572 



BRITAIN. 



Britain. 



CRARLES! 

 1636. 



Arbitrary 

 proceed- 

 of 

 rles. 



inw 



(In 



impeached Buckingham with the same crime in the 

 lords, while the commons were attacking him from 

 another quarter. Their impeachment never came to 

 a full determination ; but it is remarkable, that Buck- 

 ingham's accusers never adopted Bristol's charge of 

 misconduct in the Spanish treaty, but taxed him 

 with offences from which he found little difficulty to 

 exculpate himself; such as administering physic to the 

 late king without consent of his physicians. While 

 under this impeachment, Buckingham was chosen 

 chancellor of the University of Cambridge, and the 

 king publicly thanked the university for their choice. 

 When the commons resented, and loudly complained 

 of this affront, the lord keeper commanded them, in 

 the king's name, not to meddle with his minister 

 and servant Buckingham, but to finish the subsidy- 

 bill, otherwise they might expect to sit no longer. 

 This threat was followed by another, that the king, 

 if supplies were still refused, would be obliged to 

 try new counsels. To strip this imprudent menace 

 of all ambiguity, Sir Dudley Carleton explained it, 

 by allusion to those monarchs in Christendom who 

 had been obliged, by the turbulence of their subjects, 

 to overthrow parliaments altogether. Adding inju- 

 ry to indignity, the sovereign nr xt ordered two mem- 

 bers of the House of Commons, Sir John Elliot and 

 Sir Dudley Digges, the chief managers of the im- 

 peachment against the duke, to be thrown into pri- 

 son, on pretence of seditious expressions ; but, as 

 those expressions could not be proved, and the com- 

 mons demanded their liberation, he was obliged, with 

 a bad grace, to release them. With similar regard 

 for their privileges, the House of Lords claimed and 

 obtained the liberty of Lord Arundel, whom the 

 king had thrown ;into the Tower. Mixing religious 

 with political subjects, the commons, as usual, com- 

 plained of the increase of popery, and demanded the 

 expulsion of a list of recusants from offices, (mostly 

 insignificant individuals). The king had before pro- 

 mised compliance with the wishes of the house on 

 this point, but, when the supplies were refused, he 

 imagined himself released from the obligation. Be- 

 sides this demand, the commons intended to petition 

 for the removal of Buckingham from his majesty's 

 councils, and were preparing a remonstrance against 

 the levying of tonnage and poundage without consent 

 of parliament. But their session was ended by disso- 

 lution, before they had time to conclude one act. 

 The House of Peers in vain interceded, that parlia- 

 ment might be allowed to sit some time longer. 

 Charles replied in anger, " not n moment longer ;" 

 and the king and the commons, at their separation, 

 published each an appeal to the nation. The com- 

 mons, though culpable in some points, had not hither- 

 to trespassed the bounds of the constitution. Charles 

 had evidently done so, but his affairs were yet retrie- 

 vable, if he had dismissed a worthless favourite ; ful- 

 filled some of his promises respecting recusants ; a- 

 bandoned the war with Spain ; and entrenched him- 

 self within the limits of legal prerogative. Against 

 the solid power of the represented people he had still 

 a barrier to oppose, in the unquestioned rights of 

 royalty; but in proportion as he stretched the prero- 

 gative he weakened it. To fright the constitutional 

 attacks of the commons with usurped prerogative, 



was to oppose a shadow to a suLstance. The rights 

 on which he now meant to act, in pursuing his ;;etu 

 counsels, certainly had once been enforced by the 

 crown, but they could now be only recalled as the 

 phantoms of ancient usage. 



Proceeding, therefore, to levy money independent 

 of his parliament, Charles openly granted a commis- 

 sion to compound with the Catholics for dispensing 

 with the penal laws. From the nobility and the city 

 he required a loan of 100,000 : the former gave it 

 slowly ; the latter refused it. The maritime towns 

 were ordered to furnish shipping. For some time 

 the supplies were exacted with moderation ; but, on 

 the news of Tilly having defeated the King of Den- 

 mark, a general loan from the subjects became ne- 

 cessary, for the more strenuous exertions in the war. 



It was in vain that the followers of the court, and 

 their preachers in the pulpit, enjoined submission tu 

 this loan, as a part of the duty of passive ub; 

 A spirit of resistance rose among the people ; 

 refused their loans, and some were active in rou.iii.g 

 their neighbours to insist on their common rights. 

 By a warrant of the council, these were thrown into 

 prison, although such as petitioned the king were 

 commonly released. Five gentlemen alone, Sir Tho- 

 mas Darnel, Sir John Corbet, Sir Waiter Earl, Sir 

 John Hevirgham, and Sir Edmond Hatnbden, had 

 the spirit, at their own expence and hazard, to de- 

 fend the public liberties, and to demand releasement, 

 not as a favour from the king, but as their right by 

 law. The question was brought to a solemn trial 

 before the Court of King's Bench. By the debates 

 on this momentous subject, it appeared incontroverti- 

 ble to the nation, that their ancestors had been so 

 jealous of personal liberty, as to secure it against ar- 

 bitrary power by six several statutes, and by an ar- 

 ticle of the great charter itself. The Kings of Eng- 

 land, it is true, had often eluded those laws ; but 

 Charles was astonished to find, that a power, so of- 

 ten exercised by his predecessors, was found, upon 

 trial, to be directly opposite to the clearest laws, and 

 supported by few undoubted precedents in courts of 

 judicature. Sir Randolph Crew, chief-justice, had 

 been displaced, as unlit for the purposes of the court. 

 Sir Nicholas Hyde, esteemed more obsequious, had 

 obtained that high office. Yet the judges, by his 

 direction, went no farther than to remand the gentle- 

 men to prison, and refuse the bail which was offered. 

 Heathe, the attorney-general, insisted, that the court 

 should enter a general judgment, that no bail could 

 be given upon a commitment by the king or council. 

 But the judges wisely declined complying. To ex- 

 asperate the nation still farther, the soldiers of the 

 army returned from Cadiz were billeted upon private 

 houses, instead of being quartered at the inns or 

 public houses ; and the refusers of loans had the 

 greatest share of those disorderly guests. Men of 

 low condition, who shewed a refractory disposition, 

 were pressed into the army or navy ; and some of 

 higher rank were sent aboard on pretence of public 

 duty. Martial law was proclaimed, to appease that 

 part of the discontent which arose from the licen- 

 tiousrj^ss of the soldiery : a remedy still more offen- 

 sive than the evil. 



If there was a chance of safety for Charles, it lay 



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