copal government, and the most zealous partisans of the discipline and ceremonies of the church, were all supposed to be tainted with Arminianism. The same men and their disciples were the strenuous preachers of passive obedience, and of entire submission to princes; and if these could once be censured, and be expelled the church and court, it was concluded, that the hierarchy would receive a mortal blow, the ceremonies be less rigidly insisted on, and the king, deprived of his most faithful friends, be obliged to abate those high claims of prerogative, on which at present he insisted.

But Charles, besides a view of the political consequences which must result from a compliance with such pretensions, was strongly determined, from principles of piety and conscience, to oppose them. Neither the dissipation incident to youth, nor the pleasures attending a high fortune, had been able to prevent this virtuous prince from embracing the most sincere sentiments of religion; and that character which, in that religious age, should have been of infinite advantage to him, proved in the end the chief cause of his ruin; merely because the religion adopted by him was not of that precise mode and sect which began to prevail among his subjects. His piety, though remote from popery, had a tincture of superstition in it; and being averse to the gloomy spirit of the Puritans, was represented by them as tending towards the abominations of antichrist. Laud also had unfortunately acquired a great ascendant over him; and as all those prelates, obnoxious to the commons, were regarded as his chief friends and most favourite courtiers, he was resolved not to disarm and dishonour himself, by abandoning them to the resentment of his enemies. Being totally unprovided with military force, and finding a refractory independent spirit to prevail among the people; the most solid basis of his authority, he thought, consisted in the support which he received from the hierarchy.

[1629. In the debates of the commons, which are transmitted to us, it is easy to discern so early some sparks of that enthusiastic fire, which afterward set the whole nation in combustion. One Rouse made use of an allusion, which, though familiar, seems to have been borrowed from the writings of lord Bacon.° "If a man meet a dog alone (said he), the dog is fearful, though ever so fierce by nature: but if the dog have his master with him, he will set upon that man from whom he fled before. This shews that lower natures, being backed by higher, increase in courage and strength; and certainly man, being backed with Omnipotency, is a kind of omnipotent creature. All things are possible to him that believes ; and where all things are possible, there is a kind of omnipotency. Wherefore, let it be the unanimous consent and resolution of us all to make a vow and covenant henceforth to hold fast our God and our religion; and then shall we henceforth expect, with certainty, happiness in this world."P

Oliver Cromwell, at that time a young man of no account in the nation, is mentioned in these debates as complaining of one who, he was told, preached flat popery. It is amusing to observe the first words of this fanatical hypocrite correspond so exactly to his character.

The inquiries and debates concerning tonnage and poundage went hand in hand with these theological or metaphysical controversies. The officers of the customhouse were summoned before the commons, to give an account by what authority they had seized the goods of merchants who had refused to pay these duties: the barons of the exchequer were questioned concerning their decrees on that head." One of the sheriffs of London was committed to the Tower for his activity in supporting the officers of the custom-house: the goods of Rolles, a 0 Essay of Atheism. P Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 646. Parl. Hist. vol. 8. p. 260. a Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 655. Parl. Hist. vol. 8. p. 289. r Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 654. Parl. Hist. vol. 8. p. 301.

merchant and member of the house, being seized for his refusal to pay the duties, complaints were made of this violence, as if it were a breach of privilege: Charles supported his officers in all these measures; and the quarrel grew every day higher between him and the commons.* Mention was made in the house of impeaching sir Richard Weston, the treasurer;" and the king began to entertain thoughts of finishing the session by a dissolution.

Dissolution

X

Sir John Elliot framed a remonstrance against of the par- levying tonnage and poundage without conliament. sent of parliament, and offered it to the clerk to read. It was refused. He read it himself. The question being then called for, the speaker, sir John Finch, said, That he had a command from the king to adjourn, and to put no question. Upon which he rose and left the chair. The whole house was in an uproar. The speaker was pushed back into the chair, and forcibly held in it by Hollis and Valentine; till a short remonstrance was framed, and was passed by acclamation rather than by vote. Papists and Arminians were there declared capital enemies to the commonwealth. Those who levied tonnage and poundage were branded with the same epithet. And even the merchants who should voluntarily pay these duties, were denominated betrayers of English liberty, and public enemies. The doors being locked, the gentleman usher of the house of lords, who was sent by the king, could not get admittance till this remonstrance was finished. By the king's order, he took the mace from the table, which ended their proceedings." And a few days after the parliament was dissolved (March 10).

s Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 653. t Ibid. p. 658. " Parl. Hist. vol. 8. p. 326. * The king's power of adjourning, as well as proroguing the parliament, was and is never questioned. In the nineteenth of the late king, the judges determined that the adjournment by the king kept the parliament in statu quo until the next sitting; but that then no committees were to meet: but if the adjournment be by the house, then the committees and other matters do continue. Parl. Hist. vol. 5. p. 466. y Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 660. Whitlocke, p. 12.

C

The discontents of the nation ran high, on account of this violent rupture between the king and parliament. These discontents Charles inflamed by his affectation of a severity which he had not power, nor probably inclination, to carry to extremities. Sir Miles Hobart, sir Peter Heyman, Selden, Coriton, Long, Strode, were committed to prison, on account of the last tumult in the house, which was called sedition. With great difficulty, and after several delays, they were released; and the law was generally supposed to be wrested, in order to prolong their imprisonment. Sir John Elliot, Hollis, and Valentine, were summoned to their trial in the king's bench, for seditious speeches and behaviour in parliament; but refusing to answer before an inferior court for their conduct as members of a superior, they were condemned to be imprisoned during the king's pleasure, to find sureties for their good behaviour, and to be fined the two former 1000l. a piece, the latter 500/. This sentence, procured by the influence of the crown, served only to shew the king's disregard to the privileges of parliament, and to acquire an immense stock of popularity to the sufferers, who had so bravely, in opposition to arbitrary power, defended the liberties of their native country. The commons of England, though an immense body, and possessed of the greater part of national property, were naturally somewhat defenceless; because of their personal equality, and their want of leaders: but the king's severity, if these prosecutions deserve the name, here pointed out leaders to them whose resentment was inflamed, and whose courage was nowise daunted by the hardships which they had undergone in so honourable a cause.

So much did these prisoners glory in their sufferings, that though they were promised liberty on that condition, they would not condescend even to present a peti

e Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 661. 681. Parl. Hist. vol. 8. p. 354. May, p. 13. d Rushworth, vol. 1. p. 684. 691.

tion to the king, expressing their sorrow for having offended him. They unanimously refused to find sureties for their good behaviour; and disdained to accept of deliverance on such easy terms. Nay, Hollis was so industrious to continue his meritorious distress, that when one offered to bail him, he would not yield to the rule of court, and he himself bound with his friend. Even Long, who had actually found sureties in the chief-justice's chamber, declared in court, that his sureties should no longer continue. Yet because sir John Elliot happened to die while in custody, a great clamour was raised against the administration; and he was universally regarded as a martyr to the liberties of England.s

CHAP. LII.

Peace with France-Peace with Spain-State of the court and ministry-Character of the queen-Strafford-Laud-Innovations in the church-Irregular levies of money-Severities in the starchamber and high-commission-Ship-money-Trial of Hambden. THERE now opens to us a new scene. Charles, naturally disgusted with parliaments, who he found were determined to proceed against him with unmitigated rigour, both in invading his prerogative, and refusing him all supply, resolved not to call any more, till he should see greater indications of a compliant disposition in the nation. Having lost his great favourite, Buckingham, he became his own minister; and never afterward reposed in any one such unlimited confidence. As he chiefly follows his own genius and disposition, his measures are henceforth less rash and hasty; though the general tenor of his administration still wants somewhat of being entirely legal, and perhaps more of being entirely prudent.

e Whitlocke, p. 13. VOL. VI.

Kennet, vol. 3. p. 49.
P

Rush, vol. 5. p. 440.