liked and trusted by the King and his adherents, had excited suspicions in the mind of Hyde, by a pre tended disclosure which was found to be untrue. It was also discovered that every post brought letters for him to Antwerp, which were taken up there, and transmitted to Cologne ; and that he had letters of credit, upon a merchant of Antwerp, to a considerable amount. Means were taken to seize at Antwerp some of these letters, and also some which had been sent by Manning ; and they disclosed the alarming fact, that Manning cor responded with Cromwell's secretary, and supplied him with information. Persons were immediately sent to seize him, " who found him in his cham- " ber, writing, and his cipher and papers before him ; all which they possessed themselves of, without any resistance." On examination, he confessed that he was a paid spy ; had been in cor respondence with Cromwell three years ; and re ceived from him 1 00/. a month for the intelligence he sent. He, however, pleaded in extenuation, what was in truth an aggravation of his treachery, namely, that he was a double traitor, and deceived his employers by false information. This state ment was in some degree confirmed by the inter cepted letter, in which, probably not out of any consideration for the Royalists, but for the sake of a EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 409 assuming more knowledge than he really possessed, chap. he invented facts, and gave a detailed statement, . wholly fictitious, of an imaginary discussion at the 165 6 Council board. Charles published an account of this detected treachery ; and Manning was shot as a traitor. Some of his letters to Thurloe are ex tant, and contain a sufficient portion of truth to render him useful to his employers. It was pro posed to Thurloe, that Cromwell should acknow ledge Manning, and endeavour to protect his life, by threatening retaliation to some Royalist ; but this proposition was wisely declined.* During the residence of Charles at Cologne, there were materials both for despondency and for hope, in the relations of Cromwell's Govern ment with the Continental Powers. There were prospects both of his alliance with France, and of his rupture with Spain ; of which events, the former would be as adverse to the fortunes of Charles, as the latter would be favourable. Ma zarin had long wished to court the Protector's friendship; and the formal acknowledgment of a more intimate connection between France and England was at length retarded only by a circum stance which reflects honour upon Cromwell, — his protection of the persecuted Vaudois. To these people, oppressed by the Duke of Savoy, an ally of France, Cromwell offered his support, and refused to * Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 149-160. Thurloe, iii. 190-195. 224 301. 339. 390. 457. 591. ; iv. 169. 249. 269. 290—263- Whitelocke, 633. 410 THE LIFE OF CxvP* ta^fy a treaty witn France, till the Duke of Savoy i had confirmed to the Vaudois their ancient privi- 1656. leges. This being accomplished, early in November, 1655, a treaty was concluded between England and France, providing that maritime hostilities should cease, — that relations of amity and commerce should be restored ; and providing also, by a secret article, that Charles, the Dukes of York and Glou cester, Ormond, Hyde, Colepepper, Nicholas, and thirteen others of the King's adherents, should be excluded from the French territory.* The conclusion of this treaty was coeval with the outbreak of the long impending quarrel with Spain. More than a year previously, two armaments, one under Blake, the other under Penn and Venables, had been sent forth by Cromwell, secretly destined to invade the American colonies of Spain, and to capture the Plate fleet. Blake, whose ostensible duty was to chastise the Barbary States, effectually accomplished this part of his commission ; but, after exciting the suspicions of the Spaniards, who sent out an armament to watch him, was obliged to return without effecting the capture of the gal leons, the secret object of his enterprise.! Penn and Venables, with 30 ships and 3000 troops, sailed for the West Indies, where, in April, 1655, they failed in an attempt upon Hispaniola, but succeeded, in the following month, in taking the island of Jamaica ; an acquisition which was then undervalued, and was not thought to compensate '«¦ Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 288. t Thurloe, i. 725. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 411 for the previous failure, or retrieve Penn and Ven- chap. . . XV ables from the discredit they incurred.* . As soon as the object of this expedition was sus- 1656. pected, and its probable consequences taken into consideration, it appeared to the councillors of Charles, that the time had now arrived when some measure should be taken for recommencing com munication with the Court of Spain, the interests of which would, ere long, in so many respects, coincide with his own. The bond of a common interest was the only tie which could now be set forth. Disinterested friendship could neither be appealed to, nor assumed ; for Spain, as we have seen, had behaved ungenerously to Charles, — had not noticed him in his passage through the Spanish territory from Paris to Cologne, — had been among the first who recognised the regicide Common wealth, and had sedulously cultivated the friend ship of Cromwell. In applying to a Court with which friendly relations had so long ceased, it was felt desirable to employ a mediator ; and, for this purpose, Charles selected the Duke of Neuberg. He had been friendly and respectful in his conduct towards the King, — had waited on him at Cologne, and entertained him and his sister at Dusseldorf, —had espoused his interests with zeal, and endea voured, through his ministers at Rome and Vienna, to obtain present supplies for the King's support, and to devise measures for his eventual Restoration. In June, 1655, Ormond presented to this prince a * Carte's Letters, ii. 46—52. Whitelocke, 627—629. Thurloe, iv. 27—30. 412 THE LIFE OF chap, memorial, stating the probable destination of , Penn's fleet ; — that if the King of Spain will assist 1656. Charles, " his Majesty will be able to give Crom- " well too much to do in the three kingdoms, to " leave him at liberty to attend to those remote " expeditions;" — that the King has much influence among the English seamen; — that he has also much influence among the Irish in the pay of Spain and France, and can confirm the former in their fidelity to Spain, and draw off the latter, amounting to not less than 10,000 men, from the service of France. The memorial also contained apologies for the King's receiving an ambassador from Por tugal, — for drawing off the Irish from the service of Spain, by which Bordeaux was lost, and the Prince of Conde's designs on Guienne disap pointed, — and for diverting the Duke of Lorraine from pursuing his designs near Paris ; and it con cluded with engaging for Charles, " for the present " and the future^ to advance his (the King of " Spain's) interests against all people whatsoever;" and that " he will draw what forces he can to " assist the King of Spain in Flanders ; and, if it " be thought fit, will be ready to be in his own " person in his army." * The Duke of Neuberg accepted willingly the proffered office ; but advised delay, until it should become known, ^either by the conclusion of the pending treaty with France, or other circumstances, that Spain had resigned all hope of maintaining * Carte's Letters, ii. 57—57. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 413 relations of amity with England. The Duke wrote to this effect on the 4th of July.* As the news of hostilities in the West Indies became con- 1656 firmed, and the probabilities of a rupture between Spain and England were consequently strength ened, Hyde, on the 31st of August, addressed a letter to Don Louis de Haro, entreating assistance, and promising requital, in purport similar to the entreaties and promises of the memorial ; but more briefly, and in more general terms.t A few months later, Cromwell had concluded his treaty with France ; and the Spanish ambas sador had quitted London : yet still the Court of Madrid evinced little willingness to enter into an agreement with Charles. The principal cause of their reluctance was this: they had already ac cepted the proffered services of another and very remarkable conspirator, opposed to the Royalists in political principles, and concurring only in enmity to Cromwell, and a desire to combine the interests of Spain with the overthrow of his usurped au thority. This was Sexby, an enthusiast for liberty, brave and zealous, who had risen from the ranks to be adjutant-general in the Parliamentary army, and to the friendship and confidence of Cromwell. But Sexby was devoted, not to Cromwell, but to the cause he had advocated; and when he felt that Cromwell had apostatized from disinterested liberty to selfish despotism, his esteem was con verted into hate. When the Long Parliament was * Carte's Letters, ii. 61. f Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 275. 414 THE LIFE OF chap, forcibly dissolved, he joined the Levellers ; and, , when their plans had failed, he roamed in dis- 1656. guise about the country, distributing pamphlets, and endeavouring to undermine the authority of Cromwell. In May, 1655, he appeared at Brussels ; communicated to the Archduke and Fuensaldagna * the real object of the expedition commanded by Penn and Venables ; stated the existence of a numerous party in England, whose wish it was to pull down Cromwell, and restore the Parliament ; declared himself favourable to the repeal of all penal laws against Catholics in Eng land ; offered the assistance of his party to Spain ; and promised, in return for co-operation, and the payment of 150,000^., to put several English gar risons, and many ships, in the hands of the Spanish King, as security for all disbursements.! Fuensaldagna, though he would not give a positive answer, was sufficiently impressed with the importance of Sexby's proposition, to recommend his going to Madrid, and to furnish him with the means of undertaking that journey. At Madrid, the credit of Sexby's statement was confirmed by the news which arrived from Hispaniola. The same circumstance, also, induced the Spanish Govern- * " The Conde of Fuensaldagna," says Clarendon, " was the go- " vernor of the anus, and commanded the army next under the Arch- " duke ; which was a subordination very little inferior to the being " General." " He was of a much better temper, more industry, and " more insinuation than the Spaniards use to have : his greatest talent "lay to civil business; yet he was the best General of that time, to " all other offices and purposes than what were necessary in the hour " of battle, when he was not so present and composed as at all other " seasons." Clar. Hist. Reb. vi. 328. f Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 272. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 415 ment to attend, at length, to the proposals of chap. Charles : and, since they gave a favourable ear to - each, and each converged towards the same end, 16S6- and in spite of the opposition of respective politics, the Spaniards became desirous to affect the co-oper ation of Sexby and his Levellers with the adherents of Charles.* Sexby was found not adverse to the restoration of monarchy, provided there was a free Parliament, and that Charles would be " content " to be an administrator, and not a master, of the " laws t : " but he wished that the overthrow of Cromwell, and the restoration, not of Charles, but of liberty, should be the avowed and prominent object of the enterprise. Charles and his advisers, though tempted by the prospect of assistance, were reasonably suspicious both of Sexby's power, and of his willingness to serve them. The instrument of negotiation, Fa ther Talbot, an Irish priest, also infused suspicion and alarm by his artful, indirect suggestions, that the King should secretly become a Roman Ca tholic, — "so secretly, that no living creature should " know of it but Count Fuensaldagna, Don " Alonzo, the Archduke, and Father Talbot, or "any other whom the King should name;" and then, " the King of Spain, and the Pope, will en- " gage themselves to get him all his own again." " Sexby, Independents, Presbyterians, Anabaptists, " and Harrison's factious endeavours, shall be " steered by the King's directions and interest : " * Carte's Letters, ii. 85. t Clar. State Papers, iii. 272. 41 6 THE LIFE OF chap, he would probably be restored within six months, „ ' ¦ and might immediately aspire to the hand of the 1656. Infanta.* These proposals were conveyed, by Talbot, from Cardenas and Fuensaldagna, as the price of Charles's conversion to the Roman Ca tholic faith — a faith from which, as the priest ob serves, " only want of information can alienate a " person of your Majesty's great wit and judg- " mentt ;" and Charles was urged to come incog nito to Brussels. This attempt to tamper with the King's religion appears to have been known by Hydet, and to have caused the strong expression of his wish that Talbot might be sent away, and that his commu nication with the King might cease. § The policy recommended by Hyde, in treating with the Pope, may be seen in his letter to Mr. Clement. He deprecated any public declaration from the Pope, in the King's favour, lest it should draw down Cromwell's vengeance, " and produce an utter ex- " tirpation of the Catholics in the three kingdoms." He strongly discouraged those false hopes of the King's conversion which had been expressed by the late Pope, and not abandoned by the pre sent: he intimated the King's desire to put the Roman Catholics in the same condition with his other subjects ; and concluded by saying, " You " know well, that though the King hath in him- " self power to pardon, and dispense with the " execution of laws, yet that to the repeal of them * Clar. State Papers, iii. 281. Ibid. iii. 285. J Ibid. iii. 291. § Poid. iii. 283. Carte's Letters, ii. 235. 456. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 417 " there must be the consent of others, and, there- chap. " fore, the less discourse there is of it, the more , ' , " easily it will be done ; and it is no small preju- i65s. " dice the passion and unskilfulness of some Ca- " tholics bring to their own hopes, which must be " compassed with gravity and order." * Charles accepted the invitation to come incog nito to Brussels, for the purpose of negotiation ; and repaired thither early in April, 1656. He came with few attendants ; but soon afterwards removed his whole establishment from Cologne, and, with the permission of the Spanish Government, fixed his residence at Bruges. At the King's desire a treaty with Spain was drawn up by Cardenas, per mitting his residence at Bruges ; and engaging, on the part of the Spanish King, that, whenever Charles " could cause a good port town in England to declare " for him, his Catholic Majesty would assist him with " a body of 6000 foot," with requisite ammunition and transports. The King of Spain, also, assigned for his support 3000 crowns a month, and half as much in addition for the Duke of Gloucester ; but the payment of this money did not commence till the King had been more than three months in the country. The treaty was ratified. Charles then desired that its existence should be made known ; and a paper to that effect, dated July 27th, 1656, was presented by Hyde to Cardenas. It states the King's desire, " that this good affection and dis- " position in the Catholic King, towards his Ma- " jesty and his interest, may be published as soon * Clar. State Papers, iii. 291. 303. VOL. I. E E 418 THE LIFE OF chap. " as may be, by such acts as may manifest the . "same;" a manifestation which will revive the 1656. spirits of his depressed adherents in England, so that " they will be ready to do whatsoever they " shall be enjoined." That it is not desired that the articles of the treatv should be made known ; " but " the publication that his Catholic Majesty hath " ratified what had been before treated, and that " he will assist the King of Great Britain against " their joint enemy, is so essential to his Majesty " that he cannot make those necessary provisions " for the main design, or dispose his friends to " proper undertakings, but upon that suggestion " and ground." * The most important part of Charles's portion of the agreement was, that he should withdraw the Irish troops from the service of the French King. This was a matter of some difficulty, although these soldiers had declared in their contract, that they would serve the French King no longer than till their own sovereign should require their service. It was desirable, as is stated in a paper drawn up by Hyde, that they should quit that service simul taneously, lest the partial secession of a few should enable the French to detain the rest, t It was also important to counteract an intrigue between Mazarin and Cromwell for detaining the Duke of York, and rendering him instrumental in pre venting the secession of the Irish troops. James had served four campaigns, with much credit, under *¦ Clar. State Papers, iii. 303. f Ibid, iii. 304. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 419 Turenne, and had become popular with the army; chap. and especially with the Irish troops. In spite of , the provisions of the secret article, Mazarin, with 1656. Cromwell's concurrence, allowed him to remain in France, and offered to appoint him Captain- General in the army of Italy. James accepted the offer gladly ; but Charles's advisers penetrated the design ; and James was commanded by his brother to quit the French service, and repair to Bruges. * The command was promptly obeyed ; and his ex ample was followed by the greater part of the British and Irish officers in the French army, and by many of the privates. Charles was soon ena bled to raise four regiments of his own subjects, who flocked to him in Flanders ; and the com mand of these regiments was given to Lords Ormond, Wentworth, Rochester, and Newburgh. The negotiation with Sexby proceeded cauti ously and slowly. That daring adventurer had successfully transmitted to his partisans in England much of the money he had received from Spain ; and only a small portion of it appears to have been intercepted. He had even crossed to England, conferred with his associates, and returned in safety in the autumn of 1656. t It was after hav ing thus surveyed the enemy's camp, and sounded the feelings of his own party, that, in November, 1656, he desired, through Father Talbot, an audi ence of Charles, if the ceremony of kneeling, which he considered "idolatrous," might be * Clar. State Papers, iii- 304. f Thurloe, v. 100. 319. 62 E E 2 420 THE LIFE OF chap, omitted ; to which Hyde wrote an answer, grant ing the audience, and dispensing with the genu flection. The result of this conference is not recorded : but, in the following month, Sexby pre sented a memorial to the Spanish Government, advising that the blow should be struck in January, leaving it to the option of the Spanish Govern ment, whether his own party or the Royalists should begin the attack. He engaged, if the latter led, to take measures for the destruction of Crom well ; declared that, if he began the attack, he must have the assistance of 1000 Irish foot and 500 horse, to be landed at any of those ports of which he knew the governors were friendly ; and declared, also, that in such case he should " not " be able to effect that which is desired, except " that those of the King's party shall endeavour " that no mention be made of the King, before " such time Cromwell be destroyed, and till then " the Royalists that shall take arms must speak of " nothing but of the liberty of the country." * That this memorial produced distrust on the part of the Royalists appears from the instructions drawn up by Hyde with reference to this nego tiation. Sexby was not to be entrusted with know ledge of the King's designs ; his enterprise was not to be assisted with Royalist troops ; and no propositions would be made, for the sake of con ciliating his party, which implied great alterations in Church or State, or the pardon of the regicides. * Clar. State Papers, iii. 315. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 421 It was also suggested, that, if Sexby possessed the chap. means of putting English garrisons in the hands of Cromwell's enemies, they should be occupied by 1656. Spanish troops, with whom the King would direct his friends to join, rather than by such forces as Sexby had required. * The difficulty of effecting co-operation between the Royalists and Levellers, and the supineness of the Spaniards, whose intervention was thus required, caused repeated postponements of the intended enterprise. Charles would have joined an expedition in December, if he could have had the desired assistance ; and his friends in England were at that time prepared for his recep tion, and were disappointed at his non-appearance. The expedition was then postponed till March, at which time some important places had engaged to declare for the King as soon as he might be ready to embark : but, when this time came, the assistance given in men and money was found in adequate ; and Charles, in a memorandum drawn up by Hyde, to be presented by Ormond to Don Juan, expresses his inclination to postpone the enterprise still further to the ensuing winter, unless a rising shall have taken place requiring his presence in England, and which he could not countermand. In that event, he would gladly avail himself even of the scanty aid which the Spaniards had proposed, t Before this time, but subsequently to the present- Clar. State Papers, 316. f Ibid. iii. 330. E E 3 4l22 THE LIFE OF CHAP. XV. ation of Sexby's memorial, a plot for the assassina tion of Cromwell had been formed by Sexby and 1656. njs associate Wildman, and entrusted to a daring" agent of the name of Syndercombe, dismissed from the army on account of his opinions. In the au tumn of 1656, this man commenced his opera tions. He first designed to attack Cromwell with a body of forty men on horseback ; and he provided fleet horses for this purpose, and for subsequent escape : but the difficulty and danger of attempt ing to muster so many conspirators caused this plan to be laid aside. He then hired a house at Hammersmith, and provided guns which would carry each twelve bullets at a time, in order to fire at Cromwell as he passed in his coach between Hampton Court and London. This plan, for some reason which does not appear, was also abandoned. Apartments in two houses in Westminster were afterwards successively hired for the purpose of shooting the Protector, either as he passed on the opening of the Parliament, or as he went by from the sermon in Westminster Abbey ; but the conspi rators were deterred, in one instance, by the want of facilities for escape, and, in the other, by the concourse of spectators. The next plan was to fire Whitehall, and kill Cromwell during the con fusion. Combustibles were prepared ; and on the Jan. 9. 9th of January, about six in the evening, Syn dercombe, with two confederates, Toop a life- guardsman, and Cecill, entered the chapel at Whitehall, deposited the combustibles, and lighted a match, which was to burn slowly, and cause the EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 423 fire to break out at midnight. But Toop had dis- CHAP- closed the plot to Cromwell : 'guards were in am- ¦ bush ; and all three were seized. Toop had already ,1657- purchased pardon: Cecill obtained the same by confession ; and Syndercombe alone was left for trial. He was found guilty of high treason, for having conspired against the life of the Protector, who, as chief magistrate, was held in law equi valent with king. He was condemned and or dered for execution ; but on the appointed morning he was found dead in his bed, having, as it was believed, committed suicide by thrusting up his nostrils a poisonous powder.* Sexby was of too determined and implacable a spirit to be diverted from his purpose by this failure of his emissary. The project of assassination was not abandoned ; and a tract, entitled " Killing " no Murder," was published at this time, and cir culated by Sexby t; a tract calculated to produce a * Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 289. 291. Clar. State Papers, iii. 324. 325. 327. Thurloe, v. 774. to 777., vi. 53. Bates's Elenchus Motuum, 388. State Trials, v. 842 to 871. f Sexby, when questioned in prison, claimed the authorship of " Killing no Murder ;" but, as he could incur no additional danger by such an avowal — might desire the credit of such authorship — might wish to shield the real writer, and was at the time he made that state ment either really mad, or pretending to be so, his evidence is not conclusive. Clarendon thought Sexby too illiterate to have written it ; but, as late as May 1657, did not know who the author was. Clar. State Papers, iii. 343. Evelyn, in his Diary (ii. 210.), speaks of Colonel Silas Titus as the acknowledged author, an assertion corroborated by his opi nions, residence in Holland, and acquaintance with Sexby's designs ; and to him, by many subsequent writers, is undoubtingly ascribed the equivo cal honour of having been this " Junius " of the dagger. An examination of such letters as are extant byTitus and Sexby do not enable us to de cide between the claimants. Those of Titus are not good enough for the author of " Killing no Murder ; " nor are Sexby's bad enough to justify Lord Clarendon's low opinion of his acquirements, or to prove E E 4 424 THE LIFE OF chap, deep impression by the able sophistry with which xv. it promulgated its murderous principles. It first 1657. addressed the Protector and the army in a strain of powerful and bitter irony ; then asserted that Cromwell is a tyrant ; that tyrannicide is lawful, and that his death would be a benefit to the Com monwealth ; eulogised Syndercombe, and com pared him with Brutus ; and concluded with assuring the Protector that he is no where safe : — a threat puerile and impolitic, if designed only to inflict alarm, but which was probably intended to encourage conspiracy, by suggesting even to timid enemies that many sympathised, and would gladly the impossibility of his having done what he had stated. For Titus's letters, see Clar. State Papers, iii. 309. 324. 325. 327. 331. 335.339.350. 359.; for Sexby's, see Clar. State Papers, iii. 338., and Thurloe, v. 37. The following is a characteristic specimen of the style of the latter : — " Be not discouraged, and I may bid the three others not be so, for so long " as Sexby lives there is no danger but Cromwell shall have his hands " full, and I hope his heart ere long ; for I have more irons in the fire " for Cromwell than one, and he hath not cooled this, though he se- " cured about fifty of the head of the Fifth Monarchy people ; but not " one of them dare meddle with them to take away their lives. As yet " be cheerful : it is impossible Cromwell shall carry it, if there be faith " in man ; and I do believe, upon as good grounds as each of us have " to believe one the other, two hundred thousand must fall on the " ground before he carries it ; and believe it, his own people in the " army are upon the wing. Hewson the cobbler, Governor of Dublin, " this day sevennight (in that junto which is called a Parliament, in •' which he is a member), rose up in indignation, and spoke to this effect : "' Mr. Speaker, this Parliament in which we are members is worse " ' than the Devil, for he offered the kingdoms of this world to Christ " ' but once, and we must offer it (to I know not, said he, which or any *" of his servants) twice ; and for it give reasons to destroy not only " ' ourselves, but all the three nations with us.' I had from some of " the heads of those imprisoned a messenger a few days since, whose " party will not believe it is so : and, my good friends, do not doubt, but " I shall very speedily give you that desirable anchor of your expect- " ations, and all that law and justice, the peace and tranquillity of man- " kind, desire ; for either I or Cromwell must perish."— Clar. State Papers, iii. 338. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 425 CHAP. XV. join with them in any enterprise against the usurper. Sexby having obtained money went se cretly to England, in the spring of 1657, to disse- 1657- minate this tract, and to arrange fresh plots against the life of Cromwell ; but Cromwell had spies in Flanders, who watched his proceedings, and made known his departure. On his arrival in England, the vigilance of Cromwell's police soon detected and apprehended him ; and he was committed to the Tower, where, apparently insane, he died six months afterwards, without having been brought to trial.* It is painful to think that the sophistries of fac tion could have so far warped the mind of a good and religious man like Hyde, as to induce him even to listen to projects of assassination. That he did listen to such projects is apparent, not from any approving expressions, but from the frequent com munications on that subject which he permitted to be sent to him by Titus t, and which are evidently addressed to one who was not considered hostile to the plans they disclose. For assent to such plans there can be no justification ; but it will be right to enquire if there were any extenuating circumstances, which may tend to account for the moral perversion, and lessen, not the enormity of the action, but the guilt of the assenting party. To the Royalist the destruction of Cromwell seemed a measure of mere retaliation. Cromwell * Thurloe, vi. 1. 33. 182. 315. 425. 560. 693. 829. to 833. Clar. State Papers, iii. 338, 339. 357. t Clar. State Papers, iii. 324, 325. 327. 331. 335. 426 THE LIFE OF chap, had effected the destruction of Charles I. by means , XV" , which, though invested with the forms of authority, 1657. and the solemnities of trial, were, in the eyes of the Royalist, not more legal than the assassin's dagger. There was, moreover, no legal remedy. Cromwell and Charles, with regard to each other, now stood respectively in the position of outlaws. To meet Cromwell openly in the field was hopeless. Even a foreign state at war with him, and willing to depose him, relied more on stratagem than on force. The enormity of assassination was also lessened to the mind of the Royalist, by the con sideration that under no circumstances was it ever promised that Cromwell's life would not be for feited. If taken in the field, he would not have been treated as a prisoner of war. Even a voluntary abdication could not be expected to save him. In Charles's declaration to the Agitators, in the spring of 1657, in which it was his policy to profess the most merciful intentions, and to hold out the strongest inducements to join him; — even in this, he excludes from pardon all who " sat and voted for " the murder" of his father.* Cromwell knew that his life was menaced. He publicly charged Charles, Ormond, and Hyde, with consulting, and advising his assassination. He threatened retaliation upon the person of Charles ; and it would seem that in struments were not wanting to attempt to execute the threat, t In that age of lax political morality, the English Royalist might tell himself that plots * Clar. State Papers, iii. 341. f Ibid. iii. 336. 311. 397. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 427 against the forewarned lost the treacherous quality chap. which rendered them most odious ; that (as they , XV' , had been told by St. John, an eminent lawyer of 1057. the opposite faction,) " there is no law for beasts of prey;" that the tyrant's plea, necessity, was surely available against a tyrant ; and that, if secret destruction were the only passage to success, it was supported by a necessity as strong as any tyrant ever pleaded. Moreover, the Royalist who ac ceded to the projects of Sexby might, perchance, have laid to his soul this flattering unction, that the responsibility rested not with him ; that these projects had originated with a political party op posed to his own, and with whom co-operation was refused. Considerations like these might have in fluenced the Royalist, — might have warped the principles of Hyde ; and justice to the Roy alists of that time required that we should for a while descend from the vantage ground of the pre sent age, and place ourselves in their unfavour able position. But, having so done, we must again regard the whole transaction through the purer medium of the present period. We can offer no justification : it is our duty to condemn and to deplore. 428 THE LIFE OF CHAP. XVI. , spain assists charles ii. against cromwell. — affairs in england. hyde dissuades the king from going thither. — ormond repairs secretly to london. — his fruitless mission. fresh postponement of the in tended enterprise hyde's view of the obstacles - to success. hyde opposes charles's intended jour ney to spain he becomes lord chancellor. — rea sons for the appointment state of the king's finances. — hyde's anxiety that the king's debts should be paid. — expedients for. raising money. — death of oliver cromwell, and accession of richard. hyde's views and expectations. grounds of hope. state of parties in england. 1657, 1658. chap. From the hateful record of meditated assassination, XVI. v ¦ let us turn to the military measures openly directed 1657. against the power of Cromwell by the allies and adherents of Charles. Small indeed was the pros pect of advantage from this source. Instead of England being invaded from the Netherlands, the Netherlands were exposed to invasion by Crom well ; and Charles, instead of being enabled to act for the direct promotion of his own interests, was required to wage, in conj unction with his allies, a profitless warfare within their territory, on their behalf : and Cromwell, being at length openly at war with Spain, entered, in May, 1657, into a defensive and offensive alliance with France; concluded a treaty for a year ; and sent to Calais 6000 men, EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 429 to be maintained at the joint expense of the two chap. countries. To expel the Spaniards from the Nether- ¦ lands, or obtain a favourable peace, were the main J657. objects of the expedition. Cromwell demanded, as the price of his assistance, that Mardyke and Dunkirk, when reduced by the combined forces of France and England, should beplaced in his hands ; and to these terms the French King reluctantly assented. Turenne commanded the allied forces. The Spanish army was commanded by Don Juan, a natural son of the King of Spain, the successor to the Archduke, as Governor of the Netherlands. To this force were added the exiled French under Conde ; and the British force which Charles had raised, consisting of six regiments, commanded by Lords Ormond, Taaffe, Bristol, Wilmot, New- burgh, and Colonel Maccarty. Charles appointed his brother James Captain- General over all, with Bristol, Middlesex, and Ormond, Lieutenant-Ge- nerals under him ; and the Spaniards raised for him a guard, and allowed him 200/. a month for his table during the campaign. * The first advantage which Charles was enabled to obtain for the Spaniards was the surrender of St. Ghislain, an important fortress in the hands of the French. Half the garrison were Irish troops in the French service, who, by their secession to Charles, enabled the Spaniards to take possession of the place. The campaign was begun tardily and inefficiently, on the part of each of the combined * Clar. State Papers, iii. 344. Carte's Life of Ormond, ii. 173. 1657. 430 THE LIFE OF chap, forces. It was a war of observation and counter march. The Spaniards maintained the defensive ; and the French were not eager to strike a blow of which the advantage would accrue to England. But Cromwell urged them to fulfil their engage ment to place Dunkirk and Mardy ke in his hands ; and, accordingly, in September, Mardyke was in vested, and carried after a three days' siege. Dunkirk was the next object: but the Spaniards compelled their opponents to relinquish the at tempt. The French next besieged Gravelines : but the sluices were opened by the Spaniards ; the country was inundated ; all progress was stopped ; and Turenne's army closed the campaign, and re tired into winter quarters. Charles, in the memorandum drawn up by Hyde, in 1657, had postponed till winter the promised enterprise for the recovery of his kingdoms ; and, at the approach of winter, many of his adherents became anxious to see the promise fulfilled.* The state of England seemed in some points fa- Engiand. vourable for the attempt. Cromwell, since the pass ing of the " Humble Petition and Advice," and the subsequent inauguration in May and June, 1657, had been virtually King of England. He wanted nothing of royalty but the name. He had been inaugurated with monarchical solemnities. The address of the Petition and Advice was as that of subjects to a sovereign. He was invested with the more than kingly power of appointing a suc- * Clar. State Papers, iii. 330.351. 373. State of af fairs in EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 431 cessor; and each member of the legislature had separately taken an oath of allegiance, not to the Commonwealth, but to the Protector. But the ~i657 attributes of royalty brought with them no real accession of power. Disaffection ensued. The newly modelled House of Lords, which he had raised as a prop and appendage to his state, was a source of weakness rather than of strength. The House of Commons questioned its authority ; and Hazlerig, who had been called to it from the Com mons, refused to obey the writ. The Parliament met on the 20th of January, 1658. 1658 ; and, as they chose to discuss their constitu tion and privileges, instead of the business required by Cromwell, he angrily dissolved them on the 4th Feb. 4. of February, though he could raise no money with out their consent, and the pay of the army, on which he chiefly relied, was now five months in ar- rear. The army is described by Broderick, in a letter to Hyde, as " infected with sedition ;" — " the " people with a restless spirit of innovation ;" — " the army within one degree of free quarter, owing " every where for five month's billet." " Those " quartered in Paul's obtained, with great difficulty, " 500/. lastweekof theCommon Council;" and " no " persuasion of Cromwell's could obtain a larger " sum." "Never," says he to the same, in February, 1658, " could you attack Cromwell so unready in " shipping, so ill satisfied with the city, soapprehen- " sive of his army, so unfurnished of money, and so " hated by the people." * But it was added by the * Clar. State Papers, iii, 387. 390. 432 THE LIFE OF chap, same adviser : " Those that are more cool think , I VL , " you ought not to come till you find these ani- 1658. . " mosities grown to a revolt in his army, insur- " rections in the country, tumults in the town, or " at least the Levellers in actual arms ; since you " are not furnished with a fleet to command your " landing, and a body of men to stand your first " shock, should the promises of the Presbyterians " and Levellers fail on the whole, or fall very short " of expectation." * Such discouragement to the Royalists, at a time most fraught with difficulty to Cromwell, amply justified those scruples which induced Hyde and Ormond a little earlier, and at a time less favour able for the projected enterprise, to dissuade the King from incurring the risk of an expedition to England, t They were also influenced (as it ap pears from a letter of Ormond to Hyde) by dis trust in the ability of Charles to conduct such an enterprise with efficiency and credit. Ormond thus writes confidentially to Hyde in 1658 X : — " I must now freely confess to you that what you " have written of the King's unseasonable impa- " tience at his stay at Bruges is a greater damp to " my hopes of his recovery, than the strength of his " enemies, or the weakness and backwardness of " those that profess him friendship. Modesty, " courage, and many accidents may overcome those "enemies, and unite and fix these friends; but I * Clar. State Papers, iii 387. 390. t Ibid. iii. 390, 391. 394. X Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 238. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 433 " fear his immoderate delight in empty and effe- chap. " minate and vulgar conversations is become an , " irresistible part of his nature ; and will never 1658. " suffer him to animate his own designs, and others' " actions, with that spirit which is requisite for his " quality, and much more for his fortune." * Ne vertheless, a life of inactivity could not be recom mended, unless it were ascertained that activity was useless, and until it could be known on what grounds the hopes of the Royalists really rested. In order to ascertain the state of affairs, Ormond gal lantly undertook to repair secretly to England ; and, in January, 1658, setting out on a pretended mission to the Duke of Neuburg, he embarked for England, accompanied by O'Neil, and landed in disguise on the coast of Essex. The design was imparted to none but the King, the Duke of York, Lord Bristol, and Hyde. Hyde was adverse to his friend's "chivalrous enterprise. He had no sanguine hope of a fa vourable result ; and felt that Ormond's was a life too valuable to be needlessly risked in such a project. Ormond went to London, the fittest place both for concealment, observation, and concert. He conferred with men of various grades and par ties ; but though he found disaffection towards Cromwell's government even more prevalent than he had expected, he gathered little hope of effectual resistance. He was discouraged not by insufficiency * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 387. VOL. I. F F 434 THE LIFE OF in the aggregate strength of those who were opposed to Cromwell, but by the diversity of their 1658. views, by their distrust and ignorance of each other's intentions, and, even among those who were of the same party, and were desirous for the same result, a great unwillingness to coalesce. state of There were four distinct parties hostile to the Protector, each comprising shades of differ ence within itself, and each differing widely from the other. The Royalists desired the re- establishment of monarchy as it was before the civil war. The moderate Presbyterians, of whom the foremost were Lords Manchester and Denbigh, and Sir William Waller, appear to have been content to seek only security for property and person. The more rigid Presbyterians, headed by Lord Say, demanded the confirmation of the treaty of Newport. The Levellers required the re-establish ment of a free Parliament, to which the settlement of the government might be left. From none of these parties could Ormond obtain satisfactory assurance that they would perform what they had promised. Skill, means, confidence, and union were all wanting. Many feared to confer and cor respond: even three leading men of the same party, Popham, Norton, and Stapley, residing not far distant in the country, were ignorant each of the in tentions of the others. Proj ects to seize Hull, Bristol, Gloucester, and Windsor, were upon inquiry found to be hopeless. There was a general disinclin ation to rise, until Charles should have landed ; and even the few who would undertake to declare them selves previously to his landing, required a pledge EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 435 that the King should be ready to come instantly to chap. their assistance with a foreign force. To the first , x ' , of these propositions his counsellors would not per- 1668. mit him to accede ; and the supineness of the Spaniards raised obstacles to the second. Yar mouth was the port, at or near which Ormond thought the intended landing might be made with most probability of success ; and if the king, ere Cromwell could compose the troubles consequent upon his hasty dissolution of the Parliament, could arrive there, with the promised force, the town would be his, before it could be succoured ; and he will " gain reputation enough," says Or mond, in a letter to Hyde, " to gather a force " sufficient to do (I think) his own business, and " (I am sure) the king of Spain's."* These were the brightest hopes that Ormond ventured to encourage ! His sojourn in England was short, during which he had conferred much with a select knot of Royalists, consisting, as it is believed, of Lords Bellasis and Loughborough, Sir William Compton, Edward Villiers, Broderick, Colonel Russel, and Sir Richard Willis. The latter was a traitor, secretly engaged to give intel ligence to Cromwell ; but who wished to combine the fulfilment of his iniquitous engagement with all possible lenity towards his Royalist associates. When, therefore, he informed Cromwell that Or mond was in London, he at the same time told Ormond that he was in danger of being seized. Thus warned, Ormond withdrew himself, crossed * Carte's Letters, ii. 123. F F 2 1658. 436 THE LIFE OF chap, from Shoreham to Dieppe, and from thence re- ' -> paired to Paris, where he remained incognito from the 12th of February to the end of April, scarcely less in danger of imprisonment than if he had been t in England; and when atlength he quitted it to join the King at Brussels, was obliged to travel thither in disguise by the circuitous and unsuspected route of Lyons and Geneva.* While in France, Ormond made the chivalrous offer of returning to England, and effecting a diver sion in the west, if Charles, aided by a sufficient Spanish force, could land at the same time on the eastern coast. But this plan was frustrated by the vigilance of Cromwell. He sent out a squa dron which swept the coasts of Holland and Flanders, took three flutes destined for Charles's service, drove two others on shore, and block aded the port of Ostend. t This, added to other discouraging circumstances, caused the medi tated expedition to be again postponed tiU the winter. X This fresh postponement caused both disappointment and censure among the Royalists in England, the unreasonable nature of whose dis content is well exposed in a letter of April 22. 1658, from Hyde to Mordaunt. " You will think it very strange, that the party " which you say is so very importunate for action, " and have so weU prepared for it, hath never in- * Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 238 — 243. Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 386,387,388.390—394. Carte's Letters, ii. 118— 132. Carte's Life of Ormond, ii. 175—180. Thurloe, vi. 806. f Carte's Letters, ii. 126, 127. 132—135. Thurloe, vi. 822. Clar. State Papers, iii. 396—399. X Clar. State Papers, iii. 399, 400. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 437 " formed the King of any one particular design, so chap. " well formed and advised as that they have rea- ¦ " sonable hopes of success in it. Names of places 1658- " we have heard, but it seems the enterprising them " was not so reasonably designed, as gave satisfac- " tion to my Lord Ormond, who went from hence, " with a hope and purpose, to put thorn speedily in " execution ; nor to this hour do we know upon " what grounds our friends think themselves ready " for action, nor indeed do we know the names of " many of those who do think so." He then tells him that, " without those extraordinary accidents " in England, which we can neither foresee nor " contrive, there must be no thought that we shall " begin any thing from hence till winter ; and that " we may be sure to do it then, the King takes all " the ways he can to prevail with the King of " Spain to put the monies which he assigns for " that enterprise into his Majesty's own hands, " without passing by those ministers, whose own " occasions, natural slowness, and animosity among " themselves, hath hitherto prevented all our de- " signs, and disappointed all our expectations. And " I hope we shall compass this, in order to which, " and to advance the Spaniards' service, the King " intends (if somewhat do not intervene to hinder " it) to make a journey himself to Frankfort, be- " fore the election of the Emperor, to treat with " the Princes there, who may be persuaded, in " order to the assistance of the King against Crom- " well, to levy forces, and send them into those " parts, which they cannot so well do by their former F F 3 438 THE LIFE OF chap, "treaties, as to serve against the French. His , " Majesty will leave me here, or hereabout, to cor- 1658. " respond with his friends in England, and to give " them any necessary advertisements ; and he hopes " you will engage so many discreet persons with " you, that you will keep up the spirits of our " friends, and dispose them to the same alacrity for " the winter ; his Majesty not making any doubt, " but to be in a perfect readiness by the beginning of " December ; and to that end ah our counsels here " shall tend, and, we hope, all the preparations in " England." * This letter was addressed to Mor- daunt, who, with Sir Henry Slingsby, Dr. Hewet, and two others, were selected as victims, for their participation in the recent plots, and sent for trial in June, 1658, before that iniquitous and unconsti tutional tribunal, called a high court of justice ; a tribunal which excluded the benefit of chal lenge, presentment by oath, and trial by jury ; and by the proceeding of which the great charter — the law of treason — the petition of right — the de clarations of every Parliament, and even the Pro tector's oath of government, were severally violated. Slingsby and Hewet were condemned and exe cuted; Mordaunt and two others, through de ficiency of evidence, were acquitted. During the winter and spring of 1658, hostilities in Flanders had been conducted with various but unimportant success ; but as the year advanced it brought discomfiture to the Spaniards, and to * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 401. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 439 Charles's hopes of benefit from their assistance, chap. The Spaniards under Don Juan and Carracena, . assisted by the English royalists, under the Duke 1658- of York, were, in June, defeated near Dunkirk, by Turenne ; and James narrowly escaped. About a fortnight afterwards, Dunkirk capitulated, and, ac cording to agreement, was delivered by the French to Cromwell. Gravelines, Ypres, and other towns were also taken ; and the Spanish power in Flan ders was completely crippled. The King's intended journey to the Diet at Frankfort, was merely a pretext for facilitating the execution of a more extensive plan, known only to Ormond, Bristol, and Hyde, and not ap proved by the latter. Charles, disgusted by the lukewarm support of Don Juan and Carracena, thought that, by a visit to Madrid, he could excite that Court to greater exertions ; and that, under pretence of attending the Diet of Frank fort, he could pass thither incognito, by way of Italy. The advantage proposed from his presence at Madrid was to obtain the payment into his own hands of money assigned for his subsistence, and for military preparations, instead of receiving it from the Flemish ministers, by whom he believed it to be detained, if not diverted to other purposes ; to engage the King of Spain to include him in a treaty of peace, whenever any should be made; to effect a more zealous co-operation, and to revive the spirits of his dejected adherents. To the pro blematical advantage, derivable from this undigni fied plan of suing personally in forma pauperis, f f 4 440 THE LIFE OF chap, which savoured rather of youthful restlessness than . XVL of sound policy and self-respect, might be opposed 1658. his personal risk, — his distance from England, and consequent inability to take advantage of any sudden and favourable turn of events, — the impro bability that money, which, whether paid at Brussels or at Madrid, came equally from the same impo verished source, should be so much more liberally granted at the latter place, as to compensate for a perilous and expensive journey, — and (not least, among objections,) the strength which would be given to suspicions of Charles's conversion to popery. Hyde opposed the wishes of Charles ; and Ormond was desired, in this dilemma, to apply for the opinion of Cardinal de Retz. De Retz concurred with Hyde in thinking that the grounds of objection to the journey outweighed the prospects of advantage from it, and that it should at any rate be postponed till the end of the campaign. It was postponed accordingly, and not long after the disastrous close of that campaign, Cromwell's death, on the 3d of September, caused the project to be entirely abandoned.* Hyde be- Within the last twelve months, Hyde had been comes 7 J Lord invested with the office of Lord Chancellor, vacant by the death of Sir Edward Herbert, t Although * Carte's Letters, ii. 136—144. Carte's Life of Ormond, ii. 181, 182. f I find the following entry in the Register in the Council Office :— " Att the Court att Bruges, the thirteenth day of January, 1658, st.n. Present, His Majestie. Duke of York. Ld. Lieut, of Ireland. Mr. Secretary Nicholas. Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 441 the possession of high-sounding offices, with nominal chap. duties, by men exiled, powerless, and poor, might , to some seem almost ludicrous, yet the maintenance i6ss. of these offices was not unwise. They practically asserted, that the functions of monarchy were not extinct. They pointed perpetually to eventual re storation. They tended to keep up the spirits of the royalists, and perhaps even to rouse the flagging zeal of the King's allies. They were among the outward and visible signs of his being still a King. They were open testimonies of regard and confi dence, to those tried adherents to whom he gave them, and to whom, in reward for their valuable services, he had little else to bestow. Moreover, it was desirable that the great posts of Government should not be vacant, to be bargained for by apos tates, as the price of assistance ; and that whenever the King's restoration might occur, no scramble for office, among men, whose temporary influence was their sole title, should be added to the other diffi culties of such a crisis. There was also an addi tional reason why the Great Seal should be placed in the hands of a responsible minister, in thefact, that numerous applications were made to the King by persons in England, who, foreseeing the probability " His Majestie declared his resolution to leave his Greate Seale in " custody of an Officer, and therefore had made choice of Sir Edward " Hyde, Chancellor of the Exchequer, to be Lord Chancellor of England, " unto whom he forthwith delivered the Greate Seale, and commanded " him to be sworn ; who took the oath of supremacy and allegiance " upon his knee at the board, and Mr. Secretary Nicholas gave him the '¦ oath of Lord Chancellor of England ; and then he took his place by " his Majestie's command." 442 THE LIFE OF Cxv\P" °^ ^s restorati°nJ sought confirmation under the * Great Seal of their title to offices and lands, re- 1658. ceived and purchased from the existing govern ment.* Hyde's Among the unwelcome subjects to which Hyde's mentofthe attention, during this period, was necessarily di- King's rected, was the state of the King's finances. The su- rinances. . . . ° pervision of ill-paid pensions grudgingly bestowed, and the attempt to infuse some principles of economy and honourable punctuality into the mind of the prodigal and reckless monarch, were tasks irksome and discouraging. Charles, while at Cologne, received, in addition to his pension from France, a small subsidy from the German Diet, which had been liberally proposed by the Elector of Mentz. But the Emperor of Austria, and several other members of the Confederation, neglected to contribute ; and the whole sum ever received from this source (out of which a large part was spent in negotiations and missions) did not amount to 10,000/. The monthly pension from France was ill paid — twelve months remaining due when the King left Cologne. It is stated, in the History of the Rebellion, that the King's establishment at Cologne was prudently managed, and did not cost more than 600 pistoles a month.t Nevertheless, owing chiefly to the unpunctual payment of his allowance, he was constrained to leave Cologne much in debt. Hyde, after Charles's departure, thus wrote to him from that place, in April, 1656. * Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 236. Evelyn, v. 345. t Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 107. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 443 " Your family here is in an ill condition, and your chap. " debts great ; much owing by you, and by those , " to whom you are indebted ; and yet, that the 1658. " state may not appear more dismal and irreparable " to you than in truth it is, give me leave to tell " you that 4000 pistoles will discharge the whole " seven months' board wages which are due, pay " all you owe here, supply those acts of bounty you " will for the present think necessary to those who " receive not in wages, and honestly remove and " bring your family to you : and truly this is no " prodigious sum, being less than is due from the " Elector of Cologne, and that circle which the " Duke of Neubourg hath undertaken to solicit, " both which we have hope of; not to speak of the " Elector of Brandenburgh, the two Landgraves " of Hesse Darmstadt, and the Duke of Wirtem- " burgh, both the last of which have promised ; " and not to speak of the Duke of Brunswick, who " promised, before the time, to pay his 2000 dollars " at Hamburgh : so that I cannot doubt, one way or " other, your credit will not be lost at Cologne."* Hyde, solicitous for the King's character, and knowing that unpunctuality and even the appear ance of dishonesty must be avoided most scrupu lously by those who are needy, was anxious that the King's establishment should not be removed from Cologne till all creditors had been satisfied. In a letter of the same date as the preceding, and ad dressed to Ormond, he signifies his wish, that the * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 293. 444 THE LIFE OF King should send an order from the Council to his treasurer of the household to that effect, also 1657. enjoining, " that he be careful to see that such " debts as are contracted in the town by the ser- " vants shall be first discharged, to the end that " no scandal remain on his Majesty."* Four months afterwards these debts were still unpaid ; and Hyde wrote thus to the King again, on the 1st of September : " I do confess, I do " think, that the payment of what is due at Co- " logne is of the most importance to you, and is " to be such an ingredient to the establishing your " future credit, of which you have so much use, " that it ought to be compassed, even with some " hazard to your Majesty of future inconvenience. " I hope you will consider, besides, the acci- " dents which are like to fall out before the end of " December, that if you are then out of debt, it " will be much easier to shift for the next three " months, than it had been to subsist these last " nine or ten which are passed ; and I will be con- " tent to be hanged, if there be not provision made " to preserve your Majesty from any scandalous " necessities for this three months. I hope I shall " not be put to propose this last expedient, but if " I am, it is, in my poor judgment, to be performed, " before the reproach of your family's still remain- " ing at Cologne ; and I am confident, your Ma- " jesty shall not suffer in any degree by this " anticipation." + * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 41. 295. f Ibid. iii. 302. 1657. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 445 The French pension ceased in 1656, and Charles became dependent on the bounty of Spain. The Spanish government was necessitous and procras tinating. Their promises of pecuniary assistance were ill performed ; and the condition of Charles and his adherents, while residing at Brussels and Bruges, under the protection of Spain, was worse than it had been at Cologne. " I am sufficiently " weary of this place," Hyde writes to Nicholas from Bruges, in September, 1657; " having looked " over the state of the debts, and finding that every " bit of meat, every drop of drink, all the fire, and " aU the candle that hath been spent, since the " King's coming hither, is entirely owed for ; and " how to get credit for a week more is no easy " matter. I would I were at Breda." * Again, he says, a few days later, in a letter to the same : — " Our business of money goes so untowardly, that " I take no pleasure in mentioning it, nor can I " possibly understand it, every day bringing new " orders, or new promises ; and we still remaining " in those straits, that Mr. Fox was with me yes- " terday, to move the King, that he would let his " own diet fall, and content himself with one " dish." t Money promised by adherents in England and Scotland, or friends in Germany, failed to arrive, or was detained and diverted from its destined ap plication, before it reached the royal coffers ; and so much was the King reduced in November, 1657, * Clar. State Papers, iii. 361. t md- ii!- 362: 446 THE LIFE OF chap, nothwithstanding the supplies promised by Spain, i ' , that he thus addressed the Princess Royal of 1658. Orange : — " I write now to you upon a business which I " think I never writ to you before upon, in my " life, and I never was more unwilling to do it than " now. It is of money, of which I believe you are " not much better provided than myself." He then tells her, that it is required for an undertaking from which he looks for great advantage ; and he adds, " I know you are without money, and cannot " very easily borrow it, at least upon so little warn- " ing ; but if you will send me any jewel that I " may pawn for 1500/. sterling, I do promise you, " you shall have the jewel again in your hands be- " fore Christmas." * This letter, of which a draught is extant in Hyde's hand-writing, strik ingly displays the necessitous condition of Charles, and the hopelessness of prompt assistance from Spain, or any other quarter. The correspondence of this period is replete with evidence of a similar kind, t state of If the death of Cromwell elevated for an instant Engw the spirits of the King's adherents, they were de- deaWof Pressed below their former level by the unresisted Oliver succession of the Protector's son. They had been deceived in the expectation, that a power which seemed to have been upholden solely by the master mind of Oliver, would instantly crumble at his de cease. But no political convulsion had ensued. The * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 378. I- Ibid. ii. 344— 347. 352—356. 361—367. 409—411.419. Carte's Letters, ii. 127, 128. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 447 Protectorship had been quietly transmitted to chap. Richard : its authority was confirmed by apparent , acquiescence ; and an air of stability was given to 1658. that authority by the added semblance of hereditary right. The restoration of the House of Stuart seemed now opposed, not merely by an individual, but by a rival dynasty : and the foreign allies of the government of Oliver were eager to preserve the friendship of Richard.* " We have not," said Hyde, in a letter written four months after that great event, " yet found that advantage by Crom- " well's death, as we rationally hoped ; nay, rather " we are the worse for it, and the less esteemed ; " people imagining, by the great calm that hath " followed, that the King hath very few friends." t Such was the prevalent opinion, and such its dis couraging results. But to men of discernment, like Hyde and Colepepper, there were grounds for a re newal of hope. To their sagacity, Monk appeared a probable instrument of the restoration of Charles; and the King was advised to instruct Lord Falcon- bridge, Lord Bellasis, or Sir John Grenville to treat with him secretly, for the furtherance of that ob ject. X It was also foreseen that bitter jealousy would soon be excited by the elevation of Richard ; that age, experience, and ability, would not cheerfully submit to inexperienced and undis tinguished youth ; or the leaders of the army, to the sway of a civilian. A great majority of the army in England was ill-affected towards Richard, * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 416. + Poid. iii. 422. X Ibid. iii. 411. 413. 417. 448 THE LIFE OF chap, and petitioned for redress of grievances. Fleet- XVI wood, Lieutenant-General of the forces, Lambert, 1658. Desborow, Overton, Ludlow, Alured, Okey, Haines, Sydenham, and many others, began to plot against the Protector ; and meetings of officers were held, one of which meetings, from the place of assembly beeing Fleetwood's residence, was called the cabal of Wallingford House. Richard imprudently strengthened this confederacy by calling a general council of officers, who, on meeting, voted a remonstrance, — lamented the neglect of " the " good old cause," and demanded that the supreme command of the army, then holden by Richard, should be given to some person in whom they could confide. The Parliament also was to Richard not less a source of trouble than the army. He was al most as unwilling to summon it as ever Charles I. had been, but, like him, was compelled by an exhausted treasury. He endeavoured to render it more manageable, by reverting to the ancient representative system, which afforded more mem bers for boroughs, and fewer for counties, and was more accessible to the influence of the Court. But this change, and the summons of 30 members from Scotland, and 30 from Ireland, elected (if we may so far abuse the term) under military supervision, and all the exertions of the government in in fluencing the elections in England, did not secure a parliament sufficiently subservient to suit the purposes of the new Protector. Broderick, one of the most intelligent men, to whom the Royalists EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 449 abroad were indebted' for information, thus chap. writes concerning it, after it had sat nearly two XVL months : — " What you guess at any time, con- 1559. " cerning our Parliament, is as probable as any " conjecture we can make ; for, upon my faith, the " best and wisest of each faction entertain fortune " by the day, and know not what to-morrow will " produce ; so evenly are they balanced by neutral " country gentlemen and young lawyers, who, " wavering in themselves, are not yet fixed to " either party, — when the House is fullest, and " debate hottest, no vote being carried by more " than six or seven, or at most ten voices ; in " which condition God only knows how long it will " continue. The Commonwealth's men are in- " dustrious, popular, plausible, eloquent in the " language of the times, cunning in the rules of " the House, and truly ready to entrap or discoun- " tenance all opposers less dexterous than them- " selves ; abetted by the sons and allies of old " Cavaliers, with their proselytes, and frequently " assisted by the giddier sort of members, who fall " into no classes, — this being, as near as I can in- " form myself, the state of their account : 47 true " patriots of liberty, 23 of them highly exasperated " at the present government ; 24 of meeker " spirits ; counterfeit Commonwealth's men, and " such Neuters as usually concur, from 100 to 140, " (as the House fills) ; court lawyers, 72 certain ; " with many contingent officers of state and army, " 100 and odd : many double elections not sup- vol. 1. G G 450 THE LIFE OF chap. " plied ; many absent on design, many on their > " necessary occasions." * 1659. The House comprised three parties : the Crom- wellite or court party, who adhered to the provi sions of the humble petition and advice, and formed nearly half the House ; the Republicans, a small but able and resolute phalanx, of whom the leaders were Hazlerig, Lambert, Ludlow, Vane, and Brad- shaw ; and the " Neuters," less numerous than the Cromwellite court party, comprising even many concealed Royalists, who, in accordance with the injunctions of Hyde, had obtained seats in Parliament. Hyde, in several of his letters, enforces the ex pediency of this politic mode of assisting the royal cause, and embarrassing the opposing party. He also suggests the course to be pursued by the King's friends in Parliament — that they should advance all charges against Thurloe and St. John, — de nounce the arbitrary acts of the administration of the late Protector, — oppose all raising of monies, and whatever might tend to a settlement of Richard's government, — widen the breach between the Cromwellites and the Republicans, and throw their weight into the scale of either party in such manner as might most conduce to the interests of the King, t The combined strength of the " Neuters " and Republicans was not sufficient to gain any decided advantage over the court party. The minorities * Clar. State Papers, iii. 440. f Ibid. iii. 410, 411. 419. 422—424. 428. 434—436. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 451 were large, but the court party carried the ques- chap. tion about which they were most solicitous. The , recognition of Richard as Lord Protector was car- 1659. ried by 191 to 168. The question whether the Commons should " transact business " with the other House was carried by 198 to 125 ; and the question of the admission of the Scotch and Irish members, which gave a decided preponderance to Cromwell's party, were carried ; — the former with out a division, — the latter, by 156 to 106. The opposition succeeded only in expunging the word " undoubted," as applied to the Protector, in the instrument of recognition ; and in limiting to the present Parliament their acknowledgment of the House of Lords.* The recognition of the Pro tector, and the other House of Parliament, were questions in which the Royalists, regarding them as approximations to the old monarchical institutions, had lent their aid to the government party. They were not strong enough to execute one part of the plan marked out by Hyde, — the impeachment of Thurloe and St. John ; but they denounced with success the tyrannical government of the late Pro tector. Petitions were presented from persons illegally imprisoned without formal warrant, or as signment of cause ; and cases of aggravated cruelty were disclosed, in the transportation of British sub jects to be sold as slaves in the West Indies, t * Commons' Journals. Clar. State Papers, iii. 449. Burton's Diary, iii. 284. 286. 578. ; iv. 293. t See the horrible case of a Devonshire gentleman, upwards of 70 years of age, described in Thurloe's State Papers, i. 746., and a petition mentioned in Burton's Diary, iv. 255., which describes more G G 2 452 THE LIFE OF chap. The vast increase of the public expenditure, XVI which exceeded even the large produce of a very 1659. heavy taxation ; oppression in the collection of the excise, and embezzlement of its proceeds ; and the rapacious violence of the Major-Generals*, and par ticularly of Boteler, were also subjects of loud and just complaint, t While the conflict of parties was thus proceeding in the House of Commons, the Parliament incurred the hostility of the army. The meetings and peti tions of the military excited the fears of Richard, and the jealousy of the Commons ; and, in order to forestall any attack upon the independence of the House, and to secure submission by promp titude and vigour, the Commons, on the 18th of April, carried, by 163 to 87, a resolution, " That during the sitting of the Parliament, there than 70 persons, among whom were men of 76, divines, officers, and gentlemen, taken after the rising at Salisbury, and, after a year's impri sonment, carried to Barbadoes, and there sold as slaves for pounds weight of sugar a-piece, " according to their working faculties." It proceeds to describe them " grinding at the mills, attending at the furnaces, and " digging in that scorching island ; having nothing to feed on but potato " roots, nor to drink but water, with such roots washed in it; being " bought and sold, still from one planter to another, or attached, as " horses or beasts, for the debts of their masters, being whipped at the " whipping posts (as rogues) for their master's pleasure, and sleeping " in styes, worse than hogs in England ; and in many other ways made " miserable beyond expression or Christian imagination." * " The Major-Generals," says the republican Ludlow, " carried " things with unheard of insolence in their several precincts, decimating " to extremity whom they pleased, and interrupting the proceedings at " law upon petitions of those who pretended themselves aggrieved; " threatening such as would not yield a ready submission to their or- " ders, with transportation to Jamaica, or some other plantations in the " West Indies ; and suffering none to escape their persecutions, but " those who would betray their own party by discovering the persons " that had acted with them or for them." Ludlow, i. 559. t Burton, iv. 383. 395—400. 403—412. 435. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 45^ " shall be no General Council or Meeting of the " officers of the army, without the direction, leave, " and authority of his Highness the Lord Pro- 1659. " tector, and both Houses of Parliament ;" and " that no person shall have, or continue, any com- " mand, or trust, in any of the armies or navies of " England, Scotland, or Ireland, or any of the " dominions or territories thereunto belonging, " who shall refuse to subscribe, that he wiU not " disturb nor interrupt the free meetings in Parlia- " ment of any of the members of either House of " Parliament, or the freedom in their debates and " counsels." Though these votes were much opposed in the Lord's House, where military influence was strong, the Commons, on the 21st, ventured to pass a de claration, that the command of the army was vested in the three estates, to be exercised by the Protec tor. This brought the struggle to a crisis. Des- browe told Richard, that the Parliament must be dissolved, and that if he would not do it, the army would do it for him. Richard called a council, and proposed a dissolution. Whitelock opposed the proposal ; Broghill, Thurloe, and Fiennes sup ported it : Richard concurred with the latter, and the Parliament was dissolved by commission on the 22d of April. If Richard was not formally deposed, his power at least was virtually extinct. The Parliament was dissolved, through which he ruled ; and a period ensued which was more truly a state of anarchy than any the country had yet endured. For a time, gg 3 454 THE LIFE OF chap, there was no visible depository of supreme au- XVL thority. The army was the predominant power ; 1659. but, instead of being wielded by an efficient leader, it was nominally commanded by the vacillating Fleetwood. The leaders feared to attempt to govern unaided by some semblance of civil admi nistration ; and, looking round for such a resource, they invited the members of the Long Parliament to assume the forms of government under their pro tection. Forty-two members of that Parliament, among whom was Lenthall, the former Speaker, were collected on the 7<-h of May, and, under the name of a Parliament, took their seats, — resuming their functions by an authority in behalf of which it can only be said, that it was at least as good as that by which they had been dispossessed. The members restored were those who had been forcibly expelled by Cromwell in 1653 ; but there were many others, who had been not less wrong fully excluded by Colonel Pride, in 1648 ; and, of these, fourteen, amongst whom were Sir George Booth, Prynne, and Annesley, went to the House to take their seats, but were stopped by soldiers in the lobby. On the 9th, Prynne, Annesley, and Hungerford gained admittance, but were subse quently excluded, and found guards stationed to prevent their re-admission. Prynne and his as sociates ascertained that the number of excluded members of the Long Parliament, still living, amounted to 213, of whom about 80 were then in London. The total number now allowed by the army to sit was 90 ; and of these only 70 availed EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 455 themselves of the permission. Prynne published chap. these facts, and protested spiritedly against exclu- , , sion. The effect was favourable to the views of the 1659. Royalists. The Parliament was shown to be the tool of the army ; respect for it was weakened through out the country ; and the vindication of the rights of the excluded members was a popular theme, which the Royalist might advantageously blend with the furtherance of his own designs.* * Pari. Hist. xxi. 369 — 398. Commons' Journals. GG 4 456 THE LIFE OF CHAP. XVII. hopes of the royalists. hyde s plan of operations. preparations for a general rising. — willis's treachery. hyde's attempt to counteract its ef fects. sir george booth's enterprise. its failure. charles repairs to the congress at fontarabia. returns unsuccessful. hopes of negotiation with leading men in england. fleetwood. lambert monk. communication attempted with the latter. — Lambert's proceedings. — monk marches southward, professing to support the parliament. — lambert's fruitless opposition. monk enters london. 1659—1660. CHAP. XVII. 1659. March. The Royalists had many sources of hope. They had reason to believe that the leading men of the Presbyterian party, Lords Manchester, Denbigh, Willoughby, and Fairfax, Sir George Booth, Sir Willam Waller, Sir Ashley Cooper, Sir Horatio Townshend, Mr. Popham, and Mr. Howe, were all favourable to the King's cause.* They were even not without hope that Richard Cromwell might be disposed to resign his tottering power in Charles's favour ; and Lord Fauconberg, his bro ther-in-law, was in communication with a Royalist on the expediency of opening a negotiation with Richard on this subject.! A little later, Rumbold, * Clar. State Papers, iii. 417. 423. 433, 434. 443, 444. 460. f Ibid. iii. 421. 433. 499. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 457 in a letter to Hyde, tells him, " there will be all chap. " possible care taken, at a fit juncture of time, to XVIL " dispose Cromwell to reason, by representing to 1659. " him the difficulties and dangers that he will " meet with in his government, and the safe and " honourable advantages that he may receive by an " accommodation with his Majesty ; to the which " I think it would be no hard work to incline " him, if he were out of the hands of St. John and " Thurloe."* In the following month, Hyde himself expresses his belief that Cromwell " hath no small advantage " with many considerable men by their believing " that he intends wholly for the King."t It ap pears, too, that Richard, after the dissolution of the Parliament, wished to aid the royal cause, and even to name the price of his assistance : but the time was past when he had power to serve the King: and the Royalists looked for other aid.t The wiser among them had never relied upon him ; and before his deposition, and in the same letter in which Hyde alluded to the foregoing hopes, he thus drew a plan of the proposed operations of the Royalist party under such various circumstances as were likely to occur. " If either upon the dissolution, or upon any Hyde's " other contest, the army could be divided, and so operations. " the breach be made evident, we hope it will be " no hard matter for our friends to get into arms, * Clar. State Papers, iii. 434. t Ibid. iii. 454. X Ibid- iu- 469- 458 THE LIFE OF and to justify it upon such plausible reasons as may not too soon reconcile the other. But if Cromwell shall be so powerful as to dissolve the Parliament, and all the other party, for the present, submit to it, upon expectation of a fitter conjuncture from future exorbitances, how you and the rest of the King's friends are to behave themselves, you can only judge upon the place, by the alterations you will discern to be in men, and it may be, in those upon whose affection and courage you must depend. And the King will always be so tender that he never will embark his friends in any desperate adventure ; though there is little doubt, but if aU his friends knew one another's mind, and if Mr. Popham and Mr. Howe did join themselves to the design of Bristol and Gloucester, and if you could beget a confi dence between Sir William Compton, Sir Richard Willis, Wm. Chicheley, and all our friends of those pasts, with Sir Horatio Townshend and Rossister, and if my Lord Bellasis could draw his friends of the north to stir at the same time, and if Major-General Browne, and our friends of Kent and your own quarter, would resolve to move as soon as the army, upon the other appear ance, should draw from London, — I say, if all this could be adjusted between you, the game would be very fair ; but I confess, without some such general conjunction, and therefore, kindling the fire in several parts of the kingdom together, I cannot imagine how any simple attempt, how EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 459 " bravely soever undertaken by our friends alone, chap. " can be attended with success." * . xvil On the 16th of May, the King assured his friends 1659. in England that, upon their rising and seizing some defensible place, he would immediately sail from Ostend, with such force as he could muster, which he hoped might amount to 2000 men. t Early in July, he communicated the intention of quitting Brussels on the 21st of that month, to join them with all possible haste ; and the 1st of August was fixed as the day of general rising. Sir George Booth was to seize Chester; Lord Newport, Shrewsbury ; Massey, Gloucester ; Arundel, Pol lard, Grenville, and Trelawney were to secure Exeter and Plymouth ; Lord Willoughby and Sir Horatio Townshend, Lynn ; Sir Thomas Middleton was to head the rising in North Wales ; Sir Henry Lingen, in Herefordshire ; in Worcestershire, Lord Windsor; and other noblemen and gentlemen in some other parts of the kingdom. Treachery disconcerted this formidable enter- J/wuiiLy prise. Sir Richard Willis, that double traitor, who had betrayed Ormond to Cromwell, and Cromwell to Ormond, was still one of the " sealed knot," intimately concerned in the arrangement of the conspiracy, and entirely trusted by the King's friends. The first intimation that he was unworthy of this trust appears to have been conveyed to the King by Morlandt, Thurloe's secretary, who, on * Clar. State Papers, iii. 454. t Ibid. iii. 472. X Harris, who loved to contradict whatever had been stated by Cla- 460 THE LIFE OF chap, confirmation of his statement being required, sent , XVIL , over letters in Willis's hand-writing wherein he 1659. disclosed the secrets of the Royalists. The ap pointed time of general rising was at hand : to put the King's dispersed adherents on their guard against Willis was difficult, if not impossible ; and if the charges against him had been fully made known, they might have produced a general panic, and entirely checked the intended enterprise. In this emergency, Charles, apparently by Hyde's ad vice, endeavoured to withdraw Willis from the scene of action, sending him a letter in his own handwrit ing, which Hyde enclosed in one to Broderick, re quiring Willis to come and meet the King at Calais. But Willis, perhaps suspecting, came not ; and it then became necessary to prevent the Royalists from holding further communication with him — but to prevent them in such a manner as might produce the least alarm and the least removal of mutual confidence. With this view, Hyde wrote thus to rendon, declares this story respecting Morland and Willis to be false ; and cites a letter from the former to the latter, first published by Ec- hard (p. 729.), denying that he had ever given information respecting Willis to Charles II. Either the letter is a forgery, or Morland ex cused himself to Willis at the expense of truth. There is ample evi dence of Willis' .-; treachery, without the admissions in his letter to Hyde (Clar. State Papers, iii. 743.), which alone are sufficient to re move all doubt. That Morland was the informer is indirectly proved by the honour he received after the Restoration, and directly and amply by the testimony of Pepys. The latter, in his Diary (vol. i. p. 82.), mentions the circumstance as an acknowledged fact, and afterwards (vol. i. p. 133.) repeats the statement as mentioned to him by Morland himself. Truly, as the veracious Harris observes, " Happy is it for " the lovers of historic truth, that there are so many authentic papers " preserved." Harris's Lives, iv. 216. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 461 Broderick: — "The King cannot comprehend why " Sir Richard should be so shy and wary as he " hath always been, and never yet contrived a 1659 " design, and opposed all. If therefore he be " neither come over to them upon the King's letter, " or in the field with our other friends, you must " never communicate any particular resolutions or " the names of persons with him, which I say in " confidence to you by the King's command, " which you must not take notice of to him, since " the King cannot but hope that he will at one " time or other serve him. But be as reserved as " aforesaid : there is reason for it." Long ere this warning could be given, the plan of the Royalists had been revealed by Willis, and preparations had been made to meet them. Forces were brought from Ireland and Flanders ; 14,000 men were directed tobe levied; measures were taken for calling out the militia; numerous suspected per sons were arrested, and all known Royalists banished from London, and required to give security for their good behaviour. Having thus rendered the enter prise hopeless, Willis attempted, as in a former instance, to satisfy his conscience, by endeavouring to discourage it, and to prevent his betrayed associates from running into danger : and the " sealed knot," at his persuasion, sent letters to forbid the rising. But it was too late. The letters were sent only two days before the appointed 1st of August, and failed in preventing the intended rising, and had only the effect of rendering it partial and abortive. The majority of the confederates hung back, confounded enterprise. 462 THE LIFE OF chap, and appalled ; but Sir George Booth, Sir Thomas , XVIL , Middleton, and Lord Derby, either disregarding the 1659. countermand*, or not having received it, rose in arms as was agreed. Sir George Booth, who was a Presbyterian, issued a declaration against the existing government, stating that he and his friends had taken arms " in vindication of the freedom of " Parliament, of the known laws, liberty, and pro- " perty, and of the good people of this nation, " groaning under insupportable taxes;" but he never mentioned the King.t Booth's The first exploit of Booth and his associates was the taking possession of the city of Chester : but they were unable to seize the castle, to which the parliamentary governor had retired with 200 foot and 50 horse. About a fortnight was then con sumed in inactivity and suspense, and in the gra dual receipt of disheartening intelligence. They learned that they stood alone ; that in other quarters there had been no rising ; that they must expect no support, and would be exposed to the undivided force under Lambert, now rapidly advancing against them. Chester, with its castle in the hands of the enemy, was not tenable, if Lambert should attack them ; so leaving 700 men to retain possession of the town, Booth marched towards Nantwich to meet him. Want of generalship characterised his measures. He had imprudently weakened his small army : he was ill informed of Lambert's movements: * The former is to be inferred from Lord Mordaunt's letter. See Carte's Letters, ii. 1 95. t Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 333. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 463 and he had neglected to summon to his aid forces chap. which were available and near. 500 Lancashire foot , ' . were within a day's march ; 600 more were near 1659. Warrington ; and Lord Derby had not yet joined. On the day that Booth's troops reached Nantwich, the greater part of the ammunition, by a blunder scarcely credible, was sent back to Chester, and the remainder left at Northwich. Booth hoped to have defended the passage of the river Weever ; but Lambert's troops had already crossed it, and were at hand before Booth was aware of his approach. Booth's force was drawn out hastily to oppose him, in the enclosures near Nantwich; but the position was deemed low and unfavourable, and they withdrew to higher ground. Here Lambert's troops attacked them ; and the success was such as might be ex pected against men unprovided with ammunition. " Many," says Mordaunt in his letter to the King, " had no match, others no ball; in short, Sir, it was " never fought : for the foot saved themselves in " the enclosures ; the horse trotted away — which " is the civillest term." Lambert's loss was only one man killed and three wounded. His opponents lost one officer (Col. Morgan) and thirty privates killed, and about 300 taken prisoners. Sir George Booth escaped at the time, but was taken soon afterwards, riding behind a servant on a pillion, in a woman's dress, at New port Pagnel, were he excited suspicion by acting ill the part he had assumed. Lord Derby was also taken ; and Sir Thomas Middleton capitulated 464 THE LIFE OF chap on favourable terms, at his place of refuge, Chirk J^£ Castle. 1659. Charles, meanwhile, had gone incognito from Calais into Brittany, intending, from that coast, to transport himself to Wales or Cornwall ; while the Duke of York, with 600 of Conde's soldiers, and plenty of arms and ammunition, lay ready at Boulogne, to land in Kent ; and 4000 men, under Marshal Marsin, were to cross from Ostend, with the Duke of Gloucester. These plans were now deferred. The news of Booth's defeat reached Charles at Rochelle, and James at Boulogne, just in time to prevent their embarkation. The enter prise was again postponed till the winter; and Charles turned his thoughts to another project, from which he hoped to derive advantage, and which he had formed some months before. A Congress for the negotiation of a treaty of peace between France and Spain, was about to be held at Fontarabia, and thither Charles resolved to go, to confer with Mazarin and Louis de Haro, and so licit such assistance as might enable him to make another attempt upon England, with greater pro bability of success. Each of these nations had, at different times, respectively, assigned as a reason for not assisting Charles more effectually, that state of war with each other which it was now their intention to terminate. That Hyde had a hope of good results from this project of the King's does not appear from any of his writings. From the cold and scanty allusions which occur in his letters, it may be inferred that he was not EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 465 sanguine, or that he viewed it only as a temporary expedient, to amuse and rouse the dejected spirits of the Royahsts in England. His most favourable ~~ i^gT allusion to the policy and prospects of this mea sure is to be found in his letter of the 30th of September, 1659, to Lord Mordaunt. In this he says, " Without doubt, if the two great kings " would in this conjuncture but declare that they " resolve to restore our master, they would be put " to very httle charge for the doing of it ; and in " that case I do believe, Mr. Lambert himself, and " any other officer they have, or can have in their " armies, will be purchased at a reasonable rate ; " but till some such declaration can be procured, I " cannot wish that our friends should make any " unseasonable attempt, but acquiesce under their " oppressors ; and yet, I hope the winter season " will not be lost. I do believe, the King was at " the Spanish frontier by the 22d or 23d of this " month ; for he set out from a place where he " was in Britany upon the 14th, and wished to " make all the haste he could, but not to make " himself known, till he came to Don Louis de " Haro, and then to send some excuse to the "Cardinal."* Charles, on learning the failure of Booth's en terprise, proceeded immediately towards the Py renees, attended by Lords Ormond and Bristol, and Daniel O'Neile. When near Thoulouse, he sent Ormond thither to collect intelligence ; and * Clar. State Papers, iii. 572. VOL. I, II H -166 THE LIFE OF xvnP' deceived soon afterwards by a false rumour, that t the treaty of Fontarabia was concluded, and Louis 1659. de Haro returned to Madrid, he hastily proceeded on his road to that place, without awaiting Or- mond's return. Arrived at Saragossa he discovered his mistake ; — that negotiations were stiU pending, and de Haro at Fontarabia. Thither Charles sent O'Neile, while he tarried at Saragossa ; and find ing that the Spanish government were annoyed at the prospect of his visiting the capital, retraced his steps, and repaired to Fontarabia. He was received by the Spanish minister with demonstra tions of respect, but was informed that there was no provision made in the treaty that the two crowns should jointly assist him.* Mazarin, with whom Charles requested a conference, refused to see him, fearing to offend the English govern ment. Ormond was then deputed to confer with him, but did not succeed in obtaining a satisfac tory promise of assistance ; and was told to expect no aid from France till the marriage had been con cluded with the Infanta of Spain, and peace made between Sweden and Denmark. Foiled in his hopes, Charles, about the beginning of December, furnished by De Haro with money to facilitate his progress, quitted Fontarabia for Paris, and from thence soon repaired to Brussels. His unsuccessful return from this bootless errand depressed still more the spirits of his adherents. All he obtained was the promise of such secret support as was almost useless. Spain offered to add as many to the * Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 360. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 467 troops he could already raise as would make them chap. 3000. Mazarin promised him the same number ; 1xvn" , but, as we are told by Clarendon, " The men the i6sg. " Cardinal would provide must be embarked in " Flanders, and they who were to be supplied by " Spain must be embarked in France ; so that by " these two specious pretences and proffers, the " King could only discern, that they were both " afraid of offending England, and would offer " nothing of which his Majesty could make any " use, before they might take such a prospect of " what was like to come to pass, that they might " new-form their councils." * The hopes of Charles and his little court dwelt not alone on foreign aid. They had grounds for believing that ^the three most powerful men in England, Fleetwood, Lambert, and Monk, were accessible to negotiation on behalf of the King. Early in September, immediately after Booth's de- Fleetwood. feat, Hyde was informed, by a correspondent in England, " that Fleetwood was made so sensible " of his duty, that if the King had appeared at the " head of an army he would have joined him ; " and " that he yet continues so firm to these im- "pressions, that his Majesty may be very confi- " dent he will not fail of all the assistance he is " able to bring him upon the next conjunction of "his affairs."! Such an intimation respecting the nominal leader of the army would have in spired great hopes, if the weak and irresolute cha- * Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 365. Clar. State Papers, iii. 642. f Clar. State Papers, iii. 551. H H 2 468 THE LIFE OF chap, racter of the man had not discouraged all reliance / ' , on him. " He has not, I fear," said Lord Mor- 1659. daunt to Hyde, " courage enough to follow the " honest thoughts which some time possess him."* " The character which we have always received of " the man," said the Chancellor to his corre spondent Littleton, " is not such as makes him " equal to any notable design, or to be much " relied on to-morrow, for what in truth he " resolved to do yesterday ; however, as his wit is " not so great as some of the rest, so his wicked- " ness is much less apparent than any of theirs, " and, therefore, industry and dexterity must be " used, to dispose and confirm him in his good in- " tentions, and let him take his own time for the " manifestation of it."t But time brought only a manifestation of Fleetwood's weakness ; and after the surrender of his commission as Commander in Chief, towards the end of December, all idea seems to have been abandoned of his being useful to the royal cause. A few days previous to this resigna tion, the irresolute Fleetwood was (as it appears from a remarkable conversation related by White locke) on the brink of becoming an adherent of the King. Whitelocke, suspecting the design of Monk, advised Fleetwood to forestall the intention, and secure to himself and his friends those advan tages which must accrue to the successful instru ment of restoration. He advised " that Fleetwood * Clar. State Papers, iii. 592. f Ibid. iii. 577. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 469 " should immediately send away some person of chap. XVII " trust to the King, to Breda, to offer to him and , " his friends service to the restoring of the King 1659. " to his right, and that upon such terms as the " King should agree upon," and he offered him self to be the envoy. Fleetwood assented, and they parted ; Fleetwood desiring him to prepare tor departure that evening, or early on the mor row ; and he and his friends would in the mean time prepare the instructions. No sooner had Whitelocke quitted Fleetwood, than Vane, Des- borough, and Berry came to speak with the latter ; and Whitelocke, knowing his irresolute disposition, prudently awaited the result of the conference. " Within a quarter of an hour," he says, " Fleet- " wood came to me, and in much passion said to " me, ' I cannot do it, I cannot do it.' I desired " his reasons why he would not do it. He an- " swered, ' These gentlemen have remembered me, " ' and it is true, that I am engaged not to do any " ' such thing without my Lord Lambert's consent.' " I replied, that Lambert was at too great a dis- " tance to have his consent to this business, which " must be instantly acted. Fleetwood again said, " ' I cannot do it without him.' Then I said, ' You " ' will ruin yourself and your friends.' He said, " ' I cannot help it.' Then I told him I must " take my leave, and so we parted." * Lambert, if accessible, was a more valuable ally; Lambert. and in September Hyde had expressed to Mor- * Whitelocke's Memorials, 691. H H 3 470 THE LIFE OF chap, daunt a belief, that if France and Spain declared XVII k_^__, for the King, his aid might be " purchased at a 1659. " reasonable rate." This belief appears to have been entertained by others : but the terms were not what Hyde would have deemed reasonable. Proposals were made to the King through Ni cholas and Mordaunt, from a friend of Lambert's, for a marriage between Lambert's daughter and the Duke of York; and soon afterwards Lord Hatton, a Royalist, in a letter to Hyde, to be communicated only to the King and Nicholas, seriously and strenuously urges, that, as the most effectual means of restoration to the throne, Charles himself should become the son-in-law of the aspiring General. He says, with reason, that " no foreign aid will be so cheap, nor leave our " master at so much liberty, as this way," and he then commends the beauty and disposition of the lady, the abilities of the father, and the respecta bility and antiquity of their lineage.* It does not appear that any answer was made to these proposals, or that the negotiations were carried further ; and another probable ally now attracted still more powerfully the attention of the Royalists — and this was Monk. Monk. This wary person had, at an early period, excited the hopes of the Royalists ; and of those hopes, and of his own suspected fidelity, he had been jo cularly warned by Cromwell.t In March, 1658, * Carte's Letters, ii. 200. 202, 203. 207. Clar. State Papers, iii. 592. f Price's Narrative, in Masere's Tracts, ii. 712. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 471 Hyde was informed by O'Neile that Monk was chap. reputed to be favourable to the King.* Immedi- . XVIL , ately after Cromwell's death, Colepepper, in a 1559. letter to Hyde, pointed out Monk, " as able alone " to restore the King, and not absolutely averse to " it, neither in his principles, nor in his affec- " tions." He described him as likely to be dissatis fied with the advancement of Richard ; being " a sullen man, that values himself enough, and " much believes that his knowledge and reput- " ation in arms, fit him for the title of Highness, " and the office of Protector, better than Mr. " Richard Cromwell's skill in horse-races and hus- " bandry doth." He recommends that he should be treated with, if any fit negotiator can be found ; and that they shall not demur at the mode in which Monk may choose to declare himself, — "let " it at the first be Presbyterian, be King and par- " liament, be a third party, or what he will ; so it " oppose the present power, it will at last do the " King's business." t A paper without date, of which a rough draught appears in Hyde's hand writing, addressed by the King to Lord Falcon- bridge, Lord Bellasis, and Sir John Grenville, or either of them, is the probable result of this com munication. It was as follows : — " I am confident that George " Monk can have no malice in his heart against me, " nor hath he done any thing against me which I * Clar. State Papers, iii. 395. f Ibid. iii. 413. H H 4 472 THE LIFE OF chap. " cannot very easily pardon ; and it is in his >_ _< " P°wer to do me so great service that I cannot ic5ft " easily reward, but I will do all I can, and I do " authorise you, and either of you, with the advice " of the rest, to treat with him ; and not only to " assure him of my kindness, but that I will very " tolerably reward him with such an estate in " land and such a title of honour as himself shall " desire, if he will declare for me and adhere to " my interest ; and whatever you shall promise " to him on my behalf, or whatever he, or you by " his advice, shall promise to any of his officers in " the army under his command, which command " he shall still keep, I will make good, and perform " upon the word of a King." * Charles sent with this another letter to the same effect, addressed to Monk himself.! On the 28th of October, 1658, it was communicated to Hyde, by a correspondent named Skelton, that he had inquired of Sir John Grenville if there could be no good wrought " upon Monk by the means " of his brother, who is parson of Sir J. Grenville's " parish, and a very honest man ; in answer to " which he sends me this enclosed, which I thought " fit to send your Lordship, desiring you will be " pleased to show it to the King. He desires he " may have the King's commission and order for " it, and what he shall proffer him, and withal that " there may be a great secrecy in it — and that his " Majesty make as few privy to it as possible. If * Clar. State Papers, iii. 417. f Kennet's Register, 8. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 473 " your Lordship think it not fitting to write to Sir " John Grenville yourself, if you please let me " know his Majesty's commands, what answer I 1659- " shall give him." * The nature of this answer has not transpired. We are told, by Clarendon, only that the King approved of the proposal that Monk's brother should be employed to sound him, "and sent such " directions as he thought most proper for such a " negotiation t : " but we are not told why this im portant measure was deferred nearly ten months. It was not till the 19th of August, 1659, that Sir John Grenville wrote to inform the Chancellor that Monk's brother was " gone, a fortnight since, " from hence very cheerfully, upon his errand into " Scotland." X The time was propitious. It was about the period of Booth's rising. Monk had been irritated by the treatment he had received from Fleetwood, who summoned to England two of his regiments of horse, and from the restored remnant of the Long Parliament, who had removed many of his . favourite officers. Monk saw in these acts a design to undermine his power. "And," says his chaplain, Price, " if I know him right, the revenge " for slights was some part of a grain in the scale." Little, however, could it weigh against Monk's habitual caution. He appears to have secretly ap- * Clar. State Papers, iii. 420. f Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 384. X Clar. State Papers, iii. 543. Price in Masere's Tracts, ii. 708. 474 THE LIFE OF chap, proved of Booth's enterprise, and to have listened t not unfavourably to the message which his brother 1659. had brought. He even did more ; for in the pre sence of a few persons, to whom his chaplain ad ministered an oath of secrecy, he read an intended letter to the Parliament, complaining of their pro ceedings, of their monopoly of power, and of their abandonment of the good old cause; — a letter con curring in many respects with Booth's declaration, and which without committing Monk would em barrass the Parliament and aid the King. Monk (as it appears from the narrative of Price, his chaplain,) was on the eve not only of submitting this letter to his officers for signature, but of taking overt measures in support of Booth. He however waited the result of the next post. It came on the morrow, and brought the news of Booth's defeat. Monk immediately destroyed the letter, gave his officers a " thanksgiving dinner " for Lambert's victory, and said he wished the Parliament would make it a capital offence even to mention the restoration of the King. He then sent away his brother, not only expressing displeasure at the message he had brought, but charging him with a friendly message to the Parliament, conveying congratulations on the recent victory, and assurances of fidelity to their authority. To Grenville he sent no message ; and the brother, on being questioned, pleaded an oath of secrecy, and, as it appears from Grenville's unsa- Dec. 2. tisfactory letter to Hyde, would communicate nothing more definite and favourable than that EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 475 " General Monk had seemed very much troubled chap. " at the defeat of Sir George Booth." , XVIL , On the 13th of October Lambert dissolved the 1659. Parliament by military force ; and the governing power was again vested in a Council of Officers at Wallingford House, who gave the chief command to Fleetwood, and the second to Lambert ; and annulled all the proceedings of the Parliament during the last days of its sitting. These violent measures excited more than usual disapprobation even among a people now long inured to gross and frequent violations of constitutional right. The news of these proceedings reached Monk on the 17th of October. Instantly he threw aside reserve ; expressed his unqualified displeasure ; declared his determination to support the Parlia ment, and " reduce the military power in obedience " to the civil ; " held a council of his officers, en gaged their support, and wrote letters to Lenthall, the ejected speaker ; to the usurping council at Wallingford House ; to the Governor of Hull ; to the army in Ireland ; and to the fleet in the Downs, under the command of Lawson — expressing therein his " resolution to restore our laws and liberties." He also immediately remodelled his army, dis placing about 140 officers who had been forced upon him by that Parliament of which he now proclaimed himself the champion, and restoring those whom the Parliament had removed, and on whose obedience he could more safely rely. Then leaving strong garrisons in Edinburgh and Leith, t76 THE LIFE OF and securing the town of Berwick, he marched with his forces towards England. 1659. Equal promptitude was displayed by Lambert, who, with 7000 men, marched northward to oppose Monk. A Fabian policy suited the latter. His force was inferior in numbers, but better supplied with ammunition, provisions, and money. He therefore tried negotiation, and sent three deputies to London to treat. Lambert met them at New castle and suffered them to proceed, they having refused to negotiate with him. In London they concluded an agreement with the Council; but Monk, whose object it was not to make terms but to gain time, refused to ratify the treaty on the alleged plea of its obscurity. Lambert, meanwhile, was waiting with his army at Newcastle, and with him Monk next opened a communication, under the pretence of obtaining explanations of the obscurely worded treaty which his deputies had concluded in London. Lambert fell into the snare ; and while the conference proceeded winter was ad vancing, his men deserting, and supplies becoming scanty ; and Monk at the same time was recruiting among the Scotch, calling a convention of the Scotch estates at Berwick, and obtaining from them a grant of more than 60,000/. Monk's head quarters were at Coldstream ; and while he was there his chaplain, Price, once more endeavoured to sound him, and engage his influ ence on behalf of the King. To speak with Monk secretly, " I knew," said Price, " the interval " between midnight and the morning to be the EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 477 " only time ; so between two and three of the chap. " clock, by the help of a corporal, I came to his . xvn" , "chamber door; found it only latched ; the Ge- 1659. " neral in his clothes ; his head laid on the side of " the bed, and his body resting upon two stools on " a form, fire and candles being in the room. He " awakened at my first entrance. I desired his " pardon, and he kindly gave liberty of speech. " Upon my representing to him what I judged to " be his interest and duty ; that is to say, the " restoring of our known laws (for I never used to " speak in any other terms), I cannot forget his " passion and his posture. ' Mr. Price (said he), " ' I know your meaning, and I have known it. " ' By the grace of God I will do it if ever I can " ' find it in my power ; and I do not much doubt " ' but that I shall.' So closing my hands in both " his, he lifted them up, and devoutly uttered, " ' By God's help I will do it.' " * Meanwhile events in the south were favouring Monk. Tumultuous assemblies clamouring for a free parliament took place in the city, and the citizens threatened resistance to the payment of taxes unconstitutionally imposed. Lawson brought his fleet up the river, and declared for the Parlia ment. Hazlerig and Morley took possession of Portsmouth in aid of the same cause; were joined by the troops that were sent against them ; and marched towards London to communicate with the fleet. Alarmed at these and other instances * Price, ii. 746. 478 THE LIFE OF chap, of defection, the Committee of Safety, after con- . sidering whether it would be politic to restore the 1659. King, resolved to summon a new parliament on the 24th of January, and to appoint, in the mean time, twenty-one conservators of the public peace. But their power had departed. The soldiers mu tinied ; and on the 24th of December the troops in London had disclaimed the supreme authority of any, save the Speaker of the House of Commons, as Lord General of the army. Desborough fled. Fleetwood, on the 26th, resigned his commission ; and on that same day the ejected members, with Lenthall at their head, and under the protection of the soldiery, again took possession of the House. One of the earliest acts of resumed authority was to order Lambert's forces to withdraw to the quarters in which they were previous to the supension of parliamentary authority ; to annul Lambert's command, and to order him to retire to his house. During the last two months his ranks had been considerably thinned by desertion. Defection now was almost universal : to resist was useless — and Lambert obeyed. All collision was thus avoided between the forces of Lambert and those of Monk, with which, on the 1st of January, 1660 — ten days before the arrival of the message from the Parliament — Monk crossed the Tweed at Coldstream. The same day was signalised by another remarkable event — the surprisal of York by Fairfax ; an enterprise undertaken in concert with Monk as an additional means for the dis- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 479 comfiture of Lambert. Fairfax was at this time chap. secretly a Royalist, and was impelled and supported t XYU\ by the Cavaliers of Yorkshire. He appears also 1559. to have believed that Monk was of the same opinion ; and that though both professed to rise only for a free parliament, they might perhaps eventuaUy concur in effecting the restoration of the King.* On the 12th of January Monk arrived at York ; and Fairfax, through means of his own chaplain, Bowles, attempted to sound the intentions of Monk, and to persuade him to remain at York, assume the command of the combined forces, and proclaim the King. But Monk declined the ex periment, declaring it to be too hazardous in the present temper of his army ; and so anxious was he to discountenance the suspicion of his being secretly a Royalist, that he publicly caned an officer who had said that " Monk would at last let in the " King." Meanwhile the Parliament had sent to Monk an invitation to advance to London, and to Fairfax thanks for his demonstration in their favour ; and the latter perceiving that his real object was not yet to be effected, disbanded his forces and re tired.! Monk, armed with the sanction of the Parliament, marched from York towards London, * Price's Narrative in Masere's Tracts, i. 748. Monkton's Narra tive, Lansdowne MSS. No. 988. Brit. Mus. + Price's Narrative, ii. 751—753. Skinner's Life of Monk, 189. et seq. Kennet's Register, 12, 13. 19. 1659. Ian. 17. 480 THE LIFE OF and found in his progress much reason to be satis fied with the cautious part he had pursued. During his short halt at Nottingham, he with difficulty prevented his officers from signing and issuing an engagement to "be obedient to the " Parliament in all things but the bringing in of " Charles Stuart." At Leicester he was obliged to write a letter of reproof to the petitioners from Devonshire, in which he stated that " monarchy cannot be ad- " mitted for the future in these nations ; " that the members excluded in 1648 cannot be recalled; and that all must submit to the existing Parlia ment. Here, too, he was met by two parlia mentary commissioners, Scott and Robinson, sent ostensibly with compliments, and to announce that the Parliament had settled on him 1000/. a year ; but really as spies upon his conduct, while accompanying him from thence to London. During his march frequent addresses, praying for a free parliament, and the restoration of the ex cluded members, were presented to the General, and by him referred to the parliamentary com missioners, the representatives of the governing, power. On the 28th of January, Monk, still closely watched by the parliamentary spies, arived at St. Albans with 4500 foot and about 1800 horse ; a force less than he commanded in the North, but which he had judiciously lessened, that he might not alarm the jealousy of the Parliament. Here he received a complimentary address from EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 481 Lawson and several captains of the fleet. Hence, chap. XVII. too, he sent a letter to the Speaker, requesting . that five of the regiments in London might be 1660. removed before his troops arrived, that the chance of dissension might be thereby prevented. The Speaker acceded to the request; but the troops which were ordered to retire refused to obey the parliamentary mandate, till they were bribed into acquiescence by a sum of money. They then retired ; and Monk, on the 3d of February, marched into London. vol. 1. 1 1 482 THE LIFE OF CHAP. XVIII. hyde's services eminent, but not conspicuous. — his great exertions. — his difficulties jealousies among the king's friends. hyde and others dis trust monk monk's triumph over the parliament. the excluded members take their seats. — pro ceedings in parliament favourable to charles. dissolution. impediments to the restoration. grenville's mission. course advised by hyde, -r- declaration from breda, and letters. general election. h^de employs morley in negotiating with the presbyterians. meeting of the conven tion parliament. — king's declaration, and letters received. king invited to return. — monk resists the attempt to impose conditions. — the resto RATION. 1660. chap. In describing the progress of events at that in- xviii. teresting period, which immediately preceded the 1660. Restoration, and the influence of circumstances upon the fortunes of the King, it is difficult to exhibit conspicuously and distinctly the im portant services which were rendered by Hyde, or to ascertain to what extent he individually was instrumental in furthering the great result. His services were not of a conspicuous character, and consisted rather in preventing evils, than in effect ing obvious good. His was the situation of a pilot, borne along with his vessel by an impetuous current, dexterously avoiding, in his onward course, the dangerous rocks on either side. That he ar- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 483 rives at the desired haven, seems the sole work of the resistless current; and the spectators on the shore are not aware of the care and skill by which i860. that port is reached in safety. It was Hyde's part to sound the depths, and watch the rocks, and steer the bark, which bore, alas ! not " Cassar and his " fortunes," but a weak, licentious, wayward strip ling. Over the current of events in England he had scarcely more control than has the pilot o'er the eddy ; nor, in truth, is there good ground for thinking that the power he lacked was really possessed by any single individual. When various causes conduce to one result, it is ever difficult, and sometimes impossible, to assign to each its proper share, or to affirm that the result would not have occurred, if any one cause, or agent, had been with drawn, or even adverse. This was peculiarly the case with respect to the Restoration. Charles was restored because the people willed it ; — because, tired of anarchy, and not inspired with requisite confidence in any leader, they fled to an an cient institution, and sought their sole remaining refuge beneath the shelter of the throne. It can not be proved that the absence of Hyde's exertions and advice would have retarded for a day the King's return ; neither, I think, can it be proved that the restoration would have been long retarded even if Monk, its supposed great author, had op posed it. When it is thus difficult to exhibit the separate instrumentality of even the foremost agents in that mighty work, let not the reader regard it as a fault, if in this, and some of the foregoing i i 2 484 THE LIFE OF CHAP. XVIII. 1660. Hyde's services. chapters, the illustrious subject of this biography is less prominent and conspicuous than his abilities and importance may seem to demand. Let it be remembered, that events in which his name does not appear, have still an importance with refer ence to his fortunes, which forbids his biographer to overlook them. A recollection of them is essential to a right understanding of the high po sition which he eventually occupied. They are the prologue to a drama, in which the chief part was filled by him ; they are the introductory events, which, rolling onward, whether with or without his guidance, placed in his hand a power greater almost than any English minister had possessed. Although it is impossible to estimate correctly the instrumentality of Hyde, it is very possible to ex hibit some picture of his exertions and labours, and of the difficulties by which he was beset. Hyde, Ormond, Colepepper, and Nicholas were the four confidential counsellors bv whose advice Charles, at this time, was almost exclusively directed. Of these four, Hyde bore the greatest share of bu siness, and was believed to possess the greatest influence. The arduous work of correspondence devolved wholly upon him ; and he was the confi dential recipient of many communications which do not appear to have been intrusted to other mem bers of the King's Council. The printed collection called the Clarendon State Papers bears evidence of the industry with which he performed the duties of correspondent with the King's friends in Eng- EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 485 land ; and to these may be added a considerable chap.XVIII number of unpublished letters in the Bodleian ', Library, bearing additional proofs of his surpassing 1660. exertions. With Mordaunt, Broderick, Rumbold, Samborne, and Barwick, his communications were frequent ; and he corresponded also on the King's affairs, but less frequently, with Sir John Grenville, Major Wood, Dr. Creighton, Apreece, Hatton, and Lord Bellasis. He wrote, as we are told by Burnet, to all the leading men of the Presbyterian party, and " got the King to write a great many letters in " a very obliging manner." * " The management " of all this," continues Burnet, " was so entirely " the Chancellor's single performance, that there " was scarce any other that had so much as a share " in it with him." f The intricate duties of this laborious, respons ible, yet ill-defined office, presented difficulties of the most serious magnitude. It wras his to thread the maze of thick-coming events, and advise the consequent course of action, where, as Hyde said, " the face of things varies so much, and so often, " that what falls out at night wholly crosses what " was depended on in the morning." X To pene trate this maze required a calm and rare sagacity, even when furnished with the fullest statements, of the most authentic kind. But here was the super- * Numerous draughts of letters of this description, in Charles's name and in Hyde's handwriting, are extant in the Bodleian Library. They are evidently rough draughts, to be copied afterwards by the royal pupil. f Burnet's own Times, i. 150. X Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 686. ii 3 486 THE LIFE OF chap, added difficulty of estimating the effect of each XVIIL correspondent's separate bias in colouring his re- 1660. spective statements. Even the upright and sincere might too probably allow their wishes to influence their belief; while others, imperfectly informed, might call in invention and surmise to supply the deficiency of substantial truth ; and worst, though not, perhaps, most dangerous (for misguided sin cerity misleads us most), there was the unscrupu lous partisan, framing distorted representations, in compliance with the dictates of his interest or his passions. It was the heavy task of Hyde, not only to check the inaccuracies of his correspondents, but to control their tempers, — not only to test their fidelity as reporters, but to prevent jealousy from impairing their efficiency as agents. As the prospects of the Royalists brightened, and the fruits of exertion seemed nearer at hand, interested jealousies grew apace, and men began to regard each other not merely as coadjutors in the re-esta blishment of monarchy, but as competitors for its rewards. jealousies Lord Mordaunt, one of the ablest, bravest, and Royafistsf most active of the King's adherents, was especially exposed to this dangerous jealousy, a continuance of which would have dissolved combination, and paralysed exertion.* Whether Mordaunt gave any just cause for jealousy, by undue assumption of trust and influence, cannot be ascertained. It is probable that he gave some cause, but not to such * Clar. State Papers, iii. 672. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 487 extent as to justify his opponents. Broderick and chap. others told Hyde, that Mordaunt " assumes much XVIIL " more than you imagine ;" and he had numerous leeo. injudicious friends, who said that " the King must " owe his crown to him." * Barron, on the other hand, was warm in defence of him t ; and Sir John Grenville, Peyton, and Legge, writing to the King, declared their wonder, " that any body should so " extremely forget himself and truth, as to say the " Lord Mordaunt pretended to any trust superior " or apart from the others." X Hyde endeavoured to allay these differences, remonstrating strongly with the opponents of Mordaunt, and putting the latter on his guard against the misrepresentations which were current respecting him. " First," said Hyde in a letter to Mordaunt, " it is said that you " take thewhole business upon yourself; and, there- " fore, they do or pretend to believe, that the King " hath given the whole power to you, as well in " martial as civil affairs. Secondly, they seem " to apprehend that all that is or shall be done " is looked upon as your entire work, and the " effect of your interest and conduct, and that they " are not represented, or shall be considered as co partners in any thing." § Thus at this time it was difficult to employ effi cient agents, to the full extent to which their services might be made available, without awakening the jealous claims of inferior and less trusted ad- * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 675. f Ibid- ui- 671. X Ibid. iii. 678. § Ibid, iii- 684. i I 4 488 THE LIFE OF chap, herents. " Those who are trusted a little," said XVI11- Hyde, " would be trusted more and know more ; 1660. " and are troublesome upon their being disap- " pointed;" and he adds, " I know no security " but to be obstinate in applying them only to " what they are fit for." * With a view, apparently, to neutralise and suspend the exertions of Hyde, he was urged to beware of Mordaunt, as one who plotted to effect his ruin t ; an intimation which Hyde appears to have disregarded, and which was probably without foundation. His exertions were not, consequently, suspended, and discontent ap pears to have been appeased. Conduct of Monk's reserve still caused much doubt ; and the accounts which Hyde received from his corre spondents were contradictory and discouraging. Dec. 1659. Broderick told him that Monk, as he is informed, had " three several times solemnly called God to " witness he had no intention to embrace His " Majesty's interest, nor ever would he."X " Monk's " designs are so unknown," said Broderick on the 15th of January, 1660, " it is vanity to guess at " them. Some believe he disguiseth the ambi- " tion of Protectorship, others that he disdains it." § Rumbold told him, on the same day, that it is the opinion of Sir John Grenville, and many of the no bility, that " His Majesty might do well to get a " message sent from the King of France to Monk, * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 684. f Vol. iii. 95. See letter from Major Wood to Lord Chancellor Hyde. X Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 629. § Ibid. iii. 645. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 489 " the better to dispose him." * Hyde, on December 5th, in a letter to Barwick, expressed a reasonable distrust of Monk's power, as well as of his inten- 166°- tions ; having truly observed, that he was at that time not sufficiently master of his army, t In February Monk's conduct was still unfathom able. Immediately after his arrival, he said empha tically to Ludlow, " We must live and die for and " with a commonwealth." X A few days afterwards, on being appointed a member of the Council of State, he refused to take the oath of abjuration of the House. of Stuart. He said " there were seven " of the Council who had not yet abjured : he would " know their reasons before he complied. More- " over, he disliked all promissory oaths ; and he " entertained scruples shared by many against " swearing never to acquiesce in that which Di- " vine Providence might possibly ordain. He had " already given proofs of his fidelity to the Par- " liament, and, if they required, he would give " them more." They took him at his word, and required him to chastise the contumacious citi zens of London, who had formally declined to pay any more taxes imposed by an unconstitu tional Parliament, in which they were not repre sented. They could not have imposed a duty more artfully calculated to impair his influence with the soldiery and his popularity with the people. * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 630. ¦j- Barwick's Life, 378. X Ludlow, 820. 490 THE LIFE OF XVI1I. 1660. chap. The troops were almost mutinously reluctant to do Monk's bidding in the demolition of the city gates. At the same time an attempt was made to under mine his power in another manner, by the favourable reception of a petition from Barebone, that no man should sit in Parliament, or be capable of any office, who refused to abjure the pretensions of Charles Stuart. Monk penetrated the design of the Parliament, and, with a promptitude worthy of Cromwell, instantly changed his course of action. He sum moned a council of officers ; sent a letter, in the name of the Council, to the Speaker, complaining of having been employed on the preceding day against the citizens, and peremptorily demanding " that, by the Friday following, they should send " forth writs, to fill up all the vacant places in the " House, and, when that was done, fix a determi- " nate time to their own sitting, and give place " to another Parliament."* Having sent this letter, Monk marched to Fins- bury Fields ; summoned before him the Common Council, which the Parliament had recently dis solved, and delivered a speech, in which he told them he was now come as their friend, to join his fortunes with theirs, and, with their assistance, to obtain a free Parliament. This unexpected address was received with shouts. Joy pervaded the city. The remainder of the day was devoted * Price's Narrative, 766. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 491 to rejoicings. Bells, bonfires, and feastings gave chap. evidence of the popular satisfaction ; and rumps > of meat were roasted in every street, in token 166°- of contempt and aversion towards the remnant of the Long Parliament, nicknamed " the Rump," which was then sitting in Westminster.* The members of a Parliament thus opposed by the army, and insulted by the people, naturally felt dismay : yet they assumed, at first, an attitude of firmness ; and, persisting in their opposition to the authority of Monk, brought in a bill appointing Fleetwood commander-in-chief. Two days after wards, they were forced to adopt a humbler tone ; invited Monk to return to Whitehall, and on Friday (the day prescribed in his letter) ordered writs to be issued to fill up the vacancies in the house. Monk's victory was complete ; and, re turning to Whitehall and calling round him the excluded members, and addressing them in a speech declaratory of his preference for republican government and a Presbyterian church, he ad vised them to resume their seats. So encouraged, and attended by the military, they walked in a body to the House, took their seats, and, without further formalities, became once more effective members of the legislature ; while Hazlerig and others of his party, in disgust at the intrusion, indignantly withdrew. The restored members were now masters in # Price, 767. Pepys, i. 24—28. 492 THE LIFE OF chap, the House ; and they proved it by their proceed- .XVIIL. ings. They annulled all votes relative to their 166°- own exclusion and the death of Charles I. They revoked the bill appointing Fleetwood commander- in-chief, and brought in one conferring that office upon Monk. They restored the Common Council, discharged from imprisonment and sequestration Booth and his associates, the Scotch taken after the battle of Worcester, and several Cavaliers ; ap pointed a new Council of State, of which the com plexion was Royalist ; placed the militia in the hands of persons not unfriendly to that cause ; de clared Presbyterianism the religion of the state ; appointed the 15th of March for their own disso lution, and the 25th of April for the meeting of a new Parliament. On the 13th of March, two days before the dis solution, a resolution was passed " That the en- " gagement appointed to be taken by members " of Parliament and others, in these words, viz. : " ' I do declare and promise, that I will be true and ' faithful to the commonwealth of England as the ' same is now established, without a King or ' House of Lords,' be discharged and taken off " the file."* This resolution was almost equivalent to a declaration in favour of the King, and was strongly indicative of the favourable disposition of the House of Commons. On the same day was negatived, by ninety- three to fifty-six, a proposed * Commons' Journals. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 493 resolution disqualifying from voting at elections all chap. persons who had been actually in arms for the , XV"L , late King, or his son, against the Parliament, or 1660. had compounded for delinquency. The question of restoration was no longer timidly whispered, or obscurely hinted, but openly dis cussed in Parliament ; and in the month of March Sir Harbottle Grimstone pressed upon the House that they should not leave that office to the suc ceeding Parliament, but make terms with the King themselves. " I must confess sincerely," he says, " that it would be as strange to me as a " miracle, did I not know that God infatuates " whom he designs to destroy, that we can see the " King's return so unavoidable, and yet be no " more mindful of serving him, or at least our- " selves, in the managing of this recall."* Other signs of the coming restoration were apparent. The Common Council declared themselves not adverse. Clergymen ventured publicly to pray for the King ; and his name was in some places pro claimed by the people. " The controversy," said Barwick in a letter to Hyde of the 16th of March, " begins to be rather upon what terms than whether *' the King shall be restored."! In February, when several of the troops in the city were mutinous, " I was," said Major Wood in a letter to Hyde, " at several of their gardes and * Hallam's Const. Hist. ii. 388. Note, quoting Harleian MSS. 1576. f Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 698. 494 THE LIFE OF chap. " garrisons, where I heard some crye for a free . " Parliament, and many for the Kinge." * i860. " The debate now," wrote Charles Howard to the King soon afterwards, " is not so much whe- " ther we shall have you, but how and when."t When such was known to be the prevalent feeling, it is not surprising that many of the Royalists should have passed from doubts respecting Monk, to a belief in his hostility to the King's return. He was the most powerful individual in a country where the voice of the majority was reasonably presumed to be favourable to the King ; yet his declarations were such as, without admitting the grossest duplicity, could be expected only from an opponent. X He appeared not the probable in strument of the King's return, but rather the im pediment of that which the nation was ready to effect. Yet to those who disregarded the extravagant vehemence of Monk's declarations, and looked sagaciously at his actions, it appeared that he was * Vol. iii. Major Wood's Letter to Hyde. JCkr. State Papers, iii. 711. " Monk," said Lord Mordaunt in a letter to the King, February 5., " hath already pulled off the mask, and is clearly republican." — Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 670. " On Wednesday, March 10.," said Barwick, " upon occasion of remonstrance, he (Monk) declared " himself to my friend, that he would acquiesce in the judgment of the " Parliament both in relation to your Majesty and the House of " Lords ; and yet yesterday he told him, in great passion, he would " spend the last drop of his blood rather than the Stuarts should ever " come into England." — Ibid. iii. 697. Another informant tells the King, on the 19th of March, that " Monk still persists to protest, and " wish his right hand may rot off, if he has the least design for the " King, or if he do not oppose it to the last drop of his blood, if " attempted by any." — Ibid. iii. 703. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 495 proceeding in a course which would be eventually xvm" favourable to the Royal cause. Such was the « — , — > opinion of Hyde, as expressed in a letter of the 166°- 6th of March, in which he says, that " if Monk " hath from the beginning intended well, he hath " proceeded very wisely in the steps he hath "made."* Fresh circumstances tended to con firm this view of his conduct. He resisted, in March, the presentation to Parliament of a paper brought to him for signature by a numerous body of his officers, being an engagement to oppose the elevation of any single person to supreme power. He afterwards obtained from the army an engage ment to abstain from interference in matters of state, and to submit to the authority of the new Parliament. He had previously begun to remodel his army, dismissing officers of republican princi ples, and appointing others more favourable to monarchy. He pursued the same policy in the appointment of governors. " The commonwealth " men," as we learn from a letter to Hyde, of the 19th of March, from Barwick, " wonder to see " General Monk declare for a commonwealth, " and yet put so many places of strength into the " hands of those that are not much enamoured of " that government ; for Sir Horace Townshend is " Governor of Lynn, Charles Howard of Carlisle, " Tolhurst of Newcastle, Morrice of Plymouth, and Sir P. Killegrew at Pendennis Castle. His * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 694. ¦a 496 THE LIFE OF chap. " great work now is to remodel his standing army ; . xvm- , « and it is no small happiness that most of his 1660. a officers are postnati to the spoils both of the " church and Crown ; for there the shoe pincheth "most."* An adherence to abstract political principles had ceased to constitute a serious impediment to the readmission of monarchical institutions. The immediate practical consequences of the King's return, as affecting the private interests of individuals, were more deeply considered, and presented a more serious bar. The most zealous opponents of the Restoration were naturally those who felt that they would probably be excluded from pardon ; and, among them, especially such as had been concerned in the trial of the late King. Next to these was a more numerous class, who feared only pecuniary injury ; and on the fears of this class the more deeply interested sedulously wrought. They held out to the purchasers of forfeited property the prospect of compulsory restitution ; and to the military in general, that they would be disbanded, and lose their arrears, as the certain consequences of the King's recall. The army, therefore, was in a great measure hostile to the King, and, as Charles Howard in formed him by letter, as late as the 28th of March, was not yet in a temper to hear " his name pa- "tiently;" but the writer added, he doubts not * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 702. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 497 " in a short time they will be so modelled, that chap. " the General may answer for their perfect obedi- .XVHI". " ence."* 166°- Between the middle and end of March, soon after the dissolution of Parliament, Monk, for the first time, threw off that ambiguous reserve by which he had so long kept the royalists in suspense. His kinsman, Sir John Grenville, after having been often foiled, at length obtained a private interview, through the intervention of Morrice, a gentleman of Devonshire, who was the private friend of each ; and took this opportunity of delivering to Monk a letter from the King. Monk received it, and ac knowledged that he was friendly to the King, which he refused to declare openly, because surrounded by those whose intentions were doubtful ; and he consented to return a verbal answer, on the con dition that Grenville should bear it himself. The answer was written, and shown to Grenville, who was desired to commit its contents to memory ; and when he had so done the writing was burnt. It contained a request that the King would send a conciliatory letter, to be laid by Monk before the Parliament, promising a pardon which should be almost general, liberty of conscience, the confirm ation of all sales of crown and church lands, and forfeited estates, and the payment of arrears to the army, t Thus instructed, Grenville repaired to the King * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 711. Thurloe, vii. 870. 887. f Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 441—447. Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 711. Price, 783— 786. VOL. I. K K 498 THE LIFE OF chap, at Brussels, bearing also a request from Monk that w_^__, Charles would quit the Spanish territory, for there 1660. was reason to beheve that the Spaniards would attempt to detain him as a hostage for Dunkirk and Jamaica. Charles complied with the advice, and told Carracena " that he intended the next " day to go to Antwerp, and from thence to Breda, " to spend two or three days with his sister, the " Princess of Orange:" and he accordingly left Brussels the following day and repaired to Breda, having departed secretly, and several hours earlier than he had previously intended, in consequence, as we are told,- . of an additional warning that Don Alonzo and Carracena had already issued an order for his detention.* Grenville's mission was unexpectedly gratifying : for, though the King expected overtures for his return, he had little reason to expect a more favour able basis to the preliminary conditions than the treaty of the Isle of Wight. * But his counsellors, Hyde, Ormond, and Nicholas, to whom this im portant message was immediately communicated, found much cause for perplexity. To have rejected Monk's overtures would have been madness ; to assent to them absolutely was impossible. A con firmation of all purchases would be a cowardly desertion of the interests of adherents who had been unjustly dispossessed — to grant a general liberty of conscience was, in that age, thought in compatible with the peace of a nation — and to * Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 451. Price, 790. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 499 grant such a pardon as would include the judges chap. of Charles I., was thought inconsistent with the ' , honour of the present king. The course pursued 1660. in this emergency, by the advice of Hyde, is thus stated in his owm words : — " After great deliber- ' ation upon all the particulars, and weighing the ' importance of complying with the General's ' advice in all things which his conscience and ' honour would permit, his Majesty directed such ' letters and declarations to be prepared as should ' be in a good degree suitable to the wishes and ' counsel of the General, and yet make the trans- ' action of those things which he did not like the ' effect of the power of the Parliament rather ' than of his Majesty's approbation. And the ' confidence he had upon the general election of ' honest and prudent men, and in some particu- ' lar persons, who he heard were already chosen, ' disposed him to make a general reference of ' all things, which he could not reserve to him- ' self, to the wisdom of the Parliament, upon pre- ' sumption that they would not exact more from ' him than he was wilhng to consent to ; since he ' well knew that whatever title they assumed, or ' he gave them, they must have another kind of ' parliament to confirm all that was done by them ; ' without which they could not be safe and con- ' tented, nor his Majesty obliged."* In pursuance of this determination a declar- * Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 447, 448. K K 2 500 THE LIFE OF chap, ation was prepared by Hyde*, and five letters, in . the King's name, addressed as follows : — the first 1660. to Monk, the council of state and the army — the second to the Speaker of the House of Commons — the third to the House of Lords — the fourth to Monk, Montagu, and the navy — and the fifth to the Lord Mayor and the City of London. In the letter to the Speaker the King expressed the greatest esteem for Parliament, and a disposi tion to look upon their councils as the best he can receive, and to be as tender of their privileges as of his own. On the difficult question of indemnity he said : " If you desire security for those who, in these " calamitous times, either wilfully or weakly, have " transgressed those bounds which were prescribed, " and have invaded each other's rights, we have " left to you to provide for their security and in- " demnity, and in such a way as you shall think " just and reasonable ; and by a just computation " of what men have done and suffered, as near as " is possible, to take care that all men be satisfied." " If," it added, in obvious allusion to the execution of Charles L, " there be a crying sin for which the " nation may be involved in the infamy that attends " it, we cannot doubt but that you will be as so- " licitous to redeem it and vindicate the nation " from that guilt and infamy as we can be." The other letters are shorter, and contain less that is worthy of remark. * Kennett's Register, 105, EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 501 But the most important of these papers was chap. the King's declaration, given at Breda on the 4 th , Xvm" . of April, which embodied the result of that cau- leeo. tious policy which his counsellors had advised. It granted a pardon to all such as shall claim it Declaration within forty days after publication, and return to loyalty and obedience ; " excepting only such per- " sons as shall hereafter be excepted by Par- " liament." On the subject of religion, it promised " that no man shall be disquieted or called in " question for differences of opinion in matters of " religion, which do not disturb the peace of the "kingdom:" and it expressed readiness to con sent to such an Act of Parliament, " as, upon " mature deliberation, shall be offered to us for the " full granting that indulgence." On the subject of confirmation of grants and purchases, it ex pressed willingness that all differences on that subject, " and aU things relating to such grants, " sales, and purchases, shall be determined in Par- " liament — which can best provide for the just " satisfaction of all men who are concerned." And it said, in conclusion, " we do further declare " that we will be ready to consent to any Act or " Acts of Parliament to the purposes aforesaid, and " for the full satisfaction of all arrears due to the " officers and soldiers of the army under the com- " mand of General Monk ; and that they shall be " received into our service upon as good pay and " conditions as they now enjoy."* * Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 464, KK S 502 THE LIFE OF chap. The ambiguity of this declaration must have XVIII . . caused dissatisfaction, if the King had not removed 1660. responsibility from himself, and referred all diffi culties to the decision of the Parliament. The people could not refuse to rely on the award of that body which, in the absence of kingly rule, had been the sole constitutional source of power ; and the Parliament must be pleased by such defer ence to their authority, and regard it as a proof that Charles intended to govern through them, and to avoid the rock on which his father had been wrecked. Grenville, accompanied by Mordaunt, returned to England bearing the declaration and letters, and a commission empowering Monk to confer • on Morrice the office of Secretary of State, vacant by the resignation of Lord Bristol. All these, together with a private letter in the King's hand writing, Grenville delivered to Monk. He also delivered copies of the declaration and public letters, in order that Monk, without opening the originals, might know their contents, and be en abled to decide on the course to be pursued. * Meanwhile writs were issued for a Parliament, and the elections were proceeding. Fair play was given in the contest of parties ; and military or official influence does not appear to have pre vented the returns from exhibiting a fair repre sentation of public opinion. Even Monk's written recommendation of Thurloe to the burgesses of * Clar. Hist. Reb. vii. 453—470. Price, 791, 792. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 503 Bridgenorth was not obeyed, and a cavalier was chap. elected in his stead. * Of the three predominant XVIIL parties, Republican, Presbyterian, and Cavalier, i6eo. the latter was the strongest. The Presbyterians, though numerically superior, were divided, — some of them scarcely distinguishable from the Cavaliers, and willing to consent to a modified episcopacy ; others adhering to the covenant, and willing to admit the King only on conditions founded on the treaty of the Isle of Wight ; while a few among them, through dread of episcopacy, sided with the Republicans, and were opposed to the restoration on any terms, t Yet even at this time the cause of the King violence of was placed in jeopardy, both by the activity of the ;sts. oya" alarmed Republicans, and by the injudicious violence of his own adherents. The former wrought upon the minds of the soldiery : but Monk, now backed by the militia, and possessed of a commission from the King giving him command over all the mi litary, repressed by his firmness the spirit of dis affection, ordered the officers to their posts, and dismissed every private who refused to promise submission to the new Parliament. X Many of the Royalists exhibited an intemperate violence, of which the Republicans promptly availed them selves, " forging letters," as we are told by Lut- trell, a correspondent of Ormond's, " which they * Thurloe, vii. 888. Pari. Hist. xxii. 218. f Clar. State Papers, iii. 705. 714. 716. 720. 722. 726, 727. 729. 731. Carte's Letters, ii. 323. Burnet's Own Times, i. 149. X Thurloe, vii. 870. Price, 794. Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 708. 715. 728. K K 4 504 THE LIFE OF chap. " pretend are written from persons near the King, , XVIIL i " hill of cruel threats of revenge with which many 1660. " are alarmed, and the rather because some of " his party here speak in that style, and dis- " tinguish those who are for moderate and heal- " ing counsels by the name of Prudentialists." * " The ill temper and extravagant discourses of " some of your Majesty's own party," said Alder man Robinson in a letter to Hyde, to be com municated to the King, " doth at this instant " much harm ; and I fear their want of prudence " and discretion may bring greater fetters on the " party than otherwise would have been im- Aprii 16. " posed."t " Some of the Council of State," said Rumbold in a letter to Hyde, " that have wished " well to the King's cause, make sad complaints " of the indiscreet carriage of some of the King's " party ; but they mention not the particular in- " stances. The like complaint hath been made " to Monk ; but he turned it off with a jest, that as " there is a fanatic party on the one side, so there " is & frantic party on the other."! Hvde.s Hyde expressed strongly his disapprobation of conciliatory these excesses, and employed the iudicious in- measures. . ± j ^ fluence of his friend Dr. Morley in allaying the intemperate zeal of certain of the clergy, one of whom went so far as to speak of revenge for the blood of Laud, of Strafford, and of Charles I. § * Carte's Letters, ii. 318. 325. 331. ¦J- Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 716. X Ibid. iii. 722. § Ibid. iii. 726, 727. 732. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 505 Morley was also employed by him in the work chap. of conferring with the Presbyterian clergy, with a .xvm". view to soften sectarian antipathies, and reconcile 1660i them to an episcopal church. He found many of the chief Presbyterians (and especially Reynolds among their clergy, and among their laymen the Earl of Manchester) willing to admit a modified episcopacy, and to refer all differences to the de cision of a national synod and a free Parliament, and to hold immediately a friendly conference with moderate men of the episcopal party. Many of the clergy, Morley found, would admit of epis copal government, and the use of the Liturgy, if they might be permitted to use, before and after their sermons, such arbitrary forms as they them selves might think fit ; and he was told that " if " three or four of the leading men might be grati- " fied with such other preferments as they may " hold with their charges here in the city (as the " Mastership of the Savoy, the Provostship of " Eton, or some of the chief prebends of Paul's or " Westminster), they would be a great means to " bring over their whole party."* Ordination was considered the chief difficulty, but by no means an insuperable one ; and salvos might be devised which would satisfy the con sciences of both sects, t * Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 738. + Clarendon's State Papers, iii. 719. 722. 727, 728. 738. Burnet's Own Times, i. 150. A testimony of the accommodating disposition of many leading persons of the Presbyterian persuasion may be found in a letter of May 10. 1660, from Sir T. Wharton to the Marquis of Ormond. See Carte's Letters, ii. 337. 506 THE LIFE OF chap. The hopes of the Royalists were almost de- XVIII. stroyed by an alarming circumstance which oc- 1660. curred in April. Lambert, encouraged by the Lambert's success of the republican emissaries in tampering escape. L ¦*¦ ° April 10. with the army, escaped from the Tower, and, after remaining a few days concealed in the City, fled into the country, and, in less than a week, appeared in Warwickshire at the head of six troops of horse, and several companies of foot. The known activity and popularity of Lambert ren dered the circumstance very alarming. But Monk was prompt, and Ingoldsby, once a regicide, and now, with the zeal of a renegade, anxious to es pouse the cause of monarchy, was immediately sent in pursuit of Lambert with a competent force. April 22. They met near Daventry. Two of Lambert's troops deserted : the others turned their pistols to the ground, and refused to charge. Lambert, aban doned by his men, had no resource but flight ; and having ineffectually attempted it, and as in effectually endeavoured to obtain release, by ap pealing to the compassion of his former comrade, he was taken prisoner and brought to London, and re-committed to the Tower. Thus this alarming incident soon terminated to the entire satisfaction of the anxious Royalists.* Meeting of On the 25th of April, the Parliament (since Parliament1, known by the name of " The Convention Parlia- Apni 25. a ment") met. The Commons chose for their Speaker Sir Harbottle Grimston, a Presbyterian, * Kennett's Register, 119, 120. Ludlow, 876, 877. Whitelocke, 699. 1660. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 507 who (as his speech in the preceding Parliament S^ff- evinced) was very favourable to the King's return. - Peers also met in the House of Lords, and chose for their Speaker the Earl of Manchester. Their number on the 27th having risen to thirty-six, they signalised that day by the first public use of a privilege long proscribed, and desired a conference with the Commons on the affairs of the kingdom. Monk, who was satisfied with the declaration and letters, now arranged with Grenville how they should be delivered. A habit of dissimulation seems to have made it agreeable to him to keep on the mask when it was no longer necessary. He pri vately arranged that the letter, which was to be communicated by him to the Council of State and the army, should be delivered to him by Grenville at the door of the council chamber. He there received it, affecting ignorance, and looking with feigned surprise at the royal arms upon the seal. He then produced the unopened letter before the council; and Grenville, at his suggestion, was brought in and examined by the President, and asked from whence the letter came. Grenville said, "From the king at Breda." He was then ordered to be taken into custody; whereupon Monk, without acknowledging that he had coun tenanced this mission, or had any cognisance of it, offered to be security for his appearance before the Parliament ; until which appearance the letters he had brought were to remain unopened. On the 1st of May, the day on which a confer- 1660. 508 THE LIFE OF chap, ence was to take place between the two Houses, XVIII. . at which conference the question of limitations to the royal authority, preparatory to restoration, would probably have been discussed, Mr. Annes ley reported to the Commons from the Council of State, the reception and possession of unopened letters from the King. Sir John Grenville, the bearer, was said to be in attendance ; and he was called, and the letter to the Speaker, enclosing the declaration, was delivered, and both wrere read. On the same day, Grenville presented himself in the House of Lords, where a similar scene oc curred. Monk read the letter for the army to his officers, and the letters to Montague and the Lord Mayor were respectively delivered and read by them to those to whom they were to be -communi cated. The letter and declaration were warmly received by both Houses, and loyal answers were immediately prepared. Grenville was called in on the following day to receive the thanks of the Commons, and a present of 500/. Both Houses passed resolutions, " That according to the ancient " and fundamental laws of this kingdom, the " government is and ought to be, by King, Lords, " and Commons." * Charles Was forthwith in vited to come to England and receive his crown ; and the Parliament sent him 50,000/., with 10,000/. for the Duke of York, and 5000/. for the Duke of Gloucester. On the 8th he was solemnly pro claimed at Temple Bar, at Whitehall, and in * Commons' Journals. 1660. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 509 Palace Yard ; and nothing was wanted but the chap. King's presence to render the restoration com- 1xvm', plete. In Parhament a loyal enthusiasm prevailed, which bore down all opposition ; and limitations and conditions were listened to with impatience. " Hale," says Burnet, " afterwards the celebrated " chief justice, moved that a committee might be " appointed to look into the propositions that " had been made, and the concessions that had " been offered, by the late king during the war, " particularly at the treaty of Newport, that from " thence they might digest such propositions as " they should think fit to be sent over to the " King." * Monk, as was preconcerted, rose to oppose this motion. He spoke of the present universal quiet, the continuance of which would be endangered by delay ; and that if the King was not sent for immediately, he could not answer for the peace of the country. As for propositions, " might they " not as well prepare them, and offer them to him " when he should come over? He was to bring " neither army nor treasure with him, either to " fight them or to corrupt them ; so he moved that " they would immediately send commissioners to ," bring over the King, and said that he must lay -'^the blame of all the blood or mischief that might " follow on the heads of those who should still " insist on any motion that might delay the pre- * Burnet's Own Times, i. 151. 510 THE LIFE OF chap. " sent settlement of the nation. This was echoed '- " with such a shout over the house, that the 1660. a motion was no more insisted on." * " This," pursues the Bishop ironically, "was, indeed, the " great service that Monk did." He was more instrumental in this respect, than in effecting the King's restoration ; for which, however Monk may have contrived to render himself the appa rent instrument, the King was indebted to the nation at large. Monk did not lead the public feeling, but cautiously followed, and even re strained it. The annals of these times are replete with evidence which should dispose us to believe that Charles would equally have been restored to his throne, not only if Monk had done nothing to promote that measure, but even if he had to the last opposed it. That "to the King's coming in without con- " ditions, may be well imputed," as Burnet tells us, "all the errors of his reign," is a very ques tionable assertion ; for it is hard to conceive by what preliminary conditions some of the most glaring errors of his reign could have been pre vented. It may moreover be argued, not only that it would have been very difficult to frame ef ficient and unobjectionable preliminary conditions, but that the Parliament would have had no right to exact them. It may seem difficult to estab lish a standard of right for cases of so anomalous a description ; but it may be said that where the exer cise of some power is indispensable, and therefore * Burnet's Own Times, i. 152. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 511 rightful, the assumption of authority should not chap. be greater than is absolutely required. The least . authority which the Parliament could assume in 1660. restoring the King, consisted in acknowledging that he had been illegally excluded from the throne ; and this, indeed, would be not so much an exercise of authority, as an acknowledgment of previous wrong. It was for them to say, whether they should or should not recognise Charles as the law ful resumer of suspended monarchy ; not whether they should assume to themselves the unprece dented power of creating a new species of mon archy unknown to the constitution. The Par liament, which dissolved itself in March, and issued writs for the Convention Parhament, had, by the admission of the excluded members, virtually declared the illegality of all that had been enacted since December, 1648 : and among such illegal enactments, the suppression of monarchy was the most important. If monarchy had been illegally suppressed, then Charles II. was dejure King; and the recognition of him, as rightfully possessed of all the lawful privileges and prerogatives of a king of England, must be antecedent to any attempt to mo dify that authority. The Convention Parliament, which was called into being by the preceding Par liament, decided that, according to the ancient and fundamental " laws of this kingdom, the Go- " vernment is, and ought to be, by King, Lords, and " Commons." * This was to declare, that they * Commons' Journals. 512 THE LIFE OF chap, reyerted to monarchy, as it existed at the period of i. ' ¦ the last legal co-operation of those three branches 1660. of the Legislature, ¦ — that they recognised in Charles II. the possession of those rights which were enjoyed by his father, at the period of his last assent to any legislative measure of the two Houses of Parliament. They were debarred from imposing Parliamentary limitations as the condition of the King's return. If they would effect any deviation from the form of monarchy as established by law, that deviation must now be effected, " by King, " Lords, and Commons," and by them alone ; or in other words, the Parhament must restore the King, and acknowledge his authority, before they could endeavour to limit and restrain it. Monk, therefore, truly said, that they might as well pre pare their propositions, and offer them to the King when he should have arrived in England. They could not be made the preliminary con ditions of his restoration to that authority which was already acknowledged to be rightfully his ; and they could not have the validity of laws without receiving the royal assent. Monk is justifiable in having opposed the preli minary offer of limitations ; but he cannot be entirely absolved from the blame of having thrown his weight into the scale of those who wished to strengthen the hands of the Sovereign, and of having discountenanced those who, having re cognised the restoration of the ancient monarchy, sought only, in accordance with its forms, to offer salutary restrictions, and to determine the bounds EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 513 of the prerogative, with a view to the prevention chap. of future disputes. Why, for example, was the tXVIIL , great subject of contention between Charles I. leeo. and the Parliament — the King's power over the militia — left undecided on this occasion? Was it because by commission from the King, and by the votes of both Houses, the chief military command had been given to Monk? and was Monk therefore unwilling to curtail that power? Having made himself the ostensible instrument of restoration, he was, perhaps, disinclined to di minish either the weight of obligation or the power to reward. Yet the Parliament was not unmindful of its duty. Between the receipt of the King's letter and his restoration, the Commons had appointed a com mittee to consider the King's declaration and letter, and to prepare bills accordingly. They had read a second time, bills securing lands pur chased from the trustees of the late Parliament ; for taking away tenures in knight-service and wardship, giving the Crown compensation ; for settling the questionable legality of the present Parliament ; for a general pardon, indemnity and oblivion ; for establishing ministers settled in ec clesiastical livings ; for continuance of process, and judicial proceedings ; for making void all grants of titles of honour, offices, and estates, since May, 1642; and, lastly, on the 29th of May, they read a second time, and committed, a bill for confirm ation of the privileges of Parliament, Magna Charta, VOL. I. L L 514 THE LIFE OF xvni' statutum de tallagio non concedendo, the petition \ — i of right, and other acts. It must, therefore, be i860. remembered, that although the Convention Par liament may not, in the first fervour of returning loyalty, have proposed all the securities for future liberty and good government, which some have reasonably thought requisite, at any rate they effected much. We must return to the King at Breda. The Parliament appointed a deputation of Peers and Commons to convey their answer to the King's letters. Monk, at the same time, despatched an answer by Bernard Grenville to the former letter which the King had sent to him. With his usual love of secrecy, he charged Bernard Grenville (as is stated by Lord Lansdowne, the son of that gentleman,) " that he should take care not to " be suspected of being any thing more than a " common passenger, uncharged with any busi- " ness, and, above all, to use such diligence as to " get first to the King, that his Majesty might " not be surprised or perplexed by any uneasy " importunities or disagreeable demands, but be " prepared in what manner to receive, and content " them with general answers. My father accord- " ingly arrived the first by two or three hours. " The King was at supper. Upon sending in his " name, his Majesty immediately rose from table, " and came to him in another room. The King " had no sooner read the General's letter, but he " embraced the bearer, and told him, never was Restoration. EDWARD EARL OF CLARENDON. 515 " man more welcome to him ; he could now say " he was a King, and not a Doge."* Monk, by being thus, even by two hours, the ^6