Early European History Part 123

The king's att.i.tude at last led Parliament to a bold a.s.sertion of its authority. It now presented to Charles the celebrated Pet.i.tion of Right.

One of the most important clauses provided that forced loans without parliamentary sanction should be considered illegal. Another clause declared that no one should be arrested or imprisoned except according to the law of the land. The Pet.i.tion thus repeated and reinforced two of the leading principles of Magna Carta. [20] The people of England, speaking this time through their elected representatives, a.s.serted once more their right to limit the power of kings.

PERSONAL RULE OF CHARLES I, 1629-1640 A.D.

Charles signed the Pet.i.tion, as the only means of securing parliamentary consent to taxation; but he had no intention of observing it. For the next eleven years he managed to govern without calling Parliament in session.

The conduct of affairs during this period lay largely in the hands of Sir Thomas Wentworth, afterwards earl of Strafford, and William Laud, who later became archbishop of Canterbury. The king made these two men his princ.i.p.al advisers and through them carried on his despotic rule.

Arbitrary courts, which tried cases without a jury, punished those who resisted the royal will. A rigid censors.h.i.+p of the press prevented any expression of popular discontent. Public meetings were suppressed as seditious riots. Even private gatherings were dangerous, for the king had swarms of spies to report any disloyal acts or utterances.

JOHN HAMPDEN AND "s.h.i.+P-MONEY"

Since Charles ruled without a Parliament, he had to adopt all sorts of devices to fill his treasury. One of these was the levying of "s.h.i.+p- money." According to an old custom, seaboard towns and counties had been required to provide s.h.i.+ps or money for the royal navy. Charles revived this custom and extended it to towns and counties lying inland. It seemed clear that the king meant to impose a permanent tax on all England without the a.s.sent of Parliament. The demand for "s.h.i.+p-money" aroused much opposition, and John Hampden, a wealthy squire of Buckinghams.h.i.+re, refused to pay the twenty s.h.i.+llings levied on his estate. Hampden was tried before a court of the royal judges and was convicted by a bare majority. He became, however, the hero of the hour. The England people recognized in him one who had dared, for the sake of principle, to protest against the king's despotic rule.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARLES I A painting by Daniel Mytens in the National Portrait Gallery. London]

LAUD'S ECCLESIASTICAL POLICY

Archbishop Laud, the king's chief agent in ecclesiastical matters, detested Puritanism and aimed to root it out from the Church of England.

He put no Puritans to death, but he sanctioned cruel punishments of those who would not conform to the established Church. All that the dungeon and the pillory, mutilation and loss of position, could do to break their will was done. While the restrictions on Puritans were increased, those affecting Roman Catholics were relaxed. Many people thought that Charles, through Laud and the bishops, was preparing to lead the Church of England back to Rome. They therefore opposed the king on religious grounds, as well as for political reasons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: EXECUTION OF THE EARL OF STRAFFORD After a contemporary print. The Tower of London is seen in the background.]

THE LONG PARLIAMENT, 1640 A.D.

But the personal rule of Charles was now drawing to an end. In 1637 A.D.

the king, supported by Archbishop Laud, tried The Long to introduce a modified form of the English prayer book into Scotland. The Scotch, Presbyterian [21] to the core, drew up a national oath, or Covenant, by which they bound themselves to resist any attempt to change their religion. Rebellion quickly pa.s.sed into open war, and the Covenanters invaded northern England. Charles, helpless, with a seditious army and an empty treasury, had to summon Parliament in session. It met in 1640 A.D.

and did not formally dissolve till twenty years later. Hence it has received the name of the Long Parliament.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, ENGLAND AND WALES--THE CIVIL WARS OF THE 17TH CENTURY]

REFORMS OF THE LONG PARLIAMENT

The Long Parliament no sooner a.s.sembled than it a.s.sumed the conduct of government. The leaders, including John Hampden, John Pym, and Oliver Cromwell, openly declared that the House of Commons, and not the king, possessed supreme authority in the state. Parliament began by executing Strafford and subsequently Laud, thus emphasizing the responsibility of ministers to Parliament. Next, it abolished Star Chamber and other special courts, which had become engines of royal oppression. It forbade the levying of "s.h.i.+p-money" and other irregular taxes. It took away the king's right of dissolving Parliament at his pleasure and ordered that at least one parliamentary session should be held every three years. These measures stripped the crown of the despotic powers acquired by the Tudors and the Stuarts.

246. OLIVER CROMWELL AND THE CIVIL WAR, 1642-1649 A.D.

OUTBREAK OF THE GREAT REBELLION, 1642 A.D.

Thus far, the Long Parliament had acted along the line of reformation rather than revolution. Had Charles been content to accept the new arrangements, there would have been little more trouble. But the proud and imperious king was only watching his chance to strike a blow at Parliament. Taking advantage of some differences in opinion among its members, Charles summoned his soldiers, marched to Westminister, and demanded the surrender of five leaders, including Pym and Hampden. Warned in time, they made their escape, and Charles did not find them in the chamber of the Commons. "Well, I see all the birds are flown," he exclaimed, and walked out baffled. The king's attempt to intimidate the Commons was a great blunder. It showed beyond doubt that he would resort to force, rather than bend his neck to Parliament. Both Charles and Parliament now began to gather troops and prepare for the inevitable conflict.

"CAVALIERS" AND "ROUND-HEADS"

The opposing parties seemed to be very evenly matched. Around the king rallied nearly all of the n.o.bles, the Anglican clergy, the Roman Catholics, a majority of the "squires," or country gentry, and the members of the universities. The royalists received the name of "Cavaliers." The parliamentarians, or "Roundheads," [22] were mostly recruited from the trading cla.s.ses in the towns and the small landowners in the country. The working people remained as a rule indifferent and took little part in the struggle.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLIVER CROMWELL A painting by Robert Walker, in the National Portrait Gallery, London.]

OLIVER CROMWELL, 1599-1658 A.D.

Both Pym and Hampden died in the second year of the war, and henceforth the leaders.h.i.+p of the parliamentary party fell to Oliver Cromwell. He was a country gentleman from the east of England, and Hampden's cousin.

Cromwell represented the university of Cambridge in the Long Parliament and displayed there great audacity in opposing the government. An unfriendly critic at this time describes "his countenance swollen and reddish, his voice sharp and untuneable, and his eloquence full of fervor." Though a zealous Puritan, who believed himself in all sincerity to be the chosen agent of the Lord, Cromwell was not an ascetic. He hunted, hawked, played bowls, and other games, had an ear for music, and valued art and learning. In public life he showed himself a statesman of much insight and a military genius.

THE "IRONSIDES" AND THE "NEW MODEL"

At the outset of the war fortune favored the royalists, until Cromwell took the field. To him was due the formation of a cavalry regiment of "honest, sober Christians," whose watchwords were texts from Scripture and who charged in battle while singing psalms. These "Ironsides," as Cromwell said, "had the fear of G.o.d before them and made some conscience of what they did." They were so successful that Parliament permitted Cromwell to reorganize a large part of the army into the "New Model," a body of professional, highly disciplined soldiers. The "New Model" defeated Charles decisively at the battle of Naseby, near the center of England (1645 A.D.). Charles then surrendered to the Scotch, who soon turned him over to Parliament.

PRESYBTERIANS AND INDEPENDENTS

The surrender of the king ended the Great Rebellion, but left the political situation in doubt. By this time the Puritans had divided into two rival parties. The Presbyterians wished to make the Church of England, like that of Scotland, Presbyterian in faith and wors.h.i.+p. Through their control of Parliament, they were able to pa.s.s acts doing away with bishops, forbidding the use of the _Book of Common Prayer_, and requiring every one to accept Presbyterian doctrines. The other Puritan party, known as the Independents, [23] felt that religious beliefs should not be a matter of compulsion. They rejected both Anglicanism and Presbyterianism and desired to set up churches of their own, where they might wors.h.i.+p as seemed to them right. The Independents had the powerful backing of Cromwell and the "New Model," so that the stage was set for a quarrel between Parliament and the army.

"PRIDE'S PURGE," 1648 A.D.

King Charles, though a prisoner in the hands of his enemies, hoped to find profit in their divisions. The Presbyterian majority in the House of Commons was willing to restore the king, provided he would give his a.s.sent to the establishment of Presbyterianism in England. But the army wanted no reconciliation with the captive monarch and at length took matters into its own hand. A party of soldiers, under the command of a Colonel Pride, excluded the Presbyterian members from the floor of the House, leaving the Independents alone to conduct the government. This action is known as "Pride's Purge." Cromwell approved of it, and from this time he became the real ruler of England.

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR OF WESTMINSTER HALL Next to the Tower and the Abbey Westminster Hall adjoining the Houses of Parliament, is the most historic building in London. The hall was begun by William Rufus in 1097 A.D. and was enlarged by his successors. Richard II in 1397 A.D. added the great oak roof, which has lasted to this day Here were held the trials of Stafford and Charles I.]

EXECUTION OF CHARLES I, 1649 A.D.

The "Rump Parliament," as the remnant of the House of Commons was called, immediately brought the king before a High Court of Justice composed of his bitterest enemies. He refused to acknowledge the right of the court to try him and made no defense whatever. Charles was speedily convicted and sentenced to be beheaded, "as a tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy to the good of the people." He met death with quiet dignity and courage on a scaffold erected in front of Whitehall Palace in London. The king's execution went far beyond the wishes of most Englishmen; "cruel necessity" formed its only justification; but it established once for all in England the principle that rulers are responsible to their subjects.

247. THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE PROTECTORATE, 1649-1660 A.D.

ENGLAND A REPUBLIC

Shortly after the execution of Charles I the "Rump Parliament" abolished the House of Lords and the office of king. It named a Council of State, most of whose members were chosen from the House of Commons, to carry on the government. England now became a commonwealth, or national republic, the first in the history of the world. It is clear that this republic was the creation of a minority. The Anglicans, the Presbyterians, and the Roman Catholics were willing to restore the monarchy, but as long as the power lay with the army, the small sect of Independents could impose its will on the great majority of the English people.

SUBJECTION OF IRELAND

Besides confusion and discontent at home, many dangers confronted the Commonwealth abroad. In both Ireland and Scotland Prince Charles, the oldest son of the dead sovereign, had been proclaimed king. But Cromwell rose to the emergency. Invading Ireland with his trained soldiers, he captured town after town, slaughtered many royalists, and s.h.i.+pped many more to the West Indies as slaves. This time Ireland was completely subdued, at a cost, from fighting, famine, and pestilence, of the lives of a third of its population. Cromwell confiscated the land of those who had supported the royalist cause and planted colonies of English Protestants in Ulster, Leinster, and Munster. The Roman Catholic gentry were compelled to remove beyond the Shannon River to unfruitful Connaught. Even there the public exercise of their religion was forbidden them. Cromwell's harsh measures brought peace to Ireland, but only intensified the hatred felt by Irish Roman Catholics for Protestant England. [24]

SCOTLAND SUBDUED

While Cromwell was still in Ireland, Prince Charles, who had been living as an exile at the French court, came to Scotland. On his promise to be a Presbyterian king the whole nation agreed to support him. Cromwell, in two pitched battles, broke up the Scotch armies and compelled Prince Charles to seek safety in flight. After thrilling adventures the prince managed to reach his asylum in France. Cromwell treated the Scotch with leniency, but took away their Parliament and united their country with England in a single state.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map, IRELAND In the 16th Century]

DISSOLUTION OF THE "RUMP PARLIAMENT," 1653 A.D.

Meanwhile, the "Rump Parliament" had become more and more unpopular. The army, which had saved England from Stuart despotism, did not relish the spectacle of a small group of men, many of them selfish and corrupt, presuming to govern the country Cromwell found them "horridly arbitrary"

and at last resolved to have done with them. He entered the House of Commons with a band of musketeers and ordered the members home. "Come, come," he cried, "I will put an end to your prating. You are no Parliament, I say you are no Parliament. I will put an end to your sitting." Another Parliament, chosen by Cromwell and the army, proved equally incapable. After a few months' rule it resigned its authority into the hands of Cromwell.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GREAT SEAL OF ENGLAND UNDER THE COMMONWEALTH (REDUCED) The reverse represents the House of Commons in session.]

THE INSTRUMENT OF GOVERNMENT

By force of circ.u.mstances Cromwell had become a virtual dictator, but he had no love of absolute power. He therefore accepted a so-called Instrument of Government, drawn up by some of his officers. It provided that Cromwell should be Lord Protector for life, with the a.s.sistance of a council and a Parliament. The Instrument is notable as the first written const.i.tution of a modern nation. It is the only one which England has ever had.

CROMWELL AS LORD PROTECTOR, 1653-1658 A.D.