Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/591

* CHARLES I. 511 CHARLES II. Strafford was condemned to death. Charles humbly asked for a miUlcr punishTiient ; but, in tn-piilation for the life of bis Queen, wliieh lie considered in danjjor from mob vioU-nce, si-jncd Strafford's death warrant, and contirnied a bill by whieh rarliameiit was not to be dis- solved" without its own consent. The King was now pledjied to eon.stitutional rule; but nn- happily. imbued with extreme notions of kindly prerojratie, eould not rest content. He visited Scotland, lioping by concessions to win favor and armed support: but wliile there the Irish Re- bellion aud lister Massacre occurred, and. kiuiw- in}r that Charles had intrijiued for the militaiy assistance of the Irish Catholic lords. Parlia- ment enlarfred its demands. The Commons ac- cepted a petition a<;ainst the royally appointed bishops who disputed their authority, and who were mobbed on their way to the House of Lords. On his return from Scotland the King had yielded to the provisions of 'The (Jrand Re- monstrance': but now. learning of the impending impeachment of his ue<'u. who had sought as- sistance from Rome, he planned the sudden coup of appearing in the Conunons with an armed force, and. accusing Pym. Hampden, Hollis, Haselrig, and Strode of treason, demanded their arrest and delivery to him. Intense excitement ensued ; shouts of 'Privi- lege of Parliament' were raised; the indicted members, forewarned, had taken refuge in the City, and the King retired with undignified threats. The country was aroused. Parliament and the nation were declared jn peril, and Ijondon prepared to defend itself. Jlet with Lis own weapons, the alarmed King fled with his family to Hampton Court. Seven months later he raised the royal standard at Xottingbam. August 22, 1642, and civil war commenced and proceeded, although arbitration was vainly attempted from time to time. The Royalists at first were the victors: but after several reverses tlie Parliamentary forces ac- quired e.xperience and discipline, and Cromwell and Fairfax annihilated the royal army at Kaseby, June 14, 1G45. Guerrilla warfare con- tinued until Charles gave himself up to the Scottish army at Newark, on May .5. 1640. Ne- gotiations were fruitlessly renewed, and he was delivered to the English Parliament, who as- signed him a residence at Holmby House, near Northampton. After four months, his qualified reply to a Parliamentary proposal resulted in his conveyance by Cornet .loyce to Hampt<in Court. He continued his intrigues and o])posi- tion to all constitutional propositions, and, after three months, escaped to the Isle of Wight, where lie hoped to receive aid from the governor of Carisbrooke Castle, but was imprisoned. Cromwell and the Independents lost patience, and compelled Parliament to pass an act of treason against further negotiation with the King, who was removed to Hurst Castle. The Scots and English Presbyterians, deeming the regal person sacred and inviolable, thought to rescue him, but were defeated, and their representatives ex- pelled from Parliament, which appointed a court to judge the King. He was removed from Hurst Castle to Windsor, on December 23. 1648. and on .Tanuarj' 20. 104!t. was taken to Westminster Hall, where the court was opened with great solemnity. Charles repudiiited its legality, and refused to plead. On the 27th he was sentenced to deatli as a tyrant, murderer, and enemy of the nation, by sixty-seven out of the original one hundred and thirty-live judges ((iardiner, Ciril Mar, i'., 293, 308-13). Scotland protested, the royal family entreated, France iuid the Nether- lands interceded, in vain. After a pathetic part- ing from two of his children, he calmly prepared for death and bore himself with dignity. He was beheaded at Whitehall. January 3o', 164!). The last words of his speech on the scaffold were, "I must tell you that liberty and freedom consist in having of government those laws by which t)ie lives and the goods of the people may be most their own. It is not having share in the government, sirs: that is nothing iiertaining to them," a sentiment that was plagiarized by the opponents of Chartism (q.v.) as late as 1848. In private character Charles was a man of culture, kind, of irreproachable life, and of great physical courage; hut in politi<al affairs he was imscrii)ulous and blindly obstinate in his belief in the divine right of kings.' By Charles II.'s personal edict at the Restoration, until its can- cellation by Parliament in 1S59, .January 30 re- ceived special observances in the Anglican Church as "the day of the martyrd<mi of the Blessed King Charles I." After his death appeared Eikon Basilike: The Portraiture of His Hacred Majesty in His Solitude aud i<ufferings. attribut- ed to the King, but written by Bishop Gauden, who, in 10.51. published at The Hague Reliquia! tiacrce Carolina-, The Works of that Great Mon- arch and Glorious Martyr, Kinij Charles I. The best works on the reign are: Gardiner, History of England, 160.i-'i2 (10 vols., London and New York, new edition 1883-84), and his Civil War (4 vols.. London, New York, and Bombay, 18!)4- 97), containing full citation of the original sources: also his Puritan. Rerolution (London, 1876) ; Chancellor. Charles I., l(il)0-2o (Loudon, 1886) : Harris, Life and Works (London. 17.58) ; Skelton. Life of Charles I. (London, 1808) : Mas- son, Life of Milton (7 vols., London. 1873-94); and Disraeli. Coninientnries on the Life and Reign of Charles J. (5 vols.. London. 1828-31). Original materials are contained in: Letters of Charles I. to Henrietta Maria (London, 1830) ; Clarendon, Great Rrhellion (0 vols., Oxford, 1888) : Whitelocke. Memorials (4 vols., new edi- tion, Oxford. 1853): (iardiner. Constitutional Uocuments (Oxford. 1889) ; and the Calendars of State Papers, edited bv Hamilton (London, 1890-93). CHARLES II. (1630-8,5). King of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 1049 (reigned from 1060) to 1085. He was the second, hut eldest sur- viving son, of Charles I., and was Prince of Wales frcmi his birth. He was born at Saint .Tames's Palace, London. May 29, 1630, and bap- tized by Bishop Laud on .luly 7, Louis XIII. of France being one of his sponsors. At eight years of age an estjiblishment was provided for him as heir apparent, with Willi.im Cavendisli, Earl of Newcastle (q.v.), as governor, and Dr. Brian Duppa as tutor. The following year he broke his arm, and his life was endangered by a severe illness. He took his seat in the House of Lords in 1640, and his first public act was to earrj' his father's letter in favor of Strafford to the peers. He held a nominal conunand in the early cam- jiaigns of the Civil War. and was present at Edgehill in 1042, where he narrowly escaped