The History of England, from the Accession of James the Second - Volume 1 by Thomas Babington Macaulay (diy ebook reader .txt) π
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venture, at so critical a moment, to
reject a bill which was in the highest degree popular.
On the same day the press of England became for a short time
free. In old times printers had been strictly controlled by the
Court of Star Chamber. The Long Parliament had abolished the Star
Chamber, but had, in spite of the philosophical and eloquent
expostulation of Milton, established and maintained a censorship.
Soon after the Restoration, an Act had been passed which
prohibited the printing of unlicensed books; and it had been
provided that this Act should continue in force till the end of
the first session of the next Parliament. That moment had now
arrived; and the King, in the very act of dismissing the House,
emancipated the Press.
Shortly after the prorogation came a dissolution and another
general election. The zeal and strength of the opposition were at
the height. The cry for the Exclusion Bill was louder than ever,
and with this cry was mingled another cry, which fired the blood
of the multitude, but which was heard with regret and alarm by
all judicious friends of freedom. Not only the rights of the Duke
of York, an avowed Papist, but those of his two daughters,
sincere and zealous Protestants, were assailed. It was
confidently affirmed that the eldest natural son of the King had
been born in wedlock, and was lawful heir to the crown.
Charles, while a wanderer on the Continent, had fallen in at the
Hague with Lucy Walters, a Welsh girl of great beauty, but of
weak understanding and dissolute manners. She became his
mistress, and presented him with a son. A suspicious lover might
have had his doubts; for the lady had several admirers, and was
not supposed to be cruel to any. Charles, however, readily took
her word, and poured forth on little James Crofts, as the boy was
then called, an overflowing fondness, such as seemed hardly to
belong to that cool and careless nature. Soon after the
restoration, the young favourite, who had learned in France the
exercises then considered necessary to a fine gentleman, made his
appearance at Whitehall. He was lodged in the palace, attended by
pages, and permitted to enjoy several distinctions which had till
then been confined to princes of the blood royal. He was married,
while still in tender youth, to Anne Scott, heiress of the noble
house of Buccleuch. He took her name, and received with her hand
possession of her ample domains. The estate which he had acquired
by this match was popularly estimated at not less than ten
thousand pounds a year. Titles, and favours more substantial than
titles, were lavished on him. He was made Duke of Monmouth in
England, Duke of Buccleuch in Scotland, a Knight of the Garter,
Master of the Horse, Commander of the first troop of Life Guards,
Chief Justice of Eyre south of Trent, and Chancellor of the
University of Cambridge. Nor did he appear to the public unworthy
of his high fortunes. His countenance was eminently handsome and
engaging, his temper sweet, his manners polite and affable.
Though a libertine, he won the hearts of the Puritans. Though he
was known to have been privy to the shameful attack on Sir John
Coventry, he easily obtained the forgiveness of the Country
Party. Even austere moralists owned that, in such a court, strict
conjugal fidelity was scarcely to be expected from one who, while
a child, had been married to another child. Even patriots were
willing to excuse a headstrong boy for visiting with immoderate
vengeance an insult offered to his father. And soon the stain
left by loose amours and midnight brawls was effaced by
honourable exploits. When Charles and Lewis united their forces
against Holland, Monmouth commanded the English auxiliaries who
were sent to the Continent, and approved himself a gallant
soldier and a not unintelligent officer. On his return he found
himself the most popular man in the kingdom. Nothing was withheld
from him but the crown; nor did even the crown seem to be
absolutely beyond his reach. The distinction which had most
injudiciously been made between him and the highest nobles had
produced evil consequences. When a boy he had been invited to put
on his hat in the presence chamber, while Howards and Seymours
stood uncovered round him. When foreign princes died, he had
mourned for them in the long purple cloak, which no other
subject, except the Duke of York and Prince Rupert, was permitted
to wear. It was natural that these things should lead him to
regard himself as a legitimate prince of the House of Stuart.
Charles, even at a ripe age, was devoted to his pleasures and
regardless of his dignity. It could hardly be thought incredible
that he should at twenty have secretly gone through the form of
espousing a lady whose beauty had fascinated him. While Monmouth
was still a child, and while the Duke of York still passed for a
Protestant, it was rumoured throughout the country, and even in
circles which ought to have been well informed, that the King had
made Lucy Walters his wife, and that, if every one had his right,
her son would be Prince of Wales. Much was said of a certain
black box which, according to the vulgar belief, contained the
contract of marriage. When Monmouth had returned from the Low
Countries with a high character for valour and conduct, and when
the Duke of York was known to be a member of a church detested by
the great majority of the nation, this idle story became
important. For it there was not the slightest evidence. Against
it there was the solemn asseveration of the King, made before his
Council, and by his order communicated to his people. But the
multitude, always fond of romantic adventures, drank in eagerly
the tale of the secret espousals and the black box. Some chiefs
of the opposition acted on this occasion as they acted with
respect to the more odious fables of Oates, and countenanced a
story which they must have despised. The interest which the
populace took in him whom they regarded as the champion of the
true religion, and the rightful heir of the British throne, was
kept up by every artifice. When Monmouth arrived in London at
midnight, the watchmen were ordered by the magistrates to
proclaim the joyful event through the streets of the City: the
people left their beds: bonfires were lighted: the windows were
illuminated: the churches were opened; and a merry peal rose from
all the steeples. When he travelled, he was everywhere received
with not less pomp, and with far more enthusiasm, than had been
displayed when Kings had made progresses through the realm. He
was escorted from mansion to mansion by long cavalcades of armed
gentlemen and yeomen. Cities poured forth their whole population
to receive him. Electors thronged round him, to assure him that
their votes were at his disposal. To such a height were his
pretensions carried, that he not only exhibited on his escutcheon
the lions of England and the lilies of France without the baton
sinister under which, according to the law of heraldry, they
should have been debruised in token of his illegitimate birth,
but ventured to touch for the king's evil. At the same time he
neglected no art of condescension by which the love of the
multitude could be conciliated. He stood godfather to the
children of the peasantry, mingled in every rustic sport,
wrestled, played at quarterstaff, and won footraces in his boots
against fleet runners in shoes.
It is a curious circumstance that, at two of the greatest
conjunctures in our history, the chiefs of the Protestant party
should have committed the same error, and should by that error
have greatly endangered their country and their religion. At the
death of Edward the Sixth they set up the Lady Jane, without any
show of birthright, in opposition, not only to their enemy Mary,
but also to Elizabeth, the true hope of England and of the
Reformation. Thus the most respectable Protestants, with
Elizabeth at their head, were forced to make common cause with
the Papists. In the same manner, a hundred and thirty years
later, a part of the opposition, by setting up Monmouth as a
claimant of the crown, attacked the rights, not only of James,
whom they justly regarded as an implacable foe of their faith and
their liberties, but also of the Prince and Princess of Orange,
who were eminently marked out, both by situation and by personal
qualities, as the defenders of all free governments and of all
reformed churches.
The folly of this course speedily became manifest. At present the
popularity of Monmouth constituted a great part of the strength
of the opposition. The elections went against the court: the day
fixed for the meeting of the Houses drew near; and it was
necessary that the King should determine on some line of conduct.
Those who advised him discerned the first faint signs of a change
of public feeling, and hoped that, by merely postponing the
conflict, he would be able to secure the victory. He therefore,
without even asking the opinion of the Council of the Thirty,
resolved to prorogue the new Parliament before it entered on
business. At the same time the Duke of York, who had returned
from Brussels, was ordered to retire to Scotland, and was placed
at the head of the administration of that kingdom.
Temple's plan of government was now avowedly abandoned and very
soon forgotten. The Privy Council again became what it had been.
Shaftesbury, and those who were connected with him in politics
resigned their seats. Temple himself, as was his wont in unquiet
times, retired to his garden and his library. Essex quitted the
board of Treasury, and cast in his lot with the opposition. But
Halifax, disgusted and alarmed by the violence of his old
associates, and Sunderland, who never quitted place while he
could hold it, remained in the King's service.
In consequence of the resignations which took place at this
conjuncture, the way to greatness was left clear to a new set of
aspirants. Two statesmen, who subsequently rose to the highest
eminence which a British subject can reach, soon began to attract
a large share of the public attention. These were Lawrence Hyde
and Sidney Godolphin.
Lawrence Hyde was the second son of the Chancellor Clarendon, and
was brother of the first Duchess of York. He had excellent parts,
which had been improved by parliamentary and diplomatic
experience; but the infirmities of his temper detracted much from
the effective strength of his abilities. Negotiator and courtier
as he was, he never learned the art of governing or of concealing
his emotions. When prosperous, he was insolent and boastful: when
he sustained a check, his undisguised
reject a bill which was in the highest degree popular.
On the same day the press of England became for a short time
free. In old times printers had been strictly controlled by the
Court of Star Chamber. The Long Parliament had abolished the Star
Chamber, but had, in spite of the philosophical and eloquent
expostulation of Milton, established and maintained a censorship.
Soon after the Restoration, an Act had been passed which
prohibited the printing of unlicensed books; and it had been
provided that this Act should continue in force till the end of
the first session of the next Parliament. That moment had now
arrived; and the King, in the very act of dismissing the House,
emancipated the Press.
Shortly after the prorogation came a dissolution and another
general election. The zeal and strength of the opposition were at
the height. The cry for the Exclusion Bill was louder than ever,
and with this cry was mingled another cry, which fired the blood
of the multitude, but which was heard with regret and alarm by
all judicious friends of freedom. Not only the rights of the Duke
of York, an avowed Papist, but those of his two daughters,
sincere and zealous Protestants, were assailed. It was
confidently affirmed that the eldest natural son of the King had
been born in wedlock, and was lawful heir to the crown.
Charles, while a wanderer on the Continent, had fallen in at the
Hague with Lucy Walters, a Welsh girl of great beauty, but of
weak understanding and dissolute manners. She became his
mistress, and presented him with a son. A suspicious lover might
have had his doubts; for the lady had several admirers, and was
not supposed to be cruel to any. Charles, however, readily took
her word, and poured forth on little James Crofts, as the boy was
then called, an overflowing fondness, such as seemed hardly to
belong to that cool and careless nature. Soon after the
restoration, the young favourite, who had learned in France the
exercises then considered necessary to a fine gentleman, made his
appearance at Whitehall. He was lodged in the palace, attended by
pages, and permitted to enjoy several distinctions which had till
then been confined to princes of the blood royal. He was married,
while still in tender youth, to Anne Scott, heiress of the noble
house of Buccleuch. He took her name, and received with her hand
possession of her ample domains. The estate which he had acquired
by this match was popularly estimated at not less than ten
thousand pounds a year. Titles, and favours more substantial than
titles, were lavished on him. He was made Duke of Monmouth in
England, Duke of Buccleuch in Scotland, a Knight of the Garter,
Master of the Horse, Commander of the first troop of Life Guards,
Chief Justice of Eyre south of Trent, and Chancellor of the
University of Cambridge. Nor did he appear to the public unworthy
of his high fortunes. His countenance was eminently handsome and
engaging, his temper sweet, his manners polite and affable.
Though a libertine, he won the hearts of the Puritans. Though he
was known to have been privy to the shameful attack on Sir John
Coventry, he easily obtained the forgiveness of the Country
Party. Even austere moralists owned that, in such a court, strict
conjugal fidelity was scarcely to be expected from one who, while
a child, had been married to another child. Even patriots were
willing to excuse a headstrong boy for visiting with immoderate
vengeance an insult offered to his father. And soon the stain
left by loose amours and midnight brawls was effaced by
honourable exploits. When Charles and Lewis united their forces
against Holland, Monmouth commanded the English auxiliaries who
were sent to the Continent, and approved himself a gallant
soldier and a not unintelligent officer. On his return he found
himself the most popular man in the kingdom. Nothing was withheld
from him but the crown; nor did even the crown seem to be
absolutely beyond his reach. The distinction which had most
injudiciously been made between him and the highest nobles had
produced evil consequences. When a boy he had been invited to put
on his hat in the presence chamber, while Howards and Seymours
stood uncovered round him. When foreign princes died, he had
mourned for them in the long purple cloak, which no other
subject, except the Duke of York and Prince Rupert, was permitted
to wear. It was natural that these things should lead him to
regard himself as a legitimate prince of the House of Stuart.
Charles, even at a ripe age, was devoted to his pleasures and
regardless of his dignity. It could hardly be thought incredible
that he should at twenty have secretly gone through the form of
espousing a lady whose beauty had fascinated him. While Monmouth
was still a child, and while the Duke of York still passed for a
Protestant, it was rumoured throughout the country, and even in
circles which ought to have been well informed, that the King had
made Lucy Walters his wife, and that, if every one had his right,
her son would be Prince of Wales. Much was said of a certain
black box which, according to the vulgar belief, contained the
contract of marriage. When Monmouth had returned from the Low
Countries with a high character for valour and conduct, and when
the Duke of York was known to be a member of a church detested by
the great majority of the nation, this idle story became
important. For it there was not the slightest evidence. Against
it there was the solemn asseveration of the King, made before his
Council, and by his order communicated to his people. But the
multitude, always fond of romantic adventures, drank in eagerly
the tale of the secret espousals and the black box. Some chiefs
of the opposition acted on this occasion as they acted with
respect to the more odious fables of Oates, and countenanced a
story which they must have despised. The interest which the
populace took in him whom they regarded as the champion of the
true religion, and the rightful heir of the British throne, was
kept up by every artifice. When Monmouth arrived in London at
midnight, the watchmen were ordered by the magistrates to
proclaim the joyful event through the streets of the City: the
people left their beds: bonfires were lighted: the windows were
illuminated: the churches were opened; and a merry peal rose from
all the steeples. When he travelled, he was everywhere received
with not less pomp, and with far more enthusiasm, than had been
displayed when Kings had made progresses through the realm. He
was escorted from mansion to mansion by long cavalcades of armed
gentlemen and yeomen. Cities poured forth their whole population
to receive him. Electors thronged round him, to assure him that
their votes were at his disposal. To such a height were his
pretensions carried, that he not only exhibited on his escutcheon
the lions of England and the lilies of France without the baton
sinister under which, according to the law of heraldry, they
should have been debruised in token of his illegitimate birth,
but ventured to touch for the king's evil. At the same time he
neglected no art of condescension by which the love of the
multitude could be conciliated. He stood godfather to the
children of the peasantry, mingled in every rustic sport,
wrestled, played at quarterstaff, and won footraces in his boots
against fleet runners in shoes.
It is a curious circumstance that, at two of the greatest
conjunctures in our history, the chiefs of the Protestant party
should have committed the same error, and should by that error
have greatly endangered their country and their religion. At the
death of Edward the Sixth they set up the Lady Jane, without any
show of birthright, in opposition, not only to their enemy Mary,
but also to Elizabeth, the true hope of England and of the
Reformation. Thus the most respectable Protestants, with
Elizabeth at their head, were forced to make common cause with
the Papists. In the same manner, a hundred and thirty years
later, a part of the opposition, by setting up Monmouth as a
claimant of the crown, attacked the rights, not only of James,
whom they justly regarded as an implacable foe of their faith and
their liberties, but also of the Prince and Princess of Orange,
who were eminently marked out, both by situation and by personal
qualities, as the defenders of all free governments and of all
reformed churches.
The folly of this course speedily became manifest. At present the
popularity of Monmouth constituted a great part of the strength
of the opposition. The elections went against the court: the day
fixed for the meeting of the Houses drew near; and it was
necessary that the King should determine on some line of conduct.
Those who advised him discerned the first faint signs of a change
of public feeling, and hoped that, by merely postponing the
conflict, he would be able to secure the victory. He therefore,
without even asking the opinion of the Council of the Thirty,
resolved to prorogue the new Parliament before it entered on
business. At the same time the Duke of York, who had returned
from Brussels, was ordered to retire to Scotland, and was placed
at the head of the administration of that kingdom.
Temple's plan of government was now avowedly abandoned and very
soon forgotten. The Privy Council again became what it had been.
Shaftesbury, and those who were connected with him in politics
resigned their seats. Temple himself, as was his wont in unquiet
times, retired to his garden and his library. Essex quitted the
board of Treasury, and cast in his lot with the opposition. But
Halifax, disgusted and alarmed by the violence of his old
associates, and Sunderland, who never quitted place while he
could hold it, remained in the King's service.
In consequence of the resignations which took place at this
conjuncture, the way to greatness was left clear to a new set of
aspirants. Two statesmen, who subsequently rose to the highest
eminence which a British subject can reach, soon began to attract
a large share of the public attention. These were Lawrence Hyde
and Sidney Godolphin.
Lawrence Hyde was the second son of the Chancellor Clarendon, and
was brother of the first Duchess of York. He had excellent parts,
which had been improved by parliamentary and diplomatic
experience; but the infirmities of his temper detracted much from
the effective strength of his abilities. Negotiator and courtier
as he was, he never learned the art of governing or of concealing
his emotions. When prosperous, he was insolent and boastful: when
he sustained a check, his undisguised
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