continued to augment the list. All who had sat in any illegal high court of justice were disabled from: bearing offices.

The parliament voted that the settled revenue of the crown, for all charges, should be 1,200,000l. a year. They abolished the feudal tenure of knights' service and its incidents, as marriage, relief, and wardship, and also purveyance, and in lieu thereof settled upon the king an hereditary excise duty.* Indeed, it would have been impossible to restore these onerous burdens after their disuse during the time of the commonwealth. Tonnage and poundage were granted to the king during life.

Before the parliament adjourned (September 13), it resolved on the punishment of the regicides. They were arraigned before 34 commissioners appointed for that purpose. Twenty-nine were tried and condemned, but only six of the late king's judges were executed. These were Harrison, Scot, Carew, Clement, Jones, and Scroop. Axtel, who had guarded the high court of justice; Hacker, who commanded on the day of the king's execution; Cook, the solicitor for the people of England; and Hugh Peters, the fanatical preacher, who had inflamed the army, were tried, condemned, and suffered by order of the house at the same time (October 19). At their desire, on the anniversary of Charles I.'s execution, the bodies of Cromwell, Ireton, and Bradshaw were disinterred, hanged on the gallows at Tyburn, then decapitated, and their heads fixed on Westminster Hall.

After a recess of nearly two months the parliament met; and having despatched the necessary business, the king, in a speech full of the most gracious expressions, thought proper to dissolve them (December 29, 1660). By the advice of Clarendon the army was disbanded. No more troops were retained than a few guards and garrisons, about 1000 horse and 4000 foot. The church of England was restored. Eight bishops still remained alive, and were replaced in their sees; the ejected clergy recovered their livings; the liturgy was again adınitted into the churches; but at the same time a declaration, containing a promise of some reforms, was issued, in order to give contentment to the presbyterians and preserve an air of moderation and neutrality.

§ 2. Affairs in Scotland hastened with still quicker steps than those in England towards a settlement and a compliance with the king. The Scotch parliament met January 1, 1661. It rescinded all the statutes passed in 1640 and subsequently. By this act legislation returned to the state in which it was left in 1639. The Covenant was renounced; the king's supremacy was asserted in all cases, civil

The principal excise duties were upon liquors and beer. Tea was also an ex

ciseable article, but did not yield much to the revenue in the reign of Charles II.

or ecclesiastical. The lords of articles were reinstated and episcopacy restored. James Sharp, who had been commissioned by the presbyterians in Scotland to manage their interest with the king, was persuaded to abandon that party; and, as a reward for his compliance, was created archbishop of St. Andrews. The parliament now resolved to single out as victims of their severity the marquis of Argyle, and one Guthrie, a preacher, who had urged the execution of Montrose, both of whom seemed to be more deeply implicated than others in the late rebellion. But, as the acts of indemnity passed by the late king in 1641, and by the present in 1651, seemed obstacles to the punishment of Argyle, he was tried for his compliance with the usurpation. Some letters of his to Monk were produced, which could not, by any equitable construction, imply the crime of treason. The parliament, however, scrupled not to pass sentence upon him, and he died with great constancy and courage (May 27).

§ 3. Meanwhile, in England, a conference was held in the Savoy (April 15-July 25, 1661), between 12 bishops and 12 leaders among the presbyterian ministers, with an intention of bringing about an accommodation between the two parties; but the result was unsuccessful, and each party separated more confirmed than ever in their several opinions. The temper of the new parliament, which assembled in May, 1661, hastened the decision of the question. Not more than 56 members of the presbyterian party had obtained seats in the lower house, and they were not able either to oppose or retard the measures of the majority. The Covenant, together with the acts for erecting the high court of justice, for subscribing the engagement, and for declaring England a commonwealth, were ordered to be burnt by the hands of the hangman. The bishops were restored to their seats in parliament. The command of the militia was declared to be solely vested in the crown. The preamble to this statute went so fa as to renounce all right even of defensive arms against the king. By passing the CORPORATION ACT in this session, parliament compelled all corporate bodies to receive the sacrament according to the rites of the church of England, to renounce the Covenant, and to take the oath of Non-Resistance; * following, in this and its other religious acts, the example set by the Long Parliament in respect to the Solemn League and Covenant.

In the next year (1662) the ACT OF UNIFORMITY was passed. Among other of its clauses, it was enacted that no person should hold preferment in the church of England, or administer the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, unless he had been episcopally ordained in the form and manner enjoined by the Book of Common Prayer. For further details see Notes and Illustrations (A).

He was also to declare his assent to the said book; to take the oath of canonical obedience; abjure the Solemn League and Covenant; and renounce the right of taking arms, on any pretence whatsoever, against the king. This act, which received the royal assent on May 19, and was to come into operation on St. Bartholomew's Day (August 24), reinstated the church in the same condition in which it stood before the commencement of the civil wars. It has been urged that some such act was necessary if the church of England was to continue and preserve uniformity in its teaching and ministrations. Its benefices had been usurped, in the late troubles, and freely given away to men who were most acceptable to those in power, for the violence of their denunciations against its doctrines and its discipline. Innumerable heresies had sprung up, partly the result of ignorance, partly in the absence of all authority, and were freely disseminated from the pulpit. Such, at that time, was the judgment of the nation as represented by parliament, and there is no reason to suppose that it was represented falsely.

§ 4. On the king's restoration proposals were received from Portugal for renewal of the alliance which the protector had made with that country. To bind the friendship closer, an offer was made of the Portuguese princess, Catharine of Braganza, and a portion of 500,000l., together with two fortresses, Tangier in Africa, and Bombay in the East Indies. The marriage was solemnized by bishop Sheldon (May 20, 1662). But though Catharine was a princess of virtue, she was never able, either by the graces of her person or her mind, to render herself agreeable to the king. Pursuant to an address of the Commons, Lambert and Vane were now brought to trial. The indictment of Vane did not comprehend any of his actions during the life of the late king: it extended only to his behaviour after the late king's death, as member of the council of state, and secretary of the navy. Vane wanted neither courage nor capacity to avail himself of this advantage. He pleaded the famous statute of Henry VII., in which it was enacted that no man should be questioned for his obedience to the king de facto. He urged that, whether the established government were a monarchy or a commonwealth, the reason of the thing was still the same; and maintained that the commons were the root and foundation of all lawful authority. But the zeal he had displayed in bringing Strafford to his death, steeled men's hearts against him. His courage deserted him not upon his condemnation. Lest pity for his sufferings should make an impression on the populace, drummers were placed under the scaffold, whose noise, as he began to launch out in reflections on the government, drowned his voice (June 14). Lambert, though also condemned,

was reprieved at the bar; and the judges declared that, if Vane's behaviour had been equally dutiful and submissive, he would have experienced like lenity from the king. Lambert survived his condemnation thirty years. He was confined to the isle of Guernsey, where he amused himself with painting and botany. He died a Roman catholic.

§ 5. The fatal St. Bartholomew approached (August 24), the day when the clergy were obliged, by the late law, either to relinquish their livings or to sign the articles required of them. A large number relinquished their cures, and sacrificed their interest to their religious convictions. Bishoprics were offered to Calamy, Baxter, and Reynolds, leaders among the presbyterians; but the last only could be prevailed on to accept promotion.

In June, 1663, archbishop Juxon died, and was succeeded by Sheldon, bishop of London. This year, for the last time, the clergy granted four subsidies to the crown; for from this date, though never formally relinquishing their ancient right of taxing themselves, they were taxed with the laity by their representatives in parliament. With a view of mitigating the rigours of the act of uniformity, a declaration was issued by the king on the 26th of December, 1662, in which he mentioned the promises of liberty of conscience contained in the declaration of Breda; and he expressed his intention of making it his special care to incline the parliament to concur with him in some such act for that purpose as might enable him to exercise, with a more universal satisfaction, that power of dispensing with the penalties of the law, in case of dissenters, which he conceived to be inherent in him.* In confor mity with this design, at the meeting of parliament (February 18, 1663), the king made a speech intimating his desire of granting some indulgence to dissenters. But the commons were not inclined to concede it. They petitioned against it (February 18), and on the 1st of April followed up their opposition by an address, that all popish priests and Jesuits might be banished the kingdom. Whether they began to suspect the king of an inclination to Romanism, and were even then aware that his brother, the Duke of York, had embraced that faith, is uncertain.†

Notwithstanding the supplies voted to Charles, his treasury was

The Dispensing and Suspending Powers, as they are called, were claimed both by Charles II and James II. The Dispensing Power consists in the exemption of particular persons, under special circumstances, from the operation of penal laws; the Suspending Power in nullifying the entire operation of any statute or any

number of statutes. (Amos, The English Constitution in the Reign of Charles II. p 19, seq.) Charles II. made a second attempt in 1672 to suspend the penal laws against nonconformists. See below, p. 468.

The duke did not avow his conversion until 1669.

still very empty and very much indebted. The forces sent over to Portugal, and the fleets maintained in order to defend it, had already cost the king nearly double the money which had been paid as the queen's portion. The time fixed for payment of his sister's portion to the duke of Orleans was approaching. Tangier had become an additional burden to the crown, and Dunkirk cost 120,000l. a year. Clarendon advised the accepting of a sum of money in lieu of a place which he thought the king, from the narrow state of his revenue, was no longer able to retain; and a bargain was at length concluded with France for 400,000l. (November, 1662). The artillery and stores were valued at a fifth of the sum. The act was unpopular, but the impolicy of the sale consisted only in its having been made to France. (Supplement, Note VII.)

§ 6. Next session the parliament (March, 1664) brought in a bill for repealing the triennial act; and in lieu of the former securities passed a bill "for assembling and holding of parliaments once in three years at least." By the act of uniformity, every clergyman who should officiate without being properly qualified was punishable by fine and imprisonment. To give effect to this act, a statute was passed for "preventing and suppressing seditious conventicles." It provided that, wherever five persons above those of the same household should assemble in a religious congregation, every one of them should be liable, for the first offence, to be imprisoned three months, or pay 57.; for the second, to be imprisoned six months, or pay 107.; and for the third, to be transported seven years, or pay 1007. A second conventicle act, passed six years later (1670), reduced the penalties on hearers, but inflicted a fine on preachers and those who lent their houses for this purpose. The commons likewise presented an address to the king, complaining of the wrongs offered to the English trade by the Dutch, and promising to assist the king with their lives and fortunes in asserting the rights of his crown against all opposition whatsoever. This was the first open step towards the Dutch war. The rivalship of commerce had produced among the English a violent enmity against the neighbouring republic. The English merchants had the mortification to find that all attempts to extend their trade were still turned by the vigilance of their rivals to their loss and dishonour, and their indignation increased when they considered the superior naval power of England. The duke of York was eagerly in favour of the war with Holland, and desired an opportunity of distinguishing himself. The trade of the new African company was checked by the settlements of the Dutch.* The king yielded to the wishes of the nation; war was

* Guineas were now first coined in England of the gold brought from the settlement of that name.