Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 3.djvu/426

412 Monk again urged that not more than seven should be excepted on a capital charge, they decided for ten, all to be tried for their lives, namely, Scott, Holland, Lisle, Barkstead, Harrison, Saye, Jones, Coke, the solicitor, Broughton. clerk to the high court of justice, and Dendy, who had acted as serjeant-at-arms during the trial. They then requested the king to order by proclamation all those concerned in his late father's trial to surrender themselves within fourteen days. About a score felt it much the safest to escape across the sea, but nineteen surrendered—all but the ten doomed to death imagining they should escape with some minor punishment. But the thirst for vengeance became every day more violent.

The commons named twenty more for exception, whose lives were to be spared, but who were to suffer forfeiture of estate and perpetual imprisonment. These were Vane, St. John, Haselrig, Ireton, brother of the deceased major-general, Desborough, Lambert, Fleetwood, Axtell, Sydenham, Lenthall, Burton, Keeble, Pack, Blackwell, Pyne, Deane, Creed, Nye, Goodwin, and Cobbett. Moreover, all such as had not surrendered to the late proclamation were excluded from the benefit of the bill of indemnity.

This sanguinary list, however, did not satisfy the lords when the bill was sent up to them. They had suffered such indignities from the independent leaders, that they could not bring themselves to forgive, and they altered the bill, voting that every man who had sate on the king's trial, or signed the death warrant, should be tried as traitors for their lives. They went even farther, and excepted six others, who had neither sate nor voted—namely, Vane, Hacker, Lambert, Haselrig, Axtell, and Peters; and as if luxuriating in revenge, they allowed the relatives of several of their own body who had been put to death under the commonwealth, amongst whom were the earl of Derby and the duke of Hamilton, to sit as judges. The commons accepted the bill as thus altered, and would have made it still more atrocious, but the king, who was extremely pressed for money, sent desiring them to come to an end with this bill, and hasten the money bill.

The commons voted the king seventy thousand pounds a month for present necessities, and then proceeded to pass not only the indemnity bill, but to vote the king a liberal and permanent revenue. In striking contrast to the early parliaments of his father, they at once gave him the tonnage and poundage for life. This was one of the chief causes of the quarrel betwixt Charles I. and his parliament, one of the main causes of the war and of his decapitation, which this complying parliament now yielded at once. They, moreover, ordered the disbanding of the army, of which Charles was afraid, and that the 29th of May should be kept as a day of perpetual thanksgiving to Providence, for having restored his sacred majesty to a grateful nation. All these favours to Charles they offered with the humility of men who were seeking favours for themselves, and being urged by Charles to settle the amount of his revenue altogether, they appointed a committee of inquiry on the subject, which decided that, as the income of his father had been about one million one hundred thousand pounds, his income should, considering the different value of money, be fixed at the unexampled sum of one million two hundred thousand pounds per annum. This income was to be settled by a bill in the next session.

The question of religion, and the question of forfeited property, whether belonging to the crown, the church, or individuals, was next brought on, and led to most stormy discussions. The result was, that two bills were passed, called the Bill of Sales and the Ministers' Bill. By the Bill of Sales all the crown lands were ordered to be restored forthwith; but the church lands were left in abeyance for the present; the lands of individuals were also deferred to a future session. The Ministers' Bill was intended to expel from the pulpits of the church all such ministers as had been installed there since the parliament came into power. It did not, however, give satisfaction to the church, for it admitted all such as entered on legally vacant livings at the time to retain them. A considerable number of presbyterian clergymen thus remained in possession, but the independents were thoroughly excited by a clause which provided that all ministers who had not been ordained by an ecclesiastic, who had interfered in the matter of infant baptism, or had been concerned in the trial of the king, or in its justification from press or pulpit, were excluded. Thus the royalists were incensed at the Bill of Sales, which they called an indemnity bill for the king's enemies, and of oblivion for his friends, and the clergy of the church were equally enraged to see a great number of livings still left to the presbyterians.

On the 13th of September Charles prorogued the parliament till the 6th of November, and promised during the recess to have what was called the "healing question of religion," that is the settlement of the church, discussed by competent parties, and to publish a declaration on the subject. Accordingly the presbyterians were very soon promised a meeting with some of the episcopalian clergy, and they were very willing, seeing that they could no longer have matters their own way in the church, to accept a platform of compromise laid down by archbishop Usher before his death, in which scheme the church was to be governed by a union of suffragan bishops and synods or presbyteries, so as to unite the two great sects. But the foremost prelates and clergy of the episcopalian church, who were resolved to have the whole state church to themselves, would listen to nothing so liberal or unorthodox. They refused to meet the presbyterian clergy, and therefore Charles summoned the leaders of that sect to meet some of his chief privy councillors and ministers, as well as various bishops, at Whitehall, where Baxter and Calamy again proposed Usher's scheme, which was as zealously rejected by the episcopalians. The presbyterians quoted the Eikon Basilike, to show that Charles I. was favourable to Usher's plan, but there Charles, who knew very well that the book was Dr. Gander's, and not his father's, dryly remarked that all in that work was not gospel. But what proved a complete damper to all parties, was a proposal read by Clarendon as having the king's approbation, namely, that others, besides the two parties in question, should have full liberty for religious worship, and should not be disturbed by magistrate or peace officer provided they themselves did not disturb the peace. This was at once felt to mean toleration to the catholics as