Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 3.djvu/228

214 directly led to the establishment of his throne, and the secure and independent seating of himself and posterity in wealth, strength, and glory, far above any of their progenitors; verily in such a condition, as there was no more hereafter to be wished them in this world?" And Laud wrote back, "Go on, in God's name!" After that, to doubt the justice of Strafford's punishment, is to commit treason against right, and the lives and liberties of our fellow men ourselves.

The fall of Strafford carried terror through the court. Many began to think of flying while it was time. Cottington had given up his office of master of the wards, and lord Saye and various other noblemen of the popular party were introduced into the ministry. The marquis of Hertford was made governor to the prince, the earl of Essex lord chamberlain, the earl of Leicester the lord-lieutenant of Ireland, in place of Strafford. The king was wholly averse to the new ministers, but hoped to win upon them as he had done upon Strafford, Loudon, and Montrose; and indeed, after their appointment, a bolder and more independent spirit seemed to awaken in the lords. They threw out several bills sent up from the commons, amongst others, one for excluding the bishops from their house. Essex, though a great reformer, was by no means averse to the hierarchy, and always obliged his servants to accompany him to church, and kept a chaplain who was a thorough conformist. The lords did not object to the bishops and clergy in general being excluded from the star-chamber, the privy council, and the commissions of the peace; but they contended that bishops had always formed a part of their body, and that the commons might next take it into their heads to exclude barons.

The commons, however, pressed on the lords a bill for the abolition of the two greatest engines of tyranny in the country, the star-chamber and the High Commission Court, and these, with another for a poll-tax for the maintenance of the armies. The lords passed them, but Charles hesitated. He had given up much this session: the right of prorogation without consent of parliament, thus making parliament perpetual if it pleased; the right to demand tonnage and poundage without the same consent; he had limited the forest laws; granted to the judges their places during good behaviour; and withdrawn the commission for the presidency of the north as illegal. But to give up the civil and ecclesiastical inquisitions, those ready and terrible torture houses of the crown, went hard with him. The poll-tax he passed at once, because he thought it would be unpopular, but he refused the others. The commons came to a resolution that he should pass all three or none; and the tone of both parliament and the public was so menacing, that on the 5th of July he gave his consent, and put an end to those un-English abominations.

The terror of the court was on the increase. Mary de Medici, the queen's mother, was glad to get away, the only obstacle being the want of money; but the commons, glad to be rid of her, granted her ten thousand pounds, with which she departed, and got as far as Cologne, where she died shortly after. The earl of Arundel went with the queen-mother as her escort, and remained abroad collecting antiquities and works of art and science in Italy. The queen herself made another attempt to escape from the dangerous vicinity of parliament, and begged to be allowed to accompany her mother, and to seek the restoration of her health, which it was alleged had suffered much from anxiety, and from rumours and rebels about her. To this, however, parliament was too prudent to consent, knowing well that Henrietta's real design was to arouse a spirit of sympathy for the king in France, and bring aid from that quarter, A deputation of both houses, therefore, waited on her to dissuade her from this intention, promising all means at home for the benefit of her health, and she graciously acquiesced.

The commons having granted the king six subsidies, and tonnage and poundage for the year, he now proposed to proceed to Scotland to hold a parliament. He was aware that a reaction had taken place there. The marquis of Montrose had exerted himself to form a party amongst such noblemen and gentlemen as had grown to regard the popular leaders both in Scotland and England as bearing too insolently on the prerogatives of the crown. He had prevailed on nineteen noblemen to subscribe a bond, pledging themselves "to oppose the particular and indirect practices of a few, and to study all public ends which might tend to the safety of religion, laws, and liberty." They were careful that the language of this bond should not clash openly with that of the covenant; but the real design did not escape the vigilance of the committee of estates. They called on Montrose and his associates to clear themselves, and obtaining the bond, burnt it publicly. Notwithstanding this, the confederates opened a secret correspondence with the king, and assured him of their confidence of victory over the covenanters, if he would honour the parliament with his presence, confirm his former concessions, and delay the distribution of offices and honours to the end of the session. But this correspondence also was discovered. Walter Stuart, the messenger of Montrose to the king, was seized near Haddington, and the letter of the marquis to the king, with various other suspicious papers, were found concealed in the pommel of his saddle. Montrose, lord Napier, Sir George Stirling, and Sir Archibald Stuart, were arrested, examined, and sent to the castle of Edinburgh.

These events rendered Charles still more impatient for his northern journey. Not only Traquair, and the other four of his officers who had been excepted from pardon as incendiaries, but these, his new allies, demanded his assistance. By the beginning of August the treaty of pacification was signed by the Scots. They had received an engagement from the English parliament for the payment of a balance of two hundred and twenty thousand pounds of "the brotherly assistance." Charles had granted an amnesty and an act of oblivion of all that was past, having cost the kingdom about one million one hundred thousand pounds, and both armies were ordered to be disbanded. The parliament, however, looked on this journey with no friendly eye. They were quite satisfied that nothing but necessity kept the king quiet. That he was intriguing with the reactionary party was become notorious, and that the Scotch army being disbanded, he would seize on any opportunity to undo whatever he could of his engagements.