From speaking, the commons soon proceeded | "He was not noted," says May, "for any great to action; not always bearing in mind the strict limits of their power and jurisdiction. On the 7th of November, the fourth day of their sitting, they passed a resolution that those victims of Star Chamber tyranny and cruelty, Mr. Burton, Dr. Bastwick, and Mr. Prynne, should be sent for forth with by warrant of the house, and made to certify by whose warrant and authority they had been mutilated, branded, and imprisoned. And, being liberated from their distant dungeons by this warrant of the house, the three Puritans, upon the 28th day of November, came to London, being met upon the way and brought into the city by 5000 persons, women as well as men, all mounted on horseback, and wearing in their hats and caps rosemary and bays, in token of joy and triumph. Happy had it been if the released captives and sufferers for conscience' sake, and those who triumphed with them in their release, had learned to tolerate others, or had ascertained the great fact that persecution and cruelty defeat their own objects! Within a month after the return of the three Puritans, their business was referred to a committee, and, upon the report of that committee, it was voted by the house that their several judgments were illegal, unjust, and against the liberty of the subject; and, about a month after this, it was further voted that they should receive damages for their great sufferings, and that satisfaction should be made them in money, to be paid by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the other high commissioners, and those lords who had voted against them in the Star Chamber, and that they should be restored to their callings and professions of divinity, law, and physic. The damages were fixed for Burton at £6000, for Prynne and Bastwick at £5000 each. As these men were comforted after their sufferings, so other divines, followers of Laud's orthodoxy, after a brief triumph, were brought to their torment. The committee of religion was indefatigable, and certainly neither tolerant nor merciful. Among all the men of his rank, Laud's friend and pet author, Dr. Cousens, master of St. Peter's, Cambridge, was most remarked for what were termed superstitions and curious observances. depth of learning, nor yet scandalous for ill living, but only forward to show himself in formalities and outward ceremonies concerning religion, many of which were such as a Protestant state might not well suffer." Cousens was imprisoned and bailed, and though deprived of some of his preferments, yet escaped without any great punishment, being one of a crowd that had reason to rejoice that the parliament had so much business on hand. On the 18th of December, Cousens' friend and patron, William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, &c., &c., was singled out for the crushing thunderbolts of the house. It was resolved that a message should be sent to the lords to accuse him, in the name of the house and of all the commons of England, of high treason, and to desire that he might be forthwith sequestered from parliament and committed. Denzil Hollis carried up this message. Evidently to his surprise, the Lordkeeper Finch told him, that the lords would sequester the archbishop from their house, and commit him to the custody of their gentleman usher.' Laud desired leave to speak, and dropped some unguarded expressions, which he afterwards begged leave to retract, but was refused by their lordships. He then requested permission to go to his house to fetch some papers, that might enable him to make his defence. This permission was granted, provided he did nothing but in sight of the gentleman usher, in whose custody he was ordered to remain, and in whose custody he did remain for ten weeks, when he was committed to the Tower. In his speech on the motion of impeachment, Mr. Grimston desired the house to look upon Laud's colleagues and dependants. "Who is it but he only," exclaimed the orator, "that hath brought the Earl of Strafford to all his great places and employments? . . . . Who is it but he that brought in Secretary Windebank into that place of trust-Windebank, the very broker and pander to the whore of Babylon? Who is it but he only, that hath advanced all our Popish bishops? I shall name but some of them: Bishop Mainwaring, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Bishop of Oxford, and Bishop Wren, the least of all these birds, but one of the most unclean."" On the morrow of Laud's ar indeed, was not a weapon taken from the armoury of human nature, but just the less ought it to have been absolutely ignored. -ED. land. A change had for some years been wrought in its tenets, and still more in its sentiments, which, while it brought the whole body into a sort of approximation to Rome, made many individuals shoot, as it were, from their own sphere, on coming At the same time, Laud was denounced as "the great inwithin the stronger attraction of another. The charge of incendiary in the national differences" by the Scotch commisclining towards Popery, brought by one of our religious parties against Laud and his colleagues with invidious exaggeration, has been too indignantly denied by another "-Hallam, Constitutimal History of England. It is strange that among the weapons which the a thor represents the Puritans as employing against the Ro.nanists, he omits by far the most effective and formidable-their constant appeal to the paramount authority of the Holy Scriptures. This, sioners, who had come up to London, and were residing in the city-"much frequented by the disaffected." 2 Mainwaring, who had made such a noise by his writings in favour of absolutism and the Divine right of kings, was now Bishop of St. David's; the Bishop of Bath and Wells was William Pierce; the Bishop of Oxford was Dr. John Bancroft; Matthew Wren, now of Ely, had been Bishop of Norwich, and had distinguished himself in that diocese by his violent persecution of rest (the 19th of December), it was ordered that a message should be sent to the lords, that there were certain informations of a high nature against Dr. Matthew Wren, Bishop of Ely, concerning the setting up of idolatry and superstition; and that the commons, having information that he was endeavouring an escape, desired their lordships that care might be taken that he should HARBOTTLE GRIMSTONE. From an old print, af. er an original picture at Gorhambury. danger, having liberty of going over to Ireland, or to some other place where he might be most serviceable to his majesty. The king, notwithstanding these weighty reasons, continued very earnest for Strafford's coming up to the parliament. Charles had a wonderful notion of Strafford's powers of imposing on parliaments, and his own less daring spirit stood in need of his servant's resoluteness; and in the end he laid his commands upon him, pledging himself for his safety, and assuring him that, as he was King of Eng. land, he was able to secure him from any danger, and that the parliament should not touch one hair of his head. Strafford made haste to thank his majesty for these assurances, but still unconvinced, he once more represented the danger of his coming, saying that if there should fall out a difference between his majesty and his parliament concerning him, it would be a very great distur bance to his majesty's affairs; and that he had rather suffer himself, than that the king's affairs should suffer on his account. But Charles would not be moved by these representations, or by the prospect of the danger which must attend his favourite minister; he repeated his injunctions, saying, that he could not do without Strafford's valuable advice in the great transactions of this parliament; and in obedience to these reiterated commands, the earl came up to London.' Strafford assumed a bold bearing, and a confidence which his inmost heart denied. "A greater and more universal hatred," says a noble contempo give good security to abide the judgment of parliament. Mr. Hampden went up with this mes-rary, "was never contracted by any person, than sage. But before these churchmen were stricken in their pride of place, Strafford had been denounced, formally accused, and safely lodged in the Tower. When the king left York, his lieutenant remained behind him, to take charge of what remained of the army in the north. It is proved by many concurrent witnesses that Strafford was averse to coming to London and meeting the parliament. His friends told him, that to appear in his place as a peer would be to hazard his life. He humbly represented to his master, that it would be better to leave him where he was, as he could not hope to be able to do his majesty any service at Westminster, where he felt he should rather be a hindrance to his affairs, as he foresaw that the great envy and ill-will of the parliament and of the Scots would be bent against him. He told Charles, that if he kept out of sight, he would not be so much in their mind; and if they should fall upon him, he, being at a distance, might the better avoid any Puritans and his expulsion of the industrious clothiers-foreigners, or descendants of foreigners, who would not renounce the religion they had brought with them into England. Bishop Wren was uncle of the celebrated Sir Christopher Wren. he has drawn upon himself. He is not at all dejected, but believes confidently to clear himself in the opinion of all equal and indifferent-minded hearers, when he shall come to make his defence." Strafford arrived in town on Monday night; on Tuesday he rested from the fatigues of the journey; on the Wednesday he went to parliament, "but ere night he was caged."3 "It was about three of the clock in the afternoon," says Rushworth, "when the Earl of Strafford (being infirm, and not well disposed in his health, and so not having stirred out of his house that morning), hearing that both houses still sat, thought fit to go thither. It was believed by some (upon what ground was never clear enough', that he made that haste then to accuse the Lord Say, and some others, of having induced the Scots to invade the kingdom; but he was scarce entered into the House of Peers, when the message from the House of Commons was called in. 1 Whitelock. 2 Sidney Papers; letter from the Earl of Northumberland to the Earl of Leicester, dated the 13th of November, 1640. 3 Letters of Robert Baillie, principal of the university of Glasgow, and one of the Scottish commissioners sent up to London. "Intolerable pride and oppression," says Baillie, "*cries to Heaven for vengeance." and when Mr. Pym, at the bar, and in the name But the commons of England were not remarkof the commons of England, impeached Thomas, able for their appetite for blood; they wanted Earl of Strafford, of high treason, and several the heads of Laud and Strafford, and no more, other heinous crimes and misdemeanours, of and probably connived at, or were glad to see which, he said, the commons would in due time the flight of their satellites. What they had make proof in form; and, in the meantime, desired, already done was well calculated to strike terin their name, that he might be sequestered from ror into the hearts of all worshippers of the all counsels, and be put in safe custody." Pym, despotic principle. It was, indeed, wonderful who carried up the impeachment, had, according to see how all the advocates and instruments of to Clarendon, announced his determined hatred despotism, ship-money, and all kinds of illegal to Strafford many years before. "You are going taxation, fell at the first blow, and crouched at to leave us," said Pym, when Wentworth first the feet of their victors. The whole fabric of went over to the king's party, "but we will never | absolutism was shattered like a house of glass, leave you, while your head is upon your shoulders." On the present occasion Strafford had gone in haste to the house. "He calls rudely at the door; James Maxwell, keeper of the black rod, opens: his lordship, with a proud, glooming countenance, makes towards his place at the board head; but at once many bid him void the house; so he is forced in confusion to go to the door till he was called. After consultation, being called in, he stands, but is commanded to kneel, and on his knees to hear the sentence. Being on his knees, he is delivered to the keeper of the black rod, to be prisoner till he was cleared of these crimes the House of Commons had charged him with. He offered to speak, but was commanded to be gone without a word. In the outer room, James Maxwell required him, as prisoner, to deliver his sword. . . . . Coming to the place where he expected his coach, it was not there; so he behoved to return that same way, through a world of gazing people. When at last he had found his coach, and was entering, James Maxwell told him, 'Your lordship is my prisoner, and must go in my coach;' so he behoved to do." A few days after his arrest, Strafford requested to be admitted to bail, but this was refused him, and he was safely lodged in the Tower. or melted like a fabric of ice and snow on the return of the summer sun. Charles was helpless, hopeless, at once; there seemed to be scarcely a man in the land to raise sword or voice in his favour; nor did he gain anything like a formidable party till these first terrors had subsided, and the parliament had stepped beyond that line of reform which the general opinion held to be necessary. Next the commons impeached Secretary Windebank and the Lord-keeper Finch; but little or no care was taken to secure their persons, and both were allowed to escape. Windebank, favoured by the queen, fled into France, where he soon made a public profession of Catholicism; Finch fled into Holland. Clarendon hints that Finch had come to a compromise with the popular party, "it being visible he was in their favour;" but he expresses his surprise at their suffering Windebank to escape their justice. Letters of Baillie. 7 Speaking of Laud and Wentworth, Mr. Hallam says:-"The haughty and impetuous primate found a congenial spirit in the erd-deputy. They unbosom to each other, in their private letters, their ardent thirst to promote the king's service by measures of more energy than they were permitted to exercise. Do we think the administration of Charles during the intervals of parliaments rash and violent? They tell us it was over-cau It was not possible for the commons to overlook the slavish judges who had upheld shipmoney and condemned Mr. Hampden. They sent up Waller with a message to the lords, and their lordships forthwith ordered that Bramston, Davenport, Berkeley, Crawley, Trevor, and Weston should find heavy bail to abide the judgment of parliament. Berkeley, whose speeches will be remembered, was impeached of high treason, and, to the great disturbance of his brethren, both judges and lawyers, he was arrested while sitting on the bench, with his ermine on, and brought away like a common felon. But the commons were certainly not anxious for his blood; and after some time he was permitted to withdraw himself, having, it is said, been forced to give a free gift of £10,000 for the public service. A.D. 1641. On the 19th of January Mr. Pri deaux brought in a bill for preventing the dangers and inconveniences happening by the long intermission of parliaments. He proposed that the parliament should be held yearly. In committee the house rejected that proposition, and followed the example which had been set them by the Scots a few months before, in voting for regular triennial parliaments. At the same time, to guard against the statute becoming a dead-letter, they directed that the issuing of writs at the fixed time should be imperative on the lord-keeper or chancellor; that tions and slow. Do we revolt from the austerities of the Star Chamber? To Laud and Strafford they seemed the feebleness of excessive lenity. Do we cast on the crown lawyers the reproach of having betrayed their country's liberties? We may find that, with their utmost servility, they fell far behind the expectations of the court, and their scruples were reckoned the chief shackles on the half emancipated prerogative."-Constitutional History of England, vol. i. p. 456. if he failed, then the House of Lords should issue the writs; if the lords failed, then the sheriffs were to do it; and if the sheriffs neglected or refused, then the people were to proceed to elect their representatives without any writs at all. They moreover provided, that no future parliament should be dissolved or adjourned by the king, without its own consent, within less than fifty days from the opening of its session. Charles here attempted to make a stand. On the 23d of January he summoned both lords and commons to Whitehall: there he reproved the latter for their long delays; and spoke of their connivance, which suffered distraction to arise by the indiscreet petitions of men who, "more maliciously than ignorantly, would put no difference between reformation and alteration of govern 1 Parl. Hist. 2 Clarendon, Hist. 3 "Of the Scotch ministers who, in 1640, and some following years, went up to London on public affairs, Laing relates that "from dawn till the Sabbath was concluded, their chapel was crowded and surrounded with multitudes of all ranks, whom the novelty of the Presbyterian worship had attracted. The conflux and insatiate resort of the people, who clung to the windows when excluded from the doors, to inhale the sanctified tones and provincial accents of a barbarous preacher, has been justly ascribed to the fanatical spirit that began to predominate, which rendered them apt recipients for the fumes of devotion.” And Hume speaks of the insatiable avidity with which the people attended to their lectures, "delivered with a ridiculous cant, and a provincial accent, full of barbarism and ignorance." The Quarterly Review, too, at a later date, while it passes the highest encomiums on the learning, taste, and eloquence of Knox and his contemporaries, insists that when the Covenant came, those gifts passed over to the Episcopalians. "The best that can be said of the charges we have quoted, is that they are utterly absurd. The statements of Hume and Laing are themselves the mere cant of a party, and could these writers have communicated their accent to their style, it would have been found no less barbarous than that of their reverend countrymen. As for the reviewers, theirs is the language of gross ignorance, and, we may add, of stupidity; for having admitted the superlative merits of Knox and the Melvilles, how could they rationally believe that the gifts of these men should so soon pass away from the party that gloried in them as their leaders, to another which had calumniated the memory and tried to suppress the writings of Knox, and had banished both the Melvilles?" In short, there is nothing wonderful, and, least of all, is it any imputation on the taste of the parliamentary party and the citizens of London, that they thus flocked to hear the Scottish preachers. No one who compares the theological writings of the English and Scotch at that period, can fail to be struck with the superior flexibility of the Scotch style-a circumstance that has been ascribed to the progress of the Scottish branch of the Anglo-Saxon not having been interrupted as the English was, by several centuries of suppression, in the literate classes, by Norman French. But if English divinity, down to or seditious preacher, that there was a way out of it into a gallery of the church. "This benefit was well foreseen on all sides in the accommodation, and this church assigned to them for their own devotions, where one of their own chaplains still preached, amongst which Alexander Henderson was the chief, who was likewise joined with them in the treaty in all matters which had reference to religion; and to hear those sermons there was so great a conflux and resort by the citizens out of humour and faction, by others of all qualities out of curiosity, by some that they might the better justify the contempt they had of them, that from the first appearance of day in the morning of every Sunday to the shutting in of the light, the church was never empty."" Clarendon could hardly overrate the influence exercised in the city by these Scottish preachers, and by the lords - commissioners.' Some of the latter were very acceptable upon other grounds besides those of religion; they were men of the world, and men of business, pleasant in conversation, and of great address: moreover, the English reformers were bound to them by the double conviction that they could not have achieved what they had done had it not been for the bold march of the Covenanters, and the days of Barrow and of Tillotson-however at times sonorous and majestic-was cumbrous, long-winded, and heavy wher read, how much more so must it have been when delivered from the pulpit! Now the Scottish preachers had broken loose from this stiff, half-Latin, and involved phraseology. Gillespie, in particular, had emancipated himself from it. He seems to have had much of the most striking peculiarities of Thomas Chalmers. Curt, terse, and rapid in diction, altogether unincumbered with the pedantry of Latin and Greek quotations, but as rich in classical as Chalmers in scientific allusions, with one emphatic illustration following another, and the emphasis often assisted, as in Chalmers too, by happy alliterations, his preaching must have added to the charm of highly cultivated youthful genius, that of freshness and novelty. As for Baillie and Rutherford, one can only smile at their being charged with ignorance and barbarism. And the following paragraph from Henderson's speech at the taking of the Covenant by the House of Commons and the Westminster Assembly, will prove how justly he has been described as "short and succinct, grave and dignified, rising at times to the highest pitch of eloquence, by the simplicity and grandeur of his thoughts and imagery:"— "Nor is it unknown to this honourable, reverend, and wise audience, what errours and heresies in doctrine, what superstition and idolatrie in worship, what usurpation and tyrannie in government, what cruelty against the souls and bodies of the saints, have been set on foot, exercised and executed for many generations, and now of late, by the Romane church-all of which we hope, through the blessing of God upon this work, shall be brought to an end. Had the pope at Rome the know ledge of what is this day doing in England, and were this Cove nant written on the plaster of the wall over against him, where he sitteth, Belshazzar-like, in his sacrilegious pomp, it would make his heart to tremble, his countenance to change, his head and mitre to shake, his joints to loose, and all his cardinals and prelates to be astonished." Milton, Selden, and other of the greatest of England's wor thies, were doubtless present and heard this magnificent address, and great must have been their wonder could they have foreseen that the orator who pronounced it would be traduced by future Scottish historians as an ignorant barbarian.-See Presbyterian Review, vol. iv. p. 129. that they could not be sure of their victory if the Scottish army were withdrawn from the northern provinces. The patriots promised them high rewards, and heaped all possible honours upon them; they were caressed in both houses of parliament; and an order was entered, that upon all occasions they should be styled "our brethren of Scotland." Charles, on the other hand, saw clearly that there was no hope of restoring the old order of things until the Scottish army should be beyond the Tweed, and disbanded; and he complimented and cajoled the commissioners, and in his eagerness yielded many points in the treaty, in the design of being the sooner rid of them and their army. They advanced claims for the immediate restoration of all Scottish ships and merchandise which had been taken by the English cruisers, and were gratified by a ready compliance. They also claimed indemnification for the charges they had sustained; and Charles referred this money question to the English House of Commons, who speedily voted £125,000 for the expenses of the Scottish army during five months, and £300,000 “as a friendly relief for the losses and necessities of their brethren of Scotland." Before this money could be paid they got large sums for the Covenanters, by way of loan; and there appears to have been no difficulty in raising money in this way in the city of London whenever the proceeds were to go to "our brethren of Scotland." There remained to settle the last clause of the treaty, touching the establishment of a lasting peace between the two nations; and this clause the Scottish commissioners made so difficult, that there was no settling it for the present. CHAPTER XII.-CIVIL AND MILITARY HISTORY.-A. D. 1641. CHARLES I. Charles tries concession-Preparations for Strafford's impeachment-His trial-Pym's charges against him-Strafford's answers-Fresh charge adduced by Pym-The earl's courage and eloquence on his trial-Bill of attainder passed against him-Attempts of the king to procure the earl's escape or liberation-The popular feeling kept alive against Strafford-"Solemn Protestation" subscribed by the lords and commons-Rumours of conspiracies against the patriots-Hesitation of Charles to sign Strafford's death-warrant-He has recourse to his public conscience, and signs the warrant-Strafford's conduct on receiving the tidings- His execution --Mary de' Medici arrives in England-Her short and uncomfortable stay-Laud's bishops kept away from parliament The Scottish army returns home-The English army disbanded-Charles visits Scotland- His conciliatory proceedings-Sturdy conduct of the Covenanters―They reject the royal claim to fill up vacant offices-The affair of the "Incident" in Scotland-Principal persons involved in it—Particulars of the plotIts effect on the English parliament-Suspicions of all parties against Charles-The Irish rebellion-Its causes-Intrigues and aims of its leaders-Their attempt to surprise Dublin discovered-The rebellion breaks out-Its havoc and massacres-Proceedings of the English parliament to quell it-Charles returns from Scotland to London-His quarrels with the parliament resumed-Their "Remonstrance of the State of the Kingdom"-Appearance of Oliver Cromwell in the discussion-The "Remonstrance" carried-Remarks of Charles on receiving it-Altercations between the king and parliament about the Irish rebellion-The "Remonstrance" printed and sent through the country-Charles attempts to get the Tower into his keeping-The commons oppose him-They succeed in freeing the Tower from royal custody—Popular excitement-The cry raised of "No Bishops"-Affray and bloodshed in Westminster on the occasion. 00 late, Charles tried the efficacy | fondly hoped that a similar experiment on poliof concession. The forest laws had been greatly abused, and had excited violent murmurs: he sent down the Earl of Holland to tell the lords that, out of his grace and goodness to his people, he was willing to lay down all the new bounds of his forests in this kingdom, and that they should be reduced to the condition they were in before his late encroachments. On a former occasion, when he drew Wentworth, Noye, and Digges from the opposition, he had felt the benefit of tampering with and employing some of the patriots; and he now tical integrity would be attended with the like success. Whitelock says that there was a proposal (the subject of much discourse) to preserve the Earl of Strafford, by converting his enemies into friends by giving them promotion; that, according to this plan, one should be made lord-treasurer, the Lord Say master of the wards, Mr. Pym chancellor of the exchequer, Mr. Hollis secretary of state, Mr. Hampden tutor to the prince, &c.' Clarendon mentions a design of giving some of the great offices of the state to some heads of the popular party; but he says, distinctly, that 1 Memorials. |