Read The History of England - Vols. 1 to 6 Online
Authors: David Hume
Another petition was presented by several poor people, or beggars, in the name of many thousands more; in which the petitioners proposed as a remedy for the public miseries,
That those noble worthies of the house of peers, who concur with the happy
votes of the commons, may separate themselves from the rest, and sit and vote as one
intire body.
The commons gave thanks for this petition.
d
The very women were seized with the same rage. A brewer’s wife, followed by many thousands of her sex, brought a petition to the house; in which the petitioners expressed their terror of the papists and prelates, and their dread of like massacres, rapes, and outrages, with those which had been committed upon their sex in Ireland.
They had been necessitated, they said, to imitate the example of the woman of Tekoah: And they claimed equal right with the men, of declaring, by petition, their sense of the public cause; because Christ had purchased them at as dear a rate, and in the free enjoyment of Christ consists equally the happiness of both sexes. Pym came to the door of the house; and, having told the female zealots, that their petition was thankfully accepted, and was presented in a seasonable time, he begged that their prayers for the success of the commons might follow their petition. Such low arts of popularity were affected! And by such illiberal cant were the unhappy people incited to civil discord and convulsions!
In the mean time, not only all petitions, which favoured the church or monarchy, from whatever hand they came, were discouraged; but the petitioners were sent for, imprisoned, and prosecuted as delinquents: And this unequal conduct was openly avowed and justified. Whoever desire a change, it was said, must express their PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)
243
http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/792
Online Library of Liberty: The History of England, vol. 5
sentiments; for how, otherwise, shall they be known? But those who favour the established government in church or state, should not petition; because they already
The king had possessed a great party in the lower house, as appeared in the vote for the remonstrance; and this party, had every new cause of disgust been carefully avoided, would soon have become the majority; from the odium attending the violent measures, embraced by the popular leaders. A great majority he always possessed in the house of peers, even after the bishops were confined or chased away; and this majority could not have been overcome, but by outrages, which, in the end, would have drawn disgrace and ruin on those who incited them. By the present fury of the people, as by an inundation, were all these obstacles swept away, and every rampart of royal authority laid level with the ground. The victory was pursued with impetuosity by the sagacious commons, who knew the importance of a favourable moment in all popular commotions. The terror of their authority they extended over the whole nation; and all opposition, and even all blame vented in private conversation, were treated as the most atrocious crimes, by these severe inquisitors.
Scarcely was it permitted to find fault with the conduct of any particular member, if he made a figure in the house; and reflections, thrown out on Pym, were at this time treated as breaches of privilege. The populace without doors were ready to execute, from the least hint, the will of their leaders; nor was it safe for any member to approach either house, who pretended to controul or oppose the general torrent. After so undisguised a manner was this violence conducted, that Hollis, in a speech to the peers, desired to know the names of such members as should vote contrary to the
sentiments of the commons:f
And Pym said in the lower house, that the people must not be restrained in the expressions of their just desires.
g
By the flight, or terror, or despondency of the king’s party, an undisputed majority remained every-where to their opponents; and the bills sent up by the commons, which had hitherto stopped with the peers, and would certainly have been rejected, now passed, and were presented for the royal assent. These were, the pressing bill with its preamble, and the bill against the votes of the bishops in parliament. The king’s authority was at that time reduced to the lowest ebb. The queen too, being secretly threatened with an impeachment, and finding no resource in her husband’s protection, was preparing to retire into Holland. The rage of the people was, on account of her religion, as well as her spirit and activity, universally levelled against her. Usage, the most contumelious, she had hitherto borne with silent indignation. The commons, in their fury against priests, had seized her very confessor; nor would they release him upon her repeated applications. Even a visit of the prince to his mother had been openly complained of, and remonstrances against it had been presented to
her.h
Apprehensive of attacks still more violent, she was desirous of facilitating her escape; and she prevailed with the king to pass these bills, in hopes of appeasing, for a
time, the rage of the multitude.i
These new concessions, however important, the king immediately found to have no other effect, than had all the preceding ones: They were made the foundation of demands still more exorbitant. From the facility of his disposition, from the weakness of his situation, the commons believed, that he could now refuse them nothing. And PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)
244
http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/792
Online Library of Liberty: The History of England, vol. 5
they regarded the least moment of relaxation, in their invasion of royal authority, as highly impolitic, during the uninterrupted torrent of their successes. The very moment they were informed of these last acquisitions, they affronted the queen, by opening some intercepted letters written to her by lord Digby: They carried up an impeachment against Herbert, attorney-general, for obeying his master’s commands in accusing their members.
k
And they prosecuted, with fresh vigour, their plan of the militia, on which they rested all future hopes of an uncontrouled authority.
The commons were sensible, that monarchical government, which, during so many ages, had been established in England, would soon regain some degree of its former dignity, after the present tempest was overblown; nor would all their new-invented limitations be able totally to suppress an authority, to which the nation had ever been accustomed. The sword alone, to which all human ordinances must submit, could guard their acquired power, and fully ensure to them personal safety against the rising indignation of their sovereign. This point, therefore, became the chief object of their aims. A large magazine of arms being placed in the town of Hull, they dispatched thither Sir John Hotham, a gentleman of considerable fortune in the neighbourhood, and of an ancient family; and they gave him the authority of governor. They sent orders to Goring, governor of Portsmouth, to obey no commands but such as he should receive from the parliament. Not content with having obliged the king to
displace Lunsford, whom he had appointed governor of the Tower,l
they never ceased soliciting him, till he had also displaced Sir John Biron, a man of unexceptionable character, and had bestowed that command on Sir John Conyers, in whom alone, they said, they could repose confidence. After making a fruitless attempt, in which the peers refused their concurrence, to give public warning, that the people should put themselves in a posture of defence against the enterprizes of
papists and other ill-affected persons,
m
they now resolved, by a bold and decisive stroke, to seize at once the whole power of the sword, and to confer it entirely on their own creatures and adherents.
The severe votes, passed in the beginning of this parliament, against lieutenants and their deputies, for exercising powers assumed by all their predecessors, had totally disarmed the crown, and had not left in any magistrate military authority, sufficient for the defence and security of the nation. To remedy this inconvenience now appeared necessary. A bill was introduced and passed the two houses, which restored to lieutenants and deputies the same powers, of which the votes of the commons had bereaved them; but at the same time the names of all the lieutenants were inserted in the bill; and these consisted entirely of men, in whom the parliament could confide.
And for their conduct, they were accountable, by the express terms of the bill, not to the king, but to the parliament.
The policy pursued by the commons, and which had hitherto succeeded to admiration, was, to astonish the king by the boldness of their enterprizes, to intermingle no sweetness with their severity, to employ expressions no less violent than their pretensions, and to make him sensible in what little estimation they held both his person and his dignity. To a bill so destructive of royal authority, they prefixed, with an insolence seemingly wanton, a preamble equally dishonourable to the personal character of the king. These are the words: “Whereas there has been of late a most PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)
245
http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/792
Online Library of Liberty: The History of England, vol. 5
dangerous and desperate design upon the house of commons, which we have just cause to believe an effect of the bloody counsels of papists and other ill-affected persons, who have already raised a rebellion in the kingdom of Ireland. And whereas, by reason of many discoveries, we cannot but fear they will proceed, not only to stir up the like rebellions and insurrections in this kingdom of England; but also to back
them with forces from abroad, &c.”n
Here Charles first ventured to put a stop to his concessions; and that not by a refusal, but a delay. When this demand was made; a demand, which, if granted, the commons justly regarded as the last they should ever have occasion to make; he was at Dover, attending the queen and the princess of Orange, in their embarkation. He replied, that he had not now leisure to consider a matter of so great importance, and must therefore respite his answer till his return.
o
The parliament instantly dispatched another message to him, with solicitations still more importunate. They expressed their great grief on account of his majesty’s
answer to their just and necessary petition. They represented, that 22d Feb.
any delay, during dangers and distractions so great and pressing, was not less unsatisfactory and destructive than an absolute denial. They insisted, that it was their duty to see put in execution a measure so necessary for public safety.
And they affirmed, that the people, in many counties, had
28th Feb.
applied to them for that purpose, and, in some places, were, of themselves and by their own authority, providing against those urgent dangers, with which they were threatened.
p
Even after this insolence, the king durst not venture upon a flat denial. Besides excepting to the preamble, which threw such dishonour upon him, and protesting the innocence of his intentions, when he entered the house of commons; he only desired that the military authority, if it were defective, should first be conferred upon the crown; and he promised to bestow commissions, but such as should be revocable at pleasure, on the same persons whom the parliament had named in the bill.
q
By a former message, he had expressed his wishes, that they would lay before him, in one view, all the concessions, which they deemed requisite for the settlement of the nation. They pretended, that they were exposed to perils so dreadful and imminent,
that they had not leisure for such a work.r
The expedient, proposed by the king, seemed a sufficient remedy during this emergence; and yet maintained the prerogatives of the crown entire and unbroken.
But the intentions of the commons were wide of this purpose, 1st March.
and their panics could be cured by one remedy alone. They
instantly replied, that the dangers and distempers of the nation were such as could endure no longer delay; and unless the king speedily complied with their demands, they should be constrained, for the safety of prince and people, to dispose of the militia by the authority of both houses, and were resolved to do it accordingly. They asserted, that those parts of the kingdom, which had, from their own authority, put themselves in a posture of defence during these prevailing fears and jealousies, had acted suitably to the declarations and directions of both houses, and conformably to the laws of the kingdom. And while they thus menaced the king with their power, PLL v6.0 (generated September, 2011)
246
http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/792
Online Library of Liberty: The History of England, vol. 5
they invited him to fix his residence at London, where, they knew, he would be
“I am so much amazed at this message, said the king in his prompt reply, “that I know not what to answer. You speak of jealousies and fears! Lay your hands on your hearts, and ask yourselves, whether I may not likewise be disturbed with fears and jealousies: And if so, I assure you, that this message has nothing lessened them.
“As to the militia, I thought so much of it before I gave that answer, and am so much assured, that the answer is agreeable to what in justice or reason you can ask, or I in honour grant, that I shall not alter it in any point.
“For my residence near you, I wish it might be safe and honourable, and that I had no cause to absent myself from Whitehall: Ask yourselves whether I have not.
t
“What would you have? Have I violated your laws? Have I denied to pass any bill for the ease and security of my subjects? I do not ask what you have done for me.
“Have any of my people been transported with fears and apprehensions? I offer as free and general a pardon as yourselves can devise. All this considered, there is a judgment of heaven upon this nation, if these distractions continue.
“God so deal with me and mine as all my thoughts and intentions are upright for the maintenance of the true protestant profession, and for the observance and preservation of the laws; and I hope God will bless and assist those laws for
my
preservation.”
u