Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 04.djvu/592

* CHARLES II. 512 CHARLES II. capture. Appointed general of the western forces, he parted from his father at Oxford, March 4, 1645, and remained in safely in Somerset, Devon, and Cornwall; after Xaseby, he escaped by way of Scilly and Jersey and joined his mother in Paris, where he remained for two years, to his moral disadvantage. In July, lli4S. he sailed from Helvix'tsluis with nineteen ships, for the Thames, where he took several prizes. He issued a proclamation of conciliation to the Londoners and Scots, and returned to The Ihvffue, where, during his father's trial, he did his utmost to save him, forwai-ding a blank charter with his signature attached for Parliament to inscribe its own terms of clemency. At his father's death he assumed the title of King, and was pro- claimed in Scotland, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and one or two places in England. After vacillating between Holland, France, and Jersey, with the intention of invading Ireland, he returned to Holland, and, eml)arking at Ter- heyden for Scotland, arrived in Cromarty Firth June l(i. KiSO, despite an attempt to intercept him. On September 3 a Scottish force fighting for him was defeated at Dunbar, and this has- tened his coronation at Scone, .Tanuary 1, 1G51, after an acknowledgment of his father's faults and various declarations and concessions of a feeble character. lie suddenly invaded England the following August, with 10.000 men, and was proclaimed King at Carlisle and other places on his advance. Cromwell hastened to meet and surroimd him, and, after two encounters, routed his army at Worcester, September 3, 1651. Charles w.as hunted and a price was put upon his head, but after hiding at Boscobel (q.v.) and other places, through the loyalty of friends and his own courage and address, he safely em- barked at Shoreham on October 13, and landed at Fecamp. Xormandy, the next day. Eight years of impecunious and profligate exile were variously spent in France and at Cologne and Bruges, until not long after Cromwell's death, when, the country being threatened with militaiy despotism, the i)opular wish throughout England for the restoration of royalty was consummated by General 5Ionk (q.v.), after Charles's concil- iatorv Breda declaration, and he was proclaimed King at Westminster. Jlay 8, 1660. He landed at Dover on the 2lith, and was welcomed, at Whitehall, by the two houses of Parliament on May 29, 16(iO, after an enthusiastic accla- mation by thousands on his progress through London. He was crowned on .pril 23, Ififil. His first Parliament, distinguished by abase- ment and insistence on 'royal prerogative,' gave him an untrammeled course. Clarendon, his dignified companion in exile, was apjiointed chief minister. Episcopacy was restcucd. and English and Scotch Xonconformists and Presby- terians subjected to persecution. He extended an indemnifving act. dating from .lanuarv I. 1637, to June 24. 1660, to all political offend- ers, excluding the regicides, of whom thirteen were executed, while the bodies of Cromwell and Ireton were hung in chains, and the remains of Blake. Bradshaw, and others east out of Westminster Abbey into potter's fields. Extravagant, and always in want of money, Charles gladly assented to the abolition of the feudal rights of knight service, wardship, and j)urvevance in consideration of an annuity of £1,200.000. On May 20, 1662, he married Cath- arine of Braganza (q.v.) for her large dowry. He shamefully sold Dunkirk and Mardick to the French, and for a pecuniary consideration made war against the Netherlands, in ojjposition to English commercial interests and the popular feeling. In Ititi? De Ruyter, commanding the Dutch fleet, sailed up the Medway and burned several war-ships at Chatham, and Cliarles was compelled to conclude the ignominious Peace of Breda. Tliis precipitated Clarendon's downfall, which was followed by the appointment of the luipopular Cabal .Ministry (q.v.), who sought to restore Catholicism and absolution. Charles sought to conciliate the people by the Triple Alliance, in JIay. 1668, with Sweden and the States-General; but the French Court persuaded him to make war against the Unit<"d Proinces. He basely accepted a pension from the French tiovernmcnt : and, as even this, with all that he could get from his Parliament, was insuf- ficient for his expenses, he resorted to illegal means to raise money. The dubious 'popish plot' (see Oates) against the King's life caused great excitement among the people, and Lord StalVord and other persons were unjustly executed. The Parliament of 1670. against the will of the Court, enacted the celebrated Habeas Corpus Act (q.v.). and a bill was mooted to exclude the King's brother, the Duke of York, from the succession on account of his Roman Catluilicism. The King had, however, crushed the Presbyterians of Scotland, and, more absolute than any of his predecessors, adopted most arbitrary measures. The citj: of London was deprived of its privileges, because of the election of a sheriff disagreeable to the Court. The Rye House plot (q.v.), a widely extended conspiracy, was discovered in 1683, and cost the lives of a number of persons, among whom Were Lord Russell and Algernon Sidney. Charles had begun to recognize the ne- cessity of a more liberal policy, when an attack of apoplexy caused his death, on Fel)ruary 6, 168.1. In his dying hours he received absolution from a Roman Catholic priest, although he had not previously avowed his attachment to that religion. His reign was full of events dishonor- able to his country, of which he himself was gen- erally the cause. His life was dissolute, the num- licr of his mistresses and the profligacy of his Court being scarcely paralleled in British history. His affability, however, won him popularity, which was familiarly expressed by the nicknames of "The Jlerry Monarch" and "Old Rowley." Consult: Pepys, Diary, ed. 'heatlcy (London, 1890) : Evelyn, Diarif (new ed.. London. 18.54) ; Clarendon. Ilistoiii of the lichclUon ami the Ciril ll'ors in Enr/hind (last ed.. Oxford. 1849) : Bur- net. Hislori/ of the ReforriHilion of the Church of Eiifilaiifi (last ed., London, 1873): Hallam, Constitutional History of Enyland (8th ed.. Lon- don. 185i5) ; Macanlay. History of Enyland (8th ed., London, 18.52) : Somers, Tracts. Vols. VII., VIIL (London. 180915) ; Calendar of State Pa- pers of the Reirjn of Charles II. (ed. Green. 21 vols., London. 1860-87) ; Harris. Life of Charles II. (London. 17(i6) : Hoskyns. Charles II. in the Channel Islands (London, 1854); Cunningham, ,S'/ori/ of Nell Onynn (new ed.. London. 1893) ; Molioy, Royally Restored (London. 1885) ; For- neron, Louise de Kerouulle (Paris, 1886) ; "Charles II." in Stephen, Dictionary ational Biography. Vol. X. ( Xew York, 1887); Jesse, Memoirs, Vol. 111. (new ed., London, 1876) j Mas-